Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Lawudo cave, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The Lawudo Retreat Centre, situated high in the Himalayan mountains of eastern Nepal, holds particular significance for FPMT. Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the reincarnation of the Lawudo Lama, Lama Kunzang Yeshe, who lived and practiced in Lawudo until his passing at age 81.

Lawudo is a greatly blessed place of holy beings and called the Magnificent Cave of Attainments. This refers to a stomach-shaped cave, known to the locals as Lawudo. The Lawudo Lama went to this place and dug out the earth to find the beautifully shaped cave with various auspicious signs. The Lawudo Lama declared that it was a self-created cave given to him by Padmasambhava himself and such a cave was mentioned in a very secret terma (text) of Padmasambhava.

The Lawudo Lama spent thirteen years on one seat inside the cave, without going anywhere, meditating day and night with great energy. He also gave transmissions, commentaries and long-life initiations to his disciples from Khumbu. The Lawudo Lama predicted the exact day of his passing and passed away in meditation inside the cave.

The Lawudo cave still has the relics stupa inside and the purkhang (cremation stupa of the Lawudo Lama) is a ten minute walk from the cave.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the Lawudo gompa, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In this life, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has done several retreats in the cave and often refers to his time there as a very special experience. His book, The Door To Satisfaction, was conceptualized while he was in Lawudo to oversee the building of the gompa. His plan was to build a monastery where Sherpa boys could get a traditional monastic education. However, this plan changed when it became clear that it was untenable to ferry large groups of young monks between Kopan and Lawudo. So now it is a precious hermitage for those who want to do retreat and stay in isolation.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with his sister, Ani Ngawang Samten, at Lawudo Retreat Centre, 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his brother Sangay and Sangay’s wife, Nyima. March 2021, Kathmanu, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Rinpoche’s older sister Ani Ngawang Samten, has overseen all of the development at Lawudo and has taken care of the students, teachers and retreaters who have visited Lawudo since the early days of FPMT. Back then, she carried stones and helped build the gompa at Lawudo. For four decades, she has cooked the food and made sure that visitors have what they need. Ven. Roger Kunsang, CEO of FPMT Inc. and Rinpoche’s assistant, has called her the “mother” of Lawudo. Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s brother, Sangay Sherpa, is the current director and has been working hard in maintaining and also developing Lawudo Retreat Centre.

Sangay reported in a recent update, “In my last visit to Lawudo I rebuilt the  previous Lawudo Lama Kunzang Yeshe’s, memorial stupa, which was totally damaged by the earthquake. Also, I have widened the space of the Lawudo cave. I built a concrete support wall behind the main monastery. All the ground work has been finished but the concrete work (stone work, iron, beam pillar work) are still remaining.” 

From the most recent Lawudo newsletter (with thanks to Frances Howland):

On October 16, 2020 the 86 year-old Tengboche Rinpoche passed away in Namche Bazaar. Many Sherpas from Kathmandu traveled to Khumbu for the 49 days of rituals and shortly afterward news of some people dying of respiratory illness in Khumbu appeared. Medics arrived by helicopter on October 23 to take swab samples of contact traced locals after a 65-year-old man, who was helicoptered to Kathmandu, tested positive and subsequently died. Following this, the Khumbu rural municipality decided to shut down the Everest region for outsiders.

However, since October the number of cases in Nepal has dramatically reduced. The first tranche of vaccines has just arrived, and health and other frontline workers have begun to be vaccinated.

During these past quiet months the cave has been re-decorated, a new entrance gate has been installed, and two big greenhouses are under construction, which will enable the Lawudo family to grow vegetables all year round. This will be especially useful as a food supplement in the winter.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with his brother, Sangay Sherpa, at Lawudo, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Recently through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered substantial support for the work that Sangay is undertaking for the buildings and renovations at Lawudo, as well as for the repairs for the stupa. 

Rinpoche still has incredible plans for Lawudo such as building a seven foot Kalachakra statue that will be housed in a small temple that people can circumambulate. Rinpoche also wants to build a Zandog Palri, which is a three-dimensional building based on the Pure Land of Guru Rinpoche. These projects are slowly being worked on and we will update as they progress.

Thank you to Sangay Sherpa and Ani. Ngawang Samten, who have tirelessly worked at Lawudo Retreat Centre. Thanks are also offered to all who support Lawudo Retreat Centre in many ways, past, present, and future.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund enables Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others to flourish. All the offerings from the fund are used toward the creation of holy objects and extensive offerings around the world; sponsoring young tulkus, high lamas and Sangha in India, Nepal, Tibet and the West; supporting FPMT centers, projects and services; sponsoring Dharma retreats and events; funding animal liberations and blessings, and many other worthy projects. 

You can learn more about Lawudo Gompa and the history of Lawudo. 
http://www.lawudo.com/About 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, London, UK, 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund recently issued a grant for US$100,000 to Jamyang Buddhist Center in London, UK, for much needed repairs to the center and a new heating system. As the center is now forty-one years old, repairs and upkeep is a necessity. 

The new Jamyang Buddhist Centre Leeds building. Photo courtesy of Tripadvisor.

Also issued from the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund was a grant for US$100,000 to Jamyang Buddhist Center Leeds, UK, for their new 33,000 square-foot center. The new center will have a cafe, book store, meditation hall, and library. Community groups and charities will also be able to rent office and warehouse space at the center. This is a wonderful expansion for this twenty-three year old center. 

Please rejoice that both of these centers have offered decades of service to the UK and will continue to thrive and benefit their communities (and all who visit) for many years to come. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund enables Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others to flourish. All the offerings from the fund are used toward the creation of holy objects and extensive offerings around the world; sponsoring young tulkus, high lamas and Sangha in India, Nepal, Tibet and the West; supporting FPMT centers, projects and services; sponsoring Dharma retreats and events; funding animal liberations and blessings, and many other worthy projects. 

Bird’s eye view of the progress on the Compassion Wheel at Vajrapani Institute.

In December 2016, Vajrapani Institute, an FPMT retreat center in Northern California, launched the 5 Trillion Mantra Prayer Wheel Project. The prayer wheel, called the Compassion Wheel and standing 7 ft x 10 ft when completed, will contain 5 trillion (5,000,000,000,000) copies of OM MANI PADME HUM, the mantra of Chenrezig, the Buddhist deity who embodies universal compassion. This request came from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. 

The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund recently disbursed a final grant of US$40,000 for this project. 

Ven. Gyatso from Nalanda Monastery is helping to fill the Compassion Wheel.

Director Heidi Oehler reports:

“It’s quite a sight to see the Compassion Wheel come to life as this magnificent vision starts to become a reality. This special prayer wheel will be spun at the heart of the land at Vajrapani Institute, blessing all who visit the center, as well as the surrounding area.

“The basic structure has been framed out by our amazing carpenters. Engineers have designed, built and installed a new structurally reinforced frame and bearings system to hold the weight of the mantras and spin it with the force of one hand. We are now focused on putting together the wheel and getting it filled. As fortune would have it, a past staff member and current Nalanda monk who has been studying the Basic Program and helping Nalanda to fill it’s statues and prayer wheels recently returned to help us here!  We are so grateful to Ven. Gyatso for helping to take on the project of filling the amazing compassion wheel.

Geshe Sherpa painted the painted the sky and earth mandalas which will go inside the wheel. Sky mandala is pictured here.

“Gelek Sherpa from Land of Medicine Buddha, painted the sky and earth mandalas which go inside the wheel. Ven. Tsering from Kachoe Dechen Ling will paint the mantras on the center poll. Microfilm with the OM MANI PADME HUM mantra are being printed and gradually shipped to Vajrapani now.”

Rinpoche has explained that every time you rejoice in an offering, the construction of the prayer wheel, and in the effort of all those who are working to actualize it, the merit doubles. When you rejoice the second time, the merit is multiplied by four. The third time, it is multiplied by eight. Lama Tsongkhapa said that to collect merit, the best way is through rejoicing. 

“Each time you rejoice you collect skies of merit, making it such an easy way to achieve enlightenment.”  – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Please join us in rejoicing about the progress of this one-of-a-kind prayer wheel that will benefit Vajrapani Institute, all who visit, all beings in the area; contribute to world peace and compassion; as well as bless and benefit anyone who helps make it a reality or even cultivates a warm thought about the project. 

Supporting the creation of prayer wheels and other holy objects is part of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT: 
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/vast-vision/#pw

Find out more and give your support to the 5 Trillion Mantra Prayer Wheel Project:
http://www.vajrapani.org/prayerwheel/pw/index.php

To help ensure grants like this continue toward holy objects, all are welcome to offer a donation of any amount to the Holy Object Fund. 

1,000 tsa-tsas of Lama Tsongkhapa when in progress at Chenrezig Institute’s art studio, Garden of Enlightenment.

Lama Tsongkhapa Day commemorates the anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana. It is observed on the 25th day of the 10th month of the Tibetan calendar and, this year, which marks the 600th anniversary, falls on December 21. The Geluk International Foundation has proclaimed 2019 to be the International Year of Tsongkhapa.

Finished tsa-tsas of Lama Tsongkhapa.

In 2018 the Executive Director of the Geluk International Foundation requested Lama Zopa Rinpoche to arrange the creation of 1,000 Lama Tsongkhapa tsa-tsas to be offered to Ganden Tripa Rinpoche to offer to others.

Rinpoche happily accepted this and due to the kindness of some sponsors was able to completely cover the cost of the materials, gold leafing, and shipping of the 1,000 small statues.

The Ganden Tripa or “throne-holder of Ganden” is the head of the Gelug school. Before passing away, Lama Tsongkhapa gave his robe and staff to the first Ganden Tripa to preside over Gaden Monastery which was originally founded by Tsongkhapa in 1409 in Tibet and destroyed in 1959, then re-established in Karnataka, India, in 1996 by the Tibetan population in exile.

Garrey Foulkes and the amazing volunteer artists at Chenrezig Institute’s, art studio, Garden of Enlightenment in Australia, took on this tremendous task over the last year. First they cast the 1,000 14-centimeter tsa tsas, repaired, rolled the required mantras, filled them, painted them, applied gold-leafing to the hats of each, and then packed and shipped them.

We really thank Garrey and all the volunteers for this incredible effort and offering.

Please rejoice in the creation of these 1,000 holy objects in celebration of the 600th anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana. 

FPMT Education Services recently published a list compiled by Lama Zopa Rinpoche of various prayers authored by Lama Tsongkhapa or written in his honor to help students engage in this most auspicious celebration as meritoriously as possible. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund enables Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others to flourish. All the offerings from the fund are used toward the creation of holy objects and extensive offerings around the world; sponsoring young tulkus, high lamas and Sangha in India, Nepal, Tibet and the West; supporting FPMT centers, projects and services; sponsoring Dharma retreats and events; funding animal liberations and blessings, and many other worthy projects. 

Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, Bylakuppe, India. Photo courtesy of Tashi Lhunpo Facebook page.

Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, located in Bylakuppe, Southern India, and seat to the Panchen Lama, has been growing significantly over the last few decades. A courtyard was added in 2012, a new prayer hall was completed in 2015, and construction of a new expansive library began in 2016.

The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund offered US$36,412.50 toward the completion of this library which will be equipped with the latest computer technology in order to educate, encourage, and inspire monastic community as well as the needs of the Bylakuppe region in general. The mission of this library is to emulate the legacy of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery of Tibet which was once a leading center for learning. You can read more about this monastery’s rich and extensive history. 

Please rejoice in the completion of this library which will benefit the monks of Tashi Lhunpo as well as the entire area. 

You can learn more about the many beneficial activities of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fundor other Charitable Projects of FPMT. 

Water bowls and extensive offerings at Ganden Do Ngag Shedrub Ling Center, Mongolia, offered by a dedicated group of elderly volunteers.

Since 2000, a group of very dedicated volunteers have been offering over a thousand water bowls plus extensive offerings of flowers, incense, candles, and food daily at Ganden Do Ngag Shedrub Ling Center, Mongolia. In August, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered these volunteers lunch to thank them for their incredible kindness and perseverance. 

Most of the volunteers are retired women who have been providing this service every morning for a number of years. The average volunteer is 60-75 years old and there are two ladies who are 86. Despite hardships of weather (temperature lows can reach -20 °F) or physical challenges, the volunteers complete the offering practice daily. If 10-15 people participate, they finish in approximately 1.5-2 hours; if just a few participate, they need 2-3 hours to complete. At the conclusion of the daily offering activity, they all enjoy breakfast together. This is remarkable dedication on the part of these extraordinary volunteers. 

Volunteers enjoying lunch offered by Lama Zopa Rinpoche as thanks for their dedication.

This is one of a few places in the world where extensive offerings like this are happening every day. The only other locations are at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, (in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s rooms); Root Institute, India, (in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s room); Kachoe Dechen Ling, CA, USA; and Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, USA. Extensive light offerings occur at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore; and Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Penang, Malaysia. 

“We are not aware of the limitless skies of benefits we achieve from the practice of offering, what we can achieve and enjoy from life to life. Even while you are in samsara, you enjoy good rebirths, wealth, and every happiness. Even just the samsaric perfections are amazing, without adding all those incredible realizations that allow us to offer deep benefit to sentient beings, liberating them from oceans of samsaric suffering and its cause, delusion and karma.”   — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Please rejoice that these daily offerings are occurring in Mongolia and the other locations mentioned around the world. Lama Zopa Rinpoche often advises students, whenever making offerings ourselves, to visualize places around the world where extensive daily offerings are made, in order to greatly increase our own effort.  In this way, all are welcome to participate. Lama Zopa Rinpoche personally makes these offerings daily in his prayers before meals. 

Thanks to each of the dedicated volunteers who have committed to offering in this way daily despite external complications or obstacles. Truly amazing!

Lama Zopa Rinpoche showing respect to a Hayagriva statue on the altar at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia.

The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund sponsors the electricity for lotus light offerings to all the holy objects on the altar at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia. The lights are offered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Among the holy objects on this altar is an incredible Hayagriva statue (pictured on the right).

Additionally, the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund offers sponsorship of daily lunch for the young monks studying at Idgaa Choizinling; and has recently offered a grant to cover the cost of a complete renovation of the monastery so there are more rooms and accommodation for the monks. 

Idgaa Choizinling was established in 2003 through Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling 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. 

The monks of Idgaa Choizinling enjoying lunch.

The annual 100 Million Mani Retreat, which is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions, is also held in the Idgaa Choizinling gompa. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, quoting the Buddha, explains:

Any sentient being who, during the period of my teachings, makes charity well
(even if the material is the size of a hair),

For 80,000 eons there will be great results of great enjoyment:

No pain, no disease, and enjoyment of happiness.

Like that, one will be enriched with the desirable things.

At the end, you can actually achieve the result: the peerless cessation and completion (enlightenment).

Please rejoice in this continuous offering of light to these incredible holy objects, the daily lunches for the young monks, the renovation of the monastery, and the annual 100 Million Mani Retreat in Mongolia.

You can learn more about the many beneficial activities of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fundor other Charitable Projects of FPMT.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche having lunch at Vajrapani Institute with staff, members, and others, California, US, November 2015. Photo by Ven. Sherab.

Vajrapani Institute, an FPMT retreat center, is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Boulder Creek, CA at the end of a five-mile dirt road on the border of Castle Rock State Park. Being entirely off-grid has been an ongoing challenge for a busy operation like Vajrapani Institute’s. The logistics in terms of production and distribution of power, water, gas, and communications are complex. After forty years of managing with this difficult infrastructure, last year an overhaul of these systems commenced. Everything is being redone and the entire project is costing approximately US$800,000.

Construction at Vajrapani Institute. Photo courtesy of VPI.

Construction at Vajprapani Institute. Photo courtesy of VPI.

For example, last year five miles of conduit was installed underground. According to director Fabienne Pradelle, this is the biggest construction project the center has undertaken but essential for the future growth and safety. Fabienne explained, “Once the new infrastructures are in place, there’s a level of emergency and stress that won’t longer be there. Much more reliable. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved on a shoestring budget all these years. Our carbon footprint is impressively small.” 

The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund invested in the electricity wing of this considerable project. Please rejoice that this important retreat center is able to make these improvements to the infrastructure which will benefit students, teachers, and staff for years to come.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund enables Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others to flourish. All the offerings from the fund are used toward the creation of holy objects and extensive offerings around the world; sponsoring young tulkus, high lamas and Sangha in India, Nepal, Tibet and the West; supporting FPMT centers, projects and services; sponsoring Dharma retreats and events; funding animal liberations and blessings, and many other worthy projects. 

New tracksuits offered to the children of Maitreya School and Tara Children’s Project.

The charitable mission of Root Institute, located in Bodhgaya, India, is to provide support to impoverished children, adolescents and adults in neighboring areas through three focused projects. Maitreya School is a primary school providing free education for local children; Tara Children’s Project is a safe, nurturing environment for HIV-affected orphans; and Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic is a free hospital serving impoverished, local people via a variety of medical systems.

For the past six years, due to the kindness of one main benefactor, the FPMT Charitable Projects has been able to offer substantial grants toward this amazing work. Additionally, Lama Zopa Rinpoche personally offers support to these beneficial activities. Recently Rinpoche offered new tracksuits to all of the children of Maitreya School and Tara Children’s Project. 

Children receiving new tracksuits.

In January, when His Holiness the Dalai Lama was teaching in Bodhgaya, the children offered him three recitations of the Heart Sutra as well as “Praise to the Seventeen Nalanda Masters” in Sanskrit and His Holiness was visibly moved receiving this. (The video above shows the children reciting the Heart Sutra to His Holiness in 2017.)

Please rejoice in the ongoing support offered to the children of the Maitreya School and Tara Children’s Project. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund enables Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others to flourish. All the offerings from the fund are used toward the creation of holy objects and extensive offerings around the world; sponsoring young tulkus, high lamas and Sangha in India, Nepal, Tibet and the West; supporting FPMT centers, projects and services; sponsoring Dharma retreats and events; funding animal liberations and blessings, and much more.

Sera Lachi Sangha participating in the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa earlier this year.

Earlier this year when Lama Zopa Rinpoche was in Bangalore, he was requested to help with a desperately needed new sewage system at Sera Lachi.  Sera Lachi is made up of Sera Je and Sera Mey Monasteries in southern India. 6,000 monks study between the two monasteries. 

Rinpoche immediately said he wanted to help and then during a long life puja which Sera Je Monastery offered to Rinpoche after, Rinpoche offered all of the cash offerings made to him which totaled about US$2,988. Recently an additional US$2,156 was offered toward the completion of this project which has an estimated total cost of US$71,112.

The Sera Lachi monks. Photo courtesy of the Sera Lachi Facebook page.

This grant contributes to making the environment at Sera Lachi clean, hygienic, and conducive to thoughtful study for the Sangha on the grounds. The monasteries are still raising money for this important project. Grants such as this are just one way the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund is working to care for monks and nuns. 

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

The children of Maitreya School and Tara Children’s Project attending a talk by Lama Zopa Rinpoche about the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation. January, 2017.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche was in Bodhgaya, India, for several weeks from late December 2016 through February 2017. During that time Rinpoche attended the Kalachakra initiation offered by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, went on pilgrimage to many holy sites, met with students and other lamas, and visited and made offerings, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, to three very important FPMT social projects of Root Institute: Maitreya School, Tara Children’s Project, and Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche giving gifts to the children of Maitreya School and Tara Children’s Project. January, 2017.

Maitreya School is a free school benefiting impoverished children from Bodhgaya and neighboring villages. The children not only have the chance to obtain a traditional education but, more importantly, they receive life skills in compassion, honesty, and loving-kindness presented through Buddhist study. This is the core of the training and vision of the school: making lives meaningful.

Tara Children’s Project (TCP) is the only children’s home caring for HIV-affected orphaned children in the state of Bihar. Currently there are twenty-one children living there. 

Shakyamuni Buddha 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. Services included allopathic medicine, homeopathic medicine, health promotion and education, and patient care.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing a very sick patient of Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic. January, 2017.

While at Root Institute, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered new shoes, socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, and new towels to all the children of Maitreya School and Tara Children’s Project. Rinpoche also met with the children and gave a talk on Eight Verses for Thought Transformation. 

At the Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic Rinpoche offered INR₹500 plus a blanket to mothers who have children with cerebral palsy. While there Rinpoche also blessed everyone in the clinic on that day and offered extensive prayers for a number of people who were extremely sick. Rinpoche also thanked all of the doctors and nurses of the clinic who offer such an incredible service to those in need. 

Please rejoice in the incredible social services offered by Root Institute which benefit so many in need in the area. For the past six years, due to the kindness of one main benefactor, the FPMT Social Services Fund has been able to offer substantial grants toward this amazing work. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund enables Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others to flourish. All the offerings from the fund are used toward the creation of holy objects and extensive offerings around the world; sponsoring young tulkus, high lamas and Sangha in India, Nepal, Tibet and the West; supporting FPMT centers, projects and services; sponsoring Dharma retreats and events; funding animal liberations and blessings, and much more.  

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.