Co-op News
From "Maple Street Co-op News", June/July 2008
"The Mandala Story"

By Ann Jupp and Gay Liddington

October 1996: Nicholas Redmond, a Buddhist monk who had been working at the UpFront Club had a friend, Jonathon, also a Buddhist monk, who was based at the Chenrezig Institute. On one of Jonathon's visits to Nicholas, he asked if he could paint a mandala on the rear wall of the Club's deck, which had recently been installed as a sound barrier between the Club and its neighbours. The Directors readily agreed, and so a design was presented to a Board meeting prior to commencement of the work.

Mornings were cool and foggy when the labour of love began. The monk arrived with the dawn light, settled himself and mapped the outline. During the following weeks, day after day, he would come in the early mornings when the Club was quiet and, like the turning of a kaleidoscope, the colours began to appear. Jonathon would sit on a stool, his bright robes almost covered by woollen jumpers. He worked silently, reverently, a look of concentration masking his face as his breath misted the morning air. One by one, the people would come until a crowd had formed. They would stand quietly, huddled together. It was as if their presence in some way supported the monk and in doing so, they too assisted in creating the mandala.

Layer upon layer, day by day, the mandala took shape, emerging with colours and images until its completion. Then, Jonathon slipped away just as he had come, with humility and grace, without us ever having the opportunity to thank him for his gift and the implicit blessing that came with it. We later learned that on finishing the mandala he left for Tibet.

We believe the 'Mandala of Compassion' at the UpFront Club is the only privately owned mandala in the Southern Hemisphere. We are indeed fortunate to be custodians of such an inspirational and sacred treasure.

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", June/July 2008; published by The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.co-op@serv.net.au, website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]