NOTE: Date changes: Chop Puja and Skeleton dance is now Tuesday, March 8. The lecture on Buddhism & a Course in Happiness is Wednesday, March 9.
Labrang Tashi Kyil 2015 – 16 USA Tour
The Comparative Religions Club and Gawande Organization at Ohio University are sponsoring a visit from Tibetan Monks from Labrang Tashi Kyil Monastery in Dehradun, India. They will be creating a Sand Mandala in Baker Center from March 7 through March 10.
An opening ceremony is Monday, at the Baker Ballroom Monday, March 7, at noon.
Tuesday features a Chod Puja & Skeleton Dance at 7 p.m. in the Glidden Recital Hall.
“Chod is a spiritual practice known as ‘Cutting Through the Ego.’ The Chod practitioner seeks to tap the power of fear and create a sense of victory. This is done by rituals set in graveyards, and by visualizing the offering of the flesh of our bodies in a tantric feast. These activities test whether we have a clear understanding of emptiness, the lack of true identity of all phenomena and the truth of impermanence,” explains Dr. Brian Collins, Drs. Ram and Sushila Gawande Chair in Indian Religion and Philosophy.
“Next, the monks will perform the sacred Tibetan ritual called the Skeleton Dance, or Durdak Garcham, “Dance of the Lords of the Cemetery.” The Skeletons are worldly guardians that represent the experience of emptiness and a joyous freedom from attachment. This dance celebrates the liberation that comes from our clear awareness that all things are impermanent, including our bodies and our states of mind.”
On Wednesday there is a Slideshow on “Buddhism & a Course in Happiness” from 7 to 9 p.m. in Ellis 214.
At a closing ceremony on Thursday at the Hocking River at 5:30 p.m., a mandala made of colored sand will be dumped into a moving body of water. A mandala is a geometric design used for meditation in Buddhism.
From roughly 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, they will be constructing the Mandala on the fifth floor of Baker Center in the Atrium.
In partnership with the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in Bloomington, IN, seven monks from Labrang Tashikyil Monastery in Dehra Dun, India are touring the United States to teach the Dharma, educate the public about the culture and religion of Tibet, and to raise much needed funds for their monastery.
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