Japanese Mandalas: Representations of Sacred Geography
...Ten Grotenhuis's original and expansive study makes an important contribution to scholarship on Japanese religion and related visual imagery.  She provides readers with copious references to religious and art-historical studies in both Asian and Western languages.  She also offers thoughtful hypotheses about sources for this Japanese religious imagery and observations on correlations between divergent Buddhist and kami-worshiping traditions.  These comments suggest new approaches to consideration of premodern forms of religious worship and their visual expressions in Japan.  Consequently, I believe ten Grotenhuis's book will become an indispensable reference to all those interested in deepening their understanding of the uniqueness of the Japanese religious tradition and its related imagery.   Patricia J. Graham, University of Kansas --CAA.reviews  September 21, 1999From most studies on this subject we get the view that mandalas originated in the Indian context and spread to China and Japan.  What sets this study apart is the exploration of a Chinese, pre-Buddhist origin for the East Asian concept of mandala.  Ten Grotenhuis (Harvard and Boston Univ.) examines the mandalas of Pure Land Buddhism, Esoteric Buddhism, and Shintoism from the eighth to 17th centuries, focusing mainly on paintings.  Her pioneering assertion that Japanese mandalas follow Chinese texts on sacred geography will change the way most scholars look at the use of this ritual and sacred art...The book is readable and beautifully presented to the nonspecialist.  For the specialist in the fields of religion and art, Buddhism, Asian religions, and comparative religions, ten Grotenhuis presents many avenues for further research.  General readers and all academic levels. - L.L. Lam-Easton, California State University, Northridge --Choice, October 1999, vol. 37, no. 2