Lincoln City, OR – The first-ever U.S. tour by a group of Tibetan nuns will come to the Lincoln City Cultural Center Oct. 10 through 15. Their residency week will include the creation of the Avalokiteshvara Sand Mandala, and a number of Tibetan cultural events, workshops, talks, and ceremonies.

The highlight of the visit by the Tibetan nuns of Jangchub Choeling to Lincoln City is the creation of the Avalokiteshvara Sand Mandala in the Cultural Center auditorium. It will take four to five days to complete, and is a colorful and meticulously hand-created piece of sacred Tibetan art representing Avalokiteshvara (Chrenrezig in Tibetan), the Bodhisattva (or “Great Being”) of Compassion. The Dalai Lama himself is said to be the reincarnation of Chenrezig. The completed mandala will be a symbolic depiction of a celestial palace, filled with sacred symbols from Tibetan culture, including animals, trees, geometric designs, and a portrait of Avalokiteshvara.

Unlike some other forms of “sand painting,” the Tibetan sand mandalas have a brocade-like design with a three-dimensional quality. The nuns use narrow metal funnels, identical to the ancient tools used for at least a millennium in Tibet. The funnels are then vibrated by the nuns, using a special metal rod so that the fine lines of colored sand can be carefully “painted” into the mandala.

The week of events will begin at 6 pm on Thursday, Oct. 10, with an opening purification ceremony. The nuns will work on the sand mandala from 9 am to 4 pm on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday (Oct. 11-15) in the Cultural Center auditorium. The public is invited to come and observe this meditative process of the mandala’s creation throughout the visit.

While the nuns are here, they’ll also be offering several other Tibetan cultural events, including a Tibetan Cultural Night on Saturday, Oct. 12, which will feature the sacred Dakini Dance, a ritual dance that until recently was only performed by Tibetan monks. Also on the Cultural Night program is the “Chod Ceremony" for removing of inner and outer obstacles featuring classic Tibetan Buddhist chanting and ceremony, followed by a Q& A and slideshow with the nuns about their history and life in Tibet, their perilous journey across the Himalayas to exile in India after the Chinese invasion in 1959, and the recent creation of an order of Tibetan nuns and “Geshemas” (or senior teachers) alongside the large Tibetan monasteries of the monks.

Other events during the week include the “White Tara Empowerment Ceremony” at 6 pm on Friday, Oct. 11, a meditation workshop at 10 am on Saturday (Oct. 12) and a talk on “Who is Green Tara?”, another important figure in Tibetan Buddhism, at 6 pm on Sunday, Oct. 13.

On the final evening of their visit – 5 pm on Tuesday, Oct. 15 -- the nuns will conduct the Dissolution Ceremony for the finished sand mandala. The ritual “dissolution,” in which the completed mandala is ritually swept up and carried to the ocean, symbolizes the impermanence of all created things, a fundamental teaching of Tibetan Buddhism. The public is invited to come and celebrate with the nuns this beautiful week of cultural exchange and sharing.

All events are walk-up and by suggested donation. All proceeds benefit directly the Jangchub Choeling nuns' medical care in India.

This is the first-ever full tour in the United States by a group of Tibetan nuns, and is part of a year-long visit that has brought the nuns to Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago, and NYC. The tour group includes four Tibetan nuns, one of whom is a “Geshema,” the highest degree awarded in the Tibetan monastic universities.

Thanks to the efforts of Tibetan women who aspired to become nuns, and to the efforts of the Dalai Lama, the order of Tibetan nuns was re-established in the last 1980s, and Geshema degrees awarded to nuns only in the past decade. However, there is still a lack of facilities, as well as qualified female teachers amongst the nuns, and thus the nunneries work in close cooperation and support from the various Tibetan monasteries and colleges in exile in India.

The nuns are also offering house, business, and land blessings while they’re here, as well as personal blessings and healings. For more information, contact LC Friends of Tibet at 530-748-9365 or email LincolnCountyTibet@gmail.com.

This visit and residency are presented by Lincoln County Friends of Tibet in cooperation with the Lincoln City Cultural Center. Lincoln County Friends of Tibet also hosted the recent visit by the Gaden Shartse Tibetan monks to Newport back in June.

All funds raised during the visit go directly for the medical care and medical facilities for the nuns at Jangchub Choeling Nunnery in the Tibetan Refugee Zone in Mundgod, India.



For more information and a complete schedule, go to:

https://LincolnCity-CulturalCenter.org or https://LCFriendsofTibet.org or email: LincolnCountyTibet@gmail.com; phone: 530-748-9365. More information can also be found on Facebook: LCFriendsofTibet.