The Image of the Buddha, by David L. Snellgrove

This massive and multidisciplinary work, edited by Snellgrove with contributions by Jean Boisselier (among others) examines the images of the Buddha and of Buddhahood over almost 2,500 years in many different parts of Asia. This is certainly an art book, but the authors carefully and enthusiastically situate the images within religious, national, spiritual, and anthopological contexts.

Both rigorous and readable, this book helps one appreciate the beauty and power an image of a very early Indian Buddha but also seeks to explain why the Buddha appears so different in, say, Japan several centuries later.