Labours of love, studies in faith

Since its establishment, multiple crafts have been standardised and optimised here for the 21st century and the global artistic marketplace. Today, the founding masters of the Institute have passed on their skills to apprentices, allowing for local employment generation and the further evolution of their crafts. Tourists can see thangkhas, sacred Tibetan paintings being brought to colourful life. This craft also involves beautiful applique work, which has also been adapted by artisans for a range of contemporary home furnishings. They are not merely decorative paintings, but objects of meditational value, and records of Tantra and other esoteric traditions.

Here, metal statue-making too is done to fabricate religious idols for veneration. It is done in beaten copper, harking back to crafting techniques brought from Nepal and China.

Woodworking, along with painting and etching in wood, is important for the decoration of both devotional and domestic spaces. The painters here have revived kyumbur, the ancient Tibetan technique of sharp relief painting.

The Institute also has a tailoring and clothes making section that aims to popularise Tibetan motifs, weaves, and patterns in contemporary high fashion. All these products are available for purchase from the artisans themselves.

The Institute is also a highly-respected academy of Tibetan studies, with its own archive of Tibetan texts. Scholars from all over the world come here to participate in the Institute’s projects, or to study the classics of Tibetan religion, history, and literature.

Here, lovers of Tibetan art can behold handwritten, illuminated scriptures, resplendent with gold and precious stones. The composition of the Dalai Lama’s biography is currently the Institute’s flagship project. This has also facilitated the documentation of Tibetan history over the last century through the personage of the Dalai Lama.

A Pilgrimage of the spirit: The Norbulingka welcomes you

Transcend the role of a visitor and step into the very embrace of Buddhist spirituality at the Norbulingka Institute. The Institute's design reflects the form of Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of compassion with a thousand arms. Within these "arms," each wing houses a unique aspect of Tibetan culture. A central temple, representing the deity's head, sits at the heart, where a spring symbolizes the ever-flowing nature of kindness. Here, the Dalai Lama's teachings of peace and compassion are not just words, but a lived experience woven into the very fabric of art and knowledge. Whether you come as a curious tourist or a devoted pilgrim, the gentle touch of this profound faith cannot help but leave its mark.