Pearls?

[Jonathan Silk]

dear Friends,

Perhaps I should know this, and do no more than reveal my ignorance (itself
as extensive as the universe--see below), but here goes: I've been reading
the absolutely fascinating book by the historian Timothy Brooks called
*Vermeer's
Hat*. In passing he refers to the Buddhist Indra's Net, characterizing it as
possessing at each node a pearl,  each of which in turn reflects all the
others. I'm curious. I wonder if this image it at all Indian; and if so, is
what sits at the nodes of the net a pearl? Somehow I had the notion that it
is rather a diamond (which in that case must be faceted), but maybe I'm just
making all this up--or maybe after all this particular visualization of the
net belongs to the East Asian world alone?

I'd love to find out how remarkably ignorant I am, so thanks in advance,
jonathan
-- 
J. Silk
Instituut Kern / Universiteit Leiden
Postbus 9515
2300 RA Leiden
Netherlands