Tibetan Buddhist monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery will construct a mandala sand painting from September 30th to October 4th in the C. Bascom Slemp Student Center at UVA Wise. 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 platform over a period of days to form the image of a mandala. The monks have created over 100 mandala sand paintings in museums, art centers, colleges and universities across the United States and Europe.

The mandala sand painting begins with an opening ceremony on Wednesday, September 30th at 1 p.m., during which the lamas consecrate the site and call forth forces of goodness by means of chanting, music and mantra recitation.The lamas begin the exhibit by drawing an outline of the mandala on a wooden platform. On the following days they lay the colored sands. Each monk holds a traditional metal funnel called a chak-pur while running a metal rod on its grated surface. The vibration causes the sands to flow like liquid onto the platform.