Tibetan Monks Begin Work on New Mandala

SANTA MARIA

The Official Mandala Group of Tibetan Monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery chant Tuesday
at Allan Hancock College. The monks will continue to build a sand mandala for four days.

CALIFORNIA---A group of Tibetan monks, in the direct lineage of the Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, began a Tibetan Buddhist artwork known as a sand mandala in an opening ceremony at Hancock College on Tuesday. The monks, who visited the Central Coast as part of a 2013 Art Tour to the U.S., started the inner center of what would by Friday be a five-foot-diameter sand mandala to symbolize compassion and wisdom. A compact crowd of students and community members packed around the monks as they recited prayers and chants in an opening ceremony held at the Ann Foxworthy Gallery. [link]