In the fall of 2014 the Hammer welcomed the return of four highly respected Tibetan Buddhist monks–Venerable Gelong Kalsang Rinpoche, Venerable Lama Nawang Thogmed, Lama Nawang Samten Lhundrup, and Lama Dorji Sherpato–create an elaborate sand mandala in the Lobby Gallery. This two-week program, presented in partnership with Ari Bhöd, the American Foundation for Tibetan Cultural Preservation, featured the construction of a sacred sand painting embodying compassion. Over the course of two weeks, millions of grains of colored sand were sprinkled carefully on a flat surface, following precise and ancient instructions passed down over thousands of years.