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Venerable Lama Thubten Yeshe
Lama Thubten Yeshe was born in Tibet in 1935. At the age of six, he entered Sera Monastic University in Tibet where he studied until 1959, when as Lama Yeshe himself has said, “In that year the Chinese kindly told us that it was time to leave Tibet and meet the outside world.” Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, together as teacher and disciple since their exile in India, met their first Western students in 1967. By 1971, they settled at Kopan, a small hamlet near Kathmandu in Nepal. In 1974, the Lamas began touring and teaching in the West, which would eventually result in The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. Lama Yeshe died in 1984.
An exquisite and definitive two-volume biography of Lama Yeshe, Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe was published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive in 2020.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Big Love books, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, April 2020.
I encourage people not to express their anger, not to let it out. Instead, I have people try to understand why they get angry, what causes it and how it arises. When you realize these things, instead of manifesting externally, your anger digests itself. In the West, some people believe that you get rid of your anger by expressing it, that you finish it by letting it out. Actually, in this case what happens is that you leave an imprint in your mind to get angry again.
Why have we established the FPMT? Why are we establishing these facilities all over the world? I think we are clean clear as to our aim—we want to lead sentient beings to higher education. We are an organization that gives people the chance to receive higher education. We offer people what we have the combined knowledge of Buddha’s teachings and the modern way of life. Our purpose is to share our experiences of this.
—Lama Yeshe
Read more about Lama Yeshe’s vision for FPMT.
The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive has an extensive collection of books, teachings and advice from Lama Yeshe.
You can also find major publications of a number teachings from Lama through Wisdom Publications.
Lama Yeshe was known for his exuberant range of expressions, which you can enjoy in this small photo gallery from FPMT. You can also enjoy a more extensive gallery from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Tenzin Osel Hita, born in Spain in 1984 by two of Lama Yeshe’s students, was recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of Lama Yeshe at the age of one.
You can read about Osel’s life and current activities, and find videos of public talks, a documentary he produced, read from his ongoing blog, and more.
——— Latest “Lama Yeshe’s Wisdom” Blog
Lama Yeshe’s Wisdom: The Enlightenment Attitude
From the Buddhist point of view, attachment for something means that it's very difficult for us to separate from it. We have a very strong attachment – strong like iron – for the things we think of as being very good. We need to learn to be flexible.
Lama Thubten Yeshe teaching at University of California at Santa Cruz, 1978. Photo by Jon Landaw.