How to Use a Sacred Mandala

Every mandala originates from the center, a dot, meaning "seed" or "starting point." It is a gathering place. Outside energies are drawn inward. So a mandala represents both inner and outer spaces. Lines materialize out of the dot and continue until they intersect, creating triangular geometrical patterns. Outlying squares represent the physical world in the four directions. The circle drawn around the outside stands for the dynamic consciousness of the initiated. This means that the center is visualized as the essence and the circumference as grasping. The totality of the whole mandala means "grasping the essence."

Photo Credit: Mandala in Rinchepung Dzong, Paro, Bhutan
Buy at AllPosters.com

Nature's Mandalas are beautifully balanced. When we see circles in nature and look more closely we can see how these circles encompass other patterns. Plants and flora, trees, fruit, vegetables and animals all hold the power of the mandala within them.

Photo credit: Meaningofmandalas.com

The mandala is as old as history itself.. In the earliest knowledge of India and its literature, mandala is the term for a collection of mantras or hymns chanted in Vedic ceremonies. The shape possibly comes from the sense of round, as in a round of songs. The universe was believed to originate from these hymns, whose sacred sounds contained the genetic patterns of all beings and things. This sets up the idea that the mandala is, in its own way a model of the world. The word mandala itself is derived from the root manda, which means essence. The suffix la means "container." So, a mandala is a "container of essence."

What first appeared was a series of circles, layers of the flower of life. Without calculating anything, the patterns naturally and effortlessly took shape. Then, 12 beings appeared in a circle. As each one was drawn in, I noticed that they were holding hands, each taking on a color of the rainbow. Then, 12 more beings of no color, yet, holding every other one's hands.

This mandala is a visual expression of the possibility for us to live in peace and harmony with all beings. It is a vision of uniting in celebration of our similarities, as well as our differences and living as One being.

Sacred Mandalas of the Heart

For just a moment don't push yourself to solve anything or resolve anything. Let all of the choices take a well deserved and total rest from prancing across the never ending stage of your mind. Allow your problems to just lie there, solutionless.

Many of us struggle with relationship. We search for unconditional love and acceptance: to be loved just as we are and yet we are challenged to have this same goal in our relationship with reality. We say to ourselves, "If only reality was kinder, less mysterious, more predictable, even tempered, exciting, calming, colorful, sweeter," and on and on the list goes, always to a someplace else. The sacred mandala can remind us there is not someplace else and you are not the someone else of your future or your past.

Can you stand in the flame, the center of your mandala? Can you sit in that very hot seat and have a flame experience? You don't have to do anything as dramatic as setting fire to yourself. Simply take an unfamiliar path instead of rushing off in the same direction that you usually run in. Be unpredictable. Insist on a new pattern to your usual response. Stand in the center and go against your grain. Picture a huge wheel grinding grain with a momentum that you can feel and slowly reverse the process, turning your habits around, even if you think it means your world might fall apart. Give that fear away too. Take the chance to experience your world more fully, especially the parts you don't see only because you hold them back from yourself.