The Mandala ... 
Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning "circle" or "round." In a religious context, it is a symmetrical representation of the universe that can be sketched, painted, sculpted, embroidered, drawn with sand, built as a temple or city, or represented in motion through dance. 

The term originates in Hindu and Buddhist practice, in which the mandala is a symbolic expression of cosmology and serves as a teaching device for practitioners. 

Carl Jung and other Western psychologists have described the mandala as a universal expression of the human subconscious. 

In general all mandalas have outer and inner meanings. On the outer level, they represent the world in its divine form; and on the inner level, they represent a map by which the ordinary human mind is transformed into an enlightened mind. 

[Text is based on the writings of Robert E. Fisher, E. J. Coleman, and Giuseppe Tucci — from a handout received at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC]