mandala - circle

The word mandala in Sanskrit means circle.  It represents wholeness, community, healing, unity, meditation and connection with the idea of a circle having no beginning and no end.  The idea of a mandala is a circle, within a circle, within a circle.  Where we start at the outside and meditate into the inner circles, each with a significant meaning.  Meditating with or making your own mandala can help deepen your practice as it is a way to quiet the mind, bringing focus, attention and clarity.  It is said to remind us of our relation to the infinite and plays a part in many traditions of the world.


Some of these include:
Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Native American and Aboriginal Australian rituals.
 

In Light on Pranayama, B.K.S. Iyengar says, that in nature's heritage to man there are three characteristics or qualities called gunas.  The gunas are sattva (illumination), rajas (action) and tamas (inertia).

"Set on the wheel of time (kalachakra: kala = time, chakra=wheel), like a pot on the potter's wheel, man is moulded and remoulded in accordance with the predominating order of these three fundamental intermingling characteristics."

                                                                                              -B.K.S. Iyengar




The website, "The Mandala Project" gives information regarding the sand mandalas from Tibet.  As part of a spiritual practice, monks created intricate mandalas with colored sand made of crushed semiprecious stones. The tradition continues to this day as the monks travel to different cultures around the world to create sand mandalas and educate people about the culture of Tibet.

The creation of a sand mandala requires many hours and days to complete. Each mandala contains many symbols that must be perfectly reproduced each time the mandala is created. When finished, the monks gather in a colorful ceremony, chanting in deep tones as they sweep their mandala into a jar and empty it into a nearby body of water as a blessing. This action also symbolizes the cycle of life.

http://www.mandalaproject.org/

The pictures below are of various sand mandalas being created by Venerable Lama Losang Samten.  He is a Tibetan monk who was at one time a personal attendant to the 14th Dalai Lama.  He has been the spiritual director of several Buddhist centres in North America for over 20 years.  Losang has been coming to Saskatchewan to offer the sand mandala and retreats for over 12 years.  Here is a link to his personal website and his center in Philadelphia.  A more detailed description is given to the Tibetan Buddhist mandalas on his personal website. 

http://www.losangsamten.com/
http://www.tibetanbuddhist.org/



Losang preparing for the kalachakra sand mandala





Medicine Buddha Sand mandala - Regina 2010



Mandala offering



Detail to each sand mandala



Here are a few mandalas that you can print and color yourself.  The possibilities for creations are endless...just like the circle.

Namaste.

Pamela Nelson

http://www.plnyoga.vpweb.com/