Buddha and Christ : Images of Wholeness

by Elinor, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780834804463
• ISBN10: 0834804468
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Weatherhill

Summary

Buddha and Christ is an exploration of the visual images produced by two of the world's great religions, and the cultural and spiritual traditions that inform and support them. Its purpose is threefold. First, its attention to the way in which the images embody history, myth, and doctrine offers a unique comparative introduction to both Buddhism and Christianity. Second, it invites readers to see similarities and differences between the images as local inflections of a universal archetype, and thus the basis for dialogue between the two faiths. And finally, it makes some of the world's most profound and moving art more accessible by illustrating and explaining its patterns, symbols, and styles. Illustrated with more than 120 carefully selected and matched images of Buddhist and Christian iconography, the book will be of value to anyone interested in the fine arts as an expression of human spirituality.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	9	(5)
Map of Image Sources	14	(1)
Preface & Acknowledgments	15	(2)
Prologue: Lords of East and West	17	(6)
Part I: The Cage of Form
The Lives of Gautama the Buddha and of Jesus the Christ
Historical Facts	23	(17)
Stories of Incarnation	40	(11)
The Paradox of Incarnation
Buddha's Bodies and Christ's Natures	51	(2)
``Mother of all Buddhas'' and ``Mother of God''	53	(4)
The Sacred as Love	57	(16)
Images of Incarnation
``All Buddhism was in This Face''	73	(1)
What did Gautama and Jesus Look Like?	74	(2)
Miraculous Portraits	76	(3)
Art, Icons, and Idols	79	(3)
Making the Image	82	(13)
The Threat of Images
The Early Church and the Eastern Crisis	95	(5)
The Catholic Church's ``Resplendent Walls'' and Protestant Walls, ``Beautifully White''	100	(7)
``If You Meet the Buddha, Kill Him.''	107	(3)
Resurgent Symbols
Light, Circle, and Tree	110	(12)
Colossal and Multiple Buddhas and the Buddha as Lotus and Vajra	122	(3)
Christ as Bread and Wine, Fish, Lamb, and Shepherd	125	(4)
Buddha's Stupa and the Cross of Christ	129	(7)
Part II: Transformations
Early Images
The Greek Buddha and Christ	136	(6)
The Indian Buddha and the Semitic Christ	142	(3)
``Into All the World''
The Gupta Buddha and the Byzantine Christ	145	(4)
Buddha in China and Japan and Christ in Europe	149	(32)
The Sri Lankan and Southeast Asian, Tantric, Zen, and Western Buddha	181	(7)
The North African, Armenian, Celtic, Mozarabic, and Twentieth-Century Christ	188	(6)
First Impressions	194	(1)
At the Limits of Representation and Absraction
Actors and Mandalas	195	(11)
``Christ! What are Patterns for?''	206	(4)
Notes	210	(4)
Index	214