Buddhism

British Library, London

NOW CLOSED

Scene from The Life of Buddha (detail) Photo: © British Library

Drawn from the British Library’s extensive collection of Asian manuscripts, this show looks at the evolution of Buddhism from its origins in north India in the sixth century BC to the present. It also explores how religious practices and the artworks they have inspired have varied through the ages. Find out more from the British Library’s website.

Preview the exhibition below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here

Scene from The Life of Buddha

Scene from a Life of Buddha (1808), China. Photo: © British Library

Folding book containing a sermon on the Abhidhamma in Shan language (1917), Mueang Lakorn, Thailand.

Folding book containing a sermon on the Abhidhamma in Shan language (1917), Mueang Lakorn, Thailand. Photo: © British Library

Buddhist text, written on birchbark (date) Gandhara.

Buddhist text, written on birchbark (1st century AD), Gandhara. Photo: © British Library

Gold painting of Amitabha Bodhisattva Amida Buddha in a scroll containing the Lotus Sutra (1626), Japan.

Gold painting of Amitabha Bodhisattva (Amida Buddha) in a scroll containing the Lotus Sutra (1626), Japan. Photo: © British Library Board

Gilded palm-leaf manuscript with mother-of-pearl decorated covers (c. 1860), Thailand. Photo: © British Library Board