Ordained Sangha

Some of the monks in front of Maratika Monastery.

Maratika Monastery, Eastern Nepal, is located above Maratika Cave which is the sacred cave associated with Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) and longevity. This holy site is where Guru Rinpoche, with the wisdom-mother Mandarava, achieved immortal life through the practice of Amitayus. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has a close connection with the Maratika Lama, Khenpo Karma Wangchuk, who takes care of the area. The Maratika Lama is the son of Lama Ngawang Chophel, who was a close disciple of the Lawudo Lama Kunsang Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s previous incarnation, and the child of the Maratika Lama is the recognized tulku of Trulshik Rinpoche. The previous Trulshik Rinpoche passed away in 2011, and was revered as one of the most learned and respected living masters of the Nyingma tradition and is one of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachers and one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus. 

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was very happy to offer US$166,394.66 thanks to a kind grant from Unione Buddhista Italiana, towards the expansion of the monks’ accommodation including three additional floors and a roof, which will not only allow adequate housing for the fifty-four current monks of the monastery, but also will enable fifty-four new monks to join the monastery as well.

“Offering to Sangha 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.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Monks of Maratika Monastery studying.

The current main building, which houses accommodation and classrooms for the monks, was less than half completed when the funds ran out four years ago, and now, since the COVID-19 lockdown, the financial situation has become worse.

The monks are living in very basic conditions, packed into small dorm rooms and even sleeping on the floor. Around the premises, one can observe evidence of unfinished electrical and construction work. Food is very simple too, the monks mainly eat rice and dhal for lunch and plain noodles for dinner. The young monks happily volunteer to cook for themselves.

Young monks studying at Maratika Monastery.

Despite the hardships, the monks are joyful, harmonious, and content. From a young age, in addition to learning Tibetan, Nepali, and the monastic rituals, the monks study Buddhist  philosophy and memorize texts.

“Offering even one cent to the Sangha community brings uncountable benefit and merit. As long as the Sangha community exists your merit exist. It will not be exhausted.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Please rejoice in the construction of this new addition which will benefit the current monks of Maratika Monastery, new monks that will now be able to join the monastery due to increased accommodation, and everyone in the area who will benefit from the presence of sincere Sangha studying and practicing Buddha’s teachings. 

Please learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries around the world. 

The monks of Sera Je Monastery, India. Photo taken prior to COVID-19 pandemic.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted so many people around the world including ordained Sangha living in monastic communities (monasteries and nunneries) who have been faced with many new challenging realities due to the pandemic.  

One way that monks and nuns are able to supplement their food, medical needs, or provide for other basic care items for themselves, under normal circumstances, is through offerings received during pujas. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, large groups of monastics are currently not able to gather for pujas in many monasteries and nunneries. One very kind benefactor and student of Lama Zopa Rinpoche was deeply concerned that due to reduced pujas, the monks and nuns may have been negatively impacted from the loss of these offerings and was moved to make a vast offering to over 20,000 Sangha, as well as to the abbots and abbesses, in twenty-four Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug monasteries and nunneries in India and Nepal. The offering was made on Lhabab Duchen (November 7, 2020), a merit multiplying day, when karmic results of actions are multiplied 100 million times.

The nuns of Kopan Nunnery, Nepal. Photo taken prior to COVID-19 pandemic.

Please take a moment to rejoice in this offering and also in the kindness of the benefactor. FPMT was so honored to be able to facilitate and arrange these offerings (as the logistics of sending twenty-four international wire transfers can be complicated). Lama Zopa Rinpoche also composed a one page dedication to be read out in each monastery and nunnery when the offerings were made.

In addition to the abbotts and abbesses of each monastery and nunnery, offerings were made to the 3,500 monks of Sera Je Monastery; 1,600 monks of Sera Mey Monastery; 1,350 monks of Ganden Shartse Monastery; 1,800 monks of Ganden Jangtse Monastery; 520 monks of Gyumed Tantric College; 2,500 monks and nuns of Namdroling Monastery and Tshogyal Shedrup Ling Nunnery; 140 monks of Rato Monastery; 370 monks of Kopan Monastery; 400 nuns of Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery; 80 nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery; 1,830 monks of Drepung Gomang Monastery; 250 monks of Namgyal Tantric College; 413 monks of Tashi Lhunbo Monastery; 270 nuns of Jangchub Choeling Nunnery; 650 monks of Tawang Monastery; 40 monks of the Nyingma Monastery in Mundgod; 40 monks of Shang Gaden Choekhor Ling Monastery; 45 monks of Gaden Tharpacholing Monastery Kalimpong; 410 monks of Tergar Monastery; 265 nuns from Tsoknyi Nunnery; 143 monks and nuns from Singdak Rinpoche Retreat Center; 87 monks from Zigar Drukpa Kargyud Monastery in Tsopema; 75 monks and Nuns from  Zigar Drukpa Kargyud in Darjeeling; 60 monks and nuns from Mu Monastery, Rachen Nunnery in Tusm, and Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery in Chailsa; 500 monks of Gyuto Monastery; and 2,500 monks of Drepung Loselling Monastery. 

Some of the monks of Thame Monastery, Nepal. Photo taken prior to COVID-19 pandemic.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently explained that the “value of Sangha is more than the whole sky filled with wish-granting jewels.” This is because living in morality is the most important way to achieve liberation from samsara and enlightenment, and benefit sentient beings by freeing them from the lower realms and bringing them to enlightenment. Supporting Sangha is investing in the benefit of all sentient beings.

Some of the young nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal. Photo taken prior to COVID-19.

“Any practice that the Sangha do in the monastery [or nunnery], they do for all the six-realm sentient beings, to benefit them,” Rinpoche has explained. “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.”

It is due to the kindness of so many that we can make these incredible offerings to Sangha. Thank you for everyone who makes it possible.

Please learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries around the world. 

Ngari Institute’s new magnificent temple.

Ngari Institute is located in the Himalayan Kingdom of Ladakh in a small village called Saboo. The main vision of Ngari Institute is providing a modern education for underprivileged children from different regions of the Himalayas. The Institute, which is spread over 20 hectares of deserted land, provides free education, a hostel, meals, and other basic necessities. Since 2014, the FPMT Social Services Fund has been sponsoring daily meals for eight-three students and staff members at this campus.

Inside the beautiful new temple at Ngari Institute with 1,000 buddhas painted. Photo courtesy of Ngari Institute Facebook page.

Blossoming apple trees at Ngari Institute. Photo courtesy of Ngari Institute Facebook page.

In 2016, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered US$100,000 toward the magnificent new temple being built and recently we also offered US$63,048, thanks to a kind grant from Unione Buddhista Italiana. This new temple includes incredible and inspiring artwork on the walls, such as the painting of 1,000 Buddhas. The temple will have solar panels and include a new kitchen and dining hall.

In coming years, Ngari Institute will also be building a new children’s kitchen, dining hall, and extension for the girls hostel. In the future there are plans for an elderly home and animal sanctuary that Rinpoche is hoping to offer some support toward.

In 2019, in honor of Lama Tsongkhapa’s 600th anniversary, Ngari Institute planted 600 apple trees as a little contribution toward freedom from the causes of suffering due to global warming.

Ngari Institute started building this new temple in 2015, but it took much longer than expected as they had to raise the funds for such an ambitious big vision. Lama Zopa Rinpoche was very happy to offer support to Ngari Institute to actualize this new temple. The inauguration for the temple has been delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions, but hopefully will happen soon. 104th Gaden Tri Rinpoche Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin has been invited for the inauguration, as well as requested to offer a few days of teaching afterward.

Inside the gompa of Ngari Institute temple. Photo courtesy of Ngari Institute Facebook page.

Rinpoche has said about the benefits of supporting places such as centers and temples where people come to listen to the Dharma, study Dharma, meditate, collect merit, purify defilements, and come there to take Refuge, generate bodhicitta, and dedicate their practice for all sentient beings:

“Each time one practices there, by dedicating to sentient beings, it helps the six-realm sentient beings, without even one being left out, not even one ant, or one maggot, not even one slug is left out. So all the practices are dedicated for them, you practice Dharma for them. So the centers, monasteries, and temples are places to develop Dharma wisdom and compassion for all sentient beings as well as the whole gradual path to enlightenment, to learn the essence, to learn the middle and to learn the elaborate teachings, according to the intelligence of the people.”

Thank you to all who made it possible to offer the support toward this new temple at Ngari Institute in Ladakh, and especially thanks to Unione Buddhista Italiana. May this temple be a place of great learning and benefit for all beings.

If you are inspired by grants such as this, you are welcome to contribute to the Social Service Fund and help ensure that work like this can continue. 

Nalanda monks and Ven. Tenzin Namjong during their visit to Swayambhunath, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Nalanda Monastery.

Supporting monks and nuns is one of the highest priorities for the FPMT organization. As Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said, “The value of Sangha is more than the whole sky filled with wish-granting jewels.”

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was established after the success of the Sera Je Food Fund, which offered three meals daily to all the monks of Sera Je Monastery for over twenty-six years. Over this time, the food fund established an interest-bearing endowment and offered this to Sera Je Monastery. The interest from this endowment is now covering the cost for all the food at the monastery indefinitely.

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund offers support to nunneries and monasteries around the world for food, accommodation, health care, education, and practice. The fund is not limited to any one institution so it can benefit many nunneries, monasteries and Sangha in need. In addition, FPMT offers support to Sangha through the International Mahayana Institute, which supports the non-Himalayan Sangha of FPMT through the Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund; the Practice and Retreat Fund, which provides grants and sponsorships to individuals engaged in retreats such as 108 nyung na retreats and 100 million mani retreats; the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, which helps to preserve the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism by offering monthly stipends and annual offerings to all the main teachers of the main Gelugpa monasteries, the past and current abbotts, and also the top scholars; and through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, which offers substantial grants to numerous monasteries, nunneries, and ordained individuals— particularly teachers and tulkus.

“Taking responsibility for supporting these practitioners is extremely worthwhile because they are preserving and spreading the entire teaching of the Buddha.” –Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Yearly Commitments

Through the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund the following offerings are made as part of our ongoing yearly commitments: 

The young monks of Idgaa Choizinling Dratsang.

Idgaa Choizinling Monastery, Mongolia
We offer daily lunches to the monks of Idgaa Choizinling Monastery. This Monastery was established in Mongolia in 2003. The Monastery building was sponsored by FPMT. In 2019, we were also able to sponsor the expansion of the monks accommodation in the amount of US$470,000. Idgaa Choizinling has a branch also in Sera Je Monastery in India and serves as a focal point of Buddhist learning in Mongolia. Since the monastery’s inception we have been offering food every day to the 60 monks studying there and the annual cost for offering the lunches is approximately US$12,000.

Some of the monks of Shalu Monastery.

Shalu Monastery, India
We offer all the daily food to more than 50 monks studying at Shalu Monastery, Himachal Pradesh, India. In 2018 we also issued a grant for the building of a 15 ft stupa surrounded by prayer wheels that the resident monks and visitors can utilize for circumambulation. The annual cost for offering the food is US$12,360.

The nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery

Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal
We sponsor two 100 million mani retreats each year (100 million recitations of the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum) at this small Kagyu nunnery in Nepal. Each retreat takes about three months and the sponsorship covers the costs of all the food for the nuns. In recent years we have also offered medical expenses to some of the nuns with serious medical conditions. There are currently 85 nuns living at the nunnery receiving a traditional Tibetan Buddhist education. About 40 nuns, under the age of twenty, are also receiving a modern western education at the school that is also a part of the nunnery, this is also attended by 20 local children. Teachers include: three nuns, two lharampa geshes, and five lay teachers. The annual cost for sponsoring the two 100 million mani retreats, and all the food expenses is approximately US$24,000.

Some of the monks of Thame Monastery, Nepal.

Thame Monastery, Nepal
We offer three meals per day to the monks of Thame Monastery. There are currently 22 monks in this monastery. Thame is in Solu Khumbu, high in the Mount Everest region of Nepal. It is a special place for FPMT as Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born there and it is located near Lawudo which was the home of Rinpoche’s previous incarnation. After the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, FPMT also offered US$300,000 for the building of the magnificent Thame stupa which now stands nearly 46 feet tall. The annual cost for offering food to the monks of Thame Monastery is US$11,000.

Recent Grants Offered

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund also makes substantial individual grants each year. Here are a few examples from 2020:

Dry food offered to Gaden Shartse Monastery.

Gaden Shartse Monastery, South India
US$160,205 was offered for five months of food for all the monks at the monastery. This was due to a number of monks in the monastery becoming affected by COVID-19 and due to that, the monastery had to close their communal kitchen and offer dry food to the monks directly and this increased the food costs substantially.

Nalanda Monastery, France
US$100,000 was offered toward the purchase of new retreat land for Nalanda Monastery in France. This land will be used to facilitate lamrim retreats. Rinpoche commented that it would be excellent for those who have studied at Nalanda, both monastics and lay people, to do semi-isolated retreats at this new retreat land in order to realize the teachings.

Monks from the house of Bragri Yongzin Khalkha Dhamtsig Dorjee .

Bragri Yongzin Khalkha Dhamtsig Dorjee
A substantial grant was offered for improving the monks accommodation of this labrang (small house) in Sera Je Monastery. Bragri Yongzin Khalkha Dhamtsig Dorjee is an incarnate Mongolian lama and his previous incarnation had a very special connection to the Most Secret Hayagriva lineage.

Zigar Thupten Shedrupling Institute
US$200,000 grant has been raised for the food fund for the 62 monks of this Kagyu monastery in Darjeeling.

Sera Me Monastery
A US$100,000 grant has been raised for the food fund of Sera Me Monastery.

Rinpoche has explained that one of the benefits of offering food to the Sangha is that it helps to continue the extensive learning of Buddha’s teachings. It directly sustains and continues the pure unbroken lineage of Buddha’s teachings in this world. If there is no food for the Sangha, then it is very difficult. They would not be able to stay in the monasteries and nunneries and they would have to work to earn money. Or, they would not have enough food and then would be unable to study. If this happened, then Buddhism would disappear in this world. All sentient beings’ happiness comes from Buddha’s teachings, from the study, practice, and actualization of Buddha’s teachings.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, May 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

All of these offerings have been made possible due to the kindness of all who contribute to the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund. Thank you for making it possible. This is really something to rejoice in—that as an organization we can offer this essential  support to the Sangha.

“If you make charity with the motivation of bodhichitta, then whatever you do in your life – eating, walking, sitting, sleeping, doing business and so forth – doing everything with bodhichitta, the thought to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings who are numberless, then everything you do becomes the best Dharma. This is the path of a higher capable being and this is the best Dharma. With this motivation then, all one’s actions become the cause of full enlightenment and it becomes the most powerful way to purify all the defilements. The result is full enlightenment. Amazing, amazing, amazing, really amazing! This is how to make your life so meaningful.”  –Lama Zopa Rinpoche

If you want to support Sangha, please learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries around the world.  

Some of the monks of Shalu Monastery enjoying a meal sponsored by the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund.

For the last three years, the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund has offered a grant to Shalu Monastery, Himachal Pradesh, India, to cover the costs of food for the the 50+ monks who study there. This year, US$12,360.08 was offered. 

In June, we updated you on how the monastery was doing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 7, 2020, they started offering sojong (a bi-monthly confession ceremony), on August 4, they started preparations for yarne (a three-month rains retreat), and gaye (the end of the rains retreat ceremony). These are the three activities that define a proper monastery.

The monks of Shalu Monastery engaged in puja together.

Jhado Rinpoche had previously accepted the monastery’s request to offer teachings for a month during March of 2021, but due to the ongoing pandemic this event will have to be reassessed at a later date. 

Please rejoice in the continued support of this monastery and the Sangha who reside there. Tremendous thanks to all donors who contribute to the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund making grants like this possible. 

If you want to help Sangha, please learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries around the world.  

Monks of Sera Je Monastery. Photo courtesy of the Sera Je Monastery Facebook page.

In 2017, after twenty-six years of the Sera Je Food Fund offering daily meals to all of the 2,500 monks of Sera Je Monastery, FPMT Charitable Projects raised and then offered a US$5.3 million endowment fund to Sera Je Monastery. The interest generated annually from this endowment supports the entire Sera Je Food Fund expenses.

Sera Je Monastery manages and is entirely responsible for the endowment, but as part of the agreement, FPMT International Office does continue to monitor it. We are very pleased to report that this endowment is continuing to generate enough interest to cover all the costs (which have increased since 2017, as was expected) of the Sera Je Food Fund so this most precious daily offering continues uninterrupted. In addition there is a little extra income generated from the interest and that is reinvested to continue to grow the endowment. 

When this project first started in 1991, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Roger Kunsang were the main fundraisers for so many years. Then slowly FPMT Charitable Projects took on the entire responsibility so Rinpoche didn’t have to personally raise the funds. In addition, a few centers were key in helping with fundraising and tens of thousands of supporters over the years have also been inspired to donate. 

Monks of Sera Je Monastery engaged in puja. Photo courtesy of Sera Je Monastery.

When the food fund first began, we were only able to offer a small amount of money to each monk for their midday meal. Then we started to provide a cooked meal that was served to every monk. Later we added dinner, and then breakfast. We built a kitchen and catered to the thousands of monks every day with special attention given to maintaining a hygienic environment for meal preparation, and a balanced offering of nutritious food. And now, due to the endowment that was built up over ten years, this project is now totally self-sufficient. How amazing! 

Thank you so much to everyone who helped to create this incredible offering that brings so much benefit to all the monks of Sera Je Monastery who in turn are working so hard to benefit the entire world through Buddha’s teachings. Supporting monks and nuns has always been one of the highest priorities for Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the FPMT organization because the preservation of the Dharma is dependent on the existence of Sangha.

Please learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries around the world. 

You can read the complete article on the food fund, “Sustaining the Pure Unbroken Lineage of Buddha’s Teachings in This World: The Legacy of the Sera Je Food Fund,” in Mandala eZine format and as a PDF.

Some nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal, engaged in retreat.

Since 2009, sponsorship has been offered to the nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal, from the Practice and Retreat Fund. Funds have been offered to complete two 100 million mani retreats (100 million recitations of the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM) every year. In addition to the 100 million mani retreats, offerings are made to cover the cost of food for all the nuns during this period as well as an offering for a qualified geshe to stay during the retreat in order to give lamrim teachings. Over the past eleven years, the nuns have completed twenty-one 100 million mani retreats. They have nearly completed the first 100 million Mani retreat of 2020.

Light offerings at Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery.

This year the nuns also performed a Nyung Nä retreat on Saka Dawa. During this retreat they prayed for the good health of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and especially for universal peace and to dispel the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and for the quick recovery of those who are infected.

The nunnery is following all the safety regulations for the nuns to stay safe during this time, and there are currently no regular classes being held for the young nuns because of the enforced lockdown in Nepal.

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

The monks of Shalu Monasty enjoying a meal together.

For three years, the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund has offered support to Shalu Monastery, located in Tibetan Cholsum Settlement in the District Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India, to cover the costs of food for the monks who study there.

The monastery has been on lockdown since the Indian government enforced it on March 24 and they are adhering to restrictions.. Fortunately, they are not located in what is considered a “danger zone” even though the disease continues to spread in India. 

Some monks of Shalu Monastery doing puja together.

The monks have been following the government guidelines and continuing their daily routine: praying for world peace; reciting prayers and mantras to overcome the pandemic; and making prayers and dedications to those who are suffering due to the virus and also making light offerings for those who have died. 

If you want to help Sangha, please learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries around the world.  

Construction on Darpa Pandita Labrang, Sera Je Monastery, South India.

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was pleased to help support the completion of the Darpa Pandita Labrang at Sera Je Monastery. Due to the increase in number of lamas living at this labrang, construction was needed to renovate the existing building and add a second floor to the structure. 

Renovation and addition to the Darpa Pandita Labrang.

Darpa Pandita is an incarnation of a great Mongolian Lama, who was connected to the Most Secret Hayagriva lineage. Offering toward his labrang will make reasonable accommodation for the monks residing there possible. 

Please rejoice in this support to the monks who rely on this labrang for housing. 

“Offering to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is an unbelievable act,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained. “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.” Read Rinpoche’s full teaching on “Why Offering to the Sangha is so Powerful.”

Please learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries around the world. 

Nuns and lay children attending the school at Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery in Nepal.

Since 2009 sponsorship from the Practice and Retreat Fund has been offered to the nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal, to complete one 100 million mani retreat (100 million recitations of the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM) every year and a kind benefactor sponsors a second. 

In addition to the 100 million mani retreats, offerings are made to cover the cost of food for all during this period as well as an offering for a qualified geshe to stay during the retreat in order to give lamrim teachings. Additionally, in 2019, two nuns were also given funds necessary for important medical procedures and associated expenses. 

There are currently eighty-five nuns living at the nunnery receiving a traditional Tibetan Buddhist education, as well as a modern western education in science, math, English, etc. Most of the nuns are under the age of twenty. The school at the nunnery is attended by forty  nuns and twenty local children. Teachers include: three nuns, two lharampa geshes, and five lay teachers. 

The nunnery sent the following message of thanks to FPMT International Office for the ongoing support: Thank you for the kind support so far and continuing to do this. Without your help, the nunnery will not last long.”

The nunnery has now completed nineteen 100 million mani retreats. One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization is to sponsor these retreats around the world.

Rinpoche explained, “[I would like] for the organization to establish 100,000 recitations of 100 million OM MANI PADME HUM mantras. This can be retreats of 100 million recitations, so 100,000 different retreats in different parts of the world and where it is happening, then for it to happen regularly, each year.”

Please rejoice in another year of these very precious retreats being completed at this nunnery in Nepal. 

The Practice and Retreat Fund provides grants and sponsorships for students engaged in retreats such as 108 nyung nä retreats, 100 million mani retreats, recitations of sutras and long term retreat. 

Young monks of Idgaa Choizinling, Mongolia.

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund offers sponsorship of daily lunch for the monks studying at Idgaa Choizinling Dratsang in Mongolia. 

Idgaa Choizinling was established in 2003 through FPMT Mongolia due to the kindness of many benefactors. Idgaa is strongly connected to Sera Je Monastery in India and serves as a focal point of Buddhist learning in Mongolia. Since the monastery’s inception, FPMT has been offering food to the monks studying there. The cost of this offering for 2019 was US$9,000.

Of the total 60 monks, five have taken gelong vows, eleven have taken getsul vows, two have taken rabjung vows, and another 42 young monks are waiting for rabjung vows. More than 20 new students joined the monastery this year. 

Last year the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund also offered a US$470,000 grant for a much needed expansion of this monastery. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained:

Giving to the Sangha is an incredible thing. One extremely poor person gave medicine and drink to four monks; they were not arhats, just ordinary monks. In the next life, that person was born as a very powerful and wealthy person. The karmic cause was very simple—just giving medicine and drink to four monks—but because karma expands, the result will be experienced over many lifetimes. If you offer to the powerful object of the Sangha with the motivation of bodhichitta, the result is even more powerful. You receive limitless skies of merit because you are thinking of benefiting numberless sentient beings—numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless sura beings and asura beings, and numberless intermediate state beings—and bringing them to enlightenment. You can imagine the merit you gain if you offer to the Sangha with the motivation of bodhichitta.

Monks of Idgaa Choizinling studying.

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was established in the tradition of the extremely successful Sera Je Food Fund, which offered three nutritious meals daily to all the monks of Sera Je Monastery for over twenty-six years. Over this time, the food fund established an interest-bearing endowment that will continue to cover the cost of food for this program indefinitely. This fund is now broader in scope and offers support to monasteries, nunneries, and individual monks and nuns around the world including food, accommodation, health care, education and practice. 

Supporting monks and nuns is one of the highest priorities for the FPMT organization, because the preservation of the Buddhadharma is dependent on the existence of Sangha.

Please rejoice in this offering of daily food to these earnest monks who study and practice so sincerely to keep Buddhism alive in Mongolia. 

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund supports ordained monks and nuns as well as monasteries and nunneries by providing sponsorship for food, accommodations, educational needs, and health care for Sangha. 

2018 participants in the annual Gelug Examination.

Every year the best scholars from the main Gelug monasteries come together for the annual Gelug Examination. Every year the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund offers a grant for daily food, travel expenses, and for teacher stipends for the main teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition. This year 518 monks participated at Gaden Lachi Monastery, India and the grant offered by FPMT was US$21,169. 

Participants of the 2019 Gelug Exam at Gaden Lachi Monastery

Stipends were offered to the 139 current abbots, past abbots, and main teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition. This small offering of money supports these teachers’ basic needs and allows them to be able to focus more of their time on transmitting Dharma to their students at the monasteries and strengthening their own practices.

Participants of the 2019 Gelug Examination enjoying lunch sponsored by the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund.

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. Congratulations to all who participated and successfully completed this rigorous exam. 

Tremendous thanks to all the donors who have made these offerings possible, every year, for twenty-one years. Please rejoice in this ongoing support to past, present, and future teachers of the Gelug tradition. You are welcome to offer any amount to the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund to help ensure that these grants continue for into the future. 

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