Book Description

Buddhist Art and Thought encompasses a number of themes related to the study of cultural interflow among Asian countries, sharing philosophy, literature, arts and architecture, systems of polity and ways of living and thinking. It is a journey through the history of dissemination of Buddhism by monk-scholars to Central, East, Fareast and Southeast Asia. It brings forth the manifestations of divine forms of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, other deities of the Buddhist pantheon, colossal images, luminous mandalas and meditation. It throws light on the spread of the Buddhist Sanskrit literature, Indian scripts, inscriptions and Sanskrit manuscripts, and Buddhist ceremonies and rituals, beyond the boundaries of India. Contribution of the Indologists as pilgrims in the world of vision and intellection is another area touched upon by the scholar through her research.Contents: Preface, 1. Buddhist Art : From the Northwest to the Far East; 2. Amitabha: The Buddha of Immesurable Light in Japanese Art; 3. Yoga: The Basis of the Taima Mandala; 4. Bodhisattvas of Debate and Defence; 5. Buddhist Colossi in Japan; 6. Mandala and Meditation in Japanese Esoteric Art; 7. India and East Asia : A Cultural Symbiosis; 8. Bodhisattvas in Buddhist Art and Thought; 9. From Ajanta to HoryuÊji; 10. A Sanskrit Manuscript of the Gupta Period at the HoryuÊji Monastery In Japan; 11. Zen Bearings on Japanese Arts; 12. Four Divine Guardians in Japanese Art; 13. India and Japan: Academic Relations in Early 20th Century; 14. Structure of Gobu-shingan and the Graphic Vajradhatu-Mandala in the Light of the Sarva-tathagata-tattva-saÆgraha; 15. Iconography of Vaisravana in Japanese Art Compared with Sanskrit Literary Sources; 16. Cultural Interflow Between India and Central Asia; 17. Monasteries of Khotan in Tibetan Literary Sources; 18. Apotheosis of an Indonesian King of the Singasari Dynasty; 19. Fire Altar for Asvamedha Ceremony in Indonesia; 20. The Earliest Sanskrit Documents from Indonesia; 21. Sanskrit Texts in Chinese and Tibetan Translations; 22. Sanskrit in Japan; 23. Sanskrit in Southeast Asia; 24. Search for Shambhala and Kalacakra by Yuri and Nicholas Roerichs; 25. Hevajra in Buddhist Literature, Imperial Ceremonies and Art; 26. Banner of Peace; 27. Role of Suvarnaprabhasa-sutra in the Polity of East Asia; Index.PROF. SHASHIBALA is a research scientist specialises in art and culture of Asian countries. She is a researcher at the International Academy of Indian Culture, New Delhi for the last thirty years, and has also worked as an adjunct faculty at the National Museum Institute, New Delhi for the last fifteen years. She has to her credit eight research projects and sixty articles presented at various conferences or seminars held in India and abroad besides books published in English and Dutch languages.