Promoting peace, compassion

Students who went to the Hughes-Trigg Student Center expectingto grab a quick lunch or read in the commons found a surprise onMonday afternoon.

Ten Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery arecurrently visiting SMU.

Dallas marks the mid-way point of their 2003-2004 AmericanTour.

Thupten Kelsang, group interpreter, said that this is the fourthtime the monks have traveled to the United States and are doing soas part of an 11-month tour ending this August.

“The purpose for this tour is to share the Tibetanculture,” Kelsang said.

“We are trying to promote the ideas of inner peace andcompassion.”

The central event of the stay on campus is the construction of asand mandala in the commons of the student center.

The five-day building process is interrupted only by dailychants from 12 p.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Mandalas are drawings in three-dimensions formed of sand. Usingsmall, chisel-like tools, the monks lay millions of colored grainsof sand onto a flat platform.

According to www.gomang.org, “The mandala, a Tibetan sandpainting, is an ancient art form of Tibetan Buddhism. The mandalais a Sanskrit word meaning ‘world in harmony.’

“This one is to relay a message of compassion, wisdom, andpeace,” Kelsang said.

The construction process will end at 2 p.m. on Wednesday when aclosing ceremony and dismantling of the mandala will takeplace.

From 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., the monks will drive to White RockLake in East Dallas where they will perform the ceremonialdispersal of remaining sand into the water.

The destruction of the mandala is a metaphor for theimpermanence of life.

In addition to constructing the mandala, the monks will beselling handcrafted items from the monastery and other items fromthe Himalayan region, including silver jewelry, pure wool shawlsand gem stones.

After their stay in Dallas concludes on Wednesday, themonks’ next stop is in Santa Fe, N.M. to begin the secondhalf of their U.S. tour.

The construction of the mandala can be viewed online athttp://webcam.htrigg.smu.edu/.

Promoting peace, compassion