Author: Lokesh Chandra
Publisher: Aditya Prakashan
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 278
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8177420542
Description
Buddhist art is the flowering of Being to discover the great calm within, a dialectic of light and shadow, wherein color and form rain substance. Scrolls, murals, icons, stupas, sancta and other manifestations are all Visual Dharma. They demand of us: "Follow us to the spring and descend deeply within yourself'. They create a space for meditation, they awaken cosmicity within us, they are a wave to lead us to the progressive sea, to a track of expanding consciousness, or as it said in the stirring crescendo of the Heart Sutra of the Prajna-paramita: gate gate para-gate para-sangate bodhi svaha.
This volume comprises entries of theonyms beginning with the letters O, P, and Q. The placement of a deity in its mandala, its place in a group, its descriptive attributes, and references to texts, sculptures or scrolls have been cited for every form, so that users can go back to the originals for legends and other details.
AN OVER-VIEW OF 20-VOLUME SET OF THIS DICTIONARY
The Dictionary of Buddhist Iconography is an endeavor of half a century to identify, classify, describe and delineate the bewildering variation in Buddhist icons. It spans the last twenty centuries, and it is a comparative study of unprecedented geographic variations, besides the ever-evolving visualizations of great maters who introduced extraordinary plurality of divine forms in the dharanis and sadhanas.
The multiple forms of a theonym arise in varying contexts. For example, Hevajra of the Hevajra-tantra holds crania in his hands, while the Hevajra of the Samputa-tantra has weapons. Both are subdivided into four each on the planes of kaya, vak, citta and hrdaya, with two, four, eight and sixteen arms. The dictionary classifies several such types of a deity and places each in its theogonic structure, specifies the earliest date of its occurrence (e g Amoghapasa appears in Chinese in AD 587), the earliest mage, the direction in which its is placed in the specific quarter of the mandala, its classification, colour, crown or hairdo, ferocious or serene appearance, number of eyes and heads, hair standing up and /or flaming, number of arms and attributes held in them, consort, lord of the family (kulesa), and so on. The esoteric name, symbolic form (samaya0, bija (hierogram), mantra, mudra and mandala are given in this Dictionary for the first time and on an extensive scale. The Sanskrit, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Manchu and other names are given under the main entry, as well as cross-referenced in their own alphabetic order.
The Dictionary details the characteristic attributes, chronology and symbolism of over twelve thousand main and minor deities. It reflects the extraordinary cultural, literary, aesthetic and spiritual achievements of several nations of Asia over two millennia.
Contents
Preface
Literature Cited (supplementary list to Volume 1)
Dictionary (Ober-e ober-e dayayci eke-Quricaqui ugei kobegun)