Art of Awakening: Brief History of Buddhist Art

Architecture, sculpture, and painting have always played a critical role in Buddhism. As well as serving as teaching aids for the practice and dissemination of Buddhism, they also act as important counterparts to written texts as a record of ever-evolving Buddhist beliefs and practices. In this short look at the history of Buddhist art, we survey five key developments in Buddhist iconography and how they reflect changes in Buddhism as it evolved in different eras and cultures.