Acolytes of the Dalai Lama gathered during the July Fourth holiday outside Midtown’s Park Hyatt Hotel, where the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader is recuperating from knee replacement surgery.
Dressed in traditional Tibetan attire and prayer beads, the devotees posed for photos and prayed outside the West 57th Street hotel on Thursday. They walked around the block clockwise, emulating the practice of circumambulating a Buddhist temple.
“We believe that if you circumambulate, it brings us good luck in our future and in our present also,” said Yonten Dorjee, 40, from Kew Gardens, Queens.
“We imagine this as our temple and His Holiness is inside,” added Dorjee’s wife, Kalsang Youdon.
The Dalai Lama arrived in New York City in late June for knee replacement surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery, his first trip to the US since 2017. The 88-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, has experienced health issues for years.
David J. Mayman, the chief of adult reconstruction and joint replacement service at the hospital, stated that the surgery on June 28 was successful, and the Dalai Lama is expected to make a full recovery. He was discharged the following day.
“His Holiness’s personal medical team and office were in constant communication with the surgical and medical staff at HSS,” Mayman said.
It is unclear how long the Dalai Lama will be recuperating at the five-star hotel across from Carnegie Hall, where admirers have been making daily devotional visits, as first reported by Gothamist.
Despite the Buddha’s teaching that existence is suffering, the mood outside the hotel has been joyous. The Dalai Lama’s personal cook, Tenzin Pasang, made an appearance on Thursday and was greeted enthusiastically by the crowd.
“I heard that [the Dalai Lama’s] treatments were successful, so that’s why we’re very happy,” said Kalsang Phuntsok, 58, who brought his family from Jackson Heights.
“He shares wisdom throughout all of Tibet and India, and my family is so proud of what he’s done,” added Phuntsok’s son Baruwa Kunshey, 11.
China views the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist, a claim he has consistently dismissed. His visit to New York City follows a bipartisan House delegation’s visit to him in northern India, which prompted a threatening letter from China’s embassy to the U.S.
“The visit interferes with China’s internal affairs, violates China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the letter stated.
Despite the political tensions, “Free Tibet” slogans were scarce among the Independence Day crowd outside the Park Hyatt. For Ella Krivova, 37, an Upper East Sider grateful for the holiday off to be near the Dalai Lama, his presence was a “precious opportunity.”
“This city can be so materialistic; being here helps you to be closer to the teaching and to develop and deepen your life,” she said. “His mindstream is very vast and kind and generous, so it’s important to be connected to the teaching and to liberate and help other people in the future.”
