Tibetan Buddhists see the world in two realities, of relative and absolute: the relative world is experienced as either the ordinary world of samsaric suffering or the extraordinary state of universal bliss and fulfillment.

Those enlightened understand their essential oneness with the universe and feel the relief of a blissful connection to everything. A Shrine for Tibet is a beautifully illustrated celebration of this philosophy through Alice Kandell’s incredible collection of art from the 15th Century Ganden Renaissance right through to the 17th Century building of the Potala Palace, and into the 18th and 19th Centuries, where Mongolian and Manchu Qing Buddhist art bloomed in the Tibetan tradition.