Wisdom Compassion Peace

On May 9th, after eight years of preparation, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama visited Smith College. This was his first visit to Western Massachusetts since 1988. In 1990, the Tibetan resettlement program was initiated and the Northampton-Amherst area designated a resettlement area. Today more than 100 Tibetans live in the area. The Five Colleges, principally Smith and Hampshire, have had a successful exchange program with Tibetan academic institutions in India for fifteen years. Each year during January term, up to fifteen students from Smith and Hampshire go to the village of Sarnath, India for an intensive program of Tibetan studies. Jay Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor of Philosophy at Smith and head of the Tibetan Studies Program, chaired the committee to bring the Dalai Lama to Smith.

The primary event, held in Smith’s Indoor Track and Tennis facility, was for 5,000 members of the Smith and Hampshire campus communities (students, faculty and staff), as well as local Tibetans. The Dalai Lama also met with members of the Five College Buddhist Studies Certificate Program and with the Tibetan Association of Western Massachusetts. Other interested locals had to content themselves with attending live simulcasts or listening to podcasts after the event. The Dalai Lama spoke about the value of education and of the need for compassion or "warm-heartedness" to ensure that our knowledge is not used for destructive purposes.

To welcome the Dalai Lama to the campus, the Tibetan community erected a traditional gold-painted welcome gate through which his limousine passed. Tibetan prayer flags fluttered along the walkways. The College titled his visit "Wisdom Compassion Peace."