Talk:Mandala
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Buddhist mandala - "demon trap"
I believe I saw a TV documentary regarding Tibetan Buddhist monks making a mandala, in the manner described in the article. Once they were done (i.e. when they were convinced the mandala was an uncannily good representation of the world) they performed a ritual which (if memory serves) was intended to attract evil spirits (bad intentions, whatever). On arriving, the spirits would be fooled by the mandala, believing it to be the world itself, and would go inside it (hoping to do some demonic mischief, no doubt). Before they'd figured out the ruse, the monks would quit chanting and would destroy the mandala and (as the article says) sweep it away. This had the effect of destroying (or at least scattering) the demons. My question: is this a real practice, or just an artifact of my memory or a filmmaker's overactive imagination? If it is done, I think a (better written and sourced) section in this regard would make a good addition to the article. (or did I just reduce one of the world's great religions into a scene from Ghostbusters?) -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:11, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)