TheMet has a special exhibition: Mandalas: Mapping the Buddhist Art of Tibet.* The show is on until January 12, 2025. It is a beautiful and wide-ranging introduction to the art of mandalas.
Mandalas have several purposes. Some depict cosmology. Some tie a devotee to their teacher and their lineage. Some guide meditation.
I’ve learned this about the meditative use of mandalas: One enters and gradually moves from section to section until one reaches the center.
Meditation is based on concentration. Concentration leads to absorption. That sounds appealing, especially in our scattered and frazzled times. But what should our focus be? There are various objectives, from tranquility to devotion to wanting personal power. All of them are about tapping into our potential—which only a small fraction of people achieve.
It’s important not to get distracted. The mandala imparts nothing. There’s nothing more magical about it than your GPS. You follow the procedure to reach your goal. You don’t read maps because they deserve veneration themselves—nor do you confuse the map for your arrival.
Are you joining the grand tradition of great masters who preceded you just by looking at a painting (32.0, left)? By the time you get to the center, are you visiting that god (32.0, right)? Or are you opening to what was inside you all along?
Each day, we read of crime, war, and corruption. Did “the devil make them do it”? No. It was the moral failing of the perpetrators. If you don’t believe that, ask who gets jailed—the devil or the criminal? The reasons for the person’s shortcomings might be interesting for a biopic and they might mitigate condemnation, but none of them are completely causal. The person is responsible.
In the same way, the results of your meditations are yours to gain. When that happens, you become the mandala.
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Mandala of Jnanadakini. Late 14th century. Tibet. Distemper on cloth. 29 1/2 x 33 in. (74.9 x 83.8 cm). TheMet.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/37802
Vajrabhairava mandala. Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). ca. 1330–32. China. Silk tapestry (kesi). 96 5/8 x 82 5/16 in. (245.5 x 209 cm). TheMet.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/37614
* https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/mandalas-mapping-the-buddhist-art-of-tibet