Drepung Monks Sand Peace Mandala

A world peace sand mandala created by the Drepung Gomang Monks during their Sacred Arts Tour. This tour has a four-fold purpose:

To make a contribution to world healing and peace by sharing unique Tibetan Buddhist teachings, sacred religious performances, chanting, and Tibet's unique identity and treasures of culture and authentic traditions.

To offer prayer with all:  “Recognizing well, and very deeply, that there have been great tragedies in every part of the world, we want to share our sympathy and prayers together with you as human beings sharing this planet and sharing the future of this home of ours.”

To generate a greater awareness of the endangered Tibetan civilization and human rights abuses by the Communist Chinese since 1959. As the situation in Tibet is becoming more desperate by the day, due to massive displacement of Tibetans by Chinese citizens sent there by the Communist government, and ever new rules and difficulties, especially at the monasteries, we need your help now.

To raise support for the refugee monks' community in south India for proper food, improvement in health and hygiene and for providing better education facilities for the monk students. Here's an informational video:

Navaho Sand Paintings

Coyote Stealing Fire


Big Home of the Bear and Snake


Big Storm Patterns


Big Whirling Log


Big Whirling Yei

These, and other beautiful things can be found and purchased at the Southwest Furniture Store.

Healing mandalas of the Navaho

The Navajo art of Sandpainting began as a spiritual healing system rather than art for art's sake. Traditional Diné healing incorporates ritualism, prayer, ceremonies, and herbology to increase wellness and promote harmony with the universe. Sandpaintings are part of religious chants in which "Earth People and Holy People come into harmony, giving healing and protection."

Many Sandpaintings include yéi figures (see below), which are Navajo spiritual beings. The healing ceremonies involve medicine men chanting particular songs and simultaneously creating a Sandpainting on the ground. The medicine man asks for the yéis to come into the painting and help to heal the patient by restoring balance and harmony.

Once a healing ceremony is complete, the Sandpainting is destroyed. The Sandpaintings one sees in shops and on the Internet are commercially produced and contain important errors. As the real Sandpaintings are considered sacred, should one come into possession of a correctly completed Sandpainting, the Navajos fear that evil would befall the person in possession of what "amounted to a never-ending cry beseeching the Holy People's appearance."

(commercial sand painting depicting the 5 yéis)