Buddhism: Flammarion Iconographic Guides

Frederic's book has been marketed as a general guide to Buddhist iconography, but don't be confused: it is actually an illustrated encyclopedia of the gods and goddesses of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism. As such, it succeeds admirably, and belongs on the shelf of everyone who is interested in the subject, including professionals and students of Buddhism and Asian art, as well as enthusiastic temple-goers who are living or visiting in Japan. The book answered many of my questions, and it had lots of information that I was looking for, but couldn't find elsewhere. There are a couple of slips in the English paperback edition; for example, the statue of Tentoki in Kofuku-ji (p. 277) is mis-captioned as a "dragon" (he's really, of course, a demon). Overall, though, this is a great book to have if you've ever wondered who all those multi-headed, multi-armed, deities are!

I'm surprised at the low ratings for this book. It is invaluable as a book to consult. It isn't a "read from cover to cover" book . It's like an encylopaedia to consult whenever one comes across an obscure reference to a rarely mentioned manifestation of some Buddha. And as near as I've been able to determine this is the only iconography of Buddhas left in print. There was an excellent one of actualy statues from places like the Forbidden City, but that was back in the '60's.