A beautiful country is like a dreamlike illusion,

It’s senseless to cling to it,

Unless the inner forces of negative emotions are conquered

Strife with outer enemies will never end.

                                                           ---- Khytentse Rinpoche

Introduction

            Like describes in the poem on the previous page, Tibetan Buddhism focuses on the working of the mind, as it is the only way to end all negative emotions.  The “working of the mind” is done through the process of meditation, and the negative emotions are the suffering in which everyone born to experience.  One who completes the process of meditation to the highest level is called the Enlightened One, as the founder of Buddhism Siddarta Gautama himself.   The thesis of this report is: In Tibetan Buddhism, utopia is reached through the process of meditation, in which the Enlightened will feel an end to all suffers on earth. 

Meditation in Tibetan Buddhism

Meditation is the path to enlightenment.  Tibetan Buddhists believe that the seed of enlightenment is planted in every mind, and it is uncovered through meditation.  Meditation is a slow process, in which the practitioner reaches a level of understanding of the mind at a time.

The first level is to realize the origin of suffering on earth.  According to the Tibetan Buddhists, suffering is caused by bodily desires.  These desires are our needs to satisfy our senses, to feel satisfied from drinking a glass of water for example.  However, these satisfactions we can reach are neither permanent nor independent in origination.  They are not permanent because we will eventually desire for more. Also, they are not independent in origination, because whether or not we get satisfied or how much we are satisfied depends on the circumstance and our past experiences.  Take the drinking water example again, a glass of water would be very desirable for a person traveling the desert, but once the same person on a freshwater river, it would be worthless.  This lack of dependence origination of satisfaction or happiness is referred to as “emptiness”.  All earthly observations and emotions experienced through our senses are empty in such a way. 

After the realization of emptiness, the next step is to give up on everything with an empty nature.  This is a slow process.  One has to eventually give up any material possessions, emotional attachments, and earthly desires.  This is why the Tibetan monks leave their family and homes to live in the temples, where they would hardly contact the outside world.  This is the elimination of all suffering.

The highest level of enlightenment is to experience bliss, or perfect happiness, and the union of bliss and emptiness.  Bliss is built upon the realization of emptiness, which means it is completely in the mind or independent of the senses.  At this stage, the mind controls the senses, instead of the other way around as what we are born with.  The practitioner will thus observe all phenomena as manifestations, and bliss is the only thing experienced by the mind.

The above is a rather simplified meditation process.  In practice it is much more complicated, there are many different approaches.  One is for the practitioner to regenerate oneself as a deity, through visualizing oneself on that basis.  A deity is a transformation of the Buddha, and he/she represents an aspect of Buddha’s mind, purity for example.  The process is to imaging oneself entering the deity’s palace, through many levels of spiritual growth and knowledge, as finally reach the center of the palace and becoming the deity.  If this process is complete, then the practitioner has just grew in purity.

Tibetan Mandala

                To best represent the path to enlightenment, a Mandala will be the obvious choice.  The word Mandala means circle, community and connection in Sanskrit.  A Mandala acts like a map of the palace of a deity, therefore it is a visualization for the many stages of meditation.  A journey of the mind is thus presented to the eye. 

                 Tibetan Mandalas are mostly made with coloured sand, and the making process is considered a spiritual ceremony.  Also, it can be regarded as a meditating process, as the Mandala is made from the outside going inwards, through the many staege of spiritual growth and knowledge. It is also an act of devotion.

My Creative Transformation

                For my creative transformation, I have chose to make a replica of such Mandalas. 

I have used acrylics on canvas, because acrylics are known for its vibrant colours and smooth texture.  These qualities best suit the colourful and intricate characteristics of the Mandala.

Like all the other art forms with a religious theme, the Mandala is also highly symbolic.  First of all, it consists of many concentric circles, each representing different levels of spiritual understandings.  The square is a two-dimensional representation of the palace of the Deity.  The smallest circle is contained in the palace, and it holds many signs, each symbolizes a deity. 

The four corners of the painting are perfume (contained in a shell), peaches, mirror, lute ( a musical instrument), which are all wrapped in silk.  These objects symbolize the five senses, smell, taste, vision, hearing and touch in respect.  Note these objects are not contained in the Mandala, because these earthly senses should be abandoned prior to the meditation, so that the practitioner can only focus on the mind.

The outer most ring is “our realm”.  It contains scenes of violence between men and skeletal burial sites, which represent suffer, decay and the impermanence of existence.  Snakes symbolizes evilness.  This realm represents an understanding of suffering and pain in our world.

The next realm represents the five elements through five colours.  These colours are red, green, yellow, light blue, and dark blue.  They symbolize fire, wood, earth, metal water respectively.  This shows a rather simplistic view of the material world.

Moving inwards, the next is a black ring detailed in gold. The golden symbols are signs for thunderbolts, in Buddhism thunderbolts are the symbols for Buddha’s active passion with meditating person.  This is the protecting ring, called the realm of compassion.

The next is the ring of lotus petals.  Lotus flowers are the symbol of spiritual purity, and the teaching of the Buddha.  The lotus is also the universal symbol for Buddhism, because the plant grows from mud, yet the flower stands tall and stays pure.

After the purity of the mind, the practitioner will now enter the palace gates.  Here, we can find a lot of symbols.  Bells are for emptiness and or openness, giving room for wisdom.  Jewel trees are the symbols for wealth.  Umbrellas represent royalty.  These gaining are purely in the mind, and are arisen from emptiness.  There are four gates leading into the palace, facing north, south, west and east.  The four directions are represented by four colours, white, red, green and yellow respectively.

The square is the palace wall.  It is detailed with diamonds to symbolize the nature of the mind at this level as being indestructible.  Couch shells are also used represent the voice of Buddha expounding the doctrine of Buddhism.

Entering the palace, there is the inner circle.  Each square in the inner circle contain a symbol for a deity, thus represent a aspect of the Buddha’s mind.  The square in the center shows the highest level of existence.  At this stage, the practitioner is able to visualize him/herself as a deity, and thus has reached the highest level of enlightenment.

Elements of Design         

This Mandala uses the many elements of design.  The most important would be symbolism, which is explained above.

                Another noticeable element used is repetition. Repetition of symbols is used to emphasize their importance.  Also this repetition along the circles create a circular movement to the eye.  This magnifies the characters of the circle as having no beginning and no end.

Connection to Dystopia/Utopia and the Handmaid’s Tale 

              All religious practices seek to end suffering and find true and permanent happiness, it is the same with Tibetan Buddhism.  In other words, Tibetan Buddhism explains a spiritual from reaching utopia from a dystopic world.

                As mentioned previously, to the Tibetan Buddhists, dystopia is the world we are born into.  However, the world is dystopic because we are born to have many bodily desires, and the failure for us to continue satisfy these desires is the mere cause of all our suffering.  The way to end suffering is thus to eliminate all these desires.  Through meditation, one can have a realization of the emptiness of the satisfaction we get through our bodily senses, purify the mind from these desires, and find eternal bliss in the mind.  Each of these steps is a level enlightenment, and each level brings the practitioner further away from dystopia or closer to utopia.

                The fundamentals of Buddhism are somewhat more philosophical than dominant religions such as Christianity, however in Tibet, it is also highly practical.  One similarity between Tibetan Buddhism practices and Margaret Adwood’s “The Handmaids Tale” is religious fundamentalism. 

                Tibetan monks live isolated from the rest of the world, unless their spiritual practices demand them to make contact with ordinary people.  In the temples, they live rather simplistic lives, praying and meditation being the main courses.  They are not allowed to have meat products, consume alcohol or become sexually active.  Monks at a high level of enlightenment do not converse with anyone at all for tens of year, because they believe in the isolation of the mind.  These are just some examples of the followers taking things literally.

Conclusion

                Through thousands of years of near isolation from the rest of the world, Tibetan Buddhism remains one of the most well kept and unique religions of the world.  Like in most religions, the spiritual practices in Tibetan Buddhism seek to end all suffers and find eternal happiness.  Dystopia is eliminated and utopia is reached through the process of meditation.