Peter Nebel

Deities of Tibetan Buddhism: The Zurich Paintings of the Icons Worthwhile to See Peter Nebel

Brief Description: "Deities of Tibetan Buddhism" is an extraordinary encyclopedia of Buddhist icons. The images, presented in the book at full scale, were originally created by a master artist in the early nineteenth century to serve as initiation cards. The original tsakli were woodblock prints, hand colored at the request of a Ch'ing Dynasty nobleman who had received the initiations. Such cards are used in ceremonies to introduce the practitioner to the deity and his or her practice. The paintings are housed in the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich. This book is also an indispensable reference tool for Tibetologists, students of Mahayana Buddhism, and museum curators. Its extensive supplementary materials include English translations of the basic invocation texts; the associated visualization with descriptions of the deities' postures, attributes, and colors; and the dharanis and mantras used in their invocation. The extensive pictorial index, featuring drawings and text by Robert Beer, explains the symbolic meaning behind the deities' implements and adornments. The cross-referenced indices for Tibetan, Sanskrit, Mongolian, and English names and terms provide quick access to vast amounts of information. "Deities of Tibetan Buddhism" is an essential text for any serious student of Tibetan and East Asian art and religion. Biographical Note: Martin Willson received his PhD in radioastronomy at Cambridge University before spending twelve years as a Buddhist monk in Australia, Switzerland, and France. Now married, he lives in Swansea, South Wales, United Kingdom. Martin Brauen (born 1948) is an anthropologist from Bern, Switzerland. From 2008 to 2012, he was the chief curator of the Rubin Museum for Himalayan Arts in New York. And since 1975, he has been the head of the Himalaya, Tibet, and the Far East department of the Ethographic Museum of the University of Zurich. Robert Beer was born in Wales in 1947 and now lives in Oxford, England. He first became interested in Tibetan art in the late 1960s and has since spent more than forty years depicting and studying the iconography and symbolism of Vajrayana Buddhism. In recent years he has been actively involved with some of the finest contemporary Newar artists of the Kathmandu Valley and has assembled a unique collection of their work. Apart from his continuing work with Indo-Tibetan iconography, he is also deeply involved in researching all aspects of the afterlife, especially the enhanced consciousness and transformations related to the near-death experience. His illustrations have been widely published and pirated, and he is the author and illustrator of "The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs" and "The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols."Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Review Quotes: "The lineage of these deities has survived for hundreds of years, but now, as the great masters disappear, this lineage is in danger of being lost. How will the next generation of practitioners gain a proper knowledge of these deities? This book marks the first time all this information has been collected in one place, with the deities shown in full color and with so many details provided about them." Deities of Tibetan Buddhism" is an enormously important achievement, an essential document for preserving this precious lineage. Wonderful! Wonderful!"--Ven. Amchok Rinpoche, Director, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, DharamsalaPublisher Marketing: Deities of Tibetan Buddhism is an encyclopedia of Buddhist icons based on the Rinjung Gyatsa, the Narthang Gyatso, and the Vajravali. Full-color illustrations of over five hundred Tibetan Buddhist deities are reproduced here from a set of hand-painted woodblock prints created in the early nineteenth century. Housed in the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich, this rare collection is presented along with an extensive explanation of the meditative visualizations, mantras, and symbolism around each figure. Deities of Tibetan Buddhism is an indispensable reference and identification aid for art historians, curators, scholars, and serious students of Tibetan Buddhism around the world.

Contributor Bio:  Willson, Martin Geshe Rabten (1921-86) was born in Dargye in eastern Tibet. He studied at Sera Monastery in Lhasa, where he gained renown as a great scholar, debater, and meditation master. In 1959, he escaped to India, where he became the spiritual teacher of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In the mid 1960s Geshe Rabten was appointed as a religious assistant to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. On His Holiness's request he began teaching Dharma to Westerners in Dharamsala in 1969, and he went to live and teach in Switzerland in 1974. He founded Rabten Choeling Center (originally Tharpa Choeling) in Switzerland in 1979, where he lived and worked as spiritual director until he passed away in 1986. Contributor Bio:  Brauen, Martin Martin Brauen (born 1948) is an anthropologist from Bern, Switzerland. From 2008 to 2012, he was the chief curator of the Rubin Museum for Himalayan Arts in New York. And since 1975, he has been the head of the Himalaya, Tibet, and the Far East department of the Ethographic Museum of the University of Zurich. Contributor Bio:  Beer, Robert Robert Beer studied Tibetan thangka painting in India and Nepal with Khamtrul Rinpoche, the greatest living thangka painter of his time, and with Jampa-la, the state painter of Tibet. He currently lives with his family in Oxford.