Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, Buddhist education center in Ithaca, New York, United States.
The Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery and teaching center in Ithaca, New York. It brings together a resident community of monks, a seminary program, and a meditation hall open to the public.
The institute was founded in 1992 at the request of the 14th Dalai Lama and serves as the North American seat of Namgyal Monastery, which was originally established in Lhasa, Tibet, in 1571. After the community went into exile following the 1959 Tibetan uprising, it eventually established this branch in the United States.
The monks who live and study here follow a daily rhythm of prayer, debate, and meditation that visitors can observe directly. The prayer hall is decorated with Thangka paintings and ritual objects brought from or modeled after those in Tibetan monasteries.
Some classes and meditation sessions are open to the public, so checking the schedule on the website before visiting is a good idea. The monastery is in a residential part of Ithaca, so visitors should expect a quiet setting and dress modestly when entering the buildings.
Namgyal is the personal monastery of the Dalai Lama, which means he stays there when visiting the United States. During those visits he sometimes gives public talks that draw large crowds, even though the monastery itself houses only a small community of monks on a daily basis.
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