Mandalas

In her book, "Indian Classical dance", Kapila Vatsyayan describes dance as the highest order of spiritual discipline, the enactment of which is symbolic of a ritual sacrifice of one's being to a transcendental order. The Natya-Shashtra, a treatise on drama and dance, reveals the status of the performing arts as equal to prayer and sacrificial rites in the pursuit of moksha, the release form cycles of rebirth. Both dance and dancer function as a vehicle for divine invocation and are mirrored in the architectural surroundings. To investigate this connection between dance and place, it is imperative to understand the mythical origins of architecture and temple dance. the Hindu philosophy of the cosmic man and its religious relationship with the Dravidian architecture of Tamil Nadu is the starting point of the discussion of a south Indian aesthetic. The Vastu-purusha mandala is a philosophical diagram that provides a foundation for Hindu aesthetics, linking physical distance, religious position and universal scale in both time and space. Used as an architectural diagram, it becomes a mediator between the human body and the cosmos. The temple, as a setting for dance performances, and constructed based on the mandala, shares this quality of immersing its participants into a multi-sensory spatial experience. However, while the link between architecture and dance culture was explicit up to the 18th century, it is less compelling in the context of modern south Indian architecture. With an increasingly unstable political landscape during the 20th century, architectural growth in south India during this period is almost stagnant. Unfortunately, this creates a break in the continuity and comparative evolution of dance and architecture, leading to the fragmentation and abstraction of dance in its modern form. South Indian dance has since transformed into a prominent cultural symbol and various incarnations of the dancer have become the isolated yet important link, between tradition and modernity. As an evolving living embodiment of contemporary culture and identity, her transformation from Devadasi, to an icon of nationalism, to a choreographer of 'high art' provides the foundation for the reintegration of architecture in the cultural fabric. The culmination of this research aims to reinstate the importance of architecture as a cultural nexus in order to restring a fragmented dance, community and cultural identity.

Rose Harris-Birtill analyses the secular reworking of Buddhist religious influences across David Mitchell’s complete fictions, including his novels, short stories, and libretti, arguing that their shared ethical perspectives draw them into a continuous post-secular world, and introducing the Tibetan Buddhist mandala as a fittingly post-secular comparative model through which to analyse Mitchell’s fictional worldview. Harris-Birtill demonstrates that Mitchell’s fictions cumulatively map not a physical terrain but the metaphysical world of belief, creating an interconnected world-system in order to suggest new ethical approaches to global humanitarian crises, revaluing the role of secular belief in galvanising both compassionate action and collective resistance. This study also reads the recurring character of Marinus as a form of secular bodhisattva, analysing Mitchell’s use of reincarnation as a form of non-linear temporality aimed at generating future-facing ethical action amidst the worryingly linear temporality of the Anthropocene. Harris-Birtill also identifies shared post-secular world-building in other contemporary literature, analysing novels by Michael Ondaatje, Ali Smith, Yann Martel, Will Self and Margaret Atwood in order to suggest the emerging literary category of mandalic literature. This perceptive study combines Buddhist philosophy with critical theory, drawing on Jung, Derrida, Foucault and Spivak, alongside contemporary theories of metamodernism and globalization. Taking a post-Jungian approach to the Tibetan mandala not as an ahistorical symbol but as a living socio-cultural artefact in diaspora, Harris-Birtill also identifies the wider implications of the mandala’s theorisation, noting the urgent need to resituate this ‘holistic’ symbol within the ongoing socio-political struggles that led to its increased international visibility.

This paper outlines the fundamental precepts and practices of East-West spiritual counseling, which combines therapeutic approaches and theoretical frameworks found in Jungian depth psychology and Tibetan Buddhist Tantra. Emphasis is given to fostering direct, experiential contact with manifestations of the sacred, and imaginal exercises such as active imagination play an essential role in this process.

This chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Japanese Philosophy, ed. Bret W. Davis (NYC: Oxford University Press, 2019) explicates the philosophy of the body of sixth-century Buddhist thinker Kūkai. Kūkai brings together what initially seem to be opposing concepts: body and emptiness. He does this in the context of formulating a system of cosmology inseparable from religious practice. We interact with the rest of the cosmos through our body. Kūkai characterizes the cosmos in turn as the body of the Buddha, who personifies the embodiment of the dharma. This cosmic body is comprised of myriad bodies through their interactivities, in which we ourselves partake. The interdependence obtains both horizontally (among microcosmic bodies) and vertically (between macrocosm and microcosm). But this interdependent nature of bodies also means emptiness. All bodies are empty of substantiality. Enlightenment is to realize this emptiness of all. An additional factor is language because Kūkai conceives the body as the linguistic medium for communicating that dharma of emptiness.

A comparative analysis of Jungian depth psychology and Tibetan Buddhist Tantra reveals a fascinating array of similarities, which are united in their most essential form through the manner in which mythic imagery is employed in both disciplines as a powerful agent of inner transformation. Various forms of creative engagement with sacred symbols-including mandalas-are enacted in each tradition as a vehicle through which latent spiritual potentialities can be brought forth into consciousness, a process that is greatly enhanced through a number of dynamic artistic techniques and contemplative practices. It should be emphasized from the outset that both disciplines represent complex systems that include sometimes widely varying notions of a higher spiritual order or ultimate reality. However, despite any differences in ontological postulations or metaphysical precepts, they share a number of surprising and sometimes striking characteristics. For example, both emphasize the mind, or psyche, as the foundational basis of existence and the primary means through which liberation (in the tantric tradition) and psychic wholeness (as in Jungian psychology) are pursued. Each also emphasizes the realm of dreams (e.g., dream analysis in depth psychology and dream yoga in Tibetan Tantra), contemplative and creative visualizations (such as the focus on wisdom figures and sacred symbols), and an assortment of other practices that are designed to effect a reconciliation of opposites and the attendant union of masculine and feminine principles. Their respective methodologies thus represent essential avenues through which to deepen an understanding of human nature's far-reaching spiritual capacities while demonstrating the vital role that mythic imagery-and in particular the mandala-plays in the process of healing and inner transformation.

1. Meditation 2
1.1 On the Meditation Practice 3
1.2 Meditation in Eastern Christianity 4
1.3 Hesychasm 4
1.4 Meditation in Medieval Europe: The Sermon of Meister Eckhart 4
1.5 Dream as a State Close to Meditation 5
1.6 Meditation and Consciousness 5
1.7 Our Unconscious self 5
1.8 Symbols 5
1.10 An Auto Training Experiment 7
1.16 Experimental Experiences 9
1.17 The Unconscious 11
1.18 Mandala 11
2 Meditation and Knowledge 11
2.7 World View 14
2.8 The Bayesion Syllogism 15
2.9 Consciousness and Knowledge 15

Kohei Sugiura, Graphic Designer and Professor Emeritus at Kobe Design University, Japan, is a revolutionary innovator in all aspects of graphic design, with a core focus on book design, typography and information design, He has created an inexhaustible wealth of design work – which has influenced a whole generation of leading designers all over Asia. The work of Prof Sugiura spans the entire field of graphic design: from magazines and books to posters and postage stamps, and from exhibitions to environmental graphics. He has been honoured internationally with numerous prestigious awards. Prof Sugiura’s extensive writings about perception, visual communication, music and iconography with a special focus on the cultural traditions of Asia constitute an invaluable body of profound design thinking.

A selection of Prof Sugiura’s book and magazine design works, along with an essay on his graphic design methodology and philosophy are presented in this publication.

Тази дипломна работа разглежда и представя система за комуникация използвана и изобразявана в източните философии, религии и канони. Фокусира се основно върху езика като средство за визуална комуникация и съществено допълнение към говорът и текста. т една страна засяга ил!страцията, като образ съпътстващ текст "в конкретния случа# текстовете на $%акрасамвара Тантра&', от друга ( абстрактния символ и неговото значение използвани като градивна единица на визуалната азбука "каноните и иконометрията в източниците картини'. )е на последно място и приложния смисъл на изкуството използван като средство за усъвър*енстване и натрупване на нови знания или конкретно предназначение

Purpose – the purpose of this article is to review a quasi-experiment study examining whether business students’ math anxiety is reduced after participating in mandala coloring activities. Research methodology – the research methodology integrated quantitative methods including independent t-tests and ANOVAs in a non-random convenient sample of 106 undergraduate students in 2018 in Texas, United States. Findings – results from the one-way ANOVA and t-test analyses revealed that anxiety levels differed across groups, such that after coloring a pre-drawn mandala, math anxiety was significantly reduced in comparison to the control (doodling) group. Paired sample t tests also demonstrated that when comparing the anxiety levels at the baseline and post-treatment, math anxiety was reduced after performing both the pre-drawn and free-coloring mandala activities. Additionally, an independent sample t-test and a two-by-two factorial ANOVA demonstrated that males experienced a significant red...

Potential merit of a toroidal helical configuration
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Dynamic possibilities of 3D visualizations of a helical toroid with multiple windings
Movement of spheres along the pathways of a toroidal helix
Potential cognitive implications of toroidal helical movement
Technomimicry, metaphors and symbolism
Category juggling reframed through visualization dynamics
Requisite controversy engendered and encoded by a counter-coil pattern?
Towards a 3D visualization of toroidal counter-coiling dynamics
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Winner of the 2018 Edward Cameron Dimock Jr. Prize in the Indian Humanities

"A profoundly innovative and engaging study of cosmological thinking in texts, rituals, imagery, and architecture across the Buddhist world of the Himalayas."
-Catherine Becker, author of Shifting Stones, Shaping the Past: Sculpture from the Buddhist Stupas of Andhra Pradesh

"Offers a new perspective on the depictions of cosmological imagery. A timely topic that makes major contributions to the field of art history."
-Christian Luczanits, David L. Snellgrove Senior Lecturer in Tibetan and Buddhist Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Buddhist representations of the cosmos across nearly two thousand years of history in Tibet, Nepal, and India show that cosmology is a rich language for the expression of diverse religious ideas, with cosmological thinking at the center of Buddhist thought, art, and practice.

In Creating the Universe, Eric Huntington presents examples of visual art and architecture, primary texts, ritual ideologies, and material practices—accompanied by extensive explanatory diagrams—to reveal the immense complexity of cosmological thinking in Himalayan Buddhism. Employing comparisons across function, medium, culture, and history, he exposes cosmology as a fundamental mode of engagement with numerous aspects of religion, from preliminary lessons to the highest rituals for enlightenment. This wide-ranging work will interest scholars and students of many fields, including Buddhist studies, religious studies, art history, and area studies.

https://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/HUNCRE.html

Con quelle che altrove abbiamo chiamato 'trasfigurazioni nella luce', si arriva per gradi ad un'assoluta semplificazione, anzi alla scomparsa d'ogni forma, e financo d'ogni colore. Tocchiamo qui infatti i limiti estremi del simbolismo visivo antropomorfo, e sfioriamo il mistero dei simboli del sacrificio e dell'eternità, che sono rispettivamente la fiamma e la luce. Partendo dalle immagini di fiamme danzanti che tutto consumano, e passando attraverso la ricchissima iconografia delle aure di luce e dei nimbi luni-solari, si arriva così fino alla più pura, abbacinante epifania di luce del fulmine globulare, particolarmente cara all'arte del Buddhismo Vajrayana.
Se tutte quelle che precedono sono, per dirla con linguaggio alchemico, semplici trasmutazioni della forma umana che via via acquisisce, in apparenza, sempre nuove forme, ma in realtà rinvia sempre a sè stessa, qui si attinge finalmente l'unica vera metamorfosi, che, come dice la parola stessa, implica il passare 'al di là' di tutte le forme possibili, nell'informale angelico o addirittura nel divino non manifestato. Quasi insospettabile per un artista del Cinquecento, proprio così Lorenzo Lotto raffigura, in una tarsìa lignea del Duomo di Bergamo, Dio Creatore mediante il lessico del 'corpo' trasfigurato dell'uomo: un solo occhio centrale aperto, dal quale irradiano sproporzionate braccia e gambe vistosamente anamorfosate, avvolto da un fiammeggiante nimbo solare. Simboli dell'uomo gli uni, simbolo dell'Eterno l'altro.

What is the concept of  Death in Vedic Astrology? Author believes that vedic astrology started as a means to find the time of death. Interesting theories in 100 pages of research covering Dosha, Mars, Yama, Maraka , Mrithyun, and Mandala of death

Purpose – the purpose of this article is to review a quasi-experiment study examining whether business students’ math anxiety is reduced after participating in mandala coloring activities.

Research methodology – the research methodology integrated quantitative methods including independent t-tests and ANOVAs in a non-random convenient sample of 106 undergraduate students in 2018 in Texas, United States.

Findings – results from the one-way ANOVA and t-test analyses revealed that anxiety levels differed across groups, such that after coloring a pre-drawn mandala, math anxiety was significantly reduced in comparison to the control (doodling) group. Paired sample t tests also demonstrated that when comparing the anxiety levels at the baseline and post-treatment, math anxiety was reduced after performing both the pre-drawn and free-coloring mandala activities. Additionally, an independent sample t-test and a two-by-two factorial ANOVA demonstrated that males experienced a significant reduction in their math anxiety than the females did after performing the mandala coloring activity.

Research limitations – the study used a convenient sample, self-reported items, and a math anxiety measurement. Also, the findings found short-term evidence of math anxiety.

Practical implications – the findings of this study suggest that business statistics instructors who integrate a mandala coloring activity in anxiety-provoking undertakings may help to reduce their students’ math anxiety.

Originality/Value – This study is the first to investigate mandala coloring to reduce math anxiety in business students. Unlike previous studies that focus on anxiety in general, this study examines the benefit of mandala coloring on students’ math anxiety.

A new book on Yantra by the author Dr. Uday Dokras
people keep them at their work places and homes thinking that it would bring them good luck. Some modern day so called tantric institutions also propagate different yantras associating them with different so called sadhnas. I am sure your question is coming from there only.
Sri Yantra is a complex depiction of the creative matrix. From alpha to omega, from nothingness (Bindu), which is at the centre, to the full blossomed form representing creation in its fullness..
The best way to use the Sri Yantra is to meditatively and attentively gaze at it, moving inward from the outer layers, paying attention to every minute detail, till you reach the centre, the Bindu. This practice who help achieve stillness of the mind and utter inner silence.
Then one may once again move outwards, from the Bindu to the full blossomed form, and so on..
It has become kind of an industry where from a small kiosk owner sitting outside a temple to high flying babas all selling different kind of yantras to their targeted audiences at different prices. It is all fraud where a fraudster sells people a piece of metal with some letters or words engraved over it for thousands and lakhs even crores. And nothing, just nothing happens. It is believed that the yantra is a cosmic generator. The shri yantra uses the laws of cosmic nature to make a change in the physical world. Generating energy waves in resonance with our body will support us to fill energy fields. They say that  the energy will help us in our journey into the world cosmic consciousness. Shri yantra is a greate instrument for developing positive energy with counciousness around us. This positive effect will strenghten our work.
The geometric sacred patterns of shri chakra are used in discovering the secrets of this universe for ages. The Pattern also helps in revealing the mystery of creation and distruction. It is impossible to tell the supremacy of Shri yantra in just a few words.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1-The Concept & Percept of the Sri Yantra page 3
Chapter 2-  Sri Yantra School of Hinduism? Page 11

Chapter 3-Manduka mandala page 22

Chapter 4---The Quest for the Optimal Configuration of the SriYantran page 33

Chapter5- Context oage 42

Chapter6-Hindu Jain Tantric Temples in Amarkantak Madhya Pradesh page 62

Chapter 7-The Architectural Element of Sri Chakra Yantra page 79
CHAPTER 8- YANTRA PROPERTIES OAGE 107
Chapter 9 World mandala Monument Page 121
CHAPYER 10-E MANDALA CONCEPT-Of  CHANAKYA NEETI DIPLOMACY page 130

Liber Novus and its contents are complex, but would serve as model and tool in his clinical practice, encouraging his patients to try the same techniques (Spano, p. 2) After describing a biographical history leading up to Jung’s experiences that created the Red Book, the focus of this paper, for the purpose of looking at it from an Art Therapeutic lens, will be to examine Jung’s first mandalas. His thoughts leading up to these first mandalas and how he came to understand the mandala as a key to wholeness of the self, will also be examined. As well, how this discipline is applied to practice today. For the sake of clarity Jung’s pursuits have been divided into the three influential categories of religion, psychology and art.

The images in this paper are strictly for educational use and are protected by United States copyright laws. Unauthorized use will result in criminal and civil penalties. 2 The mandala is fundamentally something secret. If you are interested in it in order to acquire reputation, and feel pride in showing what you have worked out to others, you do not have the right attitude. If however your work springs from efforts to offer help to other people, that is the right attitude of mind, which will contribute to the liberation of yourself and others.

The purpose of this essay is to explore how to let the tarot direct all aspects of a consultation. I suggest we allow the tarot itself to intervene at all stages of a session, instead of responding to the questions and concerns of a client conversationally, selecting and shaping a spread to their perceived hopes and anxieties. Rather, we allow a random draw of a card to provide the initial structure and scope to the reading.

In the Indian writing systems, letters of the alphabet are much more than just symbols for written communication. A letterform is not only a vehicle for conveying ideas, but is in itself representative of a specific idea. Each letterform is an integral icon, its totality consisting of its sound, its shape and its meaning. Letters forms as icons are worshipped in many different ways: as seed-syllables, as yantras and mantras, as deities having distinct physical personalities and forms; and as compound letters to represent a multitude of meanings. The paper highlights the spiritual significance assigned to letterforms in the Indian tradition.
Expanded version of a paper originally presented at Type 90, Oxford, UK.

Ian McEwan's Saturday explores the tension between fundamental human polarities, polarities the novel shares with many improvisations (texts that claim unmediated, spontaneous, careless, or inspired creation): immediacy vs. mediation; freedom vs. necessity ; spontaneity vs. care and craft; Hermes vs. Saturn; right-vs. left-brain. McEwan's protagonist is both improviser and, as neurosurgeon, careful craftsman. His day provides him opportunities to confront and resolve these dualities. The novel exhibits improvi-sation's formal conventions and thematic features, demonstrating their synergy. Seen through the lens of improvisation, the novel dramatizes the right-brain's pushback in the life of a man almost wholly dedicated to the rationalistic, analytic left-brain.

See also above in Articles section: Charles Correa: An Infinity of Traces (Illustrated) ArchitectureLive! , 2022

The chapter, commissioned during India's Golden Jubilee, reviews the contribution of Architect Charles Correa to nation-building, against the backdrop of 50 years of modern architecture in post-Independent India (1947-1997). Footnotes that went missing in the published piece have been reinstated as endnotes in this upload.

Some projects can be seen in the illustrated seed-essay "Style Maestro" below.

(Adjunct Professor H Masud Taj has conducted Asian Architecture seminars but is not "Professor, Asian Studies" p.65).

First part of a two book treatise on MANDALAS. This introductory phase introduces mandalas and in 460 pages covers all necessary things to know for a beginner.
One of its kind in the world book about Temple Mandalas, Buddhist Stupa mandalas, Human mandalas, flower mandalas Hindu and Jain mandalas

In this third instalment of the E Pluribus Unus Mundus series of papers, I argue that an amendment installing the equation Psyche = Singularity as a Preface to the Preamble of our Constitution would not violate the First Amendment, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Rather, it would provide a scientific foundation for Natural Law theory, which is the philosophical presupposition of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Discussion of astrological icons in Mikkyō star maṇḍalas (hoshi mandara 星曼荼羅) and other relevant specimens. This study also dates the New York MET star maṇḍala based on the configuration of the planets in relation to the zodiac signs depicted therein.

Kotyk, Jeffrey. "Research Note on Brahmanical Deities in Mikkyō Astrological Art." Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University 4 (2019): 101–108.

Un saggio filosofico originale che si muove dal puro immaginale per proporre nuovi linguaggi filosofici sul tempo, il sacro, le nozioni di divinità, metafisica, religione, archetipo e spiritualità.
Vengono introdotti due nuovi termini: ierasi indica il processo per cui il puro sacro si realizza nella dimensione immaginale, assumendo una propria essenzialità capace di renderlo esperibile; ierocampo nasce dalla nozione di campo di Buddha e si riferisce alla modificazione della realtà messa in atto da una presenza sacra nel momento in cui si manifesta in epifanie. Lo scopo è rinnovare il linguaggio filosofico da prospettive non occidentali e decentrate rispetto a qualsiasi nozione o coscienza.

Although Nichiren bestowed a calligraphic mandala to each of his senior and mid-tier disciples in different phases of his predication, it is a fact that he kept a statue of Śākyamuni for his whole life. The effigy was enshrined at his base in Minobu as also a large Gohonzon, now preserved at Jōsaizan Sōgen-ji in Mobara as it is customary for temples in Japan to have a main hall and an “image hall” dedicated to its main Buddha. The elemental Kuon-ji however could not afford the luxury of having several buildings, it is hence not completely clear which was the main honzon adopted at the time. For sure, many lay believers made a perilous pilgrimage to the site in order to receive their calligraphic mandala.
This paper analyzes how different disciples perceived the transmission from Nichiren basing their own schools on the Gohonzon they received and the particular period it was inscribed for them. Some cases are fairly obvious, as Izumi Ajari Nippō produced mandalas with the same side inscriptions that Nichiren placed on the Gohonzon he received. Nippō was also in contact with the lay believers that received the largest mandala ever produced by Nichiren made of 28 sheets, which also bears the same soaring quotations of the Lotus Sūtra. The cases of Nichirō and Nikkō are more nuanced for a number of reasons.
It seems evident however, that the top senior disciples received their Gohonzon already in the Bun’ei era, while the others either in the Kenji or mostly in the Kōan period. After Nichiren passed, his successors would adopt either the calligraphic mandala or enshrine various formats of statue grouping, at times fiercely debating about which type of honzon shall be adopted in the Nichiren School.
The various honzon formats are described and analyzed within a broader non-sectarian context while trying to harmonize all the different views. It can be asserted that Nichiren considered the Lotus teaching as “word” of the Eternal Buddha that defines the moment in which humanity became self-conscious and detached from the realm of beasts. He evidently knew that the scripture is the result of several translators, compilers, thinkers and philosophers who made their additions to the ultimate Sūtra script. However he considered the canonical text as final and perfect, almost like a chorus that intones about enlightenment in magnificent harmony.

In early cosmogony, axis mundi served an important spiritual role in numerous cultures as a sacred space where heaven and earth intersected. Each culture conceived of axis mundi in a distinctive and often well-defined way. These differences can be appreciated both separately and when they are viewed as a part of more universal archetypes. The idea of geographical locations where access is opened to the heavens and sometimes the underworld is undeniably a significant part of both early cosmogony and the history of religions. Representations of axis mundi vary and some cultures had more than one center of the world. It is symbolized by mountains, mounds, boulders, trees, and other natural phenomena. Objects of human craftsmanship such as temples, poles, pillars, and ladders could also be viewed as a center axis between the ethereal and terrestrial realms. Often, these objects would take their form from the natural world. Ziggurats and other temples were often modeled after cosmic mountains and many pillars and poles symbolized world trees. This brief work will discuss examples of axis mundi and its relationship to cosmology.

The sages of India conceived a comprehensive picture of the reality of all forms of creation which are also manifestations of the Supreme Consciousness. They also understood that the almighty consciousness gave birth in the process of creation to numerous gods and goddesses. Each god has a distinct purpose to fulfill. The tantra sastra similarly, teaches that apart from the material world in which we live, there exist other worlds and universe.
The Supreme Godhead controls these systems through the medium of a hierarchy of gods and goddesses (devatas). These entities exist in various planes on the rising tier of consciousness. These devatas help man in his uphill journey of liberation. The tantra developed this line with an eye on practical utility and this spiritual science is acclaimed as a great sadhana sastra or practical science. The concept of Sri Chakra Though the Supreme Consciousness is formless, nameless or timeless, in manifestation it has to limit itself to a form. The formless great radiance has to radiate rays of definite forms and channels them as the various gods thus creating out of ONE, MANY with specific and distinguishable forms ad features.
These lines of light create the form-patterns of the goods which are known as yantra or charkas. A yantra is an instrument, a machine or a storehouse of power. It contains rather, in itself in a controlled form, the uncontrollable power of the deity. Tantrics believe that by worshipping the charka of a deity, the worshipper realizes the same deity or in other words he merges with it. Mandala an important aspect of a yantra which is frequently drawn or made with powders of various colours. The mandala is used in the case of any deity whereas the charka is intended for a specific deity. In south India it is a practice in most of the homes to draw a mandala in front of the house every morning to bring in auspiciousness and to ward off evil. The Tamil word for mandala is kolam (guise), as it contains in disguise the divine power. The mandala employed in tantra is no decorative imagery for a ritual. It provides a potent Pages 289 - 291 material focus for the operation of subtler forces within and without. The Chakra like the mantra leads one to direct perception of the Divine form and that is the reason why so much emphasis is given to the Chakra in tantric worship. In the Chakra are caught the lines of beauty, harmony and symmetry on which the eternal geometrician fashions the universe.
And they are therefore, drawn with lines, triangles, circles and squares. All these are symbolic. The Symbolism The circle represents the principles with no beginning and no end. The triangle represents the triple principles of creation, the lower triple worlds as well as higher. It points out to the one that is threefold, the yoni, the origin of all matter. A triangle with apex turned up indicates a broad – based one – pointed aspiration rising from the depths to the heights. In tantric paralance it is called vahni kona, the cone of fire. This is the fire of aspiration which is ever burning in the heart of the worshipper and which carries (vah=to bear) on its crest his surrender to the Divine. The triangle with apex downwards in Sakti, the grace of the Divine Mother.
The well-known satkona formed by superimposition of a triangle with apex downwards over a triangle with apex upwards signifies a rising aspiration and a responding grace, the ascent of the being and the descent of the deity or in other words the dynamic Sakti superimposing on the heart of the static and supine Siva. The lotus flower signifies the gradual unfolding of the latent powers in the being. When the Chakra is conceived as the material manifestation of the Deity, all the emanations of the Deity are also conceived as stationed in the Chakra. The main deity (pradhan) takes abode in the centre of the Chakra while its emanations gather round the pradhana as the parivara devats. Worship is done to the parivars and then to the pradhana.
The Sri Chakra is a configuration of nine triangles, five triangles with apex downwards superimposed on four triangles with apex upwards. It consists of nine chakras. There are nine Chakreshwaris, nine classes of yoginis and nine mudras. Like the ninefold of Sri Chakra, the mantra is also nine fold as it contains only nine letters. The masters are nine in number. The human body has nine apertures. Therefore, an identity is sought to be established between Pages 289 - 291 the Chakra, Deity, Mantra, Guru and the sadhaka’s body. Sri Chakra is most auspicious and worshipped to get all the auspicious things in life, finally culminating in the attainment of liberation. It is also worshipped for the “six acts” viz., appeasement, attraction, stoppage, enemity, removal and death. The techniques for these specialized acts are described in various tantric texts. CONCLUSION The tantra deems it essential to inculcate the doctrine that no worship of the Deity is complete without the worship of the Deity’s body in a material image-an idol or a picture or some symbol in the physical world. Inner worship leads one on the path of yoga and knowledge.

Dalla fine dell’Ottocento, le ricerche e gli studi dedicati alla possibile influenza della cultura dell’India su Dante Alighieri e la sua opera, sono state sporadiche e occasionali. Per il passato, fra pochi altri si distinguono i contributi degli indologi Angelo De Gubernatis e di Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy. Mentre molto ci sarebbe ancora fare, per quanto riguarda la ricerca storico artistica, sulle probabili fonti iconografiche centro asiatiche dell'immaginario di Dante, e specialmente di quello infernale, fra tutte le questioni ancora aperte, resta centrale quella della possibile, specifica influenza indiana sulla sua 'invenzione' del Purgatorio come montagna sacra.

The Oxford Journal of Hindu Studies (4: 2011): 248-257.  doi: 10.1093/jhs/hir035.

In this article, I utilize current scholarship on synesthetic experience as a lens for evaluating the multi-layered cognitive and artistic processes by which Sri Vidya practitioners construct, visualise, and embody the primary symbol of their clan, the Sri Vidya diagram. This diagram is simultaneously a multi-hued visual image and a resounding symphonic field of luminous, reverberating graphemes. By constructing externally and visualising internally a sound field that is not just heard but perceived, the sadhaka generates an embodied poly-sensualised consciousness that is the ritualised means for achieving the aim of his Sakta practice: the recognition of one’s self as
non-distinct from that supreme goddess, Mahatripurasundara, she whose self-emanation as the resounding, luminous Sri Yantra, is itself the emergent cosmos.