Lama Zopa Rinpoche enjoying reading about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund in the recent issue of Mandala magazine.

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was established to support monasteries, nunneries, and individual monks and nuns with food, accommodation, health care, education and Dharma 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.

We invite you keep up on all the beneficial projects that this fund supports. Recent grants have been released or are soon to be given toward the following initiatives: The rebuilding of Maratika Gompa in Nepal; the renovation and expansion of Iggda Chozing Monastery in Mongolia; food offered to monks in Mongolia and Thame, Nepal; support to nuns in Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal; the health of various khangtsen in Sera Je Monastery, India. 

All are welcome to support these beneficial grants offered to Sangha. 

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

Lama Zopa Rinpoche prostrating to a precious Guru Rinpoche statue during visit to Chailsa. Rinpoche sponsors the butter in the butter lamp in front of this statue 365 days a year.

Chailsa is in Solu Khumbu, north-eastern Nepal, the district where Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born. Chailsa is in the southern part of the district.

In May, Lama Zopa Rinpoche stayed at Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery for a month and visited the Sagarmatha Secondary School which is located there. More than two years ago, the Social Service Fund took on the commitment of sponsoring this school which has about 120 students and is managed by Kopan Monastery.  

While in the area, Tsipri Lama approached Rinpoche about the need of these retreat houses in the area, specifically for geshes from the monasteries of Kopan, Sera, Drepung, and Ganden who have completed their studies and then wanted to engage in retreat. Rinpoche was very inspired by the project and immediately wanted to help actualize it and Rinpoche now has offered the full amount to complete this project: US$80,000. 

The sloping land below the buildings is where the new retreat area will be located. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Tsipri Lama was once a Kopan monk and is also the recognized reincarnation of a lama from the Tsipiri region of Tibet. Tsipri Lama fled Tibet and settled in the Solu Khumbu region in Nepal. The offering is to fund the building of retreat huts and a gompa for geshes who have finished their studies and want to meditate on the path in isolation. There are currently five geshes on the property who are engaged in retreat, occupying very temporary and inadequate housing. 

Providing the conditions needed for sincere practictioners to actualize the path to enlightenment is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization. 

Please rejoice in this offering which will enable many precious geshes to engage in retreat in a meaningful way in a blessed place. 

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

An Incredible Accomplishment: An Endowment Supporting the Monks of Sera Je Monastery Long into the Future

The monks of Sera Je Monastery.

For the last ten years FPMT International Office has been building an endowment large enough to support the long-term health of the Sera Je Food Fund, whereby the interest from the endowment would cover the annual costs associated with offering three nutritious meals daily for all the monks of Sera Je Monastery, for as long as the endowment remains.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the new abbot of Sera Je Monastery, Ven. Choesang Rinpoche.

Amazingly, due to the kindness of so many generous donors, we have now reached our targeted amount for the endowment fund. This is a monumental achievement and we could not have done it without all of the kind, generous, and ongoing support that has been offered to the Sera Je Food Fund for the last twenty-six years. Thank you!

This is an incredible accomplishment for the entire FPMT organization. Lama Zopa Rinpoche started the Sera Je Food Fund in 1991 on the occasion of Tenzin Ösel Rinpoche entering Sera Je Monastery. Rinpoche wanted to make an offering to the whole monastery, not just one time, but continuously.  At the time it seemed like such an ambitious plan to offer meals to every monk studying at Sera Je Monastery every day of every year. In 2017 this amounts to an incredible 700,000 meals per year, 2,900 meals per day.

Thanks to the support of so many people, this fund operated without interruption for twenty-six years. In the beginning 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.

When Rinpoche first mentioned his wish to start this project, we had no idea how we were going to make it happen. Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Roger Kunsang were the main fundraisers for so many years. Then slowly FPMT International Office 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. Each year we covered the annual costs and eventually were able to create an endowment fund so the project could continue to run on the interest accrued each year.

Sangha participating in the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Sera Je Monastery. January, 2017.

At the beginning of this year, the abbot and monks of Sera Je Monastery offered a long life puja to Lama Zopa Rinpoche to thank Rinpoche and the FPMT organization for this incredible offering made over a quarter of a century. At that time we discussed with the monastery that the endowment and the ongoing management of the food fund now be managed entirely by Sera Je Monastery.

FPMT has always had a close connection with Sera Je Monastery. Most of our resident geshes come from this highly respected monastery and we are very happy to make such a substantial offering. It’s also wonderful that the monastery is now able to manage this next chapter.  

His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and many geshes who were serving as resident teachers in FPMT centers at the 2007 Geshe Conference organized by FPMT.

We are working to ensure that this transition is smooth and that the endowment and ongoing interest raised will be exclusively used for the food fund. The official handover of the project began in May 2017 and the endowment will be transferred over a period of a few years.  Therefore the Sera Je Food Fund is no longer an FPMT charitable project. 

Please rejoice in this incredible offering, the benefits of which will continue long into the future. Every person who has contributed to the Sera Je Food Fund — whether with donations, time, or prayers — all of this incredible merit of offering to the Sangha will continue to grow and benefit.  

The Next Chapter in Supporting Sangha 

The monks of Idgaa Choizinling College are offered lunch every day through the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund.

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 Buddhadharma is dependent on the existence of Sangha.

We invite you to please join us in developing the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund which is offering support to monasteries, nunneries, and individual monks and nuns for food, accommodation, health care, education and practice.  

Since 2009 we have offered support to the nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal.

This fund is not limited to any one institution and able to benefit many nunneries, monasteries and Sangha in need.

From our hearts we sincerely thank you for helping to actualize this incredible offering. May the food fund and endowment continue to grow and benefit the Sangha at Sera Je Monastery for as long as space endures and as long as sentient beings remain.

“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

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

Some of the nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery (also known as Bigu Nuns).

In 2014 a grant was offered to Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery for new accommodation needed for the resident nuns. The nunnery recently sent an update that three rows of rooms are nearly finished and some nuns have already begun moving in. They are anticipating the entire project to be finished by the year’s end. 

The nuns are very pleased with their new accommodations and offered, “Our sincere prayers and dedication to the long life of our gurus and good health of all friends, benefactors, donors, and well wishers.”

The new accommodations for the nuns.

Since 2009 sponsorship has been offered to the nuns to complete one and now two 100 million mani retreats (100 million recitations of the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM). In addition to the 100 million mani retreats, funds are offered to cover the cost of food to all the nuns for this period as well as the cost of a very qualified geshe to stay during the retreat in order to give lamrim teachings. With the help of donors, we will offer this again in 2017. 

Rinpoche has said about 100 million mani retreats: “The benefits of reciting the Compassion Buddha mantra are infinite, like the limitless sky. Even if you don’t have much intellectual understanding of Dharma, even if the only thing you know is OM MANI PADME HUM, still the happiest life is one lived with an attitude free of the eight worldly concerns. If you live your life with the pure attitude free of attachment clinging to this life and simply spend your life chanting OM MANI PADME HUM—this six-syllable mantra that is the essence of all Dharma—that’s the purest Dharma. Whoever attends a mani retreat is unbelievably fortunate. This retreat also blesses the country where it is held and brings so much peace, happiness and prosperity. Without bodhichitta, you cannot cause all the happiness for all sentient beings. You cannot do perfect work for all sentient beings, and you cannot achieve the complete qualities of the realizations and cessation, even for yourself. “

Please rejoice in the progress of these new rooms for the sincere nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery. 

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

57 monks are offered lunch daily at Idgaa Choizinling through the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund.

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund offers sponsorship for daily lunch for the 57 monks studying at Idgaa Choizinling Dratsang in Mongolia. Recently US$9,000 was offered to cover all of 2017. 

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 its inception, FPMT has been offering food to the monks studying there. 

In a letter to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the monks expressed their gratitude, “Your very generous support of meals provides a most important condition for us to be well nourished, to be free to engage in practices, to listen to our Dharma teachers, and to contemplate and meditate on the Dharma.” 

Young monks at Idgaa Choizinling enjoying daily lunch together.

“If you offer with the recognition that they are the guru’s pores,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said in 2011 in reference to the Sera Je Food Fund which offers three vegetarian meals every day to the monks of Sera Je Monastery, “then that is an unbelievable way to collect merit. When you offer to many Sangha who have the same guru, then you are making offerings to that many pores of the guru. This is the easiest way to collect skies of merit by offering. By offering even just one candy or flowers or even one grain of rice to a statue of Buddha or even a visualized Buddha, you collect skies of merit. It is much more powerful than offering to the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) as well as all the statues, stupas and scriptures existing in all directions, so there is no question if really offering to the same guru’s disciple. These benefits should be understood so that when you make offerings to the guru’s pores that you think correctly. This is the best business.”

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. 

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

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

The monks of Sera Je Monastery are offered three nutritious meals every single day through the Sera Je Food Fund.

The Sera Je Food Fund (a project of the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund) has been in operation for twenty-five years, offering free meals to the sincere monks of Sera Je Monastery daily.

In a typical month, nearly 22,000 bananas, 120 bottles of soy sauce, and an incredible 5,500 pounds of flour, among many other ingredients including vegetables, rice, noodles, and tea, are utilized in preparation for this offering of vegetarian meals for, on average, 1,600 monks every day.

Approximately 50 monks help prepare meals for in the Sera Je Food Fund kitchen.

The Sera Je Food Fund doesn’t just supply food. A tremendous amount of work must go into the planning, cooking, serving, and cleaning up of the daily meals.

Every day each khangtsen (monastic house made up of monks from the same regions) informs the Sera Je Food Fund Kitchen how many monks will be joining for meals so the cooks can always prepare the right amount of food. There is almost no waste from the kitchen because any leftovers are offered to monks who engage in evening debate or classes allowing the monks to enjoy a second dinner if they are studying or debating late. Any food bought by the kitchen that is not used is sold back to the market making the waste for the kitchen extremely low. This is quite impressive when considering the volume of food being prepared and cooked. 

Typically, about 50 monks are assigned to kitchen duties every day.  They help ensure that the ingredients are top quality, that the kitchen is always hygienic and efficient, and that the food is tasty for the monks. Lunch is often eaten as a group in the Sera Je gompa when there are pujas or practices happening.

It takes a tremendous amount of food, supplies, equipment, and collective work to offer meals every day to the monks of Sera Je Monastery.

Equipment and kitchen supply needs are ongoing, maintenance and repairs are frequent, office supplies are needed for administration and accounting, pujas and prayers for the project’s success are regularly sponsored, and dry food is organized during special occasions such as holidays and major teaching events when the monastery kitchen is closed down. All of this costs approximately US$200,000 every year to actualize. A small price considering the incredible benefit offered to so many. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has taught extensively on the benefits of offering to Sangha.

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was established to support monks and nuns with a focus on the health and sustainability of monasteries and nunneries. While the Sera Je Food Fund has been our most successful and ambitious project to date, future plans for this fund will enable FPMT to make ongoing offerings in a much broader way.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the nuns of Kopan Nunnery.

“Educating monks and nuns is one of the most important things in the world.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The Sera Je Food Fund was established with very clear goals and recently one of those major objectives has been achieved. We look forward to releasing details on this in weeks to come.  We invite all to connect with the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund to keep up on news,  information on new initiatives, and opportunities to get involved and support these efforts to help monasteries and nunneries thrive. 

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

Thousands of monks from the great monasteries, including eighteen Kopan monks, are currently participating in the annual Winter Jang Debate at Drepung Monastery, India.

Monks from various Gelug monasteries are currently participating in an extensive twenty-two day debate on Buddhist logic at Drepung Monastery, India, known as the Winter Jang Debate. There are two sessions daily: prayers for world peace, and debate.

This annual debate dates back to the time of Lama Tsongkhapa and was continued each year until 1959. In 1981 the present and former abbots of the three great monasteries met to revive this debate. However, due to costs the monasteries were only able to sponsor about 200 monks to attend. Seeing the incredible importance of this tradition of bringing together the best scholars to hone their understanding of the Buddha’s highest teachings, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, became the primary sponsor for this debate. Now thousands of monks participate. 

Eighteen monks from Kopan House, Tsawa Khangtsen, are participating in this year’s Winter Jang Debate at Drepung Monastery.

Eighteen monks from Kopan House, Tsawa Khangtsen, are among the thousands of participants attending this year. We offer all of the monks participating our best wishes for a transformative and fruitful event. 

Tremendous thanks to the many donors who support the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund and enable FPMT to sponsor this powerful annual debate. This is something incredible in which to rejoice. You are welcome to participate in this offering at any time.

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

Jangtse Chöje Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Bodhgaya on January 2, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

A long life puja was offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on behalf of Sera Je Monastery on the Maitreya Project land in Bodhgaya on January 2, 2017. The puja was to thank Rinpoche for twenty-six years of support offered through the Sera Je Food Fund, which provides three vegetarian meals every day to the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery.

During the puja, the head of monastic discipline, who had been at Sera Je Monastery since before the Sera Je Food Fund was established, spontaneously praised Rinpoche for about thirty minutes, noting all the ways Rinpoche had helped the monastery. He explained what it was like at the monastery before food was regularly offered and how the monks have benefited after the fund’s creation. He said Rinpoche has cared for all the thousands of monks for the last twenty-six years like a mother does for her child.

Sangha participating in the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Thousands of monks attended the puja as well as Jangtse Chöje; the new abbot of Sera Je Monastery; the past abbot of Sera Je Monastery; the past abbot of Namgyal Monastery, Jhado Rinpoche; and the past abbot of Gyurme Monastery, Khensur Geshe Tashi Tsering. 

The abbot of Sera Je Monastery making offerings to Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The Sera Je Food Fund has provided millions of meals since 1991. It currently offers approximately 700,000 meals per year, 2,900 meals per day. There are, on average, 1,600 monks benefiting from the food fund.

Please rejoice in the offering of this puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life and in Sera Je Food Fund’s twenty-six years of food offerings to the monks of Sera Je Monastery. 

You can learn more about the Sera Je Food Fund, read an overview of the food offered daily, or support this project with a donation of any amount.

Approximately 1,600 monks benefit from the Sere Je Food Fund every year.

As 2016 comes to a close, we’d like to invite you to rejoice in another year of offering food to all of the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery through the Sera Je Food Fund. 

Since 1991 the Sera Je Food Fund has offered millions of meals. We currently offer approximately 700,000 meals per year, 2,900 meals per day. 

You can watch a short video about the Sera Je Food Fund as an overview of this incredible project:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=copRgB9eaSo

In the Tibetan tradition, it is customary for monastics to support themselves. In addition to providing for their own housing, individual monks are responsible for purchasing and preparing all of their meals. As many of the monks are refugees from Tibet or from refugee families living in India, they have very little money for quality food and, consequently, were often malnourished and ill. Before the Sera Je Food Fund, most monks at the monastery never had adequate nutrition. Now, for the first time, they are well-nourished, and this makes a dramatic difference in the energy they are able to devote to their studies. Additionally, group preparation of meals and use of a communal kitchen allows more time for the monks to apply themselves to their studies without the added worry of cleaning up and preparing individual meals, monitoring their individual health for adequate protein and nutrition, etc. 

Monks of Sera Je Monastery enjoying a meal provided by the Sera Je Food Fund. Photo by Losan Piatti.

Please rejoice in this incredible service which has been offered since 1991. 

On behalf of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FPMT International Office would like to offer our heartfelt gratitude to all of the kind benefactors who have been contributing to this project over the years and supporting Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Vision.

You can learn more about the Sera Je Food Fund or support this project with a donation of any amount. 

Participants in the 2016 Gelug exam.

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

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

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

The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund has three main activities:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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