Coomaraswamy Rama - Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, The

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy is in the very first rank of exceptional men, such as Ren Gunon and Frithjof Schuon, who in our dark age have permitted us to rediscover the great truths of sacred Tradition, to relearn what a civilization, a society, and a world are that conform to this Tradition ... The masterful work of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy is one of the most suitable to enlighten the minds and hearts of men of good will.

Jean Hani , author

This anthology is comprised of essays on a variety of subjects, from art and literature through philosophy to myth, religion and metaphysics, setting forth, not simply the informed opinions of its author, but indeed the timeless and inspired wisdom of mankind. Given the immensity of Ananda K. Coomaraswamys literary output, the present compilation constitutes a welcome and much-needed contribution to the perennialist literature.

Wolfgang Smith , scientist and mathematician, author of Cosmos and Transcendence: Breaking Through the Barrier of Scientistic Belief

This book is important to anyone who intends to grasp the roots of culture both in the East and in the West and how they inter-relate in their intellectually vital aspects. Exemplary and flawless use of language makes this book an inspiring evaluation and contemplation of the meaning of culture in both its Oriental and Western manifestations.

Frederick Franck , artist and author of The Zen of Seeing and Messenger of the Heart: The Book of Angelus Silesius

Coomaraswamys work is as important as that of Joseph Campbell or Carl Jung, and deserving of the same attention. The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy is a good way to approach his extensive writings that explore in depth and in detail the essence of culture and spirituality both East and West, both ancient and modern.

David Frawley, author of Yoga and Ayurveda and From the River of Heaven: Hindu and Vedic Knowledge for the Modern Age

Like St. Augustine, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy wrote in order to perfect his own understanding. He sought to know the whatness and principial roots of things, above all of himself. In doing so, he collaterally provided access to a fundamental intellectual itinerary which unfailingly beckons all who recognize in themselves an intrinsic regard for Truth. This itinerary is eloquently epitomized in the twenty essays of this book, essays as delightful as they are perennial.

Alvin Moore, Jr., co-editor of Selected Letters of Ananda Coomaraswamy

After having read Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, the distinction between Oriental and Occidental thought hardly has any more meaning. He is a tireless ferryman between one and the other side of the same transcendent [reality].

Jean Canteins, author

The pioneering and interdisciplinary essays of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy on medieval Christian and Oriental art have shed so much light on religious symbolism and iconography, and given such profound metaphysical insight into the study of aesthetics and traditional folklore, that if contemporary art history does not take [his] challenges and contributions into account, it will inevitably fall prey to ideological reductionisms and degrade the ancient and perennial language of art forms into a mere archaic system of lifeless symbols with [no] meaning.

Ramon Mujica Pinilla, art historian, Universidad Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru

Coomaraswamys essays [give] us a view of his scholarship and brilliant insight.

Joseph Campbell , author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces and The Masks of God

In Coomaraswamy ... all the religious traditions of the world meet.

Jean Borella , author of The Secret of the Christian Way and The Sense of the Supernatural