The Gendun Duwa mandala

In relaton to the decoration work in the big temple drupla Yangdak went on a 5 week trip to Nepal in November to see Lama Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche.

"Drupla Yangdak please tell us the reason for that tour?"

" We are at the moment trying to finish the top ceiling in the big temple and one of the last details missing is the mandala called "Gendun Duwa Kyilkhor", which means the mandala that gathers the sangha and it will be placed in front of the altar in square of 3.5x3.5 meters.

It was the wish of Gendun Rinpoche that this mandala be put on the top ceiling and I have been working on this project for the last year. First I went through the different possibilities as they are explained in the tibetan texts and I looked for drawings to get some ideas of how to interpretate these texts. Secondly I started to ask around to find out which mandala might be appropriate, notably Shamar Rinpoché, Jigme Rinpoche and Gyaltrul Rinpoche and everything began to point towards the one we are doing now, but before that we were not really sure.

I then started to make the basic drawing of the mandala and I was actually ready to go to India in April to search for information, but the situation luckily enough forced me to stay here and so I was able to go and meet Lama Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche in Montchardon in beginning of May.

He has already helped us a lot especially for the filling of the big Buddha statue so I decided to ask him for his help concerning the Gendun Duwa mandala as well as all the other smaller mandalas we will have to make. I showed him my drawings and he very kindly corrected it but as there were some points, which were difficult for me to understand he suggested sending me a drawing that he had at home.

Unfortunately he could not find the drawing after his return to Kathmandu and so as the time for beginning the painting approached, we decided that I should go to see him. After many mails back and forth it was finally clear that he was in Kathmandu and that he would have time to see me after finishing a Nyungne retreat, so I packed my bags, got a ticket and 10 days later I arrived in his monastery close to Swayambunath stupa.

I still had to wait for Rinpoche to have time, so I studied the different mandalas, which one can find painted on the ceilings of the temples and prayer wheel halls and I found some books and pictures of mandalas and with all this I started to make new drawings.

When we finally had time to talk he started by asking if we could not paint another mandala in its place as it is difficult to get all the details for the Gendun Duwa. Even though this was not very encouraging I decided that this was the kind of encouragement which was needed to really try to put it into place. And as I told him that it was the wish of Gendun Rinpoche to have this mandala on the ceiling he said that then we really have to do it properly and he began looking through the text and my drawings giving many corrections and propositions.

After this I began to make new drawings because he had spotted some major errors on the old ones and with the pictures and books at hand I added a number of details to see what Rinpoche might think of them. As I returned to see him with these fresh drawings I thought that we only had a handful of details to clarify but before I could begin asking he started to go through the text and my drawings from A-Z and like this I ended up with more corrections than I had questions even before having had time to ask anything.

I then went to see Rinpoche again after having changed what had to be changed and after adding again some new details to see if he might agree and he seemed quite content with the result proposing some details, which we could add if we liked.

The canvas was already prepared before my trip to Nepal and we had also had time to make the basic lines of the geometric structure of the mandala on the full moon day in November before I left. The painters had made the surrounding dark blue on the following Dutchen day but after this it had to wait for further precisions.

And now since coming home the actual work is in the hands of lama Khunkhyab who creates all the basic drawings of details and this is then painted by Yanna, Samuel and Gana of course with the help of others who turn the colours or paint certain lines. I myself stay in the background keeping an eye on the details and answer questions whenever needed".

"In your opinion why did Gendun Rinpoche wish for the Gendun duwa mandala to be made in Kundreul Ling?"

"I do not really know but personally I take Rinpoches idea was very literally that this place, this temple becomes a place which really gathers the sangha (gendun duwa) in the sense that as long as we stick together and sincerely represent the dharma, which is the actual work of the sangha, the dharma and the stream of blessing of the lineage will continue.

The mandala as such being painted and placed on the ceiling acts on one hand as decoration and on another as a reminder of the meaning of the temple. In a text from Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche, he calls a temple "Gendun duwai tsuk lakhang" which translate into something like "a temple for the meeting of the monastic assembly" and as the sangha in the words of the Buddha is the guaranty for the continuation of the dharma a temple becomes both something very symbolic and very essential.

So I think that Gendun Rinpoche tried and still tries to open our minds to something more than our own little world and practise, in fact I remember when I came more than ten years ago to help build the monastery he said that what we were really doing was not for us but for the future generations to come something which will last for centuries. And I think we still have lots to learn to understand what it means to bring the dharma to a new place and integrate it in our society, in our western minds in a way which is true and authentic and which allows it to continue even when were are no longer around."

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