The opening ceremony which features chanting, music and mantra recitation will be at 7 p.m. Monday, May 15. Following the brief ceremony, those without tickets will be admitted as space permits until 9 p.m. to view the monks drawing the lines of the mandala. The monks will be working on the mandala from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 16 through Friday, May 19. Gallery admission is free. The monks will apply colored sand to the mandala through the end of a metal funnel that is rasped to release a fine stream of sand.
Visitors can walk around the mandala s perimeter, viewing it from a variety of angles.
A continuous slide exhibit by Huxley College lecturer Scott Brennan, featuring the beauty of Tibet, will be on view in the adjacent gallery. No tickets are available but it will be shown on Western s Web site, on campus Channel 20 and in the campus lecture halls above. Following the consecration, the monks dismantle the mandala, sweeping up the colored sand to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists. The gallery will be opened following the closing ceremony to those without tickets who wish to watch the dismantling and bring small containers to take home a remembrance of the mandala. Admission to these events is free.