Mandala was originally a Buddhist term, broadly referring to the essence of attaining enlightenment. The greatest feature of the thinking model is that it uses a visual structure—the nine-square grid—to help inspire our thinking and stimulate creative exploration. Using the Mandala thinking method is actually quite easy, but you first need to understand its two core foundations: the central theme and the nine-square grid.
Central theme: The greatest enemy of thinking is not a lack of thought, but random, unfocused thinking. It not only fails to help thinking, but actually interferes with the thinking process itself. Any thinking process needs a clearly defined central theme: what problem are you trying to solve? The first thing to consider is not the method, but clearly identifying the problem that needs to be solved. The central theme is the stabilizing anchor in your mind. Your thinking can branch out, but it must have a starting point, so write down the central theme first.
Nine-square grid: After completing the central theme, expand outward to outline a nine-square grid. Write the central theme in the center of the grid as the flower's center, then branch out in all directions, creating eight petals, each recording related ideas. If one flower is not enough, use the current nine-square grid as the center and create new flowers in its eight directions. Each flower can still produce eight petals, generating even more ideas. Continue developing ideas in the eight squares until you are satisfied; your ideas will then be sufficiently enriched to fully respond to the central theme.
Next, arrange all the petals in a spiral, starting clockwise. But this rotation needs a single underlying logic: is it a timeline, a chain of cause and effect, or a process loop? You need to choose one before proceeding. For example, if the central theme is today's work schedule, going around the circle means what to do at 9, what to do at 10, what to do at 11, and so on.
Finally, choose one cell as a new theme and expand on it to uncover a new flower. First, write the theme in the center of the flower. Second, branch out from the center in eight directions and record related themes. Third, draw eight more nine-cell grids in those eight directions. Use the eight petals of the original flower as the centers of the eight new flowers to explore further and record what you want to capture. Keep going until you reach a depth that you think will achieve your thinking objective or solve the problem. Note that you do not need to explore all 9 cells in depth. Stop exploring any that do not lend themselves to further exploration to avoid wasting energy.
We have now covered three applications of the method. There is one final skill on the skill tree that we need to unlock: understanding the Mandala Thinking Method. The Mandala Thinking Method has a wide range of applications. It can be used effectively for personal growth, organizing knowledge, strategy development, design, brainstorming, and operations management. It helps you think of more ideas by breaking through the limits of your thinking and uncovering a wealth of ideas or creative concepts relevant to your topic. It helps you think better by keeping your thoughts from becoming disorganized and filtering out unreasonable notions, so that the results of your thinking maintain a certain standard. It also helps you think more creatively. The essence of innovation is combining known elements. The Mandala Thinking Method embodies this underlying logic, helping us put known elements onto a single sheet of paper so we can make connections and combine them.