Monks to share knowledge

A group of renowned Tibetan monks are stopping in Nelson as part of their Summer of Zhambhala Wish Fulfilling Tour.

The Gyuto Monks will host a long series of workshops, talks and meditation at Founders Heritage Park Energy Centre over 10 days.

The programme starts on Sunday night at 7pm with a blessing  and the monks will draw up a blueprint for  a  2m-wide sand mandala. Workshops get underway on Monday from 10am.

The local organiser for the tour, Cally Stockdale, says the mandala will take 10 days to complete and will be beautiful.

''Each design has a complete teaching and a history and a story in it,'' Ms Stockdale says.

Using pen-sized funnels, the monks will create the mandala pattern one grain of sand at a time. The mandala will be designed to remove bad karma and negative vibes from the region.

Ms Stockdale says on the last day of their visit, one of the senior monks runs his fingers through the mandala before they take the sand to the sea to say prayers.

''It shows that everything is impermanent, so however marvellous anything you make or create is, it will never last forever,'' Ms Stockdale says.

The visit is ''very special'', because of the monks' standing in the world music scene, she said.

''If anyone has an interest in Buddhism or the Tibet question or the Himalayas,  there are lots of things of interest. I think it is very exciting and there is actually a very large Buddhist contingent in Nelson.''

The monks came to New Zealand for Taranaki's Womad world music festival, which finished on Sunday. During their stay in Nelson, the public is invited to attend the monks' 10-day programme, which starts with  daily meditation at 10am.

The rest of the day will be spent teaching children's art, adult tantric art classes, in healing ceremonies, Buddhist teaching sessions and evening meditation. A ''no worries'' meditation series over the 10 days will be held at noon and will cover topics such as pain without hurt, satisfaction without reward, constructing happiness, the calm of distraction, tricking depression and the richness of generosity.

Some of the ceremonies will be led by monks who were in Lhasa, Tibet, up to 1959 when they escaped into exile in India with the Dalai Lama.

The monks were invited to the region by the Upper Moutere Tibetan Buddhist centre, the Chandrakirti Meditation Centre, and people can attended any of their events for a donation.

On Saturday, March 27, the monks will stage a harmonic-chanting performance at Founders called Timeless Voices: Summer Stillness. Entry is $20 and the concert starts at 8pm.

- © Fairfax NZ News