Toddler stomps monks' sand creation

[WifeOHunkyJohn 2]

Toddler stomps monks' sand creation

Design that took two days to create was too tempting for Mo. child to resist

Updated: 4:23 p.m. PT May 24, 2007

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The little boy spotted the pretty pile of colored sand on the floor of the vast hall and couldn’t resist. Slipping under a protective rope, he danced all over the sand, ruining the carefully crafted picture.

Never mind that it was the creation of eight Tibetan monks who had spent two days cross-legged on the floor of Union Station, meticulously pouring the sand into an intricate design as an expression of their Buddhist faith.

They were more than halfway done with the design — called a mandala — on Tuesday when they ended their work for the day and left. The little boy showed up sometime later with his mother, who was taking a package to a post office in the hall.

“He did a little tap dance on it, completely destroying it,” said Lama Chuck Stanford, of the Rime Buddhist Center in Kansas City.

'No problem,' monk says

A security tape shows the boy’s mother returning to the mandala, grabbing her son by the arm and walking out of camera range.

The monks saw the destruction Wednesday.

“No problem,” Geshe Lobsang Sumdup, leader of the group from the Drepung Gomang Monastery in southern India, said through a translator. “We didn’t get despondent. We have three days more. So we will have to work harder.”

The monks are on a yearlong tour of the United States and Canada to raise money for their monastery. The original monastery in Tibet was destroyed.

In a ceremony Saturday, they will sweep up the sand and offer bits to onlookers for their gardens. The rest will be placed in the Missouri River.

“The belief is that it will carry the blessings all over the planet, from the Missouri River to the Mississippi to the gulf and to all the oceans of the world,” Stanford said.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[there is video available on the website for those interested...]

[Fandango 1,440]

Why is a toddler out of his mother's reach in a busy area?

[Ban Hammer 14,460]

Why is a toddler out of his mother's reach in a busy area?

ah today's parents

[Scott & Lai 12]

Why is a toddler out of his mother's reach in a busy area?

Now now, Lisa, mustn't stiffle the dear one's creativity and self-expression

Edited May 25, 2007 by Scott & Lai

[Jenn! 918]

"No problem," Geshe Lobsang Sumdup, leader of the group from the Drepung Gomang Monastery in southern India, said through a translator. "We didn't get despondent. We have three days more. So we will have to work harder."

Admirable attitude!

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Ahhhh true compassion...

[Fandango 1,440]

When I was a nail salon mgr, all the women would bring in thei kids and just let them run amok, I have never seen anything like it. The destruction that they caused was crazy....and you can't have little kids running around a shop with chemicals.

So I made up a sign:

Children are sweet

Children are fun

But please leave them home

When you get your nails done.

[JODO 2]

When I was a nail salon mgr, all the women would bring in thei kids and just let them run amok, I have never seen anything like it. The destruction that they caused was crazy....and you can't have little kids running around a shop with chemicals.

So I made up a sign:

Children are sweet

Children are fun

But please leave them home

When you get your nails done.

[no name 1]

Why is a toddler out of his mother's reach in a busy area?

ah today's parents

no kidding!

[Sinergy 3]

When I was a nail salon mgr, all the women would bring in thei kids and just let them run amok, I have never seen anything like it. The destruction that they caused was crazy....and you can't have little kids running around a shop with chemicals.

So I made up a sign:

Children are sweet

Children are fun

But please leave them home

When you get your nails done.

LOL that is good!!!

[moelarrycheese 0]

And that lead to the first monk who ever said "go&&@^^ f*#king kids "