A Buddhist monastery affiliated with His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, is intensifying a fundraising campaign to build a one-of-a-kind library, learning center and museum on its estate in Ithaca, New York, devoted to promoting human values and religious harmony.
The Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies is the North American seat of Namgyal Monastery, the Dalai Lama’s personal monastery in Dharamshala, India.
The library and museum aim to protect “the legacy of the Dalai Lama and all that he represents to many millions of people throughout the world,” the monastery said in a statement.
The project’s “primary mission is as a learning center for scholars, and practitioners of all faiths, as well as scientists, educators, and philosophers of all disciplines.”
The plan’s first phase seeks $5 million in donations for building the library and learning center. Half that amount has already been raised since fundraising began in February 2018—two years after the building plans were originally announced—and the other half is expected by the end of 2021.
A $10 million fundraising campaign for the museum will begin as soon as the donation goal for the library and learning center is met.
“Both projects will be the only facilities of their kind anywhere in the world,” the news statement said.
“Our vision—one that is supported and shared by the Dalai Lama—is to encourage genuine human interconnection and unity in an increasingly divided world,” Namgyal Monastery President Tenzin Choesang said in a statement.
Planned to be over 9,000 square feet, the library and learning center will offer low-cost meditation classes, talks and seminars, “creating a transformational hub of compassionate and humane education that is open to everyone, both in-person and online,” says Choesang.
Besides offering works by the Dalai Lama and his 13 predecessors spanning centuries, the library will house archived material from the Charlottesville, Virginia-based Mind & Life Institute, which the Dalai Lama cofounded in 1987. The institute brings together scientists, philosophers and educators from around the world “to explore the relationships between Buddhism and modern science, particularly the science of the mind and consciousness,” in an effort to “bring science and contemplative wisdom together to better understand the mind and create positive change in the world.” The library and learning center are also intended to be a “place for study and exploration for the public, including students, scholars, spiritual, civic and business leaders, and practitioners of all faiths.”
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