USC Pacific Asia Museum is proud to host Tibetan monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery, in South India. They will spend four days creating a Sand Mandala, a Tibetan Buddhist tradition that involves the creation and destruction of paintings made using colored sand. Once completed, it is dismantled as a symbol of the Buddhist belief in the transitory nature of material life. 

The opening blessing ceremony will take place on Wednesday, January 24th at 2:00pm and the closing dissolution ceremony will take place on Saturday, January 27 at 3pm. Museum visitors will be able to observe the creation of the mandala during regular public open hours.

For additional tickets, kindly reach out to us via email at info@pam.usc.edu. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Please review the program details below carefully.

This program is included with the cost of admission. 

Schedule of events:

Opening blessing ceremony:

• Wednesday, January 24th: 2:00 PM

View the monks as they work to create the mandala

• Wednesday, January 24th, 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
• Thursday, January 25th, 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
• Friday, January 26th, 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
• Saturday, January 27th, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Closing ceremony*:

• Saturday, January 27th 3:00 pm - 3:30 pm

* Plan on arriving early for the closing ceremony to view the sand mandala and the dissolution. Parking is limited.