Healing the World, Healing the Self: Comparing Sand Painting in Tibetan and Navajo Traditions - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Title: Healing the World, Healing the Self: Comparing Sand Painting in Tibetan and Navajo Traditions


1
Healing the World, Healing the Self Comparing
Sand Painting in Tibetan and Navajo Traditions
  • Dr. David Otto, Professor of Religious Studies

2
What is a Mandala?
  • A highly symmetrical design
  • Concentrated on a center
  • Divided into four quadrants
  • Built on concentric circles and squares
  • Often using symbols to depict gods
  • Designed to be used only once

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4
But what should I look at?
  • What direction is the Mandala facing?
  • Black, in the east, is associated with the
    element of winds. Sometimes also seen as Green.
  • South is red, its elements is fire.
  • West is yellow, associated with the element of
    earth
  • North is white, representing water.

5
North
East
West
South
6
Next, locate the Gates
  • Each gate leads into the central palace
  • Gates are T-Shaped and placed at the four
    cardinal points

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Where is the Central Palace?
  • Mandalas work as two-dimensional and three
    dimensional objects simultaneously.
  • So far, we have been viewing the temple from the
    skyliterally, a gods eye view
  • If we look at it in three dimensions

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10
So where is the temple located?
  • In Tibetan cosmology, the universe is comprised
    of hundreds of millions of cylinders.
  • Each cylinder represents a universe
  • On each universe, a temple for the gods is
    constructed.

11
Temple as Mount Meru
  • Mount Meru is a place which simultaneously
    represents the center of the universe and the
    single-pointedness of mind
  • Thousands of miles in height, Meru is located
    somewhere beyond the physical plane of reality,
    in a realm of perfection and transcendence

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13
Building a Foundation
  • Space/ether represented by the farthest
    concentric circle
  • Next, the air disk
  • Then the fire disk
  • Water disk
  • Earth disk

14
Earth Disk
Water Disk
Fire Disk
Air Disk
Space
15
Switching Viewpoint
  • So, when we travel back to our gods eye view,
    how do we locate the lower disks/realms?

16
Viewing the Foundation
  • Earth Disk (Green)
  • Water Disk (White)
  • Fire Disk (Red)
  • Air Disk (Black)

17
What is the purpose of the Mandala?
  • To reduce order to disorder through mediation
  • Movement toward emptiness
  • Shift through the three perspectives
  • Outer perspective
  • Inner perspective
  • Alternative perspective

18
Outer Perspective
  • Comprised by the six elements of earth, water,
    fire, air, space and wisdom and all objects of
    smell, sight, taste, touch, sound and Dharma.
    Another division follows the cosmic buildup of
    the universe.
  • Each universe is born, lives, and dies.
  • The lesson Impermanence

19
Inner Perspective
  • Consists of the body and mind of living beings,
    the psychophysical aggregates, the sensory and
    psychic capacities
  • Includes the six types of living beings (gods,
    demigods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts and
    hell-beings), the six energy centers (chakras) of
    the body

20
Inner Perspective
  • In short, the human body is a Mandala.

21
Head as the dwelling place of the gods Trunk of
body as Mount Meru Legs and arms as the four
main continents of the universe Eyes as the Sun
and Moon
22
Alternative Perspective
  • Describes the spiritual method leading to
    enlightenment in the form of Kalachakra (a
    special type of mediation based on the mandala)
  • It describes the Generation and Completion Stages
    of meditation

23
  • So, what about Navajo Sand Painting?

24
Navajo Sand Painting
  • In its earliest form, exclusively bound to
    healing rituals and exorcisms.
  • With increased tourism, sand painting has been
    largely removed from its religious context, with
    much of its symbolism removed.

25
Navajo Sand Painting
  • In a literal sense, Navajo Sand Painting (iikaah)
    means A place where gods come and go
  • In the religious context, sand painting used
    during Chantway rituals to restore the balance to
    the universe (Hozo)

26
Hozo
  • Navajo traditionally believed that the Dine (Holy
    Ones) placed them on Earth to keep the cosmos in
    balance through Chantways.
  • When illness occurs, apparently a lack of balance
    between goodness and evil (both considered
    necessary for life to exist)

27
Hozo and Sand Painting
  • Only three Chantway Ceremonies make use of sand
    painting
  • Blessingway (ceremony of cosmic rebalancing)
  • Holyway (rebalancing due to improper contact with
    gods or supernatural forces)
  • Evilway (rebalancing due to improper contact with
    ghosts or witches)

28
Chantway Sand Painting
  • Sand painting ritual occurs only during the last
    four days of the Chantway ceremony (which will
    last either five or nine days)
  • Can only occur under the direction of a Singer
    who is trained by the Dine in the construction of
    the painting.

29
How is a Sand Painting like a Mandala?
  • A highly symmetrical design
  • Concentrated on a center
  • Divided into four quadrants
  • Often using symbols to depict gods
  • Designed to be used only once

30
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What Should I Notice?
  • First, look at the border of the painting.
  • Literally serves as a containment field so the
    supernatural beings cannot disrupt that which
    stands outside the painting
  • Opening always on the East

32
East
Guarding Border
33
What should I notice?
  • Next, identify the gods.
  • Clockwise from the top
  • Talking God (B'ganaskiddy), the teacher
  • At the bottom, Calling God (Hastye-o-gahn),
    associated with farming and fertility
  • On each side, left and right, are two humpbacked
    guardians, seed gatherers and bearers. The two
    guardians usually carry tobacco pouches.

34
Why These Gods?
  • Mythic tale of journey and adventure to discover
    a cure to a disease
  • Apparently, this sand painting will be used for
    an ill patient
  • Once painting is complete, the patient will be
    seated in the middle of the work, thus becoming
    part of the painting

35
Navajo Sand Painting in a Hogan
36
What Should I Notice?
  • The Symmetry
  • The balance represents the mythic topography of
    the Navajo Nation.
  • Each cardinal point associated with a color

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38
  • So, like Tibetan mandalas, Navajo Sand Painting
    represents a sacred cosmology, uses color
    associations, and possesses an outer (universal)
    and inner (human body) perspective.
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