What Does the University of Victoria and the Mandala have in Common?

My son is considering going to the University of Victoria next fall. He’d looked at some of the universities and colleges in the Lower Mainland (e.g., the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and Burnaby) but he then decided on UVic on Vancouver Island. It had a reputation among students of being “friendly”. It had me pondering old days there, when I used to teach biology courses in the Cunningham and Elliot Buildings. And it made me feel all warm with wonderful memories of an attractive campus. I had great memories of my other university days in Montreal and Sherbrook, Quebec, but there was something about UVic that I couldn’t put my finger on that made that campus particularly enjoyable for me.


When I chatted over red wine and chocolate with friend, Margaret, a UVic grad herself, we both agreed that this university had charisma. Its attractive atmosphere lay partly in its special quality for being accepting, friendly, and not overly stuck up. Margaret related to me how accommodating they were, citing their less restrictive approach to education. Margaret explained how UVic let her play a more active role in determining her particular path. They gave her the freedom to develop a flexible degree program that was more personal and incorporated her areas of interest. UVic accomplished this by providing a less restrictive degree program compared with the other universities in BC. This is partly because UVic is described as a comprehensive university. In fact students have ranked UVic Number One in Canada for two years in a row (Macleans Magazine). Comprehensive universities offer a wide range of programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including professional degrees.

Then Margaret said something that floored me: she wondered if this confident liberal attitude had to do with—or reflected—the campus’s physical configuration. It’s laid out in a circle.

It got me thinking.

…And remembering my many walks through UVic’s beautiful campus. UVic’s Ring Road encircles the major part of the campus and its core buildings. Since my days there, the campus has sprawled like a giant amoeba beyond the Ring Road in all directions. But the circular pattern remains a dominant feature of the campus. Everything about UVic reflects a natural, organic and fluid setting, from the attractive architecture of its buildings to its open green spaces, winding pathways, groves of trees, fountains and other natural features. Most other universities, like the University of British Columbia for instance, are built on a grid and display more angular, colder features. I firmly believe that a campus setting reflects not only the original mindset of its designers but the mindset of those who maintain it and populate it. So, while other universities may reflect a restrictive boxed attitude, UVic flows like the yin-yang spiral in a circle or the flowing sand art of a mandala.

The Yin-Yang symbol of two parts spiraling in a circle is a traditional icon of Confucianism and Taoism. According to Reza Sarhangi of South Western College, Kansas, and Bruce Martin of Central Arizona College “It provides a paradigm of polarity with which to view the dynamics of everyday life. As a symbol, it can be as personal and internal as a heart, which gives and receives blood through each complete cycle. It can also be as general and external as the cycles of day and night.”

Different cultures throughout history have associated the square with the tangible world, and the circle with the perfect, ideal or the divine universe. The circle crowned the head of the ancient Egyptians’ sun god, Ra. The Celtic Druids carved circular and spiral patterns in stone monuments.

Sarhangi and Martin add that, “The circle is an object of nature, an idealization of pure mathematics, and a symbol or framework we use to understand and describe our world. The circle exists independently of human thought, as ripples in a pond, or the appearance of the sun and moon, or the shape of the iris of an eye.”

According to the University of Dartmouth, "the circle is considered a symbol of unity, because all the regular polygons are embraced by the circle. It is also the symbol of infinity, without beginning or end, perfect, the ultimate geometric symbol. It is a symbol of democracy and the preferred shape for an assembly of equals; the council circle, the campfire circle, and King Arthur's round table. The circle is also the easiest geometric figure to draw accurately, with stick and string or forked stick." I discuss the spiral (a form comprised of interlaced "circles") in a previous post as symbolizing God and the Self and, according to Jung, our soul and essence.

The Buddhist circular mandala designs have been used continuously for millennia and are a symbolic diagram of the universe, arranged in circles, used in tantric Buddhism. I wrote about this in a previous post on sacred balance. The word “mandala” loosely means “circle” and comes from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. It represents wholeness and can be interpreted as a model for the organizational structure of life itself—a cosmic diagram that reminds us of how we are all related to the infinite and an existence that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds. As a biologist I could see the universality of this shape in everything from our planet Earth to the atom. Wherever a centre is found radiating outward and inward, there is wholeness—a mandala; from the celestial circles we call earth, sun and moon to our conceptual circles of friends, family and community. In fact, the psychologist, Carl Jung, saw the mandala as a “representation of the unconscious self” and called it “a safe refuge of inner reconciliation and wholeness.” Not a bad mindset for a learning institution.

The circle structure appears in many designs from ancient to current times. This is particularly evident in Gothic architecture and art (e.g., the rose window, the halo, rainbow and ring in art, the ouroboros, the wheel and the vesica) from ancient to current times. Paris, indeed all of France is arranged on the basis of a circle, with all its streets radiating out from a point of origin. Paris is divided into arrondissements, or neighborhoods, which run in a circular spiral starting at the center of the city and winding outwards. Moscow is also arranged in a series of concentric circles.

According to Yi-fu Tuan, author of Topophilia, the mandala pattern appears in the layout of some Chinese and Indian temples as well as in the design of traditional and idealized cities, which tended to have regular geometric outlines oriented to the cardinal directions or to the position of the sun. A Jungian, says Tuan, might suggest that every building, sacred or secular, that has a mandala (or isometric) ground plan "is the projection of an archetypal image from within the human subconscious onto the outer world. The building may become a symbol of psychic wholeness, a microcosmos capable of exercising a beneficial influence on the human being entering it."

Speaking of mindset, while finishing her glass of red Merlot, Margaret leaned back in her chair and ended her reflection with an interesting observation. After graduating from UVic her first employment opportunity was a government job with the environment. She beat out many other university grads with superior specialities. Margaret credited her successful placement on her enriched and diverse education from UVic.

Ah, the mandala…

Recommended Reading:

Tuan, Yi-fu. (1974) re-issued 1990. Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perceptions, Attitudes and Values. Columbia University Press. 260pp.

Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of novels, short stories and essays. She coaches writers and teaches writing at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. For more about Nina’s coaching & workshops visit www.ninamunteanu.me. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for more about her writing.