A local Buddhist monk will spend the next four weeks constructing a sand painting to help bring peace to his adopted city of Philadelphia.
Members of the Tibetan Buddhist Center of Philadelphia joined with Venerable Losang Samten on Monday in prayers and chants around a roped-off platform in the lobby of the Gershman Y, at Broad and Pine Streets in center city.
Over the next four weeks, he says, he will construct a colorful and intricate mandala -- a flat sand sculpture --for the benefit of Philadelphia: