Sands of time running out for mandala

Tibetan monks will hold spiritual ceremony as they destroy vibrant sand

A company of Tibetan monks from the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery have been residence at West Berkshire Museum all week, when they created a medecine (mela) sand mandala, observed by festival visitors.

It involved millions of grains of vibrantly coloured sand, painstakingly laid in place. Mandalas are of profound symbolic value in Tantric Buddhism and are regarded by some as sacred.

Tomorrow (Saturday) at 2pm you can witness the destruction of the mandala in a wonderful spiritual ceremony, rich in history.