Mudras in Japan (Sata-Pitaka series)

The book is the first comprehensive and illustrated treasury of esoteric mudras in the English language. Mudras in Japan by Lokesh Chandra and his late wife Sharada Rani is a collection of symbolic hand postures used in the rituals of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism of the Shingon denomination. The mudras have been an integral part of Buddhist iconography as well as of ritual. In Tantric rituals, the recitation of a mantra was accompanied by a mudra, and a ritual action. In the Mahavairocana-sutra, mudras are vital constituents of worship and meditation. Japan has the earliest manuscript of the mudras. The most ancient scroll is from the pen of Subhakarasimha of Nalanda, who lived from 637 to 735. The copy at the Onjoji monastery is dated 855. Another manuscript dated 864 has Mudras of the Susiddhi-tantra.