Charitable Activities

Participants in the 2016 Gelug exam.

On Friday, December 23 Tibetan Buddhists of the Gelug tradition celebrate Lama Tsongkhapa Day, or Ganden Ngamchoe, a celebration of the anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana.

Lama Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) was a Tibetan Buddhist master whose studies and meditations in all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism resulted in the founding of the Gelugpa lineage. 

The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund was established by FPMT in 1997 at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The purpose of the fund is invest in the preservation of the Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism by supporting the teachers of tomorrow. 

The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund has three main activities:

• Supporting the most senior teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition
• Supporting the annual Gelug exam
• Supporting the annual winter debate in India and Nepal

The great lamas of the Tsongkhapa tradition preserve the teachings and practices that have been passed from teacher to disciple in an unbroken line beginning with Lama Tsongkhapa himself. This fund is able to offer a small monthly stipend (ranging from $10 – $30 a month) to 150 of the main teachers of the eight great monasteries of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition.

Statue of Lama Tsongkhapa at Kopan Monastery. Photo by Tom Truty.

Each year the foremost scholars from Sera, Ganden, Drepung, Gyume, Gyuto, Tashi Lhunpo and Rato monasteries come together for the annual Gelug exam and the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund is able to cover basic expenses, such as food and travel, for the 600+ monks who take this exam.

The annual winter debate dates back to the time of Lama Tsongkhapa and was continued each year until 1959. In 1981 the present and former Abbots of the three great monasteries met to revive the annual winter debate, however due to costs the monasteries were only able to sponsor about 200 monks to attend the annual winter debate. Seeing the incredible importance of the winter debate, where the best scholars gather to hone their understanding of the Buddha’s highest teachings, FPMT undertook the responsibility to cover all the costs for the monks of Sera Je Monastery to attend the debate each year.

The annual support offered by the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund is currently estimated at $USD65,000 and support is welcome from anyone interested in investing in the Gelug teachers of tomorrow.  

Since its inception, the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, an extension of the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund, has supported up to 150 senior teachers each year of the main monasteries, plus hundreds of monks attending the traditional winter debate and annual Gelugpa exam. 

There are many practices students can do to create merit on December 23, Lama Tsongkhapa Day. FPMT Education Services has put together a resource page to which all are welcome to refer. 

Ngari Khangtsen’s new temple which was recently finished thanks to sponsorship from the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund.

Ngari Khangtsen recently completed a project that was over two years in the making, a new temple for the monks. The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was pleased to offer a grant of support as one of the main sponsors of this project.  The opening ceremony was led by Jangtse Choje Rinpoche on Lhabab Duchen. Ven. Roger Kunsang, assistant to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the CEO of FPMT, Inc., received a lovely letter of thanks from the khangtsen which included the following: “[This celebration] happened with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT support and we thank you so much to each and everyone who contributed. We also thank you for your leadership running the main office of FPMT and caring for those who really need support. Geshe Ngawang Sangye la also express his heartfelt thanks to Rinpoche and yourself. We dedicate all the merit to the life of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and to successful FPMT activity all around the world.” 

Jangtse Choje Rinpoche leading the opening ceremony at the new Ngari Khangtsen temple.

Each khangtsen (hostel in Tibetan) is linked to a region in Tibet and has to accommodate the monks that originate from a particular area.  The khangtsen functions independently from the main monastery with each house having the responsibility to provide the living necessities for their own monks including housing, medical care, and educational needs. Each khangtsen has its own prayer hall where all the monks gather to do prayers, pujas, and practices. Ngari Khangtsen was originally founded in Western Tibet. In 1970 it was reestablished at Sera Je Monastery in South India. Currently Sera Je’s Ngari Khangtsen has over 140 monks who are mostly ethnic Tibetans from the Himalayan regions of India, Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan. 

Opening ceremony at the new Ngari Khangtsen temple on Lhabab Duchen. The new temple will be able to accommodate all the monks of this khangtsen.

The monks explained, “We had outgrown the old 1983 prayer/ assembly hall made to house a maximum of 50 persons. In the new quarters, there is room for a brand new spacious prayer hall. Today, we have over 150 monks ranging from the very young to the very old. And we have definitely outgrown the old prayer hall. On hot summer days, the hall just does not accommodate enough oxygen for the number of praying and reciting participants!”

Ngari Khangtsen is very dear to FPMT. Khensur Jampa Tegchok, former abbot of Sera Je Monastery and Nalanda Monastery and resident geshe of many FPMT centers over the years, lived in Ngari Khangtsen while receiving his education at Sera Je Monastery. FPMT also supports school children of Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics by offering daily meals. This school was started by the monks of Ngari Khangtsen.  

Please rejoice that this temple project was brought to fruition and will benefit all of the monks of Ngari Khangtsen now and in the future. 

You can learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monks and nuns. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the long life puja he was offered on the last day of Kopan Monastery’s November course, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The 2016 one-month “November course” at Kopan Monastery came to an end in early December with a birthday celebration and a long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche. 

Cake being offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche by November course participants while young monks sing ”Happy Birthday,” Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthday celebration was a fun and auspicious occasion. While cutting cake, Rinpoche explained how to think while doing this, that the knife is cutting all the delusions and self-cherishing. With every cake presented to him, Rinpoche did extensive offering prayers. Kopan’s young monks sang “Happy Birthday” to him as well, and put cheerful displays and messages wishing him a happy birthday around the monastery. It was Rinpoche’s 72nd Tibetan birthday (71st Western birthday).

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

On the last day of the course, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was offered a long life puja with the five dakinis on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. 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. Lama Zopa Rinpoche also mentions regularly that offering long life pujas is a cause for one’s own long life. 

After the puja, which was attended by 1,000 people, a picnic was offered for everyone, and lama dances and Sherpa dances were offered to Rinpoche. As is traditional, Rinpoche was presented a money offering at the end of the puja and Rinpoche chose to offer this toward the Sagarmatha Secondary School in Chailsa, Nepal. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche watches a lama dance at the picnic after his long life puja, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In the final days of the course, Rinpoche offered refuge to November course participants who sought it, gave a long life initiation to Rowaling people at Rowaling Gompa in Bouddhanath, just outside Kathmandu, and made light offerings at Bouddhanath Stupa, which had recently been reconsecrated after being damaged in Nepal’s April 2015 earthquake. He also gave course participants a special short teaching on 14th-15th century Tibetan yogi and iron bridge maker Thangtong Gyalpo, showing them a relic related to him.

FPMT Education Services offers a number of long life prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche on FPMT.org, all of which can be used in personal practice. Rinpoche has suggested that “Bestowing Supreme Immortality” is particularly effective as it was composed by Rinpoche’s root guru, His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche.

Light offerings around stupas at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Read more about Kopan Monastery and its courses and activities:
http://www.kopanmonastery.com/

Donations to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Long Life Puja Fund, which sponsors this yearly long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche, are welcome.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.

Repairs and improvements are needed and underway at Lawudo Retreat Centre, Nepal.

The Lawudo Retreat Centre, situated high in the Himalayan mountains of eastern Nepal, holds particular significance for FPMT. Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the reincarnation of the Lawudo Lama, Lama Kunzang Yeshe, who lived and practiced in Lawudo until his passing at age 81. The Lawudo Retreat Centre was built over several years and completed in 1972 under direction from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The gompa was built so that young monks in the area could receive a good education with favorable conditions. Since that time, Rinpoche’s mother (who passed away in 1991), sister Anila Ngawang Samten, and brother Sangay Sherpa have cared for the Lawudo Lawudo Retreat Centre and welcomed pilgrims, retreatants and locals to this extremely blessed and remote place. 

Lawudo’s old gompa was severely damaged in the April 2015 earthquake.

The property suffered damage from the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks which struck in April 2015 and a considerable amount of repair and rebuilding has been needed in response. Additionally, other improvements and renovations have long been needed at the center and these projects are also being undertaken. For example, a new room is being built for Lama Zopa Rinpoche so when Rinpoche is visiting, he can be offered a proper accommodation complete with a bathroom.  The old gompa was also in need of renovation, and the mani prayer wheel house needed reconstruction. These improvements are underway as well. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new room at Lawudo will be built on the ground floor and feature a built in bathroom.

The Nepal Earthquake Support Fund has been helping support the rebuilding and renovations needed at Lawudo, and there are still many repairs to be made. All are welcome to participate in the improvements needed on this very precious property. 

All are welcome to donate to the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund. 
https://fpmt.org/support/socialservices/

You can learn more about Lawudo Gompa and its history at Lawudo.com.

The Preserving the Lineage Fund was pleased to offer US$4,000 toward a March 2017 Monlam festival in Bhutan for 300 individuals representing all Buddhist traditions. 

Lama Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) is the founder of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Prayers, teachings, discussions, and meals will be shared among the participants in celebration of  Monlam which marks a period when Lord Buddha performed many miracles, beginning with Losar (the Tibetan New Year) on the first day and culminating on the fifteenth day, Chotrul Duchen (the Day of Miracles). Monlam Chenmo, or the Great Prayer Festival, was established by Lama Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, in 1409. The first two weeks of the new year, Monlam, commemorate the time when the Buddha displayed his power by performing a number of miracles. Lama Tsongkhapa chose the Monlam Chenmo to coincide with the anniversary of incredible events in Shakyamuni Buddha’s life traditionally celebrated during the first two weeks of the lunar new year.

This Monlam celebration in Bhutan is particularly meaningful as it is bringing together all of the Buddhist traditions in a harmonious gathering.  

Please rejoice in this celebration of Lord Buddha’s many accomplishments and this coming together of Buddhist traditions. 

Since its inception, the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, an extension of the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund, has supported up to 150 senior teachers each year of the main monasteries, plus hundreds of monks attending the traditional winter debate and annual Gelugpa exam. 

Monks of Sera Je Monastery performing puja together.

Every year on Lhabab Duchen (Buddha’s Descent from Tushita) the Puja Fund sponsors prayers, pujas, offerings to Sangha  all over the world, as well as offerings to holy objects in India, Nepal, and Tibet. This year, Lhabab Duchen, one of the four great holy days of the Tibetan calendar, takes place on Sunday, November 20.

Lhabab Duchen celebrates when Lord Buddha actually descended from the God Realm of Thirty-three after teaching his mother and the gods living there Dharma for several months. As a Buddha Multiplying Day, karmic results of actions on this day are multiplied 100 million times. This amazing result is sourced by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

On holy days, offerings are made to holy objects in India, Nepal, and Tibet including the Swayambunath Stupa in Nepal.

These activities are advised 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.  

Group practice is far more powerful than individual practice. 15,650 Sangha participate in the Lhabab Duchen offerings.

Incredibly, 15,600 ordained Sangha join in for these practices over a 24 hour period. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained that the karma of group practice is more powerful than individual practice. “The karma of one ordained Sangha reciting a sutra in a temple or room alone, compared to reciting a sutra with all the assembly of Sangha present, the latter one—reciting a sutra with all the Sangha—is much more powerful….The more people there are supporting the practice, the more powerful it becomes…. When the karma is more powerful, the result comes more quickly.” It is amazing to consider the power of 15,600 monks engaging in group practice on a holy day when the karma is already multiplied. Additionally, as they are dedicating to His Holiness and FPMT in this way… the benefit is almost unimaginable!  As Rinpoche reminds us, “Sangha are living in a high number of vows and are unbelievably powerful objects.”

These activities offered cost approximately US$8,000 on each holy day. All are welcome to join in the merit of these prayers, practices, and offerings by contributing to the Puja Fund. 

You can read more about the individual activities sponsored on Lhabab Duchen and please rejoice in the massive merit generated by 15,600 Sangha on this holy multiplying day.

If you would like to make a donation toward the meritorious activities being sponsored by the Puja Fund on Chokor Duchen, you can do so by offering any amount you are able. 

The Puja Fund was established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to provide resources for continuous pujas 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. You can learn more about the Puja Fund, or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity. 

Some of the students of Sagarmatha Secondary School in Chailsa, Nepal.

For the past two years, Kopan Monastery has taken on the responsibility of supporting Sagarmatha Secondary School in Chailsa, Nepal. The school is located on what was once a Tibetan refugee camp and currently serves 120 young students. 

A foundation caring for Tibetan refugees, The Snow Lion Foundation, previously helped fund teacher salaries, caretaker salaries, education materials, office materials, extracurricular activities, and utilities; but this funding is no longer available to the school and the school was prepared to close. Parents of the children, who are ethnically Tibetan or Sherpa and come from meager means, requested Kopan to accept management of the school. Kopan had previously taken on management of Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery, and the Maitreya Children’s Home, a hostel for nearly fifty children. Understanding that education key for breaking the cycle of poverty, Kopan accepted the request to take on responsibility for the school as well. 

Two years ago, Kopan Monastery took on responsibility for Sagarmatha Secondary School.

While the school does receive some income from student registration and donations, the amount received is only enough to cover some operational expenses, maintenance, emergencies, and scholarships for highly gifted, special needs, and poor children. Private funding is needed for this school to operate. 

The Social Services Fund is very pleased to offer US$37,623 to this school to cover half of 2015’s shortfall expenses, and all of 2016’s. 

Sagarmatha Lower Secondary School is a government-registered school which means it is recognized by the Nepal government and can participate in nationwide exit exams. The school has to expand to best support students. Without expanding, children will have to go to boarding school in Kathmandu to finish their educations. This is prohibitively expensive for many local families and these children would simply have to drop out of school once their education at Sagarmatha Secondary School finishes. In 2016, grades 1-6 are accommodated. In 2017 this will classes will be offered through grade 7. Going forward, one grade per year will be added so the school can expand slowly. 

Please rejoice that this school is now funded through 2016. Access to quality education is extremely important for these young children’s future. Please consider helping us support this school in 2017. US$25,831 needs to be raised to cover this commitment next year. 

If you would like to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants such as this can continue, you can read more about the charitable projects this fund supports, or donate any amount to the fund itself. 

Land of Medicine Buddha community filing the ninth and final structural chamber of the Mahabodhi stupa.

Progress continues on Land of Medicine Buddha’s 39-foot-tall Mahabodhi stupa project in California. 

Earlier this year the community filled the final structural chamber of this stupa and celebrated by enjoying a picnic in the meadow after the work of the day was complete. The filling of this final structural level was the culmination of over two years of effort on the part of staff members and volunteers. A lot of details go into the filling of a stupa of this size. The first level holds four complete sets of the Kangyur which needed to be organized, labeled, and wrapped. A team of volunteers called the Stupa Work Party gathered often to create a collage of holy images, paint tsa-tsas, and wrap texts and reams of over one billion mantras that would fill all the subsequent levels. All the contents were then packaged in boxes for the journey from the LMB gompa up to the stupa site. The weight of each level had to be carefully monitored from the second level upward, finding a balance between the benefit of having as many holy objects as possible and structural limitations and considerations. 

Crown of the 39-foot-tall Mahabodhi stupa.

At the stupa site each of the ten chambers was cleaned, painted, and lined with yellow cloth and the sog shing (life tree) was painted and wrapped with the four dharmakaya relic mantras. For the first leg of the journey to the site, the holy objects were passed from hand-to-hand from the gompa, loaded into a truck, and then driven up the hill to the stupa. The precious load of holy objects was again passed hand-to-hand up to the uppermost level via ladders and scaffoldings and finally placed inside the stupa, filling the empty places with fragrant wood shavings and incense.

Earlier in the year, LMB friend and resident artist, Gelek Sherpa began work on the outer details of the stupa. He created and mounted the Kadampa stupas at the four corners and created the crown Kadampa stupa and some of the various molds needed for the exterior. 

The Mahabodhi stupa grounds at Land of Medicine Buddha.

While Gelek Sherpa worked on artistic elements, another team worked on the layout of the stupa grounds. They rerouted a road that previously ran in front of the stupa, creating terraces where memorial stupas may be sponsored and built in the future. They also built a wheelchair accessible parking space and walkway, so those who are challenged by the terrain of the land will have an opportunity to circumambulate the stupa. In addition, the team installed electrical and water lines, so that light and water offerings can be made.

The crown Kadampa stupa was recently filled with mantras and Gelek Sherpa is now preparing the next structure which will support the pinnacle of the stupa. He will continue the decoration of the exterior throughout the coming year.

The LMB Stupa Team would like to share grateful thanks to FPMT Spiritual Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche for guiding the center community in this amazingly beneficial project. “Without Rinpoche’s kind advice about the benefits of building a stupa, we wouldn’t have had the wisdom to take on such a large project. Geshe Ngawang Dakpa and Geshe Lobsang Wangdu gave indispensable advice, encouragement, and blessings. We are thankful to kind benefactors who stepped in to offer the financial support that created the causes for the stupa to become a reality. We have a lot of work left, and happily rejoice that great progress has been made in 2016!”

You can learn more about this project, watch videos of the progress, and read more about the long-term plans and benefits of this stupa. 

The Stupa Fund was very pleased to offer US$50,000 toward this magnificent stupa at Land of Medicine Buddha. 

Participants in the 2016 Gelug exam at Gaden Lachi Monastery, India.

Each year the foremost scholars from the main Gelug monasteries come together for the annual Gelug examination and the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund offers a grant to cover the basic expenses including food for participants. 

This September 714 monks participated in this annual exam at Gaden Lachi Monastery, India. 

714 monks participated in this year’s Gelug exam.

In addition to debate, the monks are required to pass a written examination.

Food preparation for the participants.

The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund would like to congratulate all the monks for their commitment and dedication to their studies. Due to this grant each year, all qualified monks are able to participate in the debate and examination, rather than being exempt due to prohibitive costs. 

These scholars are the future of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition and it is a high priority for FPMT to support them at this level of their education.

Tremendous thanks to all the donors who make these offerings possible. You are welcome to offer any amount to the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund to contribute to the support being offered to the current and future teachers of the Mahayana tradition.

Since its inception, the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, an extension of the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund, has supported up to 150 senior teachers each year of the main monasteries, plus hundreds of monks attending the traditional winter debate and annual Gelugpa exam. 

“My wish is for FPMT to build many holy objects everywhere, as many as possible. Making it so easy for sentient beings to purify their heavy negative karma and making it so easy for sentient beings to create extensive merit. Which makes it so easy to achieve the realizations of the path and so easy to achieve liberation and enlightenment.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s uncle, sister, and others welcoming the large Guru Rinpoche statues to Lawudo.

This 13.5-foot-tall Guru Rinpoche statue had to be airlifted to Lawudo.

Lawudo Retreat Centre is situated in the highest area of Solu Khumbu (altitude of 13,000 feet) , the northeastern region of Nepal bordering Upper Tsang in Southern Tibet. Getting a human body up to Lawudo is no simple matter. The quickest and (relatively) easiest way is to fly from Kathmandu to Lukla and then walk for two days from Lukla to Namche Bazaar. Lawudo is a further 4-5 hours walk up a very steep path from Namche Bazaar. The other way is to first travel by bus from Kathmandu to Jiri which takes ten hours. The trek from Jiri to Namche Bazaar takes nine days.

What about getting eleven large Guru Rinpoche statues—one 13.5-foot-tall and the others over 2-foot-tall—up to Lawudo? Amazingly, this was accomplished and it was no simple matter! The large statue had to be airlifted (by the largest helicopter in Nepal) but there were delays due to bad weather. A special permit was required to even operate this immense aircraft. A test flight had to be arranged before the run with the large statue could be initiated to make sure the mission would be successful. After twelve days of delays due to bad weather the large statue was finally airlifted to Lawudo in good condition. The smaller statues will be airlifted in the same way.

Large Guru Rinpoche statue being transported to Lawudo.

The Guru Rinpoche statue making the trek up to Lawudo.

The Padmasambhava Project for Peace was able to offer the costs for this incredible effort getting these most precious holy objects to their new home at Lawudo Retreat Centre. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has expressed, time and again, the unimaginable power of holy objects to purify negative karma and create extensive merit for all who come in contact with them. About Guru Rinpoche statues, Rinpoche has said, “Building Guru Rinpoche statues will bring immeasurable benefit, peace, happiness, and freedom to the world. They will have immeasurable impact.” 

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. 

Rolwaling Monastery is the main monastery in Rolwaling, located in Nepal along the Tibetan border, and is a precious site of cultural and religious heritage for the area.

Earlier this year we reported that due to a donation from a generous benefactor, a substantial grant had been offered from the Social Services Fund to Rolwaling Monastery in Nepal, at the Tibet border, for the rebuilding of their gompa which was nearly destroyed in the 2015 earthquake. The buildings were already in poor condition (the gompa hadn’t been renovated since 1957), and the destruction of the earthquake proved too much for the structures to withstand. 

Laying the foundation for the new gompa.

For many in the surrounding community, the monastery gompa is more important than their own homes. It was reported that when assistance was offered to locals to help rebuild their houses following the earthquake, many locals became very emotional, making statements such as, “Please help us save the gompa, we don’t mind staying in open spaces or living in caves, but we can’t see our gompa in ruins.” This monastery is particularly precious to FPMT as Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended this monastery between the ages of 7-12.

Work on the main gompa is underway with the foundation now laid and the wall paintings secured. Relics, statues, and texts have all been moved to the new building. 

Rolwaling Sangag Choling is a community-centered monastery and its history spans about nine generations. It is the only monastery in the entire community of Sherpa Buddhists. Please rejoice in the rebuilding progress made possible by this generous grant from a kind benefactor. Restoring this monastery helps preserve the local culture and reestablish the monastery as a place for Buddhist practice and community.

The Social Services Fund also offered a grant to the monastery school to help with a youth hostel and repairs following the earthquake. 

If you would like to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants such as this can continue,you can read more about the charitable projects this fund supports, or donate any amount to the fund itself. 

By Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Why Offering to the Sangha Is So Powerful

In the past, there was one man who had nothing, but he offered medicinal food just one time to four fully ordained monks. (These were not monks who were aryas and had wisdom directly perceiving emptiness; these were just ordinary Sangha.) Due to the karma of that offering, after he died, he was born as a most powerful wealthy king in India called King Ashoka. That was the result from offering just one time.

Karma expands, and so from one action of charity, the result that one will experience goes on for many lifetimes, many eons. The karma from making charity one time is not just resultant happiness that is received one time and then is finished. This is maybe what many people think, but that’s not correct. One experiences the resultant happiness for eons. It is amazing. Then, depending on your motivation – especially if it is done with a bodhichitta motivation – this one action of making charity can create the cause for you to go to enlightenment.

According to the Tengyur, Buddha said:

For any sentient being, who during the period of my teachings
Makes charity well (even if the material is the size of hair),
For 80,000 eons will experience the great result of great enjoyment;
No pain, no disease, and enjoyment of happiness.
Like that, one will be enriched with all the desirable things.
At the end you can actually achieve the result – the peerless cessation and completion (enlightenment).
After hearing of this great result, who wouldn’t want to collect merit?

The monks of Sera Je Monastery are offered three nutritious meals every single day through the Sera Je Food Fund, one of FPMT’s Supporting Ordained Sangha funds.

The Power of Offering to So Many Sangha

In the very beginning, Sera Je Monastery had approximately 4,000 monks, then 3,000 monks, now maybe there are about 2,500 monks. Making offerings to them is amazing. There are so many monks – wow, wow, wow, wow, wow – and therefore so many causes of enlightenment one can collect!

The Power of Offering to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha

This is also an offering to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. By offering to the Buddha – wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

In Buddha’s teachings, it is mentioned in the Mantra of Undying Drum Sound:

If you devote yourself to the Unimaginable Ones (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha,
who have unimaginable qualities),
The ripening aspect of the result of that devotion has unimaginable benefits.

Also, it is mentioned in the Compassionate Buddha Sutras:

The Tathagata Buddha has immeasurable qualities.
Offering to the tathagatas also has immeasurable benefits that are endless,
Inconceivable, incomparable, unfathomable, and numberless.

Offering to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is an unbelievable act. It is important to remember this when you make an offering to the Sangha. Think that you are also offering to the Buddha and Dharma simultaneously.

The Power of Offering to the Guru

Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Photo by Edward Sczudlo.

This is also an offering to the guru. From this you collect the highest amount of merit – the most merit – more than offering to numberless Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha as well as numberless statues, stupas, and scriptures in the ten directions. No matter how many extensive offerings you make – even filling the whole sky – all that merit becomes small when compared to the merit of offering to the guru.

Additionally, this is the most powerful purification. It purifies defilements and negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths. It is the most powerful purification. This is the quickest way to achieve realizations, the quickest way to be free from the oceans of samsaric sufferings, and the quickest way to achieve buddhahood, the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations.

Even giving one rupee or one cent to the Sangha has all these benefits.

Then, of course, it has the benefit of also preserving the Dharma and helping to spread the Dharma.

How This Offering Benefits All Sentient Beings

The ultimate point is that this offering also benefits all the six-realm sentient beings. Any practice that the Sangha do in the monastery, they do for all the six-realm sentient beings, to benefit them. Every sadhana or practice starts with the motivation for “mother sentient beings,” which means all the six-realm sentient beings.

Every dollar offered – even just one dollar, even the smallest amount of money offered – has all these benefits. And the benefits go to all sentient beings: every mosquito, every fish, every pitiful chicken that is taken by a truck to be killed, every sentient being in numberless universes receives these benefits.

Through the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund FPMT offers essential needs directly to individual Sangha as well as to monasteries and nunneries.