Editing Mandala (section)

====Offerings====
[[File:Chenrezig Sand Mandala.jpg|thumb|[[Chenrezig]] [[sand mandala]] created at the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]] on the occasion of the [[Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama's]] visit in May 2008|left]]

A "mandala offering"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/tantra/buddhist-tantra/what-is-a-mandala|title=What Is a Mandala?|website=studybuddhism.com|access-date=2016-06-06|archive-date=2019-09-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917215631/http://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/tantra/buddhist-tantra/what-is-a-mandala|url-status=live}}</ref> in [[Tibetan Buddhism]] is a symbolic offering of the entire universe. Every intricate detail of these mandalas is fixed in the tradition and has specific symbolic meanings, often on more than one level.

Whereas the above mandala represents the pure surroundings of a Buddha, this mandala represents the universe. This type of mandala is used for the mandala-offerings, during which one symbolically offers the universe to the Buddhas or to one's teacher. Within Vajrayana practice, 100,000 of these mandala offerings (to create merit) can be part of the preliminary practices before a student even begins actual tantric practices.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thubtenchodron.org/PrayersAndPractices/preliminary_practice.htm|title=Preliminary practice (ngöndro) overview|date=September 2009 |access-date=10 October 2016|archive-date=4 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704083425/http://www.thubtenchodron.org/PrayersAndPractices/preliminary_practice.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> This mandala is generally structured according to the model of the universe as taught in a Buddhist classic text the ''[[Abhidharmakosha|Abhidharma-kośa]]'', with [[Mount Meru]] at the centre, surrounded by the continents, oceans and mountains, etc.