Buddhist Tibetan monks from the Dzongkar Choede Monastery in southern India visited Burnaby's Nikkei Centre and spent four days working on a sand mandala, a practice dating back 2,500 years. Fine, coloured sand is funnelled through metal tubes to create the geometric patterns of the mandala, which is meant to foster compassion, patience, love and wisdom. Once completed, the creation is destroyed, and the process begins anew. The monks are travelling to various cities in Canada creating sand mandalas.