With his work on Mandala, Kitaro reaches another vista worthy of our contemplation.
The Mandala world tour marked Kitaro's return to the international music touring scene. Yet, in his absence, he had achieved greater global popularity and critical acclaim than ever while breaking new music ground. This album was also nominated for Grammy in 1994 and was Kitaro's last studio album until his release of Gaia in 1998.
This 1994 World Tour Concert was accompanied by a beautiful 16 page book (8 1/2" x 11") printed on premium paper depicting images that embody the many influences including a "Kitaro 1994 Personal.". This tour book has been printed in English and is available in limited quantities.
Kitaro created the following poem for Mandala;
THE GREAT SPIRIT
Great Spirit
All living things come face to face with
The Great Spirit
Tree, Flower, Water, Earth, Wind & all things
At times the Great Spirit is severe
At times the Great Spirit is soothing
Encompassing all life
Everyplace the Great Spirit dwells
Is the source of a gentle crystalline light
And within that light we become One
Floating as if in our mother's warm body
Living together as children of the earth.
Without time.
Without end.
Kitaro 1994
Note: This poem is recited to music by a member of the International Children's Peace Choir on track 12 of Kitaro's Christmas album Peace on Earth.
The following information is for those with further interest in the auspicious definitions of Mandala:
The word Mandala literally means circle and originates from Hinduism and Buddhism. It is a tantric meditation device and its purpose is to be a visual aid for concentration and introversive meditation leading to the attainment of insights and to activation of forces culminating in sidhi supernatural forces. The Mandala is a graphic representation of this process. It is not only theoretical, but also practical as an operational scheme involving a clear plan for realization of the process within oneself. It thus becomes an instrument (yantra). There are many types and varieties of mandalas depending on the nature of the central deity.
One of the oldest ink drawings of a Mandala known to us from 9th-10th Century was discovered in 1900 at Tunhuang an oasis in the province of Kansu in northwestern China.
The most classic pattern of mandalas are of the Dhyani Buddha. This pattern appears in the oldest tantrics. The Mandala represents the Palace of Purity, a magical sphere cleansed of spiritual obstacles and impurities. The square of the Sacred Palace proper is enclosed in multiple circles of flames, ajar, eight cemeteries (appears only as wrathful deities), lotus, then and the inner square to reach the deity of the Mandala. This can all be recognized on the album cover artwork of Mandala created by the visionary artist Robert Venosa when Kitaro and Venosa were neighbors in Ward, Colorado.
A whole that is truly the unfied sum of its parts - the visible and invisible, spanning inner space and outer space, unbound by time - a reflection of the artist on the continuum of inspiration. This is the essence of Mandala. Kitaro
For a close video representation of the Mandala performance, please see An Enchanted Evening and Tamayura offered on DVD.
