THE HISTORY OF THE MANDALA goes back 2500 years in ancient China.

A Mandala is a devotional, sacred sand painting done by Buddhist Monks of Tibet. The monks use millions of grains of brightly colored sand to create the sand painting. The ceremony of creating a Mandala takes nine days. The public can sometimes be invited to watch the monks work on a mandala.

Sometimes the theme of the Mandala is a design symbolizing the universe. The creation of a Mandala is spiritual. The geometric shapes within the Mandala have an "iconography" that includes ancient spiritual symbols. The history of Mandalas goes back 2,500 years and was a form of art practiced only by monks.

The Mandala represents the world in its divine form. It also represents a "map" by which the minds of people can be transformed from an ordinary mind into an enlightened mind.

After the Mandala is finished, the monks who created it, destroy it. The destruction of the Mandala is important to the ceremony because the destruction of the Mandala symbolizes the impermanence of life.

You, however, can create and save your own Mandala using more permanent medium to be admired by you, friends and family. Mandalas are wonderful tools to use for meditative thought in the home and the office.

I am researching the symbols and their meanings, and will add more to this instructional in the weeks to come. My personal Mandala will be completed, and I will be able to show you the step by step process so you can complete one or more of your own.******** Adele