Several Tibetan Monks who live on the other side of the world, spent the week in Myrtle Beach to spread the idea of peace and compassion through artwork.
A group of eight “venerable” Tibetan Monks have been traveling throughout the country since June.
They spent the week in the city and tell News 13 it took them coming to Myrtle Beach, to see something they had never seen before.
“Many different colorful fish and also the sharks; I’ve never before in my life seen a shark,” said Tibetan Monk Tsultrim Dorjee.
Dorjee says in the busy “hustle and bustle” of day to day life we can take a page from how peaceful and relaxing the fish are at the aquarium.
However sightseeing is not the reason the monks came all the way across the world to visit Myrtle Beach.
“To make a healing mandala; this is why we are here,” said Dorjee.
A mandala is artwork made painstakingly and meticulously out of grains of sand.
The monks spent the past week hard at work on this one of a kind piece of beautiful artwork only to destroy it Saturday and return the sand to the coast.
The goal is to teach the lesson of finding peace through letting go.
A message many here accepted with open arms.
“Myrtle Beach has been especially compassionate and giving; much more than anyone expected and actually much more than the type of support they were getting in other cities,” said Dr. Leonard Goldschmidt.
Dr. Goldschmidt housed the monks during their stay.
He is the reason they came to the city.
Dr. Goldschmidt came across the monk’s artwork by chance in North Carolina, and invited the monks to do the same work in Myrtle Beach.
Even though the actual mandala will be gone by this weekend, the monks hope the message stays with the community for years to come.
The sand mandala is housed at the Burroughs and Chapin Art Museum.
The monks will complete the mandala Saturday then disassemble it and return the sand back to the ocean.
For more information on the monks or how to donate to their cause click here.
