NONFICTION - July 28, 1991

WISDOM AND COMPASSION: The Sacred Art of Tibet by Marilyn M. Rhie and Robert A. F. Thurman (Abrams: $60; 393 pp.). To find the heart of Tibet and its culture, it is necessary to understand Tibetans’ all-encompassing faith in Buddhism--and perhaps nowhere is it better expressed than in their elegant and often intensely terrifying art. This book, published in connection with an exhibit at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (through Aug. 18), features sacred paintings (thangkas) , sculptures and other works spanning a millennium. The collection has been gathered from museums and private sources worldwide; the 18th-Century Inner Mongolian statue of Tsongkhapa (above), founder of the Gelukpa branch of Tibetan Buddhism, is from Stockholm’s Folkens Museum Etnografiska. The study of the Tibetans’ “transcendent yet earthy aesthetic” as a tool of spiritual enlightenment offers an excellent guide to the often bewildering array of bodhisattvas, arhats and other Buddhist deities.