Receptacle of the Sacred: Illustrated Manuscripts and the Buddhist Book Cult in South AsiaIn considering medieval illustrated Buddhist manuscripts as sacred objects of cultic innovation, Receptacle of the Sacred explores how and why the South Asian Buddhist book-cult has survived for almost two millennia to the present. A book "manuscript" should be understood as a form of sacred space: a temple in microcosm, not only imbued with divine presence but also layered with the memories of many generations of users. Jinah Kim argues that illustrating a manuscript with Buddhist imagery not only empowered it as a three-dimensional sacred object, but also made it a suitable tool for the spiritual transformation of medieval Indian practitioners. Through a detailed historical analysis of Sanskrit colophons on patronage, production, and use of illustrated manuscripts, she suggests that while Buddhism’s disappearance in eastern India was a slow and gradual process, the Buddhist book-cult played an important role in sustaining its identity. In addition, by examining the physical traces left by later Nepalese users and the contemporary ritual use of the book in Nepal, Kim shows how human agency was critical in perpetuating and intensifying the potency of a manuscript as a sacred object throughout time. |
Contents
Buddhist Books and Their Cultic | |
Innovations of the Medieval Buddhist Book Cult | |
Notes | |
Representing the Perfection of Wisdom | |
The Visual World of Buddhist Book Illustrations | |
Esoteric Buddhism and the Illustrated | |
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Common terms and phrases
Amitābha Asian Asiatic Society AsP manuscript Avalokiteśvara Bengal Bihar bodhisattva book covers Buddha Buddha's life scenes Buddhist book cult Buddhist manuscripts Buddhist practitioners Cambridge University Library chapter colophon color context cultic object dhāraṇī donated donor colophon eastern India eleventh century enlightenment example FIGURE goddess Prajñāpāramitā Group A manuscripts Hevajra historical icon iconographic program identified illustrated Buddhist manuscripts illustrated folios illustrated manuscripts illustrated panels Indian Buddhist inscription Kolkata Kwā Bāhā last folio left panel lotus Mahāmāyūrī Mahāyāna makers mandala Mañjuśrī manuscript production medieval India monastery monastic monk mudrā Museum Nālandā Nepal Nepalese painted panels Pāla Pañcarakṣā manuscript Pañcarakṣā sūtra panel of folio Perfection of Wisdom Phase Three Esoteric practice Prajñāpāramitā sūtra pūjā recto represented right panel sacred object sādhana Sanskrit scribe shrine structure South Asia space stūpa suggests surviving T-no tantra Tantric Tārā tathāgatas three-dimensional Tibet Tibetan twelfth century vajra Vajrasattva Vajrayāna Vikramaśīla visual worship