Back Home
Search

All Results

Generic filters
Search in excerpt
  • About
      • About Smarthistory
      • Press coverage
      • Board of Advisors and Board of Trustees
      • Major donors
      • Smarthistory partners
      • Content editors and contributors
      • Recommended by…
      • A Smarthistory timeline
      • Contribute an essay to Smarthistory
      • Contact Us
      • Support our work
      • We believe art has the power to transform lives and to build understanding across cultures. We believe that the brilliant histories of art belong to everyone, no matter their background.

        Smarthistory unlocks the expertise of hundreds of scholars, making the history of art accessible and engaging to more people, in more places, than any other publisher.
  • Histories of Art
      • Prehistoric
        • Overview of Prehistoric
          • Paleolithic
          • Neolithic
      • Africa
        • Overview of Africa
            • East Africa
            • West Africa
            • North Africa
            • Southern Africa
            • Central Africa
      • Americas
        • Overview of Americas to 1900
            • North America to 1500
            • North America 1500 – 1900
            • South America to 1500
            • South America 1500 – 1900
      • Asia
        • Overview of Asia
            • Hinduism and Buddhism
            • China
            • Japan
            • Korea
            • South Asia
            • Afghanistan
            • Southeast Asia
            • The Himalayas
      • Ancient Mediterranean
        • Overview of Ancient Mediterranean
            • Ancient Near East
            • Egyptian
            • Aegean
            • Greek
            • Nabataean
            • Etruscan
            • Roman
            • Palmyra
      • Medieval Europe & Byzantine
        • Overview of Medieval Europe + Byzantium
            • A beginner’s guide
            • Christianity and art
            • Judaism and art
            • The medieval book
            • Early Christian
            • Byzantine
            • Carolingian
            • Ottonian
            • Romanesque
            • Gothic Art
            • The crusades
      • The Islamic World
        • Overview of the Islamic World
          • Early Period
          • Medieval Period
          • Later period
      • Europe 1300-1800
        • Overview of Europe 1300 – 1800
              • Italy: 14th century
              • Italy: 15th century
              • Italy: 16th century
              • Northern Europe: 15th century
              • Northern Europe: 16th century
              • Spain: 15th and 16th century
              • Reformation and Counter-Reformation
              • Baroque: 17th century
              • Rococo: early to mid 18th century
              • Neoclassicism: late 18th century
              • British: 18th century
      • Europe 1800-1900
        • Overview of Europe: 19th century
            • Romanticism
            • Early Photography
            • Victorian art
            • Realism
            • Second Empire
            • Impressionism
            • Post-Impressionism
            • Symbolism / Art Nouveau
            • The Peredvizhniki
      • Oceania
        • Overview of Oceania
            • Lapita
            • Polynesia
            • Melanesia
            • Micronesia
            • Australia
      • Modernisms 1900-1980
        • Overview of Modernisms 1900 – 1980
            • A beginner’s guide
            • Fauvism + Expressionism
            • Cubism + Early Abstraction
            • Dada + Surrealism
            • German art between the wars
            • Latin American modernism
            • American art to WWII
            • Postwar American art
            • Postwar European art
            • Conceptual + Performance art
            • Post Minimalism
            • Global vanguard
            • Architecture + Design
      • Global cultures 1980 to now
        • Overview of Global Cultures 1980 – now
            • Appropriation and ideological critique
            • Identity and the body
            • Banality and kitsch
            • Ritual, spirituality and transcendence
            • Histories real and imagined
  • Guided learning
      • Start here
          • OVERVIEW
              • Looking at art
              • Approaches to art history
              • Understanding religion in art
              • Understanding museums
              • For the very beginner
              • seeingamericaFeatured | Art that brings U.S. history to life
      • Courses in art history & history
          • OVERVIEW
              • Seeing America – a portal to American history and art
              • ARCHES – At-Risk Cultural Heritage Education Series
              • Short courses – spend an hour — learn a lot!
              • Across cultures – An interconnected world is not as recent as we think.
              • Teaching with images – For K-12 teachers
              • Syllabi / AP & A-level courses
              • Art Appreciation
              • Creating + conserving
      • Smarthistory books
        • Overview – More titles coming soon!
            • AP® Art History (vol. 1) – nos. 1 – 47
            • AP® Art History (vol. 2) – nos. 48-98
            • AP® Art History (vol. 3) – nos. 99 – 152
            • AP® Art History (vol. 4) – nos. 153 – 191
            • AP® Art History (vol. 5) – nos. 192 – 250
            • Ancient Near Eastern art
            • Ancient Egyptian Art
            • Ancient Aegean Art
            • Ancient Greek Art
            • Ancient Etruscan art
            • Ancient Roman art
            • Guide to Italian art in the 1300s
      • Virtual visits – museums & sites
        • Overview – art by location
          • Austria
          • China
          • Egypt
          • France
          • Germany
          • Greece
          • Italy
          • India
          • Japan
          • Mexico
          • Netherlands
          • Peru
          • Russia
          • Spain
          • Turkey
          • United Kingdom
          • United States
  • Commons
  • Support
      • Donate – Help Smarthistory continue to make a difference
      • Contribute an essay – Help make art history relevant and engaging
      • We created Smarthistory to provide students around the world with the highest-quality educational resources for art and cultural heritage—for free.
Search

Art of Asia

Browse this content
A brief history of the cultures of Asia
Hinduism and Buddhism, a beginner's guide
Browse all content
Hinduism and Buddhism, an introduction
Beliefs made visible: Hindu art in South Asia
Hindu temples
Introduction to Buddhism
Beliefs made visible: Buddhist art in South Asia
The historical Buddha
Introduction to the stupa
Buddhist monasteries
Images of enlightenment: aniconic vs. iconic depictions of the Buddha in India
Jatakas: the many lives of Buddha as Bodhisattva
Seated Buddha
Four Buddhas at the American Museum of Natural History
China
Browse this content
A beginner's guide
Imperial China, an introduction
Chinese landscape painting
Chinese calligraphy, an introduction
Chinese porcelain: decoration
Chinese porcelain: production and export
Neolithic
Browse this content
Chinese jade: an introduction
Jade Cong
Working jade
Shang dynasty (c.1600-1046 B.C.E.)
Oracle Bone, Shang Dynasty
Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 B.C.E.)
Da Ke Ding
Eastern Zhou dynasty (770–256 B.C.E.)
Ambition and luxury: Marquis Yi of the Zeng State
Han dynasty (206 B.C.E. -220 C.E.)
Funeral banner of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui)
Northern Wei dynasty (386-534 C.E.)
Longmen caves, Luoyang
Northern Qi dynasty (550-577)
Bodhisattva, probably Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin)
Tang dynasty (618-907)
Browse this content
Chinese Buddhist cave shrines
Mogao caves at Dunhuang
The paintings and manuscripts from cave 17 at Mogao (1 of 2)
The paintings and manuscripts from cave 17 at Mogao (2 of 2)
Attributed to Zhou Fang, Ladies Wearing Flowers in Their Hair
Song dynasty (960-1279)
Browse this content
Neo-Confucianism and Fan Kuan, Travelers by Streams and Mountains
Master of the (Fishing) Nets Garden
Liang Kai, Poet Strolling by a Marshy Bank
Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)
Browse this content
Zheng Sixiao, Ink Orchid
Buddha of Medicine Bhaishajyaguru (Yaoshi fo)
Huang Gongwang, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains
The David Vases
Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
A Ritual Ming dish
The Forbidden City
Wang Lü, Landscapes of Mount Hua (Huashan)
Qing dynasty (1644-1912)
Bada Shanren, Lotus and Ducks
The European Palaces of the Qianlong Emperor, Beijing
Republic of China
Lang Jingshan and early Chinese photography
People's Republic of China (1949–present)
Browse this content
Liu Chunhua, Chairman Mao en Route to Anyuan
Ai Weiwei, Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds)
Ai Weiwei, Remembering and the Politics of Dissent
Japan
Browse this content
A beginner's guide
A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Jomon to Heian periods
A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Kamakura to Azuchi-Momoyama periods
A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Edo period
A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Meiji to Reiwa periods
Japanese art: the formats of two-dimensional works
Kofun period (300-552 C.E.)
Haniwa Warrior
Nara period (710-794)
Tōdai-ji
The Shōsōin Repository and its treasure
Kamakura period (1185-1333)
Browse this content
Jizō Bosatsu
Prince Shōtoku at Age Two
Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace
Muromachi period (1392-1573)
Browse this content
Bamboo in the Four Seasons: painting and poetry in Japan
Ryōanji (Peaceful Dragon Temple)
Muromachi to Momoyama period Negoro ware ewer
Edo period (1615-1868)
Browse this content
A portrait of St. Francis Xavier and Christianity in Japan
Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms
Utagawa Kunisada I, Visiting Komachi
Hokusai
Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave)
Hokusai’s printed illustrated Books
Beyond The Great Wave — Hokusai at 90
20th century
Mori Mariko, Pure Land
Korea
Browse this content
Gold and jade crown, Silla Kingdom
Korean Celadons of the Goryeo Dynasty
Water-Moon Avalokiteśvara
Portrait of Sin Sukju
Song Su-Nam, Summer Trees
Afghanistan
Browse this content
Crossroads of the ancient world
Bamiyan Buddhas
Dado Panel, Courtyard of the Royal Palace of Mas’ud III
South Asia
Browse this content
A beginner's guide
A brief history of the art of South Asia to 500 C.E.
Submerged, burned, and scattered: celebrating the destruction of objects in South Asia
Beliefs made visible: Buddhist art in South Asia
Bodh Gaya: The Site of the Buddha’s Enlightenment
Bodh Gaya: center of the Buddhist world
Beliefs made visible: Hindu art in South Asia
Discovering Sacred Texts: Hinduism
Varanasi: sacred city
Three Hindu gods
Ganesha Jayanti, Lord of Beginnings
The making and worship of Ganesha statues in Maharashtra
Introduction to Islam
Indus Valley Civilization
An Indus Seal
Mauryan period
Browse this content
The Pillars of Ashoka
Lion Capital, Ashokan Pillar at Sarnath
Introduction to the stupa
Kushan period
A Buddha from Mathura
Gupta period
The Gupta Period
The Caves of Ajanta — Vakataka dynasty
The Cave of Shiva at Elephanta
Pallava dynasty
The Great Relief at Mamallapuram
Shore Temple, Mamallapuram
Durga Slays the Buffalo Demon at Mamallapuram
Chola dynasty
Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi as the Goddess Parvati
Rajarajesvara temple, Tanjavur
Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja)
Chandella dynasty
Sacred space and symbolic form at Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho (India)
The Delhi Sultanate
The Qutb complex and early Sultanate architecture
Mughal Empire
Browse this content
The Taj Mahal
Bichitr, Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings
Illustration from the Akbarnama
Exploring Color in Mughal Paintings
Rajput Mewar
A page from the Mewar Ramayana
Vijayanagara Empire + Nayak dynasty
The Meenakshi Temple at Madurai
Kingdom of Mysore
Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore
Tipu’s Tiger
Southeast Asia
Browse this content
Cambodia
Browse this content
Angkor Wat
The Looting of Cambodian Antiquities
The Scourge of Looting: Trafficking Antiquities, from Temple to Museum
Sotheby's Returns Looted 10th Century Statue to Cambodia
Indonesia
Borobudur
Thailand
Ban Chiang Clay Jar
Vietnam
Mỹ Sơn Hindu temple complex
The Himalayas
Tibet
Jowo Rinpoche, Jokhang Temple, Tibet
Sacred arts of Tibet
Mahakala, Protector of the Tent, c. 1500

Beliefs made visible: Buddhist art in South Asia

by Asian Art Museum

Video from the Asian Art Museum.

Cite this page as: Asian Art Museum, "Beliefs made visible: Buddhist art in South Asia," in Smarthistory, January 27, 2016, accessed October 20, 2020, https://smarthistory.org/beliefs-made-visible-buddhist-art-in-south-asia/.

Flickr IconBrowse Smarthistory images for teaching & learning! 

Sign up for our newsletter!

Receive occasional emails about new Smarthistory content.

If you don't know about Paracas textiles

You should!

Check out this new essay

by Dr. Ananda Cohen-Aponte

Go to the essay
See all essays by Dr. Cohen-Aponte Close

At Smarthistory we believe art has the power to transform lives and to build understanding across cultures. We believe that the brilliant histories of art belong to everyone, no matter their background. Smarthistory’s free, award-winning digital content unlocks the expertise of hundreds of leading scholars, making the history of art accessible and engaging to more people, in more places, than any other provider.

  • Donate
  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Contact Us
facebook icon
twitter icon
instagram icon
youtube icon
flickr icon
  • About Smarthistory
  • Smarthistory’s blog
  • Contribute an essay
  • Content editors and contributors

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

· © 2020 Smarthistory · Designed by Press Customizr · Powered by ·