What does the Tibetan Symbol in the center of this Mandala mean?

[Budai]

My friend told me it was “Paragraphical”. Can someone tell me a general meaning of the Tibetan symbol there? I like this Mandala a lot.

[Johnny Dangerous]

It looks like HUM to me.

There are many layers of meaning to a thing like this but the simplest is to say it represents the mind of Buddha, or the Dharmakaya aspect.

The seed syllable at the center of mandala will typically indicate the Buddha family of the practice and more, but this sort of thing is very specific to practices, teachers, etc. in my experience.

[Budai]

Ah yes, it is HUM. I’ll have to meditate on that more. Thank you so much.

Om Benza Satto Hum!

[Hazel]

It looks like HUM to me.

There are many layers of meaning to a thing like this but the simplest is to say it represents the mind of Buddha, or the Dharmakaya aspect.

The seed syllable at the center of mandala will typically indicate the Buddha family of the practice and more, but this sort of thing is very specific to practices, teachers, etc. in my experience.

That is an interesting looking HUM. I'm having a hard time parsing the a chung, but the rest of the parts of the syllable are there.

The symbol to the right of it is a ter tsek, which - apparently - is used in place of a double shad if the text it concludes is a terma (according to this https://r12a.github.io/scripts/tibetan/block#char0F14). That's just a rough understanding from a quick search, though.

This is a sand mandala, right?

[conebeckham]

Frankly, it’s not really orthographically correct. And the entire image seems to be maybe a “tourist thangka,” though I am not positive.

[Budai]

This is a sand mandala, right?

Thank you for the detailed information. I found it on Twitter, and decided to put it on my wall upside down (on accident, but then really realized I did that to symbolize impermanence, both Mandalas I placed on my wall are upside down so that I do not become attached to them, and I am still having trouble ). It is probably a sand mandala, but it has an impermanence aspect to it that inspired me regardless, I hope if anyone is familiar with the subject they can shed some light (and not badger me for putting it upside down, I am already getting attached for that reason ). Hehe.

Thank you.

Om Mani Padme Hum.

[Budai]

Frankly, it’s not really orthographically correct. And the entire image seems to be maybe a “tourist thangka,” though I am not positive.

Can you elaborate? I am actually quite interested in this subject, and especially where to get good sand mandalas to meditate on. I was thinking of asking here but was too shy.

[Budai]

Here is the other Mandala. To me it makes me think of time when when I look at it. I wish I had a better version of it I could download.

[jmlee369]

This is a sand mandala, right?

Thank you for the detailed information. I found it on Twitter, and decided to put it on my wall upside down (on accident, but then really realized I did that to symbolize impermanence, both Mandalas I placed on my wall are upside down so that I do not become attached to them, and I am still having trouble ). It is probably a sand mandala, but it has an impermanence aspect to it that inspired me regardless, I hope if anyone is familiar with the subject they can shed some light (and not badger me for putting it upside down, I am already getting attached for that reason ). Hehe.

Thank you.

Om Mani Padme Hum.

Both mandalas are painted, not sand mandala. And both are 'tourist thangka' like conebeckham mentioned, which means they are not 'real' mandalas but just creative pieces made by untrained artists. Tourist thangkas generally do not depict things according to any system of tantra, or even if they do, the skills of the artist are lacking, not following the precise proportion of deities, lacking in details, not using proper shades or colours, etc. The second picture you posted is based on the Kalachakra mandala, but if you compare with the actual Kalachakra mandala, you should be able to tell the difference.

[amanitamusc]

You can try making your own sand Mandala. I made one on my ceiling once but quickly wiped it away without taking a pic.
If you try this wear goggles!

[tingdzin]

Yep, jimlee nailed it. As far as hanging mandalas improperly to aid non-attachment, that's a weird and probably fruitless idea.

[conebeckham]

Sand mandalas are made of colored sand or colored powder, and they are aids to a specific tantric ritual practice. Basically, they are aerial views of the palace of the deity. They are constructed at the beginning of a ritual service—and dismantled at the end. These services are called Drupchos, or drupchens, group rituals that last for days and are very elaborate ceremonial rituals. They are often preliminary to the bestowal of an elaborate empowerment into that deity’s practices.

[Hazel]

Frankly, it’s not really orthographically correct. And the entire image seems to be maybe a “tourist thangka,” though I am not positive.

Yeah. The downside of studying Tibetan calligraphy is now this sort of stuff tweaks me out.

[Hazel]

You can try making your own sand Mandala. I made one on my ceiling once but quickly wiped it away without taking a pic.
If you try this wear goggles!

I wonder how the founder would think about snapping a selfie with a sand mandala.

[DewachenVagabond]

Here is the other Mandala. To me it makes me think of time when when I look at it. I wish I had a better version of it I could download.

Why are you meditating on and pinning mandalas you have no connection to? Even if they were real mandalas, if you have not entered that mandala, I'm not sure your efforts will bear any good fruit.

[DewachenVagabond]

If you're just making stuff up on the fly instead of following the instructions of a guru, you're going to have a bad time.

[Johnny Dangerous]

If you're just making stuff up on the fly instead of following the instructions of a guru, you're going to have a bad time.

One of my teachers has run short informal classes at retreats simply explaining detailed symbolism found in thangkas, mandalas, and Tantric art generally. I don't think he expects that everyone is going to be practicing with them, there is some benefit in people simply understanding what they are looking at, even outside of a practice context. Similarly, as one example there is a print of a Kalachakra mandala which has been posterized and used as decor all over the place for years. It's better the people doing so at least understand the context of what they are looking at. I'm also not sure I would call having something on your wall and using it as a recollection or contemplation of sorts a "practice" in the Tantric context at all, as they are not initiated, are not actually visualizing the mandala etc. We can nitpick about whether this is proper, but it's a foregone conclusion because but the art is everywhere now. Better it be a cause for something good (i.e. understanding basic symbolism, understand the concept of mandala itself, which is multilayered to say the least) than for tsk-tsking.

I'm glad someone mentioned these are fake though, because I thought that was schlubby lookin' HUM and mandala generally but didn't want to say anything

Anyway, I would encourage Konchok Chodrak to do some reading on Mandalas generally, and how they function in Tantra, I'll bet that if you poke around Garchen Institute's stuff they may have something educational on the subject.

[Budai]

Here is the other Mandala. To me it makes me think of time when when I look at it. I wish I had a better version of it I could download.

Why are you meditating on and pinning mandalas you have no connection to? Even if they were real mandalas, if you have not entered that mandala, I'm not sure your efforts will bear any good fruit.

Well it’s not a picture without meaning, someone took a long time to make it so I think that whatever they were going for was probably important to them. I wouldn’t dissuade someone from continuing to paint Mandalas and I think it’s important for them to do that. Sometimes I try to figure that out. But I understand what you are saying and I appreciate your kindness and approach.

Can someone point me to a resource where I can learn more about Mandalas? That I think would be useful for me.

[Johnny Dangerous]

Here is the other Mandala. To me it makes me think of time when when I look at it. I wish I had a better version of it I could download.

Why are you meditating on and pinning mandalas you have no connection to? Even if they were real mandalas, if you have not entered that mandala, I'm not sure your efforts will bear any good fruit.

Well it’s not a picture without meaning, someone took a long time to make it so I think that whatever they were going for was probably important to them. I wouldn’t dissuade someone from continuing to paint Mandalas and I think it’s important for them to do that. Sometimes I try to figure that out. But I understand what you are saying and I appreciate your kindness and approach.

Can someone point me to a resource where I can learn more about Mandalas? That I think would be useful for me.

https://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-bu ... -a-mandala

[DewachenVagabond]

If you're just making stuff up on the fly instead of following the instructions of a guru, you're going to have a bad time.

One of my teachers has run short informal classes at retreats simply explaining detailed symbolism found in thangkas, mandalas, and Tantric art generally. I don't think he expects that everyone is going to be practicing with them, there is some benefit in people simply understanding what they are looking at, even outside of a practice context. Similarly, as one example there is a print of a Kalachakra mandala which has been posterized and used as decor all over the place for years. It's better the people doing so at least understand the context of what they are looking at. I'm also not sure I would call having something on your wall and using it as a recollection or contemplation of sorts a "practice" in the Tantric context at all, as they are not initiated, are not actually visualizing the mandala etc. We can nitpick about whether this is proper, but it's a foregone conclusion because but the art is everywhere now. Better it be a cause for something good (i.e. understanding basic symbolism, understand the concept of mandala itself, which is multilayered to say the least) than for tsk-tsking.

I'm glad someone mentioned these are fake though, because I thought that was schlubby lookin' HUM and mandala generally but didn't want to say anything

Anyway, I would encourage Konchok Chodrak to do some reading on Mandalas generally, and how they function in Tantra, I'll bet that if you poke around Garchen Institute's stuff they may have something educational on the subject.

I think it's fine to learn about the symbolism, but I guess I just don't understand why one would meditate on or pin a mandala when they don't even what it is or what tradition or practice it belongs to, especially when you've already made a connection with a guru like Garchen Rinpoche like Könchok has. It's one thing to see a mandala and feel a connection and a motivation to learn about it and seek out the related practice and empowerments etc.

Maybe that's what Könchok is doing. I think it just threw me off that they said they were meditating on an unknown mandala.