Freshman Seminar

Considering I don’t know much about Buddhism, this trip was quite interesting. I had a general knowledge about the Dalai Lama and reincarnation, but I didn’t know about the different levels that one must go through after the regular human world before finally reaching nirvana. I already knew a little bit about how the next Dalai Lama is chosen immediately after the previous Dalai Lama dies, but I didn’t know that they tested every child born the next day. I thought that the museum was tranquil and beautiful. The artifacts were so intricate; almost everything required a long, close look. I found the display of a shrine room to be very calming. Just being there looking at it felt almost like meditating. I’m not a religious person but I appreciated how interesting the stories were. The notion of different reincarnations is interesting, and I thought the diagrams of the different steps was both beautiful and informative. In terms of aesthetics, I really liked the eye at the top of the stairs and that it’s at the very center of the museum. What I found to be most interesting was the room with paintings that only the Dalai Lama is supposed to see. It’s interesting how although normal people have obviously looked at the paintings without going insane, that notion is probably still an integral part of the religion. I think that the core beliefs of Buddhism are pretty universal, but it’s interesting to see how there are still parts of religion are rather mystical.

-Kiana Eng