OM MANI PADME HUM

Tibetan monks bring a variety of activities to Athens, OU
2003-11-03
By Lauren Van Arsdale
Athens NEWS Campus Reporter

From India to Athens, 11 Tibetan monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery are in Athens to share their message of a world transformed by wisdom and compassion.

This is one of the only rural communities that they have visited, and the only Appalachian community, said Nancy Beres, event coordinator and Athens resident.

"It is our duty to show them that not all Americans live in a wealthy suburban neighborhood," she said.
This week, the monks will create a Medicine Buddha Sand Mandala Painting, an elaborate design created with sand and colored powders, which symbolizes a world transformed by wisdom and compassion. The ceremonial process began Sunday at 9 a.m. on the second floor of OU's Memorial Auditorium and will continue through Thursday. The monks will work on the Sand Mandala from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. for each of the four days, during which the public is invited to view the process.

After the Mandala is completed on Thursday, Beres said, it will be available to view for a short time before it is destroyed to show the impermanence of the world. After the viewing period on Thursday afternoon, organizers have planned a procession led by Athens Mayor Ric Abel to the Hocking River. The sand will be placed there as a healing for world peace, according to Beres.

Tonight's Cultural Pageant, another of the monks' main events, will feature the chanting of traditional prayers accompanied by temple instruments. Wearing traditional costumes, the monks will perform sacred and ethnic dances. Together with the narration accompanying each piece and featuring a monastic debate, the series of dances and songs "provides a fascinating and warm glimpse into ancient and modern Tibetan culture," according to the Tibetan Monks' press release and program brochure.

This ticketed event has been the most popular program during the monks' North American tour; therefore; standing room only is anticipated. The Cultural Pageant will take place tonight at 7 in the Baker Center Ballroom.

There is a suggested $20 donation, but it is not meant to make people feel that they must pay the full $20, Beres said. All the events are run by donation so any amount is acceptable.

Along with the two main events on the OU campus, the monks will conduct a cooking class, perform a "Yak dance," visit selected OU classrooms, and conduct a series of Punjas, or blessings, in various locations.

Justin McDaniel, OU professor of philosophy, will welcome the monks into his classroom to give a "Dharma talk on Buddhist ethics and the modern world." McDaniel has been involved in the logistics of the monks' Athens visit, offering a plethora of background knowledge of Buddhism due to his firsthand experience as a monk in Thailand. McDaniel participated in a different order of monks, but they are both Buddhist orders and he therefore understands the rules. McDaniel also reads Sanskrit and Pali, two languages central to the Buddhist religion.

The cooking class will be conducted at the ACENet Kitchen on Columbus Road Wednesday evening at 6, and will be an opportunity for local chefs and cooking hobbyists to experience some ancient, traditional Tibetan cooking techniques, according to the press release.

The Yak dance is a silly and fun Tibetan village dance especially for children, in which the monks will wear a large yak costume. The dance is a celebration of the yak, an animal used a great deal by people living in high altitudes. "If you live in high altitudes, the yak is the animal that does everything for you," Beres said. She compares their use to the Native Americans' use of the bison.

The monks are on a year-long national tour in an effort to raise money for a food fund they hope will help feed their monastery and almost 25,000 refugees in India for several years, in case of famine or war, according to Beres. They are also promoting awareness of the Tibetan situation.

The Drepung Gomang Monastery in India is one of the largest establishments of its kind that houses and cares for refugees. Since the first Chinese occupation of Tibet more than 40 years ago, thousands of refugees have been forced to flee their homeland of Tibet and seek refuge in India.

Beres connected with this group of Tibetan monks through the Tibetan Cultural Center in Bloomington, Ind., where the brother of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dali Lama, and several of his family members live. The monks' tour began in September in Bloomington, and will continue through June of next year, spending time next on the East and West coasts, as well. Mary Patterson from the Tibetan Cultural Center in Bloomington, is overseeing the entire tour and arrived from Chicago with the monks on Saturday.