The Mandal Radical Balance

A Mandala is a circular design that is seen throughout many cultures around the world. It is a symbolic piece of art used for enlightenment, protection, healing, or something else depending on the culture. They are often made for meditation as well, and even deconstructed at the end. The Mandala I created expresses who I am. It spans from my hobbies and favorite places to my ethnicity. This Mandala has helped me to understand who I am, and how I’ve changed and grown throughout these 14 years.

Hinduism may be looked down upon because of the belief that cows are sacred, but the reason they should think of them as so is because in their eyes it is the reborn version of a highly ranked person in their world, it is part of their deep culture to stand by with it, and it could possibly be part of their family tree, there are three things people do not know about the hindu religion and most of those are symbols, how their custom work, and what their holy days are,

In American religion has expanded over time with many categories. In many specific religions, Americans have found interest in the something new and different. In the nineteenth century, Buddhism in America became the new form of religion. In “The American Counter With Buddhism,” Tweed researched the depth of the Victorian culture in relations to the expansion of American Buddhism.

The figure of the Buddha is one that is relatively well recognized throughout the world today. One may wonder why and how people are able to so quickly identify this religious icon in art such as sculpture. With a religion that spread almost entirely throughout the continent of Asia, it is surprising to find that although there are many creative variants, Buddhist sculpture still preserves many key iconographic features. The most fundamental characteristics of Buddhist sculpture are listed in the thirty-two Lakshanas, or “rules” for depicting the Buddha. In addition, Buddhist portraits also consistently make use of hand gestures, or mudras, and various seated positions, also called the asanas. It can be noted that these serve more than just the purpose of mere aesthetic design, but indeed they have many contextual meanings in the story of Buddhism. Iconography, or the use of visual images and symbols in artwork, is fundamental in understanding the religious context of sculpture. In this paper I will be discussing notable iconographic features displayed in works similar to the Seated Buddha exhibited in the University of Colorado, Boulder Art Museum and how these features are connected to the larger Buddhist practice as a whole.

For as long as I can remember my parents would forcibly drag me to church service after church service and when that did not work I was thrown into a church school. I kept telling them I did not believe and I had questions, but they kept making me go and the more we fought the more I fell from any religion putting my anger and hate towards God and all that Christianity was made of.

The Dharmic religions are a set of complex, unique religions that have formed in the Indian subcontinent. While these religions are unique, there are a lot of similarities between the three. All three religions consider the concept of karma, although it may have different definitions, they believe one participates in the cycle of death and rebirth. There are also similarities with Supreme Beings, while Jains do not believe in a Supreme Being, both Hinduism and Buddhism do.

The stupa, an engineering structure ordinarily lodging the cremated remains or belonging of essential righteous figures, is thought to be the auxiliary image and the most imperative sort of landmark of Buddhism. Most stupas have an extremely unmistakable semi-round shape, regularly encompassed by a wall. As Buddhism was presented in diverse districts, the fundamental building elements of stupas were changed into an assortment of shapes mirroring the masterful articulations of those societies.

One may expect a lot of different reactions when going to your first performance art exhibition. You may have prepared yourself to be taken aback by these performances. One may imagine each of these performances were still acted out by the artists. As you receive your ticket, sticker and your bag checked you are greeted by a huge sign that indicated the start of the exhibition. Radical Presence it reads, with lower case capital letters and uppercased vowels. It is interesting that the wall installation that says the title of the exhibition is itself a part of it. The title and how it was designed evoked a sense of presence for minor letters that are vowels. It could be interpreted that these vowels represent racial minorities as the exhibition

Jainism is a nontheistic religion founded in India in the 6th century BC by the Jina Vardhamana Mahavira. The Jain religion teaches five pillars: Ahimsa, Asteya, Brahmachara, Apigraha, Anekantavada. The word "Jain" comes from the word "Jina" which means "a conqueror" of inner enemies such as ego, pride, anger, and lust. Jain followers keep strong, loving ties between each other and toward others because of their passion and dedication to peacekeeping and care in speaking.

Mandala is one of my experiences of patterns and sequences that I have enjoyed learning about in these several days. The more I learn and understand how everything is created by the fundamentals of art the more I become appreciative our Creative God.

"Hinduism is more closely related to being a philosophy than to being an organized religion. Unlike most other religions, Hinduism has no founder, creed, unified system of belief, doctrine of salvation, centralized authority figure and no difference between its secular and sacred views, causing it to follow along more in the direction of a lifestyle than a practice. While there are deities within the religion, followers are not particularly bound to any individual one. Two of the major principles that guides Hindus are Brahman – the force that cycles through and controls every aspect of life and insists that each individual life impacts the universe and vice versa – and karma – the negative actions that your atman (self) picks up and carries

It is a circle that is hand-drawn in one or two uninhibited brushstrokes to express a moment when the mind is free to let the body create.

The practice Hinduism poses some interesting questions for anthropologists, its is fairly unique in comparison to the other worlds religions, and interestingly there is no founding fire. Furthermore, there is no single religious text or scripture and its dogma is not centered around one singular omnipotent deity. Hinduism does not subscribe to a singular moral code and there is no internal structure or centralized institutions. Because of this, anthropologists,and the general public alike, have a hard time imagining Hinduism as a religious system. In order to gain a better understanding of Hinduism, scholars have relied on a wide variety of texts and historical events from the South Asian cultures. It has become necessary to engage in

Another aspect of the Jainism religion is Karma. As mentioned above with Hinduism, Karma is a popular concept within the Dharmic religions. As the textbook mentions, “Jains believe that the universe is without beginning and that it has no creator or destroyer.” This religion is different from the other Dharmic religions in this concept. Both Hinduism and Buddhism believe in a Supreme Being, yet Jainism does not as they feel there is no need to. Due to the belief of no Supreme Being, Jain’s believe one’s choices and afterlife is determined by our deeds and how one acts in their current life. The Jain definition of Karma is a “subtle matter or particles that accumulated on the soul as a result of one’s thoughts and actions.” Until one frees himself

Further, talking about its symbolism, Stupa, it represents freedom from the birth-death cycle, and while its dome represents world egg and Buddha’s life and other Jataka stories epitomize Buddha himself. Similarly, four gateways denote elements of Buddhist philosophy. Its hill location even represents the spreading of beneficial influence in all