9783869227429
Gutschow, Niels
For more than two millennia Buddhism shaped the cultures of Central, South, Southeast, and East Asia. From ancient Bactria and Gandhara to Tibet, Mongolia, and Japan, from Sri Lanka and Myanmar to Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, each territory had its own peculiar way of developing representations of the Buddha, the Bodhisattvas, and a variety of guardian deities and saints. Of particular importance is the representation of the Buddha and his teachings in an iconic form in the shape of an impassable building.