A dragon mandala is a round, mandala-like composition built around the dragon, the "thunder dragon" (druk) of Tibetan and Bhutanese tradition. Some show a single dragon reaching for a flaming pearl among clouds and waves; others, dragon mantra mandalas, frame rings of mantra script with dragons. Both are decorative designs that draw on Chinese and Himalayan art, not the mandala of a particular deity or practice.
How it is laid out
- The dragon coils through the circle, scaled and clawed, with horns, a flowing mane and long whiskers.
- The flaming pearl sits at the centre, with the dragon reaching for it. In Chinese art the pearl is a treasure the dragon prizes; its exact meaning has been read in several ways.
- Clouds, waves and mountains fill the space around it: the dragon is a creature of sky and water.
- The frame: a round patterned border takes the place of the palace and rings of a classic mandala.
- The mantra version: rings of Tibetan mantra script circle out from a white Om at the centre, on a black disc, while dragons coil through clouds above and below the circle.
Some of our paintings show a blue dragon with white horns and a golden mane above blue waves, inside a gold-coloured key-pattern border. In some of our dragon mantra mandalas the dragons are gold-coloured, with pink faces and white whiskers, on black.
Dragons in Himalayan art
In Tibetan, druk means both dragon and thunder, which is why it is called the thunder dragon. The Drukpa Kagyu school is named after it: according to the lineage's accounts, which differ in detail, its founder Tsangpa Gyare (1161–1211) took thunder, or dragons rising into the sky, as an omen at the site of a new monastery and named it Druk. The school spread to Bhutan, which is called Druk Yul, "Land of the Thunder Dragon", and a white dragon holding jewels appears on its flag.
The dragon itself came into Tibetan art largely from China: Indian art and texts have no dragon of this kind, and it is rare in early Tibetan painting. Later it appears on the backs of thrones, especially from the 18th century on; as the mount of deities such as White Jambhala; beside some of the Sixteen Arhats; on prayer flags with the windhorse, tiger, snow lion and garuda; and in decorative borders. In Chinese art it is a benevolent creature that brings rain, usually shown among clouds, often with a pearl.
The dragon is not the same as the naga (Tibetan lu), the serpent spirit of lakes and rivers in Indian Buddhist stories. Chinese translations of Buddhist texts call nagas long, "dragons", but Tibetan keeps the two apart.
In a painting
Look for a dragon drawn with one continuous sense of movement from head to tail, with even scales, sharp claws and fine whiskers; clouds whose curls repeat in an even rhythm; and a circle that feels balanced. In a dragon mantra mandala the lettering should be crisp and the same height all the way round, as in any mantra mandala. At a glance, a dragon mandala has a dragon where other mandalas have a palace.
