Over a series of four days in April, the Venerable Tenzin Yignyen, ordained Tibetan Buddhist Monk and Professor of Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Hobart William Smith Colleges, will create a ceremonial sand mandala based on the theme of compassion at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica. The public is welcome to watch him at work, and admission is free.
Yignyen will work on creating the mandala Monday-Thursday, April 13-16, 2026, from 9-11 a.m. and 1:30-4 p.m. in the Library, located within Payne Hall at the College’s Utica Campus. Then on Friday, April 17, he will dismantle the mandala in a ceremony, during which he will pour the sand into a body of water just a short walk away from MVCC’s Utica Campus (boots, hats, and gloves are recommended). The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. in the Library and is also open to the public.
A mandala is a cosmic diagram that represents the dwelling place of a deity, a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of the mandala made from colored sand. It is ritualistically dismantled once it has been completed, and its accompanying ceremonies and viewing symbolize the Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life.
Yignyen was ordained as a monk by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and entered Namgyal Monastery in Dharmsala, India, in 1969. He completed studies of the monastery, including the monastic rituals and philosophical studies. In 1985, he received the monastery’s highest degree with highest honor.
For more information on MVCC and its programs, visit www.mvcc.edu.
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Photo information: The Venerable Tenzin Yignyen, ordained Tibetan Buddhist Monk and Professor of Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Hobart William Smith Colleges, will return to MVCC April 13-17, 2026, to create a ceremonial sand mandala based on the theme of compassion.
