Community Services in the FPMT

	... If you, as a Buddhist organization, were able to do more in the fields of education, health, and counseling for the resolution of family and community problems, it would be of great benefit. This would mean ... simply using the techniques or messages of the Buddhadharma to try to solve problems through social service for the welfare of the society.
–His Holiness the Dalai Lama

	The purpose of human life, why we survive, why we live, is to pacify others' sufferings and disease, and to give happiness to them. Even if we cannot do everything now, just to stop one problem of another person is worthwhile.
–Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche

A unique aspect of the Mahayana path is its focus on serving others out of loving kindness and concern. All FPMT centers, study groups and projects exist because of this attitude: They serve their local communities by providing access to Buddha's teachings, which can, if applied sincerely, liberate each of us from all frustrations and suffering, and lead us to lasting peace and happiness - enlightenment.

As well as providing this spiritual service to the community, many FPMT students offer practical, community service. Our ways of helping include hospice services, health care, universal education schools, helping prisoners, helping fund education for Tibetan refugees, and counseling services.

• Animal Care
  Animal Liberation Sanctuary
  Maitri Animal Care Programme
  

• Community Centers
  FPMT Mongolia Dolma Ling Community Center provides:
  • One meal
  • Basic medical attention
  • Educational programs to 50 or more underprivileged people of the surrounding district in the outskirts of Ulaan Baatar five days a week.

  The Community Center was opened on the 1st August 2003. Our Australian Buddhist Nun, Venerable Jinpa, worked with disadvantaged people and street children for a year prior, to determine the best way we could fulfill our spiritual director Lama Zopa's wish to benefit the underprivileged in Mongolia. By providing one nutritious meal a day and offering basic health education, we hope to benefit the community both now and in the future.

• Essential Education Schools
  Tara Redwood School
  Maitreya Project UE School

• FPMT Charitable Projects

• Health Care Projects
  
  

  MAITRI Charitable Trust
  MAITRI Charitable Trust Help in the eradication of leprosy, the treatment of TB, the medical assistance and care for expecting mothers and new born babies, the rescuing of starved small children, the education of children in rural areas, and the rescuing and care of animals in Bodhgaya, India by making a donation today to the MAITRI Charitable Trust.
  
  Shakyamuni Buddha Community Health Care Centre originated in 1991, when Lama Zopa Rinpoche, one of his Gurus and a group of westerners found an old man lying in the road covered in flies and close to death, took him back to Root Institute and nurtured him until he died peacefully some six months later. The charitable clinic has evolved into a multi-service entity, a grass-roots poly-clinic. The Health Care Centre now employs a team of 18 and offers a wide range of medical services.

  The Maya Daya Medical Clinic was established by Ven. Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1992 with the aim to provide proper health-care services to the population living around Kopan Monastery and in neighbouring villages. Prior to its inception there was no hospital nor clinic in the area, and people had to go on long journeys to receive medical treatment.
  Maya Daya Clinic is open 3 days a week, 2 hours each day. There are a Nepali doctor and two dedicated Kopan monks as the Clinic staff. Since it opened its doors to the public, Maya Daya Clinic has received thousands of local patients, monks and nuns among them.
  

• Hospice Services
  Hospice means providing emotional support and companionship for those facing life threatening illnesses. The following hospices assist the terminally ill and their families through loving kindness and qualified health care.
  
  Karuna Hospice Service
  Cittamani Hospice Service
  Hospice of Mother Tara
  The Center for Conscious Living and Dying
  Amitabha Hospice Service
  Amitabha Buddhist Center - Hospice Under The Care of Amitabha Buddha
  Nagarjuna Madrid - Potala Hospice
  Kasih Hospice Care
  Tara Home at Land of Medicine Buddha
  

• Prison Projects
  Liberation Prison Project The volunteers and Sangha of this quickly growing project write to and visit prisoners, giving Dharma teachings and offering advice about their practices. The LPP is involved in over 500 prisons in the United States and has branches in Australia, New Zealand, England and Spain.
  

• Socially and Ecologically-focused
  Shen Phen Thubten Choeling
  MAITRI Trust Village School Program
  

• Tibetan Welfare
  Yeshe Norbu Appello per il Tibet

How Can You Help?

1. Volunteer your time and skills.
   Why not contact the center closest to you and offer your help?
   
   
2. Make a donation.
   All FPMT centers and projects operate as non-profits, and depend upon the generosity of supporters and members to survive. If you are interested in contributing financially to the development of a project, please contact the project organizers directly so that they can give you more details of their needs and how you can contribute. Many will be able to issue a tax-deductible receipt for your donation. To find specific contact information click on a link above.