Mandala-Vision

In the sphere of buddha-vision, where the nature of mind is understood as emptiness and space, the infrastructure of awareness is the mandala.

Appearances, such as the landscape, are still in their seemingly chaotic natural order, but within the perception that is a unity of outside and inside is the symmetrical, three-dimensional, mandala form.

Mandala-vision is awareness of the underlying purity and the perfect symmetry and harmony of every perception.

These natural mandalas, spontaneously in-born in every perception, are expressed in the symbolic terms of the tantric tradition as three-dimensional models or two-dimensional plans.

In those forms the aspiring yogi can visualise them, and through recognition of the reality which the symbols represent he can attain mandala-vision and buddha-vision.

The simplest of mandalas, the basis of all mandalas, is an empty circle. The Tibetan word for mandala means 'centre-circumference' (kyilkhor).

The centre of the simple mandala circle represents a point instant of pure awareness of unbounded inner space that is emptiness (tongpanyi, shunyata), which cannot be conceived or expressed.

It is represented anthropomorphically as a naked blue Buddha, the Primordial Buddha.

This emptiness interpenetrates every level of awareness, providing the fluidity of perception and also the transcendent qualities of radiance and fullness that characterise every perception.

The fundamental circular mandala also represents an intuitive recognition of the basic building block of experiential reality, the empty nucleus of every moment of experience.

Thus, while it indicates the essential element of reality, it also structures 'uncreate', primal awareness in three-dimensional form. Every form that arises in this mandala of mind is empty; all emptiness has form.

The mental generation of a mandala by the yogi is an exercise in structuring the apparent chaos of human experience. Visualisation and contemplation of a mandala automatically induces mental calm.

The simple mandala circle gives a frame to the contents of the mind giving an essential confining order to what has been unbounded chaos.

The empty space within the circumference of the circle evokes the emptiness of its content, the ultimate empty nature of reality.

The structure of a complex mandala indicates the essential elements of the mind and its levels of awareness in a point instant of sensory experience.

The complexities of imagery and symbol within a sophisticated mandala indicate the noumenal characteristics of the content of any given moment of experience.

This imagery and symbol is usually in the form of anthropomorphic figures - male and female buddha-deities. In order to 'read' a mandala it is necessary to know the structure of the hierarchy of the pantheon and the meaning of the symbols that compose the individual deities.

The internal mandala, crucial to the practice of tantric yoga, describes in symbols the psycho-organism interacting with its sensory environment.

Implicit in this interaction are the five senses - seeing, hearing, tasting, touching and smelling; the five types of objects of perception - sight, sound, taste, touch and smell; the feeling tone that arises with every perception - positive, negative or neutral; the emotional content of the perception - desire, anger, pride, jealousy and fear - and the thought that arises with it;

the impulse towards continued sensory activity generated by thought and emotion informing karmic proclivity; and finally the consciousness that greets every perception.

Formally, the mandala representing this complex fivefold moment of human experience consists of five circles - a central circle surrounded by four circles in the cardinal directions, all within the confining circle.

The five circles are represented anthropomorphically by Buddhas differentiated by colour and hand gesture.

see also: The Sacred Life of Tibet#Mandala-Vision