WHEN: April 9-13, 2017. Monks will work 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They will break for lunch from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. each day.
WHAT: A sand mandala will be constructed on the Onondaga Community College campus. Work will begin April 9 and conclude April 13 in the Great Room of the Gordon Student Center.
A mandala is created by laying down brightly colored sand in repetitive patterns. Two monks from the Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca will painstakingly place millions of grains of sand into a circular pattern which holds meaning in its color, symbols and placement. The mandala is used as a tool for consecrating or blessing the earth and its inhabitants, and provides for the practitioner a visual framework for establishing the enlightened mind of the Buddha. It will ultimately be dismantled in order to release and disseminate the deity’s blessings into the works to benefit all sentient beings.
Mandala creation will begin Sunday, April 9. The dismantling of the mandala will happen Thursday, April 13, at 4 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public.