Deities of Tibetan Buddhism: The Zurich Paintings of the Icons Worthwhile to See [Hardcover]

Martin Willson (Editor), Martin Brauen (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2000

Deities of Tibetan Buddhism is an extraordinary encyclopedia of Buddhist icons. The images, presented in the book at full scale, were originally created by a master artist in the early nineteenth century to serve as initiation cards. The original tsakli were woodblock prints, hand colored at the request of a Ch'ing Dynasty nobleman who had received the initiations. Such cards are used in ceremonies to introduce the practitioner to the deity and his or her practice. The paintings are housed in the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich.

This book is also an indispensable reference tool for Tibetologists, students of Mahayana Buddhism, and museum curators. Its extensive supplementary materials include English translations of the basic invocation texts; the associated visualization with descriptions of the deities' postures, attributes, and colors; and the dharanis and mantras used in their invocation. The extensive pictorial index, featuring drawings and text by Robert Beer, explains the symbolic meaning behind the deities' implements and adornments. The cross-referenced indices for Tibetan, Sanskrit, Mongolian, and English names and terms provide quick access to vast amounts of information. Deities of Tibetan Buddhism is an essential text for any serious student of Tibetan and East Asian art and religion.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Tibetan

Product Details

• Hardcover: 624 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861710983
• ISBN-13: 978-0861710980
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 10.3 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,307,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing collection of iconographic images, June 29, 2001

By A Customer

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This review is from: Deities of Tibetan Buddhism: The Zurich Paintings of the Icons Worthwhile to See (Hardcover)

This book is truly an amazing collection of both icons of Tibetan Buddhist deity-types, and information about the same.

While this book is undeniably expensive, if you're really interested in Tibetan Buddhist art and/or iconography, you'll be happy to have this book in your library.

Well, someone had to write the first review and give this book a 5-star rating!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deities of Tibetan Buddhism, November 26, 2009

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This review is from: Deities of Tibetan Buddhism: The Zurich Paintings of the Icons Worthwhile to See (Hardcover)

Icons Worthwhile to See is of exceptional importance to the study of Tibetan Buddhist iconography because the text it illustrates are known and available. These texts are compilations of sadhamas, rites for the daily practice of each deity. They describe how to visualize the deity and what to do when the visualizations have been generated. The intended function of the pictures is as aids to assist the generation of the deity visualization, especially during the rite of conferring on disciples permission to practice the deity.

In the present work, the authors restore the pictures to their context by publishing not the pictures alone but translations from the texts as well. In this way they seek to serve scholars as well as practitioners alike.

The book falls into three principal sections, devoted respectively to the paintings, the source texts, and reference materials that cover both. A single system of numbering is employed throughout, so that one can refer immediately between the three sections.

The first section introduces the paintings and reproduces them along with transcriptions and translations of their captions. The second section presents the translations of the sadhamas, divided like the paintings into three parts corresponding to the three sadhamas compilations. These are first the Rinjung Gyasta (Icons 4-420), then the shorter and simpler Narthang Gyasta (421-456), then the Vajrdvali trilogy of Abhayakaragupta (457-507). The last is a collection of mandalas, but Icons Worthwhile to See illustrates only the principal deities. In addition, the painted version of Icons Worthwhile to See boasts an appendix of three pictures of Yamantaka, not found in the blockprint versions.

The extensive reference materials that follows the translations includes English, Tibetan, Sanskrit and Mongolian indexes and a morphological index, which will be found of great value in identifying deity images. The English index is particularly comprehensive, including not only names but entries for iconographic features, explanations of technical terms, and analytical articles. This is complimented by a pictorial index, featuring drawings and text by Robert Beer, to provide a visual key to the iconographic features and an artist's insight into their symbolism.