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A beautiful new short film on the Sera Je Food Fund featuring Lama Zopa Rinpoche was released last week. In it Rinpoche candidly speaks on the importance of supporting the food fund and the role it plays in spreading the Dharma in our world. Scenes from daily life at the vibrant monastery, including what it takes to prepare meals for all 2,500 resident monks at a time, weave through the interview with Rinpoche.
The Sera Je Food Fund is approaching its 25th year, and the support it’s received and the impact the fund has on the quality of life at Sera Je monastery deserves endless rejoicing and thanks for all involved.
Sera Je Monastery, located in southern India, is the largest Tibetan monastic university, and therefore is vital to the preservation of the tradition. As Lama Zopa Rinpoche points out in the film, “If this monastery goes down, the education and teaching goes down, if there’s no food, the means of living goes down, then we cannot have teachers around the world, and the opportunity for many sentient beings to achieve higher rebirth… and ultimate happiness.”
Before the food fund was created, the monastery was struggling to provide nourishment for all of the monks. Now with everyone’s support, the food fund offers every single monk three healthy vegetarian meals a day, everyday, totaling over 3 million meals per year.
Please take a moment to rejoice in all the generosity and hard work of all who have supported the Sera Je Food Fund over nearly 25 years, and how it’s helping Sera Monastery cultivate our future teachers and preserve the Buddhadharma.
If you would like to get involved and offer meals so the monks can excel in their studies, visit the Sera Je Food Fund’s homepage today.
Many thanks go out also to Matteo Passigato who so kindly filmed and edited the video, and to Lara Gatto for all her kind help.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Western Sangha, Mexico, 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
As part of an array of offerings made through the FPMT Puja Fund on Losar, Lama Zopa Rinpoche sponsored 57 sets of robes for FPMT’s touring teachers and resident geshes.
“If you were Sangha but you didn’t wear robes, then people would not know [that you were ordained], but with robes on there is no question.” Lama Zopa Rinpoche once commented to a monk about the benefits of wearing robes. “That is how the robes have such incredible benefit for the mind. It is planting the seed for enlightenment when people show respect to your wearing of the robes, or to the robes themselves: This is planting the seed of liberation, and is a way of benefiting sentient beings.”
Offering robes to these teachers is a gesture of thanks for the incredible service they offer and in recognition of their dedication to upholding the teachings of Buddha.
Thanks to Kopan Monastery for arranging this offering. Please rejoice that these teachers were able to receive new robes and also in their committed service to FPMT.
You can learn more about the FPMT Puja Fund and the various activities it supports. You can also enjoy an overview of all the FPMT Charitable Projects which contribute to many beneficial endeavors.
Progress is being made on the new debate courtyard at Sera Mey Monastery. A grant from the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was given to support this work.
In September we reported that a grant from the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was offered to Sera Mey Monastery, Mysore, India, toward the construction of a new debate courtyard. The old debate courtyard posed problems such as echoing, exposure to rain, hot sun, no classrooms or science lab rooms, among other issues. Approximately 2,000 monks study at Sera Mey, the presence of a proper area for debate at the monastery was a necessity.
The building of this new courtyard has commenced and progress is underway.
The tradition of debate in Tibetan Buddhism can be traced back to Lama Tsongkhapa, where the best scholars gather to hone their understanding of the Buddha’s highest teachings. With logical reasoning as the governing rule, students practice the art of debate by questioning one another.
The monks offered extensive offerings and prayers from The Victorious Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, the sutra-based ritual of Medicine Buddha. They offered prayers for one week and dedicated especially for the long life of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and all FPMT members and benefactors.
The FPMT Puja Fund also sponsors a monthly Medicine Buddha puja at Sera Mey by the monks. This has been offered every month since the establishment of the Puja Fund, twenty years ago. Medicine Buddha puja is so important for the overall success of the organization and all Dharma activities and is dedicated to all FPMT students and benefactors, including those who have died.
Please rejoice in the building of this new debate courtyard and in all of the beneficial prayers and activities happening at Sera Mey Monastery for the benefit of FPMT.
You can learn more about the activities of the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the FPMT Puja Fund or check out an overview of all of FPMT’s Charitable Projects.
Residents and two staff members of the Rabgayling Tibetan Settlement’s elderly home.
The Social Services Fund recently offered a grant to Rabgayling Tibetan Settlement’s elderly home in south India. One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT is to offer ongoing social services to the elderly. This grant will be used toward the cost of offering food to all twenty residents for 2015. Earlier this year, the Social Services Fund also supported this settlement with a grant to help build their new community hall.
Residents of the Rabgayling Tibetan Settlement enjoying lunch offered by the settlement’s elderly home.
This settlement has a total population of 4,000 people including 380 children. The elderly home’s mission is to provide care to helpless and destitute aging people including those who are neglected by their family and don’t receive the proper care due to poverty. The home strives to provide its residents support in the following areas: food and clothes; health care services; mental, social and spiritual development. Sustainability of the home is a concern for the settlement, so regular, reliable funding is needed to be able to continue offering these services.
Please rejoice in this offering of food to all twenty elderly residents of the Rabgayling Tibetan Settlement.
The Social Services Fund has been established to support Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization, by offering benefit to others primarily India, Nepal, Tibet and Mongolia to help children, elderly, sick and the very poor by offering grants for schools, hospices, health clinics, soup kitchens, elderly homes, orphanages and much more.
Five dakinis in front of Lama Zopa Rinpoche during long life puja, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 29, 2012. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
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 2, during the one-month November 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. Lama Zopa Rinpoche also mentions regularly that offering long life pujas is a cause for one’s own long life.
All are welcome to contribute to this upcoming long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery. Additionally, you may download Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life prayer for use at any time.
The Kopan Nunnery gompa is now being renovated thanks to grants received by many generous donors and the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund.
Earlier this week we reported on rebuilding which is now underway at Kopan Monastery due to severe damage sustained at the monastery by the earthquake and aftershocks in April 2015.
Rebuilding has also begun at Kopan Nunnery which also experienced extensive damage. The nunnery is currently renovating the gompa, and several walls are being demolished, rebuilt, and renovated as well.
Structural damage to Kopan Nunnery was sustained but renovation and rebuilding has now begun.
The Nepal Earthquake Support Fund has contributed to these efforts thanks to the generous contributions of many kind donors. You can read a recent email report sent to those who have donated to the fund which presents details of money raised and how grants have been utilized.
Please rejoice in this rebuilding and renovation work happening at Kopan Nunnery which is currently the largest Tibetan nunnery in Nepal with 400 nuns. The nunnery provides full scholarship for the nuns, which includes education, accommodation, health care and food.
To learn more and offer support to FPMT’s Nepal Earthquake Support Fund: https://fpmt.org/support/socialservices/
For “Prayers and Practice for Earthquake in Nepal,”:
https://fpmt.org/edu-news/prayers-and-practices-for-earthquake-in-nepal/
The Chenrezig gompa was in the original “old house” at Kopan, pictured here in 1969, until a new gompa was built in the 1990s. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
The Chenrezig gompa at Kopan Monastery is one of FPMT’s most precious destinations. Since the early days of the organization, this gompa has been a place for new and seasoned students to engage with the Dharma, strengthen their practice, and connect and reconnect with Dharma family old and new. The gompa was severely damaged in the April 2015 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks that struck Nepal. Due to a very kind benefactor, a team of engineers from Taiwan flew to Kopan to professionally evaluate the structural damages to buildings. Based on their advice, the entire Chenrezig gompa was pulled down and is being rebuilt.
The Chenrezig gompa was severely damaged due to the earthquake but is now being rebuilt.
Many donors generously came to Nepal’s aid through the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund which was set up by FPMT International Office immediately following the earthquake as a way to help raise funds for both short-term relief needs and long-term rebuilding plans.
Huge thanks to all who have contributed to the rebuilding efforts in Nepal, and please rejoice in the rebuilding of this gompa so that it can benefit students far into the future. To date the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund has been able to contribute US$235,400 in initial aid relief and US$608,000 in grants for rebuilding efforts.
You can read a recent report on the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund to learn more about the ways this fund has contributed to short-term aid and long-term rebuilding needs in Nepal.
The monks of Sera Je Monastery offering extensive Medicine Buddha puja.
Please rejoice in the amazing array of pujas and offerings which will be sponsored by the FPMT Puja Fund this year on Lhabab Duchen (November 3 this year), one of the year’s holy Buddha Multiplying Days. 15,650 Sangha will participate in this activity.
You can read an entire list of these activities, as well as descriptions of the pujas and offerings sponsored, but here are a few highlights of what will be offered:
- Recitation of the Prajnaparamita (three versions) offered by the 650 monks of Gyurme Tantric College.
- Druk Chu Ma (64 offerings to Kalarupa to eliminate obstacles), Namgyäl Tong Chö (One thousand sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyälma) and Zangcho (King of Prayers) offered by the 6,000 monks of Sera Je and Sera Mey Monastery.
- Offerings are made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus.
- Small money offerings made to 15,650 Sangha at the great monasteries of India and Nepal, as well as to Sangha at IMI international Sangha communities.
- Offerings made to holy objects: Bouddhanath and Swayambunath stupas, the Buddha inside Bodhgaya Mahabodhi temple, and to the Jowo Buddha in Lhasa’s Jokang.
All are welcome to join in on these incredible offerings by rejoicing in, donating toward, or mentally offering.
You can learn more about the FPMT Puja Fund and the various activities it supports. You can also enjoy an overview of all the FPMT Charitable Projects which contribute to many beneficial endeavors.
This stupa in Swayambhunath was built by the Tibetan community in Nepal for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It is in need of repair due to the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks.
At Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s request, the Stupa Fund has offered a grant to the Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office to repair a stupa at Swayambhunath, Nepal, which was damaged during the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in April. This stupa was built by the Tibetan community in Nepal for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Please rejoice that this precious stupa will be rebuilt!
As Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained, “Building stupas helps develop so much peace and happiness for numberless sentient beings. As a result, wars, disease, and desire will all be pacified. Instead of feeling hopeless, people will gain courage. This is about peace – for the beings who see it, for the whole country, for the entire world, for all sentient beings.”
You can read more from Lama Zopa Rinpoche about the benefits of stupas or about the Holy Object Fund which was established to offer grants toward the completion of holy objects around the world.
Sera Je Monastery monk receives new robes sponsored by the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund in recognition of his memorization.
Every year the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund sponsors an oral examination of Sera Je Monastery’s top scholars who have shown a propensity for memorization. This year, 212 monks were awarded new robes for their successful memorization of particular texts. Please rejoice in these incredible accomplishments!
212 Sera Je Monastery monks were offered new robes in recognition of their memorization of important texts.
- One monk memorized Five Treatises of Maitreya
- One monk memorized Six Treatises on the Middle Way by Nagarjuna
- One monk memorized commentary on the Middle Path by Lama Jetsunpa
- Six monks memorized commentary on the Prajnaparamita, Part One, by Lama Jetsunpa
- Thirty-one monks memorized Bodhisattvacaryavatara (Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) by Shantideva
- Seventy-four monks memorized The Essence of Eloquence on the Art of Interpretation by Lama Tsongkhapa
- Ninety-eight monks memorized a commentary on the Prajnaparamita
Please rejoice in the offering of robes to these future teachers, who contribute to the preservation the gelugpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism in the monasteries. Supporting the Sangha of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition is the main objectives of the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund.
As Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains:
“The continuity and spread of Buddhadharma throughout the world depends upon highly qualified teachers. The three great monasteries are the only place in the world where the entire, complete teachings of the Buddha are studied and practiced with deep logic.”
All are welcome to join in on this offering by contributing any amount to the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund.
You can learn more about the many activities of the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund including support given to the most senior teachers of the Tsongkhapa tradition, the annual Gelugpa Exam, and the annual Winter Debate in India and Nepal.
Due to a US$50,000 grant from the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund, Kopan Helping Hands was able to distribute aid to ten villages in Nepal over July and August.
In June of this year, due to the generosity of many, the Earthquake Support Fund was able to offer a US$50,000 grant to Kopan Helping Hands in support of their ongoing work to offer relief aid in Nepal. This grant is part of a total US$793,400 which the Earthquake Support Fund has offered to Kopan Helping hands since the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. We are pleased to offer this report on how that $50,000 grant was used in ten different areas. Please rejoice in the distribution of all this essential aid in July and August to various villages in need!
- Orang VDC Dolakha: 610 bags of rice, 161 gallons of cooking oil
- Babare Chilan Kha Dolakha: rice, cooking oil, and salt for 250 families
- Lambager VDC Dolakha: rice, cooking oil, and salt for 180 families
- Balefi Sindhupalchok: rice and cooking oil for 95 families
- Lamjung: mattress foam for 158 families
- Buling VDC Dolakha: 715 bags of rice, cooking oil
- Kopan Village and surrounding area: 41 bags of rice, 17 sacks of sugar
- Bimtar VDC Sindhupalchok: 174 bundles of zinc sheets
- Lava VDC: 66 pounds of rice for 56 families
- Khaten Gompa Dhadaing: 22 bundles of zinc sheets
The devastation in many areas left villagers with very little. The essential aid offered through Kopan Helping Hands has made a huge difference to many lives.
A tremendous thanks to all generous donors who made this offering of aid possible. Additionally, many individuals and organizations have offered support directly to Kopan Helping Hands, a tremendous collective effort around the world has enabled their work to flourish in Nepal.
To learn more and offer support to FPMT’s Nepal Earthquake Support Fund, which was established to support relief and rebuilding efforts: https://fpmt.org/support/socialservices/
For “Prayers and Practice for Earthquake in Nepal,” see:
https://fpmt.org/edu-news/prayers-and-practices-for-earthquake-in-nepal/
For continuing updates and news from Kopan Monastery and other FPMT centers and projects in Nepal affected by the earthquake, please visit our “Updates from Nepal after the Earthquake” page:
https://fpmt.org/nepal-earthquake/
The gallery includes touching images of the courageous relief work of volunteers and groups such as Kopan Helping Hands. One can glimpse the massive amounts of aid supplies distributed to affected people and the dramatic destruction that was inflicted onto monasteries, residences and other structures.
Much of the recovery work and humanitarian aid seen in these gallery photos was supported by the incredible kindness of donors in and outside of the FPMT community, who quickly and generously came to Nepal’s aid through the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund.
Please visit the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund photo gallery here, and we invite you to rejoice in all of the compassionate actions of so many volunteers and donors.