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"The volume thoroughly examines the origins and principal types of Buddhist architecture in Asia primarily between the third century BCE-twelfth century CE with an emphasis on India. It aims to construct shared architectural traits and patterns alongwith the derivative relationships between Indian and Asian Buddhist monuments. It also discusses the historical antecedents in the Indus Civilization and the religious and philosophical foundations of the three schools of Buddhism and its founder, Buddha. Previously obscure topics such as Aniconic and Vajrayana (Tantric) architecture and the four holiest sites of Buddhism will also be covered in this comprehensive volume. The author further investigates the influences of Buddhist architecture upon Islamic, Christian, and Hindu architecture that have been overlooked by past scholars."
This book deals with the technical, artistic and architectural aspects of the Hindu and Buddhist monuments from the beginning until today in Southeast Asia.
Since the dramatic discovery and tragic destruction of the monument in the 19th century, the Amarāvatī stūpa in the south-east Deccan has attracted many scholars but has also left many unanswered questions. Akira Shimada's Early Buddhist Architecture in Context provides an updated and comprehensive chronology of the stūpa and its architectural development based on the latest sculptural, epigraphic and numismatic evidence combined with the survey of the early excavation records. It also examines the wider social milieu of the south-east Deccan by exploring archaeological, epigraphic and related textual evidence. These analyses reveal that the flowering of the stūpa was not a simple accomplishment of the powerful Sātavāhana dynasty, but was the result of the long-term development of urbanization of this region between ca. 200 BCE-250 CE.
Buddhism, often described as an austere religion that condemns desire, promotes denial, and idealizes the contemplative life, actually has a thriving leisure culture in Asia. Creative religious improvisations designed by Buddhists have been produced both within and outside of monasteries across the region—in Nepal, Japan, Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Justin McDaniel looks at the growth of Asia’s culture of Buddhist leisure—what he calls “socially disengaged Buddhism”—through a study of architects responsible for monuments, museums, amusement parks, and other sites. In conversation with noted theorists of material and visual culture and anthropo...
Buddhist temples are some of the most beautiful and awe inspiring examples of religious architecture ever created. This helpful handbook is a guide to the finest examples from around the world. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
Kurt Behrendt in this book for the first time and convincingly offers a description of the development of 2nd century B.C.E. to 8th century C.E. Buddhist sacred centers in ancient Gandhara, today northwest Pakistan.
This book is the first comprehensive overview of Buddhist architecture in North America and provides an analysis of Buddhist architecture and communities. Exploring the arrival of Buddhist architecture in America, the book lays out how Buddhists have expressed their spiritual beliefs in structural form in the United States. The story follows the parallel history of the religion’s emergence in the United States since the California Gold Rush to the present day. Conceived of as a general history, the book investigates Buddhist structures with respect to the humanistic qualities associated with Buddhist doctrine and how Buddhist groups promote their faith and values in an American setting. Th...
The book provides an updated chronology of the Amar?vat? st?pa and argues its close link with the long-term development of urbanization of this region between ca. 200 BCE-250 CE based on the latest archaeological, art-historical and epigraphic evidence.
"This interdisciplinary study on the development of Buddhist art and architecture in China from the early period till the Qing Dynasty is in a 8 11 format with 50 photo illustrations, the majority of which have never been shown or introduced to the Western world. This book has been organized so that a brief biography of Prince Gautama (later the Buddha), is first presented, followed by an explanation of the Four Noble Beliefs, and the Eightfold Path which a Buddhist must follow to reach the enlightenment, and finally the Nirvana."
Gandhara, with its wide variety of architectural remains and sculptures, has for many decades perplexed students of South and Central Asia. Kurt Behrendt in this volume for the first time and convincingly offers a description of the development of 2nd century B.C.E. to 8th century C.E. Buddhist sacred centers in ancient Gandhara, today northwest Pakistan. Regional variations in architecture and sculpture in the Peshawar basin, Swat, and Taxila are discussed. At last a chronological framework is given for the architecture and the sculpture of Gandhara, but also light is being shed on how relic structures were utilized through time, as devotional imagery became increasingly significant to Buddhist religious practice. With an important comparative overview of architectural remains, it is indispensable for all those interested in the development of the early Buddhist tradition of south and central Asia and the roots of Buddhism elsewhere in Asia.