Charitable Activities

Completed magnificent stupa in Thame, Nepal.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born in the Mount Everest region of Thame, located close to Lawudo which was the home of his previous incarnation known as the Lawudo Lama. Many Kopan monks are also from Thame.

During the earthquake of 2015, the Thame region was seriously affected. Almost all the homes in the area were damaged or completely destroyed and several people died. Only a few houses remained standing. Amidst the destruction, a large stupa was destroyed. The new stupa, which stands nearly 46 feet tall with a base measuring 54 feet across, is larger than the one which previously stood and is utilizing much of the materials from the original stupa. This magnificent stupa also features a large prayer wheel inside, pilgrims and locals can enter the stupa to spin it and create even more merit.  

Rebuilding this stupa was a tremendous undertaking with many obstacles and hardships along the way to completion including the utilization of helicopters  to deliver supplies and mantras. Please join us in rejoicing in the effort of every person who worked on the stupa in any way, and specifically Ven. Tenpa Choden who managed the entire project. 

The previous Thame stupa was destroyed in the 2015 earthquake.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Stupa Fund, has offered over US$300,000 for the rebuilding of the stupa which took two years to complete. Please take a minute to enjoy these videos which show various aspects of this incredible holy object project.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche translated Padmasambhava’s Instructions on Offering to Stupas which explains numerous benefits of prostrating to, circumambulating, making offerings to, and offering service to, stupas. 

“All those who rejoice in the stupa will generate every single quality of a buddha in their mental continuum.” — Padmasambhava’s Instruction on Offerings to Stupas

If you would like to contribute to the building of holy objects around the world, you are welcome to offer any amount to the Holy Objects Fund which contributes to the creation of stupas, prayer wheels and statues. 

Over 12,000 meals are offered to the poor each year through the LOP soup kitchen.

Lamp of the Path NGO (LOP), part of Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling, has offered social services to some of the poor and homeless living in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia since 2003. Its main program is a soup kitchen which offers food as well as free medical support through a health clinic, which reopened in 2017. LOP helps bring awareness to the epidemic of alcoholism in Mongolia and offers tuberculosis checkups for the disadvantaged in the area.

Since 2012, a generous benefactor has worked with the Social Services Fund to provide ongoing grants to enable these charitable activities. According to a recent video report (below), LOP has sixty-seven consistent donors who help make this work possible. 

Altar at the LOP soup kitchen.

The following prayer is offered before meals are enjoyed in the soup kitchen:

Due to the kindness of others, I am able to receive this food and drink– How wonderful! May I eat and drink this food to be healthy and strong, kind and helpful, all day long!

You can watch the directors of Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling offering appreciation for the support offered to LOP as well as a brief update on some of the activities:

Please rejoice in fifteen years of social service being offered in Mongolia through LOP. 

The Social Services Fund contributes to many beneficial charitable projects as funds allow. You can learn more about these activities, or make a donation of any amount. 

You can offer directly to FPMT Mongolia to help ensure services such as these continue in Mongolia in the future. 

Offering tsog at the long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the last day of the 2016 Kopan November course. The five dakinis are also shown. Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Every year, the Long Life Puja Fund supports a long life puja offered on behalf of FPMT centers, projects, services, and students to our most kind and immeasurably precious spiritual director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The next puja will be offered at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, on December 17 following Rinpoche’s teaching during the one-month lamrim course.

The ritual itself is the extensive Lama Chöpa with an added request to the dakinis, a moving plea by the students for the five dakinis who have come to take away the teacher to a pure land to allow the students’ teacher to remain with them on earth.

The purpose of the long life puja is for students to purify the mistakes that occur in relation to their teacher, and to create the causes and conditions to continue to receive benefit from that teacher for a very long time.

Extensive Long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, April 23, 2017.

By maintaining harmony, following Rinpoche’s advice and offering long life pujas, FPMT students are accumulating the merits so that our precious guru will stay in the world with us for a long time. Having the continued guidance of the guru depends on the merits of the disciples.  We need to create the cause for us to keep meeting with the precious guru in future lives until we attain the highest goal of enlightenment, for the benefit of all.

Rinpoche also regularly mentions that offering long life pujas is a cause for one’s own long life.

All are welcome to participate in this long life puja by making a donation toward it. For your name to be included in this incredible offering, donations must be received no later than December 12^th.

Additionally, you may download one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life prayers to use at any time:

• “Bestowing Supreme Immortality” by His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche
• Long Life Prayer for Lama Zopa Rinpoche by Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme

The Long Life Puja Fund always contributes to long life pujas offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. You can also learn about the many Charitable Projects of FPMT and discover the many ways the various funds and projects are benefiting others.

Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa blessing the prayer wheel site at Vajrapani Institute.

Vajrapani Insititute, an FPMT retreat center in Northern California, is now well on its way to building the Prayer Wheel of Compassion which was announced in December 2016. The 10 ft x 7 ft prayer wheel will contain 5 trillion (5,000,000,000,000) copies of OM MANI PADME HUM, the mantra of Chenrezig, the Buddhist deity who embodies universal compassion—a request that came from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The first phase of this ambitious project reached completion over the Summer months in California including all of the planning, completion of initial designs, and securing required permits. 

The prayer wheel foundation with concrete finish work and steel structure.

The second phase of the project, slated to begin in January 2019, includes framing out the rest of the structure, installing copper roofing and bearings, structurally rebuilding the frame, and the erection of the prayer wheel which will be filled with 250 billion mani mantras to start. At this point the traditional ornate wood-carved artwork that will adorn the structure will also be made.

To reach the 5 trillion mantras, Vajrapani Institute will gradually raise all of the funds required and build the structure in a way that will be able to hold the weight (estimated at 18,000 lbs) and spin easily.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Holy Objects Fund, joined other generous donors and offered US$20,000 and has pledged an additional US$20,000 toward the construction of this incredible holy object. 

“Each time you rejoice you collect skies of merit, making it such an easy way to achieve enlightenment.”  – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Rinpoche has explained that every time you rejoice in an offering, the construction of the prayer wheel, and in the effort of all those who are working to actualize it, the merit doubles. When you rejoice the second time, the merit is multiplied by four. The third time, it is multiplied by eight. It is  amazing! Lama Tsongkhapa said that to collect merit, the best way is through rejoicing. 

You can watch a short video on this project which outlines some of the many benefits of the completed prayer wheel.

Watch “5 Trillion Mantra Prayer Wheel Project” on YouTube:

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has taught, “This practice of turning the prayer wheel is a result of the unbearable compassion of all the Buddhas for us sentient beings—whose minds are so obscured and filled with disturbing thoughts, like an ocean covering a whole city, and who are extremely lazy and ignorant—to guide us to enlightenment as quickly as possible. It helps us to complete the accumulation of extensive merit and purify obscurations so as to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.”

Supporting the creation of prayer wheels and other holy objects is part of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT: 
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/vast-vision/#pw

Find out more and give your support to the 5 Trillion Mantra Prayer Wheel Project:
http://www.vajrapani.org/prayerwheel/pw/index.php

To help ensure grants like this continue toward holy objects, all are welcome to offer a donation of any amount to the Holy Object Fund. 

Flowers at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, 2015. Photo by Chris Majors.

Thanks to a kind benefactor, the Education and Preservation Fund issued several grants earlier this year in support of Liberation Prison Project, an FPMT project founded in 1996, which offers spiritual advice and teachings, as well as books and materials, to people in prison interested in exploring, studying and practicing Buddhism. In total, US$44,100 was offered to programs in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Mexico. 

Approximately 300 Dharma friends correspond with prisoner students worldwide. On average, 2,000 inmates are supported with Dharma materials every year. 

These grants will contribute to the costs of postage, Dharma resources, printing, design needs, computer upgrades, subscriptions to Mandala magazine, and pujas for success at Kopan monastery. 

Please rejoice in the ongoing work of the Liberation Prison Project and in the generosity of the donor who made these recent grants possible. Community Service, such as that provided by the Liberation Prison Project, is one of FPMT’s Five Pillars of Service.

The Education and Preservation Fund supports Dharma study and contributes to the development of Buddhist education programs and the preservation of the Dharma through the publication of Dharma practice materials and translations. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Washington State, USA, June 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab

Welcome to our new initiative, the Protecting the Environment and Living Beings Project. This project began due to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent advice that specific pujas and practices should be done regularly to pacify harm from the elements and to protect those (humans, animals, insects) who have been affected.

“If you wonder what to do, what prayers to make when there are disasters caused by the elements (fire, water, wind, and earth) such as tornadoes, hurricanes, heavy rain, storms, floods, earthquakes, fires; as well as disasters that destroy crops; disasters that destroy entire towns and cities within one hour; disasters that cause so many billions of dollars of damage and so much money has to be spent to rebuild the towns; disasters where so many hundreds and thousands of people die or lose their homes, have no food or clean water; disasters where so many animals and insects are killed and harmed – Here I am offering some suggestions on what to do so that you can help a country at risk, save so many lives, and prevent the destruction of houses, villages, and cities,” Rinpoche explained in July 2018. 

According to Rinpoche’s advice, every month the following practices will be offered with strong prayers:

Medicine Buddha by Peter-Iseli

• Extensive Medicine Buddha Puja offered five times by Shu Cho Khangtsen of Drepung Gomang Monastery, Kopan Monastery, and Gyuto Tantric College
• Guhyasamaja root text recited four times by Kopan Lama Gyupas
• Kshitigarbha Sutra recited one time by the nuns of Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery
• Sutra of Golden Light recited eight times by Sangha in the USA
• Arya Sanghata Sutra recited five by Sangha in the USA
• Vajra Cutter Sutra recited four times by Yangsi Rinpoche

We are very happy to announce that these have now all begun. Rinpoche has been emphasizing the tremendous importance of these pujas and practices and that this is one unique way that we can offer support for so many around the world.

In 2012 Rinpoche had advised to build a Stupa to Minimize Harm to prevent earthquakes on the West Coast of the United States. The stupa was to be built in a very specific area, following the precise direction of Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la). For three years we tried to do this, but there were insurmountable obstacles to securing the exact land. After checking if we could build it elsewhere, Rinpoche then identified specific practices that could mitigate the dangers from the earthquakes. Incredibly, all these practices were completed and much more.

The Protecting the Environment and Living Beings Project is following on from this advice and is relevant to needs right now in the USA and around the world. 

Rinpoche, in his incredible kindness, immediately offered $24,000 enabling us to begin sponsorship of the pujas and recitations without delay.

Please consider being a part of this vision to benefit the environment, those affected by disasters of the elements, and all beings.

You can learn more about the Protecting the Environment and Living Beings Fund, keep up on the latest news, or contribute with a donation. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche making offerings to the Mahabodhi Stupa, Bodhgaya, India. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Lhabab Duchen, one of the four great holy days of the Buddhist calendar when merit is multiplied by 100 million times, takes place this year on Wednesday, October 31. 

On this day, up to 15,650 Sangha are sponsored through the FPMT Puja Fund to offer specific pujas and engage in particular practices selected by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors and those serving the organization in any way, as well as all beings. 

The monks of Sera Je Monastery offering puja.

Since merit is multiplied on this day, you can imagine that each monk is offering every puja or engaging in every practice 100 million times. The following will be sponsored on Lhabab Duchen this year:

• Recitation of the Prajnaparamita (three versions) by 650 monks of Gyurme Tantric College
• Druk Chu Ma, Namgyäl Tong Chö, and Zangcho offered by 6,000 monks of Sera Je and Sera Mey Monasteries
• Druk Chu Ma, Medicine Buddha Puja and Zangcho offered by 3,400 monks of Gaden Jangtse and Shartse Monasteries
• Druk Chu Ma, Namgyäl Tsechog and Zangcho offered by 4,200 monks of Drepung. Gomang, Loseling and Deyang Monasteries
• Namgyäl Tong Chö and Zangcho offered by 600 monks of Gyuto Tantric Colleges
• Druk Ch Ma, Medicine Buddha Puja and Zangcho offered by the 370 monks of Kopan Monastery
• Druk Chu Ma, Medicine Buddha Puja and Zangcho offered by the 400 nuns of Kopan Nunnery,
• Offerings will be made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus
• Offerings will be made to Sangha at IMI communities
• Offering of white wash and four giant saffron flower petals and new umbrellas will be made to Bouddhanath stupa’s and Swayambunath stupa’s pinnacles in Nepal
• Offering of a new set of robes of very precious material will be offered to the Buddha inside the Bodhgaya Mahabodhi temple, Bodhgaya, India
• Offering of gold will be offered to the holy body of the Jowo Buddha in Lhasa’s Jokang, Tibet 

How to Participate

• Take a few moments on Lhabab Duchen to join in with prayer in your mind and rejoice that thousands of ordained Sangha are engaged at all of the above at the exact same time and this merit is multiplied 100 million times.  
• Take a few moments on Lhabab Duchen to rejoice in some of the incredible offerings happening around the world. 
• Make an offering that goes toward covering the cost of these prayers, pujas, and offerings. 

• Specific advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for practices to do on merit multiplying days can be found on FPMT.org, including advice to recite the Sutra for Remembering the Three Jewels. (Advice for merit multiplying days can also be found in French.) If you choose to recite the Sutra of Golden Light on this special day, you might like to report your recitations using the facility on the FPMT website, which you can find on the Sutra of Golden Light reporting page.

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  All are welcome to donate to the Puja Fund and directly support the merit accumulated by hundreds of millions of prayers and pujas on this holy day by thousands of ordained Sangha.  

This goat and another, who were going to be killed, were liberated and the merit of this was dedicated to the long life of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Beings that would otherwise be killed and eaten as food are purchased for the sole purpose of liberating them.

In July, over 2.5 million living beings, including large and small fish, shellfish, and two goats, were liberated in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Nepal with dedications made for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life. These beings were taken around holy objects and blessed with mantras and mantra water before release. 

In Singapore, at Amitabha Buddhist Center, Ven. Tenzin Drachom arranged the liberation of 2.5 million lives. 

In Hong Kong, at  Cham Tse Ling, Ven. Pemba arranged the liberation of 12,516 lives. 

In Nepal, Tania Duratovic of Enlightenment for the Dear Animals joined Kopan Monastery in liberating two goats that would otherwise be killed. The two goats were later put on the Animal Liberation Sanctuary land to live out the rest of their lives. Lama Zopa Rinpoche named the two goats Conventional Bodhichitta and Ultimate Bodhichitta. 

Animal liberation is a specific practice done for animals which would otherwise be killed. The practice involves taking the animals-in-danger around holy objects to leave positive imprints in their minds, reciting mantras for them, blessing water to sprinkle onto their bodies, and then releasing them. This differs from general animal blessings which involve blessing any animal with mantras or a holy object. Animal blessings are, of course, wonderful to do for animals, but this is not what is meant by “animal liberations.”

Some blessed beings being returned to the water in Hong Kong after the liberation practices.

Please rejoice that over 2.5 million sentient beings received blessings and kindness from students of Lama Zopa Rinpoche– those offering the practices as well as those who have donated to the Animal Liberation Fund. All the merit of animal liberations is dedicated to the long life of Lama Zopa Rinpoche—something worth rejoicing in as well!

“Where there is a mind, there are feelings such as pain, pleasure, and joy. No sentient being wants pain; instead all want happiness. Since we all share these feelings at some basic level, we as rational human beings have an obligation to contribute in whatever way we can to the happiness of other species and try our best to relieve their fears and sufferings.”
                                                                                                                          — His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Mothers and children being cared for at Maitri, Bihar, India, January 2018. Photo by Phil Hunt.

Since 1989, Maitri has been operating as a beneficial example of Dharma in action. Maitri is a registered charitable trust in India working to support the poor and disadvantaged in the province of Bihar, India. 

Director Adriana Ferranti with women receiving support from Maitri.

While Maitri was created to fight and provide education about leprosy and support leprosy patients, this NGO is also engaged in eradicating, controlling, and educating others about tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and birth control; offers medical assistance and care for expecting mothers and new born babies; provides life-saving assistance to malnourished small children; supplies rehabilitation for disabled people; and rescues and cares for animals. 

Please take a few minutes to watch this inspiring video of Maitri’s work by Marc-Andre Brunelle.

For the sixth year in a row, due to the kindness of a benefactor, the FPMT Social Services Fund has been offering substantial grants to Maitri in support of their incredible and compassionate work and service. Please consider supporting Maitri in any way you are able so this work can continue, as director Adriana Ferranti wishes, “as long as there is suffering.”

For more information about Maitri Charitable Trust and to donate directly to their work, please visit their website: http://www.maitri-bodhgaya.org/

Read “Maitri Charitable Trust: Service in the Land of Noble Truths,” published recently by Mandala:
https://fpmt.org/mandala/in-depth-stories/maitri-charitable-trust-service-in-the-land-f-noble-truths/

Ven. Roger Kunsang showing Lama Zopa Rinpoche the Inner Job Description app on a phone, Pisa, Italy, October 2017. Photo by Violette Pilot.

An example of the Inner Job Description app in Chinese on a phone.

The Inner Job Description App, a free app created by FPMT Inc., is now available in the Amazon, Apple, and Google Play stores in Chinese (更新了截图), English, French (Description du travail intérieur), Italian (Descrizione del Lavoro interiore), Russian (Оценка внутренней работы), and Spanish (Descripción del trabajo Interior).

The Inner Job Description app is a tool to help people transform their daily work and activities into their Dharma practice.

As Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said, “A person may have all this education from college, university, how to do this, how to do that, how to be a business person and so forth, but if they are missing the inner profession then what is missing is mentally how to live life, how to do everything.

“The real profession is missing,” Rinpoche said.

An example of the Inner Job Description in Spanish on a phone.

“That is the positive attitude, living life with this peaceful, happy, healthy mind, non-ignorance, non-anger, non-attachment, and especially with the thought of cherishing others, the ultimate good heart.”

The Inner Job Description app reminds users of three sets of attitudes to be mindful of each day:

“Bodhichitta” reminds app users of six attitudes to cultivate, as discussed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the teaching How to Be a Real Professional: Why We Need Dharma.

“Perfections” reminds app users of the six perfections practiced by bodhisattvas; generosity, ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic effort, concentration, and wisdom.

“Communications” reminds app users of the importance of skillful spoken and unspoken communication in our daily lives, with suggestions such as “praising others.”

The Inner Job Description app can be used to track personal behavior over time, so app users can learn how to make their daily activities a profound inner practice.

The app also includes an option to receive regular reminders from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe in the form of short teachings.

An Inner Job Description app reminder in English.

As an alternative to the app, the Inner Job Description Card can be printed on A4 or letter size paper.

Thank you to the all of the translators and supporters who enabled the creation of the Inner Job Description app.

The app was made possible by a grant from the Education and Preservation Fund, which supports Dharma study and contributes to the development of Buddhist education programs and the preservation of the Dharma through the publication of Dharma practice materials and translations. Additionally, this project was awarded a Merit Box grant.

Learn more about the Inner Job Description:
https://fpmt.org/education/training/inner-job-description/

Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) with some of the nuns of Dorje Pamo Monastery.

Dorje Pamo Monastery is in the process of becoming a new nunnery for approximately twelve FPMT nuns in the South of France. The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was pleased to offer US$93,760 toward the building of a gompa, reception area, offices, and library. Funding for renovating the nuns’ quarters was secured from other sources. Due to past fire damage, and the need to expand residential accommodations, renovation work must be completed before this is a functioning nunnery. The property has the potential to accommodate 15 or more nuns. 

Dorje Pamo Monastery nuns show Yangsi Rinpoche around the facilities during an August 2018 visit. Photo courtesy of Dorje Pamo Facebook page.

FPMT monks and nuns are collectively known as the International Mahayana Institute (IMI), which has more than 300 monastics, and among them 180 nuns, of which approximately 60 are European. There is much need for a monastic community for IMI nuns in Western Europe.

The gompa building of Dorje Pamo Monastery.

The new Dorje Pamo Monastery is located 5 miles [8 kilometers] from Nalanda Monastery, where both a Basic Program and Master Program are taught, making it easy for the nuns to join the study programs there. 

Ven. Chantal Carrerot, coordinator of the new nunnery explained: “Monastic communities that provide a proper environment where Buddhists nuns can live according to their vows, where they can practice together, where new nuns can be educated, and where all can be taken care of, are very rare in the world, even more so in the Western world. That a few such projects are coming forward at this time in various places in the FPMT is a source of great rejoicing!”

There is a critical need for monastic communities to provide a proper environment where nuns can live according to their vows, practice together, pursue their education, and receive care.  Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said that without proper monastic communities and discipline, it will be very difficult to preserve and spread the Dharma. We are very happy to be able to offer support to this new monastic community.

Please stay tuned for news on the official opening of this nunnery and also progress on the renovation. All are welcome to help bring this beneficial project to fruition. 

You can learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries.