Beautiful Buddhist Mandalas from around the World

spnadmin · #1 (**permalink**) 10-Jul-2011, 10:33 AM

The Dalai Lama is in Washington D.C. from July 6-16, leading a gathering of thousands of Buddhists through the "Kalachakra for World Peace." Central to the kalachakra ritual is the design and creation of a mandala.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/buddhism/36194-beautiful-buddhist-mandalas-from-around-world.html

HuffPost blogger Matteo Pistono explains:

Central to the bestowing of the Kalachakra initiation is the creation of a mandala. "Mandala" literally means "center and circumference" and in the tantric context connotes a circular diagram symbolizing a universe with a deity in the center of his or her palace complete with entourage, gatekeepers, and a surrounding environment. Mandalas are painted on cloth and temple walls, created from colored sand, or fashioned from wood, stone or colored threads.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=36194

We've collected pictures of several beautiful mandalas, created by Buddhist monks in different locations around the world. Enjoy!

Posted image from the
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
1 of 11

Tibetan Buddhist monks work on a mandala, January 20, 2002 at the Smithsonian Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0...ion_Washington ***

spnadmin · #2 (**permalink**) 10-Jul-2011, 10:52 AM

9 i mages (left to right)
1. A Tibetan monk works on creating a mandala at the Broward County Main Library February 6, 2007 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=36194
2. A monk from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Tibet works on a mandala at the National Mall during the last weekend of the 36th Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival 'The Silk Road' in Washington, DC, 06 July 2002. (Photo by Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images)
3. A monk from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Tibet works on a mandala at the National Mall during the last weekend of the 36th Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival 'The Silk Road' in Washington, DC, 06 July 2002. (Photo by Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images)
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=36194
4. Tibetan Buddhist monks prepare a mandala during an exhibition at the Thank You India Festival in Bangalore on November 23, 2009. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/Getty Images)
5. Maroon-robed Buddhist monks spread colored sand across a mandala at Washington's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Friday Aug. 7, 1998 to help explain a 1,000-year-old system of medicine. (Photo by Khue Bui / AP Photo)
6. Tibetan monks create a mandala at the Prague Museum, Czech Republic on Tuesday March 7, 2006. (Photo by Petr David Josek / AP Photo)
7. Four Tibetan nuns create a mandala at the Overseas Museum in Bremen, northern Germany, Friday, Nov. 4, 2005. (AP Photo/Joerg Sarbach)
8. A Buddhist monk from Gyudmed Monastery creates a mandala in a museum in Rostov-on-Don, about 1,000 kilometers south of Moscow, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007. (AP Photo/Sergei Venyavsky)
9. Tibetan nuns pray 22 June 2003 in Hamburg's ethnographical Museum, in front of a mandala made of colored sand. (Photo by Roland Magunia/Getty Images)