'Enter the Mandala': Buddhism at the Asian Art Museum

THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
By Kenneth Baker

"The cosmic Buddha Amoghasiddhi" (c. 1275-1350) Tibet, Sakya Monastery, is part of the one-room exhibition looking at the symbolic structure of the painted mandala. Photo: Unknown

CALIFORNIA---Words such as "mandala" and "mantra" have moved from Asian cultures into colloquial use in the modern West, but few of us grasp their roots. The Asian Art Museum redresses that lack with a small exhibition, opening Friday, titled "Enter the Mandala: Cosmic Centers and Mental Maps of Himalayan Buddhism." This one-room show will use some of the Asian's rare antiquities to evoke in real space the meditation exercise of entering mentally into the elaborate symbolic structure of a painted mandala. [link]