MUNCIE, Ind. -- Seven Buddhist monks will be at Ball State University from Jan. 18-20 to create a Yamantaka Sand Mandala. The Buddhist monks of Gaden Shartse Thoesam Norling University and Dagom Gaden Tensung Ling Monastery will celebrate the culture of Tibet by building a sacred circle of colored sand grains.

The opening ceremony for the building of the mandala will take place at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18, in the Architecture Building Gallery.

The gallery will be open for three days during the mandala’s construction.

The mandala is expected to be finished Saturday afternoon and then it will be destroyed as a symbol of impermanence, a concept central to Buddhist culture.

The Yamantaka Sand Mandala translates into “the opponent of the Lord of Death.” The Yamantaka counteracts the three forms of death: outer (ordinary death), inner (the distorted mind and disturbed emotions), and the secret (the knots in the subtle energy system and chakras).

More information can be found at the Department of Architecture Web site at www.bsu.edu/cap/arch/sacredspace.

Other events related to the building of the mandala include:

• Lecture: “The Path of Tibetan Buddhism” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18 at The MT Cup
• Lecture: “Mandala: Sacred Circle of Tibetan Buddhism” at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 19 at AB 310
• Mandala Destruction and Closing Ceremony on Saturday afternoon at AB Gallery (Time To Be Announced)

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Brian Sinclair by e-mail at bsinclair@gw.bsu.edu or by phone at (765) 285-1908. )