Twinkling stars, living and dead planets, galactic nebulae, pulsars, black holes; and hosts of gods and souls of saints; a person looking at the sky and peering into himself … All this, enclosed in the geometry of circles and squares, is a sacred mandala - a model of the Universe. In the East, she is a sacred object of worship. Most often, mandalas are depicted on planes: they are embroidered or drawn on fabric; on the floors and ceilings of temples; they are carefully removed on the sand with colored powders … But they are also voluminous.
BUDDHIST STUPA
The most amazing example of a volumetric stone mandala is, of course, the Buddhist stupa. The first stupas appeared in India as monuments on the graves of the rulers of this country. In these stupas and placed their remains after cremation. From Sanskrit stupa means "pile of stones" or … "crown of the head". Later, in Buddhist times, the stupa began to acquire a broader meaning. Stupas began to be erected to commemorate significant events in Buddhist history; as memorable places; and, perhaps, first of all, the stupa began to be perceived as an object of offerings to the Buddha's nature - his enlightened mind. And in the mountains, on snow-covered passes, stupas served as protection and guiding marks for pilgrims on their dangerous roads. High in the Himalayas, the stupa received the Tibetan name - chorten. Stupas have been erected in many Asian countries,and in each of them they acquired their own architectural forms, inheriting the cultural traditions of these places.
THE POWER OF AN ANCIENT SHRINK
One of the most magnificent stupas in the world is located in Bodnath, Kathmandu region, a place where Tibetans live compactly. The stupa was founded in the 5th century AD. e. during the reign of King Manadevi, in the era of Lichavi. Since ancient times, the road from Tibet passed here, and India Stupa was rebuilt more than once. Today its height is 36 meters, in the octagonal base around the entire perimeter in niches there are rotating prayer wheels. Between the dome of the element of Water and the pyramid of Fire on the sides of the cube, the eyes of the Buddha are depicted looking at all the countries of the world, slightly slanting, with half-eyed eyelids. From above, from under the umbrella to the base, multicolored flags are stretched on ropes, symbolizing the elements of nature. And around the stupa, low buildings with restaurants and all kinds of shops for tourists are crowded together. But in one place the structure of similar buildings is torn apart,to make room for the pagoda of a Buddhist monastery.
On my first visit to Nepal, I lived in Bodnath. In the evenings I liked to climb up the stupa, under its domed "second floor". So he sat there until the night, until an elderly Tibetan began to clatter the keys below, locking the entrance to the shrine. The stars shone above me, the roof of the monastery gleamed with a greenish moonlight, from the slightly open doors of which the lingering sounds of Tibetan trumpets (Dunchens and Dunkars) could be heard during the evening puja. The stupa had miraculous powers. She gave away the beneficial energies accumulated over 1,500 years. There was no need for any closed-eye meditation postures while whispering mantras. Everything worked out by itself. A sense of harmony instilled in me. Pleasant relaxation spread through the body, and all the delusions of the mind seemed to dissolve forever in space … And everyone can check the accuracy of these my words,after sitting at least an hour on a stupa in Bodnath.
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IN THE ORBIT OF THE UNIVERSE
The last time I was in Bodnath was quite recently. There I entered an art gallery overlooking a stupa. It featured paintings made in the traditional Tibetan style. I stayed at one of them for a long time. examining the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa, sitting by a mountain cave. Apparently, noticing my interest in Milarepa, a gallery attendant suddenly approached me and, pointing at the stupa through the window, said that there, around the stupa, was walking a famous master of spiritual practices, a hermit monk who had just descended from the mountains.
I immediately distinguished him from the crowd of Tibetans, Nepalese, tourists winding circles around the stupa. He had a gray beard and a ritual wig of twisted long hair on his head. He was accompanied by a young monk in a red robe and carrying a bottle of water. I took it and followed them, twirling prayer wheels in the stupa niches with one hand. So I followed them for several hours in a row. It was hot. But the longer I paced the circles of this giant mandala-stupa, as if in the orbit of the Universe, the more clearly I was seized by the feeling of amazing lightness, as if I had entered a state of weightlessness, thrown off all the weight of earthly overloads …
I must say that the negative obstacles in my life were eliminated later as if by themselves. And something good came out as if without any effort. And the truth of these my words can be checked by everyone who makes at least a few circles around the stupa in Bodnath. And it's good if a hermit monk descends from the mountains to the stupa on the same day.
IN SALVATION OF A MAN
The oath of a Bodhisattva (an enlightened being) says that as long as this world, this space, exists, he refuses to go to nirvana, he remains on earth to save all living beings.
The Buddhist stupa is the image of a Bodhisattva, or Buddha, sitting in an infinite space in the lotus position. He is the Point of Light in the unity of the micro- and macrocosm. Sitting in the lotus position and meditating, a person opens psychic centers (chakras) in himself, and his body, as it were, becomes five floors of a sacred mandala, or stupa. The lowest tier, or first floor, represented by a square or cube, corresponds to the element Earth. In its dark depths the germs of all our actions ripen, that is, karma.
The second tier - the round central part of the structure - corresponds to the element of Water. This is the so-called navel center of our body, in which gross elements are transformed into psychic, subtle energies.
The third tier corresponds to the heart center and is depicted by a gilded triangle, or cone, pyramid. This is the element of sacred Fire, which transforms, purifies and restores the elements of our personality to their original purity. This part of the stupa can have 13 steps or, otherwise, rings symbolizing the path of enlightenment - this is the knowledge of ten wisdoms and three times.
The fourth tier is the throat center, the element of Air, a hemispherical vessel. On some stupas it is covered with an umbrella. This is the center of breathing, from which internal winds circulate through the human body, filling with energy and strength and giving us speech.
The fifth, highest tier is the head, upper center with a flaming point, a drop of ether. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is called thigle - the clear light of consciousness, the highest wisdom, which is expressed by the well-known protoslogist Om. This is the very crown, and it burns with gold in the infinity of heavenly space.
This is how the Bodhisattva stupa was built for the salvation of man.