Containing The Universe

            Finding a religious artifact in New York City is quite easy, however, for this assignment I was determined to find something that mattered to me, hence the hard part.

            On Friday night I was feeling spontaneous and was thinking of getting a new tattoo. Once in the tattoo shop I began to reconsider since coloring on yourself with permanent marker out of spontaneity can yield very poor results. There was an attractive woman getting her shoulder piece finished, so I decided to stay in the shop and look at “potential options.” Once I realized her piece was a mandala I knew it was the artifact I was searching for – also I had a great icebreaker. I asked her why she decided to get a mandala, and she told me, “It has a lot to do with maintaining balance in my life.” A very simple, yet meaningful answer.

            The mandala has become a popular tattoo choice. I had seen it before, but all I knew is that it was affiliated with Buddhism and the pattern was supposed to absorb the mind. After researching the symbol I noticed that it has been used not only in Buddhism, but Hinduism and Christianity as well. To me, it represents a bridge for Eastern and Western religions.

            Also, I learned that the geometric pattern of the mandala represents a microcosm of the universe, or in other words, seeing the same design produced in the cosmos from the macro (universal) levels all the way to the micro (meta-physical) levels. This notion dates all the way back to ancient Greece, and the way in which the mandala embodies such a profound concept amazes me. Through its complex, yet absolute, pattern the mandala causes analytical thoughts to float away. Sacred geometry has been used in various religions, because the concept is based from mathematical concepts within nature. However, I believe what the mandala encapsulates is what gives the mind comfort. The microcosm reminds us of the simplicity of an ever-expanding universe. We are comprised like everything else – this is where we belong.

            Tattoos themselves are an expression of identity and are recognized as “rebellious.” So for a woman living in a highly patriarchal society this is a method to express femininity, and someone who spends everyday confronted by the disadvantages of not being a white male should wear a symbol that holds so much power. The symmetry of the symbol is an ideal model of how gender differences should be.

            Although some people have tattoos that seem pointless, they hold a great deal of substance. It is easy to deem a “hipster” with a tattoo like a mandala as being shallow, or not being able to fathom the meaning of the symbol. But if we make fun of the people who are striving to become more spiritually diverse what does that make us? Why are white Americans allowed to have tattoos of crosses and Christian scripture, but anything else is over the line? Like Kerouac I am tired of the schism between East and West religions, especially on a symbol that has been adopted into Christianity. After our class discussion on Jerry Falwell’s Listen, America! I realized how easy it is to criticize by holding your standards to other people, but understanding people’s means cannot be done through your own lens. 

            Tattoos are a medium for expressing identity, and the amount of spiritual importance that her tattoo holds is how it matters.