[Buddha-l] New book -- release Dec 09

[JKirkpatrick]

Anyone interested in iconicity questions in Buddhism probably
would like to read this book, since the Jains are said to have
preceded the Buddhists. I'm intrigued by their having anti-icon
groups within the fold, since Buddhism seems to have achieved
iconic representation of the Buddha much later than the dates of
the historic Buddha, whereas Jina iconicity is said to extend
further back in time before the historical Buddha. I wonder how
this was figured out--how dating was accomplished.
One wonders if there had been a similar movement among some of
the Buddha's followers that crushed iconicity for a few
centuries. So eventually I'll get this book. 
Meanwhile, just speculating, hoping for more insights or faqs
from those in the know.
JK
-------------------- 

Cort, John. Framing the Jina: Narratives of Icons and Idols in
Jain History .
OUP, 2009.

Product Description

John Cort explores the narratives by which the Jains have
explained the presence of icons of Jinas (their enlightened and
liberated teachers) that are worshiped and venerated in the
hundreds of thousands of Jain temples throughout India. Most of
these narratives portray icons favorably, and so justify their
existence; but there are also narratives originating among
iconoclastic Jain communities that see the existence of temple
icons as a sign of decay and corruption. The veneration of Jina
icons is one of the most widespread of all Jain ritual practices.
Nearly every Jain community in India has one or more elaborate
temples, and as the Jains become a global community there are now
dozens of temples in North America, Europe, Africa, and East
Asia. The cult of temples and icons goes back at least two
thousand years, and indeed the largest of the four main
subdivisions of the Jains are called Murtipujakas, or "Icon
Worshipers." A careful reading of narratives ranging over the
past 15 centuries, says Cort, reveals a level of anxiety and
defensiveness concerning icons, although overt criticism of the
icons only became explicit in the last 500 years. He provides
detailed studies of the most important pro- and anti-icon
narratives. Some are in the form of histories of the origins and
spread of icons. Others take the form of cosmological
descriptions, depicting a vast universe filled with eternal Jain
icons. Finally, Cort looks at more psychological explanations of
the presence of icons, in which icons are defended as necessary
spiritual corollaries to the very fact of human embodiedness.