Buddhist monks return to UHCL
Tibetan Buddhist monks are visiting UHCL for the second time as part of their Sacred Arts of Tibet tour. The monks previously came to the university in 2017.
The monks’ visit will take place Sept. 27 through Oct. 1. Their visit was arranged by Stephen Cherry, associate professor of sociology, and sponsored by UHCL’s College of Human Sciences and Humanities. Cherry became connected with the monks through his mentor.
“They are a diaspora people, exiled in or born in India after Chinese occupation of Tibet, trying to preserve and share their culture through visual arts, music and religion/spirituality,” Cherry said. “They are ambassadors of Tibetan culture and the Tibetan form of Buddhism.”
The monks’ visit will see them once again create a mandala, an art and ritual common in their tradition. The mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of a ritual piece of art made of sand.
“Mandala literally means circle,” Cherry said. “It is a Sanskrit word used to describe a sacred cosmogram. Each mandala represents a form of sacred architecture with outer and inner meanings. At the outer level, it represents the world in divine form and at the inner level, it represents a map that the ordinary mind can follow to achieve enlightenment. It takes days, sometimes weeks, and countless hours to complete the mandala. It is constructed by laying down millions of individual grains of sand. It is ritually dismantled upon completion in order to demonstrate the Buddhist belief in impermanence–the transitory nature of all life.”
Cherry originally planned for the monks to return sooner but this was halted by COVID-19. The monks’ tour originally launched prior to COVID-19 but after the rapid and terrifying spread of the virus, the monks found themselves trapped in a Dharma center in California.
They were unable to set out on the tour as planned because of the virus, and they were unable to return to India because of the worsening conditions there. They remained quarantined in California for over a year, praying night and day for the health and safety of humanity.
After finally getting vaccinated, the monks slowly started to get back out on the tour. All the monks are fully vaccinated now.
“We are very fortunate to be one of a few stops they will make on the tour before their visas expire and they return to India,” Cherry said. “I am very thankful for all the people who have given their time and money to make this possible. I am excited to sponsor such a unique educational experience for UHCL and the community. In particular, I am looking forward to the discussions about art, culture and global peoples it generates among our students.”
