【Description】
The sand artwork Start of the Universe is a creation with a profound meaning. It captures the first spark of the Universe and the beginning of life.
While creating this sand artwork, Grandmaster JinBodhi discusses the vast expanse of the cosmos, the swirling currents of energy everywhere, and the creation of all lives; he also tells the story of Nüwa, illustrating the symbiotic relationship between all beings and Nature.
Tune in and learn an important lesson about the origin of life.
【You will learn】
- A teaching on the creation of the Universe and the beginning of all lives
【Content】
Hello, everyone, good evening. (Hello, Grandmaster.) Let’s try something special today. Let’s do something with a Zen state of mind. So, we’ll be doing sand art today. I call it “Sand Art of the Zen mind.”
But I’m not using sand today, how can it be called Sand Art? Here, I have a big, rectangular wooden box. I’ll be using cereals and grains for today’s sand art. I think that’s a good replacement for sand. Let’s try it. Maybe it will be different and creative. Then we may have a different inspiration and outcome.
There, like grains of golden sand. I think of the initial state of the Universe and the beginning of life. In some unknown moment, at some unknown time, the universe had reached a special moment, when there was a sudden burst of energy. Maybe some went to the left, some other maybe to the right, up, and down.
When the up-down and the right – left became separated, the energy was spinning at high speed. After swirling for a long period of time, beautiful
lights were formed. Beautiful colours appeared: green, more green, and red, and green. When the universe reached a certain level of energy in a specific time and space, the energy dispersed, and from then on, there was a heaven and a earth.
This represents the time before the creation of the universe, the starting point of all memories. The first lifeform was then created. From there, lives began to multiply. From two, three, four, to millions. In Chinese mythology, there was a mother goddess, her name was Nüwa and she especially loved lives, with not only flesh and blood but also feelings. And she began to create humanity. The first pair of humans were created using twigs and clay. As she was tossing the clay pieces, she was also chanting. And then, the first pair of humans, or our ancestors, were created. I felt moved when I learned of this.
Human beings are inseparable from the soil, all living beings are inseparable from the earth, it’s the earth that keeps mankind alive, and allows continuation of life. So when the universe was created, the goddess created mankind. Each piece of clay tossed became a living human. I’m doing what Nüwa was doing: clay-tossing and creating humans. Let the world be filled with movements of life and feelings. Since the Big Bang, it’s been spinning and absorbing energy. It got bigger and bigger, the energy is boundless, there is no end to it.
How far are we from the boundary of the Universe? Imagine staring at the cloudless sky at night and looking at the stars in the distant sky. From the time a star is born it will radiate light and the light will keep growing. When we see it, the star may be tens of millions of years old. It’s impossible to calculate in human years and time. There are countless such stars in the Universe, shining in green and blue lights; these are stars that are still growing. That’s how it is. Stars that shine in red and yellow are aging stars, these stars will soon perish, only to become stars again later. That’s how it is. Yellow stars. Green stars. Red stars.
The sand art is complete. What should I call it? How about “Start of the Universe”?