 Okay, hello everyone, to this kind of taster session of a class of mine, I'm Christian Lutzernitz. I teach Tibetan and Buddhist art at SOAS, at the Department for the History of Art and Archaeology. And what I wanted to talk about today is what is a mandala? And that particular question concerns a course I'm doing on the different interpretations of the mandala over time. And since the term itself is a very popular topic in kind of more broadly and a very popular term that has gained quite a lot of different meanings over time, and especially kind of modern Western meaning that has reflected back on Asia and so on, I thought this is an interesting topic to talk about and also to explore where it actually comes from and what changed. I'm not sure if I can chat to everyone, but let me just share what I prepared. So that's just a PowerPoint of the question and I actually wanted to start, let me see that I see the chat, with a blank page and simply ask you what do you know or what comes to mind, what is the word that comes to mind when you hear mandala? How would you describe it with a single word? And I hope you'll be able to actually send the description in the chat. But I couldn't really find out beforehand if that is possible. Yes, I see it's possible. Yes, so please add. We have geometry, palace, a diagram, very nice. Anything else, other words that come to mind? A doorway, yeah, interesting. Geometric configuration image, yes, very good. So rather complex and also kind of, yeah, I think that's already a good way to start. And essentially all spiritual tools, I just wanted to say that all the terms that I read so far concern essentially the Western interpretation, but the spiritual tool actually concerns the part of the original meaning. So there's a quite disconnect between that, the figurative meanings at a later time period and the actual original function of the mandala. So if you actually kind of type the thing into Google, if you type the word mandala into Google, and this I think is a little older, it's not completely up to date. But what it actually shows you is the most frequent modern Western usage of mandala is in the form of tattoos and mandala drawing patterns, yeah. And all of these, you know, look like or many of these look flower-like and so on. But interspersed within it, we have two famous kind of Buddhist expressions of the mandala. In the first row, you see the sand mandala, which is probably the most famous version and is today kind of made as a performance as well. And then you have two examples of Tibetan mandalas also displayed in between all these other ones, the mandala coloring patterns and books. And so this particular notion, you know, the association with geometry, with round shape more broadly, that essentially comes from the modern interpretation. And accordingly, even, you know, the Oxford Dictionary of English simply defines it as a circular figure representing the universe in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism. Yeah. And then it gives a second definition, a mandala is a symbol in a tree. Sorry. That should not have gone off. Sorry about that. So the second is in Jungian psychology, a mandala is a symbol of a dream representing the dreamer's search for completeness and self unity. And so this is essentially a modern psychological interpretation of the mandala. And it is this modern psychological interpretation that, of course, led to the popularity of the mandala in the West. And its predecessor, the predecessor that Jung has actually seen, must have been actually Tibetan mandalas from the 14th century onwards that look somewhat like this. These are two paintings of one of the earliest mandala sets where, yeah, you have different essentially architectural palaces with these insights around it by circles, the main function of which is kind of protective in nature, except for the innermost circle, the lotus circle is essentially the ground, the purified ground on which the mandala sits. Why that is important, we can come back to again. The other notion, the association of the mandala with the cosmos is also very strong in the sense or in popular imagination, but it derives from one specific mandala that really tries exactly to do that, to essentially liken the mandala and the cosmos to each other. And in this form kind of create a more holistic perspective from the mandala. Yeah. And in which essentially microcosmos, mandala and microcosmos, mandala and microcosmos, which is the body of the practitioner aligned. And this is actually the latest expression of the mandala in esoteric Buddhism, and it dates to about the first quarter of the 11th century, that the teaching of the Kalachakra Mandala came to the fore. And this particular mandala then became the foremost mandala in different Tibetan traditions and is the foremost mandala today, in terms of its public ritual presentation, especially essentially any high teacher of the major Tibetan religious traditions performs the Kalachakra Mandala ritual at some stage. So that already points out one of the main functions, the mandala is a ritual tool. But A, the other kind of objects that are associated with the mandala, but may not be exactly the same. In Hinduism, the earlier version actually is called Yantra. And this looks like that on the left side. And then the term mandala is more broadly used for other kind of grounds with specific meanings, especially when deities are placed within that, as you can see in the Vastu Purusha Mandala on the right side. And so there is a broader meaning within the historic Indian tradition as well, about the term mandala. But what I'm specifically talking about is the Buddhist ones, because that's the context within which the mandala got first popularized. And then, you know, in Hinduism, it was partially kind of taken over and replacing the Yantra. The earliest examples are interesting insofar as, so they date from the 8th century onwards. This is a painting from Dunwang from the library cave. It's around 10th century. And the peculiarity is that there is no circle on the outside. So the earliest mandalas are actually much more simple. And it's this earlier form that moved to Japan and shows the mandala in the Japanese tradition. And what you have here is the so-called two world mandalas or twin mandalas. One is the garbada, so-called garbada to the other, the so-called vajradhatu mandala. But what is important here is that all of them, maybe that by originate dates to the 9th century. And this is, I think, the earliest example from the Saiyan in the Tochi. And all the mandalas that are shown in these paintings are essentially square on the outside. And so that the circular form that we now today identify with the mandala is something that is a later development. And we see that development in the earliest Tibetan paintings where, for example, the protective aspect of the mandala is broken in the sense that the canvas is too small to fit the entire circle within the canvas. Now, in principle, the mandala is a product of esoteric Buddhism. Esoteric Buddhism is, or tantric Buddhism, as it's more frequently called, is esoteric or secret. Secret in the sense that you need to be initiated into the teaching of a particular practice, of a particular deity, to practice that deity or to be allowed to practice that deity. And mandalas depict these deities and their assemblies. The theoretical problem we face is that the teachings themselves are secret. And of course, for that reason, mandalas from the outset weren't necessarily public and weren't necessarily expressed as a form of art. What it instead was done is that maybe the deities were represented. This is an early Kashmiri representation of Chakrasambhara, one of the kind of most important Buddha forms that preside over mandalas. And actually, the earliest depictions are often in a very frail context like Dunhuang, where we have drawings like this that clearly show that the instruction they teach about how to make it, what parts it needs, how the deities are to be depicted, and how it is to be colored overall. And so we'll see that there is a kind of relationship between the actual ritual and then the performance during which a mandala is made. And the shape of the mandala is essentially decided through the teacher. And the basic texts of esoteric Buddhism, of course, are the so-called tantras. That's why there is the alternative for an alternative named tantric Buddhist. The tantras are famous for being rather cryptic to read. The information is often expressed in verses. It's often very difficult to decipher exactly what is meant with it. And so you can't necessarily draw a mandala on the basis of the tantra alone. What you need is the oral or textual commentary that actually explains the proportions and so on to the one who is supposed to make the mandala proper. And so there is a certain disconnect here. And so what we actually see then in the artworks is already kind of an interpretation, a commentary in itself. And I think from what I said so far, what you get already is that the mandala is first and foremost a ritual tool. It's meant actually, originally it was meant to simply be a ritual ground, a ground into which the deities can be invited. And for that purpose, one created a kind of square space, purified that space, brought different offerings. You'll see here knives staking out the knives and the arrows staking out the space and the doors, different offerings placed around. And the little lotus flowers that are inscribed in the different parts of the mandala here, the seeds of the respective deities. And we'll see symbols drawn in the very center of the mandala. And so this is what I would call a ritual mandala. Another ritual mandala that actually depicts the deities themselves is this one. And this is a fascinating kind of drawing and painting from the Dunhuang Library Cave that shows us also that mandalas originally. And that is kind of characteristic for early esoteric Buddhism were made for a worldly purpose. The purpose was not necessarily to speeden up the spiritual path towards awakening, as it is with the later tantric traditions. Often it was to fend off poison of a snake bite and things like this. And this particular painting also concerns a healing ritual. And so the deities were here invited to ward off the demon that we see in the lower left corner here that has this kind of steaks in his limbs. And obviously is considered as having made the person that lies on the mat sick. And so it's a healing ritual that we have represented here. And for that healing ritual, a ritual mandala was made. And we have that depicted above it with the deities. This ritual mandala is also displayed in later tempers. Here we have a late 12th century version with a simple ritual mandala. It's still in the square and with lotus flowers for the seeds of deities. And of course the ritual function of the mandala is also the basis for the so-called sand mandala. The sand mandala is nothing else than another kind of temporarily made mandala, usually for special rituals, which serve the initiation, the introduction of new disciples to that teaching, to that deity that presides the mandala. In this case, what we see is a mandala of the Bodhisattva Manjushri, who is the Bodhisattva of wisdom. So he is surrounded by four books, book piles, and in the mandala proper. And this was just kind of made during a week at the conference in Atlanta, I think in 2008. And of course, it takes an entire week to create the mandala out of sand. So it's a big effort. Then the deity is invited into the mandala proper. Then the disciples are invited to the deity by essentially seeing the mandala, but then also visualizing the deity in prescribed manners that may change from practice to practice slightly. And at the very end of the ritual, the mandala is destroyed. And now, since the deity has resided in it, of course, before it's destroyed, the deity is essentially disinvited. And now, since it has resided in it, the sand itself is considered sacred. So it is collected. Sometimes it's given to or some parts of it are given to practitioners. And some other parts are disposed in the river. And so the sand mandala, as we have it here in this representation in the full representation, reflects the ritual function still. But it is both a ritual mandala and what I call a representational mandala, meaning the representation of the mandala itself with its deities, the balance and all its integral parts. And this is where these kind of two areas come together. Now, if we'll try to find out about the history of this particular practice, and Esoteric Buddhism more broadly, in the earliest forms, of course, we don't have the ritual mandalas. But what we have is the deities that may be associated with mandala teachings. I don't go into great detail, but for example, one can associate this particular triad of a Buddha flanked by the bodhisattva's avalokiteshvara, and Vajrapani with particular esoteric Buddhist texts. And in some of them, also an expanded configuration with eight bodhisattvas is described. And this would essentially be the earliest mandala representation in India that is in Elora at cave 12. And of course, what is represented here is not the mandala itself, but it's the assembly of deities that occupy the mandala. And of course, if you have questions in between, if I'm not clear just write into the chat. I'll monitor the chat on the way. Yeah, I don't want to make it too complex, but eventually, you know, the concept of five esoteric Buddhas developed in the eighth century, in which five different Buddhas ascribed to the cardinal directions in the center with Virojana in the center. And that goes back to a particular tantra that is called the Sarva Tathagata Tathagata Sangraha Tantra, the Tantra of the reality of all Tathagatas, which is another name for Buddha. And that is, for example, the base for the Japanese version of the mandala that we have seen before. It is also the continuation of a longer tradition of locating different Buddhas in different directions. In a recently published book by Kimiaki Danaka, an illustrated history of the mandala actually has this nice diagram that shows how you know, these indifferent Buddhist sources, textual sources, the Buddhas ascribed to different directions and how the concept of the five Buddhas develops, but also the variations within it. Obviously, to go into those variations would be too much. And for that, I have this kind of separate class that just talks about the different assemblies and their relationship. And so this stupa, for example, represents the four Buddhas around the central one. Each of them has a distinctive gesture and a distinctive attribute, for example. And the stupa itself then represents the main Buddha. This would not be a mandala per se, but it develops out of that concept of the five Buddhas. And so it's part of an esoteric Buddhist imagery. Now, if we think about early mandalas, they are very useful because they give us an idea or an insight into how we have to read the very complex image of the mandala and how we have to understand the different parts that were brought together within it. And it's very clear that from an early stage onwards, there has been a kind of distinction between what one would call the habitation, the mandala palace, and the inhabitants. Before, we looked at the inhabitants that occupy the mandala, like the five Buddhas or the eight bodhisattvas. The habitation itself is, of course, originally the ritual ground. And on some representations we have that ritual ground represented often with the four doors in the cardinal direction, a central circular element, and sometimes guardians in the doors, as in this particular one. And so out of that ritual ground, a more complex notion of the mandala palace develops. And that notion of the mandala palace, of course, derives from Indra's palace on Mount Mero. So the god Indra, the highest god in kind of traditional cosmology of India, and the head of the kind of 33 gods, he would have the special palace made by Vishwa Kalman, who is the divine artisan, so to speak. And that palace forms kind of the model for the palace representation. But we have seen early palaces are very simple. The walls are just drawn. The gates are just openings. Sometimes they become a little bit more complex. The gates become kind of t-shaped. But in later mandala palaces, they are very elaborate. And they are kind of a fascinating combination of parts of the architecture that can be seen from bird's eye view and parts of the architecture that can be seen from the side view. So for example, if we look at this particular one, which is a mandala of the form of Chakrasanvara, again, we have the walls, which would be seen from the top, but then we have the garlands along the walls, which would be hanging from the top of the wall as they do in this particular three dimensional model. And so mandalas are essentially two dimensional representations. Once the palace is there, two dimensional representations of three dimensional structures. And these three dimensional structures can be distinct depending on the tantra and the different interpretations of the tantra and the main deity. And this is why mandalas in the Buddhist context already have quite a diverse appearance. So this would be one model of a kind of stupor-shaped mandala. This is another mandala that is today in the Bodala palace. And it's a three dimensional Kalachakra mandala. So the most complex of the mandalas with its distinctive gates that have these nine compartments within it. But also in the three dimensional form, as it is represented here, it's the space, it's still a potentially a ritual space into which the deities can be invited. But then it's permanent. Once you have a permanent representation of the mandala itself, then you can invite the deity to abide in the palace forever. And it wins quite literally forever because in the so-called consecration ritual that is performed for that purpose, the deity is asked to abide there for forever. That means as long as samsara lasts. So as long as the cycle-free birth lasts. Any questions so far? That may be a lot to take in, but obviously you'll see that there's quite a difference between the more vague modern association of the mandala and the historic Buddhist associations that essentially influenced the modern interpretation. Yeah, if there are no questions specifically, you can always write them in the chat. I point out a few more things about the mandala that are then interesting. We haven't talked about the term mandala itself yet. Mandala means in the way circle. It's a Sanskrit word. It's not entirely clear what it derives from the different interpretations, but it's clear that it's used for something that is either circular or something that surrounds or is surrounded by. The Tibetan translation then calls it ginkua or kilkua. And that kind of has both elements, the center and the surrounding in the term itself. So this is why for the definition of the mandala, the circular element is important. And this is why in the Google page that we have seen at the very beginning, this kind of circular element is predominant in the presentation. But we have seen that historically mandalas haven't been circular. They have just been square ritual grounds like on this representation. Then of course, is the question what the circle is? And I guess you can actually guess the answer now. What is the circle of the mandala then? Anybody wants to guess, write a guess in the chat? No. We have seen some hints already with different versions of the mandala represented. I think here I go too far. Let me see. So the circle is then the central circle. And that's of course what would align with all these early representations like this one or the Japanese one. So it really refers to the central circular arrangement. That central circular arrangement is of course then also found in the rituals. In the ritual mandala representations. And depending if the central circle is low dose, then it's a kind of more peaceful deity that is and the more peaceful purpose of the ritual itself. And if it's a blade that flames, it's more wrathful and it's a more aggressive ritual that the purpose is of. And accordingly, the different shapes of the interior of the circle define different purposes for the rituals. And so traditionally one differentiates this four main rituals, pacifying and reaching, subjugating and destroying. So some in the destroying ones would be those associated with flaming blades and kind of elements like that. And another indication that the central circle that kind of encompasses the core deities is the actual mandala is shown by a unique form of the mandala that was popular in northeastern India for a short period of time, namely the so-called lotus mandala. Yeah, here we have only the central circle in this case. It's a piece that you can see in the British Museum. It has shakyamuni in the center surrounded by the bodhisattva. So it's exactly the same configuration as this one. But here we have only the assembly of deities. And here we have again only the assembly of deities, but we also have a habitation. But the habitation is the lotus itself. And we have seen earlier mandala's sitan lotuses. In this case just the central circle, lotus circle of the mandala is represented. And these lotus mandalas are peculiar insofar as you can essentially collapse the blades together that they form a closed lotus band. And so you can either close the mandala or open it up again. And of course you would open it up when you perform a ritual and you would close it when the ritual is essentially inactive. And other evidence for the importance of the central circle representation in dunhuang like this one were only the central circle of the mandala is emphasized. Which of course backs the question, when does the mandala become circular on the outside? And I think that has a lot to do with the prominence that the so-called kala chakra mandala gets in the tradition by the late 10th early 11th century. And that particular mandala is associated with you know the the macro cosmos so to speak. And the macro cosmos is built of different increasingly dense elements from an ether element at the bottom to an earth element disc at the top. These elements are circular. On them sits the cosmic ocean with the continents among which jambudvipa is the Indian continent continent. But it's these outer circular elements that are represented in the kala chakra mandala as rings surrounding the central palace. And which means because these elements are imagined as discs and even in the earlier version of the Buddhist cosmos they would be round more cylinders than you know increasingly expansive discs. If you want to represent them and include them in the mandala you have to make it round on the outside. And so obviously this was very successful and eventually all mandalas were represented round for the specific kala chakra mandala. There is also another form that kind of re-emphasizes this very round shape by even making the mandala palace itself round and in this case even giving it kind of eight doors. So this would be one peculiar form of the kala chakra mandala. Yeah and the kala chakra mandala itself of course becomes prominent then with you know at the time in the 11th century when different tantric traditions, esoteric Buddhist traditions that involved mandalas were kind of translated and transmitted to Tibet and Indian teachers were asked to summarize the teachings around them. And one such Indian teacher was Abhayil Karagukta who created a trilogy of works that is only about mandalas. The Vajravali describes the mandalas, the Nishpana Yoga Vali describes the deities and the Jyoti Manjali, the rituals that are associated with it. But these texts like that eventually lead to a more uniform appearances of mandalas overall and so they take on different elements from each other and become kind of more uniform over time. And that's why later mandalas then look more similar to each other than the earlier mandalas that we have. I see there is a question in the chat. Is there a difference in the purpose of the Jain kala chakra in a Buddhist kala chakra mandala? I must say I don't know the Jain kala chakra well enough to actually answer that. But in terms of the Buddhist kala chakra mandala the main purpose is really a kind of unification of the different tantric systems and bringing together the different symbolic connotations and practice elements of what the practitioner does into a kind of unified system. So that's quite characteristic. I'm not familiar with the Jain kala chakra. I would have to check that. But I would assume it's a kind of a leader development of that or a distinct development of that. Sorry that I'm not answering your question here properly. And so with the yeah there is another one is the relationship between the quality of the mandala and the disciples experience an interaction with the deity. Yes, because there is essentially a difference. So I mentioned that in early esoteric Buddhism or early esoteric Buddhist practices were often more for worldly gains. Those are much simpler in terms of the mandalas that are represented. But they also differ in the association with the deities themselves. So for example if you want to cure a snake bite you call up Mahayuri who is the peacock goddess so to speak with a peacock feather and of course the peacock is the enemy of the snake and her qualities are supposed to work against that snake bite. So this is quite a different practice from the practice in later esoteric Buddhism like here we have Guya Samajamandjhuvajra mandala in which you essentially you have to imagine the more esoteric Buddhism becomes the more symbolic the deities become and the more they represent different qualities through their different heads attributes colors and so on. And so in this later practice what one does is one actually imagines the deity either in front of oneself or one imagines oneself as the deity. In other words one takes the the the symbolic qualities that I described to the deity on and this is why you know the esoteric Buddhist tradition is thought to be so effective because it brings you closer to the Buddha faster so to speak. And accelerates the path so to speak. I hope that answers the question. So they're quite different forms of interaction. The mandala itself then is used for the the initiation of the disciple but then once that has what somebody is initiated he would practice the deity himself and he would visualize the mandala but in a slightly different three-dimensional form that is kind of reduced to the basic elements. So for example here we'll have in the mandala itself we have the fire circle the Vajra circle these are still imagined as is imagined you know a lot of ground out of which something emerges and it's usually this detail a syllable of the deity and out of that one visualizes the deity within a three-dimensional cage to attend that the deity abides in. So this ritual dimension is that we have in the ritual ground of the mandala is kind of converted into a third dimension when you actually practice it. I hope that answered that. Yeah and so I think what's important that in the Buddhist context the mandala is really kind of purpose oriented and it's a temporal kind of means to help the practitioner yeah to progress in his spiritual path and one of the the so-called dohas the songs of one of the Mahasiddhas who have of course are credited with many of the the teaching surrounding mandalas brings it very nicely when taking up or we're taking things up as the object of the mind even the unagitated lord is brought down the circle of the mandala brings holy to ruin the buddhas the world all the goddesses and wrathful protectors and so what that indicates to us is once you are spiritually awakened you don't need the mandala anymore you also don't need the buddhas the the and all the deities that surround them anymore because you have already kind of attained the same level and so that's the kind of main purpose of the mandala there's another question in buddhist religion this used to be one object called mandal which used to be placed before the deity yes that's a very good question the the so-called it is the same term it's essentially also called mandala or mandala as you say i don't think i have an example in the power point here not really but it looks a little bit like this cosmos representation it often has different rings that get smaller towards the top sometimes it's also just one disc with a little palace on mont mero and so what that is is actually the offering of the universe that means an offering of a depiction of the cosmos you know and that is often called a mandala offering and so it's different from the actual ritual mandalas but it kind of comes together with them with the kalachakra mandala and of course the the idea for that is you know dana giving plays a big role in in buddhism both in terms of you know financially but then also kind of spiritually in the sense of giving one's body or giving one's or the the entire surrounding and so the the offering of the universe would be exactly that and so this must have been what you have seen would be interesting to hear how it looked like so any other questions i think we can stop here otherwise i hope you enjoyed it obviously it's a complex topic it takes a long time to get familiar with it and each tantra has its own mandala and its own ideas around it but as you got through the lecture i think is that over time they become slightly more similar to each other and assimilated partly because you know the comment data is familiar with with more different ones and aligns them with each other and so and of course the west then takes these different elements of the the buddhist mandalas but then also hindu versions of it maybe chain versions of it i haven't looked at those in any detail and brings them together in a kind of more more holistic and psychologically interpreted form but originally they weren't really used in that way so i hope you got an idea of what yeah the at least some idea of what the mandala originally was used for and that is quite different from its today's usage in the coloring book but the coloring book also has its derivations theoretically you could also you know replicate one of these debat mandalas as a coloring exercise and i'm sure it's very contemplative and soothing as well so thanks and thanks for your interest here i stopped sharing so if there are no other questions i'll wish you a good day yeah and i hope to see some of you at soas in next year