the more popular AMITABHA cult, anticipation of
Maitreya’s golden age continued to erupt periodically
in millenarian movements that were intensely devo-
tional and occasionally political as well.
See also:Buddha(s); Millenarianism and Millenarian
Movements
Bibliography
Lancaster, Lewis. “Maitreya.” In The Encyclopedia of Religion,
ed. Mircea Eliade, vol. 9. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
Sponberg, Alan, and Hardacre, Helen, eds. Maitreya, the Future
Buddha.Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1988.
ALANSPONBERGMANDALA
The Sanskrit noun mandala is often translated as
“circle” or “discoid object”; however, the term is also
used to define visual and meditative images. Used in
Hindu and Jain traditions as well as Buddhism,
mandalas are described as cosmoplans both in the ex-
ternal sense as diagrams of the cosmos and in the in-
ternal sense as guides to the psychophysical practices
of an adherent. Fundamentally, however, they repre-
sent the manifestation of a specific deity (or group
thereof) in the cosmos and as the cosmos. Mandalas
can include a few deities or thousands. Both figurative
works, as well as those focusing on words, syllables, or
attributes, are made. The principal deity, who is also
its generative force, is usually placed at the center or
core of the mandala. Other deities, who function both
independently and as manifestations of the essence and
powers of the central image, are carefully placed to il-
lustrate their relation to the primary icon. A mandala
can be understood, to some extent, as a web of forces
radiating in and out of a self-contained and self-
defined spiritual cosmos. Rites based on these icons
presume a constant dialogue between the deity at the
heart of the mandala and the practitioner who moves,
at least metaphorically, from the outside to its core.
Once within, the practitioner identifies with the cen-
tral deity, apprehends all manifestations as part of a
single whole, and moves closer to the goal of perfect
understanding or enlightenment.
Preserved principally in architectural structures and
permanent material such as wood, stone, and paint,
mandalas are also made in ephemeral material such as
sand or butter. The creation of a mandala is integral
to a RITUAL, during or after which it is sometimes de-
stroyed. Both permanent and impermanent examples
are used to decorate and sanctify monasteries and
homes, in initiation rites for monks and rulers, and as
the focus of visualization by clergy and other advanced
practitioners and of worship by lay followers.
Groups of eight BODHISATTVASassembled around a
seated buddha (variously identified as S ́akyamuni,
AMITABHA, or Vairocana) are among the earliest and
most widespread examples of mandala imagery. Lists
of eight great bodhisattvas occur in early MAHAYANA
texts, where they are described as protectors of the
faithful and providers of mundane blessings, and are
linked to a group of eight BUDDHAS. In later texts such
groupings are identified as mandalas. The first pre-
served visual examples of the Mandala of Eight Great
Bodhisattvas date from the sixth century, and the type
was widespread from the eighth to the twelfth century.
Examples include an interesting portable wooden
shrine in the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City,
Missouri; a group found along the interior walls of cave
11 at Ellora in India; a distinctive ninefold arrange-
ment from cave 12 at the same site; versions from
Chandi Mendut, Chandi Sari, and Chandi Pawon in
Indonesia; a large mural in cave 25 in the Yulin grot-
toes in Gansu province in China; and images in Ldan
ma brag in the Chamdo district and the Assembly Hall
of Gra thang Monastery in Tibet. Later painted exam-
ples are found in both Korea and Japan.
Compositions of the Mandala of Eight Great Bo-
dhisattvas fall into three basic types: those in which the
eight bodhisattvas are arranged in two sets of four to
either side of the central Buddha; those in which the
eight bodhisattvas encircle the central Buddha; and less
common examples in which the nine figures in the
mandalas are arranged in groups of three placed one
above the other. Of these, the circular arrangements,
which provide prototypes for the inner sections of
other mandalas, are the most influential in later Bud-
dhist art.
A Buddha surrounded by eight bodhisattvas forms
the core of the Womb World Mandala (Sanskrit, Garb-
hadhatu; Japanese, Taizokai), whereas a ninefold
arrangement is repeated in the structure of the Dia-
mond World Mandala (Sanskrit, Vajradhatu; Japan-
ese, Kongokai), examples of which are preserved since
at least the eighth century. Found principally in Japan,
these mandalas are shown as a pair and are placed on
the east and west walls of the inner precinct of a tem-MANDALA