• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Mandalas and Mesoamerican Pecked Circles [and Comments and Reply]
  • Contributor: Mansfield, Victor N.; Carlson, John B.; Ferro-Luzzi, Gabriella Eichinger; Eysenck, H. J.; Mohanty, Uma Charan; Mundkur, Balaji; Wipf, Karl A.
  • Published: University of Chicago Press, 1981
  • Published in: Current Anthropology, 22 (1981) 3, Seite 269-284
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 0011-3204; 1537-5382
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: The notion of the archetype of the Self in Jungian psychology and its expression in mandala or sacred-circle symbolism is reviewed. The role of mandalas in Hinduism and Buddhism is then briefly discussed, with special emphasis on Vajrayana Buddhism. The universality of the mandala and its function of aiding the integration of the individual into the Absolute is stressed by also examining the sacred rites of the Oglala Sioux. Then it is shown how mandalas can be used to interpret pecked circles (ancient quartered circles chiseled in stone) in a logically consistent manner within the context of Nahua cosmology.