ABSTRACT
The importance of art in Vajrayāna Buddhism Religions differ in the importance they place on representational art. Some-such as orthodox Islam, one phase of Zoroastrianism, and some forms of protestant Christianity-have actively discouraged it. Otherscatholic and orthodox Christianity and some forms of Hinduism-encourage it but can live happily without it. Vajrayāna Buddhism appears to be a religion in which representational art is essential. The tantras themselves, presented by their adherents as the fundamental documents of their system, place great importance on iconographical descriptions of the deities and of their , which constitute a representational simulacrum of totality, and form the basis of most of the practices of the religion. Although the philosophical argumentation taken for granted by the tantras could be said to be equally or perhaps more fundamental, it is hard to see how a Buddhism stripped of iconography could possibly function in the distinctive way which the Vajrayāna does. The investigation of artistic elements and motifs, their meanings, associations and symbolism, origins and historical development is therefore of peculiar importance in the study of Vajrayāna Buddhism, because it touches on the very core of the religious system. In this paper I shall indicate what I think may be some formative influences on the development of the , which will necessitate going back to a presumably pre-Vajrayāna phase of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and further afield into the history of India and of western Asia.
