Skip to Main Content

Tibetan Buddhism: Norlin Scavenger Hunt

This guide will help you to locate both physical and digital materials relating to Tibetan Buddhism available to CU students in Norlin Library.

Scavenger Hunt

Tibetan Collection Scavenger Hunt

at Norlin Library

 

Directions

Following these clues, students are invited to look around Norlin Library in search of materials, texts, online resources, and individuals relevant to answering the questions below. Complete the first three questions OR only the fourth question for credit.

 

You have two options to submit your assignment:

  1. You can post images to Instagram with an informative, fun caption and the hashtag: #tibetinnorlin. How to post to Instagram: www.wikihow.com/Post-on-Instagram. Make sure that your photos are public so that we will be able to view them and give you credit for the assignment.

  2. If your Instagram page is private and you prefer not to connect with the library, you can also post images to CU Boulder Libraries Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/cublibraries/ with the hashtag: #tibetinnorlin.

 

 

Questions

  1. Find the Buddhist canon in Tibetan in the Norlin stacks. You can go directly to BQ or search OneSearch for Kangyur (spelled Bka’ ‘gyur) and Tengyur (spelled Bstan ‘gyur). These represent the words of the Buddha and the Indian commentarial tradition, respectively. Take a selfie in front of the texts. How many volumes are in each?
  2. While you’re in BQ, browse the stacks and find a book in English on Tibetan Buddhism that looks interesting. Take a look through the table of contents and find an interesting passage to read. Can you imagine a paper topic for which you might use this book? Snap a photo of the book and put your proposed topic in the caption.
  3. Can you figure out who the Religious Studies Librarian is and locate her office? If she’s there, introduce yourself and ask her about her favorite new addition to the Libraries’ collection of Tibetan texts. Take a selfie with her and put her answer in the caption when you post to Instagram.
  4. Get in touch with Special Collections in Norlin either by email SCA@colorado.edu or phone 303-492-6144 to schedule an appointment to look at the Tibetan woodblock prints. During your appointment, ask the staff members to see the woodblocks of Jamgön Kongtrül’s Treasury of Knowledge. Ask the staff member how this was produced and how it is used. Take a photo of the blocks and summarize in your own words in a comment how these blocks are made and utilized in Tibetan printing houses.


 

Image courtesy of: UVA Tibet Center (http://www.uvatibetcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dr04_12411.jpg)