Mandala

A geometric diagram representing the cosmos, used in Hindu and Buddhist ritual and meditation. Its ordered forms can serve as sacred spaces, ritual maps, and objects of contemplation.

Sacred geometry: The use of geometric forms and proportions to express religious or metaphysical ideas. Mandala patterns give geometric order a sacred and cosmological meaning.
Deity yoga: A Vajrayana Buddhist meditation practice in which practitioners visualize themselves as a deity. Mandalas provide the visualized palace and divine setting for this practice.
Buddhist cosmology: Buddhist accounts of the structure and inhabitants of the universe. Buddhist mandalas translate cosmological realms into a bounded visual arrangement.
Kalachakra mandala: A complex Tibetan Buddhist mandala associated with the Kalachakra tantra and initiation. It is a prominent example of a mandala used in tantric initiation.
Tantra: A set of Hindu and Buddhist traditions using ritual, mantra, initiation, and specialized practices. Tantric systems shaped many of the mandala's ritual forms and functions.
Yantra: A geometric diagram used in Hindu worship and meditation, often centered on a deity or sacred principle. Yantras overlap with mandalas but tend to emphasize a deity-centered ritual diagram.
Vajrayana: A branch of Buddhism that uses tantric rituals, mantras, visualizations, and initiations. Its ritual systems make extensive use of mandalas as maps of enlightened worlds.
Hindu cosmology: Hindu accounts of the universe, its cycles, and its cosmic regions. Hindu mandalas draw on this ordered vision of the cosmos.
Sand mandala: A mandala made by arranging colored grains of sand into an intricate design. Its careful construction and later destruction enact impermanence.
Pala Empire: A Buddhist dynasty that ruled much of eastern India from the eighth to the twelfth century. Pala-era Buddhist art and institutions helped shape mandala traditions transmitted across Asia.

Linked from 13 pages