The intricate sand mandala artist-monks worked on for days was swept up and released into the ocean on Saturday. It symbolises the impermanence of all phenomenon.
About 100 people gathered at Tauranga Art Gallery to witness an intricate artwork being destroyed.
A closing ceremony was held on Saturday where a mandala, a sand painting, was swept up and poured into the harbour.
The painstakingly intricate mandala, made up of millions of grains of coloured sand ina geometric pattern, was swept up by monks and released into Tauranga Harbour.
Some of the sand from the mandala was given to those gathered at the gallery as a blessing.
Over 11 days Tibetan monk-artists Venerable Geshe Jamyang and Venerable Karma Gyasey used ridged funnels to create the mandala. The funnels let coloured sand trickle out when rubbed with a piece of horn.
The work, titled The Medicine Buddha, the Buddha of Healing, was swept up to reflect the impermanence of all phenomena - everything has a beginning, middle and end.
