Customer Reviews

Mandala and Landscape

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The unique subject matter of this book may be of interest for those visiting ancient Buddhist holy sites or scholars of Buddhist history. It is, however, not a guide book and is quite academic in approach. It provides insights into the ways in which shrines, monasteries, etc. were placed within a much wider geographic context of natural terrain to both create spiritual focus and to take advantage of the energetic power forms in nature. The intended effect was not only to build in auspicious places, but to position the shrines within immense natural mandalas of form and power. It also offers insight into the way in which the ancient physical world provided symbolic messages of worlds beyond for the peoples of those times.

This book is a compendium of heavily footnoted and referenced academic works on the subject with studies of holy sites in Japan, China, Tibet, etc. Each chapter is a previously published study on a different geographic site. Be forewarned, however. The chapters are not written for popular reading, but for scholarly presentation and consumption. Photographs of the sites within each study are fairly minimal and uninspiring. If you are not well versed in this type of reading and study (which I am not), you may find yourself skipping through, looking for particular gems of information and you may be disappointed in the dry, objectified presentations. Still, I am unaware of any popular publications which focus on this particular subject matter, which offers added context and meaning to understanding and viewing many ancient sites.