Temples in the Cliffside

"By situating her study of cave temples in relation to questions of environmentality and sustainability Sonya Lee takes the study of Buddhist art and its entanglements with society and the natural world to a whole new level. Indeed, her work compels us to reimagine the meaning and nature of art during not only the long durée, but also as we go further into the Anthropocene."—Johan Elverskog, author of The Buddha's Footprint: An Environmental History of Asia

"In Temples in the Cliffside, Sonya S. Lee achieves something remarkable: she transforms the historical study of Chinese Buddhist art into a powerful means of addressing the most pressing global concern of the present—ecological sustainability. Weaving together religious studies, environmental history, heritage studies, and more, Lee proposes a compelling approach to art history and provocative interpretations of well-known sites."—Phillip E. Bloom, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

"Impeccably researched yet immensely readable, Sonya Lee's creative study of the rock-cut art of Buddhist sites in Sichuan ranges across time and discipline to demonstrate how the past lives in multiple presents of human engagement with the environment. The book is a masterful display of interdisciplinary scholarship and a timely model of ecological art history with ramifications that extend far beyond China's past."—Peter Sturman, University of California, Santa Barbara