The Mystical Arts of Tibet – Featuring the Tibetan Monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery

Asia Society Texas Center presents The Mystical Arts of Tibet – Featuring the Tibetan Monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery.

Tibetan Buddhist monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery will construct a mandala sand painting and perform special ceremonies August 10th – 13th at Asia Society Texas Center.

During this ritual, millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place in order to purify and heal the environment and its inhabitants.

Viewing times vary each day. Please see below for a list of special programs and activities offered. A live stream of the mandala creation will be available online, with a new link provided each day.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Thursday, August 10th
Viewing Hours: 12pm – 6pm
Opening Ceremony: 12pm

The mandala sand painting begins with an opening ceremony, during which the lamas consecrate the site and call forth the forces of goodness through chanting, music, and mantra recitation.

The lamas then begin the painting by drawing an outline of the mandala on a wooden platform. In the following days, they lay the colored sands using a traditional metal funnel called a chakpur.

Friday, August 11th
Viewing Hours: 10am – 6pm

Saturday, August 12th
Viewing Hours: 10am – 7pm*

Community Mandala: 12pm – 4pm (while supplies last)
Guests are invited to take part in the art by contributing to a separate community sand painting on Saturday. Instruction will be given on how to use the chakpur to fill in the design with sand.

TICKETED PERFORMANCE: Sacred Music and Dance: 7pm
Robed in magnificent costumes and playing traditional Tibetan instruments, the Drepung Loseling monks perform ancient temple music and dance intended to kindle world healing.

The Loseling monks are particularly renowned for their multiphonic chanting known as zokkay (complete chord) and are the only culture on earth that cultivates this most extraordinary vocal ability. Each of the main chantmasters simultaneously intones three notes, thus each individually creating a complete chord.

*The monks will be working on the sand mandala from 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday, August 12th. The Education Center will remain open until 7 pm for visitors to view the sand mandala.

Sunday, August 13th
Viewing Hours: 10am – completion of Closing Ceremony
Closing Ceremony: 3pm
The monks will dismantle the mandala, sweeping up the colored sands to symbolize the impermanence of life. The sands will be distributed to the audience at the closing ceremony, while supplies last.

About Mandala Sand Paintings

This artistic tradition of Tantric Buddhism, painting with colored sand, ranks as one of the most unique and exquisite. Millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks to form the image of a mandala. To date, the monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery have created mandala sand paintings in more than 100 museums, art centers, and colleges and universities in the United States and Europe.

Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning sacred cosmogram. These cosmograms can be created in various media, such as watercolor on canvas, wood carvings, and so forth. However, the most spectacular and enduringly popular are those made from colored sand.

In general, all mandalas have outer, inner, and secret meanings. On the outer level they represent the world in its divine form; on the inner level they represent a map by which the ordinary human mind is transformed into enlightened mind; and on the secret level they depict the primordially perfect balance of the subtle energies of the body and the clear-light dimension of the mind.

The creation of a sand painting is said to effect purification and healing on these three levels.

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/loselingmonks

Ticket Information

Because the event is offered free to the public (with the exception of Saturday’s performance), at high traffic times, admission is not guaranteed.