The Centre of the Mandala

We're nearing the end of our exploration of the qualities of the Enlightened Mind through engaging with the Five Buddhas of the Mandala. In the last two weeks, we've been reflecting on Vairocana, the white Buddha at the centre of the mandala, called the Illuminator, who turns the wheel of the Dharma. He's a powerful and mysterious figure, and we were reminded that to approach him we need the four gifts of the four Buddhas we have already encountered:

​'Akshobhya held up the crystal mirror of wisdom to show us the truth of things, to let us see ourselves as we are, undistorted. He touched the earth, to remind us that we shall find truth not in our ideas about things but in direct experience.
​Ratnasambhava gave us the jewel of beauty. he taught us to appreciate the beauty in nature, in the arts, in other people, in ourselves.
​Amitabha gave us a red lotus, the soft open flower of love and compassion, so that we began to open out to others, to soften our hearts, and see the unique value of every living thing.
​Amoghasiddhi gave us the gift of fearlessness, to venture into the world helping all beings, and the courage to enter the centre of the mandala, the centre of existence'.
(from Meeting the Buddhas)

​At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
​Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
​Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
​Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance'
(T S Eliot:: Burnt Norton)