The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast for Sunday 12 May 2002

Broadcast Script 224

Glossary

Mandala: A symbolic circular figure, with symmetrical divisions and figures of deities. Used in Buddhism and other Religions as a representation of the universe.

Prajna Paramita: (Sanskrit) The Perfection of Wisdom Teachings and Deity.

Today's broadcast is called: How to dissolve a mandala

On Tuesday 21 May 2002 the Prajna Paramita Teachings at our Centre taught by Master John D. Hughes from Versak 1999 to Versak 2002 will conclude.
John D. Hughes’ Buddha Dhamma name is Sariputta.

Guided by our Teacher and his wife Anita, Members constructed a mandala for the purpose of thanking the Prajna Paramita Deity and her Retinue for holding the Prajna Paramita mandala open during the teaching period. The mandala was dissolved on 7 May 2002 CE as a Celebration of the 41st Birth Anniversary of Anita.

Today we would like to talk about the disassembly of the Prajna Paramita mandala in our Hall of Assembly that took place on the evening of 7 May 2002.

The ecology of Buddhist dissolution of mandalas is to recycle the components to new sites.

‘Organised’ representations of the divine universe are still widely used on many occasions, ritual and other - to invoke the deity, to expel evil spirits, to reconcile wandering souls, or to ask a favour of the celestial powers.

A mandala is always organised around a deity, a point (bindu) or a major symbol. In Tibet, it is sometimes centred on a historical personage, such as Padmasambhava or the translator Marpa. It is formed of circular or square concentric enclosures, provided with four ‘doors’ directed along the cardinal points.

The deities of those directions enter the appropriate entrance for the duration of the ceremony.

Our mandala for Prajna Paramita was created on 29 April 2002 CE in 3 sections as a Celebration of the 41st Birth Anniversary of Anita.

The first section held a jewelled four armed Prajna Paramita image.

This section included two photographs of John and Anita in jeweled frames. The second section held five dorje bells. The third section held a ‘Mount Meru” four layered concentric annulus of brass rings with 4 dorje holding precious substances such as jewels and shells. Further shells and dorjes surrounded the Mount Meru in the eight directions.

Collectively, with offerings, the three sections comprise the mandala.

Milk, cooked and uncooked rice and pink flowers were offered into the mandala.

Forty one red candles were offered, one for each year of Anita’s life.

Thirty six bottles of blessed water were arranged in the lower section.

Each step in the construction of the mandala is undertaken to represent the development over many years of the minds of Anita and John, until their whole practice of Dhamma comes to near completion at this Temple.

This process involved millions of lives of being together in a good relationship.

Peace arises for Anita and John during the bell puja because in highest sunyata mental state, there is no longer much adhesion to, or desire for anything at all, not even peace. It is sufficient to be with goodly co-mates praising the various millions of bodhisattva deities that help others find the middle way.

It has been pointed out above that the highest sunyata alone cannot be represented directly but it can be suggested by a certain point of the disassembly of the mandala.

The dissolving mandala enters a state of “not-this-not-that”. It becomes clear that our future of being able to pass through death and rebirth and to meet again is certain.

The Prajna Paramita facilitates the development of rebirthing minds that allows a person to see a mandala of events which may have spanned several lifetimes, within say, one minute of reflection.

This may be summarised as saying ‘8,000 worlds in a single glance’.

The rebirthing of minds used for the building of the mandala for the Prajna Paramita Deity and her Retinue was, in a sense, the following of the Path: each Member followed the moral guidelines laid down in the Eightfold Path; each concentrated to the best of his or her ability and each being aware that Wisdom arises from Right Thought rebirthing to Right Practice.

There are 84,000 main forms of wisdom used in the practice of Buddha Dhamma.

Considerable blessings were generated through this mandala.

Dissolution of the mandala does not result in loss.

Contrary to what one might expect, change in the compound forms of materiality need not cause suffering.

Mandalas must be dissolved when the purpose for which they are constructed is achieved, as the mandalas are no longer in use by the deities.

The deities are assembled via the mandala and thanked by a bell puja and then entrusted to continue whatever they were doing in their heaven worlds.

If the mandala were not disassembled after fulfilling its use, but rather left as it were, over time it would be “naturally” disassembled through a process of decay. The rare constituents such as the jewels, huge bells, mirrors (moon discs) and the images ought to be placed onto suitable altars and noted.

In a sense, these altars may well be viewed as other mandalas.

If, at some future time, it was desired to reconstruct a replica of the mandala; the notes could direct a person to the location of the elements needed.

The modern equivalent analogue of a mandala may be seen in the assembly of a large soccer audience to watch a few players undertake play with a ball. They chant at times and in order to prevent fighting, some fans must be removed from the mandala in order to achieve a result of improvement in tone rather than decay into mass barbarism and bloodshed.

The psyche of all spectators and actors can be damaged by loud noises.

To maximise the benefits of the mandala, our members requested the Deva of Learning to help dissolve the Prajna Paramita mandala to ensure a considerable improvement in merit. In this way, we do not descend into the inclination of barbarism during the “destruction” phase of the mandala.

Conservation is praiseworthy.

To aid conservation, every ceremonial item that had been placed in the mandala had to be returned safely to its original shrine or a suitable storage space.

If the item’s prime home on the premises was within another mandala, then the correct storage space for the item is determined by its return to the appropriate section of its prime home.

We wished to ensure that nothing was lost or misplaced so that these items can be found again in the future when required, keeping in mind that we are constructing a storage artifact at our Centre that is to remain viable for 500 years.

Some items, such as flowers or milk are perishable so these cannot be conserved indefinitely.

Members were placed in three teams. They constructed a major document; an inventory of all items in the mandala, including the supporting structures, and designated storage or resting places for each item.

Copies of this document were offered to the Deva of Learning and to the Deva of Transformations, so that they would know in the future optimum locations of all objects.

Each team was provided with a copy of the major document.

It was essential that the order of operations be correct. Only after everything had been written down and the help from the Devas and Devatas requested, and Members were familiar with the task at hand did they start the physical work of dissolving the mandala.

Firstly, the Prajna Paramita image was removed from the mandala and returned to its shrine in the glass case in the Reading Room. Flower offerings to Prajna Paramita were made immediately after.

Next, they moved all the other items to their specified destinations.

As all were cleared away, it demonstrated the impermanence of all matter, feelings and thought and how little time we have to thank those benevolent beings who help us life after life.

Other items were:

Photographs from the Prajna Paramita Altar
Large jewelled framed photo of John and Anita
Small jewelled framed photograph of John and Anita
Jewels
Framed print of the Prajna Paramita Deity
Photograph of John D. Hughes teaching with Heart Sutra
Four ‘Om Prajna Paramita Om’ signs
Shells
Anita’s Tiara
Mandala rings
Dragon eyes
Milk
Water
Basmati rice
Sweets
Four round mirrors (moon disks)
John D. Hughes business cards
Buddha Dhyana Dana Review Volume 5 No. 2
Bodhi leaf
Maroon table cloth
Blue glass jewels
Gift cards
Candles
Students’ Prajnaparamita Review
Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom
Dorje Bells
Dorjes
36 Bottles of blessed water
Pink towel
John D. Hughes white robe
Square table
Round table
Trolley table
Two tier computer table
Offering boards

A yellow Manjusri tanka was on the wall above the mandala.

The brass concentric rings mandala was positioned within the mandala. This brass mandala is a mandala of offering which was moved to the Western Bodhisattva altar in the library after the forty one candles were removed from it.

The heavenly flowers, all pink in colour, were offered on the following altars:
the main Buddha altar, main Buddharupa on Golden Pavilion, Reclining Buddha image, outside Stupa having Buddha Hair Relics, Prajna Paramita images near the Bodhi tree, in the Sariputta Room and the Reading Room, Padmasambhava, Quan Yin on the western pond, Deva of Learning image, the Two Heavenly Monks image, the Bell tower and the Nat House Shrine.

The ten blessings from offering flowers are:

Long life
Good health
Strength
Beauty
Wisdom
Ease along the Buddha Dhamma Path
Being born in beautiful environments
Born with good skin, hair and beautiful to look at
Always having a sweet smelling body
Pleasant relationships with friends

The merit accrued by Members will flow on in the form of good kamma, near the Eastern direction and will encourage, through its multiplying propensity, the attainment of that peace which is the essence of Buddhism.

Pure Land lies in the Eastern direction.

If they were born in other heaven worlds, they will have the merit of offerings to continue their Dhamma practice.

This Prajna Paramita mandala was constructed by our Teacher and his wife Anita so that persons could thank the Prajna Paramita Deity and her Retinue for holding the Prajna Paramita mandala open during the teaching period.

We would like to thank the educated Members who worked mindfully to dissolve the mandala in an appropriate manner.

These Members included:

John and Anita Hughes, Pam Adkins, Julian Bamford, Sharon Carlton, Frank Carter, Leanne Eames, Jay Eames, Evelin Halls, Lenore Hamilton, Lisa Nelson and Pennie White.

You may view photographs of this mandala at www.bsbonline.com.au.

May the Merit by the writing of this article help bring all Beings to truly know the nature of mandalas with their three marks of existence.

May all beings be well and happy.


This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes Dip. App. Chem T.T.T.C. GDAIE, Julian Bamford, B.A. App. Rec., Leanne Eames, B.A., M.A., Evelin Halls Dip. Foreign Language Correspondence, Lisa Nelson, Pennie White, B.A., Dip.Ed.


References

Newsletter February 1987. Registered by Australia Post Publication No. VAR 3103, ISSN 081 254, Buddhist Peace
Mandala 5 December 1986.

Brown, L. (ed.) (1993) Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Frederic, Louis. Buddhism. Flammarion Iconographic Guides. Flammarion. Paris France 1995. Pages 34 - 35


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Document Statistics

Counts:
Words: 1809
Sentences: 81
Paragraphs: 111
Syllables: 2546

Averages:
Words per sentence: 22.3
Sentences per paragraph: 0.7

Percentages:
Passive Sentences: 45

Readability Statistics

Flesch Grade Level: 12.3
Coleman Liau Grade Level: 15.2
Bormuth Grade Level: 11.2
Flesch Reading Ease Score: 52.2
Flesch Kincaid Score: 10.6


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