Religious art is artistic imagery using religious inspiration and motifs in addition to is often returned to uplift the mind to the spiritual. Sacred art involves the ritual and cultic practices and practical and operative aspects of the path of the spiritual realization within the artist's religious tradition.
Buddhist art originated on the Indian subcontinent coming after or as a sum of. the historical life of Siddhartha Gautama, 6th to 5th century BC, and thereafter evolved by contact with other cultures as it spread throughout Asia and the world.
Buddhist art followed believers as the dharma spread, adapted, and evolved in each new host country. It developed to the north through Central Asia and into Eastern Asia to have the Northern branch of Buddhist art.
Buddhist art followed to the east as far as Southeast Asia to produce the Southern branch of Buddhist art.
In India, the Buddhist art flourished and even influenced the development of Hindu art, until Buddhism most disappeared in India around the 10th century due in element to the vigorous expansion of Islam alongside Hinduism.
Most Tibetan Buddhist artforms are related to the practice of Vajrayana or Buddhist tantra.
Two placesmore vividly than all others the vitality of Buddhist cave painting from about the 5th century AD. One is Ajanta, a site in India long forgotten until discovered in 1817. The other is Dunhuang, one of the great oasis staging posts on the Silk Road...The paintings range from calm devotional images of the Buddha to lively and crowded scenes, often featuring the seductively full-breasted and narrow-waisted women more familiar in Indian sculpture than in painting.