The Kālacakra-maṇḍala (Seminar)

Dr Kimiaki Tanaka (The Nakamura Hajime Eastern Institute)

Abstract

The Kālacakra-maṇḍala represents the final stage of Indian esoteric Buddhism and adopts a unique colour scheme: centre (blue)=Akṣobhya, east (black)=Amoghasiddhi, south (red)=Ratnasambhava, west (yellow)=Vairocana and north (white)=Amitābha. Previous research only describes the difference between the norm of Buddhist tantras and the Kālacakra system, but not the reasons behind this unprecedented colour scheme. In this seminar it will be demonstrated that the unique colour scheme, the arrangement of the five buddhas and their body colours in the Kālacakra-manḍala, are meant to explain the theories of the five buddhas, five elements, and the world system that had hitherto developed independently without any inconsistencies.

Bio

Kimiaki Tanaka has been studying the maṇḍala of the Indo-Tibetan and Sino-Japanese Buddhism since 50 years. Through the comparative study of these two traditions, he sheds light on the historical development of the maṇḍala which first culminated in his Ph.D. Theses entitled “Genesis and Development of the Maṇḍala in India” (2008). It was published in 2010 by Shunjūsha with financial support from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and was awarded the Suzuki Research Foundation Special Prize in 2013. An English version of this study entitled"An Illustrated History of the Mandala, from its genesis to the Kālacakra-tantra” has been published by Wisdom Publications in December 2018. Tanaka also published on Mitrayogin’s 108 Maṇḍala as well as two important Sanskrit texts on the maṇḍala, namely the the Viṃśatividhi by Nāgabodhi and an incomplete Sanskrit commentary on the Samantabhadra nāma sādhana by Buddhajñānapāda.