Mandalas

[Captain Beyond]

A mandala in tantric Buddhism usually depicts a landscape of the Buddha land or the enlightened vision of a Buddha. Mandalas are commonly used by tantric Buddhists as an aid to meditation. This pattern is painstakingly created on the temple floor by several monks who use small tubes to create a tiny flow of grains. The various aspects of the traditionally fixed design represent symbolically the objects of worship and contemplation of the Tibetan Buddhist cosmology.

To symbolize impermanence (a central teaching of Buddhism), after days or weeks of creating the intricate pattern, the sand is brushed together and is usually placed in a body of running water to spread the blessings of the Mandala.

The visualization and concretization of the mandala concept is one of the most significant contributions of Buddhism to religious psychology. Mandalas are seen as sacred places which, by their very presence in the world, remind a viewer of the immanence of sanctity in the universe and its potential in himself. In the context of the Buddhist path the purpose of a mandala is to put an end to human suffering, to attain enlightenment and to attain a correct view of Reality. It is a means to discover divinity by the realization that it resides within one's own self.

The mandala is usually a symbolic representation which depicts the qualities of the enlightened mind in harmonious relationship with one another. A mandala may also be used to represent the path of spiritual development. On another level a mandala can be a symbolic representation of the universe, as in one of the four foundation practices of the Vajrayana, in which a mandala representing the universe is offered to the Buddha.

One important type is the mandala of the "Five Buddhas," archetypal Buddha forms embodying various aspects of enlightenment, the Buddhas depicted depending on the school of Buddhism and even the specific purpose of the mandala. A common mandala of this type is that of the Five Wisdom Buddhas (aka Five Jinas), the Buddhas Vairocana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi. When paired with another mandala depicting the Five Wisdom Kings, this forms the Mandala of the Two Realms.


Tibetian sand Mandela

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To the Native American the mandala symbolizes the shield of good luck. With this shield it is believed the gods would protect them. By having one in their home, it would bring them prosperity, good health, and happiness. To some tribes a mandella was considered a shield. It was a prized possession of the plains Indians with each area having a specific meaning.

Mandalas are sometimes a variation of the dance shield used by the Plains Indians, influenced by the herders of the West. It was thought to bring its owner good luck, prosperity, wealth, and happiness.

Mandalas were originally made from Buffalo hides, Eagle feathers, and wild animal furs. Currently all natural materials are used, which come solely as by-products from domesticated animals.


Flower of Life
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As you can see by now, from India, to China, to the ancient Americas, Mandelas were considered very important, both from a spiritual aspect, and as a means of protection.

Sadly, western culture tend to ignore these wonderful and mystical works of art and sacred geometry.

I have a nice one from India as well as a massive Celtic one on the wall that is about 10 ft. X 6 ft.

[Captain Beyond]

I remember watching a doc on some young monks or priests in India working on a sand Mandela for week. It was beautiful and very complex and colorful. When hey had finished all their work, their instructors told them to rub their hands across it and destroy it. I think the lesson being taught was to learn patience ad discipline!

[Project]

I saw something like that once as well...

How do you think mandalas compare to say, snowflakes?

[Captain Beyond]

I saw something like that once as well...

How do you think mandalas compare to say, snowflakes?

Very interesting comparison P. All are different and unique. Sacred geometry is involved in both. Something to think about perhaps!

[Project]

Could the idea have come from nature? Could it have NOT come from nature?

It is essentially a pseudo-fractal pattern, one with repeating segments, but the whole is not necessarily contained in the part.

The geometric patterns look so similar to frost patterns or crystallization patterns.

Since I am going to look it up now anyways, here is the link Mandalas.

Here is cool collection

[crossfire]

The mandala is usually a symbolic representation which depicts the qualities of the enlightened mind in harmonious relationship with one another. A mandala may also be used to represent the path of spiritual development. On another level a mandala can be a symbolic representation of the universe, as in one of the four foundation practices of the Vajrayana, in which a mandala representing the universe is offered to the Buddha.

One important type is the mandala of the "Five Buddhas," archetypal Buddha forms embodying various aspects of enlightenment, the Buddhas depicted depending on the school of Buddhism and even the specific purpose of the mandala. A common mandala of this type is that of the Five Wisdom Buddhas (aka Five Jinas), the Buddhas Vairocana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi. When paired with another mandala depicting the Five Wisdom Kings, this forms the Mandala of the Two Realms.

The Five Buddha Families and The Eight Consciousnesses is a nice, concise, overview of the 5 Wisdom Families, what they are associated with, and where they are found in the mandala.

[Alpha]

The Mandala - Sacred Geometry and Art

From: exocticindia.com

The most admired and discussed symbol of Buddhist religion and art is the mandala, a word which, like guru and yoga, has become part of the English language. Its popularity is underscored by the use of the word mandala as a synonym for sacred space in scholarship world over, and by its presence in English-language dictionaries and encyclopedias. Both broadly define mandalas as geometric designs intended to symbolize the universe, and reference is made to their use in Buddhist and Hindu practices.

The mandala idea originated long ago before the idea of history itself. In the earliest level of India or even Indo-European religion, in the Rig Veda and its associated literature, mandala is the term for a chapter, a collection of mantras or verse hymns chanted in Vedic ceremonies, perhaps coming from the sense of round, as in a round of songs. The universe was believed to originate from these hymns, whose sacred sounds contained the genetic patterns of beings and things, so there is already a clear sense of mandala as world-model.

The word mandala itself is derived from the root manda, which means essence, to which the suffix la, meaning container, has been added. Thus, one obvious connotation of mandala is that it is a container of essence. As an image, a mandala may symbolize both the mind and the body of the Buddha. In esoteric Buddhism the principle in the mandala is the presence of the Buddha in it, but images of deities are not necessary. They may be presented either as a wheel, a tree, or a jewel, or in any other symbolic manifestation.

Creation of a Mandala
Buddhist Paintings

The origin of the mandala is the center, a dot. It is a symbol apparently free of dimensions. It means a 'seed', 'sperm', 'drop', the salient starting point. It is the gathering center in which the outside energies are drawn, and in the act of drawing the forces, the devotee's own energies unfold and are also drawn. Thus it represents the outer and inner spaces. Its purpose is to remove the object-subject dichotomy. In the process, the mandala is consecrated to a deity.

In its creation, a line materializes out of a dot. Other lines are drawn until they intersect, creating triangular geometrical patterns. The circle drawn around stands for the dynamic consciousness of the initiated. The outlying square symbolizes the physical world bound in four directions, represented by the four gates; and the midmost or central area is the residence of the deity. Thus the center is visualized as the essence and the circumference as grasping, thus in its complete picture a mandala means grasping the essence.
Construction of a Mandala

Before a monk is permitted to work on constructing a mandala he must undergo a long period of technical artistic training and memorization, learning how to draw all the various symbols and studying related philosophical concepts. At the Namgyal monastery (the personal monastery of the Dalai lama), for example, this period is three years.

In the early stages of painting, the monks sit on the outer part of the unpainted mandala base, always facing the center. For larger sized Mandalas, when the mandala is about halfway completed, the monks then stand on the floor, bending forward to apply the colors.

Traditionally, the mandala is divided into four quadrants and one monk is assigned to each. At the point where the monks stand to apply the colors, an assistant joins each of the four. Working co-operatively, the assistants help by filling in areas of color while the primary four monks outline the other details.

The monks memorize each detail of the mandala as part of their monastery's training program. It is important to note that the mandala is explicitly based on the Scriptural texts. At the end of each work session, the monks dedicate any artistic or spiritual merit accumulated from this activity to the benefit of others. This practice prevails in the execution of all ritual arts.

There is good reason for the extreme degree of care and attention that the monks put into their work: they are actually imparting the Buddha's teachings. Since the mandala contains instructions by the Buddha for attaining enlightenment, the purity of their motivation and the perfection of their work allows viewers the maximum benefit.

Each detail in all four quadrants of the mandala faces the center, so that it is facing the resident deity of the mandala. Thus, from the perspective of both the monks and the viewers standing around the mandala, the details in the quadrant closest to the viewer appear upside down, while those in the most distant quadrant appear right side up.

Generally, each monk keeps to his quadrant while painting the square palace. When they are painting the concentric circles, they work in tandem, moving all around the mandala. They wait until an entire cyclic phase or layer is completed before moving outward together. This ensures that balance is maintained, and that no quadrant of the mandala grows faster than another.

The preparation of a mandala is an artistic endeavor, but at the same time it is an act of worship. In this form of worship concepts and form are created in which the deepest intuitions are crystallized and expressed as spiritual art. The design, which is usually meditated upon, is a continuum of spatial experiences, the essence of which precedes its existence, which means that the concept precedes the form.

Thangka PaintingsIn its most common form, the mandala appears as a series of concentric circles. Each mandala has its own resident deity housed in the square structure situated concentrically within these circles. Its perfect square shape indicates that the absolute space of wisdom is without aberration. This square structure has four elaborate gates. These four doors symbolize the bringing together of the four boundless thoughts namely - loving kindness, compassion, sympathy, and equanimity. Each of these gateways is adorned with bells, garlands and other decorative items. This square form defines the architecture of the mandala described as a four-sided palace or temple. A palace because it is the residence of the presiding deity of the mandala, a temple because it contains the essence of the Buddha.

The series of circles surrounding the central palace follow an intense symbolic structure. Beginning with the outer circles, one often finds a ring of fire, frequently depicted as a stylized scrollwork. This symbolizes the process of transformation which ordinary human beings have to undergo before entering the sacred territory within. This is followed by a ring of thunderbolt or diamond scepters (vajra), indicating the indestructibility and diamond like brilliance of the mandala's spiritual realms.

In the next concentric circle, particularly those mandalas which feature wrathful deities, one finds eight cremation grounds arranged in a wide band. These represent the eight aggregates of human consciousness which tie man to the phenomenal world and to the cycle of birth and rebirth.

Finally, at the center of the mandala lies the deity, with whom the mandala is identified. It is the power of this deity that the mandala is said to be invested with. Most generally the central deity may be one of the following three:
The Art of Narration in Buddhist Thangka Paintings

Peaceful Deities

A peaceful deity symbolizes its own particular existential and spiritual approach. For example, the image of Boddhisattva Avalokiteshvara symbolizes compassion as the central focus of the spiritual experience; that of Manjushri takes wisdom as the central focus; and that of Vajrapani emphasizes the need for courage and strength in the quest for sacred knowledge.

Wrathful Deities

Wrathful deities suggest the mighty struggle involved in overcoming one's alienation. They embody all the inner afflictions which darken our thoughts, our words, and our deeds and which prohibit attainment of the Buddhist goal of full enlightenment. Traditionally, wrathful deities are understood to be aspects of benevolent principles, fearful only to those who perceive them as alien forces. When recognized as aspects of one's self and tamed by spiritual practice, they assume a purely benevolent guise.

Sexual Imagery

Sexual imagery suggests the integrative process which lies at the heart of the mandala. Male and female elements are nothing but symbols of the countless pairs of opposites (e.g. love and hate; good and evil etc.) which one experiences in mundane existence. The initiate seeks to curtail his or her alienation, by accepting and enjoying all things as a seamless, interconnected field of experience. Sexual imagery can also be understood as a metaphor for enlightenment, with its qualities of satisfaction, bliss, unity and completion.

Color Symbolism of the Mandala

If form is crucial to the mandala, so too is color. The quadrants of the mandala-palace are typically divided into isosceles triangles of color, including four of the following five: white, yellow, red, green and dark blue. Each of these colors is associated with one of the five transcendental Buddhas, further associated with the five delusions of human nature. These delusions obscure our true nature, but through spiritual practice they can be transformed into the wisdom of these five respective Buddhas. Specifically:

• White - Vairocana: The delusion of ignorance becomes the wisdom of reality.
• Yellow - Ratnasambhava: The delusion of pride becomes the wisdom of sameness.
• Red - Amitabha: The delusion of attachment becomes the wisdom of discernment.
• Green - Amoghasiddhi: The delusion of jealousy becomes the wisdom of accomplishment.
• Blue - Akshobhya: The delusion of anger becomes the mirror like wisdom.

The Mandala as a Sacred Offering

In addition to decorating and sanctifying temples and homes, in Tibetan life the mandala is traditionally offered to one's lama or guru when a request has been made for teachings or an initiation - where the entire offering of the universe (represented by the mandala) symbolizes the most appropriate payment for the preciousness of the teachings. Once in a desolate Indian landscape the Mahasiddha Tilopa requested a mandala offering from his disciple Naropa, and there being no readily available materials with which to construct a mandala, Naropa urinated on the sand and formed an offering of a wet-sand mandala. On another occasion Naropa used his blood, head, and limbs to create a mandala offering for his guru, who was delighted with these spontaneous offerings.

Conclusion

The visualization and concretization of the mandala concept is one of the most significant contributions of Buddhism to religious psychology. Mandalas are seen as sacred places which, by their very presence in the world, remind a viewer of the immanence of sanctity in the universe and its potential in himself. In the context of the Buddhist path the purpose of a mandala is to put an end to human suffering, to attain enlightenment and to attain a correct view of Reality. It is a means to discover divinity by the realization that it resides within one's own self.

[Alpha]

On the Nature of Four - Jung’s Quarternity, Mandalas, the Stone and the Self

By Carbonek

The "squaring of the circle" is one of the many archetypal motifs
which form the basic patterns of our dreams and fantasies. But it
is distinguished by the fact that it is one of the most important
of them from the functional point of view. Indeed, it could even
be called the archetype of wholeness.

- from Mandalas. C. G. Jung. trans. from Du (Zurich, 1955)

During a difficult period in his life in which he withdrew from his teaching position and devoted much of his time investigating the nature of the unconscious, Jung frequently painted or drew mandalas, but only learned to understand the mandala symbology many years after he had begun creating the images.

He understood only that he felt compelled to make the figures and that they comforted him, “Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is: “Formation, Transformation, Eternal Mind’s eternal recreation”. And that is the self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all goes well is harmonious, but which cannot tolerate self-deceptions” (MDR 195-196).

Mandalas are defined by Jung as magic circles, containing certain design motifs that he found to have a universal nature, across cultures and across time, whether they are the transiently created mandalas from Tibet, sand paintings from the American southwest, or illustrations from ancient, medieval, and Renaissance alchemical works.

Jung believes that his mandalas were “cryptograms” of the state of the self as it was on the day the mandala was created. Each mandala that he spontaneously created was different from their predecessors and the paintings were precious to him, he “guarded them like pearls” (MDR 196).

He also believes that mandalas appear in connection with dreams, chaotic psychic states of disorientation or panic (CW 9i 645) as they did in Jung’s own life, and that a function of the mandalas is to bring order out of chaos.

Edinger agrees, “Quaternity, mandala images emerge in times of psychic turmoil and convey a sense of stability and rest. The image of the fourfold nature of the psyche provides stabilizing orientation. It gives one a glimpse of static eternity.” (Edinger 182). Jung eventually came to believe that the mandala itself is an image of “squaring the circle” and as such could be called an archetype of wholeness (CW 9i 715).

Jung’s continuing practice of drawing and painting mandalas eventually leads him to understand them as symbols of the Self, that they are informed by archetypal forces in the unconscious that the artist is not aware of during the creation of the work.

Working with mandalas, Jung eventually realizes that like the designs he was drawing, his own life had been a series of meandering paths that bent back upon each other and yet always led back to the center.

The mandala symbolically represents that path to the center, to individuation (MDR 196).

Jung’s later practice of having his patients to spontaneously create mandalas is a prime example of Jung’s own explorations into the unconscious becoming effective tools in his psychiatric practice.

In “Concerning Mandala Symbolism” several mandalas painted by some of Jung’s patients are reproduced and his commentary on each shows the universality of the symbolism across the patients’ cultural differences. He doesn’t go into the clinical details of the patients’ therapy but notes that “a rearranging of the personality is involved, a kind of new centering” over time as the mandala-creating process continued. (CW 9i 645).

Jung’s reasoning for the similarity in mandala symbols created by his patients is that these symbols and images come from the collective unconscious and are therefore archetypes, or primordial images, which reside in each of us (CW 9i 711).

Jung also found that mandalas created by individuals often contain motifs related to the number four, which he terms a “quaternity”.

The symbol might be “in the form of a cross, a star, a square, an octagon, etc. A form of this symbol is frequently found in alchemical texts as the “squaring the circle” or quadratura circuli (CW 9i 713).

Jung thought that “squaring the circle” was a “problem that greatly exercised medieval minds” and this was also a “symbol of the opus alchymicum because it breaks down the original chaotic unity into the four elements and then combines them again in a higher unity” (CW 12 165).

However, Jung is not the first to write about the symbolism of the quaternity as Ellenberger reports:

“In France Fabre d’Olivet had previously written about the same subject in the nineteenth century.

However, Jung was certainly the first to relate it so closely to the process of individuation. The mandala is a circular figure ornamented with symbols that is generally divided into four sections. It is well known in India and Tibet, where it was used for centuries by ascetics and mystics to aid in contemplation” (712).

The fourfold symmetry of the quaternity eventually led Jung to study alchemical works and in these he found many examples, such the four main steps in the alchemical process: nigredo (black), albedo (white), citrinalis (yellow), and rubedo (red) (Henderson and Sherwood 5).

Alchemical processes have fourfold properties such as hot, cold, wet, and dry while all materials are said to be combinations of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.

He found that even the alchemical Philosopher’s Stone had a four-fold nature, “The lapis is called a “sacred rock” and is described as having four parts (CW 9ii 143). Elias Ashmole, in his Theatricum Chemicum Britannicum, an 18th century collection of English alchemical texts, he even describes four different Philosopher’s Stones: Mineral, Vegetable, Magical, and Angelical, each with a different functionality (Edinger 264).

We find a wide spectrum of four-fold symbols and systems in religion, myth, history and culture.

There are four winds (Boreas, Eurus, Notus, Zephyrus), four seasons (winter, spring, summer, fall), four directions (north, east, south, west), four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), four letters in the sacred name of God (YHVH), four ancient ages (gold, silver, bronze, iron), and four medieval humours: sanguine (blood), choleric (yellow bile), phlegmatic (phlegm), melancholic (black bile)to name a few.

Adding a fourth to an already established thee has a transformational effect.

In geometry, a fourth point transforms the two-dimensional triad or triangle into a figure with depth, the cube and the tetrahedron (a form lapis). As the mathematician Michael Schneider observes, “There are always four ways (another quaternity) to look at any three-dimensional structure: as points, lines, areas, and volumes, or as corners, edges, faces, and from the center outward (63).

Ellenberger notes that “The quaternity can appear as a geometric figure of square or sometimes rectangular shape, or it will have some relation wit the number four: four persons, four trees, and so on. Often it is a matter of completing a triadic figure with a fourth term, thus making it into a quaternity” (712).

Jung searches for the quaternity when a trinity is encountered, “Jung over and over again in his writings returns to the alchemical question: “Three are here but where is the fourth?” (Edinger 189). The completion of the quaternity is seen frequently in alchemical works, even whimsically, “All things do live in the three/ But in the four they merry be” (quoted in CW 12 125).

One Trinity that was completed in the last century, with the bodily assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven (defined as dogma in 1950 by Pope Pius XII), transformed the Christian Trinity into a Quaternity, and one that Jung believes was achieved by the overwhelming insistence of the Catholic masses (CW 9ii, 142). “… the quaternity is the sine qua non of divine birth and consequently of the inner life of the trinity.

Thus circle and quaternity on one side and the threefold rhythm on the other interpenetrate so that each is contained in the other” (CW 11 125). Jung believes that this was the most significant religious event since the reformation (quoted in EJ 321).



Another quaternity that Jung develops is that of the four psychic functions: sensing, thinking, feeling, and intuiting. “The essential function of sensation is to establish that something exists, thinking tells us what it means, feeling what its value is, and intuition surmises whence it comes and whither it goes. (CW 6 983).

Sensation and intuition he terms irrational types with thinking and feeling are rational types.

Jung diagrams the four functions in a basic symbol of the quaternity, as a cross with the irrational functions at right angles with the ration functions. Along with what he terms the two general attitudes, extroversion and introversion, Jung feels that these now eight types provide a useful framework for these psychological concepts (CW 6 987).

Jung’s suggestion that his psychological typology could be compared with a trigonomic net or a crystallographic axial system suggests the lapis, or Philosopher’s Stone once again circling back to alchemical concepts (CW 6 987).

During the years that Jung spends drawing and painting mandalas, he comes to understand that “the goal of psychic development is the self.

There is no linear evolution; there is only a circumambulation of the self” (MDR 196). If there is one concept about the development of the self, of individuation that is important for those of us in the 21st century caught in a Cartesian-Newtonian notion of reality is that “there is no linear evolution” for this process; that the process is one of circling, rotating, orbiting, circumambulating around the center – we must square the circle. We must create our own mandalas and go where they lead us. As much as we might wish for a clearly delineated way, here is no straight line to follow:

"From the circle and quaternity motif is derived the symbol of the geometrically formed crystal and the wonder-working stone.

From here analogy formation leads on to the city, castle, church, house, and vessel. Another variant is the wheel (rota).

The former motif emphasizes the ego’s containment in the greater dimension of the self; the latter emphasizes the rotation which also appears as a ritual circumambulation. Psychologically, it denotes concentration on and preoccupation with a centre. (CW 9ii 352).

The circumambulation Jung describes, the process of “squaring the circle” or “circling the square” has an uncertainty built into the journey: do we ever achieve individuation or is it a goal that is ever just out of reach?

It is important to take the path that the mandala represents, to revolve around the center, to rotate near and around the center, and hopefully, move towards the self.. As Jung remarks “… the self is our life’s goal, for it is the completest expression of that fateful combination we call individuality…” (CW 7 404).

[Divinorumus]

Mandalas are mesmerizing in some kind of unexplainable way, sort of like looking at the world though a kaleidoscope and seeing something there which you weren't previously normally aware was always there. Something like that. I have this old mandala screen saver that's super trippy but the link to download it is no longer active. I tried to search for it but came up with so many others that I didn't feel like checking all the links for the right one. Maybe later.

[Hadriana]

I don't have much to add, except I never really considered a mandala that seriously before, even though I've seen some beuts on various acid trips. lol I never considered their spiritual significance.

That is, until I saw that movie, "The Last Mimzi"

Yesterday I was at the book store, and was drawn to books on mandalas. I like the idea of mandala meditations for children.

I'm going to try to look into them further, no pun intended.

[Alpha]

Perhaps the message and exercise is one of how permanence really is impermanence and vice versa....

"It is a means to discover divinity by the realization that it resides within one's own self."

Although ultimately I believe the above statement to be true to some extent, I have to question if that is so, why all the twists, turns, the other noise, stimuli, other factors energies to get to that place?

What a journey and voyage though to discover just that, if that is so.....it can't just be that simple and yet that complex at the same instant....what are we missing or are we?...or perhaps that is exactly the vehicle without which, we would never be able to achieve that realization, without experiencing the egos and lack of understanding of "self" or consciousness, in it's purest form, without it.....thoughts?

Not the greatest, but worth a watch...
"The Law of One"

[night hawk]

Jung knew that we are all subject to the power and language of symbols, the use of personal exploration through art was no doubt therapeutic and helped expand his own understanding.
As a western thinker he may have felt that this insight into eastern ideograms could help him gain a better literacy of the overall concept, to find the healing that was contained within.

[Sadhu]

The realm of mind where archtypes operate -- both universal archtypes relevant anywhere in the Universe, and those archtypes borne of ethno-cultural origins -- are within the Vijanamaya Kosa, which is polished and optimized through Dharana. Dharana is furthered through Yantras, and Mandalas, as illustrated in this thread, are more elaborate, usually, than most Yantras, furthering the dharanic experience into manifestation continuae.