Buddhist Practice and Visual Culture: The Visual Rhetoric of Borobudur / Edition 1

by Julie Gifford

Overview

Providing an overall interpretation of the Buddhist monument Borobudur in Indonesia, this book looks at Mahayana Buddhist religious ideas and practices that could have informed Borobudur, including both the narrative reliefs and the Buddha images.

The author explores a version of the classical Mahayana that foregrounds the importance of the visual in relation to Buddhist philosophy, meditation, devotion, and ritual. The book goes on to show that the architects of Borobudur designed a visual world in which the Buddha appeared in a variety of forms and could be interpreted in three ways: by realizing the true nature of his teaching, through visionary experience, and by encountering his numinous presence in images.

Furthermore, the book analyses a particularly comprehensive and programmatic expression of Mahayana Buddhist visual culture so as to enrich the theoretical discussion of the monument. It argues that the relief panels of Borobudur do not passively illustrate, but rather creatively "picture" selected passages from texts. Presenting new material, the book contributes immensely to a new and better understanding of the significance of the Borobudur for the field of Buddhist and Religious Studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138784765
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/21/2014
Series:	Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Julie Gifford is Assistant Professor in the Department of Comparative Religions at Miami University of Ohio.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Borobudur: Monumental Mandala and Bodhisattva Path 2. Carving Out Time: The Narrative Relief Panels 3. Piecing Together Space: The Panorama of the Purified Field 4. Pervading Space: Bodhisattva Activity in the Cosmic Panorama 5. To Emptiness and Back: The Transformative Work of the Terraces

Editorial Reviews

"Gifford has covered so much ground in this book... this is a terrific book that had to be written." - Nick Ford, Mahidol University, Thailand; ASEASUK News No. 52, Autumn 2012

From the Publisher