EARLY TIBETAN MANDALA

Tibetan Mandala

Early Tibetan Mandala

Monks, listen to the parable of the raft. A man going on a journey sees ahead of him a vast stretch of water. There is no boat within the sight, and no bridge. To escape from the dangers of this side of the bank, he builds a raft for himself out of grass, sticks and branches. When he crosses over, he realizes how useful the raft has been to him and wonders if he should not lift it on his shoulders and take it away with him.

Since the Buddha offered this advice nearly three millenia ago, there have been many crossings, and many rafts left behind. In viewing these rafts today, one has a range of possible interpretive approaches. One could illuminate the raft's form and structure, or the origins of the materials with which it was built. One might trace its history as it was, inevitably, brought to the city from its resting place by the shore. One could discuss its transformation as the constituent parts of grass and branches were dismantled and later refashioned into other material forms. One could describe its disintegration through disuse (Wayman, 1971).

The Mandala in Tibet

Tibetans became familiar with the mandala early in their introduction to Buddhist art and culture, a process begun with the first ruler of the historical period, Songtsen Gampo (srong-btsan sgam-po, d. 649). Mandalas existed at early Buddhist centers in central Asia, e.g. Dunhuang and Khotan, both frequented by Tibetans during the eighth and ninth centuries.17 Sketches of mandalas are found in the eighth through tenth century Dunhuang manuscripts which are among Tibet's earliest written records.18 Samye (bsam-yas), Tibet's first monastery founded ca. 779, was based on the architectural principles of a three-dimensional mandala, reportedly following the plan of Uddandapura monastery in eastern India.

Tibetan paintings on cloth (thang-ka) dating as early as the eleventh or twelfth centuries feature highly complex mandalas. Mandalas adorned the murals at early Tibetan sanctuaries, including Tabo (ta-pho, founded late tenth century; its murals dating probably to mid-eleventh century), and Alchi (al-chi, founded ca. 1200). At Sakya (sa-skya) monastery, extensive cycles of mandalas were painted between 1280 and 1305.19 Also adorned with ambitious cycles of mandalas are Shalu (zha-lu, founded ca. mid-eleventh century; mandalas dating to ca. early fourteenth century), and Gyantse (rgyan-rtse, completed ca. 1435). Founded ca. 1429 but destroyed, Ngor monastery was for centuries associated with magnificent painted mandalas, unsurpassed in iconographic complexity and aesthetic achievement (Snellgrove, 1987).

Much of the mandala's iconography and its associated liturgy are contained in texts known as tantras. Etymologically, tantra signifies a process of weaving or bringing together, reference to the process by which an individual undergoes psychic transformations, eventually leading to full enlightenment. Earlier Mahayana Buddhist literature had emphasized the bodhisattva, one who strove to assist others in the attainment of enlightenment and whose religious career was often described as prajnaparamita, "the perfection of wisdom," for it involved the cultivation over many lifetimes - of wisdom, compassion, generosity, and similar ...