Comments on: Like sand in the hourglass, so are the days of our lives

Like sand in the hourglass, so are the days of our lives

DeepFriedTwinkies — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 20:09:49 -0800

A mandala is a symbol of the universe. It is a diagram whose colors, lines, and forms all have meaning. In the Buddhist religion, mandalas are used in sacred ceremonies and meditation, to help people on their journey toward spiritual enlightenment. Mandalas have been made since ancient times. They can be painted on cloth or carved or created from sand.
If you don't like those, you can just make pretty sand pictures on your monitor.

By: ontic

ontic — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:19:32 -0800

Mandalas are works of ancient beauty and tradition, but I'm going to be playing with the pretty-sand-picture-maker all night.

By: cmyk

cmyk — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:42:12 -0800

No, I didn't have anything I was planning on doing tonight...

By: yodelingisfun

yodelingisfun — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:50:55 -0800

Awesome, thanks Mr. Twinkie

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 00:00:35 -0800

Excellent post. But I must declare you my nemesis for beating me to post quite like this that I've been toying with for a few months, off and on. Salutations! /twiddles mustache diabolically. I'm fascinated with the things, and make a form of them myself. God's eyes. Voids and orbs.

By: of strange foe

of strange foe — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 07:45:09 -0800

I was forwarded a Word document that recorded with beautiful pictures the painstaking making and the destruction of a mandala. If only the format were different, it would've made a good mefi post. As it is, I'd be happy to forward that document to anyone who's interested in it. (Email address in my profile.)

By: jonson

jonson — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 08:42:55 -0800

on that same topic, of strange foe, a while ago someone here (I believe) posted a time lapse video of monks creating & then uncreating a sand mandala - does anyone have a link to that video?

By: of strange foe

of strange foe — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:03:34 -0800

Bingo. (The original page is gone, but gwint's is still up.)

By: WC_Helmets

WC_Helmets — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:51:04 -0800

Carl Jung was quite fond of mandalas as symbols for the self. Often, he had his patients paint or draw them as a means of "measuring" the self. These patients would paint symbols they had no knowledge of, but symbols that often show up in western and eastern religious thought.

By: of strange foe

of strange foe — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:40:59 -0800

WC_Helmets, that reminds me of something in the Unicode post a couple of days ago.