Mandala Sand Painting Opening Ceremony

Join the Drepung Loseling Monastery as they perform the Mandala Sand Painting Opening Ceremony. This striking event will feature chants, music, and dance, and marks the start of the monks' residency at the New Castle Public Library as part of the spring cultural series.

From all the artistic traditions of Tantric Buddhism, that of 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. 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.

For the entirely of this week, the monks will be constructing a mandala in the library's…