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Reinventing the Wheel: Paintings of Rebirth in Medieval Buddhist Temples
Awarded the Prix Stanislas Julien by the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The Wheel of Rebirth is one of the most basic and popular images in Buddhist visual culture. For nearly two thousand years, artists have painted it onto the porches of Buddhist temples; preachers have used it to explain karmic retribution; and philosophers have invoked it to illuminate the contrast between ignorance and nirvana. In Reinventing the Wheel, noted scholar Stephen F. Teiser explores the history and varied interpretations of the Wheel of Rebirth, a circle divided into sections depicting the Buddhist cycle of transmigration.
Combining visual evidence with textual sources, Reinventing the Wheel shows how the metaphor of the wheel has been interpreted in divergent local traditions, from India to Tibet, Central Asia, and China. Teiser deftly shows how written and painted renditions of the wheel have animated local architectural sites and religious rituals, informing concepts of time and reincarnation and acting as an organizing principle in the cosmology and daily life of practicing Buddhists.
Engaging and accessible, this uniquely pan-Buddhist tour will appeal to anyone interested in Buddhist culture, as well as to scholars of religious studies, art history, architecture, philosophy, and textual studies.
The Wheel of Rebirth is one of the most basic and popular images in Buddhist visual culture. For nearly two thousand years, artists have painted it onto the porches of Buddhist temples; preachers have used it to explain karmic retribution; and philosophers have invoked it to illuminate the contrast between ignorance and nirvana. In Reinventing the Wheel, noted scholar Stephen F. Teiser explores the history and varied interpretations of the Wheel of Rebirth, a circle divided into sections depicting the Buddhist cycle of transmigration.
Combining visual evidence with textual sources, Reinventing the Wheel shows how the metaphor of the wheel has been interpreted in divergent local traditions, from India to Tibet, Central Asia, and China. Teiser deftly shows how written and painted renditions of the wheel have animated local architectural sites and religious rituals, informing concepts of time and reincarnation and acting as an organizing principle in the cosmology and daily life of practicing Buddhists.
Engaging and accessible, this uniquely pan-Buddhist tour will appeal to anyone interested in Buddhist culture, as well as to scholars of religious studies, art history, architecture, philosophy, and textual studies.
- GenresBuddhism
Hardcover
First published September 1, 2006
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August 4, 2011
Compared with Teiser's book on 10 kings (published about 15 years ago), this one is really a book. His 10 kings reads more like a Ph.D. dissertation. Both are solid, top-notch research. But the style of writing is so different! When I read his 10 kings, I constantly ask myself except for people like me who are interested in medieval Buddhism who else will care to read his book at all? The reason I asked this question is not because I doubt the importance of this topic, it is because the way he presented his research to us: his 10 kings failed to connect the relevance of his research to us. In the present volume, he successfully conveyed that sense of relevance through personal stories like the story of kim in a popular novel (1901) and how that fascination propelled him to dive into the research of the life wheel in Buddhist cosmology. This book is a very pleasant read: better than any science fiction! If you ever wonder whether we could have lived differently, then this book will open your eyes to a fascinating way of life!
Displaying 1 of 1 review