Monks’ Message : Holy Men Create Sand Painting in Gangland as Sign of Compassion

Being from the wrong part of town can get you into deadly trouble in Cypress Park and Montecito Heights these days. Gangs from the northeast Los Angeles neighborhoods have been at war since March, when six Cypress Park young men were shot at a baseball field.

But when six outsiders sporting shaved heads, nicknames and distinctive colors showed up this month, they were welcomed by gang members on both sides of the Arroyo Seco. Their friendly reception might have something to do with them being from really far away--India.

They are Tibetan Buddhist monks, in town for a month to share their experiences as oppressed exiles with the alienated youths of Los Angeles. So far, their compassion and eagerness to step into a neglected corner of the city has won them the respect--if not the optimism--of local gang members.

“It takes a lot of guts for these guys to show up here dressed like that and chanting,” said Juan M. Udave Jr., 19, a Cypress Park gang member nicknamed “Toker.”

The monks’ arrival in the area, near the spot where a 14-year-old boy was recently shot by a police officer in the adjoining community of Lincoln Heights, shows just how far local residents are willing to look for solutions to violence. Despite the work of parents, police and social workers, neighborhood boys and men have been joining gangs for decades.

City Councilman Mike Hernandez brought the monks in. He said he agreed to try the Buddhist approach three months ago, frustrated by the persistent violence.

A burly former bail bondsman who drives a pickup truck, Hernandez is no New-Ager. But he said the March shooting showed that existing programs alone could not stop the violence. “There were three different youth employment projects in place when the shootings took place. It’s time to try something different,” he said.

So each morning, teams of three monks show up at Aragon Elementary School in Cypress Park and the Montecito Heights recreation center. They quietly begin work on sand paintings of intricate multicolored designs called mandalas, which symbolize compassion. They also strike up conversations with those who show up--both schoolchildren and gang members--as they teach them to compose their own mandalas.

*

As many as 200 children and teen-agers show up daily at the sites. The students and young adults say they appreciate the monks’ friendly, low-key approach, and are impressed by their artistic talent.

“This is awesome,” 12-year-old Zachary Duardo said while working on the mandala with a monk named Sonam.

On the walls of the recreation centers are pictures of Tibet, along with historical notes explaining that the monks, most of whom are in their early 30s, are descendants of Tibetans who fled to India after their country was overtaken by China in 1959.

*

Cristina Barajas, 20, said that she was inspired by the monks’ peaceful resistance to Chinese rule, and that as a Chicana she identifies with them. Los Angeles, she noted, “was Mexico before those [U.S.] immigrants came.”

Gang member Juan Udave said he will keep coming to the program until it ends in two weeks. As much as he enjoys the workshop, however, he doubts the gang violence will end.

“The grudges [between neighborhoods] are really tight,” he said.

“A little piece of art isn’t going to stop a gunshot.”