Mandala of the bodhisattva Manjushri

The nine-cell grid at the center of this mandala features a multi-armed form of the bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjushri. Unlike Durga in the case behind you, Manjushri occupies a visionary palace oriented to the four directions. This palace is a self-contained cosmos, completely separated from our ordinary subject-object world by a dual wall—first of multicolored flames, then of tiny golden thunderbolt shapes called vajras.

Once through these barriers, four colored archways frame four palace facades in the cardinal directions. However, each facade is composed of all four directional colors, revealing a key principle of the mandala: how the entire mandala is present in every discrete part.