Seven monk artists from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta will construct a sand mandala painting in the Oxford College Library over the course of the week of February 20 to 24.  Their appearance is sponsored by Oxford’s Pierce Program in Religion and part of the Mystical Arts of Tibet tour to promote the monastery and the artistic activities of Tibet.

The opening ceremony will be Monday, February 20, at 12:00 noon in the Oxford College Library, and the mandala construction will take place throughout the week on the library’s first floor.

A lecture entitled "Symbolism of the Sand Mandala in Buddhism" will be given Thursday, Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m. in Oxford’s Williams Hall. His Eminence Gonsa Rinpoche will speak to students at this event, with translation by Geshe Nyima Tsering. At age eight, Gonsa Rinpoche received his novice ordination from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In the same year, he joined Drepung Loseling Monastery in South India for his monastic training.  While pursuing his traditional monastic academic studies at the monastery, Gonsa Rinpoche also received numerous advanced Tantric Buddhist teachings, transmissions, and empowerments from some of the greatest masters of Tibetan Buddhism.

A closing ceremony and ritual destruction of the mandala is planned for Friday, Feb. 24 at 12 p.m. in the library.  All events are free and the public is invited to be present.

Throughout the week, those interested in seeing the mandala can watch its construction in real time through a web camera link that will go live on Monday, February 20.  The link is https://boxcast.tv/channel/xndxofnmqzsrwnikwyoh.  It can also be accessed through the home page of the Oxford College website:  oxford.emory.edu.