A LESSON IN LIFE
RITUAL DESTRUCTION »
Tibetan Buddhist monk Lobsang Yeshi brushes away the mandala as fellow monks, from left, Nawang Tenphel, Nawang Choegyal and Lobsang Younten chant before the artwork they created days before and then destroyed during a closing ceremony at Martin Luther King Jr. Library in San Jose on Saturday. The monks, newly arrived from South India, are on a three- month West Coast tour to construct mandalas, here a form of sand painting. The mandalas represent the Buddhist concept of universal compassion. The destruction of the intricate, “time- based art” pieces signifies the impermanence of life.