Five Wisdom Mandala

The Five Wisdom Energies, known as the Five Buddha Families are a mandala teaching in the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. They are meant to be worked with directly and experientially. Each has a wisdom quality. Each also has an encumbered emotion that is associated with it. It’s important to appreciate that because these arise in a mandala the emotion and the wisdom are not separate. Neurosis and sanity, samsara and nirvana are not separate things. These teachings help us realize that the very negativity we are trying so hard to get rid of is actually the fertilizer of our brilliance and clarity. The thing we think we need to get rid of is the very thing we need to wake up.

According to this teaching, each of us tends to have a primary family as our style. Coming to terms with your own style can help you be more skillful in the world. It can help you also appreciate others who manifest as different buddha family styles than your own.

At our Zen Life & Meditation Center, Chicago, we chant the Gate of Sweet Nectar on the first Sunday of each month. This service is done to feed the suffering of the hungry ghosts. For the preceding month our sangha members collect food that we place on the altar during this service. When the service is over we deliver this food to Sarah’s Inn. During this service, one way we heal this suffering is to raise the bodhi mind which concretely consists of these five wisdom energies.

I will be discussing this teaching at my upcoming Fridays with Roshi. It is my intention to develop a workshop that explores these teachings in much more depth.

Roshi Robert Althouse