Creating the Universe

Winner, 2018 Edward Cameron Dimock, Jr. Prize in the Indian Humanities

Buddhist representations of the cosmos across nearly two thousand years of history in Tibet, Nepal, and India show that cosmology is a rich language for the expression of diverse religious ideas, with cosmological thinking at the center of Buddhist thought, art, and practice.

In Creating the Universe, Eric Huntington presents examples of visual art and architecture, primary texts, ritual ideologies, and material practices—accompanied by extensive explanatory diagrams—to reveal the immense complexity of cosmological thinking in Himalayan Buddhism. Employing comparisons across function, medium, culture, and history, he exposes cosmology as a fundamental mode of engagement with numerous aspects of religion, from preliminary lessons to the highest rituals for enlightenment. This wide-ranging work will interest scholars and students of many fields, including Buddhist studies, religious studies, art history, and area studies.

Art History Publication Initiative. For more information, visit http://arthistorypi.org/books/creating-the-universe

Eric Huntington is a postdoctoral scholar in religious studies at the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies, Stanford University. He received his PhD in South Asian languages and civilizations from the University of Chicago in 2013. This is his first book.Sivaramakrishnan K. :

Kalyanakrishnan "Shivi" Sivaramakrishnan is Dinakar Singh Professor of India and South Asia Studies, professor of anthropology, professor of forestry and environmental studies, and codirector of the Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale University.Yang Anand A. :

Anand A. Yang is professor of international studies and history at the University of Washington. He is coeditor of Interactions: Transregional Perspectives on World History (Hawai'i, 2005), coeditor of Thirteen Months in China: A Subaltern Indian and the Colonial World (Oxford, 2017), and author of Empire of Convicts: Indian Penal Labor in Colonial Southeast Asia (California, 2021).Kaimal Padma :

Padma Kaimal is Batza Professor of Art and Art History at Colgate University. She is the author of Scattered Goddesses: Travels with the Yoginis (Association for Asian Studies, 2013) and Opening Kailasanatha: The Temple in Kanchipuram Revealed in Time and Space (Washington, 2021).

Eric Huntington is a postdoctoral scholar in religious studies at the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies, Stanford University.

"This attractive book effectively demonstrates the extent and richness of the weaving of cosmological themes throughout Buddhist cultures. Its invitation to enter deeply into the multicoloured world of Himalayan Buddhist cosmology is both enticing and timely."

"Creating the Universe, then, is an especially notable achievement, and I look forward to future work based upon Huntington’s innovative and importantapproach to the study of Buddhist cosmology and Buddhist practise."

“[A] masterful book on Buddhist cosmology. . . . Huntington's work excels in the range, precision, and depth of his understanding. His book is lavishly illustrated with artistic versions of the Buddhist universe and with stunning photographs of ritual models of it created from colored sand and stone. . . . [A] lucid study of the cosmograms that South Asian cosmographers, architects, ritualists, and artists produced over many centuries.”

"Creating the Universe will reveal to readers how much they have been missing. . . . Carefully marked diagrams, clear summaries, and exceptionally clean prose combine to make this long-overdue resource valuable for those interested in Buddhism, comparative religion, and art history."

"Offers a new perspective on the depictions of cosmological imagery. A timely topic that makes major contributions to the field of art history."—Christian Luczanits, David L. Snellgrove Senior Lecturer in Tibetan and Buddhist Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

"A profoundly innovative and engaging study of cosmological thinking in texts, rituals, imagery, and architecture across the Buddhist world of the Himalayas."—Catherine Becker, author of Shifting Stones, Shaping the Past: Sculpture from the Buddhist Stupas of Andhra Pradesh