Mandala

Mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल) means circle, disk, or sphere[1]. In religious usage the term names a symbolic diagram or sacred configuration used in ritual, meditation, and contemplation[2]. Mandalas are particularly developed in Hindu, Buddhist (especially Vajrayana), and Jain traditions, with related visual forms in many other cultures.

mandalas can function ritually, meditatively, and cosmologically rather than merely decoratively.

Tibetan Buddhist mandalas are perhaps the most elaborate[3]. A traditional sand mandala depicts a sacred palace inhabited by a specific deity or assembly of deities, with detailed iconography indicating cosmology, doctrine, and the path[3]. The mandala is constructed grain by grain over days or weeks by trained monks, used in initiation and meditation, and then ritually dissolved to express impermanence. Other Tibetan Buddhist mandalas appear in painted form (thangkas), three-dimensional construction, and visualized internally in meditation.

Hindu mandalas (yantras in some specific uses) function similarly as sacred configurations for ritual and meditation. The Sri Yantra is a famous example, with nine interlocking triangles representing the union of masculine and feminine principles in the divine[2]. Specific yantras are used in tantric practice for invocation of particular deities or for protection.

The use of mandalas in meditation can involve external focus (gazing at a constructed mandala), internal visualization (mentally constructing the mandala), or both[3]. In Vajrayana practice, the practitioner visualizes themselves entering the mandala and assuming the position of the central deity, a practice of identification with awakened qualities. This is technically advanced and requires initiation in classical Vajrayana frameworks.

Beyond formal religious mandalas, the concept has been adapted in modern psychology (notably by Carl Jung, who saw mandalas as expressions of the integrating self) and in popular spirituality. These uses borrow the form from traditional contexts; the technical meaning in Buddhist and Hindu tantric practice is more specific.

Mandala scholarship is well developed within Tibetan Buddhist studies. David Gellner, Bryan Cuevas, and others have produced significant work[3]. Comparative studies have examined the visual and ritual functions of mandalas alongside Christian sacred geometry, Islamic geometric patterns, and other sacred visual traditions.

• The Mandala: Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhismby Martin Brauen
  book
• Foundations of Tibetan Mysticismby Lama Anagarika Govinda
  book