Watching Tibetan monks create a sand mandala at the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest led to the creation of this piece. I was struck by the deep concentration, the vivid colors of the emerging forms, and particularly by the sound of the sand being applied from small metal funnels. The structure of the piece represents the creation of the Universe according to Tibetan creation myth. The sections of the piece consist of symbolic sonic representations of the basic elements of the cosmos according to the Abhidarmakosa Tantra, in which the universe comes into being from the collective karma of earlier living beings, evolving through the air disc, the strong winds and seas, the land masses, the fire, the mountain walls made of metal. These sections are linked by transitional phases which represent the endless recombination of atoms. Mandala was awarded the Prize in the electroacoustic sonic art category at the Bourges Competition 2001.