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Holy Objects
Lama Zopa Rinpoche prostrating in front of the large thangka of Guru Rinpoche at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Thubten Choying.
For the fifth year in a row, a very large thangka of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) was displayed and an auspicious 100,000 tsog offering event (Guru bumtsog) took place at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling, Nepal, also known as Kopan Nunnery on January 23, 2020. The thangka, which is 75 feet (23 meters) high and 87 feet (27 meters) wide depicts, in stitched appliqué, the Padmasambhava merit field in the center. Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la) attended this offering festival and the monks accompanying her, led the chanting for the puja.
Construction of the display area for the Guru bumtsog offering events. Photo by Ven. Thubten Choying.
Last year, due to the kindness of a benefactor, the nunnery was able to build a stable permanent structure for displaying the thangka. This will also help protect the thangka long-term and is a lot safer than the previous set up.
Giant Guru Rinpoche thangka displayed at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Thubten Choying.
Guru Rinpoche is perhaps the most universally cherished realized being in all of Tibetan Buddhism. Guru Rinpoche came to Tibet from India in the 8th century and helped establish a pure lineage which is still practiced today by all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism around the world.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained that displaying large thangkas is an auspicious way for anyone in the area to make a Dharma imprint and connection to the deity depicted. “You may think that a statue or thangka is just a statue or thangka,” Rinpoche has said, “but it is the transcendental wisdom of dharmakaya, which understands and directly sees absolute truth, as well as conventional truth.”
Rinpoche also expressed that it is his wish for many FPMT centers to have huge thangkas and once a year to display the thangka and have a festival day for the public based around the holy object. During the festival day, Rinpoche requested for there to be many thousands of offerings in front of the thangka, as well as offering banners. There could be some introduction to Buddhism offered to those in attendance, and then a puja, that is based on the deity of the thangka. Then, people can offer music, dances, and so forth to the thangka (and also for everyone to enjoy). People can also circumambulate the thangka. For example, the center could have a horse and carriage and children can ride along. In this way, even the horse collects merit, as well as any animal that comes on that day and goes around the thangka. This makes their life so meaningful! The main goal is to think that all are offering to Buddha. By offering to Buddha this becomes such a beneficial event.
The Padmasambhava for Peace Project sponsored the puja (offerings, lunch and small offerings to all the Sangha).
Please rejoice in this auspicious yearly event which is fulfilling Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions and has profound effects on those in Nepal and the the entire world.
The Holy Objects Fund offers grants to the creation of holy objects around the world. All are welcome to donate to this fund to ensure grants like this continue long into the future.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Losang Namgyal Rinpoche visiting Namgyal Jyangchub Choeling and the new statues, September 2020. Photos courtesy of Jyangchub Choeling Facebook page.
Namgyal Jyangchub Choeling is a monastery in Boudha, Nepal, established in 2008 by Losang Namgyal Rinpoche who is also the present director. Losang Namgyal Rinpoche studied at Kopan Monastery and is a highly regarded lama of the Tamang people. Namgyal Jyangchub Choeling is a new Rime monastery in the Mahayana tradition, representing and respecting all the traditions of Buddhism. It will be a center of Buddhist study and spirituality for both the monastic Sangha and the lay community and it will also contain a clinic and be the coordination center for outreach Dharma and social work.
Offerings in Namgyal Jyangchub Choeling.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has offered grants toward different projects and holy objects, such as large stupas, prayerweels and gompas that Losang Namgyal Rinpoche is building in outlaying areas in Nepal. In 2020 Lama Zopa Rinpoche was also very happy to offer a large grant toward the building of four large Buddha statues that will be in the new gompa of Namgyal Jyangchub Choeling and in September Rinpoche visited the new gompa and blessed the statues, that are currently still being built.
“When you see a holy object you should think: All of these holy objects are my root guru who manifested this to liberate me from the lower realms. You should think of the kindness manifesting in every single holy object. Prostrate whenever you see any holy object because it causes you to achieve Buddha’s holy body, speech, mind, and all qualities. Whenever you are in a place with many holy objects, put your hands together while turning your body toward the holy objects and think, I prostrate to all the gurus.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Thank you to all the donors who make it possible to offer these grants and in this way offer substantial help for the continuation of Buddhism throughout Nepal.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund enables Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others to flourish. All the offerings from the fund are used toward the creation of holy objects and extensive offerings around the world; sponsoring young tulkus, high lamas and Sangha in India, Nepal, Tibet and the West; supporting FPMT centers, projects and services and sponsoring Dharma retreats and events.
Mahabodhi Stupa progress and many Kadampa stupas available for sponsorship. Photo courtesy of Land of Medicine Buddha.
On the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Land of Medicine Buddha (LMB) has been building a 39-foot-tall Mahabodhi Stupa in California for the past six years. This stupa will be the main attraction of the 100,000 Stupa Project in a beautiful garden featuring an area to meditate, thousands of memorial stupas, places to perform prostrations, and areas with spots for reflection and contemplation.
“Because we can’t see the Buddha now directly, this is something substantial that we can see, a manifestation of Buddha’s holy mind. It becomes so easy for us to purify and create merit with such holy objects. Even insects are able to purify negative karma and collect merit and create the cause to achieve enlightenment. Anyone who sees, touches, dreams of, or thinks of this stupa plants the seed of enlightenment and becomes meaningful to behold. In the Buddha’s teachings, it says that the benefits of making holy objects are like the sky.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche
The 100,000 Stupa Project progressed over several identified goals over 2019:
- Main Stupa: Master artist Gelek Sherpa continues to apply decorative panels to the main stupa and decorative aspects to the four corner stupas.
- Mandala Wall #1: The construction team built the first of three mandala walls that surround the main stupa. These mandala walls will be adorned with thousands of stupas: large and small.
- Garden: They continued to care for and refine the vision the 100,000 Stupa Project Japanese inspired gardens. Volunteers planted trees that were sponsored by individuals and an automatic irrigation was installed.
- Kadampa Stupas: Following advice received from Lama Zopa Rinpoche in August 2019 they began building Kadampa Stupas (3 ft tall). These large stupas will be placed along the top of the first mandala wall. Sponsorship of these stupas is now open.
While observing proper protocols for safety of themselves and others due to the COVID-19 pandemic, progress has continued in 2020:
Progress on the impressive Mahabodhi Stupa at Land of Medicine Buddha, CA, USA. Photo courtesy of Land of Medicine Buddha.
- Main Stupa: Gelek Sherpa continues to create and apply decorative panels to the main stupa.
- Mandala Wall #1: They continue with refinements to the first mandala wall, finalizing the finishing plaster work.
- Garden/grounds: More trees were planted this year, dozens of shrubs in the garden; and expanded the drip irrigation system. The team at LMB reports that this year seasonal flowers in the gardens were “brilliant, brimming with colorful flower offerings.”
- Stupas: They are close to placing the first twenty Kadamapa stupas on the inner mandala wall. Efforts have gone into building, painting, and filling these stupas. Many people have secured sponsorships for these large stupas, one person is sponsoring seven for family members. As soon as funding allows, they will place a large order for thousands of smaller stupas to be placed in the mandala walls. These small stupas will be manufactured in Asia and will be available for sponsorship as soon as possible.
Land of Medicine Buddha continues to offer sponsorship opportunities for stupas and aspects of the garden. These directed campaigns are the only fundraising being undertaken by the center in 2020. They have deferred more formal fundraising efforts until the center has recovered financially from the impact of the pandemic on general operating funds.
“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.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Holy Objects Fund, has been happy to offer over US$187,053 to this incredible project. We invite you to rejoice in the ongoing progress of this beneficial stupa.
The Holy Objects Fund offers grants to the creation of holy objects around the world. All are welcome to donate to this fund to ensure grants like this continue long into the future.
bird’s-eye view of the Thame Stupa and surrounding area.
The Mount Everest region of Thame, Nepal, is a special place for FPMT. Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born there and it is located near Lawudo which was the home of Rinpoche’s previous incarnation. Many Kopan monks are also from Thame.
The Thame region was seriously damaged during the 2015 earthquake. Almost all the homes in the area were damaged or completely destroyed and several people died. During the destruction, a large very precious stupa was destroyed. The monks from Thame Monastery requested Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s help to rebuild the stupa, as it was the biggest holy object in the region. Lama Zopa Rinpoche through the Holy Objects Fund was very happy to offer a substantial grant for a new stupa to be built. The new stupa, which stands nearly 46 feet tall with a base measuring 54 feet across, took two years to complete and is larger than the one which previously stood. This impressive stupa features a large prayer wheel inside making it possible for pilgrims and locals to enter the stupa and spin it to create so much merit, even when the area is covered by snow.
Another grant was recently offered from the Holy Objects Fund toward the stupa project for the filling of the prayer wheel with mantras, and adding the auspicious artwork inside the stupa, which Rinpoche has been providing guidance on.
Enjoy this short video of the impressive Thame Stupa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd-M6FoQ3B4&feature=youtu.be
Lama Zopa Rinpoche explained in a recent thought transformation teaching that one collects incalculable merit from seeing a holy object, even without devotion due to the power of the merit field. And by making offerings to a holy object, one won’t be reborn in the lower realms for 84 million eons.
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.
Ven. Gyatso has filled 300 billion mantras into the magnificent prayer wheel at Vajrapani Institute, CA. 5 trillion mantras will fill this prayer wheel when it is completed. Photo courtesy of Vajrapani Institute.
In December 2016, Vajrapani Institute, in California, US, launched the 5 Trillion Mantra Prayer Wheel Project. The prayer wheel, called the Compassion Wheel and standing 7 ft x 10 ft when completed, will contain 5 trillion (5,000,000,000,000) copies of OM MANI PADME HUM, the mantra of Chenrezig. This holy object was requested by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
5 trillion mantras will be filled in this unique and incredibly beneficial prayer wheel.
Rinpoche has explained that when you turn a prayer wheel one time, you receive the same benefit as having recited that many mantras and that this is like having done many years of retreat.
We are pleased to provide you with an update of progress on this truly extraordinary holy object.
The prayer wheel is now filled with a third of the first trillion of the mantras, decorative painting of the ceiling is complete, and cladding of the steel structure is underway. Progress on the roof has been paused due to the pandemic, but once restrictions are lifted the roof fabricator will come and take measurements for the penny-colored metal roof (copper). The molds for the ornamental design for the four pillars have been completed in France, and a shipment of ornaments from Nepal, which are decoration for the prayer wheel roof, have arrived in the US. Vajrapani is just now awaiting delivery.
Please enjoy this video showing how the prayer wheel is being filled: youtu.be/ih77kIVWZpo
There is currently no estimation on the completion date of this project but the team hopes to have the prayer wheel filled with the first trillion mantras over the next few months. As others are experiencing around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down progress on some aspects of production and completion.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Holy Objects Fund, has offered US$40,000 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
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
One of the 1,000 statues completed for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s long life.
Last August we shared Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wish to offer 1,000 statues of Shakyamuni Buddha to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. Thanks to the support of many generous donors, we quickly raised the funds needed for the entire project for the statues to be created, filled, painted, gold gilded, and consecrated.
Please enjoy this video of the statues being filled, painted and consecrated: https://youtu.be/Gdb22Sq_vao
We are pleased to report that all of the 1,000 statues are now complete. Artists from Nepal and monks from Kopan Monastery spent months at Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamsala, India, doing the final artistic touches and filling the statues correctly.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Bodhgaya, India, January 2020. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
In January Lama Zopa Rinpoche met with His Holiness in Bodhgaya and formally offered the 1,000 buddhas. His Holiness showed the aspect of being very pleased and immediately called in the monks attending him and conducted a consecration puja for all the statues on the spot.
A Kopan monk filling one of the 1,000 buddha statues made for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s long life.
On His Holiness’ 85th birthday this year, July 6, one of the statues was symbolically offered directly to His Holiness and the 999 remaining statues will be offered an appropriate time when conditions due to COVID-19 allow for this to happen.
We offer enormous thanks to Pema and all the staff at Tushita for taking care of the monks and artists during this process and for housing the 1,000 buddhas until they will be formally offered. We also deeply thank: Kopan Monastery and Nunnery, especially Gen Tenpa Choden for working with the artists directly and engaging in all the various arrangements; the monks and nuns for rolling all the mantras and filling the statues; the artists who created, painted, and gold gilded the statues; and all of our thanks to all the kind donors who made this incredible offering possible.
May this offering of 1,000 buddhas be the cause for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s long, long life, and may we never be separated from his perfect teachings, and may we always fulfill his holy wishes.
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.
Some of the 1,000 statues of Shakyamuni Buddha that will be offered to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on behalf of the entire FPMT organization.
In August 2019 Lama Zopa Rinpoche shared that he planned to offer 1,000 statues of Shakyamuni Buddha to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. Amazingly, due to the kindness of so many people we were able to raise all the funds needed to sponsor the making of these statues, which also include filling, gold gilding, face painting, and consecration.
Monks of Kopan and Gyudmed Monastery offering puja to the finished statues.
Progress on this offering continues! All of the statues have now been completed and have arrived at Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala, India. Each statue needs to be filled with mantras and consecrated, after that the actual offering to His Holiness will be arranged.
Backs of some of the statues that will be offered to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
When Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently met with His Holiness in Bodhgaya, India, Rinpoche formally made the offering of the 1,000 statues. His Holiness immediately did consecration prayers with Rinpoche and the other monks for the 1,000 statues.
We will update when this most precious and auspicious offering is happening. Meanwhile, please rejoice that this is manifesting due to the kindness of so many including: the generous donors, Gen Tenpa Choden of Kopan Monastery, the Kopan and Gyudmed Monastery monks responsible for all of the filling and consecration, and Pema and all at Tushita Meditation Centre.
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.
In August, we shared Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wish to offer 1,000 statues of Shakyamuni Buddha to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. Now, due to the kindness of many, we have raised the funds needed to sponsor all 1,000 statues. How amazing! Tremendous thanks to everyone for the generous support of this project. We invite you to rejoice with us!
Statue filling has started at Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamsala, India with 250 statues. The remaining 750 statues are being finished with gold gilding and will then be filled along with the others.
We will update everyone with details on the statues being offered to His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the time approaches.
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.
Bird’s eye view of the progress on the Compassion Wheel at Vajrapani Institute.
In December 2016, Vajrapani Institute, an FPMT retreat center in Northern California, launched the 5 Trillion Mantra Prayer Wheel Project. The prayer wheel, called the Compassion Wheel and standing 7 ft x 10 ft when completed, 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. This request came from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund recently disbursed a final grant of US$40,000 for this project.
Ven. Gyatso from Nalanda Monastery is helping to fill the Compassion Wheel.
Director Heidi Oehler reports:
“It’s quite a sight to see the Compassion Wheel come to life as this magnificent vision starts to become a reality. This special prayer wheel will be spun at the heart of the land at Vajrapani Institute, blessing all who visit the center, as well as the surrounding area.
“The basic structure has been framed out by our amazing carpenters. Engineers have designed, built and installed a new structurally reinforced frame and bearings system to hold the weight of the mantras and spin it with the force of one hand. We are now focused on putting together the wheel and getting it filled. As fortune would have it, a past staff member and current Nalanda monk who has been studying the Basic Program and helping Nalanda to fill it’s statues and prayer wheels recently returned to help us here! We are so grateful to Ven. Gyatso for helping to take on the project of filling the amazing compassion wheel.
Geshe Sherpa painted the painted the sky and earth mandalas which will go inside the wheel. Sky mandala is pictured here.
“Gelek Sherpa from Land of Medicine Buddha, painted the sky and earth mandalas which go inside the wheel. Ven. Tsering from Kachoe Dechen Ling will paint the mantras on the center poll. Microfilm with the OM MANI PADME HUM mantra are being printed and gradually shipped to Vajrapani now.”
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. Lama Tsongkhapa said that to collect merit, the best way is through rejoicing.
“Each time you rejoice you collect skies of merit, making it such an easy way to achieve enlightenment.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Please join us in rejoicing about the progress of this one-of-a-kind prayer wheel that will benefit Vajrapani Institute, all who visit, all beings in the area; contribute to world peace and compassion; as well as bless and benefit anyone who helps make it a reality or even cultivates a warm thought about the project.
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.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama being greeted by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Katoomba, NSW, Australia, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
Recently, we shared news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s sincere ambition to offer 1,000 statues of Shakyamuni Buddha to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
After inviting the entire FPMT community to help make this offering a reality, we are pleased to share the following update:
250 statues have been sponsored and finished in India. The statue makers have cast 850 statues so far by casting 32 every day. Once all of the statues are finished with gold gilding and face paint, the monks of Kopan Monastery will fill and consecrate the statues. At that point, they will be ready to offer to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Some of the 1,000 statues in progress in India which will be offered to His Holiness the Dalai Lama once completed, filled, and consecrated.
750 statues are still available for sponsorship. All are welcome to sponsor a complete statue or offer any amount one is able toward the entire 1,000 statues.
“Merely seeing a statue or form of Buddha, whether the person is Buddhist or not, creates far more merit than numberless great merits. Holy objects are so precious.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche
You can learn more about Offering One Thousand Buddhas to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and join the offering.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
On behalf of the entire FPMT organization, Lama Zopa Rinpoche is planning to offer one thousand statues of Shakyamuni Buddha to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. These nine inch statues are currently being made, painted, filled and consecrated.
The statues are being offered with prayers for His Holiness’ very long life.
Everyone can join this project. You can sponsor a completed statue, or you are welcome to offer any amount you are able, thereby participating in this most precious offering of one thousand statues for His Holiness’s long life.
These holy objects help sentient beings easily purify inconceivable negative karma and create the causes for happiness and extensive merit, which brings them to enlightenment quickly by realizing the path up to enlightenment. The moment holy objects, such as statues of Buddha, are completed they become a field of merit for sentient beings. They become only a cause for others to achieve happiness.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
As long as space endures,
as long as sentient being remain,
until then, may I too remain
and dispel the miseries of the world. —Shantideva
May this offering create the cause for His Holiness the Dalai Lama to remain in this world for as long sentient beings remain.
You can learn more about Offering One Thousand Buddhas to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and join the offering.
Zangdog Palri temple in Tso Pema, India.
Zangdog Palri: Guru Rinpoche’s Pure Land
There is a tradition in Tibet of building three-dimensional versions of the Pure Land of Guru Rinpoche: Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain — in Tibetan, Zangdog Palri.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche wants to build a Zangdog Palri at Lawudo Retreat Centre located in a secluded corner of the Himalayas, in Solo Khumbu, the Everest region of Nepal, fourteen thousand feet above sea level. The retreat center has been built around the cave where Rinpoche’s previous incarnation, the first Lawudo Lama, Kunsang Yeshe, meditated, not far from the village where Rinpoche was born.
Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) is perhaps the most universally cherished realized being in all of Tibetan Buddhism. He came to Tibet from India in the 8th century and helped establish a pure lineage which is still practiced today by all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism around the world.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche lauds Guru Rinpoche’s contribution to humanity: “Due to Guru Rinpoche’s great compassion, Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism flourished in Tibet and now has spread throughout the entire world. Because of that, so many people have experienced the path to enlightenment and achieved enlightenment. Due to his great compassion, the lives of infinite number of sentient beings have become meaningful.”
“Usually a Zangdog Palri is three stories high,” Ven. Roger Kunsang, assistant to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the CEO of FPMT, Inc., explained. “Each level has a specific purpose. Rinpoche will build a two-story version at Lawudo above the cave. Rinpoche has a number of excellent art books that explain all the levels and details, and has been visiting a number of Zangdog Palris in India, collecting photos and discussing with artists and others who have been involved in building them.”
Tremendous thanks to Ven. Robina Courtin and Lauwdo Trek which have been the main supporters of this project since Rinpoche envisioned it.
All are welcome to help actualize this incredible temple in Lawudo. Details will be shared as the project takes shape.
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.