Function and Meaning in Buddhist Art

Function and Meaning in Buddhist Art PDF Author: K.R. van Kooij
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004658645
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
What was the function of Buddhist art at the time Buddhism was a major religion in large areas of South, East, and South-East Asia? Can we establish what these sculptures and paintings meant to Buddhist believers living at a time when this art fulfilled important religious needs? These questions are discussed, not answered, in a volume about ‘Function and Meaning of Buddhist Art’ which contains the papers of a workshop on this theme held at Leiden University in 1991. While dealing with a variety of themes and subject-matter, sometimes in great detail, sixteen specialists focus on ritual and semantic aspects of Buddhist works of art from countries such as India, China, Japan, Tibet, Thailand, and Indonesia. Recent non-western art-historical publications show an increasing tendency to work with methodological frameworks developed by specialists on western art. Moreover, there are more similarities between Buddhist and other religious art ‘than, literally, meet the eye’. For this reason, two comparative studies are included in which parallels and universals are brought forward. Two main lines emerge in the results offered in this book, the one indicating a tendency to focus on intended meanings; the other concentrating on more than one level of reception of Buddhist art in a liturgical context.

Function and Meaning in Buddhist Art

Function and Meaning in Buddhist Art PDF Author: K.R. van Kooij
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004658645
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book Here

Book Description
What was the function of Buddhist art at the time Buddhism was a major religion in large areas of South, East, and South-East Asia? Can we establish what these sculptures and paintings meant to Buddhist believers living at a time when this art fulfilled important religious needs? These questions are discussed, not answered, in a volume about ‘Function and Meaning of Buddhist Art’ which contains the papers of a workshop on this theme held at Leiden University in 1991. While dealing with a variety of themes and subject-matter, sometimes in great detail, sixteen specialists focus on ritual and semantic aspects of Buddhist works of art from countries such as India, China, Japan, Tibet, Thailand, and Indonesia. Recent non-western art-historical publications show an increasing tendency to work with methodological frameworks developed by specialists on western art. Moreover, there are more similarities between Buddhist and other religious art ‘than, literally, meet the eye’. For this reason, two comparative studies are included in which parallels and universals are brought forward. Two main lines emerge in the results offered in this book, the one indicating a tendency to focus on intended meanings; the other concentrating on more than one level of reception of Buddhist art in a liturgical context.

Reading Buddhist Art

Reading Buddhist Art PDF Author: Meher McArthur
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780500284285
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
"A concise, accessible primer to the intricate world of Buddhist art." Publishers Weekly"

Puja and Piety

Puja and Piety PDF Author: Pratapaditya Pal
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520288475
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Accompanies the exhibition presented at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, April 17-July 31, 2016.

How to Read Buddhist Art

How to Read Buddhist Art PDF Author: Kurt Behrendt
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN: 1588396738
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 139

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Book Description
Intended to inspire the devout and provide a focus for religious practice, Buddhist artworks stand at the center of a great religious tradition that swept across Asia during the first millennia. How to Read Buddhist Art assembles fifty-four masterpieces from The Met collection to explore how images of the Buddha crossed linguistic and cultural barriers, and how they took on different (yet remarkably consistent) characteristics in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Himalayas, China, Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Works highlighted in this rich, concise overview include reliquaries, images of the Buddha that attempt to capture his transcendence, diverse bodhisattvas who protect and help the devout on their personal path, and representations of important teachers. The book offers the essential iconographic frameworks needed to understand Buddhist art and practice, helping the reader to appreciate how artists gave form to subtle aspects of the teachings, especially in the sublime expression of the Buddha himself.

The Art of South and Southeast Asia

The Art of South and Southeast Asia PDF Author: Steven Kossak
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN: 0870999923
Category : Art, South Asian
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
Presents works of art selected from the South and Southeast Asian and Islamic collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, lessons plans, and classroom activities.

Secrets of the Sacred

Secrets of the Sacred PDF Author: Helmut Brinker
Publisher: Franklin D. Murphey Lecture Series
ISBN: 9780295990897
Category : Buddhist art and symbolism
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book traces the original meaning, function, style, and history of icons and relics across various schools of Buddhism.

Buddhist Ritual Art of Tibet

Buddhist Ritual Art of Tibet PDF Author: Michael Henss
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783897905672
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
* First systematic review of Tibetan ritual art* Never-before-published Buddhist art objects* Written by expert on Tibetan art, Michael HenssTibetan Buddhist art is not only rich in figural icons but also extremely diverse in its symbols and ritual objects. This first systematic review is an abundantly illustrated reference book on Tibetan ritual art that aids our understanding of its different types and forms, its sacred meanings and ceremonial functions. Over eighteen chapters, several hundred different implements are documented in detail, in many cases for the first time and often in their various styles and iconographic forms: altar utensils and amulets, masks and mirrors, magic daggers and mandalas, torma sculptures and prayer objects, vajras and votive tablets, sacrificial vessels and oracle crowns, stupas and spirit traps, ritual vases, textiles, furniture, and symbolic emblems. These are accompanied by many historical and modern text sources, as well as rare recorded oral material from high-ranking Tibetan masters. This long-awaited handbook is a must-have for all those with a profound interest in Buddhist art and religion.

Ruthless Compassion

Ruthless Compassion PDF Author: Robert N. Linrothe
Publisher: Serindia Publications, Inc.
ISBN: 0906026512
Category : Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
The historical development of Esoteric Buddhism in India is still known only in outline. A few verifiably early texts do give some insight into the origin of the ideas which would later develop and spread to East and Southeast Asia, and to Tibet. However, there is another kind of evidence which can be harnessed to the project of reconstructing the history of Esoteric Buddhist doctrines and practice. This evidence consists of art objects, mainly sculpture, which survive in significant numbers from the 6th to the 13th century.

Building a Sacred Mountain

Building a Sacred Mountain PDF Author: Wei-Cheng Lin
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295805358
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
By the tenth century CE, Mount Wutai had become a major pilgrimage site within the emerging culture of a distinctively Chinese Buddhism. Famous as the abode of the bodhisattva Ma�ju r (known for his habit of riding around the mountain on a lion), the site in northeastern China�s Shanxi Province was transformed from a wild area, long believed by Daoists to be sacred, into an elaborate complex of Buddhist monasteries. In Building a Sacred Mountain, Wei-Cheng Lin traces the confluence of factors that produced this transformation and argues that monastic architecture, more than texts, icons, relics, or pilgrimages, was the key to Mount Wutai�s emergence as a sacred site. Departing from traditional architectural scholarship, Lin�s interdisciplinary approach goes beyond the analysis of forms and structures to show how the built environment can work in tandem with practices and discourses to provide a space for encountering the divine. For more information: http://arthistorypi.org/books/building-a-sacred-mountain

India and Beyond

India and Beyond PDF Author: Dick van der Meij
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136821074
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 711

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Book Description
First published in 1997. The International Institute for Asian Studies (lIAS) is pleased to introduce a new series 'Studies from the International Institute for Asian Studies'. This present volume, India and Beyond; Aspects of Literature Meaning, Ritual and Thought, contains more than 30 contributions from well-established scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds. These essays are in honour of one of the founding fathers of the lIAS, Frits Staal, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and South Asian Languages, University of California at Berkeley. This volume is edited by Dick van der Meij, editor of the Indonesian-Netherlands Cooperation in Islamic Studies Programme at Leiden University.