Part I

Tibetan monks strew a Sand mandala

Multiday demonstration and ceremony

From August 23, 2023, a group of learned monks from Drepung in Mundgodt, not far from Goa. will come to the Museum for Sepulchral Culture to create a sand mandala made of millions of the finest grains of sand colored with natural dyes. Each scattered detail, the shapes and colors have a symbolic meaning. Visitors to the museum can follow this process over five days until the mandala can be admired in its perfection.

The term mandala comes from Sanskrit and it usually refers to circular or square images that carry religious significance in Tibetan Buddhism. Mandalas made of sand are created in hours or days of concentrated and meditative work. The scattering of the mandala is accompanied by prayers and recitations of the monks.

The schedule

The day begins with the recitation of prayers in the form of beautiful chants, which invite you to meditate together. During the day the mandala is spread. In the evening again the work is finished with prayers. Visitors can watch or use the space to meditate themselves.

23. August 2023
6:00 – 7:00 pm

On Commencement Day, Dr. Renate Stepf will give a lecture on the history and origins of the monks and the meaning of the mandala. After working for almost 40 years as a teacher of English, physical education and theater at Kassel high schools with one-year stays in England and New Zealand, as well as at the Studienseminar and at the university, she began studying Buddhism in 2000. In Dharamsala (North India), the seat of the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetans, she became involved in school education. This was followed by more than ten years of further stays in Dargye (Kham/Eastern Tibet, today Sichuan/China), where she taught English and supported the construction of a school for Tibetan nomadic and peasant children. She spent several months together with Tibetan refugees in the Sera-Je monastery in southern India. The annual visits to Tibet were interrupted by the Corona pandemic. Stepf is the mother of two daughters, has two granddaughters, and in addition to traveling, her loves include classical music, literature, theater, and sports.

27. August 2023
1:00 – 3:00 pm

After the final ritual, the mandala will be ceremonially dissolved again by the monks on Sunday, August 27. This symbolizes the transience of life – even the mandala is not created for eternity. After a common walk to the Fulda, the blessed sand will be handed over to the flowing water and partly given away to visitors.