Sacred Geometry

The word “Mandala,” is rooted in Sanskrit and literally means "Circle," which is the first enclosed archetype of Sacred Geometry. The single point at the center of the circle is called the "Bindu."

It has been suggested that meditational Mandalas were brought to Tibet by the wandering Guru Padma Sambava in the 8th century A.D. On the other hand, some people believe the practice of creating Mandalas was already happening in Tibet before Padma Sambava arrived. Nevertheless, the construction and meditation of spiritual Mandalas is an important aspect of Buddhism and Hinduism. Mandalas are to be found all over the orient and always used as a tool to facilitate contemplation and meditation. This process of experiencing Mandala, has the potential of moving the witness into his or her spiritual center. The contemplation of Sacred Geometry through the processes of studying or creating Mandalas (open-eyed meditation) can literally lead the student to enlightenment.

The golden section is showed up early in mathematics. It goes back at least as far as 300 B.C., when Euclid described it in his major work, the Elements. Moreover, the Pythagoreans apparently knew about the golden section around 500 B.C. The oldest examples of this principle, however, appear in nature's proportions, including the morphology of pine cones and starfish. The ancient Egyptians used the golden mean in the construction of the great pyramids and in the design of hieroglyphs found on tomb walls. At another time, thousands of miles away, the ancients of Mexico embraced phi while building the Sun Pyramid at Teotihuacan. The Greeks studied phi closely through their mathematics and used it in their architecture. The Parthenon at Athens is a classic example of the use of the Golden Rectangle. Plato in his Timaeus considered it the most binding of all mathematical relations and makes it the key to the physics of the cosmos. In the Middle Ages the mathematician Fibonacci devised a sequence of numbers that forms golden means and spirals. During the Renaissance, phi served as the "hermetic" structure on which great masterpieces were composed. Renowned artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci made use of it.

The Endless Knot is an intricate design of looped or intertwined lines that weave in and out of each other in right angles to form a lattice pattern. The knot seemingly has no beginning and no end. Though the knot appears complex and dense to the eye, the multitude of twists and turns in fact illustrate the theory of interconnection all over the world. The knot can also be viewed as a representation of perfect harmony. The Endless Knot is an indispensable character in the art and culture of Tibetan Buddhists. The knot can be found adorning everything from jewelry to rugs. It is imperative for Buddhists to remember the interconnectedness of all beings and events in space and time, while also considering the eternal energy, wisdom and compassion present in the universe.

The Flower of Life is the modern name given to a geometrical figure composed of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles. They are arranged to form a flower-like pattern with a sixfold symmetry, similar to a hexagon. The center of each circle is on the circumference of six surrounding circles of the same diameter. The Vesica Piscis is a basic component of the Flower of Life. It is considered by some to be a symbol of sacred geometry, said to contain ancient, religious value depicting the fundamental forms of space and time. In this sense, it is a visual expression of the connections life weaves through all sentient beings. The oldest example of the pattern can be seen in the Assyrian rooms of the Louvre Museum in Paris. The design forms part of a gypsum or alabaster threshold step that originally existed in one of the palaces of King Ashurbanipal, and has been dated to c. 645 BC.