An annual, joint publication of the Freer Gallery of Asian Art at the Smithsonian and the University of Michigan’s History of Art Department.

Articles Featured in our Library:

The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad: The Impact of the Laity (2000) – Pia Brancaccio

The Dharmacakramudrā Variant at Ajanta: An Iconological Study (2000) – John C. Huntington and Chaya Chandrasekhar

Claims of Buddhist Relics in the Eastern Han Tomb Murals at Horinger: Issues in the Historiography of the Introduction of Buddhism to China (2014) – Min-Ku Kim

Performing Mind, Writing Meditation: Dōgen’s Fukanzazengi as Zen Calligraphy (2016) – Charlotte Eubanks

Dōgen’s calligraphy is a carefully orchestrated performance. That is, it does precisely what it asks its readers to do: it sits calmly, evenly, and at poised attention in a real-world field of objects. The manuscript’s brushstrokes and entire aesthetic layout enact seated meditation.

The Light-Emitting Image of Magadha in Tang Buddhist Art (2020) – Dorothy C. Wong

As a sacred site for pilgrimage, Bodhgayā became even more prominent from the sixth and seventh centuries onward, when the rebuilding of the Mahābodhi Temple coincided with the installation of a Buddha statue with the earth-touching gesture, symbolic of the Buddha’s calling upon the earth to bear witness to his victory over evil. Miracles enshroud the creation of the image itself, and later it became a famous icon widely copied throughout the Buddhist world.