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. To fulfill the function of healing, the sand is carried to a body of water, where a very small amount is released to disperse the healing energies of the mandala throughout the world. In the final PAC Series performance of the year, the famed multiphonic singers of the Drepung Loseling Monastery perform ancient dances and music traditional instruments including 10-foot dunchen trumpets. Free parking is available in lots 17G and 31C, and lot 14G for disability accommodations.
Shuttle service is also available.
The community is invited to join WWU President Karen W. Morse to cap the university s Centennial Celebration with fireworks and birthday cake. Drepung Loseling Monastery was established near Lhasa, Tibet in 1416 and housed 15,000 monks. Following the Chinese takeover of Tibet and the destruction of the its monasteries in 1959, about 250 Drepung monks managed to escape and rebuild the institution in India. In 1991, these monks formed The Loseling Institute in Atlanta, Ga., a non-profit organization dedicated to the study and preservation of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of wisdom and compassion and its endangered culture, which today leads a fragile existence in the exiled refugee communities in India and Nepal. The Institute has an academic affiliation with Atlanta s Emory University to promote multicultural understanding and scholarly interchange.