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Title: Reading Buddhist Art by Meher McArthur, Thames, Hudson ISBN: 0-500-28428-8 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: April, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: bewilderingly disappointing
Comment: I don't like to write reviews for books that are not good but I feel that people should think twice before spending their money on this one.
Imagine a book called 'Dictionary of European Words.' It would contain some German verbs, some French nouns, some Italian adjectives, etc. How useful is it going to be?
This book would be a cousin to such an imaginary but nontheless absurd book.
My main gripe is that, as someone already pointed out, it is badly organized. It is nearly useless as a reference book. The faults are too many to mention, so I shall not, except for just one example: all the pictures are B&W, and not even numbered, so that one has to sort through just to figure out which description applies to which one of the many illustration found on the same page.
The real source of the problem with this book is that it tries to cover way too many cultures -- from Thailand to Korea to Japan to Bhutan -- and it tries this in a mere 216 pages (!), including the frontispiece, blanks, and index: as if a Guide to Buddhist Art could be done like a store catalogue. Just the symbolism of the mudras alone would easily take 200 pages, I should think.
Every Buddhist culture has its own peculiar relationship and input to Buddhism. Although there are large areas of doctrinal overlap that all Buddhist cultures have in common, each culture still has its own line-up and order in the pantheon of deities, rituals, implements and practices. This book blithely glosses right over them -- like Doria looking for Nemo in the deep blue sea.
On that note, it bears mentioning that the author has a MA in Asian Art from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies, with a major in Japanese Art. My feeling is that the author herself has but a superficial familiarity with the topic at hand.
The author was either brave, reckless, or ignorant to attempt so much with so little. This is unfortunately more of a scansion than a reading, properly speaking.
(Compare Robert Beer's Encyclopaedia for a guide done right.)
But to be fair, it might be somewhat helpful to those just beginning their studies and are grabbing at straws.
Rating: 2
Summary: Potentially good reference needs more work
Comment: Despite nice illustrations and photos, this work suffers most from poor organization. Instead of going through each of the building blocks f Himalayan statuary and iconography, then putting them together (i.e., mudras, vehicles, hand objects, etc.), it is organized (not right word) in a peculiar fashion that resists its use as a reference book. Often it goes into great detail about trivial things, then omits more important things. For example, it clutters the landscape with discussions about different sects - this is really premature. If you read German, my recommendation is buying Wolfgang Schumann's masterful "Buddhistische Bilderwelt" [The world of Buddhist Iconography], which you can probably buy from www.amazon.de.
Rating: 5
Summary: Eleven Heads and Eight Arms
Comment: Buddhism is cool. All around us we see Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Tibetan prayer flags, and people standing at bus stops with their hands in mudras. Buddhism has been cool for a long time and throughout Asia smart people and devoted people have spent a long time delving into the elaborate stories about enlightened ones, buddhas of the past and future, celestial deities. Some have morphed from men to women. Some can save your soul, heal you, make you happy when you're sad. Meher McArthur's book can help you find your way through the bewhildering maze of Buddhist imagery and iconography. Laid out in a intuitive style and clearly explained, this guide is especially useful to students trying to get a grip on why that statue has eleven heads and eight arms. Highly recommended.
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Title: Buddhist Art and Architecture (The World of Art) by Robert E. Fisher ISBN: 0500202656 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: May, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Book of Buddhas: Ritual Symbolism Used on Buddhist Statuary and Ritual Objects by Eva Rudy Jansen ISBN: 9074597025 Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser Pub. Date: April, 1993 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture by John Kieschnick ISBN: 0691096767 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 17 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Chinese Buddhist Art by Patricia Eichenbaum Karetzky ISBN: 0195928571 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Transmitting the Forms of Divinity: Early Buddhist Art from Korea and Japan by Kim Lena, Kang Woo-Bang, Tanabe Saburosuke, Hiromitsu Washizuka, Washizuka Hiromitsu ISBN: 0913304549 Publisher: Japan Society Inc. Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
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