In this paper I am speaking about the Tibetan Buddhist mandala as an art object from three perspectives. One is from the points of view of such major translators as Tucci, Guenther, Blofeld, Hopkins, and others as well as interviews with Tibetan experts. The second is from my own personal experience of the mandala as an artist and a religious practitioner, since a solely ‘objective investigation’ is counter to the intention of mandalas, even dangerous. (Tucci, …Mandala, p. 1-2) The third perspective trips the light fantastic about the reason for study of such things as mandalas or ‘religion and art’ in general.
The human body as the symbol of human personality in relationship with the body and “personality” of the universe is the interaction that gives rise to the “mandala.” This is a catalytic process of empowerment exploring human identity within the confines of one’s cultural and religious bias, as well as a means of realizing absolute potentials believed to be inherent in such an interaction of microcosm and macrocosm. (Tucci, p. 138) Thus, the mandala as an object represents a vast ritual that evokes and guides the forces and states characteristic to this interacting complex of individual and world to ultimate realization of the “real”. (Also see, Hans Hoffman, Search for the Real.) The sentient product of that interactive complex and how the art object functions within that complex is my interest. I refer to the ‘personality’ of the universe above since that is the only way that we can perceive reality since we are ‘personal’ rather than solely ‘objective’ beings. From that perpsective, even a paper like this becomes a living interaction as well as an fairly objective analysis.
Tucci in The Theory and Practice of the Mandala, refers to this art form as “psycho-cosmogrammata which may lead the neophyte, by revealing to him the secret play of the forces which operate in the universe and in us, on the way to the reintegration of consciousness.” Or:
The mandala like the stupa… represents a scheme of the world in the liturgical drama, indeed it is the universe itself led back from its material multiplicity to its quintessential unity; while the stupa represents in an architectural manner this cosmos and the persons who perform the ritual circumambulation around it go back from the expanded and displayed world to the source of all things thus becoming unified with it, the mandala is the linear and pictorial scheme of that identification and of the same process: It gives us, horizontally, the plan of the stupa, it is the stupa seen from above, with the doors of the pradaksina and its centre; the mandala too is “entered into, the ceremony of initiation is a “pravesa”, an entry.”
Hence it is also the human body, the microcosm, the most perfect mandala, in which the interplay of universal forces is reproduced; the symbols through which this language finds expression are images, (!!!) nearly always the image of deities; the component parts of human personality (skandha), material elements (Dhatu), sensorial spheres (ayatana) are reflected into it as figures of gods and goddesses. The disciple, when he has been ‘baptized’ is introduced into the mandala, and becomes ideally identified with its centre, which is not a spacial centre, but the “origin”, beyond time and space.
Thanks to this character and meaning, the mandala is drawn according to the same paradigms used to build a stupa: both are Indian echoes of the Babylonian “ziggurat” but inserted in a vital manner into the Indian tradition; hence the remote foreign inspiration is slowly transformed into a natural and more appropriate symbol of the liturgical, cosmological, and psychological equivalences of Indian soteriology. [Some scholars trace the roots of the mandala to the Vedic altar.]
This correspondence between the the mandala and the plan of the stupa extends to the scheme of the palace or city of the Cakravartin, the universal monarch, whose mythograpny took roots in India after her contacts with the Persian empire; it is made evident by its very aspect. (Phillip Rawson, Art of Tantra, p. 160.)
Or from Guenther’s Matrix of Mystery:
…How is it that man is both the encodement (as preserver) and the encoder (as transmitter) of essential insights into the structure of reality? Stating it another way, how are we to understand that fantastically improbable complexity termed “man” so that the equally complex notion of ‘tradition’–as that which preserves and transmits essential insights–is itself comprehensible?
Here, “essential” is to be understood as that which is relevant to the actuality of man’s existential predicament. As such, it has nothing to do with cultural artifacts, museum pieces, and other playthings of those in the humanities who have failed to distinguish between that which can still make a claim on contemporary man in all his situational complexities and those fossilized cultural patterns which survive merely by virtue of gathering dust. It is a failure that accounts for the growing suspicion and hence fear-completely justified– that the humanities are in fact no longer relevant.
Whether or not the so-called “insights’ of any tradition are essential, will be determined by the extent to which they are, firstly, comprehensible to whomsoever chances to focus on them and, implementable, that is, experientially accessible, so that they may become relevant to one’s own life…”(Guenther, Matrix of Mystery, p. vii)
The value of this study of mandalas is predicated on the ability of mandalas to qualify for such “practical” consideration as Guenther deems essential. Various other studies deal more specifically with technical data regarding usage and construction of mandalas in Tibetan religious culture. The main function of this present study is to inculcate an appropriate amount of technical information about mandalas in Tibetan usage, physically, theoretically, aesthetically in order to establish a basic technical understanding about the mandala (between myself and the reader) so that we may have ‘communication’ in what this art work indicates. I will then extrapolate about the signifigance of the ‘mandalic configuration’ generally in the ‘divine palace’ of human ‘knowledge’ and what it suggests about the evolution of human conciousness.
I believe that the mandala must be appreciated aesthetically within the process of its ritual usage because here the elements of art, culture, and religion join with a singular purpose of total realization; of clarity, perfect dynamic stability, ‘formal’ composition, and content. The sentient experience of that interactive complex and how the art object functions within that complex is my interest. In order to get on with this interest as soon as possible, I will deal here only briefly with pertinent historical, stylistic, and formal developments of the Tibetan mandala. The “traditional” nature of the Tibetan Mandala encourages such brevity. (It has not changed signifigantly since the eleventh century, according to S. Rimpoche, head of the Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies in Sarnath, India.) Then, I will give examples of the mandala as it functions in this gestalt “rectification” (Matrix, p. 143,146ff.) of human perceptive potential. Mandalas are one of five forms of Tankas; Printed tankas; gser t’an (Image drawn on gold background); embroidered or applique tankas; mandalas; Tankas of the mGon K’an(particular to that place). (Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls. Vol. 1, pg. 317.)
…the unrelenting process of deification turned all objects, animals and even abstract conceptions into symbols of gods and goddesses. Inevitably, in terms of Art the emphasis shifted from purity and refinement of form to icongraphy, even the new images were basically derived from Gupta canons. [Derivations from Gupta period, 32-770 A.D. …as well as Pala period from the ninth century and influenced by Nepalese and Chinese schools that developed into various Tibetan schools.]* The stylistic progress of art forms in the Himalaya was particularly retarded when the famous Buddhist monasteries (at Bodhgaya, Nalanda, Odantapare, Vikramashila, etc.) ceased supplying newer models of the Vajrayana image after the Muslim conquest of the Gangetic plains. Because of this… it is difficult stylistically to distinguish works of art which were done at some point in the hundreds of years after the 11th century A.D.. (p. 34, Himalayan Art)
…the 7th century ‘marks’ the revealing of (previously secret) Tantric scriptures. The most elaborate and vividly pictoral scriptures are the Guhysamaja, Manjushrimulakalpa, Sadhanamala, Nishpanayogavali, plus a number of other illustrated manuscripts, such as Prajnaparamita and the Pancharaksha.
…The ‘Chitrlakshana,’ a treatise on painting in the Indian tradition by Nagnajit [was influential]; as well, the ‘Atreyatilaka’ by Soothsayer Atreya. These contain instructions on the drawing of the image of Buddhist Gods and Goddesses and even of Brahmanical dieties… [Ibid. p.33]
…Schools [of art] prevalent before the conquest were: Madhyadesha, school [Pratihara Art] The Eastern School [Pala art], the The Old Western School [Gupta Art] and the Kashmiri School.
…Though there is some opening of dogmatic iconic idealogy with the (advent of) Yellow Hat reforms, ‘Tibetan art forms preserve rather that develope.’
I hope that historical reference to formal styles will suffice for the purposes of this paper. Also, I will not, for the most part, dwell long on linguistic nuances or the identification of the deities and their symbolic value. As I was told over and over in India, ‘the deities are as innumerable as the stars.’ Instead I will depend on the work of other scholars to provide sufficient reference in these areas for my own excavations.
To wit:
“Padma dkap-po explains mandala as the “bearer” (rten) of this or that psychic activity, gana-cakra (brten), manifesting itself as ‘divine’ forces (lha)…” (Guenther, Tantric View of Life, p.57)
Immediately then, we see the mandala as a practical way to address the function of the individual psyche.
In the wheel-like plan with four spokes meeting in the hub or center there reside the five kings (rNam-par snang-mdzad) and the other four together with their queens, and starting from the right of the principal figure in this configuration, there reside in the spokes where they have a bulge, the inner functinaries of sight, sound, smell, and taste, together with their consorts. In the outer corridor there stand the six mighty ones. In front and behind the principal figures of this configuration, (Kun-tu bzang-po as) He who makes (the light that is this configuration actually) shine forth, and (Kun-tu bzang-mo as) She who is the ground and reason for this light that has to be brought forth, are shown to reside in the Eastern and Western wing of the inner corridor, respectively.
In the superstructure of each of the four doors of the palace, there reside the vanquishers (the palace guards) together with their consorts.”(Guenther, Matrix of Mystery, 125.)
(Then paraphrased from the same source, Matrix of Mystery, p. 125.)For us as embodied beings, the palace guards (termed vanquishers in the above passage), seem to be more easily understandable than the remoter members of the royal household. These guards are ways of being “in-touch-with” reality, that is, being-in-the-world (by means of our body), addressing-the-world (by means of our speech), and thinking-about-the-world (by means of body, speech, and mind) into the fluidity of experience with its transparent imaging, heightens our sensibilities and thereby enables us to expand into the dance of Life. Being-in-touch-with therefore is a very active process, aptly captured by the idea of a dance and its mood. The dance, expressing and being the expression of excitatory intelligence that informs and permeates all life, manifests itself in the gestures, poses, facial expression, and limb movements of the body, in the timbre of the voice, and in the strivings and aspirations of psychic life. It is in the dance that I perceive life’s movement and in reliving this movement I feel life’s meaningfulness. …These moods, belonging to experience in all its dynamics, are unique blends of the spiritual (qualitative, virtual) with the physical (quantitative, actual). (Guenther, Matrix of Mystery, p. 125)
Thus, is a gestalt of appreciation necessary for the mandala to be effectively understood. The cultural, aesthetic, moral, virtual, and actual values must act at once to open the doors of life, health, appreciation.
(Paraphrased from Guenther, Matrix of Mystery, 121.) It is well to remember that the image of a royal household, (the mandala palace)…is an attempt to understand life’s complexity and wholeness in easily intelligible terms. Primarily expressive of Being’s excitatory intelligence (rig-pa), inseparable from Being’s openness (stong-pa) and ever-present lucency (gsal-ba), this image of a royal household refers back to that mystery which continually creates symbols and images through which we try to understand the very mystery of our being. In more technical jargon, the programs of the system we wish to study are themselves the very instrument of this probing.
…Such posturing, therefore, is both an anchorage in an appreciated world and the manifold operations that issue from this base which, for us as embodied beings, is our body. Its as-yet virtual spatial situatedness and operational character is indicated in the cryptic statement: “On thrones in full (sovereignty) and in the style of functionaries.”
Klong-chen rab-‘byams-pa elucidates this terse statement in the following words:
The manner in which (the members of this royal household) are seated, is as follows: On (their respective) thrones Kun-tu bzang-po, in male-female aspect, as well as (the vassals, that is) those moving in and over the as-is, are seated in the manner of kings. That is to say, since the bipolar intentionality of Being-qua-Existenz is spontaneously constituted in utter completeness, they [Kun-tu bzang-po and his vassals] are complete Buddhas, twelve in number counting their male and female (aspects separately), and are seated crosslegged. And the functionaries, in male-female aspects, surround (their overlords) in the manner of ministers who are seated, as is appropriate for them, with right leg outstretched and left leg drawn in. Since the palace guards, in the manner of military commanders, destroy troublemakers and rebel leaders, they turn their gaze outward and posture themselves as fighters on the march. The mighty ones (thub-pa) present themselves in the august shape (appropriate) to each life-world; they are not seated but stand in the manner of princelings.
One should bear in mind that, apart from the contribution this passage makes for iconographic identification, it is the experiential significance that is of primary importance. …Whether statically or dynamically understood, this crosslegged posture is the image of the presence of the bipolar intentionality of Being-qua-Existenz. Bipolarity, however, suggests otherness and difference–one pole being “different from” the other. This otherness and difference is present (and presented) as male and female aspects They are variations and modes of world comprehension in interaction, involving mutual satisfaction, and not monolithic archetypes. This mutuality of satisfaction, in turn, depends on the arousal of particular metaphoric or symbolic evocations. In this context, the symbols of diamond and lotus are evocative images of the masculine (appropriate action) and the feminine (appreciative discrimination) respectively. Each of these evocative symbols is also the image for a specific posturing. As embodied being we tend to associate these symbols and their interplay with the anatomical and physiological dimension of masculinity and femininity. Yet the interplay of these symbols may also be described in psychological and aesthetic terms of satisfaction and pleasure (bde-ba). In any case, it would be a grave mistake to confuse descriptions of experience with experience itself. Unfortunately all positivistic philosophies thrive on this confusion. (Guenther, Matrix of Mystery. p. 121 ff)
There is an ongoing facination in the stucture of the mandala with the detailed interaction of dualities as is common in traditional Asian thought generally.
In contrast to the seeming rigidity of the overall program laid down by the authority of the supreme king and mediated by his vassal kings, the posturing of the functionaries, our sensory operations in the service of program implementation, like ministers executing the wishes of their overlord, is one of gracefulness which makes it possible to attend lovingly to the tasks that are to be performed.
It is the lived body or, more precisely, “I-as-being-my-body”– this wonderous phenomenon of spirit embodied or embodied spirit–that precisely because of being installed in an environing world, is threatened by this environment from which there come constant attempts to reduce me-as-my-body to a mere corporeal object among other objects. Because of this threat I-as-my-body constantly struggle against these environmental forces that try to destroy or undermine my integrity which is indivisibly linked with my projects. The constant vigilance against such forces is expressed in the pugnacious and combative posturing oƒ the palace guards.
Woven into the choreography of such ontological and existential consideration is an aesthetic at once concrete and ephemeral. The openness of Being expresses itself existentially as a formal gestalt which, however, may undergo a collapse into patterns of materially embodied existence. Unlike the formal gestalt, all such collapsed versions are subject to the vicissitudes of birth, illness, old age and death. This has been clearly indicated by Klong-chen rab-‘byams-pa who states that these vicissitudes do not apply to the open-dimensional character of the high-ranking members of the royal household whose formal gestalt exhibits the qualities of plumpness and so on.
Furthermore, each gestalt manifests an intrinsic radiance and brilliance that far surpasses any luminous qualities detectable in our earth finitude, and are therefore envisaged as: “Having brightness, brilliance, sublimity, and splendor.” (Guenther, Matrix of Mystery, p. 121ff.)
(Paraphrase–)The aesthetically appealing figures are self-representations of Being-qua-Existenz and hence are all said to be marked by Being. In being so marked, they are a formal gestalt (sku) which, as the object phase of an as yet virtual process, is inseparable from the act phase pristine cognitiveness (ye-shes), which itself is the operation of excitatory intelligence. This marking (phyag-rgya) is an intentional structure in which the marking and the marked are indissolubly linked as the indivisibility of all that is. (Guenther, Matrix… p. 129.)
The world-view expressed in the structures and content of the mandala, also contains an inextricablly interconnected and ingaging image of the “physics” of the asian intuition with its symbolic systems.
Each and everyone of the members of the princely household and the images in which they present themselves, can be seen as a patterned energy (phyag-rgya) directly felt and perceived as a presence. In this identity of feeling and perception, a further identity of image and meaning inheres and is made perceptible in the form of symbols (phyag-mtshan) as particular shapes of the forces felt to be of significance in a life situation. As intelligibly perceptible shapes of energy of Being-qua-Existenz, a total pattern (phyag-rgya chen-po) with ceaselessly emerging subpatterns, these symbols remain vehicles of meaning. They have an evocative character, which enables the beholder to relive those experiences that gave rise to the symbol formulation, thereby enabling the viewer to break through the tyranny of the ordinary. However, one must not take the word symbol in too narrow a sense. It is not for instance, restricted to the visual, for hand gestures and bodily posturing are equally symbols.
The richness and inherent value of life are a challenge to the imagination, which searches for symbols that give satisfactory, aesthetically pleasing access to reality and thereby bring this felt and imaged reality before us. But as reality itself is not reducible to anything “other,” it cannot therefore be limited to any one particular symbol. If a central symbol is necessary, it must be life’s worth itself. It is Being’s creativity, imaged as masculine (Kun-tu bzang-po) and femine (Kun-tu bzang-mo) and felt to be an ever-present omnidirectionality (“having neither front nor back”). This dynamic creativity, in making its omnipresent impact felt is a marking whose felt impact, a being marked, is imaged as multi-dimensional- “with (six) hands (symbolizing) the six kinds of pristine cognitiveness holding precious emblems (illustrating) pristine cognitiveness, ablaze in radiant light.”
This central symbol suggests that man himself is a multifaceted program, each aspect of which has, and expresses itself in, its specific symbol. Some of the symbols are briefly indicated in the following verse:
A diamond (scepter), a wheel, a jewel
A lotus, a sword, and a bell, all ablaze.
Emblems such as a water lily, an ornage, and so on;
and toiletries for beauty’s sake.
The six emblems mentioned in the first two lines are held by the six armed and six-handed vassal kings of the royal household (symbolizing their multiple powers), one in each hand. Whichever emblem is held in the first right hand is specifically emblematic of that particular vassal king, himself a “total” symbol, who wields it. Furthermore, these vassal kings are never apart from their consorts, as is aptly indicated by the emblem of the bell and since the kingly vassals also hold a bell in their first left hand, this emblem is an appropriate symbol for the concord and unity of the masculine and feminine acting (“sounding”) in unison. The distribution of the symbols, which are primary emblems, is as follows:
rNam-par snang-mdzad (Vairocana), who is the (imaged) vibrant spirituality (of the guiding principle “True Individuality”), holds in his first right hand a diamond scepter, symbolic of the fact that the openness (of Being-qua-Existenz) and (its dynamics as) compassion are not two (separate entities).
Mi-bskyod-pa (Aksobhya) holds a wheel (in his first right hand), symbolic of the fact that the network of the affective processes is cut asunder and, simultaneously (with this cutting) the chos-kyi ‘khor-lo freely rotates.Rin-chen ‘byung-ldan (Ratnasambhava) holds a jewel (in his first right hand), symbolic of the fact that the aspirations of sentient beings are being fulfilled (in view of the fact that), that (Being’s) qualities and potencies are spontaneously present.
‘Od-dpag-med (Amitabha) holds a sword (in his first right hand), symbolic of the fact that desire, in the light of the meaningfulness of Being, is pure and through the specificity initiating pristine cognition is dedicated to sentient beings.
Don-yod grub-pa (Amoghasiddhi) holds a sword (in his first right hand), symbolic of the fact that the emotional upheavals of sentient beings are cut asunder by the four optimally executed activites of Buddhahood.
Each (of these five vassal kings) holds a bell in his first left hand with which he presses his consort to his heart in close embrace.
The other hands hold the other symbols as previously explained.
The (two-armed and two handed) female consorts (of these vassal kings) hold in their right hand the same primary emblems as their male consorts; and with their left hand holding a bell flaming in the light of the preciousness of pristine cognitiveness, they embrace their male consorts.
The emblems of the water lily, orange, and so on refer, in a very elliptic manner, to the male functionaries in the royal household as follows:
‘Jam-dpal (Manjusri)holds a water lily, indicating that emotional upheavals have been dispelled.
Byams-pa (Maitreya) holds an orange, indicating that the fever caused by emotional upheaval has been cured.Sa’i snying-po (Ksitigarbha) holds a sprouting jewel, indicating that the seed of pristine cognitiveness has been planted.
Phyag-na rdo-rje (Vajrapani) holds a diamond scepter, indicating that suffering has been overcome.
Nam-mkha’i snying-po (Gaganagarbha) holds a sword, indicating that the flow of emotions has been stopped.
sPyan-ras-gzigs (Avolokitesvara) holds a lotus flower, indication that there is no defilement by vileness.
sGrib-pa rnam-sel (Nivaranaviskambhin) holds a jewelled wheel, indicating that life’s meaning is being shown to sentient beings.
Kun-tu bzang-po (Samantabhadra) holds a bouquet of jewels, indicating that the aspirations of sentient beings are being fulfilled.
“Toiletries for beauty’s sake” refers, in concise terms, to the female consorts of the male functionaries. All of them imaged as ravishingly beautiful in the very act of dancing:
rDo-rje sgeg-mo (Vajra-lasya) puts her fists on her hips or holds a mirror, thereby showing that all shapes and forms are of the ultimate.
‘Phreng-ba-ma (Mala) holds a string of jewels, thereby demonstrating that appropriate action and discriminative appreciation are never separable.
Glu-ma (Giti) holds a lute, through which the melody of life’s meaningfulness rings out.
Gar-ma (Nrtya) sounds a bell with her hand moving up and down, thereby awakening joy in those who are to be trained.
bDug-spos-ma (Dhupa) carries a censer, from which the fragrance of ethics and manners satisfies (all sentient beings).
Me-tog-ma- (Puspa) holds a flower basket, thereby displaying the facets conducive to limpid clearness and consummate perspicacity.
Mar-me-ma (Dipa) holds a lamp whose light dispels the darkness of unknowing.
Dri-chab-ma (Gandha) holds a water-basin, with which the dirt of ingrained tendencies is washed away.
The sensuous qualities of our psychic life as imaged and felt in the patterning of the energy of Being, and its assuming perceptible shape in the symbol figures and their emblems, have a calm and calming quality, in marked contrast to the fierceness of the palace guards, who are symbols for the lived body…. The emblems of the male palace guards are indicated as follows:
gShin-rje-gshed (Yamantaka) brandishes (in his right hand) a staff surmounted by a human skull because he vanquishes the deadening power of the Lord of Death.
sTobs-po-che (Mahabala) brandishes a (five-pointed) diamond scepter because he vanquishes the deadening power of psychophysical constituents.
rTa-mgrin (Hayagriva, Paramasva) brandishes a cross-shaped diamond scepter because he vanquishes the deadening power of over-evaluated ideas.
Though a mandala is never confined in the Tibetan mind to its painted representation, the colors used in these works of art are of great importance to the evolution of the initiatory, psychological, and aesthetic experience of the practitioner.
Ours is a world of colors. But these are not so much mere attributes of things, they are rather already modes of being, specfic, formulated energies within that dynamic system which we have termed Being-qua-Existenz. It is said of the felt imagings of these formulated energies:
All radiate brilliantly in color values of blue, white, yellow, scarlet, and green.
It is through the existential character of these radiant color values that we, as embodied beings, are able to perceive “color.”
It will have been noted that the ordering of color values listed in the above qoutation does not reflect that of natural color spectrum, nor can these color values be divided into primary and secondary color groupings; they are all of equal significance. The above listing indicates the relative luminosity and position of what may, in general terms, be called formants. These formants, as affinities with Being (rigs) point to Being’s dynamic openness; in their lucency and luminosity they are optimum attainment standards, weaving the fabric of Existenz. Or as formants they are meaning-bearing connectives; as affinities with Being they provide, as it were, a genotypal program for the development and life of an individual; and as optimum attainment standards they are preprograms for an individual’s becoming enworlded. It is these standards that may undergo a topological distortion and deformation into the phenotypal pattern of a concrete individual.
Meaning-bearing connectives are intentionalities and, as such, have been imaged as male-female polarities. But, as has been previously pointed out, any such intentionality also is accompanied by a nexus of potencies felt as an “I can” and imaged as a mighty one. The mighty ones are usually representative of a particular life-world, but, as we shall see, they are also understood as representative of a spiritual-sensory domain. Traditionally, five genotypal, meaning-bearing connectives have been listed: Formal gestalt (sku), authentic utterance (gsung), vibrant spirituality (thugs), creative potential (yon-tan), and optimally executed activities (phrin-las). From among them, vibrant spirituality as the homologue of Being’s excitatory intelligence is considered of primary importance, for it disposes us to the full range of experience.
While attention has been repeatedly called to a seeming relationship between form and color, and movement and color, nothing has as yet been indicated regarding the relationship between meaning-bearing connectives and color. Could it be that there is no relationship, that these connectives, whether as affinities or standards, just come as specific color values and that our response to color is these very optimum attainment standards becoming actualized? The following is the color scheme of the five affinities:
Vibrant spirituality: male-female rNam-par snang-mdzad (Vairocana), male-female Kun-tu bzang-po, and the mighty one among the demigods (forming a set of five) are blue in color because they illustrate the invariance of the internal logic of Being.
Formal gestalt: male-female Mi-skyod-pa (Aksobhya), male-female Sa’i snying-po (Ksitigarbha) and the mighty one among the gods (forming a set of five) are white in color because they illustrate the fact that a formal gestalt is not marred by any defects.
Creative potential: Male-female Rin-chen ‘byung-ldan (Ratnasambhava), male-female Nam-mkha’i snying-po (Gaganagarbha) and the mighty one amoung men (forming a set of five) are yellow in color because they illustate the creative potential of greatness.
Authentic utterance: male-female ‘Od-kpag-med (Amitabha), male-female sPyan-ras-gzigs (Avalokitesvara), and the mighty one among the spirits (forming a set of five) are scarlet in color because they illlustrate the fact that compassion is enamored with all living beings.
Optimally executed activities: male-female Don-yod grub-ps (Amogh-siddhi), male-female Phuag-na rdo-rje (Vajrapani), and the mighty one among the animals (forming a set of five) are green in color because they illustrate the fact that (sentient beings) are shaped by various actions.
When perceptual dispositions, imaged as inner functionaries, become actualized and in the actualizing transition are imaged as outer functinaries, the creative potential (consisting of capabilities and potencies) and the optimally executed activities of psychic life combine, a new “color scheme” evolves:
Male-female Byams-pa (Maitreya) are white and yellow; male-female sGrib-pa rnam-sei (Nivaranaviskambhin) are red and yellow; male-female Kun-tu bzang-po (Samantabhadra) are red and green: male-female ‘Jams-dbyangs (Manjughosa) are white and green.
All these colorful images can be said to be symbolic presences of processes becoming our experientially tangible reality, a reality which is felt to be more palpable than the elusive intangible and insubstantial aspects of experience. Yet even this so-called tangible reality, which we as embodied beings associate and identify with our lived body through which we are “in-touch-with” our environing reality, is of the nature of interacting fields, amenable to vivid imaging. Although the imaging of this tangible reality is not at all different from the imaging in which the intangible presents itself, in terms of colors, a certain shift towards darkish qualities is felt to be involved. Thus:
Male-female gShin-rje-gshed (Yamantaka) are dark grey; male-female sTobs-po-che (Mahabala) are dark yellow; male-female tTa-mgrin (Haya-griva) are dark red; male-female bDud-rtsi ‘khyil-ba (Amrtakundalin) are dark green, and the mighty one among the denizens of hell is of smoke color.
Embodiment gains added significance in the “light of these colors,” for as has been noted before, we as concrete human beings are our body, and it is through our body that the various programs, which make up our existence, are worked out. This is a high-energy process and as such is imaged in figures of intense fierceness whose color values reflect this high energy. This emphasis on high energy and high frequency of light values figuratively indicates that the programs have been “brought home” and are worked out through our body…
It will have been noted that there has taken place a progressive resolution of the (relatively) concrete figures of the princely household into (relatively) abstract symbols, and of the latter into pure color values. This can be understood as a resolution of the static into the dynamic, the resolution of iconic representation into aniconic awareness. The emphasis here is on the creative play of color values rather than on concrete figures who themselves are but luminosities scintillating in colors of deeper meaning, be this in a steady flow, “Enormous clusters of light reys pouring forth or in a furious blaze: Engulfed in garlands of flame.”(Matrix of Mystery, p. 135.)
The imaging and expression of this state of affairs is the operation of pristine cognitiveness, ranging over the whole of the meaning-saturated continuum that is Being-qua-Existenz, and organizing its infinite richness in finite images:
An all-encompassing configuration having neither periphery nor center, surpasses all thought and just is. (Guenther, Matrix of Mystery, p. 135 ff.)
The “all-encompassing” configuration that has produced my personal interest in the mandala as a process of revelation about what “is” and the part art plays in the play of “isness” has this following history.