Tibetan monks perform healing ceremony in Annandale park

The monks in Luria Park.

The ceremony at Luria Park was the culmination of a mandala project, which had the theme of healing. After spending a week creating a mandala painting from sand, the monks cast the sand into the flowing stream so the water will carry the healing energy throughout the world, said Rev. Russell Heiland, senior minister of Unity of Fairfax, which hosted the monks.

The mandala created by the monks from grains of sand colored with vegetable dyes. It was deconstructed to show that nothing is permanent, even life.

Unity of Fairfax teaches the Buddhist meditation practice of mindfulness. The church describes itself as “an open-minded spiritual community of loving, caring people.”

The monks are from the Dalai Llama’s Drepung Loseling Monastery in exile in Dharamsala, India, and travel the world in an attempt to preserve Buddhist traditions and Tibetan culture.