Sand mandalas.

The first viewing of the construction of a Buddhist sand mandala can often generate many reactions. but common to them all seems to be a sense that one is viewing something special, a paradoxical process combining the simplest of materials and some of the most intricate hand-crafted artwork one can imagine. Yet for all of its intrinsic beauty and harmony--and mandalas can assuredly be appreciated at this level alone---these works are also symbols of the highest aspirations of spiritual development for Buddhists seeking to escape the dualistic bonds of the (delusional) reality as normally experienced and to enter into the unity and harmony of the true, blissful spiritual realization also known as Enlightenment. According to Buddhist history, the purpose, meanings, and techniques involved in the spiritual art of sand mandala painting were taught in India by Shakyamuni. the historical Buddha. In the Sixth Century B.C. Over the centuries, his teachings have been transmitted in an unbroken lineage from teacher to student: in the Eleventh century, the teachings traveled from India to Tibet. The Tibetan word for mandala is kilkhorl, which means roughly, "centre of the circle with exteriors walls and surrounding environment." We will see later that the many colors, shapes, and dimensions of these paintings reflect levels of specific meaning inherent to the particular mandala being created. Many different materials are used for mandala construction, including precious jewels, flowers, dyed rice, and colored stones. But sand. traditionally made from crushed precious stones such as white rock and white marble dust, is considered the best material because of the precious substances involved and the great skill required to create the mandalas' exquisite details. Since each grain of sand is charged with the blessings of the ritual process, the entire sand mandala embodies a vast store of spiritual energy. Often, those working on the mandala will wear masks over their mouth and nose so as not to contaminate the field of the mandala with their breath, which they view as a defilement.

The noted Tibetan scholar Robert A. F. Thurman has written of mandalas that "The actual mandala itself, underlying all practices and performances, is a complete, three-dimensional environment, an alternative universe, a world centered on a divine mansion that contains buddha archetype-deities with specific types of bodies, surrounded by gardens and charnal grounds, replete with mountains, lakes, trees, and various divine, legendary, and historical beings. The borders of this world are sealed against all negative influences by rings of fire and diamond-thunderbolt energies which, when desirable, can be made permeable to absorb beings from ordinary worlds to bless and transform them." (1)

Thus, we may consider each mandala as a sacred mansion, the home of a particular meditational deity, who represents and embodies enlightened qualities such as compassion, particular virtuous qualities, heightened consciousness, and bliss. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, mandalas are created for rituals of initiation in which a highly qualified teacher grants permission to advanced disciples to engage in the tantric meditation practices. Both the deity, who resides at the center of the mandala, and the mandala itself are recognized as pure expressions of the Buddha's fully enlightened mind.

Symbolically, the deity confers the initiations, and the mandala is where the initiations take place. Through the initiation ceremony, the seed of enlightenment in each person's mind is nourished by the dynamic process of visualizing and contemplating a mandala.

Similarly, the person constructing the mandala and those viewing and contemplating it wish to receive from the mandala's deity the traditional virtues associated with that enlightened being. For example, the Green Tara mandala represents the female manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the symbol of compassion. Thus the construction of a Green Tara mandala draws our attention to the importance and power of compassion in this world, and its ability to overcome obstacles to true happiness, the root goal of life, according to Buddhism. And, it is not only the monks creating the mandala who benefit from its construction, but also any who view it in the right frame of mind, as we would say; for Buddhists, that frame of mind would be with compassion for all sentient beings and a desire for the cessation of their suffering.

The construction of a sand painting begins with the monks tracing the mandala to a degree of detail and specificity that is surprising to many who view the construction. Using only a straight edge, compass, and pencil (or white ink pen), the artists then draw the extensive architectural details, so that the tracing is ready for the next step, the actual placing of the sand onto the design. The sand is generally crushed white stone and marble dust, dyed with opaque watercolors, often mixed as needed for the specific colors required. There are six main colors-white, black, blue, red, yellow, and green. All but white and black each have dark, medium, and light shades, thus giving the artists fourteen colors from which to work. The quadrants of the mandala-palace are typically divided into isosceles triangles of color, including four of the following five: white, yellow, red, green, dark blue. Each color is associated with one of the five families of deities, each of these governed by a celestial Buddha (tathagata): Vairocana (white), Aksobhya (blue), Amitabha (red), Ramasambhava (yellow), and Amoghasiddhi (green). Each color is also associated with one of the five afflictions of the human personality: confusion, pride, envy, hatred, and desire. Each mandala will have these colors in different amounts and places on the design, appropriate to the specific mandala being constructed. At the end of the last day, when the sand painting has been completed for only a little while, the monks will recite and chant prayers asking blessings for their efforts to the benefit of all sentient beings, and for blessing specific to the deity whose mandala they have constructed. Then, the monks will systematically destroy the mandala, collecting the sand and returning it to the earth by putting it into a body of water such as a stream, lake, or ocean. This final act emphasizes to all the impermanent nature inherent to all existence and is a reminder of the folly of becoming too attached to misperceptions of a reality, that by its very nature is temporary. There are probably as many different impressions of experiencing sand mandala construction as there are those sharing the experience, but indifference is certainly not one, particularly for those fortunate enough to view the process as it unfolds to the finished sand painting. There is an intensity in witnessing this artistic offering that is unique, and certainly memorable.

The Shiwa Monks created a sand mandala, in Aheville at Greenlife Grocery in September.

For further reading:

The Wheel of Time Sand Mandala: Visual Scripture of Tibetan Buddhism: Barry Bryant. Comment: This is a guide to one of the most important mandalas in Tibetan Buddhism. It has an interesting life of the Buddha and then goes into an extremely detailed description of the Kalachakra mandala, including an actual guide to the architectural construction.

Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment: Denise Patry Leidy and Robert A.F. Thurman, (Companion guide to the exhibit of the same name at the Asia Society Galleries, New York, Sept. 24,1997 to January 4, 1998.) Comment: This is an interesting, at times academic, catalog accompanying a stunning exhibit of mandala art.

View from the East

From His Holiness, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama : "... the Buddha taught a vast array of methods. "These mostly deal with the need to develop clarity of mind, purity of behavior, and a correct view of reality. They involve meditation and a code of ethics summarized as seeking to avoid harming others, actively helping them if you can, and a realization of the interdependence, and hence the lack of an inherent identity, of all phenomena.

"Due to their colorful and intricate nature, mandalas have attracted a great deal of interest. Although some can be openly explained, most are related to tantric doctrines that are normally supposed to be kept secret. Consequently, many speculative and mistaken interpretations have circulated among people who viewed them simply as works of art or had no access to reliable explanations. Because the severe misunderstandings that can arise are more harmful than a partial lifting of secrecy, I have encouraged a greater openness in the display and accurate description of mandalas." (2)

and the West ....

A Western psychologist's view of the mandala: "It is meant to aid concentration by narrowing down the psychic field of vision and restricting it to the center. Usually the mandala contains three circles, painted in black or dark blue. They are meant to shut out the outside and hold the inside together. Almost regularly the outer rim consists of fire, the fire of concupiscentia, 'desire,' from which proceed the torments of hell. The horrors of the burial ground are generally depicted on the outer rim. Inside of this is a garland of lotus leaves, characterizing the whole mandala as a padma, 'lotus-flower.' Then comes a kind of monastery courtyard with four gates. It signifies sacred seclusion and concentration. Inside this courtyard there are as a rule the four basic colours, red, green, white, and yellow, which represent the four directions and also the psychic functions, as the Tibetan Book of the Dead shows. Then, usually marked off by another magic circle, comes the center as the essential object or goal of contemplation." (3)

Footnotes:

(1) Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment: Robert A. F. Thurman

(2) The Kalachakra Tantra: The Dalai Lama

(3) Mandala Symbolism: Carl Jung

James Barnes is a NC resident who has been interested in Buddhism for over twenty years, and Tibetan Buddhism in particular for the last seven or eight years. He attends the Kadampa Center for the Practice of Tibetan Buddhism in Raleigh. He is an adjunct faculty member with UNC-Chapel Hill. The views expressed in this piece are his alone.