Editing Mandala (section)

==Buddhism==
[[File:Painted 17th century Tibetan 'Five Deity Mandala', in the center is Rakta Yamari (the Red Enemy of Death) embracing his consort Vajra Vetali, in the corners are the Red, Green White and Yellow Yamari.jpg|thumb|Painted 17th-century [[Tibet]]an 'Five Deity Mandala', in the centre is [[Yamari|Rakta Yamari]] (the Red Enemy of Death) embracing his consort [[Vajra Vetali]], in the corners are the Red, Green, White and Yellow [[Yamari]]s, [[Rubin Museum of Art]]]]
[[File:Buddha mandala.jpg|thumb|Sandpainting showing Buddha mandala, which is made as part of the death rituals among Buddhist [[Newar]]s of Nepal|left]]

===Vajrayana===
{{Main|Vajrayana}}

In [[Vajrayana]] Buddhism, mandalas have been developed also into [[sandpainting]]. They are also a key part of [[Anuttarayoga Tantra]] meditation practices.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mandala in Buddhism {{!}} Buddhist Art |url=https://www.buddhist-art.com/ |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=www.buddhist-art.com |language=en}}</ref>

====Visualisation of Vajrayana teachings====

The man mandala can be shown to represent in visual form the core essence of the [[Vajrayana]] teachings. The mandala represents the nature of the Pure Land, Enlightened mind.

An example of this type of mandala is [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/37614 ''Vajrabhairava mandala''] a silk tapestry woven with gilded paper depicting lavish elements like crowns and jewelry, which gives a three-dimensional effect to the piece.<ref>{{cite web|title=Vajrabhairava Mandala|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/37614|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date=19 November 2017|archive-date=2 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202135526/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/37614|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Watt|first1=James C.Y.|title=When Silk was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles|date=1997|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|location=New York|page=95|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/When_Silk_Was_Gold_Central_Asian_and_Chinese_Textiles|access-date=2017-11-19|archive-date=2017-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171219161111/https://metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/when_silk_was_gold_central_asian_and_chinese_textiles|url-status=live}}</ref>

=====Mount Meru=====

A mandala can also represent the entire universe, which is traditionally depicted with [[Mount Meru]] as the [[axis mundi]] in the center, surrounded by the continents.<ref>Mipham (2000) pp. 65,80</ref> One example is the [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/39738 ''Cosmological Mandala with Mount Meru''], a [[silk]] [[tapestry]] from the [[Yuan dynasty]] that serves as a diagram of the Tibetan cosmology, which was given to China from Nepal and Tibet.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cosmological Mandala with Mount Meru|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/39738|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date=19 November 2017|archive-date=5 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205084020/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/39738|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Watt|first1=James C.Y.|title=The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty|date=2010|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New York|page=247|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/The_World_of_Khubilai_Khan_Chinese_Art_in_the_Yuan_Dynasty#|access-date=19 November 2017|archive-date=7 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207130947/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/The_World_of_Khubilai_Khan_Chinese_Art_in_the_Yuan_Dynasty|url-status=live}}</ref>

=====Wisdom and impermanence=====

In the mandala, the outer circle of fire usually symbolises wisdom. The ring of eight [[charnel ground]]s<ref>{{Cite web |last1=O'Donnell |first1=Julie |last2=White |first2=Pennie |last3=Oellien |first3=Rilla |last4=Halls |first4=Evelin |date=13 August 2003 |others=Consultant: John D. Hughes |title=A Monograph on a Vajrayogini Thanka Painting |url=http://www.bdcu.org.au/scw/thanka.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030813002533/http://www.bdcu.org.au/scw/thanka.html |archive-date=13 August 2003}}</ref> represents the [[Buddhist]] exhortation to be always mindful of death, and the impermanence with which ''[[samsara]]'' is suffused: "such locations were utilized in order to confront and to realize the transient nature of life".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yoniversum.nl/dakini/charnel_g.html|title=Charnel- and Cremation Grounds|first=Rufus C.|last=Camphausen|access-date=10 October 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304124918/http://yoniversum.nl/dakini/charnel_g.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Described elsewhere: "within a flaming rainbow nimbus and encircled by a black ring of [[dorje]]s, the major outer ring depicts the eight great charnel grounds, to emphasize the dangerous nature of human life".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sootze.com/tibet/mandala.htm |title=Tibet and the Himalayas |website=Sootze Oriental Antiques |access-date=2006-11-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060303134523/http://www.sootze.com/tibet/mandala.htm |archive-date=2006-03-03 }}</ref> Inside these rings lie the walls of the mandala palace itself, specifically a place populated by deities and [[Buddha (general)|Buddhas]].

=====Five Buddhas=====
{{main|Five Tathāgatas}}

One well-known type of mandala is the mandala of the "Five Buddhas", archetypal Buddha forms embodying various aspects of enlightenment. Such Buddhas are depicted depending on the school of [[Buddhism]], and even the specific purpose of the mandala. A common mandala of this type is that of the [[Five Wisdom Buddhas]] (a.k.a. Five ''[[Jinas]]''), the Buddhas [[Vairocana]], [[Aksobhya]], [[Ratnasambhava]], [[Amitabha]] and [[Amoghasiddhi]]. When paired with another mandala depicting the [[Five Wisdom Kings]], this forms the [[Mandala of the Two Realms]].

====Practice====
[[File:Painted 19th century Tibetan mandala of the Naropa tradition, Vajrayogini stands in the center of two crossed red triangles, Rubin Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|Tantric mandala of [[Vajrayogini]]]]
Mandalas are commonly used by tantric Buddhists as an aid to meditation.

The mandala is "a support for the meditating person",<ref name="autogenerated2" /> something to be repeatedly contemplated to the point of saturation, such that the image of the mandala becomes fully internalised in even the minutest detail and can then be summoned and contemplated at will as a clear and vivid visualized image. With every mandala comes what Tucci calls "its associated liturgy ... contained in texts known as [[tantra]]s",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asianart.com/mandalas/tibet.html|title=The Mandala in Tibet|access-date=10 October 2016|archive-date=13 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813055056/http://www.asianart.com/mandalas/tibet.html|url-status=live}}</ref> instructing practitioners on how the mandala should be drawn, built and visualised, and indicating the [[mantra]]s to be recited during its ritual use.

By visualizing "pure lands", one learns to understand experience ''itself'' as pure, and as the abode of enlightenment. The protection that we need, in this view, is from our own minds, as much as from external sources of confusion. In many tantric mandalas, this aspect of separation and protection from the outer samsaric world is depicted by "the four outer circles: the purifying fire of wisdom, the [[vajra]] circle, the circle with the eight tombs, the lotus circle".<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web|url=http://www.jyh.dk/indengl.htm|title=Mandala|access-date=10 October 2016|archive-date=23 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223225316/http://www.jyh.dk/indengl.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The ring of ''vajras'' forms a connected fence-like arrangement running around the perimeter of the outer mandala circle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jyh.dk/indengl.htm#Circles|title=Mandala|access-date=10 October 2016|archive-date=23 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223225316/http://www.jyh.dk/indengl.htm#Circles|url-status=live}}</ref>

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 together into a pile and spilled into a body of running water to spread the blessings of the mandala.

[[Per Kvaerne|Kværne]]<ref>Per Kvaerne 1975: p.&nbsp;164</ref> in his extended discussion of [[sahaja]], discusses the relationship of [[sadhana]] interiority and exteriority in relation to mandala thus:
{{blockquote|...external ritual and 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 ground and representing that adamant plane of being on which the aspirant to Buddha hood wishes to establish himself. The unfolding of the tantric ritual depends on the mandala; and where a material mandala is not employed, the adept proceeds to construct one mentally in the course of his meditation."<ref>{{cite book|last=Kvaerne|first=Per|year=1975|title=On the Concept of Sahaja in Indian Buddhist Tantric Literature. (NB: article first published in ''Temenos'' XI (1975): pp.88-135). Cited in: Williams, Jane (2005).'' Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Volume 6.'' Routledge. ISBN 0-415-33226-5, ISBN 978-0-415-33226-2|publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ypsz9qEzZjwC&q=g.yu+sgra+snying+po&pg=PA137|access-date=<!-- Friday --> April 16, 2010|isbn=9780415332323|archive-date=September 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925000835/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ypsz9qEzZjwC&q=g.yu+sgra+snying+po&pg=PA137|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
[[File:Rangoli, Ganesh.jpg|thumb|292x292px|Mandala Hindu [[Rangoli]] art form]]

====Offerings====
[[File:Chenrezig Sand Mandala.jpg|thumb|[[Chenrezig]] [[sand mandala]] created at the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]] on the occasion of the [[Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama's]] visit in May 2008|left]]

A "mandala offering"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/tantra/buddhist-tantra/what-is-a-mandala|title=What Is a Mandala?|website=studybuddhism.com|access-date=2016-06-06|archive-date=2019-09-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917215631/http://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/tantra/buddhist-tantra/what-is-a-mandala|url-status=live}}</ref> in [[Tibetan Buddhism]] is a symbolic offering of the entire universe. Every intricate detail of these mandalas is fixed in the tradition and has specific symbolic meanings, often on more than one level.

Whereas the above mandala represents the pure surroundings of a Buddha, this mandala represents the universe. This type of mandala is used for the mandala-offerings, during which one symbolically offers the universe to the Buddhas or to one's teacher. Within Vajrayana practice, 100,000 of these mandala offerings (to create merit) can be part of the preliminary practices before a student even begins actual tantric practices.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thubtenchodron.org/PrayersAndPractices/preliminary_practice.htm|title=Preliminary practice (ngöndro) overview|date=September 2009 |access-date=10 October 2016|archive-date=4 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704083425/http://www.thubtenchodron.org/PrayersAndPractices/preliminary_practice.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> This mandala is generally structured according to the model of the universe as taught in a Buddhist classic text the ''[[Abhidharmakosha|Abhidharma-kośa]]'', with [[Mount Meru]] at the centre, surrounded by the continents, oceans and mountains, etc.

=== Theravada Buddhism ===
Various Mandalas are described in many [[Buddhist texts|Pali Buddhist texts]]. Some of the examples of the [[Theravada]] Buddhist Mandalas are:

* '''Mandala of Eight Disciples''' of Buddha describing the [[Gautama Buddha|Shakyamuni Buddha]] at center and Eight great disciple in eight major directions.
* '''Mandala of Buddhas''' is the mandala consisting of nine major Buddhas of the past and the present [[Gautama Buddha]] occupying the ten directions.
* '''Mandala of Eight Devis''' includes the eight Devis occupying and protecting the eight corners of the Universe.

In [[Sigālovāda Sutta]], Buddha describes the relationships of a common [[Householder (Buddhism)|lay persons]] in Mandala style.

===Shingon Buddhism===

One Japanese branch of Mahayana Buddhism – [[Shingon]] Buddhism – makes frequent use of mandalas in its rituals as well, though the actual mandalas differ. When Shingon's founder, [[Kūkai]], returned from his training in China, he brought back two mandalas that became central to Shingon ritual: the [[Womb Realm|Mandala of the Womb Realm]] and the [[Diamond Realm|Mandala of the Diamond Realm]].

These two mandalas are engaged in the ''[[abhiseka]]'' initiation rituals for new Shingon students, more commonly known as the {{Transliteration|ja|Kechien Kanjō}} ({{lang|ja|結縁灌頂}}). A common feature of this ritual is to blindfold the new initiate and to have them throw a flower upon either mandala. Where the flower lands assists in the determination of which [[yidam|tutelary deity]] the initiate should follow.

=== Nichiren Buddhism ===
[[File:NICHIREN SHŌNIN ICHIDAI ZUE 1858 Mandala.jpg|thumb|Nichiren bowing before MOJI-MANDALA which he wrote.]]
The mandala in [[Nichiren Buddhism]] is a {{Transliteration|ja|moji-mandala}} ({{lang|ja|文字曼陀羅}}), which is a paper [[hanging scroll]] or wooden tablet whose inscription consists of [[kanji|Chinese characters]] and [[Siddhaṃ script|medieval-Sanskrit script]] representing elements of the Buddha's [[Enlightenment (Buddhism)|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]], during the late 13th Century. The ''Gohonzon'' is the primary object of veneration in some Nichiren schools and the only one in others, which consider it to be 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]] that believers chant, are written down the center of all Nichiren-sect ''Gohonzons'', whose appearance may otherwise vary depending on the particular school and other factors.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

===Pure Land Buddhism===
[[File:Pure Land Mandala (Kyushu National Museum).jpg|thumb|Pure Land [[Taima mandala|Taima Mandala]], Kamakura period, 14th century, Japan (Kyushu National Museum)]]

Mandalas have sometimes been used in [[Pure Land Buddhism]] to graphically represent [[Pure Land]]s, based on descriptions found in the ''[[Larger Sutra]]'' and the ''[[Contemplation Sutra]]''. The most famous mandala in Japan is the [[Taima mandala]], dated to about 763 CE. The Taima mandala is based on the ''Contemplation Sutra'', but other similar mandalas have been made subsequently. Unlike mandalas used in [[Vajrayana]] Buddhism, it is not used as an object of meditation or for esoteric ritual. Instead, it provides a visual representation of the Pure Land texts, and is used as a teaching aid.{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}}

Also in [[Jodo Shinshu]] Buddhism, [[Shinran]] and his descendant, [[Rennyo]], sought a way to create easily accessible objects of reverence for the lower-classes of Japanese society. Shinran designed a mandala using a hanging scroll, and the words of the ''[[nembutsu]]'' ({{lang|ja|念仏}}) written vertically. This style of mandala is still used by some [[Jodo Shinshu]] Buddhists in home altars, or ''[[butsudan]]''.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

=== Bodhimandala ===
{{Main|Bodhimaṇḍala}}

Bodhimaṇḍala is a term in [[Buddhism]] that means "circle of [[Bodhi|awakening]]".<ref>Thurman, Robert. ''The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti: A Mahāyāna Scripture.'' 1992. p. 120</ref>