Rob Linrothe

Mirror Image: Deity and Donor as Vajrasattva

In the context of this special issue of History of Religions on Esoteric Buddhist art and practice, my intention is to demonstrate that two images of Vajrasattva, one a circa ninthor tenth-century painting from Dunhuang (figs. 1–2) and the other a circa tenth-century sculpture from Sanchi, India (figs. 3–4), can be understood to express visually the key ritual techniques, practices, or processes of Esoteric Buddhism. In both cases there is an apparent mirroring of the central Vajrasattva image in the location generally associated with donor-practitioner, at the bottom or base of the painting or sculpture, respectively. This duplication of Vajrasattva can be related to the advanced practices

Utterly False, Utterly Undeniable: Visual Strategies in the Akaniṣṭha Shrine Murals of Takden Phuntsokling Monastery

abstract:This essay argues that the design strategies of the murals in the Akaniṣṭha Shrine, the top-floor shrine at Tāranāthas Takden Phuntsokling, were intended to provoke in the viewer a type of absorption compatible with Tibetan Buddhist values. This would have been in line with contemporaneous recognition of the potential for consecrated works of art to provide direct contact with the deity depicted. By eliminating framing and boundaries between scenes, minimizing inscriptions, employing the gaze to foster internal and external coherence, and using detailing, highlighting, and a painterly illusion of proximity, the murals invite the beholder to engage with an aesthetic of presence.

Introduction: Buddhist Visual Culture

The articles in this special issue locate the interplay among texts, images, and ritual practices of Esoteric Buddhism within the context of its movements across Asia between the eighth and twelfth centuries. An important goal of the grouping of the essays is to explore approaches for understanding Esoteric Buddhism and its art that cross disciplinary or evidentiary boundaries. By examining different points and moments of exchange and adaptation, the essays also attend to the process of negotiation between the local/regional and the global/transregional in South, Southeast, Central, and, to a lesser extent, East Asia. They challenge the diffusionist narrative of Buddhism’s spread from India to other parts of Asia and suggest the multidirectionality of the development of Esoteric Buddhist traditions. An allusive critical analogy might be