A mandala is a mesocosm. Like a temple it exists in the intermediate space between the human individual, (the microcosm) and the larger universe, (the macrocosm). In some traditional cultures a mandala (or temple) exists as a representation of the cosmic order and is a vehicle for bringing the order of ones own life into harmony with the cosmos, or alternatively, of manifesting the divine order in the human realm. In Buddhism a mandala is often a didactic device, a diagram of the enlightenment process used to guide ones meditations and visualizations. As one visualizes ones way through the order of the mandala one internalizes that order. The cosmic order represented in the mandala is both Mt Meru, the universal mountain at the center of the universe and the mountain within the citta, the heart-mind within every practitioner. Hindu temples are typically mandalas in plan and also represent a cosmic mountain in form. Hinduism also equates the macrocosm with the microcosm. In the Upanishads a central concept of Hindu thought was expressed in the phrase “Tat Tvam Asi,” literally “thou art that.” It means that the ultimate, formless, universal Brahman, and the individual soul or Atman, are one and the same thing. If you look deeply enough into the universe, or deeply enough into yourself, you will see the same thing.

Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, had his patients create mandalas as part of their therapy, as a way to recover and restore their sense of wholeness. In this practice mandalas are tools of psycho-synthesis. When one feels broken, out of harmony or fragmented, the act of drawing a mandala, even one as simple as a single circle, can have a therapeutic, healing effect on the mind and spirit. In the American Southwest some healing practices involve drawing large mandala shaped sand paintings. The patient then sits in the mandala while chants are sung and other rituals are performed. In this way the patient is healed, returned to harmony or beauty.

There can also be a little neo-Platonism in mandalas; or in mine at least. Geometry and mathematics are abstractions outside time and space. Geometry is used in sacred architecture in many cultures because it seems to partake of the eternal, the infinite, the archetypal, and the sacred. However, all material forms are temporal and finite. Geometry is a way to try and give the temporal and the finite a form that is archetypal, eternal and sacred.

When I was creating mandalas in the 1980s (and on those rare occasions when I still create a new one) they were shaped by all of these ideas. That is, I see a mandala as being larger than myself, as something that transcends myself, as being the universe itself, and also being myself, a means to get in touch with myself, and a means to restore my own sense of wholeness. I use geometry when I begin a mandala because it is so rational and seems to relate to the timeless and the infinite. I then flesh out a mandala led by intuition and emotion. I sometimes use line work, textures or patterns that relate to the natural order, like ripples in water or the grain in stone. I think my mandalas are the most successful when they connect with multiple levels of order and when the act of creating them helps me become more whole.

Philip E Harding
October 12, 2006