Straight outta Karnataka

It was in college that I first met the Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Gaden Shartse Monastery. After escaping persecution from the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the leaders of the religious school settled in Karnataka in Southern India in 1970. They now travel the world to raise funds and awareness for their religious school.

When they came to UC Irvine, visited my Asian-history class and performed in the school’s event center, what impressed me the most were the monks’ sand mandalas. These colorful temporary works of art, created over the period of a week or more, took their form a few grains of sand at a time. Yet, over time, they became intricate geometric art pieces, shaded in precise color. These paintings seemed to represent the monks’ philosophy that even quantum particles have importance, and when the mandalas were destroyed afterward, it seemed to be a statement on the impermanence of material objects.

Anyway, by some sort of cosmic coincidence (or maybe not), a group of monks from the same monastery will be near Sacramento next week, at Placerville’s Cozmic Café & Pub. From Thursday, January 2, through Wednesday, January 15, seven monks will bring the Sacred Earth and Healing Arts of Tibet tour to the venue, with two-weeks worth of cultural events and presentations. Some of the highlights include a butter-sculpture workshop, a Tibetan dinner, classes and open dialogue sessions.

It all culminates in the Tibetan Cultural Night Performance on Saturday, January 11, at the Cameron Park Community Center (2502 Country Club Lane in Cameron Park). This event (tickets are available at http://tibetplacerville.brownpapertickets.com) will showcase folk dances, Tibetan chanting and a “Tibetan monastic ’debate’”—a ritualized dialectic that often involves vigorous physical gesturing.

The Cozmic Café is located at 594 Main Street in Placerville. For more information, including a full schedule of events, visit www.facebook.com/pvilletibet.