Malcolm David Eckel takes us on a contemporary quest to discover the essential meaning behind the Buddha's many representations. Eckel's bold thesis proposes that the proper understanding of Buddhist philosophy must be thoroughly religious—an understanding revealed in Eckel's new translation of the philospher Bhavaviveka's major work,
The Flame of Reason.
Eckel shows that the dimensions of early Indian Buddhism—popular art, conventional piety, and critical philosophy—all work together to express the same religious yearning for the fullness of emptiness that Buddha conveys.