Birth of the Idea

To serve the needs of all people through education and empowerment, the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies in Ithaca, NY and Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India agreed on a plan to build a library and a museum, dedicated to the powerful teachings of non-sectarian Buddhism. This step towards realizing the great visions of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as well as a gesture of repaying a tiny portion of his compassion was enough for the Abbot and the Executive Council of Namgyal Monastery to receive this plan with genuine appreciation, dedication, and happiness. His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave his consent on April 28, 2016 to create The Library, Learning Center and Museum of the 14th Dalai Lama.

• Ground broken for new Dalai Lama Library and Learning Center
  Ithaca Voice- April 29, 2022
• Dalai Lama Library and Learning Center to Be Built in New York
  Buddhist Door- June 21, 2021
• Dalai Lama Library and Learning Center Underway in Ithaca
  Weny- May 3rd 2022
• Namgyal Monastery Institute celebrates groundbreaking of Dalai Lama’s library
  Ithaca.com- May 5, 2022
• Ithaca NY To Be Repository and World Center Museum of Dalai Lama Writings
  Genesee sun- May 2021
•  First-ever Dalai Lama Library & Learning Center To Be Built In Ithaca, NY 
  Yahoo Finance- July 6, 2021
• Buddha Buzz Weekly: Ithaca’s Namgyal Monastery
  Will Build the First Dalai Lama Library and Learning Center
  Tricycle- June 19, 2021

The Library and Learning Center will have an overall size of more than 9000 sq ft. The facilities on the first floor include an exhibition area next to the lobby, twenty-four seats for private study, four computer workstations, a small reading corner along with four other areas with comfortable chairs for reading. The second-floor facilities include a Great Hall seating up to 250 persons for conferences and other presentations, a large reading room, a conference room and a quiet room for meditation.

The Library and Learning Center will hold the precious teachings of His Holiness including both printed and electronic copies of all 127 books written by him. These are his teachings on secular ethics and human values, compilations of discussions at the Mind & Life Institute, general teachings on Buddhism, instructions and guidance for those new to Buddhism and detailed commentaries on classical Buddhist texts. There will be recordings of the conferences that His Holiness has participated in as well as a complete set of at least 80,000 hours of teachings recorded since 1964 and other materials currently not available to the public.

In addition to works by His Holiness, the Library and Learning Center will hold the collected works of all the previous Dalai Lamas as well as a precious copy of the Kangyur and Tengyur (the works of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist masters), hand printed with wood blocks in Tibet. Some of these works have been translated, and these translations will also be available at the Library and Learning Center. These are the documents that His Holiness has studied and taught from for decades.