Chakrasamvara Body Mandala - Added
Chakrasamvara Body Mandala depicted according to the Newar Buddhist Tradition of Kathmandu, Nepal. Each of the mandala deities is accompanied by a Sanskrit name inscription written in Devnagari script. The figures are sixty-two in number and follow precisely the list of deities that make up the Sixty-two Deity Chakrasamvara Mandala.
A seated human figure is located at the center of the composition which represents an individual Buddhist Tantric practitioner. Over-laying the body and to the sides and above are numerous circles of deities. These figures in the composition represent the internal Body Mandala for the Tantric Buddhist system of the Chakrasamvara Tantra which typically has sixty-two deities in the external mandala. These same sixty-two deities are subsequently arranged and placed at various locations within the physical human body of the practitioner - hence the body mandala, or internal body mandala.
Internal Body Mandala concepts and theories are common to many religious and spiritual traditions of Asia such as the Shaiva, Shakta, Yoga, Tantric Buddhist, Bon and Taoist Traditions.
In the Kagyu Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism these same sixty-two deities are also super-imposed onto the Tibetan landscape and many pilgrimage sites have been created, named, or claimed as part of the greater geographical Chakrasamvara mandala. Over the centuries, many Bon pilgrimage sites have been taken over and claimed to be holy for the practices of Chakrasamvara. Mount Kasilash in West Tibet is believed to be the center of the Tibetan Chakrasamvara geographical mandala with the top of Mount Kailash as the abode of Chakrasamvara and Vajrayogini.
Mount Kailash is still holy according to Bon belief and is sacred for the two wrathful deities Welchen Gekho and Zhangzhung Meri.