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  108 Names of Now

108 Names of now

Cosmic Mandala & the Joy of Detail

6/21/2015

7 Comments

 
Some part of me relaxes deeply & exults within the process of crafting highly detailed, intricate things, especially if they take a long time to execute, and embroidery is involved.  It makes perfect sense to me that Yayoi Kusama engages in her dot-universe as a way of managing her anxiety, just as it makes sense to me that sailors on long crossings would carve scrimshaw.  That's just the way it is.

A few years ago, my mother and I traveled in Bhutan together, and I found, to my great delight, that Bhutan is the Land of the Detail-Obsessed.  So much there is beautifully made, crafted with precision, care, and humor.  (From my perspective, this inclination must be connected to Bhutanese Gross National Happiness.)  Here's a photograph from within Punakha Dzong, an amazing temple/palace where the Mother and Father rivers converge:
Picture
Every little bit of that facade is carved, painted, gilt, and tweezered together into an almost hallucinatory degree of beauty, which includes, to the left of the entrance door, this Cosmic Mandala:
Picture
(Actually, this is a reproduction that I commissioned from Pema Tshering in Paro, and which now lives with me in NH.)  Summer can be a hectic and distracted time, so as an antidote and a joy, I've decided I want to embroider a version of the Punakha mandala this summer-into-fall, choosing to anchor myself in the elements' beautiful dance.

The first step on this path is to figure out what exactly is happening.  Even though I've been living with this painting for years, I've never before tried understanding exactly how it's made.  Now, I see there's something spirographish happening, and also something like a clock, with "hour" markers dividing the circular structure into 12 parts. I realize that each marker is the center of one of 12 circles whose perigee (in relation to the central figure) is the opposite marker.  So, for example, the circle centered at 12:00 has its perigee at 6:00 and its apogee at a point equal to the distance between 12:00 and 6:00, somewhere out in the watery field.   
Picture
There's a lot that's still mysterious: What explains the pattern of color alternation?  Why are some color pairs far apart, while others are close?  I know the answers will come as I need them, and for now, I know I have enough to get started.
7 Comments
fincher
4/22/2016 10:16:24 pm

Did you start/finish the project?

Reply
Julie
4/24/2016 08:51:36 am

Yes - thanks for asking! Finished a 2' x 3' embroidered version of the mandala a few months ago.

Reply
fincher
4/24/2016 03:26:21 pm

Well, let's see it!
I'm interested in creating one with ink and am researching the different components. I can't find a lot of information on the concept of this kind of mandala on the web, if you can believe it.

sd
6/27/2016 05:34:38 am

what is the cosmic mandala ?

Reply
Julie Puttgen
6/27/2016 10:31:04 am

in what sense are you asking the question?

Reply
Kelly link
12/25/2020 12:00:47 am

Very creattive post

Reply
Illinois Face Sitting link
11/10/2022 03:51:25 am

Hello mate niice post

Reply



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    Julie Püttgen is an artist & meditation teacher & perpetual pilgrim.


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  • Home
  • About
    • Press
  • Therapy
  • Art
    • Everyday Regalia
    • Free/Not-Free Paintings
    • Trumpovers
    • Pilgrimage >
      • Sacred-Ordinary
    • Home / Away from Home
    • Mapping the Trikaya
  • Meditation
    • Retreats & Facilitation
    • Old Dragons' Club
    • Inner Beauty
    • Treatments
    • Meditations for Resilience & Resistance
    • Guided Meditations >
      • Lovingkindness
      • 5 Directions
      • Compassion
      • Coming Home
  • Writing
    • Stories from the Road
    • Stories from the Now
  • The Big Bang
    • Session One
    • Session Two
    • Session Three
    • Session Four
    • Session Five
    • Session Six
    • Session Seven
    • Session Eight
    • The Big Bang Participant Survey
  • Origin Story
    • Session One
    • Session Two
    • Session Three
  • Teaching
    • Walking Each Other Home
    • Suitplay: A SoulCollage® Partswork Odyssey >
      • Overall Course Map
      • 1. World / Source / Self
      • 2. The Fool / Pages / Young Parts
      • 3. Knights
      • 4. Queens
      • 5. Kings
      • 6. Cups
      • 7. Pentacles
      • 8. Wands
      • 9. Swords
      • 10. Space
    • SoulCollage® and the Five Buddha Families >
      • Blue
      • Yellow
      • Red
      • Green
      • White/Black
      • Complete Mandalas
    • SoulCollage® for the Interim Times >
      • Suits of a SoulCollage® Deck
      • Protectors
      • Transpersonal Cards
      • A Four-Card Reading
      • Greeting New Cards
      • Working with Negative Spaces
      • Companion Cards
      • Pausing
    • Upper Valley SoulCollage® for Justice
    • Retreats & Facilitation
    • Murals
  • Contemplative Dance Practice
  • Contact
  • Shop