The plan of the stupa Borobudur is in fact set up from a mandala picture.It is almost incredable to understand it, espacialy when we are on the place, so much the shape and the structure of this building is already so rich and so complex. Mandala is a kind of representation usualy in two dimensions and displaying different states of mind according to the buddhsit tradition.
It a diagram or a sketch with goemetrical figures showing imbricated squares and circles. Different kind of representations are link to mandala from states of mind to cosmic symbols.
Some of these representations are made in three dimensions directly on the floor with powders or colored sands.
In Borobudur, this reality of the mandala plan is quite difficult to see since it is almost impossible to see the building from the top, unless we can fly over it. Anyway, there are hills around from where it is possible to see the mandala plan wich appear so magnificantly.
The mandala is a late element of buddhism. It is clear that we can find primitive mandala in the yoga tradition. The mandala belong to Mahayana buddhism and espacialy to tantrism. We can find a real mandala science in Tibet, where it has been widely developped. This tend to proove that the kind of buddhism that was in use at the time of the building of Burobudur was certainly a kind of tantrism.
In tantrism mandala is aslo used to help meditation and visualisation.
