MEDFORD — Geshe Tenley, clad in the crimson and saffron robes of a Tibetan monk, paused for a moment in a quiet room of the Kurukulla Center for Buddhist Studies late Tuesday afternoon.

The crowd of nearly 2,000 had mostly dispersed. Sacred chanting still echoed though the building, and in the gompa, the teaching and meditation room, a few people stayed to pray near an ornate throne where the Dalai Lama had sat.