Buddhism is the single common thread uniting the Asian world, from India to South-East Asia & through Central Asia to China, Korea & Japan. To guide & inspire believers, innumerable symbols & images were made, beginning in India in the 3rd century BC. This phenomenally diverse tradition
Includes:: not only frescoes, relief carvings, colossal statues, silk embroideries & bronze ritual objects but also rock-cut shrines with a thousand Buddhas, the glorious stupas of South-East Asia & the pagodas of the Far East, the massive ”mandala in stone” of Borobudur in Java & entire 13th-century temple complexes at Angkor in Cambodia. The author describes all the Buddhist schools & cultures, & explains their imagery, from Tibetan cosmic diagrams & Korean folk art to early Sri Lankan sites & Japanese Zen gardens.