Mandala Symbolism (Bollingen Series)

The Sanskrit word 'mandala' means 'circle' in the ordinary sense of the term. In the sphere of religious practices and in psychology it denotes circular images, which are drawn, painted, modelled, or danced. Plastic structures of this kind are to be found, for instance, in Tibetan Buddhism, and as dance figures these circular patterns occur also in Dervish monasteries. As psychological phenomena they appear spontaneously in dreams, in certain states of conflict, and in cases of schizophrenia. Very frequently they contain a quaternity or a multiple of four, in the form of a cross, a star, a square, an octagon, etc. In alchemy we encounter this motif in the form of 'quadratura circula'.
In his 'Memories, Dreams, Reflections,' Jung tells of how he painted the first mandala, in 1916, after writing the 'Seven Sermons to the Dead.