The 2009 Tibetan Mandala Project—Schedule

Beginning on March 2, 2009, Geshe Dorjee, and Gedun Pekar of Fayetteville's Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas, will be joined by two visiting scholars of Tibetan culture, Zoepa Gyatso and Lama Agha, to create a Tibetan sand mandala in the Helen Robson Walton Reading Room of Mullins Library. This quartet of artists, monks, and cultural educators will work together to assemble the mandala and to participate in a series of ceremonies commemorating the mandala's beginning, completion, and ultimate destruction. They will also be available to answer questions regarding Tibetan art, multiphonic chanting practices, Buddhist dharma, Buddhist philosophy, and Tibetan culture. Visitors will have an opportunity to watch the mandala being created, live and up-close.

Running concurrently with this activity will be a student exhibit of Tibetan and Indian artifacts. Students from Geshe Dorjee's undergraduate course, Buddhist Culture and Philosophy, will assemble a display of prayer flags, tanghas, sculptures, and color photographs of Tibetan architecture and landscape. Alongside the mandala, these items will be on display throughout the month of March.

This program is being coordinated jointly by both the University of Arkansas and Fayetteville communities. The Libraries Diversity Committee and the Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas have teamed together to plan, host, and provide this event as a cultural educational opportunity for the region's students, faculty, staff, and citizenry.

This entire event is free and open to the public.

 

All activities will take place in the Helen Robson Walton Reading Room of Mullins Library unless otherwise indicated.

• March 2nd, 10-11 AM: an Opening Ceremony will be held to initiate the mandala's creation. Geshe Dorjee and Dr. Sidney Burris will make introductory remarks followed by a brief reception.
• March 2nd-March 11th: The mandala will be created during this time. Zoepa Gyatso, Lama Mepham, and Lama Agha are scheduled to work on this sand painting from the hours of 9-11:30 AM and 2-5 PM, Monday though Friday; and from 2-5 PM on Sunday March 8th. Visitors are welcome to watch him work during these times. For those who are unable to visit during these times, the mandala will be on display and available for viewing in the early morning and late evening according to the library's normal business hours.
• March 11th, 7 PM: A Finishing Ceremony will be held to celebrate and seal the mandala's completion.
• March 11th-March 29th: The mandala will be on display and available for viewing during the library's normal business hours.
• March 29th, 3PM: A final, Closing Ceremony will be held. Concluding remarks, preceding the mandala's destruction, will be given by Geshe Dorjee and Dr. Sidney Burris. Small packets of sand will be distributed to those who are present.

 

For additional information, please contact:

Megan Z. Perez

Libraries Diversity Officer

(479)-575-2486

mzperez@uark.edu

 

Dr. Sidney Burris

Director of Religious Studies

(479)-575-2509

sburris@uark.edu

 

Ven. Geshe Thupten Dorjee

Instructor

(479)-790-9950

tdorjee@uark.edu