Ordained 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. 

190 monks from Sera Je Monastery successfully passed the 2019Special Memorization Examination.

This year, annual sponsorship was offered to Sera Je Monastery for 190 monks who qualified and passed the 2019 Special Memorization Examination.

This is an incredible achievement accomplished by extremely dedicated scholars. 

• 68 monks memorized Commentary on the Ornament of Clear Realization 
• 74 monks memorized The Essence of Eloquence on the Art of Interpretation by Lama Tsongkhapa
• 32 monks memorized Bodhisattvacaryavatara (Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) by Shantideva
• 9 monks memorized A Presentation of General Meaning
• 3 monks memorized General Meaning (of the) Middle Way
• 2 monks memorized  Six Treatises on the Middle Way by Nagarjuna
• 1 monk memorized Five Treatises of Maitreya

A new set of robes and an offering was given to these future teachers who contribute to the preservation the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism in the monasteries. The memorization of these monumental works is truly something to rejoice in. 

You can learn more about the beneficial activities of the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund or the many Charitable Projects of FPMT.

Finished accommodation at Shri Sengedrak Ngedhon Samten Choeling Retreat Center.

Shri Sengedrak Ngedhon Samten Choeling Retreat Center, a Kagyu nunnery, was badly damaged in the 2015 earthquake that devastated Nepal and surrounding areas. This nunnery, located on the border of Nepal and Tibet (on the Nepal side), is under the guidance of Zigar Monastery Abbot Tinley Dorje who is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers.

Destruction following t he earthquake at Shri Sengedrak Ngedhon Samten Choeling Retreat Center, Nepal.

Following the earthquake, construction was needed for thirty-five retreat houses, one main prayer hall, a retreat house for the abbot, and five standard toilets. The nuns had been living in temporary shelter, and the Social Services Fund issued a grant for US$185,000 for the necessary rebuilding.

New accommodation and landscape at Shri Sengedrak Ngedhon Samten Choeling Retreat Center.

Please rejoice that the accommodation is now complete and the nuns can continue their studies and practice without dire living conditions. Tremendous thanks to all of the kind donors who made this possible.

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

Some monks of Idgaa Choizinling, Mongolia.

The Idgaa Choizinling Monastery, Mongolia, was constructed in 2003 through FPMT Mongolia with assistance from a number of extremely kind benefactors. This monastery is strongly connected to Sera Je Monastery in India and serves as a focal point of Buddhist learning in Mongolia. FPMT, through the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund, has been offering food to approximately sixty monks studying there since its inception. 

Architectural drawing of the new dormitory.

In 2018, Idgaa was gifted land near the monastery. After careful consideration, it was concluded that an expansion of accommodation for the monks would be the most beneficial use for this land. A new three story building will feature forty-one small, and six large rooms. The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund offered a US$470,000 grant for this most precious accommodation which includes, in addition to the construction: inner wall decoration, a plumbing system, electricity, landscaping, a complete pipeline system, and engineering work.

Please rejoice in the expansion of this monastery which contributes directly to preserving and supporting the study of Buddhism in Mongolia. 

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

Some of the monks of Shalu Monastery.

For the second year in a row, the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund has offered a grant to Shalu Monastery to cover the costs of food for the 30 monks who study there. This year, US$16,116.94 was offered. 

Young monks enjoying an offered meal.

Shalu Monastery was founded by Chetsun Shetsun Jugney in 1027 A.D at Shalu Village near Shigatse town in Tibet and was consecrated by Atisha. The number of the monks studying there reached 7,700 at the peak of its opulence in the 14th century under the abbotship of Buton Rinchen Drup. Shalu Monastery was considered one of the most respected learning institutions in Tibet. Some monks from the monastery are said to have accomplished great physical feats because of their specialized training including the ability to regulate their body temperature regardless of the external weather or travel at speeds which seemed to defy possibility. 

During the Chinese invasion of 1959, this precious monastery was destroyed. It was re-established at Tibetan Cholsum Settlement, Bhuppur, India, under the vision and blessing of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and was consecrated by Sakya Trichen Rinpoche in March 2005.

There are currently fifty-six monks studying at the monastery. 

In 2018 the Holy Objects Fund issued a grant for the building of a 15 ft x 11 ft Jangchub Stupa surrounded by prayer wheels that the resident monks and visitors can utilize for circumambulation. 

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.  

Some of the monks of Thame Monastery

For the second year in a row the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund is offering a grant to cover the cost of three meals per day to the monks of Thame Monastery in Nepal. The monastery is home to nine elderly and thirteen young monks. Thame Monastery is one of the oldest in the region, and is famous for hosting the annual Mani Rimdu Festival.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born in the Mount Everest region of Thame, located close to Lawudo which was the home of his previous incarnation known as the Lawudo Lama. Many Kopan monks are also from Thame. FPMT is very pleased to offer support to this region whenever possible. 

Completed magnificent stupa in Thame, Nepal.

During the earthquake of 2015, the Thame region was seriously affected. Amidst the destruction, a large and important stupa for the area was destroyed. The Holy Objects Fund offered over US$300,000 for the rebuilding of the stupa which took two years to complete. The new stupa, which stands nearly 46 feet tall with a base measuring 54 feet across, is larger than the one which previously stood and is utilizing much of the materials from the original stupa. This stupa also features a large prayer wheel inside, pilgrims and locals can enter the stupa to spin it and create even more merit.   

Thame Monastery, Nepal.

Please rejoice in the ongoing support offered to the monks of Thame Monastery. This offering of food, which cost US$11,000 for 2019, allows the monks to receive three nutritious meals daily. In a letter of thanks to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the monastery explained, “The sangha meal project has even more urgency now as more monks are getting older and unable to visit local families frequently for pujas and finding resources on their own.”

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. 

The monks of Zigar Thupten Shedrupling Institute .

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund is now offering support to the sixty-two monks of Zigar Thupten Shedrupling Institute, a Kagyu monastery located in Darjeeling, India. 

The monastery sent a letter of thanks and praise to Lama Zopa Rinpoche:

Today on this special day of Sutra and Tantra 

To you who is illuminator of nonsectarian Buddha’s teaching: Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche, for a long time you have generated the holy wish for the teachings of the Buddha and for migratory beings. It has now ripened into fruition, due to the conjunction with noble dependent arising of karma and prayers. By providing livelihood conditions to the Sangha who are engaged in the three activities of study, contemplation, and meditation practice on the teachings of the Buddha.

In the Araya land of Darjeeling’s Thubten Shedub Ling Institution for higher study, we are indebted to the incredible kindness of your holy deeds, and this cooperative condition. Today on the third month of the 15th day of the Tibetan calendar, we have started the needed facilities and food offering to the Sangha. Currently there are 62 Sangha residents who are part of Shedra study discipline, likewise there are one to two new admissions each month.

On behalf of all who are part of the team of Dzigar Shedra monastery’s well-wishers, in and outside, and all the lamas, tulkus, monks, nuns, and the public — We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. To you, Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche, and the FPMT organization, staff, and followers under your guidance: 

May all your holy wishes for the scriptural and realized teachings of the Buddha, which is the source of all help and happiness, be spread widely and remain for a long time in this universe.

May all the holy beings who practice and preserve the teachings have long lives and may all their holy wishes be fulfilled as they wish. Especially Rinpoche, may you live long and may all your holy activities and deeds spread extensively. Today at the Shedar we offer incense offering through the ritual of Tashi Rekong (Fulfilling Wishes of Auspiciousness) and make heartfelt requests to The Three Supreme Ones and the Three Roots. May all come true as requested.    

Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, the source of all the help and happiness
With willpower of tolerance to lift up very high  
You are empowered with extraordinary thought and bodhichitta
Glorifying the nonsectarian teachings
May you live long.  

This year, the grant for food was US$14,432. Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund, has pledged US$200,000 for this monastery. About offering food to Sangha, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said:

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.

Please rejoice in this ongoing offering of support to the monks of Zigar Thupten Shedrupling Institute. 

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. 

For the second year in a row, the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund has invested in the Geluk International Foundation which was established to preserve and promote Buddhist heritage in general and the Gelug tradition in particular. This year, approximately US$18,000 was offered toward the foundation’s expenses. 

This foundation was established as result of the aspirations and vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Gaden Tri Rinpoche, and various important senior Gelug masters and leaders, in order to insure coordination, cooperation, management, and organized continuity of the precious Gelug tradition.

The vision of the foundation is to promote, propagate, develop, enrich, and preserve the Gelug tradition established by Lama Tsongkhapa. The goal is to unite and harmonize all Gelug monasteries and Dharma centers throughout the world under a single umbrella in order to improve and maintain coordination, cooperation, development, function, and friendship. 

Member monasteries include: Gyuto, Tashi Lhunpo, Sera Mey, Sera Je, Rato, Namgyal, Gaden Jangtse,Gaden Shartse Norling, Drepung, Drepung Loseling, and Drepung Gomang.

Geluk International Foundation Current Accomplishments

• Construction of headquarters has been completed.
• Revisions of the directives of monasteries of Gelug tradition have been completed, published, and circulated.
• GOLDEN KEY: a Clear Presentation of Truth and Falsehood about Dholgyal through Quotes and Reasoning, was recently published.
• Offerings, rituals, and prayers were organized in Dharamsala, June 2015, for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Please rejoice in another year of sponsorship to the Geluk International Foundation which is a tremendous investment in the future and preservation of the Gelug tradition, and an offering of support toward His Holiness’s wishes for a unified tradition. 

You can learn more about the activities of this foundation and read news updates about current events and support the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund to ensure that grants like this can continue into the future. 

2018 participants in the annual Gelug Examination.

Every year the best scholars from the main Gelug monasteries come together for the annual Gelug Examination. This year, which is an annual custom, the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund offered US$20,955 for daily food, travel expenses, and for teacher stipends for the main teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition. 864 monks participated in this year’s exam at Sera Lachi, South India, in September.

Monks enjoying a meal sponsored by the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund.

Stipends were offered to the 128 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.

Examination in progress.

The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund would like to congratulate all the monks for their successful completion of this challenging event. Due to the grant offered each year from this fund, all qualified monks are able to participate in the debate and examination, rather than being exempt due to prohibitive costs.

For twenty years, FPMT has been sponsoring this important event. Please rejoice in this ongoing support to past, present, and future teachers of the Gelug tradition. 

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. 

Lay woman and nuns from Jamyang Choeling Institute, Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute, Jangchub Choeling Nunnery. Nuns’ Jang Guncho, Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery, Kathmandu, Nepal, October 2018.

For the second time, the annual Nuns’ Jang Guncho (annual winter debate session) was held at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery (Kopan Nunnery), in Kathmandu, Nepal, from October 3-November 3, 2018. Approximately 710 nuns, 17 teachers, and some lay women from ten nunneries in India and Nepal gathered for one month-long training session in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund, was happy to offer food for one day of this event plus a small cash offering for each participant.

The first Nuns’ Jang Guncho took place in Dharamsala, India, in 1995 and provides an opportunity for nunneries to gather together to train in and practice debate. This is an incredible opportunity for the nuns to receive such a valuable and thorough education, an opportunity that was previously not offered. 

After the conclusion of the Nuns’ Jang Guncho, a two-day celebration was observed for the  Geshema Damcha, the final step in the geshema ceremony rituals. Every nun from each nunnery debated five major texts of Buddhist philosophy during the celebration. Two Kopan nuns are already geshemas from Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery and four more will become geshemas in 2020 after successful completion of two more exams.

Please rejoice that this annual event, which for centuries was only available to monks, continues to take place and bring together so many nuns in such a beneficial way.

You can read more about the 2018 Nuns’ Jang Guncho and firsthand details of the event from participating Kopan nuns. 

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

The monks of Gaden Tharpa Choling Monastery in front of the new Nyung Nä temple.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the reincarnation of Domo Geshe Rinpoche at Sera Je Monastery, Bulakyppe, India, December 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Gaden Tharpa Choling Monastery in Kalimpong, India, was founded by the First Domo Geshe Rinpoche in 1912 while traveling on pilgrimage. Lama Zopa Rinpoche established a connection with the Domo Geshe Rinpoche lineage when he took ordination at Domo Drugkar Gompa in Tibet, also established by the First Domo Geshe Rinpoche. Since 2015, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has also been supporting the current reincarnation of Domo Geshe Rinpoche by sponsoring food offered to him daily, as well as the salaries for some of his teachers. In a letter of thanks to Tharpa Choeling Monastery in 2010, Lama Zopa Rinpoche further explains the connection. 

The new temple during construction.

Due to the kindness of a benefactor, the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was pleased to offer a US$25,000 grant toward the building of a Nyung Nä temple at the monastery. About this retreat practice Rinpoche commented, “Nyung näs take such a short time, but bring strong purification. So many eons can be purified in this life; it makes it so easy to have attainments.” Nyung nä practice is an intensive two-day purification retreat that includes fasting, precepts, prostrations, prayers, mantra recitation, and offerings. Nyung nä is a practice based on the deity, Thousand-Arm Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, and is extremely powerful for healing illness, purifying negative karma, and opening the heart to compassion.

We are happy to report that this temple has now been completed. Please rejoice that this is now finished and will facilitate many powerful and beneficial retreats long into the future. 

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. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, September, 2018. Photo by Lobsang Sherab.

Recently Lama Zopa Rinpoche shared a heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported the Sera Je Food Fund for twenty-seven years of operation. The food fund provided free meals to all of the monks of Sera Je Monastery for nearly three decades before handing over an endowment to the monastery which allows this offering to continue long into the future. 

Rinpoche wanted to send his sincere thanks to all who made the food fund and endowment possible, an achievement for the entire FPMT organization which is truly worth rejoicing about:

Thank you very, very, very much! Thank you very, very much! So much merit you created, so many lifetimes to enjoy, to meet Dharma, to achieve enlightenment, not only to be free from samsara, but to achieve enlightenment. Free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering by you, and bring to enlightenment. So, thank you very much.

Rinpoche explains the incredible benefits of having offered food to Sangha through the Sera Food Fund for so many years:

You have to recognize the good karma, how much unbelievable good karma you collected. So many years, so many years, so many years, wow! You have to rejoice, rejoice! No time for depression, no space for depression in the life! Can’t imagine! For so many years, you have offered dinner, lunch, breakfast, can’t imagine, wow!

On the impact on the lives of all who benefit from the monks’ education and training including the Sera Je monks who go on to teach in FPMT centers around the world:

Now, in many countries in the world, so many people are receiving lamrim teachings, philosophy teachings. Those people who offered food, they developed their education, they got their education and so many people in the world are receiving benefit from them. This is not material benefit but this is benefit for the mind!

Rinpoche discussing the merit of offering food to those who share one’s guru:

All those Sera Je monks, they are His Holiness’s disciples also. So, you are making offerings to the pores of your guru. In that case, every day, every breakfast, every lunch, every dinner, even if it was just one time, the merit you collect by making offering to one disciple of the same guru, His Holiness, you collect FAARRRRRRRRR more merits than offering to numberless Buddhas, numberless Dharma, numberless Sangha, numberless statues, numberless stupas, numberless scriptures. They become so small compared to offering to one pore of the guru, a disciple.

On behalf of all who have been involved in the Sera Food Fund for the last twenty-seven years we would like to join Rinpoche—who made this project possible due to his incredible courage, kindness, and compassion—in thanking everyone from our heart. Thank you for your kind support, time, effort, and service over so many years. Many people came together to make this possible.

You can watch this entire message from Rinpoche on YouTube. An edited transcript of this message is also available via PDF. 

Please also enjoy this recent in-depth look at the accomplishments and historical context of the Sera Je Fund over the last twenty-seven years. All are welcome to view this article in eZine or PDF format. 

You can read more about the history and impact of the Sera Je Food Fund. 

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.