Art & Imagination
2 total works
To the Hindu, the entire universe is a living being, and through the visual arts - ritualistic, compelling, often stunningly beautiful - that holistic awareness is made available to all. Long rejected by the West as alien and bizarre, Hindu imagery speaks a language that is at last beginning to be understood. Its extraordinary symbolism - elephant-headed and multi-armed deities, fierce demons and fabulous creatures - is a sophisticated iconography conveying universal religious truths. Uniting sensuousness and spirituality, passion and detachment, Hinduism celebrates the fullness of life, and teaches the indivisibility of body and soul, time and eternity. Alistair Shearer is a teacher of meditation and a historian of oriental art, who writes and lectures on the sacred function of art and architecture. His other books include "Buddha: The Intelligent Heart" (1992).
Over 2500 years ago there lived a man who did not claim to be specially gifted, divinely inspired or chosen, yet whose teaching now attracts an ever-increasing number of followers from all walks of life.
Serious, but never solemn, the Buddha's way seeks a realization of how the mind limits and isolates itself. Through study, discipline and meditation, such understanding can transcend the suffering, ego-bound self and foster wisdom and compassion, positivity and unfettered joy.
Buddhist culture has spread, diversified and developed, from ancient India to modern America. This book displays the rich global array of art and architecture, ritual and symbol, festivals and people that reflects a religion of great beauty and profound practical insight. Alistair Shearer explains how the timeless wisdom of the Buddha offers the West a means by which it can rediscover its own sense of spirituality.
Serious, but never solemn, the Buddha's way seeks a realization of how the mind limits and isolates itself. Through study, discipline and meditation, such understanding can transcend the suffering, ego-bound self and foster wisdom and compassion, positivity and unfettered joy.
Buddhist culture has spread, diversified and developed, from ancient India to modern America. This book displays the rich global array of art and architecture, ritual and symbol, festivals and people that reflects a religion of great beauty and profound practical insight. Alistair Shearer explains how the timeless wisdom of the Buddha offers the West a means by which it can rediscover its own sense of spirituality.