Sera Jey Monks at Loyola!

The Loyola University Department of Music Industry Studies, the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, and the Office of Mission and Ministry are pleased to host the Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Sera Jey Monastery in Bylakuppe, India, one of the premier leading Buddhist monastic institutes in the world.
November 12 – 14, 2013

The Sera Jey monks are on a U.S. tour to perform sacred music and art. Their aim is to sow the seeds of world harmony and compassion, and to bring attention to their monastic secondary school in India. The monks will create a sand mandala and perform sacred music on Loyola’s campus.

Sand Mandala for Compassion:
November 12, 13, 14
Time: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Location: Loyola University — Danna Student Center, first floor lobby
Opening Ceremony 9:00 – 9:30 a.m. — Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Closing Ceremony 4:30 – 5:00 p.m. — Thursday, November 14, 2013
Sacred Music and Discussion:
Thursday, November 14, 2013
7:30 pm
Nunemaker Auditorium
Monroe Hall
6363 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA 70118

All events are free and open to the public. Donations to the monks are accepted.
For further information, contact: John Snyder, 504-865-3984; jsnyder@loyno.edu.

Sand Mandala for Compassion:
The Sand Mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition of drawing a sacred design with colorful sands. Each mandala symbolically represents the palace of enlightened activities of a specific Buddha and his entourage. Every aspect has a symbolic meaning, nothing is arbitrary. The mandala is used as a base for meditation to spread blessings and inspirations. The mandala will be dissolved with prayers; the dissolution represents the impermanence of life. After the closing ceremony, the monks will distribute sand to attendees as a blessing and pour the sand into a body of water to spread compassion.

Sacred Music Performance:
The Tibetan monastic music and dance tradition originated with the earliest Buddhist practice. The great masters of the Buddhist lineages passed their visions of deities’ movements to their students through sound and music. The sound of the drum represents religion itself. The monks who perform scared dance aim at subduing such negativities as violence, disease, ignorance, jealousy, and hatred.

http://www.serajeymonastery.org/secondary-school