It seems
that all creatures have the urge, and indeed the need, to create. Birds
build nests for their babies, rabbits dig holes called warrens in which
they stash the young'uns, and humans build yurts, igloos, palaces and
trailers, to name but a few variations known to mankind.
The need to find protection from the elements - and predators - seems to be universal for all critters inhabiting planet earth. Although we humans view ourselves as "the crown of creation," there are more similarities than differences amongst the species that inhabit our small sphere as it spins in an infinitely large universe.
Tibetan Buddhists have an art form rooted in deep spiritual meaning, the sand mandala. It takes about five monks, working several weeks of long hours, to create a magnificent mandala from colored sand. The detail is exquisite; to an artist a feat beyond majestic.
And yet, at the completion of these gorgeous and intricate creations, the monks say special prayers as they sweep away the sand mandala and pour its contents into a flowing river...a perfect metaphor of our lives.
For most of us, by the time we leave the nest called "our body," we have accumulated many objects and items, tangible and non-tangible. And yet no matter how precious these "things"or "thoughts" are to us, when we leave a.k.a. die, it all gets dispersed - taken apart - disassembled, invisible, like the sand mandala.
No matter how intricate the mandala of our lives, it all dissolves into the flowing river of time and space; an inexorable and never ending cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
The need to find protection from the elements - and predators - seems to be universal for all critters inhabiting planet earth. Although we humans view ourselves as "the crown of creation," there are more similarities than differences amongst the species that inhabit our small sphere as it spins in an infinitely large universe.
Tibetan Buddhists have an art form rooted in deep spiritual meaning, the sand mandala. It takes about five monks, working several weeks of long hours, to create a magnificent mandala from colored sand. The detail is exquisite; to an artist a feat beyond majestic.
And yet, at the completion of these gorgeous and intricate creations, the monks say special prayers as they sweep away the sand mandala and pour its contents into a flowing river...a perfect metaphor of our lives.
For most of us, by the time we leave the nest called "our body," we have accumulated many objects and items, tangible and non-tangible. And yet no matter how precious these "things"or "thoughts" are to us, when we leave a.k.a. die, it all gets dispersed - taken apart - disassembled, invisible, like the sand mandala.
No matter how intricate the mandala of our lives, it all dissolves into the flowing river of time and space; an inexorable and never ending cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
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