FOLSOM, Calif. — Buddhist Tibetan monks will visit Folsom in 2024.
Placerville Friends of Tibet (PFT) will welcome five monks to Folsom and Placerville as part of their “Sacred Arts of Tibet Tour,” an event organized by Gaden Shartse Monastery in India.
The monks will visit Mercy Hospital of Folsom on Creekside Drive from Jan. 3, 2024, through Jan. 6, 2024, according to the PFT website. They will visit El Dorado County Federated Church on Thompson Way in Placerville from Jan. 9, 2024, to Jan. 21, 2024.
Monks from the monastery have been touring the United States for roughly 25 years and they have visited Placerville for 21 years, according to Wendy Wood, an event spokeswoman. The tour adds Folsom as a destination for the first time in 2024, she said.
“This is the first year we’re adding Folsom to the tour… hoping to bring more of their arts and culture and teachings to the Folsom [and] Sacramento region,” Wood said.
The monks will create a mandala, which in Buddhism is a symbol of the universe in its ideal form, and conduct teachings during their visits, she said.
“Mercy Folsom approached us to host in Folsom… so we agreed to do this for a week prior to them heading up to Placerville for another two weeks,” Wood said.
Wood said the Gaden Shartse Monastery in southern India is home to the monks as they have been exiled in India from Tibet like the Dalai Lama.
In 1959, 100,000 Tibetans followed the Dalai Lama into India after China took over Tibet, according to the Geluk International Foundation, a Buddhist organization.
