The public is invited to join Venerable Ngawang Chojor as he creates a mandala of peace April 7-12 at First Unitarian Society.

Now a resident of Madison, Venerable Chojor is a senior monk from the Namgyal Monastery, the personal monastery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala, India. He is a master of many Tibetan Buddhist ritual arts. Venerable Chojor will create the mandala of Avalokiteshvara, the deity of compassion. He is creating the mandala to help heal people's minds through compassion and to bring peace to the world.

All people are invited to come and watch Venerable Chojor create the mandala and to pray for peace. The basic schedule is 9:00 am - 4:00 pm Monday through Saturday. It will occur in the hearth room of First Unitarian Society.

Venerable Chojor will begin each morning with a brief ceremony. Then he will construct the mandala by carefully laying patterns of colored sand in a precise design. On Saturday, April 12 Venerable Chojor will give a brief talk about the meaning of the mandala at 9 am. Then he will continue constructing it throughout the day, dismantling the mandala in the late afternoon.

First Unitarian Society, the sponsor of this event, is located at 900 University Bay Drive in Madison. For more information, contact Anne Pryor at 244-7099.