ITHACA, N.Y. — The Dalai Lama made a brief stop in Ithaca late Friday morning while en route to New York City. The Tibetan spiritual leader arrived at Ithaca’s Namgyal Monastery via helicopter from Syracuse, where he had been recovering from a knee surgery.
Hundreds gathered at the monastery for a chance to see and hear from the 14th Dalai Lama, whose visit lasted about an hour. He gave remarks in both Tibetan and English, toured the monastery grounds and offered blessings to attendees.
Parking within the monastery’s gates was completely filled, and additional parked cars lined the side of Danby Road for nearly half a mile, a number of out-of-state license plates on display.
Tenzin Tsokyi, president of the Tibetan Association of Ithaca, said Ithaca’s Tibetan community had long hoped for a visit from the spiritual leader, who last visited Ithaca in 2007.
“This is the personal monastery of the 14th Dalai Lama,” Tsokyi said. “So the monks really wanted him to at least see it one time and bless it.”
Resident monks had contacted the leader last year, hoping he would be able to make a visit to mark the opening of a new library built in his honor. At the time, the now 89-year-old’s health and other engagements prevented his visit.
Pending the green light from his doctors, the leader confirmed he’d be able to make a stop in Ithaca after his knee surgery, though the exact date was not confirmed until about a week ago. Tsokyi and others said the leader appeared to be in good health as he toured the grounds.
His arrival via helicopter added to the air of excitement, Tsokyi said.
“[Last time] he came in a car, so this was totally a different experience,” Tsokyi laughed. “When I saw the helicopter, I thought at first, ‘Oh, what is that?’”
Tsokyi said many in Ithaca’s Tibetan community, which numbers almost 100 families, had volunteered extra time for the past month to prepare for the visit.
“We were getting ready for almost a month. We were cleaning and gardening, mowing, doing everything,” Tsokyi said. “We didn’t know the date when he would come, but we were getting ready for whenever he had the opportunity to come to Ithaca.”
Even after the leader had departed, the monastery’s grounds swarmed with a small army of volunteers, many of whom were preparing and serving a vegetarian lunch to the many visitors.
Many described the brief visit as intimate and joyful. The leader spoke with the crowd from a leather office chair draped with white and saffron cloth in the monastery’s original prayer hall. During his last visit to Ithaca in 2007, the prayer hall was one of the only buildings completed at the time.
South Hill resident Pempa Dolma said the visit from the leader, who has lived in exile in India for many years, has special importance for members of the Tibetan diaspora. Dolma moved to Ithaca 30 years ago from India, where the Dalai Lama and other Tibetans had fled after China’s annexation of Tibet in 1959.
“I came straight to Ithaca from the south of India. At the beginning, I had a cultural shock, and I missed my hometown a lot,” Dolma said. “But now we have this community, and we hope it continues to grow for the better of everyone in the next generation.”
She said there are many within the community who are unable to travel to India to visit the Dalai Lama at his primary monastery. Visiting their ancestral homeland is even less feasible.
College student Tenzin Yintsel and her friends said they drove from New York City to meet the leader, though they had less than 24 hours notice.
“We left the city at 3 a.m. and just drove,” Yintsel said. “We took turns sleeping. We’re young, but he’s getting old, and we want to see him before — well, because we don’t know when the next time he’s going to be in the States.”
She said the leader and his visit had served as a powerful event to bring the region’s broader Tibetan diaspora together.
“I kind of teared up, especially when he left in the helicopter. He could see everyone waving,” Yintsel said. “I was breaking down, because the older generation, they had to leave Tibet, so they came here, and just to see him they get to reminisce about their homeland. And seeing the younger generation together with the older generation, it just gives me hope.”
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