Whangarei Art Museum mandala set to be freed in Hatea River

Mandala at the Whangarei Art Museum. 30 November 2016 Northern Advocate photograph by Michael Cunningham

Nothing is permanent - that is the Buddhist belief behind the imminent destruction of an artwork that took hundreds of hours to create with millions of grains of coloured sand.

For many who saw it being created at the Whangarei Art Museum-Te Manawa Toi, though, the sight and sense of the latest mandala to be made in the city might last forever.

But in keeping with tradition, the delicate sand mandala will be destroyed on its plinth inside the museum, carried to the riverbank near the Town Basin and poured into the Hatea River on Sunday, releasing it from its two-dimensional earthly state and appeasing the water spirits.

It took nine days for Tibetan monks Geshe Jamyang Sherab and Venerable Karma Gyasey, from the Jam Tse Dhargyey Ling Tibetan Buddhist Centre, to make the traditional Buddhist artwork representing the universe and enlightenment.

A Medicine Mandala, its spirit is aimed at healing for everyone regardless of creed, faith or race, and shows the basic form of most mandalas - a square with four gates containing an inner circle, representing the divine geometry of the heavens.

Work began on September 26 with a blessing at the site.

Art museum staff said many people came in to watch the monks working on the mandala, often more than once.

Museum director Ruth Green Cole said the process created a strong sense of community engagement.

"It has been an incredibly popular exhibition. As the work on the mandala itself was done mainly during school holidays, there was ample opportunity for children and families to come and see it."

More than 1500 people visited during the nine days.

Between the placement of the first grains of sand and a mandala's eventual dissolution, witnessing it is said to create positive energy and make one's mind peaceful and clear.

Within that clarity, and symbolised by the destruction of the mandala, is an understanding of impermanence and non-attachment.

However long it takes the monks to create a mandala, on completion they pray over it and then destroy it.

Scattering the deconstructed mandala into a river or sea is also said to appease the greedy, wealthy water spirits called nagas.

Members of the public can bring flower-heads as offerings during Sunday's ceremony and are advised to bring cushions to sit on.

The ceremony, which will begin in the museum at 10.30am before moving to the Sculpture Walk, will be followed by a lunch at Shiraz at 1.30pm, with a cost of $12 a person (please book).