The Mandala Of The Heart
Transforming Suffering into Joy
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Mandalas, meaning "circle" or “sacred center” in Sanskrit, have strong roots in both Hinduism and Buddhism, with their imagery first appearing in India during the first century BCE. They spread to other regions through Buddhist missionaries along the Silk Road. Mandalas have been found in various cultures, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Native American cultures, demonstrating their universal appeal.
Mandala’s represent the universe, the divine, and the individual's journey toward enlightenment. Buddhists believe mandalas represent the universe in an ideal form and highlight the transformation of suffering into joy. Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist nun in the lineage of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, often addresses in her books the darkness of our human suffering and practices of our transformation. She has a way of reminding us, no matter our faith, the powerful shift that can occur when we adopt an intimate and personal relationship with loving kindness (Metta/Maitri).
Chodron says,
“There's so much resentment and so much resistance to life. In all nations, it is like a plague that's gotten out of control and is poisoning the atmosphere of the world. At this point it might be wise to wonder about these things and begin to get the knack of loving kindness.”
Like the representation of mandalas, transforming our suffering into joy can be attained in many ways. The practice of loving kindness is one of the pathways, and it starts right in our own hearts. When the sting of outrage, the crippling despair, the hateful judgement, the insecurity and jealousy, the greed and envy, the hopelessness and devastation, the tricky shame, and the wallowing sadness arise within us, may we tenderly return to our own heart, and learn how to hold ourselves with compassion and care. It is a profound journey towards our own enlightenment when we get closer than we normally would to our pain, learning to see and be present with all the parts of ourselves from the wisdom of loving kindness. While this act may not always feel outrageous or bold in its application behind closed doors in the routine of our lives, it is extremely brave. The impact, like a ripple in water, is ten-fold, and its slowly begin to weave into all of our relationships, and thus, with the world.
Tricycle Magazine is an independent, nonsectarian Buddhist quarterly magazine that explores teachings, practices, and critiques, aiming to present Buddhist perspectives to a Western readership. Recently in one of the articles I was reading there was a passage by the renowned Thai Buddhist monk, Ajaan Mahā Boowa Ñãṇasampanno that elaborates on the “plague that's gotten out of control.”
He said,
“Be neither glad nor regretful when sadness and gloom appear within the heart. Look on them as mental conditions that must be investigated, as things that arise, cease, and come out from the heart. They depend on the heart for their birth and then latch on to it.”
The phrase "latch on to it" suggests a sense of attachment, like all of our emotions can create. Opening ourselves up to understand how we are in relationship with our experiences and the different parts of ourselves is courageous. Our individual inner knowing and remembering of who we really are beyond the mental conditions, behind the attachments, aversions and misconceptions rest in the mandala of our hearts. Understanding, with loving kindness, the ways we move away from, hide or disconnect from our own inner connection is a potent transformative healing journey of our own self enlightenment path.
The relationship dynamic of practitioner and client is a sacred center, like a mandala in a way. One that offers an “investigation, as things arise, cease, and come out from the heart.” One that fosters a safe space for new pathways, repatterning and rewiring of how to be seen, and how to be present, and holding ourselves tenderly to bridge our medicine into the world.
I have found healing resembles that of the Castor plant. The Castor plant seed is the most poisonous land plant in the world and yet, when the seed is alchemised into an oil it becomes the most healing medicine. Our healing can often be in the most unlikely places, right in the wound itself — right in the heart of our suffering. And like the Castor plant, as we learn to honor all the parts of ourselves, understanding that our suffering can transform, we welcome the medicine of what is inside the seed of our heart, of our sacred center.
Having a safe place to land as we continue to take the leaps on our journey reminds us that we don’t have to do it alone. While the journey to our heart’s seed medicine is one only we can take, there is support that will celebrate our strides as we remember our own sacred center within, our own unique mandala. My life’s work has been to become a space for allowing and discovering the unknown possibilities of one’s own self healing potential. This is my path of service. All that I have studied, tended to within myself and in the ancient practices has been to widen my own craft as an anchor to ground for the unraveling of others to know themselves more deeply — to love themselves more whole-heartedly.
Eliot Cowan from Plant Spirit Medicine: A Journey into the Healing Wisdom of Plants says,
“Ultimately, though, healing is not about whether you die. Healing is about how fully you live.”
If you are ready to take the next steps upon our own journey, I would be honored to curate a compassionate space for you, working together for your own self empowerment, reclaiming your hearts medicine.
You may learn more about me and my work at www.kristinarenee.org
Lastly, early registration for the upcoming in-person and Livestream (online) Sacred Journey gathering ends this week.
SACRED JOURNEY
Saturday, March 29th
6-7:45pm Pacific Standard Time
Location: North County San Diego & Livestream (online)
This offering is a sweet space to rekindle and expand your self healing medicine with a sacred journey into the heart. A few things to expect from these gatherings are, but not limited too, education (dharma talk) on the energies of the time and how to lean into a greater understanding of ourselves with journaling and insight inquiry, somatic movements and meditation, soundscape integration and a hypno-therapeutic guided inner journey for self discovery and deep restoration.
Until we meet again,
Take care of you.
Take care of one another.
Much Love,
Kristina Renée
