Mandala : The Architecture of Enlightenment

by Denise Patry Leidy, Robert A. F. Thurman

A complete color catalogue of 48 stunning mandalas from Tibet, India, China, Japan, and Nepal spanning the 11th to the 18th centuries, as well as more than fifty other images. It also contains an essay by Leidy on mandala imagery and symbolism and as essay by Thurman on the "Architecture of Enlightenment", as well as a glossary and appendices on the significance of these "sacred cosmograms of the Hindu-Buddhist world."

Genres: Art, Buddhism, Nonfiction

175 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

Reviews

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of photographs of art with explanations in here, but the explanations are a bit on the esoteric side, and expect either you know a lot about Buddhism and the protective deities depicted or you learn more quickly than the text allows you to. The best part was possibly the appendix, which went into detail about how a sand mandala is created and included excerpts from other books about mandalas.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not entirely comprehensible, but good art.