 This Kongō-kai mandala is a rectangle consisting of a combination of nine smaller mandalas, each an originally independent mandala, juxtaposed to depict a double spiraling movement, centrifugal and centripetal: on the one hand outward of the Buddha’s enlightenment towards the phenomenal world, and on the other hand inward of beings on the periphery from the mundane world in spiritual progression towards enlightenment at the center. Of the nine smaller mandalas, the most basic, which are on the lower left corner, are representations of the so-called “four mandalas” (shimandara) that Kūkai classified as the form of appearance of the hosshin. (More on the shimandara in the next section.) All together the nine depict the unending activity of the enlightened mind, moving clockwise from the center, to take on increasingly concrete forms, engaging in skillful means to help the unenlightened, while the unenlightened evolve towards the center. From the Buddha’s perspective, the center is moving outwards; and from the individual practitioner’s perspective, the periphery is being drawn inwards. Enlightened wisdom cannot remain aloof from the realities of unenlightened life. Skillful means thus embodies wisdom in concrete phenomenal activity. In this respect, the mandala emphasizes the non-duality between wisdom (hannya) and skillful means. And it symbolizes the wisdom that knows truth, the Dharma, in all its separate manifestations.