The Mandala

Rating:
Summary: A mandala is not a psychic diagram!
Review: Martin Brauen's The Mandala: Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism, translated from the German by Martin Wilson . There have been 3 or 4 other books on the subject to my knowledge, but this is by far the most extensive. Prefaced by remarks from H.H. Dalai Lama and focussing mainly on the Kalachakra tradition, it gives examples from other teachings, too. It provides a complete explanation of the mandala in tangka form, in architectural structures such as various stupas and monasteries, as well as the mandala offered in preliminary tantric practice. Besides scroll paintings and the familiar sand-painting forms, we see a delightful 3-dimensional zhi kro carved model among the many beautiful photographs and illustrations. Brauen reveals in detail the Buddhist cosmogony and Hindu mythology that is the foundation for mandalas and the deities that dwell in them.

An extensive researcher with profound understanding, the jacket reveals that Professor Brauen, who is chairman of the Department of Tibet, Himalayas and Far East at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich, Switzerland is currently working on a computer animation of the Kalachakra cosmos.