Psychology of the Mandala

The word "mandala" is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit, meaning "circle". Even though it may be dominated by squares or triangles, a mandala is far more than a simple shape. Mandalas offer balancing visual elements, symbolizing unity and harmony. It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself--a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds. The meanings of individual mandalas is usually different and unique to each mandala. The goal of the mandala is to serve as a tool on our spiritual journey as it symbolizes cosmic and psychic order. Describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life: the celestial circles we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family, and community.

Table of contents

°Psychological meaning of the Mandala

°Mandalas in the East

°Carl Jung's psychological diagnosis using Mandalas

°Video about Positive psychology student mandala campaign

°Conclusion

°Citations 

• Psychological meaning of the Mandala

Mandalas are circular designs that reflect the wholeness of the person creating them. According to Carl Jung (pronounced Yoong), ” a mandala is the psychological expression of the totality of the self” (1973: 20). Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, discovered the significance of mandalas through his own inner work.

“I sketched every morning in a notebook a small circular drawing, a mandala, which seemed to correspond to my inner situation at the time. With the help of these drawings I could observe my psychic transformations from day to day…My mandalas were cryptograms…in which I saw the self—that is, my whole being—actively at work.” (1965: 195-196).

• Mandalas in the East

In the East, mandalas help people grasp the way things come to be and their rightful place in the order of things. Mandalas communicate complex philosophical ideas and convey the insights of mystics. Mandalas are used in special meditation practices for attaining and integrating non-ordinary states of consciousness. To learn more about Eastern mandalas, let us look at the practices of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Buddhist devotee wishing initiation to the way of the mandala must be well along on his inner work in order to be accepted for training. Work with the mandala is undertaken with the tutelage of a guru who judges the readiness of the devotee and instructs him in the techniques at a propitious time and place. The mandala tradition to which the aspirant is initiated depends upon the knowledge of the guru, his judgment of the needs of his pupil, and the signs or auguries of the occasion.

A space on the ground is cleared in a secluded place. A proper attitude is induced in the pupil through ritual cleansing, meditation, fasting, and chanting. The pupil is given colored threads and instructed in the procedures for laying out a circle divided in four equal sections. The mandala is created using paints, inks, or colored sand. Traditional designs and colors are used, yet there is opportunity for some individual variation within the standards. Materials, such as lapis lazuli ground for blue pigment, contribute their own symbolic

Once the colorful stylized form of the Tibetan mandala is completed, the devotee is guided through steps of meditation. These are designed to move him through encounters with aspects of himself that hamper his full realization of pure consciousness. Part of the technique requires deepening his understanding of the traditional symbols in the mandala through personal experience. This inner work is facilitated by visualization based on the mandala. The devotee calls up a mental image of figures in the mandala. In his mind’s eye he concentrates on these images, moving them through prescribed changes in relationship to himself.

Through training and repeated practice the devotee learns to call to mind a vivid image of the mandala. The devotee uses this mental image as a means of bringing about his return from the world of separateness to the realm of unity where he is in communion with pure consciousness. Thus, the mandala serves Tibetan devotees as a pathway to and from desirable states of consciousness. The act of creating the mandala works upon the psychology of the devotee in ways that are beneficial. In the West the benefits of creating mandalas were first identified by Carl Jung.

• Carl Jung's psychological diagnosis using Mandalas

Mandalas have been used in many ancient cultures like Buddhism, Hinduism, Native American, Australian Aboriginal as a symbol of the universe and wholeness. Literally speaking, mandala is a geometrical form – a square or a circle – abstract and static, or a vivid image formed of objects and/or beings. It’s a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our connection with the infinite. Interestingly, Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, explored the psychological effects of mandalas, while studying Eastern religion. He is credited with introducing the Eastern concept of the mandala to Western thought and believed its symbolic of the inner process by which individuals grow toward fulfilling their potential for wholeness. Carl Jung refers to the mandala as “the psychological expression of the totality of the self.” According to Jung, “In such cases it is easy to see how the severe pattern imposed by a circular image of this kind compensates the disorder of the psychic state– namely through the construction of a central point to which everything is related, or by a concentric arrangement of the disordered

Carl Jung refers to the mandala as “the psychological
expression of the totality of the self.”

multiplicity and of contradictory and irreconcilable elements. This is evidently an attempt at self-healing on the part of Nature, which does not spring from conscious reflection but from an instinctive impulse.” Jung used mandalas in his psychotherapy by getting patients, who had no knowledge of it, to create individual mandalas. This enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards wholeness in personality. He realised there was a great deal of similarity in the images they created. “In view of the fact that all the mandalas shown here were new and uninfluenced products, we are driven to the conclusion that there must be a transconscious disposition in every individual which is able to produce the same or very similar symbols at all times and in all places. Since this disposition is usually not a conscious possession of the individual I have called it the collective unconscious, and, as the basis of its symbolical products, I postulate the existence of primordial images, the archetypes.”

Mandalas represent connection with the infinite

• Video about Positive psychology student mandala campaign

• Conclusion

The mandala is a symbol and an instrument of natural energy within you that both gives you stability and pulls you beyond yourself to become more whole, more completely who you really are. The mandalas you create symbolize you: your body, your psychological state, and your place in the world. Mandalas also contain within their circular form the essence of the universe, the seasons, and cycles of nature. Mandalas translate the vast mysteries of human life to a scale that can be apprehended. May you come to experience mandalas as a source of healing and wholeness in your life.

Golden Flower made by a patient who found that mandalas
 usually appear in situations of psychic confusion

• Citations 

1. Arrien, Angeles. (1992). Signs of Life. Sonoma, CA: Arcus Publishing.
2. Edinger, Edward F. (1987). Ego and Archetype. New York: Viking Penguin.
3. Fantz, R.L., & Miranda, S.B. (1975). Newborn infant attention to form and contour. Child Development, 46, 224-228.
4. Fincher, Susanne F. (1991). Creating Mandalas: For Insight, Healing, and Self-Expression. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications.
5. Gibson, James J. (1986). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Hillside, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.