Images Forbidden
Susan Huntington's 1990 article challenged the long-held theory that early Buddhism forbade images of the Buddha, arguing that many reliefs read as symbolic scenes from his life instead show devotees worshipping at sacred sites after his death. Vidya Dehejia and others replied that such emblems carry several meanings at once; the debate remains open.
Susan Huntington, 'Early Buddhist Art and the Theory of Aniconism', Art Journal 49:4 (1990); Vidya Dehejia, 'Aniconism and the Multivalence of Emblems', Ars Orientalis 21 (1991)
Three traditions said to ban sacred images — Byzantine iconoclasm, Islam, and early Buddhism — on very different grounds.
