Monks from the famed Gaden Shartse Monastery in India will be making a return to the Roaring Fork Valley from May 13-19 for a week of family-friendly “compassionate activities,” according to a news release from the Way of Compassion Dharma Center in Carbondale.

The Way of Compassion Dharma Center, founded in 2015 by Carbondale resident and former Buddhist monk John Bruna, provides resources and teachings for free to Dharma students in the Roaring Fork Valley.

The activities will begin with an opening ceremony open to the public, where there will be a creation of an intricate and colorful mandala made of sand. The ceremony will include chanting, prayers, musical instruments and visualization to clear the space and prepare it to receive the mandala. The monks will create the mandala all week, which will be free and open to public viewing, before a dissolution ceremony on May 19, according to the release.

There will be many opportunities throughout the week to interact with the monks, including a Tibetan dinner and cultural night with them on Friday. Other events include a workshop for children and adults on ancient, traditional arts of butter sculpture, Tibetan calligraphy and sand painting, according to the release.

“Each evening, the monks will offer Tibetan Buddhist blessing rituals and teachings. They are also available for individual healing and astrology readings, as well as house, land and business blessings,” the release states.

All activities during the week will be at the Third Street Center in Carbondale.

The monks rely solely on donations to keep the monastery and the ancient traditions alive, according to the release. All of the donations collected during the events will to toward supporting the monastery in India. More information and schedules are available at wocdc.org/gaden-monks-tour/ .

About the monastery

“Gaden Shartse Monastery was established in Tibet in 1409 and thrived in the mountains east of Lhasa for five centuries. When the People’s Liberation Army of China invaded and occupied Tibet in the 1950s, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was forced into exile. India took him in and more than 100,000 Tibetans followed him. The current Gaden Shartse Monastery was founded in 1970 in southern India,” the release states.