March 16, 2011 Peaceful. Very Peaceful.

Outside the emotional toxic waste dump that is my office, is a peaceful oasis. A group of Tibetan Buddhist monks have been in the Union all week.

There is an altar of sorts to the Dali Lama which has fresh flowers and fruit. The monks also have several tables where various items are for sale - like prayer flags, bumper stickers that say "Kindness is my religion" (wow, that's a novel idea, isn't it?), prayer beads, meditation tapes and the like.

The purpose of the visit is to make a sand painting. It takes many hours and the monks work on it non-stop. The sand is distributed through copper funnels that are filled with very fine sand. The funnels are stroked with a pencil like tool that causes the sand to gradually come out of the tip. The stroking makes a wonderful, calming sound that has the same affect on me as the sound of ocean waves.


Once the painting is done, the monks will brush it into a pile and distribute most of it to those attending the closing ceremony. A portion of the sand is taken to the closest body of water (at K State that's a creek that barely flows by the International Student Center) where it is returned to nature. The theory, of course, is that it will flow back to the ocean.

Tomorrow, there is going to be a Moment of Silence for the People of Japan in the Union. The monks will offer prayers which should be pretty cool.

Oh, I just noticed, the monk on the left is flipping me off. Maybe one too many pictures today?