Post updated at 11:07 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3 to add video:
Tibetan monks are working to create an Interfaith World Peace Mandala at the Lawrence Arts Center.
Many of the world’s major religions will be represented in the mandala, which will be 5 feet in diameter. The monks will painstakingly place colored grains of sand using a tool called a chakpur.
“This contemporary mandala includes an image of our Earth in the center with a peace dove superimposed. Surrounding it are symbols from major world religions, all beautiful in their own right, together signifying world peace,” according to information provided to attendees at Tuesday’s opening ceremony.
The monks aim to contribute to world healing, peace and compassion, and to raise awareness of “the endangered Tibetan civilization and human rights abuses by the Communist Chinese since 1959,” according to the arts center’s website. “The situation in Tibet is becoming more desperate by the day, due to massive displacement of Tibetans by Chinese citizens sent there by the Communist government, and ever new rules and difficulties, especially at the monasteries.”
They also aim to raise funds for housing, food and medical care for orphans and refugees fleeing Tibet.
“When this visual prayer is complete, the monks offer a powerful closing ceremony. After prayers of offering and dedication, the monks dissolve the mandala by sweeping all the sand to the center of the board. This symbolizes the impermanence of all, creates awareness of one’s attachments and therefore suffering, and generates healing for the world.”
The monks will be working on the mandala for the following hours for the public to observe at the arts center, 940 New Hampshire St.:
• 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4
• 1 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5
• 2 to 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6
• 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7
The closing ceremony will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7. At that time, “A procession exits the facility in full robes, chants and horns, where the sand is transported to the Kansas river, where it is released back to nature,” according to the arts center’s website.
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Nathan Kramer (he/him), a multimedia student journalist for The Lawrence Times since August 2024, is a junior at Free State High School. He is also a video editor for Free State’s student publication, where he works as a videographer, photographer and motion designer. See more of his work for the Times here.
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