Ruthless compassion

"Despite an impressive body of distinguished scholarship on the history of esoteric Buddhism in India, it is only sketchily understood. Prior studies have depended primarily on texts to uncover the origin of doctrines that later spread to Tibet, East and Southeast Asia. In Ruthless Compassion, Rob Linrothe harnesses artistic evidence to the reconstructive project.

He has assembled hundreds of works of art, analyzing them formally and stylistically, to determine the chronology of their iconographic themes."--BOOK JACKET. "Ruthless Compassion offers a visual history of esoteric Buddhism centered on the changing representations of the wrathful deity."--BOOK JACKET.