The sand image is from an Mandala Sand Painting event byTibetan Buddhist monks or Lamas to promote compassion for all beings. For background on them and their events, see http://www.mysticalartsoftibet.org and http://www.drepung.org/.
The subject of this painting was Avalokiteshvara mandala. It is a sacred art, a tool for reconsecrating the earth and its inhabitants, for world peace. See the movie of the dismantling of the mandala sand painting 12MB Quicktime MPEG-4 movie or 5.6MB Macromedia Flash movie.
To see the interactive image on this page, you need 
Flash 4+.
See also the WWP
movie.