Doorway to an Enlightened World: the Tibetan Shrine from the Alice S. Kandell Collection

A Tibetan shrine serves as a doorway to an enlightened world, immediately transporting devotees into a spiritual realm. Within such spaces, Buddhas—beings who have achieved spiritual enlightenment—are a living presence. They are believed to be fully present within their ritually consecrated images, whether sculpted or painted. Indeed, when Tibetan Buddhists enter shrines, they do so to “meet,” rather than to “see,” Buddhas.

Buddhism came to Tibet from India in the seventh century. As the Tibetan people turned increasingly to Buddhism, worship and meditation came to take place not only in temples and monasteries, but also in Buddhist homes. While humble families kept small altars in the corners of their living rooms, and nomads devised transportable shrines to set up in their yak hair tents, wealthy merchants and aristocrats dedicated entire rooms of their mansions to serve as sacred spaces. This exhibition reconstructs the sort of grand shrine room that might exist in a wealthy private home in times past and present.

Tibetan Buddhist shrines reveal a cultural aesthetic that values symmetry and balance, gilded surfaces and golden light, rich colors, and layered images and patterns. Individual objects are placed according to Buddhist hierarchies and ritual requirements. For example, the most important images are placed at the center of the main altar wall, and ritual items, such as offering bowls, are arranged on tables beneath them.

The Tibetan shrine from the Alice S. Kandell collection contains sculptures and scroll paintings (thangkas) that represent male and female, benign and fierce, and divine and human manifestations of the Buddha. At its center is a silver image of Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical founder of Buddhism. Because religious plurality can and often does exist within families and family histories, the shrine contains images of spiritual teachers (lamas) associated with different monastic traditions. Protector deities, such as Mahakala, Vaishravana, and Pelden Lhamo, are gathered together in the large shrine on the right. The three-dimensional objects are displayed on painted and carved offering tables and chests that date from the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries. Ritual implements, such as musical instruments, occupy the lower tables.

Sacred images were commissioned by donors to obtain merit and for the welfare of sentient beings. Some were created to commemorate life events, such as births and deaths; others would have been received as gifts or acquired as pilgrimage souvenirs. Particular forms were chosen when patrons had an affinity for certain deities or wanted to perform particular auspicious or protective ceremonies. Representing the way cherished works were passed down through generations, this shrine contains objects made over the course of eight hundred years, from the twelfth to the twentieth century. They were produced in central and eastern Tibet as well as in Mongolia and China, where Tibetan Buddhism also flourished.

This exhibition has been organized by The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. The exhibition in Atlanta has been made possible through generous support from the Thalia N. Carlos and Chris M. Carlos Foundation, Inc.; the Thalia and Michael C. Carlos Foundation, Inc.; the E. Rhodes & Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; the Highland Vineyard Foundation; Veneralia 2016 Donors; and Christine Tryba-Cofrin and David H. Cofrin. Special thanks to Dr. Sara McClintock and Emory's Department of Religion, the Emory-Tibet Partnership, and the Drepung Loseling Monastery.