Written by Stephanie Johnston—Nitartha Institute faculty member and designer fascinated by the language of symbols—this book offers a practical introduction to Buddhist visual literacy, showing how symbols in Buddhist art can illuminate the path of enlightenment and awakening. It teaches you how recognizing and working with these symbols becomes a contemplative practice in itself.
Through three main parts, Symbolizing the Awakened Heart guides you from foundational ideas about symbolism to a visual primer for reading Buddhist imagery, and finally to hands‑on exploration with twelve artworks. Along the way, short experiments, questions, and field‑friendly practices invite you to engage directly—at home, in museums, or out in everyday life—so that insight grows from your own experience.
This eBook is delivered as a high‑resolution ePub designed to be viewed in spreads (two pages side by side). For the best experience, use a tablet, laptop, or desktop rather than a phone. The pages are created so that 1 ePub page equals 2 print book pages, and you can zoom in to see image details and then zoom out again. There are no internal links in this ePub, so you may wish to use your reading app’s bookmark feature to mark important sections as you go.
