Mandala
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Rel 340: Final Integrating Project
Agnes Kukuc
Nov. 23, 1999
For
my mandala I have integrated traditional aspects of a mandala,
but also have altered certain parts into my own personal representation
in order for it to "serve as an aid to the mediator"
(Brauen 9), therefore me. Personal in terms of my own interpretation
of the tradition as opposed to my life represented in the mandala.
"One of the main Tantric images used to remodel the practitioner's
subjective reality is the mandala. The mandala provides a blueprint
for enlightened vision. Ordinarily each person experiences a world
that reflects her cultural background, personal neuroses and attachments,
and habitual patterns of thought and behavior (known as karma).
Meditation on a mandala replaces the habitually dulled way of
seeing the world with a bright, crystalline world of radiant colors,
beautiful forms, and divine images and sounds" (Shaw 26).
By attempting to synthesize the different ideas represented throughout
the quarter I hope I was able to overcome some of my background
and attachments and I therefore hope I was able to create a path
to my own enlightenment.
Brauen writes, "it would be far beyond the scope of [his]
publication to go into all the differences in detail" (10).
I in the same manner will describe the basic representations that
are encompassed in my mandala in the attempt to capture the significance
of the objects and tradition, but without the hope of understanding
all of history and detail of the sacred tradition. I will also
use a colorful representation rather than a pictorial one.
I abide by the rule that "a mandala is a strongly symmetrical
diagram, concentrated about a centre and generally divided into
four quadrants of equal size; it is built up of concentric circles
and squares possessing the same centre" (Brauen 11). I abide
by this rule, although I altered the meaning of the particular
positions. The entire mandala is positioned within a lotus flower
representing the rise of the lotus through the murky waters. "The
basic pattern of a mandala is a palace resting on a lotus flower
that rises out of the cosmic sea" (Shaw 26). The mandala
contains the four quadrants, each color representing a cardinal
direction. The east is blue, south yellow, west red, and north
green. I adjusted the colors to follow the scroll painting depicting
the five Tathagata-Buddhas, since I wanted the direction to have
deeper significance, the colors also represent the Tathagata-Buddhas:
blue Aksobhya, yellow Ratnasambhava, red Amitabha, and green Amoghasiddhi
(Brauen 32). I did not include the color black which is in certain
madalas for I thought black encompasses all, and I want a distinct
color representing a distinct Buddha and direction. I choose the
Buddhas in hope of guidance by visualizing them on the brink of
the mandala guiding me into it. The mandala is said to also serve
as a "receptacle" for the gods (Eliade 220). Therefore,
I had to include some aspect of the gods on the outer sections.
The four directions are also seen as the origins of the strong
winds of karma (Brauen 18). However, karma is too difficult to
represent coherently, but the winds would be an attempt a symbolizes
such a complicated detail of the tradition. Although karma been
used in traditional mandalas, with my method of color association
it would be difficult to represent effectively.
I continued towards the middle using six realms to represent the
six chakras. In turn also representing Tathagata-Buddhas, syllable
sounds, and aspects of the earth. The first realm is represented
by the blue and stands for the sexual chakra and coordinates with
the sound KSAH. The second realm is represented by the green and
defines the crown chakra and the sound HAM. The third is represented
by the yellow realm and defines the navel chakra, and the sound
HOH. The black realm represents the heart chakra and the sound
HUM. The red realm represents the throat chakra and the sound
AH. Finally, in the center is the white and clear circle representing
the brow chakra and the sound OM. At each realm a disc can also
be visualized from the center outward; the white moon disc, the
red sun disc, the black Rahu disc, the yellow Kalagni disc, the
green space disc, and the blue disc of deep awareness (Brauen
108). By visualizing the discs the two-dimensional mandala becomes
a three dimensional visual guide.
Within the realms I included the idea of the four elements of
the earth, or reality. The green and black between the blue and
green realms represent air, the red and blue between the yellow
and black realms represent fire, the scattered yellow and green
represent the earth, and the pale blue and dark blue scattered
between the black and red realms represent water (Brauen 32).
Space I associate within the realm of white since I believe it
is connected to the final realm of meditation, pure contemplation.
In certain areas I strayed from the traditional arrangement of
the mandala. This primarily concerns the realms outside of the
brow or mind (white) realm. The realm I choose to associate with
tapas is the shiny red circle, the heat that is produced before
the final stage, and I also enclosed eight three-beaded segments.
These I choose to represent the eight fold path, or the eight
limbed yoga (Notes and lecture 9/23). This includes YAMA-purification,
NIYAMA -observance, ASAMA - posture, PRANAYAMA -breath control,
PRATYAHARA -withdraw of senses, DHARANA -concentration, DHYANA
-meditation, and SAMADHI -pure contemplation. The three beads
representing each limb also represent the three points of SAHADHI,
object to memory, loss of ego, and directly knowing. It shows
the aim towards the seedless contemplation, and no association.
The eight points are also associated with the eight stages of
death. Dissolution and experiences, which is also mirage in the
six realms. "1. Earth to water, 2. Water to fire, 3. Fire
to wind, 4. Wind to consciousness, 5. Gross consciousness to luminance,
6. Luminance to radiance, 7. Radiance to imminence, 8. Imminence
to translucency" (Thurman 42). I added the eight-fold path
and the eight stages of death before the final realm as a reminder
of the various methods of attaining enlightenment.
Along with the various paths, I also have the Kundalini serpent
represented throughout the lotus. On each leaf the Kundalini,
represented in serpent form, breaks through each division of Buddhas
and directions. Kundalini is also known as energy. (Eliade 245).
Therefore, it also encompasses all the colors, at some points
six colors consecutively representing the six chakras, and different
material represented in the mandala. It stands for the break of
tradition and for a new, alternative way to enlightenment. The
alternative way refers to the use of the body as a method of enlightenment,
using the chakras for points in the body as the Kudalini serpent
climbs upward. Overall it represents the Tantric aspect of yoga.
The materials used for the mandala coordinate with the ideas intended
for the mandala. The beads range from simple and plain to detailed
and shiny. This represents the simple beginnings and the complicated
ends. It also demonstrates the beauty attained as one gets closer
to the center. The center is clear, for it represents the encompassing
of all light. There exist no distinctions at the center.
Inside
of the center realm is the medley of many beads for it is the
fullest aim. It also has a triangle enclosed in the center to
represent the various associations with three aspects along with
the traditional symbols of enlightenment, later explained. This
includes the bodhi tree, maleness and femaleness, the body, and
the cosmos all intertwined into one. "Thus, the female and
male partners in union both literally and figuratively are ensconced
within a mandala generated from and infused by their bliss and
wisdom, which radiates from the most intimate point of their physical
union. They use the energy and fluids circulating through one
another's bodies to become enlightened beings in the center of
that mandala" (Shaw 168). Therefore the center also symbolizes
the joining of male and female. "Another strong image that
is widely used in Tantra to depict the complementary relationship
between Shiva and Shakti is the shri-yantra . . . their interweaving,
giving rise to a total of forty-nine triangles, stands for cosmic
existence as a whole" (Feuerstein 82). I symbolize this simply
by one triangle.
The triangle
also represents "one's speech and thought with one's acts"
(Eliade 49). The triangle also involves the overcoming of desire,
anger, and delusion, the three constraints holding a person in
samsara. The sound expressing the ultimate reality AUM is also
represented by the triangle (Miller 37). A, U, M are defined in
the triangle with the final synthesis of the sound OM (Eliade
123). Also known as waking state -A, dream state -U, deep sleep
-M, and finally -OM (Eliade 124). The three plus one factor also
follows the fundamental elements of tantric sadhana which consist
of the flesh, the living cosmos, and time. A synthesis of ideas
is especially exhibited in the center, where all things are supposed
to mirage into one.
The
mandala itself is split into two halves. The inner colors of the
lotus leaf, the blues on one side, the yellow on the other represent
the dualities encountered in the world. This involves purusa and
prakarti, male and female, dark and light, knowledge and ignorance,
reality and imagination, Shiva and Shakti, pleasure and pain -
sukha and duhkha, morality and immortality, sacred and profane,
pure and impure, subtle and gross body. It also takes into consideration
"the Sammohana-tantra [which] says that the nadi on the left
is the 'moon' [man] . . . and on the nadi on the right is the
'sun'" (Eliade 239). By including the bardos, or in-between
of enlightenment, which is represented by the second internal
realm within the lotus leaves I hope to show the elimination of
the dualities. The violet, turquoise, dark blue, and gold represent
the in-betweens of the spaces and the steps to enlightenment and
death. I intertwine them in order to show the polarities and opposites
are symbolically merged.
In general all of the circles represent samsara. "The round
of birth, life, death, rebirth, renewed life, and then again death,
ad infinitum" (Feuerstein 21). Samsara is fueled by karma,
which was defined by the wind of the cardinal directions, and
therefore from the outside of the mandala inward it continues
to support turning the wheel of life and therefore also time.
"Correspondingly, we are forever chasing time, either by
aspiring after the future or by tracking down the memories of
the past, while often forgetting to be mindful in the present"
(Feuerstein 33). By using the mandala we in a sense stop the wheel
of time and karma, especially the closer ones gets to the middle.
Visually the winds are being distanced and there are fewer cyclical
aspects. "The journey through the mandala symbolically re-creates
the journey to enlightenment" (Shaw 26).
The mandala is viewed in various ways but mostly as the cosmos
and the body. "The various parts of the shri-yantra are said
to correspond to the various parts of the human body" (Feuerstein
220). The whole mandala, especially focusing on the middle is
the cosmos and the body as one. "In the context of the image
of the person in the Kalacakra Tantra, we shall discover that
the human being is also seen as a mandala" (Brauen 11). The
microcosmic and macrocosmic views of the world are therefore encompassed
in the symbolism of the mandala.
I executed the mandala following the idea that "'action is
better than inaction'" (Eliade 156). However, "We must
dissolve these impure patterns of thought and this false posturing
into the dharmadhatu reality, the nature of emptiness" (Gyatso
173).
In a sense therefore,
realizing that the mandala is simply a tool to enlightenment,
one must also be careful not to get attached to the means nor
the result, "[a] circumstance of which the practitioner must
be aware, because all illusions, ultimately even that of the mandala,
must be conquered and thus overcome by understanding emptiness"
(Brauen 76).
Amidst the information, the Buddhist chants I was listening to,
and also the symbols I was trying to create out of the tiny beads
I tried to keep in mind the idea of emptiness. Although going
towards the center, even simply envisioning the process, and not
even participating in the preliminary aspects of the mandala ceremony,
I have to conclude that the whole task was rather difficult. I
have to say the path to enlightenment is no easy path, in any
view or practice.
Bibliography
Brauen, Martin. The Mandala: Sared Circle in Tibetan Buddhism.
Boston: Shambhala, 1998.
Eliade, Mircea. Yoga: Immortality and Freedom. Second Ed.
New Jersey: Princeton UP, 1969.
Feuerstein, Georg. Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy. Boston &
London:
Shambhala, 1998.
Miller, Barbara Stoler. Yoga: Discipline of Freedom. New York:
Bantam Books, 1995.
Shaw, Miranda. Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric
Buddhism. New Jersey: Princeton UP, 1994.
Thurman, Robert. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: Liberation Through
Understanding In the Between. New York: Bantam Books, 1995.