Talk:Mandala

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Mandala article.
Article policies
Archives: 1
This article is within the scope of the following WikiProjects:


Archive
Archives
1


Contents

[edit] Bifurcate this article

The term "mandala" has too specific interpretation in specific contexts and I propose the bifurcation of this article into at least two - Manadala (Tibetan Buddhism), Mandala (Vedic Hinduism).

Ref. Slokas similar to - "Akhandamandalakaram vyaptam yenacharacharam, tatpadam darshitam nityam tasmai shri guruvai namah".

Such slokas from vedic Hinduism (is there any other Hinduism?) are based on the basic concept of the Mandala - the manifold of dimensions - something that can also be considered in scientific light today. There are many schools of thought as to how many mandalas exist. The manadalas of the body, for instance, are five - also called kosha or sharira; viz from pranamayi kosh to anandamayi kosh.

However, when talking of existence 14 mandalas are said to exist. The Akandamandala is the all encompasing, nirguna, niramaya, akshara parabhrahmah. This is the mandala of oneness and unity alone - the true advaita. Through divisions through the manadals existence as we percieve manifests. The Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh occupy intermediate mandals and are therefore referred to as madhyavarti; ie. that which lies in between.

I hope the justification of my request is obvious. I could continue to elaborate on this article, but I do not wish to do so for a few reasons - (i) what I have refered to is not a very specialised piece of knowledge and I am left to wonder why the many knowledgeable people interested here never brought up this topic; (ii) I have had my edits vandalised by some administrators in the past and find it an unnecessary waste of my time to reason with them for something well referenced and validly encylopaedic; (iii) Whether the above suggestion is incorporated into the said article or not - is not my concern...

tamasoma jyotirgamaya - "let there be light where there is darkness".

122.169.18.124 (talk) 17:13, 23 December 2007 (UTC)hi_pedler

I don't think the article should be split until there is enough content about Hindu usage to warrant a separate article. Right now our Hindu usage section here is quite small. But if at some point enough content was added that a separate article made sense then that would be fine. You're more than welcome to expand the Hindu section of the article of course. - Owlmonkey (talk) 20:12, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV?

"The process of creating a mandala can be a reflective journey of meditation that accesses the deeper truer part of oneself."

[edit] dharmic religions and indian religions

Both are the same list of religions i.e. Jainism, Buddhism, sikhism, and Hinduism. See Indian religions and the following sources on dharmic religions. The listed sources are all the reliable sources that I could find for the obscure neologism "dharmic religion".

1. Frawley, David. From the River of Heaven: Hindu and Vedic Knowledge for the Modern Age. Pg 27. Berkeley, California: Book Passage Press, 1990. ISBN 1878423010. Frawley mentions only hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism as dharmic religions. [1]
2. Encarta encyclopedia [[2]"Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism share with Hinduism the concept of dharma along with other key concepts, and the four religions may be said to belong to the dharmic tradition."
3. Tharoor, Shashi in a column in The Hindu newspaper Different takes on the faith, available online
4. Westerlund, David Questioning the Secular State: The Worldwide Resurgence of Religion in Politics page 16 "may provide some possibilities for co-operation with Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, who like Hindus are regarded as adherents of ‘dharmic' religions."

Andries 23:50, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

ok i still dont get a meaning of what t actually is.. can someone please write a defenition in 8th grade level..thank you  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.127.114.167 (talk) 01:08, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The term Mandala in the context of the Rigveda

In the Rigveda article mandalas are said to be the name of each of the ten sub-divisions of the Rig-Veda. I don't see this use reflected in the present article. Should it not be discussed how the etymology allows for such disparate usage? __meco (talk) 19:07, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Representation in other media

There is a debate regarding my contribution to the article regarding the use of the mandala in the 2007 sci-fi movie The Last Mimzy. The section makes reference to a movie that uses the concept of mandala and the mandala itself as a big and important part of the storyline and I (in MHO) think that there should be a reference to such a film in this article. On the other hand user User:Owlmonkey disagrees with this. I am requesting the opinion of more wikipedians regarding this issue. Thanks Camilo Sanchez (talk) 19:17, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

I believe it's trivial and not notable, or at least the reasoning for why it's notable is not given and would like to remove it. I'm also worried that having a section title like that will attract all sorts of junk long term which won't add to the understanding of mandala in meaningful ways. In part, this is because of the Wikipedia:"In popular culture" articles essay and Wikipedia:Avoid trivia sections guideline, but more so that it's in the wrong place. When I do a quick search for people commenting on the use of a mandala in the movie, like this one, this one, and this one, it's not adding anything to an understanding of what a mandala is particularly just that it's used in the film. If it is notable, then it's more likely so in the Last Mimzy article and not the Mandala article and it should be moved there. The Last Mimzy article currently lacks any notable mention of its mandala usage, but it's definitely more notable there if anywhere. One concession, I do think it is notable that in the West mandala taking on new meanings that may differ from the usages already described in this article. This movie seems to define it in the context of science fiction as relating to time travel. It's an isolated usage maybe, so I don't think that's notable enough yet until other movies or science fiction novels start making that a trend to use mandalas in that way, but I could see this movie used as a citation to support a discussion in the article (not as a trivia section entry though) for how mandala has been appropriated in new ways in the West. But then it would be used as a citation not as a stand alone fact. I also feel it would require that there really be a trend there worth noting, that the definition of mandala has widened. - Owlmonkey (talk) 19:42, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Well, no one else seems to have a strong opinion. How about this, including a mention of the movie but specifically as a support for how mandala is being used in the west with new meanings. So it merges with the section above it and we add more detail. How's that for a compromise? Something like this then:

Other meanings of mandala
In the West, mandala is also used to refer to the "personal world" in which one lives, the various elements of the mandala or the activities and interests in which one engages, the most important being at the centre of the mandala and the least important at the periphery. Depicting one's personal mandala in pictorial form can give one a good indication of the state of one's spiritual life.[citation needed]
In science fiction, geometric patterns akin to mandalas have been used to represent advanced technology with esoteric properties, such as the time travel mechanism in the 2007 movie The Last Mimzy or the alien signal in the 2005 television show Threshold.

Would that work for you? - Owlmonkey (talk) 19:57, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Making the switch now. - Owlmonkey (talk) 22:28, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
That looks good to me. Camilo Sanchez (talk) 08:05, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] More Hindu Mandala Description Needed

Has anyone noticed that there is less description and commentary under the "in Hinduism" heading than any other religion heading? Considering that the Mandala is Hindu in origin, this should be a much higher priority. My knowledge of Hinduism is so poor that I hardly qualify to try an edit, but I know that it needs more than the two sentences its got right now.

A second issue: does anyone find the "as mandala" sections suspicious, or at least in need of citations? For example, the assertion "Dream catchers are also mandalas" needs qualification.

67.9.145.74 (talk) 17:57, 17 April 2008 (UTC)erc


Why isn't there any discussion of hi_pedler's remarks? If I had time later, would there be any objection to my corroborating and adding the gist of hi_pedlers comments in an edit to "in Hinduism?"

I would appreciate comments and guidance--I'm not a seasoned wiki editor. 67.9.145.74 (talk) 18:07, 17 April 2008 (UTC)erc

If someone is inspired to add to the article and work with Hindu usage and citations, they are more than welcome. I don't know enough about the Hindu usage personally. I also don't know much about the term mandala and if it's used to describe native american and other symbols. But if you want to do the research and refute or cite the content here you're more than welcome. - Owlmonkey (talk) 20:12, 17 April 2008 (UTC)