Tibetan pilgrim during an initiation.

But the alignment between man, cosmos and mandala goes far beyond pure structural correspondence. The Mandala meditation process according to the Kalachakra Tantra for example, shows similarities with the development and the passing of a cosmos, but also with the dying and the rebirth of a human being.

Just as the formation of an embryo in the uterus evolves to become a baby and after birth into an infant, child and then an adult, so the Tantrician develops when he creates the deities of the Mandala in his mind until he reaches, after many visualisations, rituals and initiations, a state which is comparable to the one when entering death, with the difference that he is living through all these stages willingly and consciously, and therefore creating the preconditions for complete enlightenment.