Tibet's Wild Pantheon

The most dramatic transformation happened in Tibetan Buddhist art, which built a visual world with little precedent in India. Alongside the calm, smiling Buddha came wrathful deities — fanged, flame-wreathed figures crushing demons underfoot. They aren't evil. Their fury is aimed at ignorance and ego, fierce protectors of the path rather than threats to it. Beauty and terror sit side by side, both pointing the viewer toward the same goal.