HISTORY OF MANDALAS part III
The Navaho peoples of the Southwest live a quiet life ruled by traditional ideas about nature, life, and health. Illness is thought to be the result of a disruption in natural harmonies. When a Navaho healer is asked to help a sick person, he goes through ritual activities that restore the natural balance. He smoothes a circular area on the ground and creates a mandala with colored sand. The sand painting is made in a traditional design selected by the healer to address the needs of the situation. Once completed, the patient is placed at the center of the sand painting. The sacred order in the mandala design is thought to restore harmony and invite helpful deities, therefore bringing about the restoration of health.
Places existing in nature can also take the form of the circle. Caves and mountains are notable examples. Ancient peoples often identified impressive natural places as sacred without the need for human rituals to make them so. Deep, dark caves were held in awe as places to contact the ancestors. Lofty mountains, where one could command a farseeing view, were felt to be closer to the spirit world of the sky. Rituals at holy sites sanctified them even more.
The celebrated Mount Fujiyama in Japan is an example of a natural sacred site. Mount Fujiyama is a volcano seventy miles southwest of Tokyo. It is the tallest mountain in Japan, rising to over 12,000 feet above a flat plain near sea level. Legend has it that the volcano formed in a single night in 285 B.C. It has been quiescent since the 1700’s.
Fujiyama is an isolated peak that can be seen for miles. It is a favorite subject for artists and poets. As Japan’s sacred mountain it is visited annually by thousands from all over the country. A spiraling pathway carries pilgrims from its base near the ocean to its snowcapped peak. They stop at numerous shrines and temples located along the sloping climb for refreshment, meditation, and the pleasure of a fine view of the water and surrounding countryside.
People establishing civilization began building structures for ritual purposes with reference to sacred caves and mountains, perhaps hoping to incorporate something of the power of natural sites. The kivas of the Pueblo Indians are built like caves underground. They are round because "the sky where it meets the Earth is a circle" (Williamson, 1978:82) Perhaps aspiring to draw closer to the sky deities, people constructed forms that suggest the shape of a mountain. Some of the earliest known man-made sacred mountains were built in Mesopotamia more than five thousand years ago. These structures are called ziggurats.