Twelve monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in southern India visited the Vineyard for five days last week to spread good karma and raise money for their monastery. Cris Mayhew of Edgartown was instrumental in bringing the monks to the Island.

“The five days started with me going over to Woods Hole to greet them (try approaching the check-in shed and asking if a van of 12 Tibetan monks has arrived) and ended with a goodbye blessing at the Oak Bluffs dock right before boarding. So much happened in between,” Ms. Mayhew wrote in an e-mail this week.

The monks set up their main camp at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Performing Arts Center, where they built a sand mandala. Over the weekend Islanders of all stripes dropped in, some bearing food for the monks, others out of curiosity.

In her e-mail Ms. Mayhew said the monks enjoyed the experience, which included an Island tour.

“They really liked the Island. The image of them out on the Menemsha jetty and up on the Aquinnah cliffs will stay with me for a long time. I found out they like to collect small stones from the places they visit. These stones are taken back to India. I found a very small flat round stone with a white line all the way around it and presented it to them. Since it was accepted I wonder if our tradition of the lined stones will kickin and they willvisit again? I hope so,” she wrote.