Star Mandala

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

An understanding of the impact of celestial bodies on human activity was crucial to early East Asian Esoteric Buddhism; by the tenth century, complex star mandalas unique to Japan were being devised and used in rites for the prevention of natural calamities and epidemics as well as for the prolonging of life. Five concentric circles and an external ring of figures form this star mandala. The Buddha Shakyamuni of the Golden Wheel occupies the central circle, while the disks in the second circle represent the Big Dipper. The third and fourth circles contain the Nine Luminaries (including Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, the sun, and the moon) as well as the lunar nodes (Ragō and Ketō) and the twelve zodiac symbols. In the fifth circle are the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, the constellations through which the moon travels. Furthermore, the Thirty-Six Calendric Animals are paired with the Thirty-Six Celestial Guardians.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art