Images

The Buddhist text known as the Diamond Sutra is believed to be the oldest surviving printed book in the world, dated to 868 CE and written in Chinese. This work is one of the most important works of the Buddhist tradition.

A Sanskrit manuscript copy of the Heart Sutra at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Pyramid B of Tollan in central Mexico, the capital of the Toltec civilization (10-12th century CE). The five-tiered pyramid is topped by stone warrior columns which would have once supported a roof structure. In the foreground stand the ruins...

A diagram of the sacred precinct at Tollan (Tula), the capital of the Toltec civilization (10-12th century CE) in Mesoamerica. The site includes two step pyramids, colonnades, a palace structure and two ball-courts.

The columns atop Pyramid B at the Toltec capital of Tollan (Tula) which once supported a roof structure. They are each composed of four column drums and represent Toltec warriors ready for battle wearing their customary headdress and butterfly...

Tibetan Mandala painted in the Sera Monastery, about 2 km away from Lhasa, Tibet.

"The Mandala of the Diamond World," also known as "The Diamond Realm Mandala." Japanese hanging scroll, Kamakura period, 13th-14th century CE.

Theodora: Detail from the 6th-century mosaic "Empress Theodora and Her Court" in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna.

A statue of Xochipilli (the Prince of Flowers) the Aztec god of summer, flowers and pleasure. The god wears a mask, is covered in flowers and is playing a rattle (missing) and singing. 1450-1500 CE. (National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico...

Statue at a temple in Singapore of the God Krishna manifesting his full glory to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.