Ithaca College to Welcome Back Tibetan Buddhist Monks for Creation of Mandala

By Dan DeCaria, September 13, 2024
Mandala will be constructed in the Business School Upper Atrium from September 18-23.
Tibetan monks creating a sand mandala

Monks from Namgyal Monastery putting the final touches on a mandala in 2023.

(photo by Giovanni Santacroce)

Monks from Namgyal Monastery putting the final touches on a mandala in 2023.

(photo by Giovanni Santacroce)

Ithaca College is proud to announce that it will welcome back several monks from our South Hill neighbors, Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, for the creation of a sand mandala inside the upper atrium of the Dorothy D. and Roy H. Park Center for Business and Sustainable Enterprise. This is the third consecutive year that Ithaca College and Namgyal Monastery have come together to host this extraordinary event. The construction of the mandala will center a week of programming and learning opportunities beginning Wednesday, September 18, and extending through Monday, September 23.

“We are so excited to be welcoming back the monks for the creation of a mandala on our campus this fall,” said Eric Steinschneider, associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion. “This is an amazing opportunity to continue to strengthen the bonds between Ithaca College and our Tibetan neighbors, and a reminder to the entire community of the wonderful treasure that we have in Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies here in Ithaca.”

The mandala will be constructed out of multi-colored sand and is dedicated to Chenrezig, the bodhisattva (highly advanced spiritual being) of compassion, also known as Avalokiteśvara. Tibetan Buddhists traditionally recognize Chenrezig as the patron of Tibet and view the XIV Dalai Lama as an emanation of Chenrezig in the physical world.

The creation of the mandala will officially commence on Wednesday, September 18, beginning with a brief opening ceremony, led by Ithaca College President La Jerne Terry Cornish and representatives from Namgyal Monastery, at 10:00 a.m. in the upper atrium of the School of Business. The monks will be actively constructing the mandala each day from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. throughout the remainder of the week until it is completed.

Each day, the monks will suspend their active work on the mandala at 3:00 p.m. to do ritual chanting followed by a brief meditation period. Each day at 4:00 p.m., IC community groups will offer a walking meditation opportunity that all are welcome to attend.

Ithaca College will also broadcast a livestream of the monks’ progress throughout the week for those unable to attend in person. The livestream can be viewed at www.ithaca.edu/livestream/mandala-project.

Mandala Engagement Opportunities

All events are open to all students, faculty, and staff as well as campus visitors. More information can be found on the Tibetan Buddhist Mandala Project website.

  • Wednesday, Sept. 18: 6:00-8:00 PM (Klingenstein Lounge – Campus Center) “Imagining Worlds: Buddhism, Mandala, and the Ecological Crisis”
    Jane-Marie Law, associate professor of Asian studies at Cornell University, will deliver a talk on the intersection of Buddhism and environmentalism. Students can receive SLI credit if RSVP’d at least 24 hours in advance.
     
  • Thursday, Sept. 19: Noon-1:00 PM (Klingenstein Lounge – Campus Center) “Religion Roundtable Discussion”
    This year's religious roundtable will feature a community discussion on the relationship between religion and the current ecological crisis. Juan Arroyo, assistant professor of politics at IC, will kick off the conversation with a brief presentation on Pope Francis’s landmark 2015 environmentalist encyclical "Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home." Students can receive SLI credit if RSVP’d at least 24 hours in advance.
     
  • Friday, Sept. 20: 6:00-8:00 PM (Klingenstein Lounge – Campus Center) “Film Screening and Discussion of ‘Samsara’”
    Join Department of Philosophy and Religion faculty members Rachel Wagner and Eric Steinschneider for a screening and discussion of director Ron Fricke’s visually stunning 2011 film, “Samsara.” Students can receive SLI credit if RSVP’d at least 24 hours in advance.
     
  • Friday, Sept. 20: 7:50 PM (Campus Center Dining Hall) “Seva with IC Eco Reps”
    This event offers you the chance to work with Eco Reps to donate the excess food from the Campus Center Dining Hall. In South Asian religious traditions, selfless service, known as Seva (or Sewa), refers to acts of service performed without any expectation of reward or recognition. These services are carried out for the benefit of others or society as a whole. By serving others, one is seen as indirectly serving God, making Seva an essential practice in leading a life devoted to spirituality and the betterment of others.
     
  • Sunday, Sept. 22: 2:00-4:00 PM (Business School Upper and Lower Atriums) “Mandala Open House”
    This event for all ages, curated by Ithaca College students Nandini Agarwal, Joey Kwasnicki, Shyla Mishra, Prakriti Panwar, and Bambi Rinard, allows you to design, sketch, stitch, and color a mandala while learning more about Buddhist traditions and religious symbols.

Once the mandala is completed, it will remain on display until 4:00 p.m. on Monday, September 23, at which time the monks will lead a dissolution ceremony. The ceremony involves ritual chanting, the gathering of the sand, and a procession to the Muller Chapel pond. The ritual pouring of the sand into the body of water, in addition to formally dismissing the mandala-deity, powerfully expresses the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence and is believed to spread the karmic merit accumulated by the construction of the mandala to all sentient beings. Following the formal ceremony, a reception with light refreshments and continued conversation will be held at Muller Chapel.

In addition to the creation of the mandala and the bookending ceremonies, there will be additional engagement and learning opportunities, centered on the theme of environmentalism, open to all throughout the course of the week.

Tibetan monk pouring sand into a pond.

After the sand mandala is completed, it will be poured into the Muller Chapel pond as part of a formal dissolution ceremony. (photo by Giovanni Santacroce)

“Each year that we have hosted our neighbors from Namgyal Monastery for the creation of a mandala, our students have taken an increasingly active role in the planning process,” said Steinschneider. “Our students wanted to organize this year’s mandala event around a particular theme and ultimately chose to focus on Buddhism and the environment. This worked particularly well since many of our student leaders involved in the planning are either majoring in Environmental Sciences or pursuing an Environment and Society minor. Under the leadership of our dedicated student organizers, they have curated an impressive social media campaign to promote this year’s mandala events and planned several opportunities to explore the intersection between religion and the environment.”

All events related to this project are open to all students, faculty, staff and campus visitors. To learn more about mandalas, view a full schedule of planned events, and view images and videos from the fall 2022 and fall 2023 semesters, please visit the Tibetan Buddhist Mandala Project website.

If you have questions or are seeking specific accommodations, please contact esteinschneider@ithaca.edu.