Womb World Mandala (Taizōkai mandara)

Womb World Mandala (Taizōkai Mandara)

Japan; Kamakura period (1185–1333 C.E.), mid. 13th century
Hanging scroll; cut gold foil, gold paint, and color on indigo‑dyed silk
H. 90.5 x W. 79.4 cm (35 5/8 x 31 1/4 in.)
Collection of Sylvan Barnet and William Burto

Mandalas (Japanese, mandara 曼荼羅) are schematic designs of the universe;1 key instruments in the
practice of esoteric Buddhism through which a human practitioner can achieve spiritual unity with the
divine. These images are illustrative representations of concepts expressed in Buddhist sutras, or sacred
texts, that were transmitted from India to China, and eventually to Korea and Japan.2 Subject to
reinterpretation and reformulation in each host culture, mandalas took on new forms in Japan as they

1
The term mandala has a wider signification in Japanese culture than in other Buddhist countries, referring not
only to esoteric schematic diagrams such as those under consideration in this essay, but also from the early
eleventh century onwards to more representational landscapes of Buddha’s paradise or of shrine precincts.
Examples of the latter type include images of the Kasuga Shrine 春日大社 , an important Shinto religious site in
Nara. Also, Sylvan Barnet and William Burto, "The Kasuga Deer Mandala Hunt," in Orientations, Vol. 42 No. 1
(Jan/Feb 2011) discusses the expansion of the mandala concept to very different kinds of paintings in Japan.
2
For a book-length treatment of Japanese mandalas in English, see Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, Japanese Mandalas:
Representations of Sacred Geography. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press (1999). In particular, the discussion of
Womb World mandala on p. 58 -77 features an extensive discussion and comparative examples.

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came into contact with native elements, whilst simultaneously being brought into dialogue with older
designs and doctrines from the continent. This is an example of a Womb World Mandala (Japanese,
Taizōkai mandala 胎蔵界), originally one half of a pair, which illustrates active instantiations of the
absolute truth of Buddhism in the phenomenal world. This absolute truth is represented by the
meditative figure in the center, the Buddha Mahavairocana (Japanese Dainichi nyorai 大日如来), while
the surrounding figures represent various aspects of that truth, all of which are manifestations of
Mahavairocana.

Originally constructed in three-dimensional form for the physical demarcation of space for a rite, ritual
contemplation or specific initiation ceremonies,3 two-dimensional mandala such as this one maintain
the connection with physical space by serving as ground plans for three-dimensional architectural
structures - palaces - that can be constructed within the imagination.4 Mahavairocana is placed in a lotus
flower in the central and uppermost level of a multi-tiered palace, and moving outwards and
downwards from his divine and unchanging presence we find an ordered hierarchical arrangement of
Buddhas and bodhisattvas before passing into more chaotic realms of progressively less enlightened
beings, until we reach, in the outer edges of the mandala, the occupants of the lower realms of
existence in the outer edges of the mandala, such as humans, animals, and hungry ghosts.

Once initiated into the proper use of these mandala a practitioner is able to use it as a guide to an
internal pilgrimage. Entering through the outer gates that indicate the transition from profane to divine
space, the initiate can mark milestones of spiritual progress by passing through its compartmentalized

3
Contemporary Tibetan Buddhists continue the ancient practice of constructing mandala out of colored sand for
the purposes of a specific rite, and destroying them after it has been completed, though both the ritual use and
the preparation of the mandala are acts of worship. See M. Brauen, The Mandala, Sacred Circle in Tibetan
Buddhism. London: Serindia Press (1997).
4
The visual dependence on a coherent architectural structure in the Womb World mandala is indicative of the
time in which it was produced. Though the seventh-century text on which the mandala is based, the
Mahavairocana Sutra 大日経 (Japanese, Dainichi-kyō), does give particular details, the displayed architecture of

gabled roofs and gateways are reminiscent of Tang period 唐朝 (618 - 907) Chinese palace architecture of the
eighth century, when the iconography for the Womb World mandala was established (ten Grotenhuis 1999, p. 6).
Ideas for the composition of the mandala are drawn from chapter two of the Mahavairocana Sutra, which
had been translated into Chinese by Subhakarasimha 善無畏(637-735) and I-hsing 張遂 (683-727). Kūkai

introduced the sutra and its commentary in a version referred to as the Dainichi-kyō-sho and Ennin 圓仁 or 円仁
(793 - 864) introduced another version referred to as the Dainichi-kyō Gishaku. Shingon employs the former sutra,
and the Tendai 天台 sect the latter.

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configurations. Importantly, these gates also mark the portals through which the practitioner leaves the
sacred realm and returns to the world once the rite is complete, just as the successive tiers on each level
of the palace represent levels of consciousness that the practitioner must ascend to, and eventually
descend from upon their return from the spiritual space of the ritual. The demonic beings that mark
these transitional zones are not frightening to the initiate; they are threatening to devour only the
passions that obstruct the believer from attaining enlightenment.

The full meaning of the Womb World mandala is understood only when this mandala is considered
together with another type of mandala known as the Diamond World Mandala (Japanese, Kongōkai
mandala 金剛界). As a pair, these two form the Two Worlds Mandala, or Ryōkai mandala 両界曼, which
are most commonly arranged facing one another upon the east and west walls of an esoteric sect’s
initiation hall.5 These mandalas express different but complementary aspects of the dharma, or Buddhist
truth; the Diamond World representing rationality, the unconditional, universal, and absolute, and the
Womb World representing compassion, the individual, particular and relative aspects of that same
truth. They are thought to have been developed in late eighth century China by the monk Huiguo 惠果
(746 - 805),6 and were subsequently introduced to Japan by the Kūkai 空海 (734 - 835),7 known

posthumously as Kōbō Daishi 弘法大師 (the Great Teacher), who had studied with Huiguo when Kūkai
travelled to China from 804 to 806 as part of a government sponsored trip.8 Huiguo recognized Kūkai as
his one true disciple,9 and imparted his knowledge of esoteric teachings in the few months remaining
before his death. This spiritual transmission was marked materially by Kūkai’s receipt of Huiguo’s

5
It is standard practice to place the Diamond World mandala on the western wall and the Womb World mandala
on the eastern wall (ten Grotenhuis 1999, p. 37).
6
ibid., p.3.
7
For general background, see Joseph M. Kitagawa, "Master and Savior," in Nakano Gishō (comp. and ed.) Studies
of Esoteric Buddhism and Tantrism. Kyoto: Naigai Press, (1965), pp. 1-26, which presents the life and legend of
Kūkai. Kitagawa cites biographical sources for Kūkai in his Religion in Japanese History. New York: Columbia
University Press, (1966), pp. 63-65. Visual sources include several Kamakura period (1185-1333) portraits, and the
Illustrated Life of Kōbō Daishi 弘法大師行状絵詞 (Japanese, Kōbō Daishi gyōjōekotoba), a fourteenth century set
of twelve handscrolls that graphically depict the main events of his life. For a more recent study, see Ryūichi Abe,
The Weaving of Mantra: Kūkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse. New York: Columbia University
Press (2000).
The trip also included the monk Saichō 最澄 (767 - 822), who founded the Tendai sect upon his return.
8

9
Kūkai’s account of Huiguo’s final request is translated in Yoshito Hakeda, Kūkai: Major Works Translated, with an
Account of his Life and a Study of his Thought. New York: Columbia University Press (1972), pp. 148-149.

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priestly robe, or kesa 袈裟, now one of the celebrated treasures of Tō-ji 東寺 temple, Kyoto.10
Assembled in a patchwork manner from many fragments of valuable cloth, these robes are a reminder
of the mendicant ideal of the monastic order, and in the Shingon 真語 faith they became important
documents of dharma transmission from master to disciple. Upon his return, Kūkai founded the Shingon
sect of Buddhism and is still revered today as one of Japan’s most significant patriarchs. Understood
according its Sino-Japanese characters, “Shingon” means the “true word” or mantra; together, the
Shingon sect and the Tendai sect 天台宗 - which is named for Mt. Tiantai 天台山, in China’s Fujian

province, where the teachings were first promulgated - is also often referred to as mikkyō 密教, or the

“secret teaching”, in contradistinction to kengyō 顕教, the “revealed teachings.” This kind of Buddhism
is known as esoteric (or tantric) because it relies on the secret transmission of knowledge through
mysterious and elaborate rituals that defy verbal expression. Secret teachings specifically refer to the
doctrine of the “secret” Buddha Mahavairocana; revealed teachings, to the doctrine revealed by the
historical Buddha, Śākyamuni 釈迦如来 (Japanese, Shaka nyorai).11 Mandala are essential to the
transmission of these teachings as visual representations of sacred truths that had no other vehicle:

“Since the Esoteric Buddhist teachings are so profound as to defy expression in writing, they are
revealed through the medium of painting to those who are yet to be enlightened. The various postures
and mudras [shown in mandala] are products of the great compassion of the Buddha; the sight of them
may well enable one to attain Buddhahood. The secrets of the sutras and commentaries are for the
most part depicted in painting, and all the essentials of the esoteric Buddhist doctrines are, in reality, set
forth therein. Neither masters nor students can dispense with them. They are indeed [the expressions
of] the root and source of the oceanlike assembly”.12
Kūkai

The Italian scholar Giuseppe Tucci (1894-1984), who was one of the first Western scholars to focus his
studies on Tibetan Buddhist art and on mandalas, describes mandala as a “means of reintegration;”13
more specifically within the Shingon sect, mandala are pictorial attempts to show that all forms of

10
For a study of the importance of such robes, see Yamakawa Aki, “Intertwined Threads: The World of the Enshoji
Altar Cloth”, in Patricia Fister et. al. Amamonzeki – A Hidden Heritage : Treasures of the Japanese Imperial
Convents. Tokyo: Sankei Shinbun (1999). This robe was recently on display at the Tokyo National Museum
exhibition Kūkai’s World: The Arts of Esoteric Buddhism (July 20th - September 25th 2011), cat. 17.
11
Minoru Kiyota, “Shingon Mikkyō Mandala”, in History of Religions, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Aug., 1968), p. 31.
12
Hakeda 1972, pp. 146 - 146.
13
Giuseppe Tucci, The Theory and Practice of the Mandala, trans. Alan Houghton Brodrick. London: Rider & Co.,
(1961) pp. 21-48.

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existence are interrelated and essentially one, that man’s nature is one with and a part of the Buddha
Vairocana. Doctrinally, this ‘reintegration’ is manifest in the theory known as sokushin-jōbutsu
即身成仏, propounded by both Kūkai and his contemporary Saichō 最澄 (767-822), whereby
Buddhahood as the deity Vairocana is realized in each human body just as that body is, in this very
existence. The human practitioner is able to attain Buddhahood in his current body by recognizing
himself as participating in Mahavairocana’s Buddha nature just as Mahavairocana reciprocally
participates in the practitioner’s body. Unity with the speech, body and mind of Mahavairocana is
achieved though somatic practices such as breathing and chanting in ritually prescribed ways. These
doctrines, expressed visually through the two worlds mandala, are illustrative of the more direct path to
enlightenment provided by the esoteric practices introduced in the Heian period (794 - 1185). According
to the teachings of the earlier Nara period (710 - 794) schools eons and the cycles of many existences
were required in order to bring a practitioner to enlightenment, and as such it is easy to see why
Shingon’s doctrines, allowing for the possibility of the enlightenment of the practitioner within their
current lifetime, captured the imagination of the Heian period nobility.

The oldest surviving Japanese mandalas are a pair known as the Takao Two Worlds mandala
高雄両界曼荼羅 in the possession of the Jingo-ji 神護寺, Kyoto14 (Takao is the name of the mountain
where Jingo-ji is located.) Each image of the Takao pair is over four metres square,15 and was
commissioned by Kūkai to replace examples he had brought back from China that had degraded through
ritual use. Although it is unclear to what extent the initiate was meant to use the mandala as a
visualization aid in meditation,16 we can at least say that these two mandala types, placed behind an
altar holding various Buddhist implements and offerings of flowers and incense, created an appropriate
ceremonial backdrop. Additionally, in esoteric initiation ceremonies, an acolyte would be blindfolded
and instructed to cast a flower onto the mandala - a ceremony which established a personal relationship
between the practitioner and the figure of the deity upon which the petal landed.17

14
After Kūkai’s return, later monks, notably Ennin, brought back other esoteric mandala based on older Chinese
models.
15
See the Tokyo National Museum exhibition catalog: Kūkai’s World: The Arts of Esoteric Buddhism. Tokyo: Tokyo
National Museum Press (2011), cat. nos. 41 and 42. These mandala were copies of versions that Huiguo had
commissioned for the Tang court.
16
See Robert H. Sharf, “Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience”, in Numen, Vol. 42, No. 3
(Oct., 1995), pp. 228-283; David Gardiner, “Mandala, Mandala on the Wall: Variations of Usage in the Shingon
School”, in Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 19, 2 (1996), pp. 245 - 279.
Gardiner 1996, pp. 260 - 265. According to the Record of the Kanjō Initiation Rite 灌頂暦名 (Japanese, Kanjō
17

rekimei) (Kūkai’s World, cat. 39), the first time anyone received initiations into both the Womb and Diamond
World was in the eleventh and twelfth months of 809, when Kūkai conducted the ritual for Saichō.

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The Barnet-Burto Collection mandala, executed in fine gold lines on indigo-dyed silk, is an excellent
example of balance between the geometrical symmetry of the architectural structure and the profusion
of varied figures. More than four hundred deities are given a convincing sense of volume despite their
simplified contours; the softly curving strokes are able to convey a sense of the deities’ dynamic
movement and interaction in the densely populated space, which is delineated more abruptly by the
application of cut-gold leaf or foil used for the major horizontal and vertical lines separating the
different courts, and the central lotus petals.18 Aside from its obvious material value and signification of
preciousness, gold represents the perfection of the Buddha’s great wisdom, and the indigo-blue
background represents the lapis lazuli, the stone from which the Buddha’s palace is built.19 Many
examples of the Two Worlds mandala are executed in polychrome; in this example, however, the only
colored pigment is the red line that signifies compassion that is painted around the central lotus section
(discussed below). It is rare to have works in gold and indigo in this state of preservation and scale from
the Kamakura period (1185-1333) or earlier outside of the major Esoteric temples in Japan.

In the center of the mandala, a fully opened eight-petalled lotus flower holds the Buddha Vairocana,
jeweled and garlanded and in princely raiment, surrounded by eight petals on which are seated four
Buddhas and four Bodhisattvas, together representing the nine kinds of consciousnesses. As the
mandala radiates outwards from the center, the deities and the meanings they represent become
progressively more concerned with the phenomenal world, that is, with the practical functioning of
knowledge and the senses rather than with their conceptual purity.20 Although the iconography of each

18
John Rosenfield and Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, Journey of the Three Jewels: Japanese Buddhist Paintings from
Western Collections. New York: Tuttle (1979), p. 76.
The Takao mandala is a famous large-scale example from the ninth century of a mandala of that also utilizes cut
gold and silver foil on precious purple-dyed silk. A comparable eleventh century example is held in the Kojima-ji
子島寺 in Nara, but even smaller scale versions of mandala produced by this method are rare (Ariga Yoshitaka in
Buddha’s Smile - Masterpieces of Japanese Buddhist Art. Tokyo: London Gallery Ltd. (2002) cat. 99). Buddhist
sutras had been copied in gold onto indigo dyed paper and silk from the eighth century, and it seems that the
same aesthetic is at work in these mandala, and likely the same craftsmen were involved in their production. For
an example in China, see the Guanyin Chapter from an Illustrated Lotus Sutra also in this exhibition.
As described in the Visualization Sutra 観無量寿経 (Japanese, Kanmuryōjūkyō).
19

20
John Rosenfield and Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, Journey of the Three Jewels: Japanese Buddhist Paintings from
Western Collections. New York: Tuttle (1979), p. 76. Some deities, such as the bodhisattvas Jizō and Kannon, are
repeated in different manifestations at different locations throughout the mandala to represent their different
attributes in different situations and worlds.

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aspect of the mandala is too complex to be given exhaustive treatment here,21 there are several broader
iconographic themes which enable a better understanding of esoteric ideology. Mahavairocana sits in
the central open lotus flower, in lotus posture (legs crossed, each foot on opposite thigh, soles upward)
his hands forming the mudra or ritual hand gesture for meditation (right palm resting on left palm,
thumbs joined to form an oval).22 This oval shape symbolizes non-duality, and particularly in Shingon
doctrine the non-duality of human and Buddha natures. The lotus symbolism here is particularly
important; the lotus is revered in Buddhism generally because it grows straight upwards out of the mud,
through murky water to rise pristine and blossom elegantly above the water. Likewise, the human soul
may be surrounded by the filth and darkness of materialism, but it can rise untarnished into the pure
state of enlightenment. In esoteric Buddhism the lotus has further signification, symbolizing as it does
how the world of the Buddha can unfold inside an ordinary human heart. If a lotus seed is split down the
middle, it appears to contain in miniature the fully developed plant complete with roots and leaves,
analogous to the seed of Buddha nature present in each sentient being that is nurtured by the Buddha’s
compassion.23

Other symbolic shapes in the mandala - such as the vessels at the four corners of the central dais and
the vajras (stylized thunderbolts) that partially emerge from between the lotus petals - have a high level
of significance as ceremonial objects that are here incorporated into the pictoral mandala that adorns
the ritual space. The vessels are wish-granting vases, the vajra three-pronged weapons that symbolize
wisdom; similar vases might have actually been used for acts of ablution in Hindu or South-East Asian
ceremonies, and later absorbed into Esoteric iconography thereafter. Originally a Hindu symbol, in Japan
vajras were thought to be made of diamond - and thus signifiers of the unyielding nature of Buddhist
truth. Often held in the hands of esoteric deities, the vajras’ hardness grants them the ability to shatter
illusion and reveal the perfect wisdom of the dharma.

21
Although this mandala shares much in common with others of the Womb World type, but there are also
interesting differences. For instance, it is actually a variation of the standard iconography that marks it out as an
object of the Tendai sect; Ratnasambhava 宝生如来 (Japanese, Hōshō nyorai) is usually seated on the left petal -

but here he is shown at the top, and the deity Akshobhya 阿閦如来 (Japanese, Ashuku nyorai), who usually
occupies the top petal is instead located to the left of Vairocana. Additionally, this example falls into the
“landscape type” brought back from China by Ennin, in which desks are place before Avalokitasvara 観音

(Japanese, Kannon) and Kongo Zao 蔵王権現 (Japanese, Zao Gongen) (Ariga 2002). See also Adrien Snodgrass, The
Matrix and Diamond World Mandalas in Shingon Buddhism. Aditya Prakashan (1988).
22
E. D. Saunders, Mudra: A Study of Symbolic Gestures in Japanese Buddhist Sculpture. Princeton, N.J., 1985.
23
Shunshō Manabe, “Meaning of the Esoteric Mandalas in Japan”, in Moritake Matsumoto, ed., Proceedings of the
Itobei Ohira Memorial Conference on Japanese Studies (Vancouver: Institute of Asian Research, University of
British Columbia (1984) pp. 292 - 293.

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It is important to remember that the mandala is not a static image - although we usually think of
meditation as a practice to achieve mental stillness, that is not the purpose here. The reality of achieving
enlightenment through the mandala is an activity where one partakes in the process of universal
salvation. This mandala represents compassion in action; once achieved by the practitioner, compassion
radiates outwards again towards all beings in the universe. This form of meditation is an active process,
transforming the mind through a series of processes and back again. The mandala then, is not simply a
pattern to be followed, but by a truly interactive absorption on behalf of the practitioner as the image
becomes an external projection of their internal reality.

Katherine L. Brooks
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History of Art and Architecture
Harvard University
Pulitzer Foundation Graduate Student Research Assistant
Harvard Art Museums

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Exhibitions

Marks of Enlightenment, Traces of Devotion: Japanese Calligraphy and Painting from the Sylvan Barnet
and William Burto Collection.
Harvard University Art Museums (23 December 2004 - 17th April 2005).

Faith and Form: Selected Calligraphy and Painting from the Japanese Religious Traditions.
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M Sackler Gallery

Publications

Yukio Lippit and Anne Rose Kitagawa, Marks of Enlightenment, Traces of Devotion: Japanese Calligraphy
and Painting from the Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection. Harvard University Art Museum
Gallery Series, No. 44, Cambridge, MA (2004).

Miyeko Murase and Masako Watanabe, The Written Image: Japanese Calligraphy and Painting from the
Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection. New York (2002) pp. 76 - 83.

Ariga Yoshitaka, Buddha’s Smile - Masterpieces of Japanese Buddhist Art. Tokyo: London Gallery Ltd.
(2002) cat. 99.

John Rosenfield and Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, Journey of the Three Jewels: Japanese Buddhist Paintings
from Western Collections. New York: Tuttle (1979).

List of Works Consulted

Kukai’s World: The Arts of Esoteric Buddhism. Tokyo Tokyo National Museum Press (2011).

Ryūichi Abe, “Saichō and Kūkai: A Conflict of Interpretations”, in Japanese Journal of Religious Studies,
Vol. 22, No. 1/2 (Spring, 1995), pp. 103-13.

Ryūichi Abe, The Weaving of Mantra: Kūkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse. New
York: Columbia University Press (2000).

Yamakawa Aki, “Intertwined Threads: The World of the Enshoji Altar Cloth”, in Patricia Fister et. al.
Amamonzeki – A Hidden Heritage: Treasures of the Japanese Imperial Convents. Tokyo: Sankei Shinbun
(1999).

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M. Brauen, The Mandala, Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism. London: Serindia Press (1997).

Richard Bowring, “Preparing for the Pure Land in Late Tenth-Century Japan”, in Japanese Journal of
Religious Studies, Vol. 25, No. 3/4 (Fall, 1998), pp. 221-257.

David Gardiner, “Mandala, Mandala on the Wall: Variations of Usage in the Shingon School”, in Journal
of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 19, 2 (1996), pp. 245 - 279.

Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, Japanese Mandalas: Representations of Sacred Geography. Honolulu:

University of Hawaii Press (1999).

Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, “Rebirth of an Icon: The Taima Mandala in Medieval Japan”, in Archives of
Asian Art, Vol. 36 (1983), pp. 59-87.

Yoshito Hakeda, Kukai: Major Works Translated, with an Account of His Life and a Study of his Thought.
New York: Columbia University Press (1972).

Joseph M. Kitagawa, "Master and Savior," in Nakano Gishō (ed.) Studies of Esoteric Buddhism and
Tantrism. Kyoto: Naigai Press (1965), pp. 1-26.

Joseph M. Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History. New York: Columbia University Press (1966).

Minoru Kiyota, “Shingon Mikkyō Mandala”, in History of Religions, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Aug., 1968), pp. 31-59.

Peter Knecht, “Ise sankei mandara and the Image of the Pure Land”, in Japanese Journal of Religious
Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2, Varieties of Pure Land Experience (2006), pp. 223-248.

Yukio Lippit and Anne Rose Kitagawa, Marks of Enlightenment, Traces of Devotion: Japanese Calligraphy
and Painting from the Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection. Harvard University Art Museum
Gallery Series, No. 44, Cambridge, MA (2004).

Shunshō Manabe, “Meaning of the Esoteric Mandalas in Japan”, in Moritake Matsumoto, ed.,
Proceedings of the Itobei Ohira Memorial Conference on Japanese Studies. Vancouver: Institute of Asian
Research, University of British Columbia (1984).

Miyeko Murase and Masako Watanabe, The Written Image: Japanese Calligraphy and Painting from the
Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection. New York (2002) pp. 76 - 83.

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John Rosenfield and Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, Journey of the Three Jewels: Japanese Buddhist Paintings
from Western Collections. New York: Tuttle (1979).

Sawa Ryūken and Hamada Takashi (eds.), Mikkyō bijutsu taikan. Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha (1983-1984).

E. D. Saunders, Mudra: A Study of Symbolic Gestures in Japanese Buddhist Sculpture. Princeton, N.J.
(1985).

Robert H. Sharf, “Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience”, in Numen, Vol. 42,
No. 3 (Oct., 1995), pp. 228-283.

Toganoo Shōun, Mandara no Kenkyū. Kyoto: Naigai Press (1927).

Adrien Snodgrass, The Matrix and Diamond World Mandalas in Shingon Buddhism. Aditya Prakashan
(1988).

Giuseppe Tucci, The Theory and Practice of the Mandala, trans. Alan Houghton Brodrick. London: Rider
& Co., (1961).

Yanagisawa Taka, Tōji no ryōkai mandarazu: renmentaru keifu. Kyoto: Tōji Museum (1994).

Hamada Takashi, Mandara no sekai. Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha (1971) pp. 200 - 2006.

Ann Yonemura, leaflet to accompany the exhibition Faith and Form: Selected Calligraphy and Painting
from the Japanese Religious Traditions. Washington D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M Sackler
Gallery.

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