{"collection":"Sacred Texts: Buddhism","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_bud_bit_bit17_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_bud_bit_bit17_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_bud_bit_bit17_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/bit/bit17.htm","summary":"This is a scholarly excerpt \u2014 likely from a 19th-century European treatise on Tibetan or Mongolian Buddhism \u2014 covering Buddhist sacred iconography and its material production. It traces the historical expansion of Buddhist worship from simple veneration of Shakyamuni's image through to the elaborate Tibetan pantheon of hundreds of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Dhyani figures, and deified priests. A central argument is that consecrated images are not merely representations but are believed to become literally \"animated\" with divine power, which explains both the staggering quantity of images produced and the Lamas' jealously maintained monopoly over their manufacture. The text details the technical methods used \u2014 pinholes and coal-dust transfers for paintings, clay or papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 moulds for sculpture, even butter tinted with vegetable dyes \u2014 and the elaborate ceremonies governing each stage, including which days are permissible for painting the eyes. It also systematically catalogues iconographic conventions: specific body postures and hand gestures (mudras) encode theological meanings (e.g., a downward palm signifies charity; interlaced fingers symbolize the union of wisdom and matter). A notably distinctive claim is that no Buddhist ritual gestures overlap with Brahmanical ones, which the author presents as evidence of Buddhism's doctrinal independence from Hindu tradition.","tags":["19th Century Buddhology","Buddhist Iconography","Tibetan Buddhism"],"text":null,"title":"Chapter XIV. Representation of Buddhist Deities","tradition":"Sacred Texts: Buddhism","translated_text":null,"word_count":7204}