The word " mandala " comes from India from Sanskrit. Translated it means " circle ", but the meaning of the mandala goes far beyond a geometric concept. It represents totality, structure, center, unity, balance, search for peace, it is a list of habits that can lead you to the construction of a model of organized structure. Describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life: the celestial circles that we call Earth, Sun, and Moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family, and community.
“The integrated view of the world, represented by the mandala, throughout some eastern religions, has begun to emerge in the western religious and secular cultures. Mandala awareness may have the potential to change how we view ourselves, our planet, and perhaps our own life purpose. “Excerpt taken from Journey Downtown by Bailey Cunningham.
The mandalas are diverse and have structures that can be denoted for the creation of a group mandala, it is a unifying experience in which people can express themselves individually within a unified structure, thus creating circles of trust, friendship, sense of peace, harmony and personal construction. Mandalas travel across all continents and across all cultures and as such are seen from different angles and expressions. In America, the natives have created medicine wheels and sand mandalas. The Aztec circular calendar was both a timekeeping device and a religious expression of the ancient Aztecs. In Asia, the Taoist "yin-yang" symbol that represents opposition, good, evil and the balance necessary between them to maintain harmony in the center, as well as interdependence. The Tibetan mandala is often a complex illustration of religious significance used for meditation.
