What is the spiritual symbolism behind mandalas?

Although we think of mandalas as these abstract, beautiful looking designs, the truth is that not only the design, but also the colors used in the mandala drawing, have a deeper meaning and history than we imagine.

First off, we must understand that a mandala is a symbol that represents the universe, at least in Hinduist and Buddhist cultures. For this reason, most of these designs are symmetric around a center point, representing a balance around the center of the design. Just as there is a center of our cosmos, so does the mandala have its own center point. This is probably one of the reasons why mandalas are usually called microcosms of the universe.

Looking back, the notion of the mandala can be tracked thousands of years, more specifically to the Rigveda book, which is an ancient Indian text composed of a collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, making it one of the sacred texts of Hinduism. In it, the term “mandala” represents a collection of verses used in faithful rituals.

Since then, the concept of mandala shifted from a collection of verses to a visual representation, appearing first in Tibetan scripts around 800 AD. From this moment on, mandala patterns started having a very important significance in Asian cultures. For example, these designs can be found extensively in Buddhist monasteries and temples worldwide, showing the importance of these types of patterns for the Buddhist culture. Not only that, but these types of designs are commonly used in this culture for focusing attention both of practitioners and adepts, as tools for spiritual guidance, as a medium for installing a sacred area, and as promoters of meditation and trance induction.

Nowadays, mandalas are not only common in Buddhist and Asian cultures, but they have also permeated western cultures due to their interesting designs and the vast amount of benefits that coloring, creating, and meditating with mandalas has been shown to have. These designs have been adopted by other religions, such as Christianity where forms reminiscent of the mandala design are prevalent, such as the Celtic cross, the crown of thorns, the aureole, amongst others. In Japanese adaptations of Buddhism, the mandala is a graphical representation of pure lands- the celestial realm of a Buddha- meaning that for this Japanese creed, mandalas are not an object of meditation, but rather a visual representation of pure land texts, and as such are used as a teaching aid.

In Tibetan adaptations of Buddhism, mandalas have been known to be used as offerings. Because of their symbolism of the universe, for this culture the offering of a mandala design represents the offering of the entire universe. In this culture, mandalas are usually offered to Buddha’s or to an instructor. Finally, even though mandalas have –as said before- practically transitioned from a collection of verses to a visual representation, there is still a culture- or creed- where mandalas are written and not visual symbols. More specifically, in Nichiren Buddhism – a Japanese variation of Buddhism- a mandala is a paper hanging scroll composed of Chinese characters representing parts of the Buddha’s enlightenment or renowned deities.

As you can see, the history and symbolism of mandala designs are so broad, that right now there is probably a new religion out there adopting these designs as a symbol for something. In spite of that, it is us who must give these designs our own personal representation and symbolism, so we can use its colors and shapes to represent something that for us is important. In the end, because of their beautiful and colorful designs, mandalas will keep on being a symbol for many different creeds around the world.