karen humphries sallick organized the monk's 2007 tour and explained the significance of the mandalae. >> the mandala is a teaching and meditation tool so that we can focus on evoking in ourselves the buddha nature that we buddhists believe you have inside you. a sand mandala is made typically from precious stones that have been hand-ground and then hand-dyed. the sand goes in a funnel. they'll rub it and the sand will come out. that's how they put these layers of sand down to create these beautiful, spiritual forms of art. the very center is the representation of chenrezig, the buddha of compassion. tibetan buddhists actually believe that his holiness the 14th dalai lama is the reincarnation of chenrezig. the next ring outside of the central figure of compassion are representations of four different buddhas. the buddha for eliminating hatred is represented by a thunderbolt. then we have a jewel that represents the deity that can eliminate suffering. then we have a wheel of knowledge or dharma, the deity that represents the elimination of ignorance. and then the last is a green sword