 The hosshin in its cosmic significance appears in the form or figure (sō) of a mandara (Skrt: mandala). That is, its cosmic body appears in a mandalic pattern, as represented in the mandalas used in Shingon ritual. Correspondingly the mind of a sentient being is also supposed to take on the form of a mandala especially as one advances in practice to realize non-duality with the mandalic hosshin. That is, the mind-and-body experience of each sentient being mirrors in its own way the mandalic pattern of the cosmos. As one becomes enlightened, one comes to realize this inter-mirroring. In the envisioning of reality as a mandala, the practitioner, who on the one hand is aiming for Buddhahood, is at the same time also the Buddha existing in the mandalic reality and expressing itself in mandalic form. Whether seen as the form experienced in the mind or as the form of the cosmos, the mandalic figure is the Buddha’s mode of expressing the Dharma. This mandalic appearance of the Buddha is categorized into four types, which we will discuss in a section below.