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Ordained Sangha
FPMT geshes awaiting the arrival of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 2006 FPMT Geshe Conference, Sarnath, India.
On Losar this year, as a token of appreciation and gratitude for the incredibly kind service offered to the FPMT organization and to the teachings of Buddha, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the FPMT Puja Fund sponsored 49 sets of robes for FPMT’s resident geshes and touring teachers.
This offering was kindly facilitated by Ven. Fran and many at Kopan Monastery, who helped with measurements, making and sending of the robes and also by Center Services Director, Claire Isitt.
By offering these soft, light, divine clothes
With indestructible faith in those
Who have attained the indestructible holy body,
May I (and all sentient beings) also achieve the vajra holy body.
—from Lama Chopa Jorcho
Please rejoice in the kindness of these resident geshes and touring teachers whose service enable us to access Buddha’s teachings around the world. This offering of robes allows them to use their limited resources for other necessities.
You can learn more about the Puja Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund sponsored 673 monks to participate in this year’s Winter Debate.
The Lama Tsong Khapa Teachers Fund was very pleased to offer US$22,570 for the 2013 Winter Debate (Jang Gun-choe). 673 of the top debaters from Sera Je traveled to Drepung Monastery to participate with 8,000 monks from 11 different monasteries. The main participating Institutes were Sera, Drepung, Gaden, Tashi Lhunpo, Gyuto, Gyudme, Rato and Dhakpo Shedrup Dhargeyling monasteries and they met to debate two sessions a day for a minimum of seven hours.
The Lama Tsong Khapa Teachers Fund covered the cost of travel and food for the 673 monks from Sera Je Monastery to attend the month-long debate. Please rejoice in this incredible offering!
The Great Winter Debate has been an integral part Tibet Buddhism and dates back to the time of Lama TsongKhapa. The debate mainly consists of the most earnest and competent scholars from the great monasteries. The primary course of study during the Winter Debate is Pramanavartika (Tsema Namdrel) by Acharya Dharmakirti on subjects such as epistemology, valid cognition, dialectics, and the Art of Liberation.
You can learn more about the annual Winter Debate here.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche received the following note of thanks from the Committee for Sere Je Philosophical Studies for this contribution:
“We are extremely thankful and grateful for your generous help and we pray for your long life of lovely compassion for the sake of all sentient beings in the universe.”
You can learn more about the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
Sera Je monks help prepare meals for 2,500 in the Sera Je Food Fund kitchen.
Every day, 8,300 meals are offered to all the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery. 3,300 monks join for breakfast and 2,500 monks are offered lunch and dinner. Every three months, approximately 750,000 meals are offered through the Sera Je Food Fund. An astounding amount of food is required for this ongoing offering.
Just to give a glimpse of the amount of food that is offered over three months to the monks of Sera Je Monastery:
64,300 bananas are offered in a three month period through the Sera Je Food Fund.
Breakfast:
- Butter: 289 pounds
- Flour: 8,433 pounds
- Cooking Oil: 170 gallons
You can read more about a typical day’s breakfast offering.
Lunch:
- Bananas: 64,300 pieces
- Dal: 10,417 pounds
- Rice: 11,217 pounds
- Green Vegetables: 5,570 bundles
You can read more about a typical day’s lunch offering.
Green vegetables being prepared and cleaned for 2,500.
Dinner:
- Cooking Oil: 165 gallons
- Soy Sauce: 115 bottles
- Cheese: 432 pounds
- Potato: 1,000 pounds
You can read more about a typical day’s dinner offering.
Many other ingredients are used for the monthly meals, the above numbers are merely examples of certain foods and ingredients used. Please rejoice in this incredible offering.
You are welcome to offer any amount toward the US$280,000 needed each year for this project:
You can learn more about the Sera Je Food Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
800 young monks of the Serea Je School are offered breakfast daily through the Sera Je Food Fund. Photo courtesy of Sera Je Secondary School Facebook.
The young monks are able to focus on their studies without worrying about where there next meal will come from. Photo courtesy of Sera Je Secondary School Facebook.
In addition to offering three meals a day to all 2,500 monks studying at Sera Je Monastery, the Sera Je Food Fund offers breakfast daily to 800 young monks studying at the Sera Je School. Lunch and dinner are sponsored through another generous source.
The cost is US$29,200 to offer 800 meals per day which is 292,000 meals every year. This is something amazing to rejoice in as these young monks will later enter the Sera Je Monastery curriculum. Investing in their early education is a true investment in the future of qualified Buddhist scholars and teachers.
You are welcome to donate any amount toward this offering:
8,300 meals are offered every day to the monks of Sera Je Monastery.
Every day, many volunteers at Sera Je Monastery shop, prepare, offer and clean up after each of the three meals offered to all 2,500 monks through the Sera Je Food Fund.
The cost of offering all the food to all the monks is currently $US280,000 yearly. If you would like to contribute to the Sera Je Food Fund, you may offer any amount you are able.
- US$10: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to one monk for one month
- US$120: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to one monk for one year
- US$780: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all 2,500 monks for one day
- US$5,460: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all 2,500 monks for one week
- US$280,000: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all the 2,500 monks for one year
In this video, you can see thousands of these monks enjoying a meal provided by the Sera Je Food Fund.
There are extensive prayers and dedications made by the monks at Sera Je for those who contribute to the fund. These dedications continue to generate merit for those donating to the fund for as long as the monastery exists.
Please read about the benefits of the Sera Je Food Fund and the benefits of making offerings to the Sangha by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
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Learn more about FPMT Charitable Projects and all of the beneficial activities which they support. You can find further information about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his beneficial activities by visiting Rinpoche’s webpage, where you will find links to Rinpoche’s schedule, new advice, recent video, photos and more.
Grounds are prepared for the foundation of the new temple at Ngari Khangtsen.
Ngari Khangtsen, the khangtsen of Khensur Rinpoche Jampa Thegchok in south India, has been making progress on their Temple Project, a project to build a much-needed new prayer hall that can seat 150 monks comfortably.
Earlier this year, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, US$100,000 to this project which has an estimated budget of over US$500,000.
Tashi Delek to all the friends of Ngari Khangtsen at Sera Je Monastery, South India.
Today, we have some new and exciting news for everyone.
The Ngari Khangtsen “Temple Project” is underway!
We finally received building approval from the local government and have broken ground. We are preparing the grounds and getting ready to start pouring the foundation at our new temple at Sera Je, South India.
We would like to say a special thank you to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and all the members of the FPMT organization. Because of the amazing kindness and generosity in donating US$100,000, we have been able to start the building of our new temple.
Prayers,
The Monks of Ngari Khangtsen
Please rejoice in this progress!
You can learn more about the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
Every day, the 2,500 monks of Sera Je Monastery are offered three vegetarian meals
through the Sera Je Food Fund.
You can see details of what they are offered for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
This project is only possible due to a massive and collective effort of many volunteers at the monastery (who shop for, prepare, and clean up after each meal) as well as many kind donors who contribute to this fund.
Young monks enjoying their breakfast offered by the Sera Je Food Fund.
Please enjoy this short video of the monks sharing one of these meals together.
The Great Yogi Milarepa said: “The practitioner and benefactor offering food create the cause to achieve enlightenment together.”
Thanks to all who help make this offering possible.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the Abbot of Sera Je Monastery during His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s recent teachings in Italy.
Since 1991, the Sera Je Food Fund has offered meals to the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery in southern India. Today, the fund sponsors 8,300 meals every single day for all 2,500 Sera Je Monastery monks (3,300 monks are served breakfast). This offering allows the monks to concentrate on their studies without the constant worry of sourcing and preparing their next meal.
It is difficult to imagine the sheer volume of food it takes to offer 8,300 quality vegetarian meals daily.
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2,187 pounds of flour are required for one month of breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Rice and vegetables is typically offered as part of the nutritious vegetarian lunch provided to 2,500 monks through the Sera Je Food Fund.
- 46 pounds of tea leaves are needed for a month’s worth of breakfast tea.
- For lunch alone, 5,300 bananas, 460 bundles of green vegetables, and 772 pounds of rice is offered during a typical month.
- Dinner for one month requires 23 bottles of soy sauce, 2,780 pounds and 50 bundles of vegetables and 34 gallons of cooking oil.
These examples are just small fraction of the ingredients needed to offer about 250,000 meals every single month.
The annual cost of the meals offered through Sera Je Food Fund is US$280,000. You are welcome to donate any amount toward this most incredible offering to the monks of Sera Je Monastery who are studying very hard to be able to be of most benefit to the world.
Sangha from all four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism participated in this year’s Rime Chirim Tendo Chenmo festival at Tharlam Sasang Namgyal Ling Monastery, Bouddhanath, Nepal.
In 2006, for the first time in the history of the Nalanda Tradition, Nyingma, Kagyü, Sakya and Gelug traditions have formed an umbrella organization called Nepal Buddhist Federation (NBF). Since then, NBF has been engaging in many activities, including organizing the Rime Chirim Tendo Chenmo Monlam, a prayer festival for Saka Dawa dedicated to the healthy and long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the heads of the four Tibetan Buddhist schools, all other great masters, as well as for world peace.
The Sangha enjoyed three meals together.
The festival, now in its sixth year and taking place at Tharlam Sasang Namgyal Ling Monastery, Bouddhanath, Nepal, is a great historic achievement and a sign of growing harmony within the four schools of the Tibetan Buddhism. Four hundred Sangha members were invited from each of the four schools. In addition to the pujas and prayers offered, breakfast, lunch and dinner was also offered to each Sangha member as well as a small offering.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, was happy to offer US$6,187 toward this year’s festival.
You are welcome to donate any amount to support this project which directly supports the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa.
All of the monks of Sera Je Monastery are offered three nutritious meals daily through the Sera Je Food Fund.
Every day, 8,300 meals are served to all 2,500 monks studying at Sera Je Monastery through the Sera Je Food Fund. Before each meal, all of the monks offer prayers and dedications to all of the many kind sponsors of the Sera Je Food Fund which provides an annual operating budget of US$280,000 in order to provide 3,029,500 meals every year.
This video shows the monks offering prayers, before lunch. The prayers are always dedicated for the supporters of the Sera Je Food Fund.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the Sera Je Monastery Abbot are also seen enjoying the same nutritious vegetarian lunch offered to all the other monks.
You may donate any amount to this incredibly beneficial project which provides one of the most fundamental needs for life – food – and allows the monks to focus on their studies without the burden of sourcing and preparing their own meals.
The site of the new temple for Ngari Khangtsen.
Khensur Rinpoche Jampa Thegchok.
Ngari Khangtsen, the khangtsen of Khensur Rinpoche Jampa Thegchok in south India, has recently begun their new Temple Project.
In their own words, “We have 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!”
The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund recently offered support to this important project. Lama Zopa Rinpoche was inspired to support this project and help it achieve fruition.
US$100,000 was offered to this project which has an estimated budget of over US$500,000.
Geshe Ngawang Sangye, one of the main teachers of Sera Je Monastery.
Nagri Khangtsen also has a school in Ladakh and The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodchitta Fund is also sponsoring, for the second year, the entire cost of a year’s food offering for the children studying at Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics.
Please rejoice in the building of this new temple for the monks of Ngari Khangtsen.
Monks at Sera Je Monastery after lunch sponsored by the Sera Je Food Fund.
“Path to Geshe” by William Judge and Bodhi Leaf Productions tells the story of monastic life at Sera Je Monastery. You can learn more about this wonderful film on the Bodhi Leaf Productions website. You can also view the trailer below.
Sera Je Monastery is the learning institution of many of FPMT’s teachers. Nearly all of the 46 geshes teaching in FPMT centers around the world come from Sera Je Monastery. Since 1991, the Sera Je Food Fund has been offering meals to all the monks studying at this monastery. The fund currently offers three vegetarian meals a day to all 2,500 monks studying at Sera Je.
This film is now available to the public and can be purchased via Amazon.