Research into Buddhist Iconography

Just realed yesterday . . . an Escape from Tibet . . .

Tak108 6 likes. "Harsh Splendour"

Dr. Alexander Berzin, Mistaken Foreign Myths about Shambhala
http://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/history-culture/shambhala/mistaken-foreign-myths-about-shambhala

Emil Schlagintweit, Buddhism in Tibet. Illustrated By Literary Documents and Objects of Religious Worship. With An Account of The Buddhist Systems Preceding It in India, Leipzig and London, 1863.
https://ia802906.us.archive.org/35/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.49739/2015.49739.Buddhism-In-Tibet-1863_text.pdf
https://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bit/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Schlagintweit

Martin Brauen, Dreamworld Tibet : Western Illusions, Orchid Press, Bangkok, Thailand, 2004
In this lively and visually engaging work on Western conceptions of Tibet, anthropologist Martin Brauen paints a vivid portrait of misinterpretation, trivialization, and political and commercial exploitation of a rich and ancient culture. Starting with romantic notions of 17th-century adventurers in search of a Himalayan Utopia, Brauen discusses misconceptions both amusing and disturbing, such as the distortions of 20th-century neo-Nazis. The author also details the cynical exploitation of Tibetan Buddhism—a fundamental objective of which is the elimination of human greed—to further Western commercial aims.
Nor does Brauen absolve Tibetans themselves in the use of the more benign, even flattering, of these distorted images, as they strive to draw the world's attention to their own politically and socially tenuous situation. Here the author lists the traditionally tolerant nature of Buddhist beliefs, the tendency of Tibetans to submit without question to authority figures, and some inherent naiveté as contributing factors. The book concludes with a caution on the dangers that these misconceptions pose to a mature presentation of the great value that Tibetan culture holds for the world.
The illustrations are a fascinating and diverse collection drawn from movies, comic books, and popular literature. Illustrations of the commercial packaging of Tibet, its spiritual icons and religious leaders, are vivid and at times even shocking, as they portray the promotion of products ranging from cars to cosmetics, T-shirts, ash trays, and even soft po*******hy. In a world in which the elimination of cultural misunderstanding may be the key to ending human strife, Dreamworld Tibet offers a thoughtful and timely contribution.

Rob Linrothe, Paradise and Plumage: Chinese Connections in Tibetan Arhat Painting. New York: Rubin Museum of Art; Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2004.
A visually stunning inaugural catalogue of the Rubin Museum of Art, New York. This 104-page volume celebrates and explores the artistic exchange between Tibet and China from the 13th to the 19th century, taking the theme of Buddhist Arhat painting as a concise lens through which to view the wider ramifications of artistic and cultural interaction. Examining the exchange of motifs, compositions, and modes of representation, Paradise and Plumage reveals the creative reassignment of meaning when Tibetan artists appropriate aspects that may derive from older Chinese traditions and vice versa.
DOWNLOAD HERE:
https://dn721906.ca.archive.org/0/items/paradise-and-plumage/Paradise%20and%20Plumage.pdf

Alexander Zorin and Liubov Kriakina, One Hundred and Eight Buddhist Icons kept at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, St. Petersburg Centre for Oriental Studies Publishers, St. Petersburg, 2013
https://www.academia.edu/31360003/One_Hundred_And_Eight_Buddhist_Icons_Kept_At_The_Institute_Of_Oriental_Manuscripts_RAS

Edward Conze, The Buddha’s Law Among the Birds, Oxford, Bruno Cassirer, 1955.
https://dhamma-library.cdn.winmetta.org/14.%20Rear-Buddhist-Books-2/Jataka.pdf

Useful for connections between the Naxi (Na-Khi) symbols of the kLu/Naga and Garuda, and Tibetan Buddhism.
Very Stefano Zamblera – Xiulong, Les signes d’animaux et de créatures mythiques en Orient et en Occident. Créatures mythiques animals dans les manuscrits naxis [IN ENGLISH]
https://www.academia.edu/4551940/Cr%C3%A9atures_mythiques_animales_dans_les_manuscrits_naxis

Frederick W. Bunce, Mudras in Buddhist and Hindu Practices: An Iconographic Consideration, D.K. Print World, New Delhi, 2005.
Mudras occupy an important place in Buddhist and Hindu religious practices as these signify special meanings, associated with specific divinities and rites, which cannot be represented any other way. This book is a dictionary of mudras in Hindu and Buddhist religious practices that lists the various mudras -- deity-centred, rite-centred, yogic-centred, and so on -- illustrating each with a simple drawing drawn generally from the perspective of one holding the mudra. It contains detailed notes that give numerous references to literary and other sources that reveal a lot about the mudras -- their descriptions in the texts, rites associated with the mudras in the texts as well as the varied interpretations of a number of mudras in the different texts. The book also has an introduction on Hindu and Buddhist mudras that goes into iconographic features associated with deities along with the technical descriptions and the subcategories and further divisions into which mudras are arranged. It scrutinises the work done by a number of scholars on the subject to throw further light on the subject. The volume will prove indispensable to all students and scholars who are engaged in study of Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions and practices.
Hand Gestures & Mudras
https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=2306
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudra

John Vincent Bellezza, "Metal and Stone Vestiges, Religion, Magic and Protection in the Art
of Ancient Tibet", Asian Art, April 29, 2004
https://www.asianart.com/articles/vestiges/index.html

Karmapa Scroll ( Tsurphu Scroll)
https://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/ajw2203/2018/11/09/karmapa-scroll/

Patricia Berger, “Miracles in Nanjing: An Imperial Record of the Fifth Karmapa’s Visit to the Chinese Capital”. Cultural Intersections in Later Chinese Buddhism. Ed. Marsha Weidner. University of Hawai'i Press, 2001, pp. 145–16
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Suolang Qujie, Reconciliation and Legitimization: The Fifth Karmapa Deshin Shegpa’s Trip to Ming China (1406-1408), MA Thesis, The Faculty of Graduate Studies, The University Of British Columbia, (Vancouver) August 2012
https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/stream/pdf/24/1.0073150/2
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Elliot Sperling, The 5th Karma-pa and Some Aspects of the Relationship Between Tibet and Early Ming, Tibetan Studies in honour of High Richardson: Proceedings of the International Seminar of Tibetan Studies, Oxford 1979