In this page, I try to impart how to do one particular form of spiritual exercise that I have found useful. I can't predict how it might work for you, however. Many such methods fail for some people; some could even have a negative effect. In general, I advise stopping an exercise right away if it leads to discomfort ("If it feels bad, don't do it"). And if nothing useful seems to be starting to happen after a reasonable time (people I have learned from have suggested allowing six weeks), maybe another technique would be better for you.
Mandalas are pictures, of a particular kind. They have certain principles of construction, and they have two basic kinds of use: firstly, you can make one; secondly, you can look at one, your own or one that comes from some other source.
In the image at the head of this page, I have provided a very simple example of one sort of mandala that you may have seen in a much more complex form in photographs from Tibet. Here it is again, first with more detail, and then with color added:
(to better appreciate the mandala images on this page, or to use them as objects of contemplation, click on them to see them full-sized and alone).
What makes my design a mandala? It has a center; this is the most important basic feature. It has the points of the compass, North, East, South and West. And it has a symmetrical design; here, a square. More than this is needed; after all, a card table top with a poker chip in the middle would meet these simple criteria. But here is where a vast body of theory and of artistic and intellectual explanation comes into play. Let me grossly oversimplify by saying that to me a mandala is a journey; one somebody has made and recorded, or one you can make by looking at the image (for my page on looking at things in general, as a spiritual exercise, click here).
The journey in my simple mandala is from the exterior to the interior, from outer to inner, from the world at large to some place within where there is something to seek; and back again, with something gained or changed as a result of being at the center. This pretty much sums up my own view on what we do when we undertake any of those activities I call spiritual exercises. The journey has barriers to pass and a route to follow, and symbolism along the way.
True Tibetan mandalas have circular structures as well as the dominant square one, and enormous and loving detail.
A mandala need not come from Tibet, by any means, and it need not be square. If I look up from my desk, I can see a small Native North American medicine shield, a circle with four arms coming from the principal directions to meet at a little detailed colored design in the center, the whole with beads and feathers hanging from the outer ring. This too is to me, and probably to its maker, a mandala, and again one which I see as a record of a journey.
A circle is as symmetric as a square, if not more so. A view of the planet Earth is another circle that can be used as a mandala, and it too has the compass points and a center (the obvious visual one at the middle of the circle, and the hidden one at the physical center of the sphere that the circular view represents).
These two circular mandalas, the shield and Earth, have the traditional four principal directions; but a circle really allows as many such directions as you want, and a daisy, sunflower or similar flower, for instance, with as many directions as it has petals, is one more of many mandalas that can be found in the world around us.
I've given you just the tiniest taste of the body of theory in the field of mandalas, and I've shown you just a few examples. If you want to learn more, I'd recommend seeking out books on the subject, preferably ones with lots of pictures.
Besides the simple mandalas I've just shown you, I've led and participated in group exercises in making personal mandalas. Naturally, we didn't use the tremendously painstaking and time-consuming traditional method of Tibet (and of some First Nations), of pouring colored sand to make our designs. We used paper, collections of many-colored felt pens and simple drawing aids such as straightedges, and saucers and plates (for producing circles).
Showing you examples from these sessions wouldn't help too much, since I don't have the privilege of copying those drawn by others, and my own are decorated with numerous personal symbols that would take a lot of explaining (and many of which relate to my own philosophy and religion, which I promised to keep out of these spiritual exercise pages). If you want to try making a mandala yourself, I would again recommend reading up on mandalas first.
However, given that you may be able to find various mandalas in various places, there remains the other half of the conception I introduced above, that of a journey to be made by looking at, by contemplating, a mandala.
To look at a mandala, I suggest finding a comfortable, attentive position from which the mandala can easily be seen. Then look at the mandala, non-analytically, seeking the route of the journey from the outside to the inside. Unhurriedly, make that journey visually. Take time to look at the route, at the symbolism of the journey. Dwell at the center, being aware of how you reached it. Then make the journey in reverse, carrying ... something ... back to the outside. Finally, contemplate (in the sense of just looking, not of thinking about what you see) the mandala as a whole, until you feel ready to cease (which you should do gently, relaxing before you resume the other activities of your life).
Return to "Spiritual Exercises" page to select another kind of exercise.
© 2007 Anthony Buckland,
anthonybuckland@telus.net
last modified: May 12, 2007
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