Sand Labyrinth

   I’ve been thinking about making a labyrinth in the sand for a long time now. Watching the ocean filled with lots of water has always made me sentimental. My heart overflows with the waves that are rocked by the wind. People like to leave drawings and letters on the sand between the tides. Like an instinctive playing without learning, it’s so romantic. During my childhood, I was crazy about making something with sand. I made a lot of round shaped sand houses on the beach. I pushed and pressed the sand with my hands to keep the shape of the houses, and then I dug a hole on the bottom of the shapes. Sometimes, I found some tiny little crabs under the sand. I stayed there for a long time as long as I could until the sun set. My skin was itchy and burned. When we grow up, we don’t play with sand as much as when we were kids. Every moment of childhood’s memories are always vivid and exciting.

   Sandy beach is filled with tons of sand that can be used freely. When we draw or make something, we’re thinking about the materials. We think that the material is fit to make something, and at the same time, we also know that the material is permanently preserved. How many things, that we make everyday, are valuable enough to keep forever? How nihilistic a material sand is. The shape of sand will disappear as time goes by. It is destroyed by water and wind even though we work so hard to make it take shape. That’s the law of nature. Nature often takes away everything that we make with our whole heart. We make so many things everyday in our life time, and it disappears. If disappearance is a principle of nature, disappearance and the processes of disappearance is also important. Everything in the world is created and then disappears. If this is so, disappearance might be another gestation for life.

   Tibetan Buddhist monks make something called a “sand mandala”. They make exquisite and complicated shapes with colorful sand. They are immersed in making the mandala and are careful not to ruin the shape for some days and weeks. They’re so concentrated on making this “sand mandala” that they cause pain in their body. The process of making mandala itself is a part of training for their spiritual goal. Anything thatwe constantly concentrate on in our life acts as a kind of practice, we learn and realize through our everyday life. After finishing the sand mandala, the Tibetan Buddhist monks have a ceremony for the demolition. The ceremony of demolition is as important as the process of creating. The sand mandala returns to a simple handful of sand after the ceremony.

   I had been waiting for a sunny day, and I went to go to a sandy beach. It was still chilly getting to the water, but it was a good day to soak in the a warm sunshine. I drew a labyrinth on the sand slowly and watched and relished it. And I made a big sand labyrinth until my body was exhausted. It was a delightful labor. I enjoyed the whole process of making the sand labyrinth. I stayed at the sandy beach all day. And I was happy to see the reveal of my sand labyrinth.About the time when the sun set, the tide came up and slowly swallowed my labyrinth. I watched the demolition of my labyrinth by the tide. I felt so sorry to leave my labyrinth there. My labyrinth totally disappeared under the water. My action that day and the shape of labyrinth remain as only a piece of my memory now. How long will I remember the labyrinth? The labyrinth that I made that day, might only exist in my mind. I made the sand castle labyrinth that day, and thought about me and the things that lock me up. What am I doing in there? What am I waiting for? Everybody might have their own labyrinth, and we are always dreaming about escaping it every single day.