Sand Mandala event – October 2025
Lama Losang Samten sits at his blue work table bearing a previous work, a beautifully detailed and colorful mandala
Lama Losang Samten with the gorgeous center tiers of our Kalachakra sand mandala
Featuring renowned Tibetan Buddhist scholar, teacher, translator, and artist VENERABLE LAMA LOSANG SAMTEN
October 12 to 18, 2025 – Click here for photos and videos
We appreciate everyone who joined us at this special event, and we were so honored to welcome Venerable Lama Losang Samten to Tucson. In 1988, as a monk and attendant to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he created the first sand mandala ever built in the West at the Museum of Natural History in New York City. This October, he returned to build the same mandala for us in Tucson: the Kalachakra.
After an opening ceremony at on Sunday, October 12, Losang-la began work on the sand mandala. Work continued for several days, with public viewing periods each day. In keeping with Tibetan Buddhist tradition, as well as with Buddhist teachings on the transitory nature of all things, the sand mandala was dissolved in a special ceremony, open to the public, on Saturday, October 18.
For more information about this remarkable process, as well as photos and videos, click here.
Cosponsors
The sand mandala was presented in partnership with the College of Humanities 2025 Tucson Humanities Festival and hosted by the University of Arizona: Center for Buddhist Studies, Health Humanities Hub, Department of Religious Studies and Classics, Department of East Asian Studies, and the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.
In a still from the film, His Holiness the Dalai Lama smiles and greets attendees of the ritual in Wisconsin
In a still from the film, His Holiness the Dalai Lama smiles and greets attendees of the ritual in Wisconsin.
The Dalai Lama’s Gift
Free film presentation at the Gallagher Theater
October 16, 2025
We were delighted to bring this remarkable story to Tucson. The film was presented at U of A’s Gallagher Theater and was followed by a conversation with Venerable Lama Losang Samten, who appears in the film, and two of our board members, U of A Professor Rae Dachille and U of A post-doctoral researcher Tenzin Phakdon.
This film is now available online!
In 1980, His Holiness the Dalai Lama received a humble request from a simple monk in America: to perform the Kalachakra initiation–a powerful tantric ritual never before held outside of India or Tibet–in the heart of rural Wisconsin.
For more information about The Dalai Lama’s Gift and to view the film online, visit https://www.dalailamagift.org/.
Cosponsors
The film was presented in partnership with the College of Humanities 2025 Tucson Humanities Festival and hosted by the University of Arizona: Health Humanities Hub, Department of Religious Studies and Classics, Department of East Asian Studies, and the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.
ONGOING TUCSON BUDDHIST COMMUNITY EVENTS
Awam Institute offers online courses, on-site classes, weekly practice sessions, and events. For more information: Awam-TBI@gmail.com or call 520-622-8460
The Bodhisattva Institute offers weekly study and practice sessions plus special events. For more information: sangyekhandro@comcast.net or call 520-834-5435.
Drikung Kagyu Buddhist Center offers weekly practice sessions, events, and retreats. For more information: questions@drikungtucson.org or call 520-465-1882.
Garchen Institute offers an active schedule of events, classes, and retreats.
For more information: garchen.net or call 928-925-1237.
Tergar Tucson Under the guidance of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, the Tergar community of meditation centers offers weekly meditation and study groups, as well as regular seminars on meditation and the core principles of the Buddhist path. Contact Willie Ames at tucson@tergar.org for more information.