A Shakyamuni mandala places Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, at the heart of a mandala palace. Born Siddhartha Gautama at Lumbini, in present-day Nepal, he is shown here as in most thangkas: golden, seated in meditation, and touching the earth at the moment of his enlightenment.
How it is laid out
- The Buddha at the centre, seated in full meditation posture on a lotus, in monk's robes, with the marks of a Buddha: the rounded crown on his head (ushnisha), long earlobes and a halo.
- His right hand touches the earth. On the night of his enlightenment, when Mara challenged his right to awaken, he touched the ground to call the earth as his witness.
- His left hand rests in his lap, holding an alms bowl.
- The palace: a square seen from above, with a T-shaped gateway in the middle of each side facing the four directions.
- The rings and corners: bands of patterning, script or small figures circle the palace, and the corners are filled with clouds, rocks or auspicious symbols.
Some of our paintings show the Buddha in full colour inside a palace drawn entirely in gold-coloured line work on black, with endless knots in the corners. In others the Buddha himself is golden, and the palace is worked in gold-coloured lattice and scrollwork with touches of red, blue and green, ringed by offering figures and Tibetan script.
Shakyamuni in the mandala tradition
Tibetan ritual tradition does include mandalas with Shakyamuni at the centre, for example in the cycle of the Sarvadurgatiparishodhana Tantra, the "purification of all bad rebirths", where he sits among a retinue of other deities. An 18th-century painting in the Rubin Museum goes the other way: the Buddha appears only as a small lotus on a lion throne, with the seats of the Sixteen Arhats around him.
Our Shakyamuni mandalas are simpler. They are modern designs, hand-painted in Nepal, that set the Buddha alone in the palace of a mandala, without the retinue of a particular ritual. They are best read as an image of devotion to the Buddha in the form of a mandala, not as the mandala of a specific practice. Our guides to Shakyamuni Buddha and to mandalas cover each half in more detail.
Mantra
The mantra of Shakyamuni is Om Muni Muni Mahamuniye Soha: "Om, sage, sage, great sage".
In a painting
Look first at the Buddha: a serene, symmetrical face, an earth-touching hand drawn with care, and even pattern in the robes. Then look at the palace: straight walls, gateways that match on all four sides, and fine, unbroken gold-coloured line work that stays crisp in the close-ups. At a glance, this is the mandala with the golden, earth-touching Buddha at its centre.
