Chapel House contains thoughtful and inspiring books, music, and art representing the world’s great religions. These resources are available to walk-in visitors as well as resident guests.
Religious Artwork
Throughout the building, one encounters exquisite works of art from many religious traditions. Just a few examples include:
- A Guanyin from pre-12th-century China
- Antique and modern Tibetan Thangkas
- A Christ on the Cross by Ivan Meštrović
- A bronze bas-relief Revelation by Elbert Weinberg
- Rubbings from the Tang Dynasty’s sculptures of Bodhidharma and Guanyin
- A three-century-old Natarajan
- A page of Kufic calligraphy from a ninth-century Qur’an
- Japanese scrolls that are several centuries old
- Original works by Rembrandt, Rouault, Chagall, and Kano
Meditation Hall
While our Meditation Hall was designed primarily for individual use, interested groups may reserve it for meditation classes, religious holiday observances, weddings, and memorial services.
Library
The Chapel House library contains over three thousand volumes dedicated to the sacred writings, commentaries, literature, and art of these traditions and others:
- Buddhist
- Christian
- Confucian
- Hindu
- Islamic
- Jain
- Jewish
- Native American
- Parsee
- Shinto
- Sikh
- Taoist
This is not a circulating library, but visitors may use books while on the premises.
The Link
The Link is a glass-walled corridor that connects the main house with the Meditation Hall. Adorned with plants year-round and comfortable seating, the Link is a pleasant, serene space for observation and reflection.
Music Room and Collection
The music room contains thousands of recordings of religious music, from ancient to modern. The listener may experience superlative works expressing the cultures and deepest beliefs of many traditions.
Anyone may explore the collection and request instruction in the use of our audio equipment.
The Dalai Lama Chair
In 2008, His Holiness the Dalai Lama came to º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ and spoke to a few thousand people in our field house. To prepare for his visit, º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ commissioned a special chair from the Stickley Furniture Company in Fayetteville, NY. It is an oversized version of Stickley's classic Eastwood chair, designed around 1901 by Gustav Stickley. The Dalai Lama's commissioned chair was enlarged to accommodate him sitting cross-legged, which he did after removing his shoes to address the º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ crowd. Afterward, the chair was auctioned off for $25,000, but the donor returned it to º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½, where it rotated through various campus locations, including the President's office, before finding its final home on the ground level of Chapel House.
Come sit and meditate in that chair yourself, on your next visit to Chapel House!