Becoming Peacemakers: A Tibetan Sacred Arts Retreat

Join six monks of Sera Jey Lawa Khangtsen for a five-day residential retreat at Menla, centered on the creation of a sacred sand mandala: a living map of the awakened mind. The mandala's journey moves through the Five Buddha Families, and through them into the wider family of peacemakers.

Each day weaves together mandala creation with chanting, silent meditation, teaching, sacred dance, peace circles, and dialogue. Together we explore how inner transformation becomes compassionate action, drawing on the Five Buddha Families, the Twelve Steps of Liberation, the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path.

A special screening of Mission: Joy (dir. Peggy Callahan and Louie Psihoyos) offers a moving reflection on the friendship between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

On the final morning, before the dissolution, the monks offer an empowerment based on the mandala's central Buddha, blessing everyone present to carry the message of peace forward. The completed mandala is then ceremonially dissolved and its sand offered in a peace procession, a reminder that peace cultivated within moves naturally into family, community, and the wider world.

Registration, lodging, meals and the full daily schedule are arranged through Menla. You don't have to be Buddhist, and newcomers are welcome.

Meet the monks on tour →