Tag Archives: Voice of the Void

The Mandala is said to be the abode of the Essence of All Buddhas and whose fabric is of the Dharmadhatu. They represent, as does its Thangka cousin, Voidness made visible. All of this revolves around the Principle that all tantric meditations convey some experience of the void. Our next series in September is based on a contemplative’s personal experience of the void, or no-self, wherein voidness is all that remains when one’s superficial faculties subside and all that is left signifies an empty slate from which there is no escape—it must be lived out or one will go insane. But for now our concluding blog of this present series extrapolates the artistic representation of how everything changes back into the void since all dharmatas in themselves are devoid of That Real Essence of which we speak. Perhaps the best expression of this is the Kalachakra, or Sand Mandala—the most colorful and majestic imagery intricately created at the hands of Tibetan monks, only later to be ritually destroyed leaving that blank slate of emptiness or the void which is the actual primal canvas of the whole endeavor. read more