I attended some of the events that are apart of the World on Stage Event at the Alys Stephens Center from the 15th to the 19th. I attended the opening ceremony on the 15th and the closing ceremony on the 19th. I classify this under the Arts as I have already used Rituals. During the opening ceremony one of the monks explained the opening ritual of chanting and playing instruments and how it was to make peace with any spirits residing in the location. It was really amazing how the first monk starting chanting. It was extremely low, pitch-wise, and very booming. A few members of the audience closed their eyes and felt the sound as it echoed through the hall. After chanting for a while, maybe five to 10 minutes, they began playing their instruments. Two oboe like trumpets, a drum player, two people playing large horns about 5 feet in length that reach down to the floor, a cymbal player, one still chanting, and the last one performing small actions that helped ready the location for the mandala. After this, they began using chalk-lines, rulers and white pencils to draw the outline of the mandala.
At the closing ceremony, the same monk who explained the opening, held a lecture on the meaning of the mandala. Before that, they chanted. He then explained his English is limited so the lecture would also teach us patience. He then explained there are multiple mandalas and the one they chose for UAB is the Medicine Buddha; due to our medical facility. After the lecture, we went outside to the mandala and prepared for the deconstruction of this beautiful piece of art. They chanted almost exactly like the opening ceremony and slowly a monk, the same one who helped prepare the location during the instrumental, began running a paintbrush in swirls on the mandala, making a tie dye swirl. They then gave everyone some of the sand to help bring us good fortune and good health.
This event was really interesting. I enjoyed the process of making the mandala as well as the symbolism. This art is not only a beautiful physical entity, but a truly amazing piece of intellectual information resembling an importance of a lifestyle that holds being happy and making people happy a top priority.
