Barry Bryant (1940 - 1997) was the founder and artistic director of Samaya Foundation, which is dedicated to making the art, culture, and spiritual wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism accessible worldwide. He has put together this book in cooperation with the monks of Namgyal Monastery, His Holiness the Dalai Lama's personal monastery in Dharamsala, India. A cholarly resource on sand mandalas, it focuses on the Kalachakra mandala, also known as the Wheel of Time. It is thought to be a spur to peace and healing to the planet and to all beings.
Anyone fortunate enough to witness the construction of a sand mandala is aware of its incredible beauty and its message of impermanence (the sand mandala only has a life span of a few days or weeks). Bryant presents a step-by-step outline of the choreography of the sand mandala, its use in the Kalachakra rite of initiation, the dismantling ceremony, a brief look at Tibetan philosophy, and a summary of the life of the Buddha. The book is lavishly illustrated with pictures of Tibetan art and history and a full-color section showing the details in a sand mandala created at the American Museum of Natural History in 1988.
