SonMani

Encyclopedia

Tibetan Symbols
and Motifs

Robert BeerJigme Vietnamese translation and commentary

This study of the sacred art of Tibet is the fruit of eight years of patient painting and a lifetime of reflection on the origin and the hidden meaning held within each line — drawn out of one of the great visionary traditions of humankind. Thousands of individual details are composed into 169 plates, figuring the ritual implements and the stylized forms in which they appear.

The contents read like a luminous tapestry, woven from the origin, the meaning and the use of these symbols — sourced from India, Tibet and China — on the loom of Buddhist wisdom. It is a classic for anyone drawn to Tibetan culture, and equally for painters, designers and any reader turning toward the East in search of the meaning of a life.

Twelve chapters

From the natural elements to borders and geometric motifs — the book is woven from the subjects below.

  1. I

    The Natural Elements

    However captivating the outer world appears, it remains a faint reflection of every inner visualization of the deity’s pure realm.

  2. II

    Flowers and Trees

    In every culture, the flower stands for love, beauty and selflessness — open, resplendent, fragrant, drawing and nourishing the bees that produce honey.

  3. III

    Animals

    In ancient times a far deeper relationship existed between human beings and animals. Buddhism, holding that every sentient being is equally precious, has had a profound influence on the preservation of wild nature.

  4. IV

    Narrative Paintings

    Beginning in the lower right corner, the painting shows a monk pursuing, guiding, leading and finally taming the elephant — its colour shifting from black toward white — the elephant standing for the mind itself.

  5. V

    Cosmology

    These pure-awareness heavens are difficult to grasp or to visualize, for they exist immediately adjacent to the complete cessation of every worldly concept.

  6. VI

    Mudras

    As a vehicle for meaning held beneath language, hand gestures recur throughout the historical development of the great civilizations of humankind.

  7. VII

    The Universal Monarch and the Seven Jewels

    When Shakyamuni Buddha was born, the great seer Asita foretold: either he will become a Universal Monarch (Chakravartin), or he will attain supreme awakening.

  8. VIII

    The Auspicious Symbols

    The Eight Auspicious Symbols represent the offerings the gods presented to Shakyamuni Buddha at the moment of his awakening — the golden dharma wheel, the white conch, the vase of amrita, and so on.

  9. IX

    Peaceful Offerings, Jewels and Ritual Implements

    The jewel — the wish-fulfilling gem — is a ubiquitous image in Tibetan art: as an offering, as ornament for the deity, as a decorative motif on the throne.

  10. X

    Sharp Weapons

    The symbolism bound to these implements in Vajrayana Buddhism tends to be heuristic — the context in which the wrathful deities appear is precisely that of the art of war.

  11. XI

    Wrathful Offerings, Tormas and the Fire-Offering Hearth

    Many such offerings derive from the blood sacrifices and mediumistic rites of the left-hand path in ancient India; in the Vajrayana they appear strictly on the symbolic plane.

  12. XII

    Borders, Patterns, Motifs and Geometric Designs

    Chapter XII illustrates a series of decorative borders and geometric motifs common to Tibetan and Chinese art — stylized from the swastika, the endless knot, the waves of water.

Four editions.

One body of work in four specifications. Each is marked by careful workmanship and considered investment.

Standard edition

1,500 copies

Standard edition

Quantity
1,500 copies, of which 100 are personally signed by the translator, Jigme.
Cover
Red hardcover with dust jacket.
Interior
25 × 30 cm, 512 pages. Matt couché 125 gsm.
Imprint
Đông A and NXB Dân Trí · July 2024
Blue limited edition

HVMT 101 – 500

Blue limited edition

Quantity
400 limited copies, numbered HVMT 101–500, with printed signatures of Robert Beer and Jigme.
Cover
Blue cloth cover; clamshell slipcase in cloth, velvet-lined.
Interior
25 × 30 cm, 512 pages. Matt couché 150 gsm. Gilt edges, blind-stamped Đông A device.
Imprint
Đông A and NXB Dân Trí · August 2025
Gold limited edition

HVMT 001 – 100

Gold limited edition

Quantity
100 limited copies, numbered HVMT 001–100, personally signed by Robert Beer and Jigme.
Cover
Gold English buckram cover; clamshell slipcase in cloth, velvet-lined.
Interior
25 × 30 cm, 512 pages. Matt couché 150 gsm. Gilt edges, blind-stamped Đông A device.
Imprint
Đông A and NXB Dân Trí · August 2025
Bản chữ A — the one-of-one copy signed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

One-of-one

Bản chữ A

Quantity
A single copy, personally signed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, by the author Robert Beer, and by the translator Jigme.
Cover
Brown Harmatan Crimson 21 goatskin (England), inset with a mother-of-pearl lacquer panel designed and crafted by SonMani. Covers and spine blocked in real gold. Clamshell slipcase in earth-orange cloth, lined in dark-blue velvet.
Interior
25 × 30 cm, 512 pages. Matt couché 150 gsm, hand-bound in the Cosway style; gilt on all three edges.
Imprint
Đông A and NXB Dân Trí · January 2026