Tibetan Buddhist Monks Visit SMCM in Grand Style

September 16, 2008

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Buddhist Channel

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=60,7142,0,0,1,0

On Monday, Sept. 15 twelve Tibetan Buddhist monks from Tibet’s Drepung Loseling Monastery opened their four-day visit designed to create an exquisite geometric sand painting, called a “mandala,” at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

Spokesperson from the college, John Schroeder introduced the monks and answered a few questions from the audience prior to the ceremony’s beginning. One such question, “Did the monks travel all the way from India just to visit St. Mary’s College?” was answered, “No, the monastery chooses two masters and 10 students each year to travel the world to demonstrate the art and life of the Buddhists.

For the question, “Are they really monks? Schroeder answered, “Yes, most have been in training since they were boys.”

During the monks’ visit to SMCM, the local community will have opportunities to attend public lectures and watch the monks in ceremonial garb carefully construct the sand painting. The monks will painstakingly place millions of grains of sand into place on a flat platform over a period of days to form the image of a mandala.