Shrewsbury's Unitarian Church played host to a steady stream of visitors who came to witness a unique artistic spectacle.
Six Tibetan Buddhist monks from a monastery in India visited as part of their tour of Britiain on a mission for world peace.
In the church, they created a mandala, a beautiful work which is made form millinos of particles of coloured sand. As they worked, there was a feeling amongst the monks and their audience of profound calm and concentration.
Accompanied by a ceremony of chanting and traditional instruments, the sand was swept up and taken to the river during the three-day event. Its assembly and destruction symbolises the transient nature of all things.
The same six monks entertained a capacity audience at Maidment Hall, Shrewsbury School, with a programme called 'Sacred Music and Dance from the Land of the Snow', emphasising the importance of ritual in Buddhist life.
A highlight of the evening was a debate, a dramatisation of part of the training of student monks in their quest for the meaning of existence. It was a valuable part of a performance which gave a profound insight into an admirable yet tragically threatened culture.
Shrewsbury Chronicle, 14th November 2019
