Mandala Creation and Destruction

When the mandala is finally finished, however long it takes for the monks to deal with this divine geometry of the heavens, they pray over it, and then they destroy it. They sweep it up, every last grain of sand, and give handfuls of it away to those who participate in the closing ceremony as a final memory of sublime possibility. Then they throw the rest of the sand into the nearest living stream, to be swept into the ocean and bless the whole world. And that's it. It's gone. In an instant, after all that artistry and work, it's over.