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- Herausgeber: Books on Demand
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
Mandalas are concentric and symmetrical diagrams. They are a map of the inner structure of the world and also of the dynamics of development in it. They can be very simple like the circle of the four elements with the quintessence in their center, but they can also be very complex with many rings, transitions, directions and a center. Sometimes mandalas are also depicted as a city on a hill, through which one can reach the center by various paths, climbing stairs and passing through gates, where one is tested by guards, has to dare a transformation, meets unknown beings, and so on. These mandalas also serve to order the world, but their greatest benefit is their healing capacity, because with their help one can explore one's own psyche, find in them one's own power animal, power plant and power stone, meet one's own soul, recognize one's own patron deity ... and much more ... The journey into a mandala can be a great adventure, by which one is greatly enriched.
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Table of Contents
What is a Mandala?
The Structure of Mandalas
The center
The concentric rings
The subdivision of the circular rings
The outer circular ring
The surrounding space
The directions
The city on the hill
Complementary additions
Mandala Examples
The four elements and the quintessence
The four cardinal points and the sun
The zodiac
The elementary particles
The superstring
The five Dhyani Buddhas
The sweat lodge mandala
The chakra mandala
A Tree of Life mandala
The superstring theory
A Tarot mandala
The sun temple
The labyrinth
The relationship mandala
The horoscope mandala
The individual mandala
A mandala with complex structure
Deity mandalas
New mandala
The "I Ching" mandala
The "flower of life"
an oracle mandala
Symbols and deities
The Structure of a Mandala
The choice of the mandala
Drawing the mandala
Coloring the mandala
Understanding the mandala
The first imagination of the mandala
Filling the mandala with the elements of the world
Filling the mandala with the elements of the psyche
The second imagination of the mandala
The dream journeys into the mandala
The way into the mandala
The guardians of the city gates
The areas inside the rings
The invocation of the mandala deities
The third imagination of the mandala
The mandala ritual
The transformations at the gates
The transformations in the circular rings
The union of the paths
The center
The blessing of the mandala out of the denter
The dissolution of the mandala
After the ritual
Book List
I What is a Mandala?
From a purely geometric point of view, a mandala is a concentric pattern. In most cases, it consists of several concentric rings that have been divided into four quarters by a cross. However, there are also mandalas that consist of concentric squares, that is, squares that have been drawn inside each other and have the same center. The same thing exists with triangles, hexagons, etc., but the division into four is the most common.
From its content and from its use, a mandala is a symbolic map, a representation of the world. In it, the elements that make up the world appear in an arrangement that corresponds to the relationships among these elements.
Such mandalas can be very simple and may consist of only two elements, such as a circle symbolizing the soul and a ring around this circle representing the body. Another very simple mandala is the sun symbol, which consists of a circle (horizon) and a cross (the four cardinal points) in it.
However, a mandala can also be very complex and contain many dozens of elements systematically arranged in it.
The best known are probably the mandalas of Tibetan Buddhists, which are often made of colored sand scattered on a smooth surface and are usually about 3m·3m in size. Very similar mandalas are also painted by the Navaho Indians – also from colored sand. Further mandalas are found with the Indians, rudimentarily also in the Mesopotamian cultures in the middle Neolithic period and with some other peoples.
Often one finds Mandalas in the myths of the most different peoples, which are described in the myths, but nowhere as mandalas, i.e. pictorially represented or explicitly as such designated.
These mandalas form the basis for meditations, for rituals and sometimes also for oracles. These mandalas are usually also an important part of the cult.
II The Structure of Mandalas
Mandalas have a very systematic and also symmetrical structure. The elements contained in such a mandala are usually also found in the myths andin the cult of the tradition in question.
II 1. The Center
Just about every mandala has a center. This center is the essence of being, the source of the world, the root of life, the origin of souls, the quintessence of the alchemists, the Tao of the Chinese, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the "Great Mystery" of the Dakota, a deity, the sun, the soul …
Since the mandalas commonly used in cult almost always represent the world as a whole, the essence of these mandalas, that is, their center, is the Kether (Unity) of the Kabbalists, the Nirvana (emptiness) of the Buddhists, the Satori (enlightenment) in Zen, the One God in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, etc.
Of course, one can also make mandalas on a certain, limited theme – their center then is the essence of this theme. Such subordinated mandalas can be found especially in the sand paintings of the Navaho Indians and in the Tibetan Buddhist mandalas.
This center is in each mandala the goal of the meditations, dream journeys and rituals connected with it.
the center
II 2. The Concentric Rings
The rings are concentric around the "source-circle" in the center. In place of the rings sometimes squares, hexagons or other regular shapes are used – sometimes also e.g. combinations of circles and squares.
Seen from the inside out, these circular rings represent the steps of development, the stages of creation, the unfolding of the world, the incarnation of the soul, etc.
In Kabbalah, this direction is called the "Lightning Ray of Creation."
Looking from the outside inward, these circular rings represent the steps of knowledge, the sections of enlightenment, the dissolution of the world, the excarnation of the soul, etc.
In Kabbalah, this direction is called the "Serpent of Wisdom".
Thus, the rings symbolize the path between inside and outside, between God and the world, soul and body, consciousness and matter, etc.
The circular rings are, so to speak, the consequences of the first cause: the circles that form in water when you throw a stone into it …
the rings
II 3. The Subdivision of the Rings
In some mandalas, the individual rings are once again subdivided into further areas, which all belong to the ring in question, but whose qualities show clear differences.
These subdivisions usually have the same number in each circular ring – in the example below there are three rings with three subareas each.
the subdivisions
II 4. The Outer Ring
The outer ring is the antithesis of the center: it is the being that has become concrete, unity that has become multiplicity, the will of the Creator that has become form, the form of life, the body of men, the raw and unpurified prima materia of the alchemists, the completed work, the outer form …
It is the Malkuth of the Kabbalists, the Samsara (form) of the Buddhists, the creation …
The outer ring is the place where every meditation, every dream journey and every ritual related to the mandala begins.
the outer ring
II 5. The Surrounding Space
In some mandalas there is still a surrounding space around the actual mandala. In it sometimes the forces of transformation are represented, sometimes also the causes for the occupation with such a mandala and the like.
These scenes are quite important, but they do not belong to the mandala proper – they are the outer space, the environment, the influences, the effects and the like. However, in some rituals this surrounding space plays an essential role.
Usually this surrounding space is not represente by a ring, but by other geometrical forms or even just by pictures.
the surrounding space
II 6. The Directions
As a rule, a mandala has four directions. In this case the mandala consists either of concentric circular rings or of concentric squares.
However, three, five, six or other "exotic" numbers of directions are also possible. The number of directions depends on how many basic elements the world consists of in the mythology used:
By the directions, the mandala is divided into different qualities that represent the possible states of beings and things in the world. This means that one can take different paths to the center of the mandala.
One starts with the path whose quality is easiest for oneself, but in order to be able to enter the next inner circular ring, it is necessary to be able to walk the other paths in this ring also – at least to some extent.
An example of a mandala without directional divisions (i.e. with number of direction "1") is a city in which there is a sun temple in the center, which one strives to reach.
the directions
The mandala shown here consists of the following elements:
the center (circle)
three rings
three subordinate rings in each main ring
the outer ring
the division into four directions
the surrounding space (four triangles)
II 7. The City on the Hill
A mandala is sometimes regarded as a city:
On the outside area are the gardens, fields and pastures, and the cemeteries.
The city is surrounded by a wall on the outside.
In each of the four directions of the mandala there is a gate in this city wall.
From these gates an avenue leads to the gate in the inner city walls, which surround the rings.
Each ring is filled with buildings.
In the center is the temple of the deity or the palace of the king.
