The Museum of Austrialian Aboriginal Art “La grange” in Môtiers (canton Neuchâtel), the Fondation Opale in Lens (canton Valais), the museum Musée cantonal d’archéologie et d’histoire in Palais de Riponne in Lausanne (canton Vaud), Museum Rietberg (canton Zürich), Musée Barbier-Mueller in Geneva (canton Geneva), the Tibet Museum in Gruyères (canton Fribourg), and Europe’s first ethnological museum, the Museum der Kulturen in Basel (canton Basel-Stadt), are just a few examples of the (historical) cosmopolitan attitude, scientific curiosity, and many bottom-up organisations in the country.

Another facet of Swiss society is discretion, modesty, and carefulness, also regarding its own culture, direct democracy, and Constitution. However, due to careless and tendentious journalism, the outside world often wrongly perceives Switzerland as an isolated mountain people that benefits from other countries or the European Union. The opposite is true.

The image of two Buddhist monks from Nepal on the banks of the Rhine confirms this. Residents of Magden (canton Aargau), inspired by a trip to Nepal, founded a typically Swiss bottom-up project, Lo-Manthang.

The aim is to support the schools in Namdo, Tsarang and Lo-Manthang (Upper Dolpo and Mustang regions) in Nepal, near the border with Tibet. The Buddhist monastery Choede in Lo-Manthang runs this school. Since the communist invasion and occupation of Tibet in 1959 (with about a million deaths, countless murders, and systematic persecution of Buddhist monks and terror), Nepal has become the actual centre of Buddhism.

Images of the monastery and school in Lo-Manthang and mandalas by schoolchildren from Magden and Rheinfelden in the Reformed Church of Kaiseraugst

In these regions, the monastery offers perspective, Tibetan culture and language, Buddhist religion, healthcare, and education to the population. Abbot Kungka Tenzing of the monastery and the monk Nawang Funchok were in Switzerland at the end of January/beginning of February to draw attention to their project.

A concrete project was the creation of a sand Mandala. A Mandala, not to be confused with the Catholic Mandorla, is an ancient Buddhist tradition. They are made accompanied by rituals. Mandalas serve as a form of meditation, self-reflection, detachment from the material world, and a demonstration of impermanence.

A Mandala, in its basic form, is a circle within a square, with multifaceted symbolism of the cosmos and the human mind. A Mandala is always depicted as a palace with four towers pointing east, west, north, and south. Like a map, they are an orientation for people seeking the core of being, the inner self, and the deity at the centre of the Mandala. Mandalas are found in all major monasteries and display a multicoloured symbolic arrangement.

A sand Mandala is a familiar figure. Accepting the impermanence of humans and matter is also an essential motif in Buddhism. For this reason, the beautiful Mandala of colored sand grains, with its symbolism, was returned to nature on the seventh day.

“To dust you shall return” is a well-known saying from the Bible (Genesis 3:19). The equally famous “Dance of Death” from the late Middle Ages, a clock, or the skulls in paintings by Dutch and Flemish masters from the 17th century also point to this motif.

De gereformeerde kerk in Kaiseraugst

From January 31 to February 6, both monks worked on the project in the Reformed Church of Kaiseraugst (canton Aargau), not far from the palace of the first bishop of the current diocese of Basel (since 1529 with its seat in Porrentruy, from 1828 in Solothurn (canton Solothurn)—even the seat of a diocese is impermanent!).

Abbot Kungka Tenzing (l) and Monk Nawang Funchok (r).

After a Buddhist ritual (including prayers [mantras]) in the Reformed Church, the “dust” of the Mandala was, according to Buddhist custom, given to the Rhine. The parallel with the “ashes” after a cremation is obvious.

The authenticity, simplicity, openness, and involvement of these monks naturally garnered much sympathy from residents of small villages and towns, the so-called “countryside” in multicultural Switzerland.

The church and the procession through Kaiseraugst attracted much attention; schoolchildren made numerous Mandalas, and residents, the church, and the government generously supported the project.

(Source and further information: Schulverein Lo-Manthang in Magden)

Monk Nawang Funchok and Kungka Tenzing, passing the Basler Rowing Association, Basler Ruderclub (BRC)