Vanishing Mandalas

I am sure you have come across the Tibetan Buddhist tradition called Sand Mandala. Buddhist monks spend several weeks to build mandalas from colored sand. Usually a team of monks work on the same mandala, for the picture entails great detail. And when they are finished, they sweep their work away. The sand is collected in a jar which is then wrapped in silk and transported to a river. This symbolizes the ephemerality of life and the world. I am also positive that you will share with me the feeling, when right after having vacuum-cleaned and wiped the floor in the whole flat you notice a brand new...
read more

The Growing Neck of the Giraffe

A story of natural selection for your kids. Here is a story about how the giraffe’s neck grew so long. A long long time ago giraffes had short necks. They could only reach bushes and the lower branches of trees. They ate those leaves on near branches and lived like that for centuries. They kept looking at the higher branches, but they could not get hold of them. It was all fine until one day there were too many giraffes grazing on too few leaves. They started to stretch their necks to higher branches, but they could not grab them. The famine grew more and more severe. Until a miracle happened. There...
read more