Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery will create a mandala sand painting and perform special ceremonies Tuesday, Aug. 22, through Friday, Aug. 25, in the Havener Center atrium. During this ritual, millions of grains of sand are laid into place to purify and heal the environment and its inhabitants.

The mandala sand painting begins with an opening ceremony at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22, during which the lamas consecrate the site and call forth the forces of goodness through chanting, music and mantra recitation. The lamas then begin the painting by drawing an outline of the mandala on a wooden platform. In the following days, they will place colored sands using a traditional metal funnel called a chakpur.

The monks will dismantle the mandala during a closing ceremony to be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25, by sweeping up the colored sands to symbolize the impermanence of life. Half of the sands will be distributed to the audience at the closing ceremony, and the remainder will be deposited into a natural body of water.

The exhibition and its events are free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Missouri S&T Student Union Board, Strategic Diversity Initiatives and Leach Theatre. The sand mandala painting is free and open to the public.