Dalai Lama evokes his Tibetan homeland ... in Elmont

It must have been gratifying for the Dalai Lama, and the nearly 16,000 North American-based Tibetans who came to see him, to have gathered at UBS Arena in Elmont last week to pray for and with the spiritual leader.

How much more satisfying it would have been for all of them had they been able to pray together in their homeland.

The Dalai Lama has been exiled from Tibet for 65 years now, after China’s annexation of the mountainous region. Many of the attendees — who came from as far away as Toronto and California — left Tibet when he did and in the waves that followed.

For every one of them who longs for a return to their native land, the Dalai Lama is more than their spiritual leader.

He is a living symbol of that quest.

As Yuthok Tsering, an attendee from Jackson Heights in Queens said, “He helped put Tibet on the map.”

The Dalai Lama is also 89, and not in good health. As he was helped onto a thronelike seat on the arena stage, the crowd fell silent.

It could have been the knee surgery, which brought him to New York from his home-in-exile in India, or the long commute from Syracuse where he has been recuperating, but it was hard to miss that he looked frail. Many attendees were teary-eyed.

For the nearly 30,000 Tibetans living in the United States — the largest fraction resides in Queens with a small handful on Long Island — the 14th Dalai Lama is the last string of hope that connects them to the global support they need to return to their homeland.

As he has aged, the Dalai Lama has veered toward pragmatism. Once an embodiment of the Tibetan uprising against China that resulted in his exile, he no longer seeks complete independence. Instead, he favors a Hong Kong-like autonomy, though that model is now in tatters after China clamped down on the former territory in recent years. He is a long way removed from the Nobel Peace Prize he won in 1989. So is the world.

Recent reports from Tibet of the forceful removal of young monks from monasteries, the prohibition on students speaking Tibetan languages, the imprisonment of protesters, and a series of self-immolations by monks and other Tibetans have sparked concerns that China is unlikely to loosen its grip on the mountainous province and take a seat at the negotiating table to talk about Tibet’s independence.

Nor is the Dalai Lama likely to get help from the United States, which is grappling with a host of other China-related issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, trade, its relationships with Russia and North Korea, and cyberattacks, all of which leave Tibet in the back seat.

While President Joe Biden signed a resolution in July reaffirming the nation’s commitment to safeguarding Tibetan rights, it does not push the needle politically for Tibetan freedom.

Concerns about the Dalai Lama’s age and succession are weighing on the community. Even in exile, perhaps especially in exile, one needs a leader to pin one’s hopes on. After the Chinese government in 1995 abducted the second-highest authority in Tibetan Buddhism and the person who would recognize the next Dalai Lama, the question of who will succeed the 14th Dalai Lama is uncertain.

In his sermon last week in Elmont, the Dalai Lama assured the crowd he was well and that an oracle had predicted he would live to be older than 100, which provoked raucous applause. The fate of his quest and the people who revere him is another matter altogether.

This guest essay reflects the views of Karthika Namboothiri, data solutions journalist for Newsday Opinion.

By Karthika Namboothiri

Karthika.Namboothiri@newsday.com