Ruthless Compassion

Despite an impressive body of distinguished scholarship on the history of esoteric Buddhism in India, it is only sketchily understood. The author assembles hundreds of works of art, analyzing them formally and stylistically, to determine the chronology of their iconographhic themes. The objects provide a continuous historical record of the evolution of esoteric Buddhist belief ...

Despite an impressive body of distinguished scholarship on the history of esoteric Buddhism in India, it is only sketchily understood. The author assembles hundreds of works of art, analyzing them formally and stylistically, to determine the chronology of their iconographhic themes. The objects provide a continuous historical record of the evolution of esoteric Buddhist belief and practice - a record that supplements and often challenges the conclusions of exclusively textual histories.