von Charles Genoud und Takao Inoue

With photos of the monasteries: Alchi, Lamayuru, Mang Gyu, Saspol, Basgo, Phyiang, Guru Lha Khang, Spituk, Samkar, Tsemo, Stakna, Shey, Tiktse, Gö Tsang and Hemis.

Isolated between the mountain ranges of the Himalayas and the Karakoram, Ladakh has a Buddhist tradition more than a thousand years old. Locked up it´s monasteries are rare vestiges of artistic styles which, having once flourished in India and Central Asia, have now almost totally disappeared from the regions of their origins. This is especially the case of the marvelously preserved murals of Alchi which date back to the eleventh century. The tradition of painting temple walls is preserved up to this day. It allows us to appreciate the extreme wealth of the tantric Buddhist pantheon and the different ways of representing it.
In his introduction, Charles GENOUD, the author of the text, is especially concerned with showing the profound meaning which the iconography represents for tantric Buddhism. He analyzes in detail the symbolism of one divinity (Vajrabhairava) and his mandala according to Tibetan commentaries. After a summary of the history of Ladakh and of the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism to this region, he comments on the evolution of Buddhist art, from the first representations of the Buddha up to belated developments as they are seen Ladakh. Buddhist tantric art is extremely rich and diversified as much in its forms as in its functions, which are of a didactic, symbolic, historic and decorative order. The author then deals with the essential points of Buddhist doctrine, however his study, based on Tibetan texts and oral teachings of Tibetan masters, is especially oriented towards tantrism.
The Japanese photographer Takao INOUE chose the best works of the monasteries which he visited while travelling up the Upper Indus valley. By his flawless technique and his sensitivity he makes it possible for us to experience this art which the Occident is only beginning to discover.
– Antiquarisches Exemplar, Buch sehr gut, Schutzumschlag am Buchrücken ausgeblichen –

248 Seiten, geb. mit Schutzumschlag, 130 ganzseitige Farbtafeln, 2 Karten, Englisch, Edition Olizane, Geneva CH, 1982, Format 22 x 30,5 cm

Tibetan Buddhism

Buddhist Wall-Painting of Ladakh