An International Movement
With an International Project
The Wisdom & Compassion Project: Lives of the Dalai Lama is an international cultural project to preserve Tibetan Culture created by Tibetan artisans.
The Norbulingka Institute, a Trust established under the chairmanship of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama commissioned the thangkas. The artworks took over twenty-five years to complete. In 2026, the final phase of the project was completed by digitally preserving each of the sixteen digital thangkas into perpetuity. The timeless process was designed to protect the original artwork and its overviews in its original form for generations to come.
Special thanks to Robert Thurman and Kim Yeshi for collaborating to document the historical events in each thangka for accuracy and understanding.
The Norbulingka Institute
Norbulingka’s success in maintaining the inspiration of Tibetan Sacred Art is based on preserving age-old styles and techniques that are transmitted from master to disciple. The ancient Tibetan artistic spirit is preserved by providing education and a conducive environment, and by encouraging the public to give this art the appreciation it deserves. The Norbulingka Institute was inaugurated in Dharamsala in 1995 to preserve Tibetan culture in exile and train a new generation of artists.
The Thangkas
Thangka paintings are used by Tibetan Buddhist as meditational aids and inspiration in their practice. Thangkas are painted on a base of cotton canvas stretched over a wood- en frame and applied with a mixture of chalk and gesso polished with a smooth stone. The deity is drawn on the basis of a proportion grid, and colors, based on mineral or vegetable pigments, filled in through different techniques of brushstrokes.
Gracious Thanks
Bob Thurman
Robert Thurman is an American Buddhist author and academic who has written, edited, and translated many books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. He was the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West. He also is the co-founder and president of the Tibet House US in New York. We thank him for his work and dedication in preserving the art and compassion of the Lives of the Dalai Lama thangkas.
We deeply mourn the passing of Robert Thurman on June 16th, 2026. Robert Thurman was a great steward of Tibetan Buddhism and its message of compassion in America and around the world. The Thangkas of the Lives of the Dalai Lamas remain in the care of the Menla Retreat Center. Learn more about Robert Thurman’s amazing life in his obituary:
Robert Thurman's Obituary
The Tibet House US
Tibet House US is dedicated to preserving Tibet’s unique culture at a time when it is confronted with extinction on its own soil. By presenting Tibetan civilization and its profound wisdom, beauty, and special art of freedom to the people of the world, the Tibet House hopes to inspire others to join the effort to protect and save it.
Tibet House US is part of a worldwide network of Tibetan institutions committed to ensuring that the light of the Tibetan spirit never disappears from the face of this earth.