Description
This book forms an introduction to the study of the doctrines of Sufism. It is, however, necessary first of all to define the point of view from which the subject is approached. The point of view is not that of pure scholarship, whatever may happen to be the scientific interest of the doctrinal summaries which figure in this book; the chief purpose is to contribute to the efforts of those who in the world of today seek to understand the permanent and universal truths of which every sacred doctrine is an expression.
Let it be said at the outset that academic knowledge is only a quite secondary and very indirect aid in assimilating the intellectual con tent of oriental doctrines—indeed the scientific method which of necessity approaches things from the outside, and thus from their purely historical and contingent aspects, does not set out to promote such an assimilation. There are doctrines which can be understood only from the “inside” through a work of assimilation or penetration that is essentially intellectual1 and, for that very reason, goes beyond the limitations of discursive thought.
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The epigraph to this book by Titus Burckhardt (1908-1984), the late Swiss art historian and philosopher of religion, expresses for us the key importance of understanding the authentic traditional art forms of each of the world’s major cultures. Burckhardt was one of the twentieth century’s foremost experts on the sacred forms of the traditional civilizations that surround each of the world’s great religions. Three of his illustrated works focus on Christian art and culture1 while another three illustrated works center on Islamic art and culture.2 These books demonstrate Burckhardt’s unique ability to communicate the spiritual essence of the traditional Christian and Islamic worlds as if we had actually lived during those times. But Burckhardt was also an acknowledged expert on the sacred art of the Orient, particularly in its Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist forms. As Martin Lings has said of Sacred Art in East and West, Burckhardt’s peerless work on the subject: “… again and again one has the impression that the author has ‘said the last word’ on this or that particular aspect. … It is seldom that one has the privilege of reading a work by an author who has such mastery of his subject.” Foundations of Oriental Art & Symbolism is an edited collection of Burckhardt’s most important articles on Oriental art and symbolism, with page after page of illustrations from the traditional Oriental civilizations. Th ese illustrations illuminate Burckhardt’s insightful descriptions and explanations, providing the reader with a small taste of the beauty that permeated the traditional Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist worlds—a beauty that has in large part been overwhelmed and swallowed by our modern era. Part I, “Oriental Art”, begins with Burckhardt’s introduction to traditional Oriental art. In the following three chapters he then explores the artistic foundations of each of the three great Oriental religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism, focusing particularly on the Hindu temple, the Buddha image, and Chinese landscape painting.
Known as an expert on Islam, Sufism, and Islamic arts & crafts, Burckhardt presents in-depth analyses of seminal examples of Islamic architecture, from Spain and Morocco to Persia and India. He examines Koranic calligraphy and illumination, arabesque, carpets and rugs, Persian miniatures, and much more while making illuminating comparisons with Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist art. Beautifully illustrated in color, this masterpiece is presented in a revised, commemorative edition containing 285 new illustrations and a new Introduction
The Swiss art historian and cultural anthropologist, Titus Burckhardt, wrote more than a dozen books in either German or French. Most of them are now available in English translation and, as a
Perennial Philosophy Library 