News Archive

Nazareth Hosts Tibetan Monks for Sand Mandala and Lecture

Published February 27, 2014

Nazareth College is pleased to collaborate with Brighton Pathways to Health to welcome the Dalai Lama’s monks from the Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, N.Y. for a three day sand mandala event and a lecture from April 2-4. On all three days, the monks will be sand painting in the Lorette Wilmot Library located on Nazareth’s campus. Lama Geshe Lobsang Dakpa will be presenting his lecture, Loving Kindness and Compassion, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 3 to the Nazareth and Rochester communities in the Otto A. Shults Center Forum. The lecture is free to current Nazareth students, faculty and staff (can reserve tickets through website or at the door). Pricing for community members is as follows:


• $15.00 general admission in advance through website
• $20.00 general admission at the door
• $7.00 for all students (other than Nazareth students) at the door

All proceeds from the event will go to the building of a Tibetan Monastery in the Ithaca community, which will be the first Tibetan Monastery in the region and the only Namgyal Monastery in the United States. Sand painting is free and open to the public. To purchase tickets or for more information, please visit www.nnsm.org or call (585) 317-7060. Nazareth College is located at 4245 East Avenue, Rochester, N.Y. 14618.

Schedule:
Wednesday, April 2: At Lorette Wilmot Library, opening ceremony from 9 – 10 a.m. and sand painting from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (free and open to the public).
Thursday, April 3: At Lorette Wilmot Library, sand painting from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (free and open to the public).
Thursday, April 3 (evening): At Otto A. Shults Center Forum, lecture Loving Kindness and Compassion from 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. ($20 at the door or $15 in advance. To buy advance tickets, go to www.nnsm.org. Tickets are free for Nazareth students, faculty and staff).
Friday, April 4: At Lorette Wilmot Library, sand painting from 9 – 11:30 a.m. (free and open to the public). Dissolution and Closing ceremony from 1 – 2:30 p.m. (free and open to the public).


In his Loving Kindness and Compassion lecture, Lama Geshe Lobsang Dakpa will discuss the seed/root of our human nature and how to nurture the seed of compassion into a blossom of peace and hope for our lives. Geshe Lobsang Dakpa became a monk at Gaden Monastery where he studied and practiced the tantric rituals and the major treatises of Buddhist philosophy, debate, and grammar.


At the age of 20 he became monitor of the students where he taught debate, mind, logic, and philosophy to young students from different traditions. In 1998, he became a lecturer of sutra and tantra for the monks at Namgyal Monastery in Dharmasla, India. In 2000, at Gaden Monastery, he passed his Geshe examinations. Since 2005 he has taught lamrim, logic, etc., to lay people and ordained students from all over the world.


The monks will be participating in sand mandala, a traditional practice that uses colored sand to create a painting that represents the mind of the Buddha. Once the painting is put together, the monks will dismantle it in order to release and disseminate the deity’s blessings into the world to benefit all complete beings. Monks use this unique practice to bless the earth and its inhabitants.

For More Information

Media: Alicia Nestle (585) 389-2457. To purchase tickets or for more information, please visit www.nnsm.org or call (585) 317-7060.

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