For those of you in the Asheville area, there's an opportunity this week to see a Buddhist sand-mandala being created at Urban Dharma NC, for the new Buddhist Temple and Tibetan Ritual-art Gallery's Grand Opening. The sand-mandala's creation will be taking place daily from 7/16 to 7/20 (10 a.m. – 8 p.m.). The event is free and open to everyone. After the mandala has been completed, it will be placed in an elaborate shrine for viewing, and then ritually destroyed at 2:30 pm on Sunday, 7/22, to symbolize the Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life. Urban Dharma NC is located at 29 Page Ave. in Asheville.
Since I was unaware of this event, I haven't prepared a post on Buddhist sand-mandalas (yet), but in the meantime there's always the Wikipedia article.
Here is a time-lapse video showing the creation of a sand-mandala:
