The encyclopedia of Tibetan symbols and motifs / text and illustrations by Robert Beer.

Includes bibliography: page 375.

Chapter 1. Landscape elements -- Rock formations -- Simulacra in landscape -- Water -- Fire (flames) -- Air (clouds) -- Sky -- Rainbows -- Aura lines -- Chapter 2. Flowers and trees -- The lotus -- Lotus seats or thrones -- Flowers, flower buds, and leaves -- Trees, leaves, and fruit roundels -- 3. Animals -- Animals mythological and real -- The windhorse and the four supernatural animal -- Guardians of the four directions -- The dragon -- Garuda -- The Makara -- The face of majesty -- The Naga -- The three victorious creatures of harmony -- Domestic and wild animals -- Tiger, leopard, snow-lion and horse -- The elephant -- Deer -- Birds -- The six-ornament throne of enlightenment -- The animal thrones of the five buddhas -- The five buddha families: colours, origins, and contradictions -- Chapter 4. Narrative subjects -- The four friends or harmonious brothers -- The six symbols of long life -- Diagram of shamatha meditation practice or 'tranquil abiding' -- Chapter 5. Cosmology -- Mount Meru -- The Vedic legend of the churning of the ocean -- The mandala offering -- The Tibetan astrological diagram -- The 'all-powerful ten' interlocking syllables -- The stupa -- The channel-wheel systems -- Chapter 6. Mudras -- Chapter 7. The chakravartin and his seven precious possessions -- The seven possessions of the chakravartin -- The seven secondary possessions of the chakravartin -- Chapter 8. Auspicious symbols -- The eight auspicious symbols -- The eight auspicious substances -- The five offerings of sensory enjoyment -- Chapter 9. Various peaceful offerings, jewels, and ritual implements -- The three jewels -- The seven water bowl offerings -- Jewels -- Gzi stones or beads -- The rosary -- Hand-held plant attributes -- Assorted ritual implements -- The possessions of an ordained monk -- Monastic and ceremonial musical instruments -- Chapter 10. The wheel of sharp weapons -- The vajra -- The crossed vajra -- The bell -- The ritual dagger -- The Hindu kapalikas, padmasambhava, and the Buddhist mahasiddhas -- The eight great charnel grounds -- The Hindu rite of cremation -- The tantric staff -- The hand drum -- The thighbone trumpet -- The curved knife or chopper -- The skull or skull-cup -- Hand-held weapons and the ritual implements of specific deities -- Archery -- The bow --The arrow -- The sword -- The trident-pike, caduceus, dart, and other bladed weapons -- The spear, lance, javelin, harpoon, and pike -- The trident -- The club -- The snare, noose or lasso -- The iron chain -- The shield -- The discus -- The axe -- The elephant goad or iron hook -- Miscellaneous ritual implements and weapons -- Chapter 11. Wrathful offerings, tormas, and ritual fire hearths -- Dismembered body parts and other wrathful attributes -- Flayed skin friezes of wrathful offering assemblies -- The eight attires of the charnel grounds -- The six bone ornaments and the five-skull crown -- Ritual offering cakes and thread crosses -- The wrathful offering of the five senses -- The inner offering -- An assembly of weapons and wrathful offerings -- The ritual fire offering -- Chapter 12. Geometric borders, patterns, designs, and motifs -- Select bibliography.

This study of the sacred art of Tibet is the result of eight years of brush drawing, and a lifetime spent researching and reflecting upon the inner and often hidden meanings and origins encapsulated in this complex iconographical tradition. Several thousand individual drawings arranged as a series of 170 pages illustrate the many variations in style, lineages and individual expression of these objects. The text interweaves the origins, meanings and functions of these symbols, derived from India, Tibet and China, into a comprehensive tapestry within a Buddhist conceptual framework.
Source: Publisher