Buddhist Stupas in Asia: The Shape of Perfection - Hardcover

Wassman, Bill; Cummings, Joe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1864501200 ISBN 13: 9781864501209

Publisher: Lonely Planet, 2001

Synopsis

Transcending architecture and archaeology, the stupa is the living embodiment of Buddhist teachings – a harmonising of the physical with the spiritual. It remains one of the oldest and most persistent religious symbols still in everyday use. This beautifully illustrated, full-colour hardback explores the spread of stupa building across India and Asia, encapsulating the lasting appeal and allure of stupas to travellers, scholars and those interested in architecture and religion. Buddhist Stupas in Asia: The Shape of Perfection is a lavish exploration of this religious and architectural icon of Asia and India.

• more than 250 beautiful photographs
• ten pages of transparent architectural overlays depicting plans and elevations of major stupas
• exhaustive coverage of 13 countries: India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Java, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam
• learned and authoritative narration to explain the symbolism, rituals and mystic power associated with these monuments, great and small
• detailed investigations of the world’s most significant Buddhist sites, from Angkor in Cambodia to Borobudur in Java, the largest Buddhist monument in the world

About this title

Review:

When the Buddha was dying, he instructed his followers to cremate his body and enclose his remains inside four separate monuments or "stupa-mounds." These manmade "axial mountains" became the prototype for the monuments that are so beautifully presented in Joe Cummings's Buddhist Stupas in Asia. Each spread features full-color illustrations or photographs, depicting the varying shapes, designs, and scale of this holy architecture. "People in all the different cultures that have discovered Buddhism seem to have gone crazy with joy, building stupas by the millions," writes Cummings, whose other Lonely Planet titles cover Thailand and Bangkok. "[They are] more than funeral reliquaries. They are memorials, rather, to the immanent possibility of freedom from suffering for all beings." Ten pages of transparent architectural overlays explain how the sacred meets function. This is entertaining learning at its best--a book that's loaded with knowledge, yet packaged with visual appeal. - -Gail Hudson

From the Publisher:

"Buddhist Stupas in Asia:The Shape of Perfection" encourages readers to look deeper, to be spiritually transported by witnessing the majesty, simplicity and beauty of these devotional sites.

About this edition

• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1864501200
• ISBN 13: 9781864501209
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 173