The Center in Mandalas

Circles appear in nature, in the sun, moon, stones, caves, flowers, and so on. Human beings have learned to draw circles, perhaps imitating the forms they saw in nature. A circle can be created with a single flourish, a stroke of the brush. This is an important meditative action in Zen Buddhism. The resulting empty circle is called an "enso." The more common way to draw a circle (without a paper plate!) is by establishing a point to become the center of the circle. Using this center as an anchor point, a string, stick, or other instrument is swung 360 degrees around the center to draw a circle. This necessary action in the creation of a circle has become intensely layered with meaning. For example, in a large circle, a person may stand on the center to draw the circle. Thereafter, the center point becomes cognate with the person herself. The surrounding circle can manifest the universe of which the person is a part. Even looking at a smaller circle, the artist can identify with the center as if they were standing there. Therefore, the centered circle can help the artist feel a part of the Cosmos. This establishes a line of thought whereby the center of the circle can also be thought of as the Center, the navel of the world, the Oomphalos where creation manifests, where all that is enters into being. 

Many legends and folktales describe the birth of a people as emerging from such a center (a cave, an underground spring, a mountain). So, the reverence for caves and mountains among ancient peoples can also be considered a focus on “centers”. People began to build structures to emulate such natural sites. The ziggurats of Iraq are stepped mountains. They are also prototypical 3-D mandalas. To mount the steps of the ziggurat is to move closer to the center of the mandala. We see similar designs in the great mandalas of India and Tibet. The message seems to be: the center is a point of perfect alignment with the powers that be, i.e., the Cosmos. Mandalas are apparently built to commemorate such an experience, and also as a guide back to that experience.

CG Jung built on the Eastern traditions in establishing his concept of the psyche (which is illustrated as a mandala). The center in Jung’s schema is the Self. So, one way to interpret mandalas is that the center symbolizes the Self. However, it is more complicated than this, because Jung opined that the whole mandala also exemplifies the Self, as well as all the psychic elements being arranged by the matrix of the Self: ego and other archetypal elements.

I personally believe that the design construction of a mandala can flow between having a visible center and having a non-visible center. Just as a center point is necessary to draw a circle, I believe that a circle establishes a center, even when you cannot see the center. It has to do with the way our brain organizes visual gestalts, or patterns. In creating mandalas you may emphasize the center or not. Depending on your goal for your mandala work, you might establish a visible center or not. I prefer to let people decide for themselves about whether to make a center point or not, so as to have a more natural expression of what they are experiencing at the time.

The center of the mandala is very important.