Lama Zopa Rinpoche visiting Maitreya School, Bodhgaya, January 2020.

For the past nine years, due to the kindness of one main benefactor, the FPMT Social Services Fund has been offering substantial grants toward the amazing projects of Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, which directly benefit underprivileged individuals in the area. In 2020, US$$53,900 total was offered to Maitreya School (US$39,200) and Shakyamuni Buddha Health Clinic (US$14,700). 

Maitreya School is a free school benefiting impoverished children from neighboring villages. In 2019, 70 new students entered the school, bringing the total to 306 with the addition of two new teachers. The school continued to offer free education to all the children as well as transport them to and from the school, provide education supplies and uniforms, healthy snacks, and classes on meditation and mindfulness.

Due to COVID-19, all schools in Bihar state were closed starting on March 25 of this year. Since that time the students were mostly learning through online classes, but as Root reports: “It is quite difficult to develop proper and creative learning programs for our children who mostly belong to less affluent rural families, or who live in remote villages where people rarely even use a basic phone.” To help address this, some teachers have made their homes available for up to ten students who live near them to receive coaching and classes. 

Please enjoy this short video of a snapshot day at Maitreya School (before COVID-19):

Shakyamuni Buddha Health Clinic began in 1991 as a home for the destitute and has evolved into a diverse community health program encompassing a wide range of medical and rehabilitative services and health promotion activities.

The clinic continued to do important work in the community in 2019, serving 3,500 patients each month. A new medical vehicle was purchased and they started classes for girls on women’s health.  These workshops are helping to bring an end to early marriage, domestic violence, help with long-term family planning, and teach the value of education. The clinic continues to help the community of Bodhgaya by running programs on homeopathic & allopathic medicines, a dental clinic, as well as physiotherapy and speech therapy. The clinic combined with the mobile outreach units offered free medical treatment to 42,000 patients in 2019.

Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic has been temporarily closed due the COVID-19 pandemic situation in India, but will open again as soon as allowed.

Please enjoy this short video of a glimpse into the work of the clinic as well as life at Root Institute (pre COVID-19). 

We invite you to rejoice in the ongoing beneficial work of the social service programs of Root Institute which are benefiting so many in need of this most precious care. 

During this time when the regular social service activities has been limited or shut down, Root Institute has engaged in inspiring community service by offering food the most needy in the area.

Thank you to all the kind supporters of the Social Services Fund who make it possible to offer donations like this. These grants have a very real and direct effect, changing lives and benefiting extremely poor children and those who are sick and have no other means of support. 

Support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants such as this can continue; or make a donation directly to one of Root Institute’s social service projects.

Rinpoche giving oral transmission of OM MANI PADME HUNG and explaining the benefits of reciting it at Lugsung Samdupling Home for the Aged and Disabled, one of the homes supported by the Social Services Fund.

The Need for Support

Tibetans have been living in exile since 1959 when Communist China invaded Tibet, forcing 100,000 Tibetans to flee to India, Nepal, Bhutan and eventually elsewhere around the world. Many of the Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal are now elderly and many are rendered destitute and in desperate need of care at this critical phase of life. Tibetan families traditionally provide for the elderly and sick among them. However, when a family itself is in deep poverty, or if the elderly individual is alone and without family support, help is needed.

Support Offered

A resident of Dhondenling Elderly Home, Kollegal, India, one of the homes supported by the Social Services Fund. 

Since 2016, the Social Services Fund has offered US$1,224,085 support to over 350 Tibetan elders living in different elderly homes in India. In 2020 we were so happy to offer US$379,309 to five such homes taking care of this most precious and vulnerable population of Tibetans. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has encouraged us to not only address residents’ physical needs, but also their spiritual ones. With this in mind, we’ve also sponsored holy objects such as stupas and prayer wheels on the premises of some of these homes as well as a community hall for pujas and group prayers at two Tibetan settlements. 

Over the past few months we have reported on how the individual homes have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and we were happy to hear that all of the elders in the homes we support were safe from danger of this virus and we were pleased that each home took the necessary precautions and ongoing safety measures needed to protect those in their care and the surrounding communities. 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama meeting an 82 year old Tibetan lady during teachings in South India, 2015.

Elderly Homes we Supported in 2020

Jampaling Elder’s Home, Dharamsala, provides food, shelter and medical services to 156 residents. US$96,282 was offered in 2020 for shortfall to the annual operating budget.

Lugsam Samduling Home for the Aged and Disabled, Bylakuppe, looks after 46 elderly individuals who are living in extremely modest conditions, many with health issues due to the advanced age. US$14,025.24 was offered in 2020 for shortfall to the annual operating budget.

Some of the elders of Lugsam Elderly Home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doeguling Home for Elderly and Disabled, located in the Doeguling Tibetan Refugee Settlement in Mundgod, cares for 103 elderly residents. US$65,463 was offered in 2020 for the following:
US$32,793 for an ambulance to transfer the elderly extremely sick and close to passing to the hospital; US$19,585 for annual medical expenses fund due to many of the elders now requiring cancer treatment and kidney dialysis etc; US$13,085 investment toward a corpus fund the home has already set up. The interest of the corpus fund is already covering some of the home’s annual expenses.

Rabgayling Tibetan Family Welfare Association, Hunsur, has an elderly home serving 20 residents. US$22,812.77 was offered in 2020 toward the annual budget shortfall. 

Dhondenling Old People Home, Kollegal, is in one of the most remote and underdeveloped Tibetan settlements in southern India. The elderly home has a capacity for 32 elderly Tibetans residents. US$21,983.83 was offered in 2020 to cover 70% of their annual operating budget for 2020. Additionally, US$180,725.64 was also offered to this settlement. This money was raised separately from UBI in Italy and is to be used toward a multi-purpose hall that the elders would be able to use for religious group practices as well as cultural events.

In the future we’re eager to provide similar support in Nepal and we have already started the process of assessing needs and opportunities to offer support in this way. Thank you to all the donors who make this most urgent and critical support possible. Please rejoice in the US$379,309 offered to these homes in 2020. 

If you are inspired by grants such as this which support elderly Tibetans, you are welcome to contribute to the Social Service Fund and help ensure that work like this can continue long into the future. 

Monks of Kopan Monastery reciting a text together.

In 2018 we announced a new fund, the Protecting the Environment and Living Beings Project. This project began as a way to fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for specific pujas and practices to be recited regularly in order to pacify harm from the elements and to protect those (humans, animals, insects) who have been affected.

In alignment with Rinpoche’s advice, every month the following practices are being offered with strong prayers. Rinpoche checked extensively on the exact practices to be done, how many times they should be completed, and by whom:

• Extensive Medicine Buddha Puja is offered five times by Shu Cho Khangtsen of Drepung Gomang Monastery, Kopan Monastery, and Gyuto Tantric College
• Guhyasamaja root text is recited four times by Kopan Lama Gyupas
• Kshitigarbha Sutra is recited one time by the nuns of Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery
• Sutra of Golden Light is recited eight times by Sangha in the USA
• Arya Sanghata Sutra is recited five times by Sangha and students in the USA
• Vajra Cutter Sutra is recited four times by Yangsi Rinpoche

We are pleased to report that this has all been offered without interruption since the project began and will continue. These prayers, recitations, and pujas are also extremely important right now, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, and all the effects arising from that.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Yangsi Rinpoche making extensive offerings to numberless Buddhas, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, July 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Some of the Many Benefits of these Recitations

 “Medicine Buddha encompasses all the buddhas. This means that when we practice the seven-limb prayer and make offerings with the seven limbs, we receive the same merit as we would if we had made offerings to all the buddhas.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

“The Guhyasamaja Tantra holds a special place in the tantric tradition. Lama Tsongkhapa says, “In the Root Tantra, in the section on the title, it states that every secret of the body, speech, and mind of every tathagata is contained within this tantra.” Lama Tsongkhapa says just to read, study, or even come into contact with this tantra is of immense benefit, and that as long as the Guhyasamaja Tantra remains, the teachings of the Buddha remain also, because “it is the amulet carrying the Buddhadharma.” — Thubten Jinpa, in the Introduction to “A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages” by Lama Tsongkhapa.

The Kshitigarbha Sutra averts danger and purifies obstacles. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has recommended Kṣitigarbha mantra and practice for times of disaster, particularly earthquakes.

“The Sutra of Golden Light is the king of the sutras. It is extremely powerful and fulfills all one’s wishes, as well as bringing peace and happiness for all sentient beings, up to enlightenment. It is also extremely powerful for world peace, for your own protection, and for the protection of the country and the world. Also, it has great healing power for people in the country. It protects individuals and their country from what are labeled natural disasters of the wind element, fire element, earth element, and water element—such as earthquakes, floods, cyclones, fires, tornadoes, etc.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

One benefit of reciting the Sanghata Sutra is that, wherever this sutra is recited, the buddhas are always present, as explained in the text itself. As such, the recitation can bestow a powerful blessing on the place where it is recited.

“The Vajra Cutter Sutra is unbelievable. It is one of the most profitable practices, because the root of all sufferings, yours and others, is the ignorance holding “I” as truly existent—even though it is empty of that; and the ignorance holding the aggregates as truly existent, even though they are empty of that. The only antidote to cut that, to get rid of that and through which to achieve liberation, the total cessation of the suffering causes—delusions and karma—is the wisdom realizing emptiness. This is the subject of the Vajra Cutter Sutra, emptiness. So, each time it is read, it leaves such a positive imprint. Without taking much time, without much difficulty, it is easy to actualize wisdom.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The general dedication for all these monthly pujas and practices is for whole world, and in particular for United States of America (at this time):

To not have disasters of fire, water, air, and earth including great dangers such as earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, fires, and also global problems; to prevent any great danger for the people and animals of the area, and if it does for those who die to not be reborn in the lower realms and to actualize bodhichitta and achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.

Tremendous thanks to Yangsi Rinpoche and all the Sangha and students who are offering these continual prayers each month; to all who contribute toward the sponsorship of these prayers; and to all those who join in with prayers. You can can participate yourself by reciting these texts and offering the same dedication above: Medicine Buddha Puja, Sanghata Sutra, Vajra Cutter Sutra, Sutra of Golden Light. 

All are welcome to join this effort to benefit the environment, those affected by disasters of the elements, and all beings.

Some of the elders of Rabgayling Tibetan Family Welfare Association, in Hunsur, India.

FPMT Charitable Projects has been providing information about how the elderly homes supported by the Social Services Fund have been doing during the COVID-19 crisis. Here we provide the final reports of two homes who are, thankfully, marked safe during the pandemic. 

The grounds of Dhondeling Tibetan Settlement being sanitized for safety during the pandemic.

At Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement, located in Kollegal, India, an elderly home of thirty-two elderly, precautions have been taken such as: visitors are not allowed to enter the home; they stocked dry rations and other items; requested the doctor to visit the home in case of any emergency; the premises was thoroughly sanitized regularly; and nearly 3,200 cloth-face masks were distributed to the settlement and the residents.

Resident bathrooms of Rabyaling Tibetan Family Welfare Association being cleaned by staff.

The twenty elders at Rabgayling Tibetan Family Welfare Association, in Hunsur, India, are in good health. Nutritious food and regular check-ups have been offered and the staff regularly cleans their rooms, toilets, and offers sanitation to the premises. 

In 2020 a total of US$379,308 has been offered from the Social Services Fund to homes in India serving elderly Tibetans. Tibetan families traditionally provide for the elderly and sick among them. However, when a family itself is in deep poverty, or if the elderly individual is alone and without family support, help is needed. FPMT is very happy to be able to offer this very real and needed support to these very precious elders, many of whom would be rendered destitute without such support. Thank you to all who make this support possible.

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to elderly homes can continue. 

Students of Ngari Institute prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students of Ngari Institute enjoying lunch prior to COVID-19 restrictions.

The Social Services Fund has been supporting Ngari Institute in Ladakh, India since 2014. Ngari Institute helps needy children from remote regions of Ladakh and arranges to send them to, currently, three different schools. The Institute arranges all the costs related to this, such as the  facility fees, food, uniforms, etc.

The Social Services Fund has been covering all the costs of the food for the children and staff. This offering started at US$15,720.62 and is now US$30,741.85 a year. The Ngari Institute is located in the Himalayan Kingdom of Ladakh in a small village called Saboo. The mission of the Institute is to empower and educate the poor and needy remote-area students by providing the ability for children to receive a combined learning of both modern scientific knowledge and ancient Buddhist wisdom.

All the schools are currently closed due to the restrictions in India, but the hostel located at the Institute remains open for the children who stay there. Most of the staff are staying at the Institute and are able to care for the children staying there. To date there have been no cases of COVID-19 at the school, but around 24 cases in the region. The schools are hopeful that they will be able to reopen as soon as possible and are undertaking all necessary care for when the school opens that it will be safe for the children.

Thank you to all the donors who make it possible to support to the Institute with food for all the children and teachers. It is due to your kindness that we can offer this.

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to schools can continue. 

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue updating you on how schools supported by FPMT Social Service Fund are navigating these challenging times.  

Some of the elders of Lugsum Samduling Home for the Aged and Disabled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lugsum Samduling Home for the Aged and Disabled, an elderly home in Bylakuppe, India, cares for 37 aging Tibetans. The Social Services Fund has been supporting this home since 2016 with grants toward annual operating budget shortfall; and also to build new rooms for the elders; 115 prayer wheels for the residents’ use; and necessities like cushions, chairs, and curtains for the premises. 

The elders and staff at this home are currently doing fine and are all safe during the COVID-19 restrictions. The elderly home has been regularly disinfected. Face masks have been distributed to all and necessary toiletries and sanitation have been issued. The residents are not permitted to leave the home at this time and the staff have been working arduously to provide food and care. Their nurse is administering screening and health checkups every week. Thankfully, there have been no cases of COVID-19 at the elderly home, or at the settlement. 

Just before the shutdown in India started, Social services Fund was very happy to be able to offer US$14,025 towards the 2020 operating budget for this elderly home. This donation will directly support the elders food and medical expenses. Thank you to all the kind donors who help FPMT support the Tibetan elders in this way.

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue providing updates on how elderly homes supported by FPMT Social Service Fund are navigating these challenging times.  

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to elderly homes can continue. 

Residents of Doeguling Home for the Elderly and Disabled, Mundgod, India.

Doeguling Home for the Elderly and Disabled is located in the Doeguling Tibetan Refugee Settlement in Mundgod, India, and is offering care for 103 elderly residents. The Social Services Fund has supported this elderly age home since 2016. In 2020 we were very happy to offer a grant for the home to purchase a vehicle to be used as an ambulance to transport the elders quickly to the hospital.

The elders of this facility are currently in good health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Appropriate measures have been taken at this home including: providing educational talks on COVID-19 and preventive measures by nursing staff. These talks have covered issues and demonstrations such as the importance of performing hand hygiene (hand washing steps with demonstration), the importance of wearing a face masks, and the importance of maintain social distancing and avoiding going to crowded places.

The following precautions are being followed:

• Providing N95 masks and washable masks to the elderly to wear when walking around the stupa and while going to crowded areas.
• Providing six anti-bacterial soaps for each wash basin every month  so the elders can perform healthy hand hygiene.
• Maintaining social distance in crowded areas like in the kitchen, stupa, etc.
• Providing a healthy diet for the elders, such as fruits to boost the immune system and offering vitamin tablets.
• Advising the elders to drink plenty of warm water and also Tibetan medicines such as Mani Rilbu and Rinchen Rilbu (Tibetan Precious Pills).

In addition, every Saturday nurses are performing Covid-19 screening tests. Since the elders are not allowed to go outside, a doctor from the local hospital is visiting the Doeguling Home for the Elderly and Disabled for checkups, and every Sunday a Tibetan Doctor also visits.

Any relatives of the elderly residents are only allowed inside the home with a mask on and after they are checked for symptoms like fevers, colds, and coughs.

Lastly, with the help of all the staff and youth volunteers from Camp Number 3, widespread sanitization has been provided several times with an anti-septic solution.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the donors who have made it possible to support elderly homes which enables us to help Tibetan elders who are most in need.

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue updating you on how elderly homes supported by FPMT Social Service Fund are navigating these challenging times.  

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to elderly homes can continue. 

Elders of Jampaling Elder’s Home, Dharamsala, India, joining in puja together.

Since 2016, the FPMT Social Service Fund has been supporting Jampaling Elder’s Home, situated in Dharamsala, India. This home was built to accommodate elders who are sixty and older and particularly vulnerable with no family to look after them as well as ex-army members who are scattered in different Tibetan settlements without appropriate facilities. This facility provides food, shelter, and medical services to 156 residents. 

Since the lockdown and social distancing measures taken in India due to the COVID-19 crisis, all the elders, as well as staff, are doing well at this time.

Residents of Jampaling Elder’s Home receiving masks.

The Home Department of the Central Tibetan Administration has takes various precautionary measures to avoid the spread of the virus  among elderly homes in India and Nepal including: the generation of guidelines to all these elderly homes; health workers have taken and recorded the temperature of elders daily; elders are not allowed to go out of the elderly home property at this time; daily needs for the elders are bought from the markets for residents; masks and advice on daily hygiene were distributed; advice from the medical experts was followed strictly; and outsiders are not allowed onto the property of the elderly homes. 

The Home Department reports that they have had no issues or problems in the elderly homes in India and Nepal, including Jampaling Elderly Home. They share that they, “take special care of our elders since this deadly virus is a danger to this population.”

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue updating you on how elderly homes supported by FPMT Social Service Fund are navigating these challenging times.  

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to elderly homes can continue. 

The grounds of Sagarmatha Secondary School, Chailsa, Nepal.

Since 2015, the Social Services Fund has been offering support to Sagarmatha Secondary School in Chailsa, Nepal. The school stands on what was once a Tibetan refugee camp. Under normal conditions, 170 students receive education there including 79 young lay students who live at the school hostel, and 25 young monks who live at Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery, which shares the school grounds. Eleven teachers and one additional employee support these students. 

The school has been closed since March 19 as per the Nepal lockdown in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the reopen date, like many places around the world, is uncertain.

Most of the children have gone back to their own homes or the homes of relatives and about 30 individuals, including teachers and staff, remain at the school. Due to the lockdown, some of the teachers from outside of the Solu Khumbu area are unable to go back to their homes. Since the teachers are staying at the school, they are giving regular classes to the monks as well as kids from the neighborhood. Children in grade 8 and grade 10 are having regular classes from the teachers who are staying at school because their final exam is given at the government level and the school has to complete their curriculum text book before the final exam.

Young students continuing their education during the COVID-19 lockdown.

During this lockdown period, the students are kept within the school and monastery compound which is restricted from outside visitors except for people from the neighboring village. Young monks and children are washing their hands regularly and thoroughly. Individuals in the village must be able to move freely within the limited area because of their responsibilities with farming and agriculture. Many locals work in the trekking industry but since there are currently no tourists in Nepal they have become jobless and some have offered to do volunteer work such as repairing the road and cleaning the facilities. During this period, the school is taking advantage of the time to do maintenance work and plant trees around the school area. 

Sagarmatha Secondary School recently joined Kopan Helping Hands program to distribute food items for the poor and jobless villagers in the area. 

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to schools can continue. 

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue updating you on how schools supported by FPMT Social Service Fund are navigating these challenging times.  

As COVID-19 continues to impact individuals and communities, beneficiaries of charitable services aren’t as able to access the aid they are accustomed to relying on. Here we share an update on how Lamp of the Path NGO, Mongolia, is managing the current reality of this crisis.

A blind beneficiary of clothing from Lamp of the Path NGO.

Lamp of the Path NGO (LOP), part of Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling, has offered social services to some of the poor and homeless living in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia since 2003. Its main program is a soup kitchen which offers food as well as free medical support through a health clinic, which reopened in 2017. LOP helps bring awareness to the epidemic of alcoholism in Mongolia and offers tuberculosis checkups for the disadvantaged in the area.

Lamp of the Path soup kitchen in operation, January 2020, prior to the COVID-19 restrictions.

The soup kitchen typically feeds 50-70 people daily from Monday through Friday and during the winter season, service is offered on Saturdays as well. In Mongolia, the quarantine came into effect on January 27 and impacted Lamp of the Path immediately and directly. They were not allowed to operate the soup kitchen and experienced frequent police check-ups, warning letters and kind reminders about not having any public activities.

In February, they arranged a “window soup kitchen” with distribution of food (mainly bread and instant noodle soup) through the window. This was successful before their beneficiaries stopped coming, perhaps due to fear of the virus.

Soup being made for Lamp of the Path’s “soup window.”

In the meantime, they have shared a substantial amount of food with another NGO who is providing shelter for former alcoholics and people with disabilities. Since March, in cooperation with government social workers, they initiated a home visit project. Every week those from the NGO, or caseworkers, visit five poor families and distribute food according to a list provided by social workers. They have increased the number of beneficiaries since April by allowing one representative of a family to receive takeaway of freshly made soup from the premises once a week, ensuring there is a 30 minute period between serving each family. In addition, they have distributed many items of second-hand clothing that were received from Switzerland to members of the Mongolian Blind Association.

Lamp of the Path’s plan for May is to provide food to thirty families with visually impaired members who are most affected by the quarantine. Ten of these families each have four or more small children with visually impaired parents who have lost their source of income. The need is quite great.

In good news, their vegetable garden project is expanding and they have prepared a plot for planting potatoes for the first time.

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue updating you on how social service projects around the world are navigating these challenging times.  

Learn more about Lamp  of the Path NGO: www.fpmtmongolia.org/lamp-of-the-path-ngo

As COVID-19 continues to impact individuals and communities, beneficiaries of charitable services aren’t as able to access the aid they are accustomed to relying on. Here we share an update on how MAITRI Charitable Trust in Bodhgaya, India, is managing the current reality of this crisis.   

Distribution of aid at MAITRI Charitable Trust, May 7, 2020. Photo courtesy of Adriana Ferranti.                                                                                                                            

Since 1989, MAITRI Charitable Trust has been operating as a beneficial example of Dharma in action. MAITRI is a registered charitable trust in India working to support the poor and disadvantaged in the province of Bihar, India. 

As MAITRI has a hospital for leprosy and tuberculosis patients and an animal shelter on campus, they have been bound to continue their work to keep their beneficiaries fed and taken care of. This means they must pick up their vegetables by driving to the farmers along back pathways early in the morning, and on alternate days, collecting their grains, lentils, etc., from a different supplier by motorcycle on back roads negotiating the police.

The grounds maintenance staff are local and able to come to work so that basic services can be ensured. This is more difficult for the office staff, who live father away and have had to abide by different pass-through schedules.

What has been seriously affected by the pandemic is the field work and their clinics, as only a few patients have dropped in to get their monthly rations or treatment.  

Beneficiaries receiving care from MAITRI Charitable Project, May 7, 2020. Photo courtesy of Adriana Ferranti.

However, recently the paramedics have ventured out early in the morning for home delivery of treatment for current patients, particularly milk powder for malnourished babies.

MAITRI has been providing all the staff with face masks and daily Vitamin C to ensure safety.

MAITRI Director Adriana Ferranti gave the following recent report from Bodhgaya:

Mothers and babies receiving care from MAITRI, May 2020. Photo courtesy of Adriana Ferranti.

On May 7, the day of Buddha Purnima (Lord Buddha’s birthday), when great celebrations usually go on in the scorching heat for three days as pilgrims flock to Bodhgaya from all over India and the world, the Mahabodhi Temple remained closed to the public and only a few selected monks could offer prayers. The disappointment for the failed procession with patients and students and the 24 hour health camp was quickly replaced with a MAITRI-style celebration: the resumption of our field clinics, albeit in a humbler mode as the paramedics had to go by motorcycle and the clinic had to be over by 9 a.m. Thirty-six very happy patients attended the clinic and could finally resume treatment after one and a half months!

While this was going on in the field at 6:30 a.m. patients started arriving at MAITRI for their rations, both TB patients and mother-child care patients. They kept coming until 9:30 a.m., as the curfew would restart at 10 a.m. and enjoyed the recitation of mantras and sutras and the unusually balmy weather. Indeed, what a beautiful way to celebrate Buddha Purnima!

On May 9 the clinic had an attendance of 18 mothers-to-be and small children who had not received their treatment at home from the paramedical worker. Our patients still rely on us. 

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue updating you on how social service projects around the world are navigating these challenging times.  

Learn more about MAITRI Charitable Trust: www.maitri-bodhgaya.org/home 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche leading an animal liberation during a Vajrayogini retreat, Institut Vajra Yogini, Marzens, France, May 2019. Photo by Tsanka Petkova.

Benefiting animals in any way possible is a high priority for FPMT and one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the organization. 

The Animal Liberation Fund sponsored the liberations of approximately 84,356 animals at Kachoe Dechen Ling, California, and Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, in 2019. Since 2015, 812,455 small animals have been saved from untimely death by resident Sangha and taken around an incredible amount of holy objects, mantras were recited and blown on them and they were carefully placed where they could live out the rest of their life. When Sangha finish these liberations, they make strong prayers for all those who are sick, have recently died, or who have requested prayers. This is one of the most beneficial aspects of this practice as the merit is shared among so many. All are welcome to request prayers and dedications from the Sangha  for themselves or loved ones. In addition to the animal liberations in Washington State, the Sangha regularly bless the beings living in the lakes of this area. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Sangha blessing all the beings in a lake in Washington State, US, June 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Charity to ants is offered in Washington State every week (other than during the Winter when the weather doesn’t allow it) by a resident monk. When he does his daily prayers, after each mala of mantras, he blows in a bottle of water and mixes this water with a very fine powder made of: tsampa (roasted flour), sugar, butter, and blessed (MANI) pills from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Then, he visits about twenty different ants’ nests around the retreat land and he does the practice of charity to ants by sprinkling this mixture on the ants’ nests while reciting mantras, in this way benefiting the ants. After one week all the mixture has been eaten by the ants. This practice started a few years ago when Ven. Holly Ansett found two ants’ nests on the retreat land in Washington and did this practice for them. Now it is being done every week.

Animal liberation is a specific practice done for animals which would otherwise be killed. The practice involves taking the animals-in-danger around holy objects to leave positive imprints in their minds, reciting mantras for them, blessing water to sprinkle onto their bodies, and then releasing them. This differs from general animal blessings which involve blessing any animal with mantras or a holy object. Animal blessings are, of course, wonderful to do for animals, but this is not what is meant by “animal liberations.” Animal liberation practice is an incredible practice for anyone who has illnesses or is experiencing life obstacles.

How to Benefit Insects and Other Small Beings: fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche/how-to-benefit-insects-and-other-small-beings/

Benefiting Ants: fpmt.org/fpmt-community-news/news-around-the-world/benefiting-ants/

All are welcome to contribute to the Animal Liberation Fund to help ensure that our work sponsoring animal liberations around the world continues.