Buddhist Shrine

The Buddhist Shrine Room is located in the base of Harkness Tower, within Branford College. The Buddhist Shrine Room is open every Sunday through Thursday from 4 PM to 10 PM during the academic year. The Yale Buddhist Student Community has an evening program of meditation, Buddhist learning, and small group discussion every Sunday and Wednesday from 7 to 8 PM. The Shrine is a beautiful space and all are always welcome!

The Shrine Room has both floor and chair seating for meditation practice, as well as representations of the different Buddhist lineages throughout the space. Students may offer a variety of incenses at the altar. A lovely Buddhist Lending Library provides updated resources for learning meditation and practicing Buddhism. Despite being in the center of campus, the room is generally very quiet and serves as a refuge for reflection amidst a busy campus day.

For more information on Buddhist life at Yale, please visit the website for Buddhist Life at Yale or contact Sumi Kim, our Buddhist chaplain.

♿Accessibility Information

Unfortunately, the Buddhist shrine room is up several steps and has narrow doorways and is not a space easily accessible by wheelchair.

This is a shoes off space! Please remove your shoes before entering.

History and Architecture

While the Buddhist Shrine was consecrated as a sacred space for Yale’s Buddhist community in 2012, it has a long history as a sacred space for different parts of Yale, and much of that history is reflected in its architecture.  It was initially built as a Memorial Chapel, first dedicated in 1952 to 36 members of Branford College who died in the line of service between 1941 and 1952.  Their names are written in gold in the back of the room on the upper side panels to the right and left of the fireplace. 

Around the upper wooden panels of the room are carvings of what were - at the time of construction - considered the most important scenes from Yale student life between the founding of the College and 1917. On these panels you can see events such as the founding of the nation’s first literary magazine, the planting of the trees on Hillhouse, among others. Above these panels facing High Street is a stained glass window. Represented on the stained glass panels are major philosophers from a broad range of subjects studied at the College. On the lower right Copernicus can be seen with his plan of the universe in his hand. One last feature of the Memorial Chapel is the beautiful fan-vaulted ceiling - one of few in the United States (another being in the National Cathedral).