Before and Beyond the Image: Aniconic Symbolism in Buddhist Art

Dietrich Seckel

ISBN 10: 390707713X / ISBN 13: 9783907077139

Published by Artibus Asiae Publishers, Museum Rietberg Zurich, 2004

About this Item

Considerable wear to edges and corners of dark blue wraps. Bar code sticker on back wrap. Interior is unmarked. Black and white photo illustrations. English translation by Andreas Leisinger. Edited by Helmut Brinker and John Rosenfield.(1). Seller Inventory # 000013

Bibliographic Details

Title: Before and Beyond the Image: Aniconic ...

Publisher: Artibus Asiae Publishers, Museum Rietberg Zurich

Publication Date: 2004

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis:

"Published a quarter-century ago, Dietrich Seckel's essay remains a vital contribution to a much-debated feature of Buddhist art, its aniconism, its aversion to depicting spiritual entities of the very highest order. Unlike Judaism, early Christianity, and Islam, he explains, the Buddhist faith has not condemned the representation of holy beings or living creatures. Nonetheless it believes that its most crucial spiritual insights lie beyond the power of human imagination to describe or depict; the visual arts can allude to them only obliquely, through omission on the use of non-iconic figures. This discrepancy between the practical, ritual functions of the work of art and concepts of ultimate sanctity, Seckel suggests, has affected Buddhist arts throughout Asia, particularly those of the Meditation School (Chan, or Zen) in China and Japan. " - From the Introduction