https://www.facebook.com/gstdl/videos/3219243091454222/

If you’ve been using this time inside to tap into a more spiritual, living-in-the-now, you—or if you’re looking for something to fill an hour and a half of your day—may we suggest checking today’s livestream of monks at a local Buddhist center creating, finishing and destroying an exquisite work of art, today. Like now.

The livestream of the creation of a sand mandala has been happening daily on Facebook for more than 20 days, from 2:30 to 4 p.m., showing the painstakingly slow, beautiful creation of it at the Gaden Shartse Thubten Dhargye Ling Tibetan Buddhist (GSTDL) in Long Beach.

Yes, a sand mandala is that work of communal art of near-incomprehensible detail created pretty much with a few grains of sand at a time that is destined, pretty much upon completion, to be methodically destroyed to point out that while labor and beauty are both worthy, worldly pursuits, life itself is a transitory, ultimately temporary pursuit.

Since the livestreams are archived on the GSTDL Facebook page, you can check out how the monks got to this point today. As in person, they are not only fascinating to watch but meditative in their tone and pacing, so though they are 90 minutes in duration, you may find they don’t seem nearly as long since time ceases to extend its hold over you as you watch. That’s kind of the whole point of the exercise.

The monks creating the mandala are from the Gaden Shartse Monastery Sacred Earth & Healing Arts, based in South India. They were on a tour of the United States, slated to visit Northern California and Oklahoma through mid-April, when their appearances, featuring teachings, rituals and mandalas, was cut short by California’s stay-at-home orders.

If you find that you like what you see today, know that the monks may start another mandala after this one. Like maybe right away. Like now.