Sand Mandala (Photo – Wonderlane).
USC Pacific Asia Museum will host Tibetan monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery Tibetan that will construct a mandala sand painting and perform special ceremonies.
The monks will spend one week creating a Sand Mandala, a Tibetan Buddhist tradition that involves the creation and destruction of paintings made from colored sand. During this ritual, millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place in order to purify and heal the environment and its inhabitants.
Once completed, it is ritualistically dismantled to symbolize the Buddhist belief in the transitory nature of material life.
Museum visitors will be able to observe the creation of the mandala during regular public open hours and attend special ceremonies at the following times:
- Sunday, January 20 at 12:00pm – Opening Ceremony.
- Wednesday, January 23 at 12:00pm – Prayers for World Peace and meet the monks.
- Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm – Chod Puja: a combination of chanting, music, prayer and visualizations using Tibetan instruments.
- Saturday, January 26 at 12:00pm – Closing Ceremony.
Date/Time 01/20/2019 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Location USC Pacific Asia Musuem
I saw these monks several years ago making a sand painting. It is painstaking, beautiful and amazing.