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Practitioners use mandalas to help visualize the awakened beings who dwell there, in order to evoke their power and gain similar dominion over their own minds. This mandala is focused on the meditational deity Guhyasamaja, who is a form of the Buddha Akshobhyavajra, the Unshakable Vajra. He and the deities who surround him are the so-called directional buddhas, with Vairochana in the East, Ratnasambhava in the South, Amitabha in the West, and Amoghasiddhi in the North. They represent the enlightened qualities and wisdom of the five constituents (skandhas) of the human body and mind, which practitioner develops through the practices of visualization, meditation, and ritual.
Mandala of Guhyasamaja-Akshobhyavajra
OriginTibet
Date14th century
Dimensions23 7/8 x 22 7/8 x 2 1/4 in. (60.6 x 58.1 x 5.7 cm)
MediumPigments on cloth
Classification(s)
Credit LineRubin Museum of Art, Gift of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
Object numberF1997.43.1
Himalayan Art Resources Number575
DescriptionMandalas play an important part in Buddhist practices, symbolizing the cosmos as the divine palace of a deity who commands his or her retinue. Whether created in paint or in sand, mandalas can take the form of two-dimensional images that depict the divine abode as a geometric diagram, or three-dimensional architectural structures and ritual items in offerings.Practitioners use mandalas to help visualize the awakened beings who dwell there, in order to evoke their power and gain similar dominion over their own minds. This mandala is focused on the meditational deity Guhyasamaja, who is a form of the Buddha Akshobhyavajra, the Unshakable Vajra. He and the deities who surround him are the so-called directional buddhas, with Vairochana in the East, Ratnasambhava in the South, Amitabha in the West, and Amoghasiddhi in the North. They represent the enlightened qualities and wisdom of the five constituents (skandhas) of the human body and mind, which practitioner develops through the practices of visualization, meditation, and ritual.
Not on view
12th century
Dated by inscription, 1667
1429-1456
ca.1500
16th century (ca. 1500)
14th century
First half of the 15th century
19th century
19th century
early 17th century (ca. 1604)