A mandala is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, specifically in Vajrayana Buddhism, representing the universe. The term appears in the Rigveda as the name of the sections of the work, and Vedic rituals use mandalas such as the Navagraha mandala to this day. Mandalas are also used in Buddhism.
The mandala can be described as a concentric diagram representing the universe, and has both spiritual and ritual significance. Especially important to Buddhists and Hindus (although different types of mandalas can be found in each faith, including Native American teachings, Judaism, and Christianity), the word is Sanskrit and means “essence,” “content,” or “circle.”
In various spiritual traditions, mandalas can be used to focus the attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guide, to establish a sacred space, and as an aid to meditation and trance induction.
Appearance
The basic physical form of most mandalas is a square containing or contained within a circle with four doors or openings at the cardinal points. However, mandalas can be much more complex depending on their meaning, incorporating concentric rings, geometric shapes, and Mandelbrot-like repetitions.
They can be painted on any material, including paper, wood, stone, or fabric, made from precious metals and worn as jewelry, or painted as murals on walls. Mandalas can also be created from transitory materials such as butter, pigment powder, and sand. In some Southeast Asian cultures, they are considered so important that entire temples and even building complexes can be modeled in the shape of a mandala.
History
Historically, the concept of the mandala as a circle of meaning dates back to the earliest origins of human civilization, as does the swastika. In the Rigveda (1500–1200 BCE), one of the oldest texts of humanity, the word mandala means a chapter or a collection of verses sung in religious ceremonies. As Nitin Kumar says:
“It was believed that the universe originated from these hymns, whose sacred sounds contained the genetic patterns of beings and things, so there is already a clear sense of the mandala as a world model. Mandalas first began to appear as visual representations in ancient Tibetan writings and sketches during the 8th and 9th CE and in paintings and on the walls of religious shrines during the 11th and 12th CE. The use of mandalas has permeated all Southeast Asian cultures since then.”
Hinduism
A yantra is similar to a mandala, usually smaller and using a more limited color palette. It can be a two-dimensional or three-dimensional geometric composition used in sadhanas, puja, or meditative rituals, and may incorporate a mantra into its design. It is considered to represent the abode of the deity.
According to one scholar, “Yantras function as symbols revealing cosmic truths and as instructional charts for the spiritual aspect of human experience.” Many place yantras at the center of Hindu tantric practice. Yantras are not representations, but lived, experiential, non-dual realities. As Khanna describes:
Despite their cosmic meanings, a yantra is a lived reality. Because of the relationship that exists in the Tantras between the outer world (the macrocosm) and the inner world of man (the microcosm), each symbol in a yantra resonates ambivalently in the inner-outer synthesis and is associated with the subtle body and aspects of human consciousness.
Political meaning
The Rajamandala (or Raja-mandala; circle of states) was formulated by the Indian author Kautilya in his work on politics, the Arthashastra (written between the 4th century BC and the 2nd century BC). It describes the circles of friendly and enemy states surrounding the king’s state.
In a historical, social, and political sense, the term “mandala” is also used to designate traditional political formations in Southeast Asia (such as federations of kingdoms or vassal states). It was adopted by 20th-century Western historians from ancient Indian political discourse as a means of avoiding the term “state” in the conventional sense.
Buddhism
In Vajrayana Buddhism, mandalas have also been developed for painting with sand. They are also a key part of the meditation practices of Anuttarayoga Tantra.
Visualization of the Vajrayana teachings
The mind is “a microcosm representing various divine powers acting in the universe.” The mandala represents the nature of the Pure Land, the enlightened mind. An example of this type of mandala is the Vajrabhairairava mandala, a silk tapestry woven with gold paper representing luxurious elements such as crowns and jewels, giving the piece a three-dimensional effect.
Mount Meru
An example is the Cosmological Mandala with Mount Meru, a silk tapestry from the Yuan dynasty that serves as a diagram of Tibetan cosmology, which was given to China from Nepal and Tibet.
Wisdom and impermanence
In the mandala, the outer circle of fire usually symbolizes wisdom. The ring of eight charcoal burners represents the Buddhist exhortation to always be mindful of death and the impermanence that pervades samsara: “These places were used to confront and realize the transitory nature of life.” Described elsewhere:
“Within a cloud of flaming rainbow and surrounded by a black ring of dorjes, the outer ring represents the eight great fields of charcoal, to emphasize the dangerous nature of human life.” Within these rings are the walls of the mandala palace itself, specifically a place populated by deities and Buddhas.
Five Buddhas
A well-known type of mandala is the “Five Buddhas” mandala, archetypal forms of Buddha that embody various aspects of enlightenment. Such Buddhas are represented depending on the school of Buddhism, and even the specific purpose of the mandala. A common mandala of this type is the Five Buddhas of Wisdom (also known as the Five Jinas).
The Buddhas Vairocana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi. When combined with another mandala representing the Five Wisdom Kings, this forms the Mandala of the Two Realms.
Practice
With each mandala comes what Tucci calls “its associated liturgy… contained in texts known as tantras,” instructing practitioners on how the mandala should be drawn, constructed, and visualized, and indicating the mantras that should be recited during its ritual use. By visualizing the “pure lands,” one learns to understand experience itself as pure, and as the abode of enlightenment. The protection we need, from this point of view, comes both from our own minds and from external sources of confusion.
In many tantric mandalas, this aspect of separation and protection from the samsaric outer world is represented by “the four outer circles: the purifying fire of wisdom, the vajra circle, the circle with the eight graves, and the lotus circle.” The vajra ring forms a fence-like arrangement that runs around the perimeter of the outer circle of the mandala.
As a meditation on impermanence (a central teaching of Buddhism), after days or weeks of creating the intricate pattern of a sand mandala, the sand is brushed into a pile and poured into a body of running water to spread the blessings of the mandala.
In his extensive discussion of sahaja,Kværne discusses the relationship between the interiority and exteriority of sadhana in relation to the mandala in this way: …The external ritual and the internal sadhana form an indistinguishable whole, and this unity finds its most pregnant expression in the form of the mandala, the sacred enclosure consisting of concentric squares and circles drawn on the floor and representing that firm plane of being on which the aspirant to the Buddha’s hood desires to establish himself. The development of the tantric ritual depends on the mandala; and when no material mandala is used, the adept proceeds to construct it mentally in the course of his meditation.”
Offering
A “mandala offering” in Tibetan Buddhism is a symbolic offering of the entire universe. Every intricate detail of these mandalas is fixed in tradition and has specific symbolic meanings, often on more than one level.
While the previous mandala represents the pure environment of a Buddha, this mandala represents the universe. This type of mandala is used for mandala offerings, during which the universe is symbolically offered to the Buddhas or to the teacher. Within the Vajrayana practice, 1,000,000 of these mandala offerings (to create merit) may be part of the preliminary practices before the student begins the actual tantric practices.
This mandala is generally structured according to the model of the universe as taught in a classical Buddhist text, the Abhidharma-kośa, with Mount Meru in the center, surrounded by continents, oceans, and mountains, etc.
Shingon Buddhism
A Japanese branch of Tantric Buddhism, Shingon Buddhism also makes frequent use of mandalas in its rituals, although the actual mandalas differ. When the founder of Shingon, Kukai, returned from his training in China, he brought back two mandalas that became the center of the Shingon ritual: the Mandala of the Womb Realm and the Mandala of the Diamond Realm.
These two mandalas are used in the abhiseka initiation rituals for new Shingon students, more commonly known as Kechien Kanjō (結縁灌頂). A common feature of this ritual is to blindfold the new initiate and have them throw a flower onto one of the mandalas.
The location of the flower helps determine which guardian deity the initiate should follow. Sand mandalas, such as those found in Tibetan Buddhism, are not practiced in Shingon Buddhism.
Nichiren Buddhism
The mandala in Nichiren Buddhism is called moji-mandala (文字曼陀羅) and is a hanging scroll of paper or wooden tablet inscribed with Chinese characters and medieval Sanskrit script representing elements of Buddha’s enlightenment, protective Buddhist deities, and certain Buddhist concepts. Called the Gohonzon, it was originally inscribed by Nichiren, the founder of this branch of Japanese Buddhism, at the end of the 13th century.
The Gohonzon is the main object of veneration in some Nichiren schools and the only one in others, which consider it the supreme object of worship as the embodiment of the supreme Dharma and Nichiren’s inner enlightenment. The seven characters Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, considered to be the name of the supreme Dharma, as well as the invocation chanted by believers, are written in the center of all Gohonzons of the Nichiren sect, whose appearance may vary depending on the particular school and other factors.
Pure Land Buddhism
Mandalas have sometimes been used in Pure Land Buddhism to graphically represent the Pure Lands, based on descriptions found in the Greater Sutra and the Contemplation Sutra. The most famous mandala in Japan is the Taima, dating from approximately 763 CE. The Taima mandala is based on the Contemplation Sutra, but other similar mandalas have been made since then.
Unlike the mandalas used in Vajrayana Buddhism, it is not used as an object of meditation or for esoteric rituals. Instead, it provides a visual representation of the Pure Land texts and is used as a teaching aid.
Also in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, Shinran and his descendant, Rennyo, sought ways to create objects of reverence that were easily accessible to the lower classes of Japanese society. Shinran designed a mandala using a hanging scroll and the words of the nembutsu (南無阿彌陀佛) written vertically. This style of mandala is still used by some Jodo Shinshu Buddhists in their home altars, or butsudans.
Mesoamerican civilizations
One of several parallels between Eastern and Mesoamerican cultures, the Maya civilization tended to present calendars in mandala form. It is similar in form and function to the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) paintings of Tibetan Buddhists. The tzolk’in wheel has 260 segments, which is surprising because the Maya recognized that the calendar year is 365 days long.
The inclusion of the specific number 260 could, however, be related to the 26,000-year cycle of the equinox procession. If so, this would indicate a remarkable awareness of these great cycles of time on the part of this culture. Ultimately, the symbol was probably used for ritual purposes and to measure the interval of various 9-month intervals, such as pregnancy, the growing time of some crops, and rituals that were performed at intervals of 260 days each year, for example, in spring and fall.
This Mayan symbolism has even made its way into New Age symbolism, such as the Dreamspell calendar developed by José Argüelles. Sometimes described as an authentic Mayan mandala, it is “inspired” by elements of the Tzolk’in wheel of time.
Aztec Sun Stone
The Sun Stone of the Aztec civilization was believed to be their equivalent of a Tzolk’in calendar, but it is now believed to be a ceremonial representation of the entire universe as seen by the Aztec religious class. Early interpretations of the stone refer to its use as a calendar.
In 1792, two years after the stone was found, Mexican anthropologist Antonio de León y Gama wrote a treatise on the Aztec calendar based on the stone. Some of the circles of glyphs are the glyphs for the days of the month. The four symbols included in the Ollin glyph represent the four past suns through which the Mexicas believed the earth had passed.
Another aspect of the stone is its religious significance. One theory is that the face in the center of the stone represents Tonatiuh, the Aztec sun god. It is for this reason that the stone became known as the “Sun Stone.” Richard Townsend proposed a different theory, claiming that the figure in the center of the stone represents Tlaltecuhtli, the Mexica earth god who appears in Mexica creation myths.
Modern archaeologists, such as those at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, believe that it was more likely used primarily as a ceremonial basin or ritual altar for gladiator sacrifices than as an astrological or astronomical reference.
Another feature of the stone is its possible geographical significance. The four points may be related to the four corners of the earth or the cardinal points. The inner circles may express both space and time.
Christianity
The shapes evoked are prevalent in Christianity: the Celtic cross, the rosary, the halo, the aureole, the oculi, the crown of thorns, the rose windows, the pink cross, and the dromenon on the floor of Chartres Cathedral. The dromenon represents a journey from the outer world to the sacred center where the Divine is found.
Cosmati pavements, including the one at Westminster Abbey, are 13th-century Italian geometric mosaic designs in the form of mandalas. The Great Floor of Westminster Abbey is believed to embody divine and cosmic geometries as the seat of the enthronement of the monarchs of England.
Similarly, many of Hildegard von Bingen’s illuminations can be used as mandalas, as can many images from esoteric Christianity, such as Christian Hermeticism, Christian Alchemy, and Rosicrucianism.
The alchemist, mathematician, and astrologer John Dee developed a geometric symbol he called Sigillum Dei ‘Seal of God’, manifesting a universal geometric order that incorporated the names of the archangels, derived from earlier forms of the clavicula salomonis or key of Solomon.
Mandalas in Persian art
In Persian Islamic theosophy, each of us is part of God. We have been separated from our source like rays of sunlight, and we must always keep in mind that we have a divine light within us, which is the source of love. This light always shows us the right path to grow and find our way back to our source.
In science
Circular diagrams are often used in phylogenetics, especially for the graphical representation of phylogenetic relationships. Evolutionary trees often encompass numerous species that are conveniently displayed in a circular tree, with images of the species shown on the periphery of a tree. These diagrams have been called phylogenetic mandalas.
In contemporary use
Mandalas are found in early Buddhist art from the 14th and 15th centuries. Fashion designer Mandali Mendrilla designed an interactive art installation called Mandala of Desires (Blue Lotus Wishing Tree), made from peace silk and environmentally friendly textile ink, which was exhibited at the China Art Museum in Shanghai in November 2015. The pattern of the dress was based on the Goloka Yantra mandala, in the shape of a lotus with eight petals. Visitors were invited to place a wish on the sculptural dress, which will be taken to India and offered to a genuine, living Wishing Tree.
Uses
Creation and contemplation can serve several purposes. They can be used to focus attention, as a spiritual teaching tool, to establish a sacred space, or as an aid to meditation or trance induction. When made from transitory materials, they become an offering, created to aid in the attainment of enlightenment, the pursuit of liberation from samsara (the cycle of birth and rebirth), or the development of attributes such as compassion and wisdom.
Meaning
Every detail is rooted in cultural tradition and has specific symbolic meanings, often on several complex physical and spiritual levels. Circles represent different levels of the cosmos, while squares represent the earthly planes. The center represents the self, devotion, and contemplation of the divine.
Other geometric shapes such as triangles and crosses may refer to specific deities or concepts, while important attributes such as purity, positive energy, or wisdom are referenced by objects such as the lotus, the wheel of fire, the labyrinth, thunderbolts (vajras), and graveyards. Color also plays an important role in the nuanced meanings of the mandala.
The entire universe, every metaphysical concept of the self, and the relationship between all living beings can be represented within the confines of a single mandala, a feat that is by no means insignificant for this seemingly simple device.
