Infinite Splendor, Infinite Light

Teaching Tibetan religious history to American undergraduates can be a tricky business. Separated from the peoples of Tibet by both geographic and cultural distance, American students require concrete points of contact in order to enter into the worlds of meaning expressed by Tibetan religious traditions. It is one thing to engage the philosophical and theological ideas of a tradition through the reading of texts and the discussion of ideas. It is yet another experience entirely to...
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Teaching Tibetan religious history to American undergraduates can be a tricky business. Separated from the peoples of Tibet by both geographic and cultural distance, American students require concrete points of contact in order to enter into the worlds of meaning expressed by Tibetan religious traditions. It is one thing to engage the philosophical and theological ideas of a tradition through the reading of texts and the discussion of ideas. It is yet another experience entirely to physically encounter artwork and artifacts capable of directly catalyzing the expansion of human understanding. Fortunately for students at DePauw University we have the Bruce Walker '53 Collection of Tibetan Religious Art to help bridge the gap between the material culture of Tibet and the insularity of a classroom located in the cornfields of central Indiana. In this catalog, DePauw University's Director and Curator of Exhibitions and University Collections, Craig Hadley, has put together a valuable set of essays, commentaries, and descriptions that bring to light the cultural meaning and significance of notable works in our Tibetan collection. This gathering of specific descriptive information relating to the individual pieces of DePauw's collection along with ample contextual material ensures that students and teachers alike will have informed access to the Bruce Walker '53 Collection for many years to come.