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Mandala (Sanskrit
maṇḍala "essence" + "having" or "containing", also translates
as "circle-circumference" or "completion", is a concentric diagram having
spiritual and
ritual significance
in both
Buddhism and
Hinduism.[1][2]
The term is of
Hindu origin and
appears in the
Rig Veda as the
name of the sections of the work, but is also used in other
Indian religions,
particularly
Buddhism. In the
Tibetan branch of
Vajrayana Buddhism,
mandalas have been developed into
sandpainting. They
are also a key part of
anuttarayoga tantra
meditation practices.
In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be
employed for focusing attention of aspirants and adepts, as a spiritual
teaching tool, for establishing a
sacred space, and
as an aid to
meditation and
trance induction.
According to David Fontana, its symbolic nature can help one "to access
progressively deeper levels of the unconscious, ultimately assisting the
meditator to experience a mystical sense of oneness with the ultimate
unity from which the cosmos in all its manifold forms arises."
[3] The
psychoanalyst
Carl Jung saw the
mandala as "a representation of the unconscious self,"[4]
and believed his paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional
disorders and work towards wholeness in personality.[5]
In common use, mandala has become a generic term
for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the
cosmos
metaphysically or symbolically, a
microcosm of the
Universe from the
human perspective.[citation
needed]
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