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An encyclopaedia of Buddhist deities, demigods, godlings, saints and demons with special focus on iconographic attributes |
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| Author |
Bunce, Fredrick W.
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| Date | 1994 |
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| Pages | 1193 |
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| Publisher | D.K. Printworld |
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| Publisher Url |
http://www.dkprintworld.com/
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| Location | New Delhi, India [新德里, 印度] |
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| Series | Emerging Perceptions in Buddhist Studies |
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| Series No. | 1 |
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| Content type | 書籍=Book |
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| Language | 英文=English |
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| Note | Fredrick W. Bunce, a Ph.D. (Comparative Arts), from the Ohio University, Athens, USA, is a cultural historian of international repute. Professor and former Chair person, Department of Art, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, since 1980, he has lectured at learned forums and published on a variety of art-related themes. And has held many a solo exhibition at different art galleries, art museums and universities; besides his participation in the artist's guild/faculty/other ventures of the kind.
A scholar with varied intellectual/research concerns-notwithstanding his specializations in Oriental and Buddhist Arts, Professor Bunce has been legitimately honoured with certain notable awards/commendations, and is listed in Who's Who is American Art and also the International Biographical Dictionary: 1980-present. |
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| Keyword | Dictionaries; Arts, Buddhist |
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| Abstract |
he practices of Buddhism throughout the world, and particularly in the Orient may appear to some to exemplify a faith of paradoxical dimensions. Since its inception, Buddhism has provided the human race with a multitude of thought provoking questions and puzzles as well as elemental and brilliantly clear insights which lase to the very quick of human existence. It is inclusive rather than exclusive and in this lies both its simplicity and complexity.
As a cultural historian, my interest in Oriental Art and Buddhist Art in particular preceded by decades my first trip to Southeast and South Central Asia-Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and India. In 1986 I purchased my first three thangkas from the Tibetan artist Karma Thupten (aka Karma Lama): a large, spectacular Green Tara, an unusually powerful Vajrasattva Mandala, and a serene four-armed Avalokitesvara. Upon my return I began to try to identify the secondary figures within these thangkas through the normal research channels/methods. What I found was not a morass, but a maelstrom of different and often seemingly conflicting information which inexorably drew me into its deep recesses. So, I began to logically research, amass and organize the information that I needed for my own use. Within a very short time I became aware of the scope, complexity and vastness of what I was attempting, but by, then I was 'caught.'
The complexity manifests itself in that no single pantheon exists, rather, there are as many pantheons as there are counties, or internal regions or even sects within regions and/or countries. The progression of deities mount to bewildering numbers, legions. Within Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist sects alone, it is estimated that there are over twenty-five hundred deities, including their forms and emanations within the various sects. In addition, where one deity may appear in various pantheons the names may differ drastically. Unlike Jesus, or Gesu (Ital.), or Iesous (Gk.), or Yeshua (Heb.), the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Skt.), "the compassionate one," becomes sPyan-ras-gzigz (phon. Eng.: Chenrezik) or Tibet, Kuan-yin of China, Kwan-ze-on of Japan, or Nidubarujekci of Mongolia. A further complication is noted in that the first two (Avalokitesvara and sPyan-ras-gzigz) are represented as male deities whereas Kuan-yin and Kwan-ze-on are female deities.
When viewing the visually complex Tibetan or Nepali thangkas, the expressive and sensuous Indian Buddhists figures, the serene Chinese images of the Buddha, the ethereal Sukhothai embodiments, or the bewildering numbers of Bodhisattvas and the myriad forms, it is not unreasonable that a certain amount of confusion may exist as to the proper identification. Certainly, for the neophyte bewilderment may reign. In the Theravada tradition, particularly in Thailand, one is confronted by Buddha images which may be seated, standing, walking or reclining and their hands in a number of different attitudes. Similarly, within even the simplest Tibetan home a number of sacred images usually occupy a prominent position. Not only would you find a major, readily recognizable deity-frequently Sakyamuni Buddha-but also images venerated by one of the many sects, tutelary deities of the region and/or household and frequently an image of an arhat.
These are but some of the problems that a person confronts within the varied, broad umbrella of Buddhism. This work has been compiled to assist in the uncovering of some of these complexities and/or identification problems.
Of course, there exists a number of highly specialized studies which deal with various aspects of Buddhist deities. One must, at this point, mention the contributions of Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, Dipak Candra Bhattacharyya, Lokesh Chandra, Walter E. Clark, Rene de Nebesky-Wojkowitz and Giuseppe Tucci among many whose studies have been thorough within their specific purviews. The importance of these specialized studies cannot be |
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| Table of contents | [Table of Contents]
Volume 1
Foreword v
Introduction vii
Acknowledgements ix
List of Figures and Plates xiii
User's Guide xvii
Abbreviations xxiii
DEITY ENTRIES 1
Bibliography 637
Volume 2
List of Figures and Plates vii
User's Guide xi
Abbreviations xvii
DEITY IDENTIFICATION TABLES
White, calm deities 645
White, wrathful deities 679
Red, clam deities 697
Red, wrathful deities 719
Blue, calm deities 750
Blue, wrathful deities 757
Green, calm deities 790
Green, wrathful deities 797
Yellow, calm deities 804
Yellow, wrathful deities 822
Black, wrathful deities 835
Dark, purple, brown, grey deities 856
Natural Skin-color deities 862
Calm deities: color not designated 873
Wrathful deities: color not designated 925
COLOR PLATES 961
GLOSSARIES
Asana 1013
Mudra or Hasta 1019
Attributes/Iconography and Vahanas 1029
APPENDICES
I. Classes, Groups and Hierarchies 1039
II. Vajrayana Orders/Schools 1063
III. Tibetan Alphabet 1067
DEITY LIST 1070
Postscript 1151
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| ISBN | 9788124600207 |
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| Hits | 1558 |
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| Created date | 1998.04.28
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| Modified date | 2015.10.28 |
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