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Description
THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is my personal mandala. It represents a personal philosophical universal order that I have acquired over the past six weeks, and is the product of my studies in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism, which have been combined with my previous studies and subsequent knowledge of Wicca, witchcraft, and metaphysics.

I have been working on this chronologically for two weeks now, but in all actuality, not every class period was devoted in its entirity to it. I found myself continuously distracted by various people conversing with me - although I am by no means attempting to force blame onto anyone, nor to create excuses to distract you from the fact that I simply did not get done as much as I should have in class. I found myself devoting large amounts of time outside of class to researching symbolism and such; creating, working on, and refining a basic design to work from; and eventually to sketching out a final draft. Consequently, I also found myself wasting away multiple class periods simply because I forgot to bring the materials I needed to work productively on the final draft of my mandala.

The final deadline (tomorrow) drew ever-nearer, and I was beginning to feel the panic one does when such a weighty deadline approaches. I knew I would never be able to complete the necessary remaining components in less than a full class period - I had entirely too much to get done.

That being established, I decided that today would be the day I would get it done. I had completed all other necessary work ahead of time (and wisely so, as I see now), which allowed me to devote my full attention to the task at hand. I spent nearly the entire day, from ten-eleven this morning to around nine thirty tonight, with no notable or elongated breaks save for dinner, working on nothing but this - my precious mandala.

And now, my efforts have paid off. I feel that not a moment was wasted, and that the time was well-spent. I have no regrets and no ill will towards the endeavor. I am extremely proud of it, and have gotten nothing but compliments on it. I love it to death. It's the product of a very profound and very moving spiritual and emotional journey I underwent since the beginning of school, and I love it in a way I don't feel words can truly describe.

I'm just so very happy with it. ^________^

I'd explain all the symbolism, but I'm entirely too tired. I drained all my energy just writing that big long-winded explanation. ~_____~ But if you're really curious as to what everything means, send me a note and I'll be glad to explain. ^^ Otherwise, just enjoy it for what it is - a means for meditation. And I really do feel it is very meditational; it has a certain feel to it that I really like. Good energy. Mom agrees. ^-^

This photograph doesn't really do it justice. I lost a lot of the detail in the figures surrounding the center circle, and the Buddha in the center looks brown rather than the red he actually is. :/ Well, it was either this one or the white-washed version of the same, which sacrificed the vibrancy of the lower colours for the true colour of the Buddha. *sigh* Oh well, this is fine. ^^

That's all for me. I hope you all can enjoy it as much as I do. ^-^

mandala (c)

Design elements borrowed from Taoist mandala. Figures are the Buddha (center); Sarasvati, Durga, and Lakshmi (blue triangle); and Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu (red triangle) of Hindu mythology. Symbols on the outer circle are representative of the seven chakras (the larger circles), and the others are some of the symbols from the I Ching (the smaller circles). Symbols within the chakra circles are divinatory runes. And the symbol(s) encasing the center circle is not the star of David - it is intended to be read as two separate triangles, representative of the masculine (red) and feminine (blue).

No more explanations now; you read into it whatever else you want. Part of the fun of something like this is seeing what other people get out of it, because in doing so, you see a part of them shine through.

Description
THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is my personal mandala. It represents a personal philosophical universal order that I have acquired over the past six weeks, and is the product of my studies in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism, which have been combined with my previous studies and subsequent knowledge of Wicca, witchcraft, and metaphysics.

I have been working on this chronologically for two weeks now, but in all actuality, not every class period was devoted in its entirity to it. I found myself continuously distracted by various people conversing with me - although I am by no means attempting to force blame onto anyone, nor to create excuses to distract you from the fact that I simply did not get done as much as I should have in class. I found myself devoting large amounts of time outside of class to researching symbolism and such; creating, working on, and refining a basic design to work from; and eventually to sketching out a final draft. Consequently, I also found myself wasting away multiple class periods simply because I forgot to bring the materials I needed to work productively on the final draft of my mandala.

The final deadline (tomorrow) drew ever-nearer, and I was beginning to feel the panic one does when such a weighty deadline approaches. I knew I would never be able to complete the necessary remaining components in less than a full class period - I had entirely too much to get done.

That being established, I decided that today would be the day I would get it done. I had completed all other necessary work ahead of time (and wisely so, as I see now), which allowed me to devote my full attention to the task at hand. I spent nearly the entire day, from ten-eleven this morning to around nine thirty tonight, with no notable or elongated breaks save for dinner, working on nothing but this - my precious mandala.

And now, my efforts have paid off. I feel that not a moment was wasted, and that the time was well-spent. I have no regrets and no ill will towards the endeavor. I am extremely proud of it, and have gotten nothing but compliments on it. I love it to death. It's the product of a very profound and very moving spiritual and emotional journey I underwent since the beginning of school, and I love it in a way I don't feel words can truly describe.

I'm just so very happy with it. ^________^

I'd explain all the symbolism, but I'm entirely too tired. I drained all my energy just writing that big long-winded explanation. ~_____~ But if you're really curious as to what everything means, send me a note and I'll be glad to explain. ^^ Otherwise, just enjoy it for what it is - a means for meditation. And I really do feel it is very meditational; it has a certain feel to it that I really like. Good energy. Mom agrees. ^-^

This photograph doesn't really do it justice. I lost a lot of the detail in the figures surrounding the center circle, and the Buddha in the center looks brown rather than the red he actually is. :/ Well, it was either this one or the white-washed version of the same, which sacrificed the vibrancy of the lower colours for the true colour of the Buddha. *sigh* Oh well, this is fine. ^^

That's all for me. I hope you all can enjoy it as much as I do. ^-^

mandala (c)

Design elements borrowed from Taoist mandala. Figures are the Buddha (center); Sarasvati, Durga, and Lakshmi (blue triangle); and Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu (red triangle) of Hindu mythology. Symbols on the outer circle are representative of the seven chakras (the larger circles), and the others are some of the symbols from the I Ching (the smaller circles). Symbols within the chakra circles are divinatory runes. And the symbol(s) encasing the center circle is not the star of David - it is intended to be read as two separate triangles, representative of the masculine (red) and feminine (blue).

No more explanations now; you read into it whatever else you want. Part of the fun of something like this is seeing what other people get out of it, because in doing so, you see a part of them shine through.