Mandala architecture

·期刊原文
Mandala architecture

by Tracy Cochran
Omni

Vol.16 No.11 May1994

P.79

Copyright by Omni

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In Tibetan Buddhism, the mandala is a ritual instrument, much like a
mantra, used to assist meditation and concentration. Throughout history,
these pictorial temples--intricate, two-dimensional, multi-colored patterns
of concentric circles, squares, and other shapes--have signified the human
need for wholeness, order, and balance. But while many people of the West
accept mandalas as representative of a cosmic force, few understand they
are meant to be blueprints as well. Indeed, a Tantric Buddhist meditator
studies a two-dimensional mandala like an architect, building up in his
mind the image of a palace encompassing the sacred principles of Buddhist
philosophy.

Now, graduate students and faculty at Cornell University are bringing the
three-dimensional palace of the mandala to life. Working with Tibetan
Buddhist monk, Pema Losang Chogyen, the team has created, on the computer,
a gorgeous geometric palace that blooms from a two-dimensional sand mandala
like a flower in a time-lapse film. "We write software that makes synthetic
images, enabling us to visualize how new buildings look before they are
build," explains senior research staff member James Ferwerda.

Toward that end, Ferwerda explains, "we model the process of light
reflection. We create a geometric model, then we study the materials that
go into the building, exactly the way physicists and chemists analyze
material. Then we simulate the way light reflects and refracts and is
transferred by these materials, and that's how we make an image." For
instance, a cornice of intricately sculptured gold glints as though struck
by the sun, jewels glow, and ornate silken banners hang heavy around the
crown of the palace.

To some, the realism is richly ironic since mandalas are meant to depict
the ultimate Buddhist truth that nothing has inherent existence. But
Chogyen believes the effort at Cornell may be the first of many computer
graphics projects to be undertaken with Buddhists.

Already the computer graphics department at Cornell has established a
scholarship for Tibetans. And to whet appetites for the rest of us, the
Cornell mandala is now even available on videotape from Snow Lion
Publications of Ithaca, New York.

PHOTO: Computer graphics of the mandala

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By Tracy Cochran
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