The British Library’s exhibition offers insights via objects that are as much artworks as artefacts. At the entrance, a 19th-Century gilded Buddha holds a myrobalan, a fruit that is a metaphorical cure for the three poisons. Among his other poses, the Buddha is often depicted as the great healer of human suffering. A Buddha is present in the upper corners of the thangka painting, to show us the way to the exit. The way off this mirthless amusement park ride is to follow the Buddha’s teachings, and the exhibition presents these in stunning profusion.

It also questions common misconceptions. “There is no consensus whether Buddhism is a religion or not,” Jana Igunma, the curator of the exhibition, tells BBC Culture. Buddhism has no “supreme divine being or creator god”; the Buddha is more like a teacher, a guide, and one studies his philosophy and his life by way of texts and illustrations. The media that have carried these over the millennia are fascinating.

As many as 500 million people worldwide might identify themselves as Buddhists, but there is no way of knowing for sure, because Buddhism isn’t exclusive: you can practise it, or adopt elements of it, any way you want. Nobody is going to tell you you’re doing it wrong. Also, Buddhism isn’t evangelical: whether or not you choose to listen to the Buddha’s teachings is on you. Perhaps you aren’t ready, and need to spend more time in the realm of the animals or of the hungry ghosts?