What Are Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Rooms?

Tibetan Buddhist shrine rooms can be found all across the greater Himalayan region, as well as in diaspora communities around the world. Ranging from humble household shrines to ornate temples, these spaces are centers for devotional activities, offerings, prayers, and rituals. 

As part of daily practice, Buddhist practitioners engage all of their senses while performing religious actions of body, speech, and mind. They look at the images, use ritual instruments, recite mantras, and hear sounds. Practitioners use prayer beads to keep track of their recitations, and they make offerings of light with butter lamps and scent with incense. Engaging in these activities fulfills their aspirations for well-being and reminds them of Buddhist concepts of cause and effect and impermanence and ideals of awakening or enlightenment.

Shrine rooms often feature traditional Tibetan furniture to accommodate the sacred images and ritual objects. Special cabinets called dharma displays (choshom) present statues in private places of worship. They usually resemble small temples and can be simply or elaborately carved and painted, as in this carved example from the Rubin’s collection.

The specific contents of a home shrine depend on which Buddhist tradition the family follows. The four main traditions are Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Geluk, and each has their own distinguishing iconography. The objects and images in the shrine room reflect the particular teachings, practices, and lineage transmissions of the followed tradition.

Across all traditions, shrine rooms commonly contain art and ritual objects that represent the Buddha’s mind, speech, and body.

Found across all Buddhist traditions, the stupa represents the Buddha’s awakened mind and also references the structure that held remains of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni in India. Stupas are made to hold sacred remains, but the contents are not limited to the mortal remains of a person and may also include objects associated with that person, such as clothes, as well as sacred texts, articles of worship, and plaques or small stupas made of clay and ashes of the deceased (tsatsa).

Books of Buddhist scripture are physical manifestations of the Buddha’s divine speech. The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra is an important text for all Tibetan Buddhist traditions and is often recited on special occasions to eliminate obstacles and accumulate religious merit. This book consists of unbound pages printed on both sides of the page using inked woodblocks. A reader flips over each page when reading and reciting the book.

Images of buddhas, bodhisattvas, deities, and teachers are thought of as representations of the body of the Buddha. This sculpture of Buddha Shakyamuni, or the Enlightened One, depicts him wearing a monk’s robe and seated with his right hand touching the ground. This earth-touching gesture (bhumisparsha mudra) symbolizes his moment of complete awakening and triumph over the demon Mara when he called the earth goddess to witness his enlightenment.

The Rubin’s Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room was one of the Museum’s most beloved installations from when it opened in 2013 until the closure of the Rubin’s galleries in 2024. Often called the heart of the Rubin, the Shrine Room provided an immersive introduction to traditional Tibetan Buddhist shrine rooms.

In a commitment to ensure continued access to the Rubin’s collection in New York City, the Shrine Room now has a new home at the Brooklyn Museum as part of a six-year collaboration. Opening June 11, 2025, the installation evokes the aesthetics and atmosphere of a traditional Tibetan sacred space, offering visitors the opportunity to experience Tibetan religious art in its cultural context while providing an oasis for reflection and contemplation.

Visit the Rubin Museum Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room