sample pdf of mandalas of bali

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MANDALAS OF BALI

OUR PLACE IN THE WORLD

DEWA NYOMAN BATUAN


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V I I

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

Foreword by Dewa Nyoman Batuan

Introduction by Lawrence Blair

MANDALAS IN LIFE LIFE IN MANDALAS

Why mandalas?

Balinese concepts of harmony in the mandalasDots, lines, symbols, and signs

CREATION

Gods and Goddesses

Universe and its elements

Lingga-Yoni

LIFE

Humans in the world

Meditation

Other creatures

Plants

Sacred places mountains

DEATH, REBIRTH, AND MOKSA

ARTISTS BIOGRAPHY

Life story

Exhibitions, awards, collections


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1

MANDALA IN

LIFE LIFE IN

MANDALA

WHY MANDALAS?

I know that mandala is a Sanskrit word for circle. The

term is used to refer to various kinds of magic circles,

circular images of microcosm and macrocosm, and

various shrines for ritual and meditation found across

the Hindu-Buddhist world. It is also the name of the

chapters of the Hindu holy book, Rig Veda. In the West,

the psychologist Carl Jung also descr ibed the mandala

as a symbol of the self and inner harmony.

Because my paintings bear some relation to all of

these ideas, I call them by this popular term: mandala.

While mandala paintings are not traditional in Balinese

art, my own understanding of mandalas, and my choice

to paint them, grew out of my direct personal experi-

ence and practice of Balinese religion and culture.

In Bali, we believe that all life and experience is

grounded in a dual reality. This includes both tangible

reality all aspects of life we can know through our

senses, which we call sekala, and intangible reality

all aspects of life we cannot know through our senses,

which we call niskala.

For me, the significance of the mandala and

the practical purpose for making and meditatingon mandalas is to delineate the circle that con-

nects the tangible (sekala) and intangible (niskala)

reality of life within infinite space and time, in order

to move toward sacredness, pur ity of hear t, and

peace of mind.

Let me offer some simple analogies to explain what

I mean.

Everything in life seems to come in threes and tomove in circles.

For example, the earth turns on its axis, giving us

morning, day, and night. We experience time as a circle

of three: yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We are hungry,

we eat, we eliminate. We wake up, work, and sleep. We

are born. We live. We die .

Although our perceptions of life are defined by finite

times and spaces, the process of life is actually infinite.

Beyond the horizon we can see, there is always another

horizon; beneath the ground that supports us there is

always another layer of earth. There is always something

further right of what is on our rightmost edge, left of

what is on our leftmost edge; before yesterday there

was another yesterday, and after tomorrow there will

be another tomorrow.


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M A N D A L A S O F B A L I2

MANDALA OF EXPANDING AWARENESS

From the center of our own small circle, our awareness can expand to the whole universe


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3M A N D A L A I N L I F E L I F E I N M A N D A L A

MANDALA OF SEEING EACH OTHER

We see others from inside out; they see us from outside in; our mutual perceptions form a shared circle.


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MANDALA OF LOTS

Rich, poor, wise, stupid whatever our lot in life, all of us are just tiny points in infinite time and space .


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even though I have never seen Him. Because He dwells

in everything, He has no finite form. He exists even

though He does not exist in mater ial terms.

Based on either point of view scientific or spiritual

all the contents of life essentially come from, andboil down to, tiny points or dots that form circles within

infinite time and space.

That is what my mandala paintings are all about.

Giving form (goba), power (bayu), and sense (rasa)

to the living circle through which existence transforms

into non-existence, and non-existence transforms into

existence.

Fathoming the line that connects the tangible andintangible dimensions of life which, when we can

instill and hold it in our consciousness, leads us toward

the sacred.

Serving as tools for meditation: to help us find the

balance, purity of heart, expanded awareness and peace

of mind we need, in rapidly changing, uncertain times.

BALINESE CONCEPTS OF

HARMONY IN THE MANDALAS

The mandala paintings reproduced in this book arose

out of my daily meditations on the nature of being:

Why are we here? Where do we come from? What

is our purpose in the world? These and many other

questions of this kind emerge from my heart ever more

insistently as I grow older.

My mandala paintings are inspired and informed by

the following core concepts from Balinese-Hindu phi-

losophy, culture and spirituality, which I have been slowly

learning, practicing, and integrating into my life and work

throughout my journey.

The same is true in the realm of knowledge. We

search for meaning in our lives, yet the more wisdom

we gain, the more we may come to feel as if our lives

are insignificant. The more science and technological

know-how we acquire, the more ignorant we become,the more we still need to know. We have to keep learn-

ing again and again.

In the material realm, we wish to possess things, but

the more we own, the more we feel we lack and desire

to have more . (That is why we need to be able to limit

ourselves. Without limits, it is hard to achieve content-

ment in this fleeting life).

So we can conclude that:Life is ever changing, perpetually turning like a wheel.

Sometimes we are on top, sometimes on the way up or

down, and sometimes we just have to be at the bottom.

The only constant is change itself. Whatever exists

must also cease to exist. Whatever lives must die. We

cannot have the one without the other.

From this holistic perspective, it follows that what is

non-existent in fact exists, or is part of existence, andwhat dies is in fact still alive, or is part of life.

For example, if you take a stone or a clump of earth,

and you break it up into small pieces, and keep break-

ing it up into smaller and smaller pieces, it will turn to

powder, and then eventually disappear, leaving nothing

tangible behind. But the power or energy of that stone

or clump or earth still continues to exist.

Modern physics confirms that all matter is made up

of empty space, composed of energetic particles so tiny

they cannot even be seen under a microscope.

Similarly, most religions teach that there is an invisible,

yet eternal, spiritual reality that underlies, yet transcends

our visible yet transient, material reality.

I personally believe in a Creator God who created

existence out of non-existence. I am sure He is there


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MANDALA OF FOUR DIRECTIONS


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MANDALA OF PHILOSOPHY


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MANDALA OF IS OR E YES


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1 1M A N D A L A I N L I F E L I F E I N M A N D A L A

MANDALA OF THE WORLDS BEAUTY

Lines, forms, and colors give us a sense of how beautiful the world is.


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M A N D A L A S O F B A L I1 2

MANDALA OF THE BEAUTY OF SIMPLICITY


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MANDALA OF COINS

Old Chinese kepeng coins are used in sacred rituals to bring harmony.Money can support happiness and bring us to heaven as much as it can ruin happiness and bring us to hell.


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Southeast: Mahesvara, pink

South: Brahma, red

Southwest: Rudra, orange

West: Mahadeva, yellow

Northwest: Sangkara, green Center : Shiva, all colors mixed together

Eye: symbolizes the eye of the soul, the I that sees,

and the fact that God always keeps an eye on us. This,

along with many other symbols of divine protection, is

traditionally used in ceremonial drawings on leather or

cloth made to request divine protection (kekasang).

Genitri: a holy string of 108 prayer beads symbolizing

balance and the boundlessness of knowledge, which

requires continuous learning.

Banten: the cutout and woven palm leaf offeringsused in all Balinese rituals, each containing shapes (cross,

circle, triangle, and square) and bits of food, flowers, and

other ingredients representing different aspects of the

cosmos.

Cili: a particular type of offering (banten) representing

the Goddess of rice, to request and/or give thanks for

fertility.

Kayon or Kayonan: symbol of the world tree, which

marks the neutral center between the positive and nega-

tive energies of the universe in Indonesian shadow puppet

theater, where it is used to signal the start of a play and

scene changes, as well as to represent natural landscapes.

Padma(lotus): The lotus is the seat of Shiva; its eight

petals represent the eight powers of Shiva and eight

directions of the compass, while its heart stands for the

Oneness of God and world. It is a symbol of the mac-rocosm and microcosm, since the lotus seed contains

within itself a perfect miniature of the future plant. As

a flower that roots in mud, grows in water, and flow-

ers in the air, the lotus is also a metaphor of the three

phases of mutation from spirit to matter to spirit in the

tripar tite structure of the universe.

"

Tapak dara: a cross based on tapakdara a plant witha cross-patterned leaf (vinca rosea/periwinkle) with heal-

ing properties, chewed by lactating mothers and people

recovering from illness. Both the plant and the symbol are

used in various life cycle ceremonies to ward off negative

influences and attract goodness and peace.

Swastika: also deriving from tapakdara, the swastikais an ancient Hindu symbol of the wheel of eternal

change, the path of the sun, and the rotation of the

earth on its axis.

Pengider buana: the sacred compass that organizes

the world, composed of nine cosmic directions or ori-

entations (nawa sanga), represented by eight cardinaldirections emanating out of a center. Each direction is

a station where divinity is manifest or dwells in spe-

cific forms, signified by different names and colors, for

example:

North: Visnu, black

Northeast: Shambu, grey

o East: Isvara, white


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Calligraphic symbols

: Ongkara or Om, a Sanskrit symbol of Ida

Sanghyang Widhi Wasa, which breaks down into the

three sounds or letters:Ang, Ung, Mang.

:Ang, Ung, Mangrepresent the three divine

powers of Brahma (creation), Vishnu (sustenance), and

Shiva (destruction and transformation).

:Ang Ahalso stands for duality (rwa bhineda,

positive-negative, male-female energy).

Turtle and serpents (naga): Bedawang Nala, the world

turtle, who carries the world on its back, is a symbol of

world balance. The turtle is flanked by two naga who

are the prime movers that look after our mor tal needs

for safety, food, shelter, and clothing.


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MANDALA OF SIGNS AND SYMBOLS


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MANDALA OF WORLD SYMBOLS


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MANDALA OF STRAIGHT, CURVED AND ANGLED PATHS


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MANDALA OF THREE SIGNIFICANT LINES

Three significant lines in the cycle of growth, maintenance, decay of the flowers of life.


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MANDALA OF THE CROSS (TAPAK DARA)

Physical and mental balance with what is above and below, before and behind, right and left of us.


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MANDALA OF EIGHT DIRECTIONS

Ask for harmony and protection in eight cardinal directions.


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MANDALA OF SHARPENED INTELLIGENCE


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MANDALA OF CHANGING TIMES

As individualism increases, and collectivism decreases, our connection with the divine decreases, too.


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MANDALA OF MENTAL GROUNDWORK

The hard work of our hands and feet clears the ground for the work of our minds.


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MANDALA OF POSITIVE-NEGATIVE BALANCE

Seek balance between positive and negative, body and spirit.


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MANDALA OF COLOR MIXING


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MANDALA OF CONNECTING LINES AND SHAPES


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MANDALA OF JEWELS


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MANDALA OF THE DIVINE COLOR COMPASS

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