Recently, I found that people who have traveled to Tibet will buy some souvenirs and keep them at home. Some people buy dzi, some buy thangkas, and some go to worship the mandala. I wondered, it's not a craft, it's not a trend. If you don't know about it, it's better not to worship it.
Mandala is also called Mandala, which is called "Jikuan" in Tibetan, which means "middle wheel" and "wheel circle". It is a religious culture. Originating in India and later introduced to China, it is a form of practice that Tibetan tantric practitioners must worship when practicing. In layman's terms, it is the place where the Buddha lives. In Tibetan Buddhism, it represents a cosmology.
The shape of the mandala is divided into three-dimensional or flat combination figures inside the outer circle, representing the dojos and palaces of the gods, metaphorically referring to the structure of the Buddhist world. The mandala represents "governance", and the opposite of "governance" is "chaos". Bad weather, physical diseases, desolate lands, barbaric peoples, pagan countries, these are all "chaos". Buddhism believes that by building a mandala, "chaos" can be changed into "rule". So, a mandala can represent almost everything that is real or distracted. In the local culture, everything in the world is shaped according to the original structure of an image of a mandala.
There are four types of mandala cities: the Great Mandala City, the Sanwei Notar City, the Dharma Altar City, and the Karma Mandala City.
Altar City: composed of five colors: blue, yellow, red, white and black, it gathers the altar city of the deities and the shapes of the deities, depicting the deities. These five colors represent earth, fire, water, wind and air.
Painted by Caisha Tancheng, it was approved by the State Council in 2014 and included in the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list
Sanwei Notan Castle does not directly depict the image of the deities, but only depicts the symbols and handprints of the deities, so it directly expresses the vows of the deities.
Dharma Altar City, which mainly depicts the seed mantras of the deities and the text of all sutras, is a kind of altar city that represents the seed words of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, so it is also called the seed altar city. When a practitioner sees the first Sanskrit letter representing the respective titles of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, it is as if he had visited the Buddhas.
Karma is a mandala depicting the majestic undertakings of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, as well as sculptures such as casts, portraits, and pinched statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Hand-painted, bronze casting, sandwork, and wood carvings can all be used to make mandalas. The composition is meticulous and precise, like a miniature of the world. The placement of the Buddha statue is also very elaborate. The central dedication is dedicated to Shakyamuni Buddha. On the left, the mother continues the Buddha-figure, generally Green Tara; On the right, the Buddha-figures are usually Manjushri, Vajrapani, Stupa, etc. The colors are dazzling and have a special artistic charm.
If collectors like to collect the mandala, they should seriously understand its inner meaning and charm.