Tibetan Sand Mandala at Lawrence Arts Center

Date

December 3, 2024 6:00pm December 4, 2024 10:00am December 5, 2024 1:00pm December 6, 2024 2:00pm December 7, 2024 10:00am 3:00pm

Location

Lawrence Arts Center 940 New Hampshire St. Lawrence, Kansas 66044

Price

Free

A small group of Tibetan Monks (8 monks) from the 600-year-old monastery create a five foot diameter Sand Mandala. Visitors will be able watch the painstaking work by the monks carefully guiding millions of colored grains of sand through small funnel-shaped metal tools known as the “Chakpur.” These funnels are filled with colored sand and is then rasped in order to release a fine stream of sand. At the completion of the Mandala, the monks perform a wonderful closing ceremony, dismantling the mandala by sweeping up the colored sand to symbolize the impermanence of all phenomena. A procession exits the facility in full robes, chants and horns, where the sand is transported to the Kansas river, where it is released back to nature.

The objectives of the Sacred Art Tour, are threefold:

To make a contribution to world healing, peace and compassion by sharing unique Tibetan Buddhist teachings, sacred religious performances, chanting, and Tibet’s unique identity treasures of culture and authentic traditions.
To generate a greater awareness of the endangered Tibetan civilization and human rights abuses by the Communist Chinese since 1959. The situation in Tibet is becoming more desperate by the day, due to massive displacement of Tibetans by Chinese citizens sent there by the Communist government, and ever new rules and difficulties, especially at the monasteries.
To raise funds for housing, feeding, educating, and providing medical care for orphans and refugees fleeing Chinese occupied Tibet, native Indians, Mongolians, and others with the desire to study at the monastic center of higher learning.
The monks host a Tibetan Marketplace, featuring Tibetan crafts, jewelry, clothing, artwork, as well as traditional Tibetan items such as singing bowls, and Dharma related gifts made by the Tibetan community in exile. Donations and merchandise proceeds benefit the 2000+ monks at the Drepung Gomang Monastery in South India.