2024 Tour - Here's What You Should Know
The Sacred Arts of Tibet Tour of Gaden Shartse Norling Monastery will be returning to Placerville and Folsom January 2nd through January 21st, 2024. The tour begins in Folsom, supported by Mercy Folsom and Dignity Health from January 2nd through the 6th at 1580 Creekside Dr., Community Education Room 1, Folsom, CA 95630.The tour will then move to Placerville on January 8th through the 21st at the historic Federated Church, 1031 Thompson Way, Placerville, CA 95667
In Folsom the Tibetan Buddhist Monks will create the White Tara female deity mandala representing compassion and healing and the power to see suffering and offer aid. In Placerville, the monks will create the Avalokiteshvara male deity mandala representing the universal compassion of all Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
The sand mandala creations both culminate with a closing mandala dissolution ceremony. The White Tara dissolution ceremony in Folsom will be Saturday, January 6th 4-6 p.m. The Avalokiteshvara dissolution ceremony in Placerville will be Saturday, January 20th, from 4-6 p.m.
During the tour, the Monks will share their arts and culture, Tibetan perspectives on the Buddha’s teachings, offering empowerments, astrology readings, healings, and blessings for individuals, families, businesses, pets, and the community at large.
These events help support Gaden Shartse Monastic College, which is situated in the remote countryside of southern India. It was founded in 1969 as an effort to re-establish one of the great monastic traditions of Tibet—the Gelug tradition followed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. A small group of elder monks and fifteen young boys, all of whom had managed to escape the destruction in Tibet, settled on land given to them by the Indian government in Mundgod, Karnataka.
Today the college is at the forefront of the revival of Tibetan Monastic education, with more than 1600 resident students, teachers, scholars, and spiritual practitioners. More than 70% of the members are between the ages of 10 and 25 and 80% of these were born in Tibet. To this day, young monks arrive at the Monastery weekly from Tibet, seeking shelter and education. Due to the success of the academic program and the quality of the teachers at the monastery, Gaden Shartse has established a reputation as being the leader in the field of Buddhist and Tibetan studies.
