The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols

October 15, 2003
For many years a student and practitioner of Buddhist art, Beer published The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs in 1999. His new work, a synthesis of that encyclopedia and his "pictorial index" for Martin Willson's and Martin Brauen's Deities of Tibetan Buddhism, covers much the same territory. Readers will find many fewer line drawings and generally less explanatory text per topic, and some symbols and motifs did not make the transition at all. Nevertheless, most public and academic libraries will find this new handbook the better choice for general reference collections and preferable to Tatjana and Mirabai Blau's Buddhist Symbols. The encyclopedia's long, complex essay is here broken down into more straightforward, individual entries within chapters. In addition, Buddhist terminology is more clearly presented, and a glossary is included. Though the handbook still lacks an index (a near fatal flaw when entries are not alphabetical, as is the case here), access is afforded by a table of contents listing entries for individual symbols and a few cross references. Recommended for public libraries.-James R. Kuhlman, Univ. of North Carolina Lib., Asheville

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