The Office of Justice, Equity, & Transformation (JET) and Studio Foundation are pleased to present Venerable Tenzin Yignyen “Sand Mandala Creation” on Monday, October 2 - Friday, October 6.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design is honored to welcome the Venerable Tenzin Yignyen to create his 16th Mandala at MassArt. Over the years Tenzin has shared the importance of developing love, kindness, and compassion in every human being in our society in order to create a happy, healthy and peaceful world. Tenzin believes that these spiritual practices of love, kindness and compassion are the main message of all major religions of the world and the source of all happiness and the best method to bring peace and harmony on this planet.

Master sand mandala artist, the Venerable Lama Tenzin Yignyen will construct a mandala sand painting, a powerful tool for Tibetan Buddhist meditation, from millions of grains of colorful sand. It is then dismantled as a teaching on the development of great compassion and the nature of Impermanence. 

Tenzin Yignyen will be our honored guest constructing the Sand Mandala for 4 days. Students are allowed to take photographs and video during the construction.

SCHEDULE:

Monday, October 2 - Thursday, October 5, 2023

Daily Schedule:

8:30am  Morning Prayer & Meditation 

9:45am  30 Minute Talk & Discussion, Q&A

10:15-10:30am  Mandala Creation Observation

10:30am-12:30pm  Talk & Discussion, Q&A

12:30-1:30pm  Lunch Break

2:00-2:30pm  Mandala Creation Observation

2:30 - 3:30pm  Mandala Talk & Discussion

Friday, October 6, 2022

9:30-10:30am 

Talk & Discussion, Q&A, Dismantling Ceremony

Questions? Email jet@massart.edu

Tenzin was born in Phari, Tibet in 1953. In 1961, two years after Communist China invaded Tibet, Tenzin and his parents escaped into India, first to Baksa and then to Dharamsala. In 1969, Tenzin entered Namgyal Monastery at the age of 16 and began his monastic studies in Buddhist philosophies, rituals, meditation practice and arts. In 1976, when he was 22, Tenzin received the vows of a fully ordained monk from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
 

Currently, Tenzin teaches at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, in Geneva, N.Y., as a visiting professor of Tibetan Buddhism. He travels throughout the United States and globally to make sand paintings and give lectures about Tibetan Buddhist arts and philosophy. He has lectured at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Asia Society in New York City, Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, NY and the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in Washington, D.C and Trinity College of Hartford, Conn among many other numerous schools and organizations.