At long last, I’ve finished editing this documentary! You can see it above or go to this Vimeo link where Yamantaka is uploaded.
Yamantaka, what an esoteric and complex practice. This candid view of a Tibetan Buddhist highest yoga tantra was filmed over the course of ten days at Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India. You will see monks create an elaborate sand mandala, ritual cakes, and other sacred arts, offer prayers, chant, play ritual instruments, purify and meditate. On the last day, the sand mandala is swept into a vase and released into the world as a blessing for all. This is always the breathtaking but cringe-worthy part, for those of us who treasure and want to hold onto the beauty of a meticulously created mandala.
I would like to say I am grateful to the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Namgyal Monastery for the opportunity to document this event. This feature length video was also made possible in part by the support of Fulbright-Nehru Research Program, Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, and United States-India Education Foundation.
Ideally, I would have liked to complete and release this documentary last year, but I’ve learned that one simply cannot rush certain things. Especially when careful viewing and understanding of the footage is at stake. Add to this the required post-production magic of removing flickering segments, compensating for low lighting conditions, color adjustments, fixing sound challenges, and so forth, and you have an enduring, long workflow at hand.
But, hey, slack must be cut for the fact that the intervening mini-documentaries on Tabo, Lamayuru, Lhalung, and Mangyu Monasteries were also in simultaneous production. See the interiors of these rare, medieval Buddhist temples here, said to be founded by The Great Translator Rinchen Zangpo and King Yeshe O’d of Guge, Western Tibet, circa late 10th to 11th century, located in Spiti and Ladakh regions of the Western Himalayas, India. Read more about them here.
Incidentally, many viewers have asked me about what is happening at around 42:14 in the Yamantaka video, where a young Caucasian man is in the Main Temple talking loudly and animatedly to a gathering of monks. This was a debate exam in session for students of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics (which adjoins Namgyal Monastery), characterized by dramatic and distinctive hand clapping, body motions, and rhetoric. It was an event unrelated to Yamantaka, but which coincided with it.Tibetan Buddhists have a long and famed tradition of continuing the ancient Indian Buddhist practice of philosophical debate.
Eva – thanks! Beautiful, bizarre, and fascinating! A few questions, when you have a minute? So, this was India – not Tibet? Is this ritual being done other places also? Do you know how the sand is ‘colored’ – natural, or artificially? Are sand mandalas made at other times? — I wonder how they practice to get so good?Who is the man around the 42min. mark – with back to camera – looks European, and elaborate clapping of hands? Interesting that such fine specimens of seashell would be employed as musical horns in a landlocked country! Also, funny to see the foam “brushes” used in the mandala making. And, curious that they are all reading so intently from “scripts”… since it all sounds more or less the same to my ears. It’s a great movie! I will pass it along! NamasteDuncan
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2015 01:00:38 +0000 To: duncanbox@hotmail.com
Hi Duncan,
Thank you for watching the documentary and for your insightful questions. Answers:
Yes, this took place in Dharamsala, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas.
I believe the sand is naturally dyed.
Sand mandalas are made by monks or nuns when there are formal tantric rituals such as this. They may also be made as offerings, such as when Drepung Gomang monks, traveling through the U.S. on a Sacred Arts Tour in 2012, created a Compassion sand mandala on the occasion of the Dalai Lama’s talks at Western Connecticut State University. You can see the time lapse footage here: https://vimeo.com/55735569
Sacred arts are part of monastic training, so that would include creating sand mandalas, ritual cakes called tormas, playing ritual instruments, dances and so forth.
That Western individual is engaged in a Tibetan Buddhist philosophical debate, which is characterized by animated clapping. He was probably a student in the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, which is located near Namgyal Monastery but is a separate organization. During the time of filming, student exams were being conducted, and this one in debate was held in Namgyal Monastery’s Main Temple.
Best,
Eva