Understanding the Tibetan Buddhist Temple: A Photographic Study of Vajrayana Shrine Offerings

Vajrayana Buddhism can seem mysterious and confusing to Westerners, with its vibrant embrace of the five senses. This book parts the curtain, to explore the rich symbolism of Tibetan Buddhist icons with explanatory text that will bring their meaning to life.

Understanding the Tibetan Buddhist Temple is an extensively annotated portfolio of 154 colour photographs of statues, shrine offerings, thangka paintings, and other ritual objects from Karma Tekchen Zabsal Ling, a Thrangu lineage Karma Kargyu centre in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. The book is in three parts: A Garland of Precious Objects to Enrich the Mind (the shrine room); The Golden Rosary of Karma Kargyu Lineage Holders (thangkas); and The Consecration of Dzambhala (how icons are sanctified).

The author is a well-known Canadian Buddhist practitioner-scholar whose photographs of Buddhist art and architecture in India and Asia can be found in the archival collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Fine Arts Department of York University. This is his second book on Buddhist iconography.