Receptacle of the sacred : illustrated manuscripts and the Buddhist book cult in South Asia

Description

In considering medieval illustrated Buddhist manuscripts as sacred objects of cultic innovation, Receptacle of the Sacred explores how and why the South Asian Buddhist book-cult has survived for almost two millennia to the present. A book "manuscript" should be understood as a form of sacred space: a temple in microcosm, not only imbued with divine presence but also layered with the memories of many generations of users. Jinah Kim argues that illustrating a manuscript with Buddhist imagery not only empowered it as a three-dimensional sacred object, but also made it a suitable tool for t. Read more... Abstract: In considering medieval illustrated Buddhist manuscripts as sacred objects of cultic innovation, this book explores how and why South Asian Buddhist book-cult has survived for almost two millennia to present. It also shows how human agency was critical in perpetuating and intensifying the potency of a manuscript as a sacred object throughout time. Read more...