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Supporting our Lamas
The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, September 2013. Photo by Andy Melnic.
From September 13-October 23, a successful CPMT meeting was held and followed by a retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche. These events were jointly hosted by three Australian FPMT entities: The Great Stupa, Atisha Centre and Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery.
Following the moving long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, which came after the CPMT meeting (there was also a second long life puja offered to Rinpoche following the retreat), Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered over $24,000 to The Great Stupa, Atisha Centre and Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery towards their incredible work.
Please rejoice in this kind offering towards these amazing beneficial activities happening in Australia.
You can learn more about the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund or the Long Life Puja Fund, which funds annual long life pujas for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche
The Tashi Chime Gatsal nuns planting vegetables at the nunnery.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, continues to support the nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery (also known as Bigu Nunnery) by sponsoring the 100 million mani retreats which the nuns continue to offer at least two times a year.
The Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery nuns cleaning around the existing and new hostel.
This includes funding for a geshe to teach the nuns lam-rim and there are also funds offered to help the little nunnery grow and improve.
The sponsorship of 100 million mani retreats is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization, something so precious to rejoice in as well as the nuns’ ongoing effort toward the advancement of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast vision.
During the 100 million mani retreats extensive dedications are made for the FPMT organization, all the centers, services and projects, benefactors, students, volunteers and all beings.
The improvements to the nunnery also helps to create a conducive environment in which the nuns can continue to live in and offer their practices.
You can learn more about the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund or about Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s collective Vast Visions for the FPMT organization.
Ian Green thanking Rinpoche on behalf of the entire retreat and the three centers hosting, and requesting Rinpoche to continue the teachings.
At the conclusion of the recent retreat in Australia, inside the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, all of the participants and many others offered a beautiful and moving long life puja to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on October 23.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche being led into the long life puja.
At the beginning of the puja Rinpoche was led into the stupa by a local aboriginal elder playing the didgeridoo and two geshes, Geshe Doga from Tara Institute, Melbourne and Geshe Wangchen from Dorje Chang Institute, New Zealand.
The entire stupa was filled with people and it was a very joyous occasion and ending to an incredible retreat.
Amitabha Buddha Center will be offering a long life puja to Rinpoche in Singapore later this month and at the end of the annual November course at Kopan Monastery a long life puja will be offered to Rinpoche in December.
The five dakini dance was offered to Rinpoche.
Please rejoice in all of these recent long life pujas offered and planned for Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
To understand why a long life puja is essential, we must understand the value of the Guru. He is our guide in this life, the bardo, and future lives. He is immensely important. It is not a case where if we ask him to live he will, and vice-versa, but that to offer such a ceremony purifies our own broken samayas.
—Geshe Lama Konchog
You can learn more about the Long Life Puja Fund and offer your support to long life pujas for Lama Zopa Rinpoche as well as His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The foundation for a new prayer hall at Ngari Khangsten is complete.
Earlier this year we reported on a $US100,000 donation that was made by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, toward the building of a much-needed new prayer hall at Ngari Khangtsen, at Sera Je Monastery in south India.
We are pleased to report that the foundation is now finished. The project is employing a “small army” of local laborers who are working hard to build this wonderful new prayer hall.
There is not yet a projected date of completion as they have not yet acquired funds necessary to begin the next stage of construction. You are welcome to contribute directly to this next important phase of building.
This time of year, the monks of Ngari Khangtsen are pleased to have finished their annual exams. It was reported that the monks did very well this year.
Please rejoice in the completion of the foundation for this important project which will benefit so many monks studying Dharma so sincerely.
If you would like to learn more about the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund and how you can contribute to the many worthy projects which it supports, or if you’d like to know more about other charitable activity within the FPMT organization, you can see a list of the FPMT Charitable Projects and their descriptions.
Sangha at Kachoe Dechen Ling create tsa-tsas and stupas daily for those who are sick or have died. Photo by Chris Majors.
On Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s request, the Sangha at Kachoe Dechen Ling make tsa-tsas and stupas every day. This activity is sponsored by the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund. The holy objects created are:
1. Long life tsa-tsas (Three long life deities and Medicine Buddha)
2. Mitrugpa tsa-tsas
3. Three stupas each day which are filled with the Four Dharmakaya Relic Mantras
Photo by Chris Majors.
The tsa tsas are made and dedicated for any person who is sick and the stupas are made and dedicated for any being who has died.
After the dedications the tsa tsas and stupas are used in various ways, one main way is around other stupas and holy objects at Kachoe Dechen ling that people can circumambulate when entering the house and create merit that way. They are also used around the bigger stupa that all the animals that are liberated are taken around each week.
In this way there is constantly practices happening at Rinpoche’s house dedicated for all beings
Rinpoche has said the only reason to have a house is for it to be a way to create merit for sentient beings and the organization, in this way Rinpoche takes care of all the sangha in the house and request they doing specific practices all day (and into the night) with dedications for the whole organization and all beings.
Please rejoice in this daily creation of holy objects which create so much merit for individuals and all of FPMT.
You can learn more about the activities of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, which supports the creation of these tsa-tsas and stupas, or enjoy an overview of other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
One of the statues being consulted as a prototype for the Five Dhayani Buddhas being created.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, is sponsoring the creation of Five Dhyani Buddha statues, a Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) statue and a number of other Buddhist statues which will go inside a large stupa that is being built in India. Rinpoche recently offered the first payment toward this holy object project, US$54,452
The statues are 4-ft high with full gold plating and will take two years to complete. They are being made by one of the best statue makers in Nepal. Rinpoche has been involved with the artist to make sure the art is best quality.
Holy objects purify karma just by seeing [them]. It purifies the mind, plants seed for the path to liberation. That’s how stupas liberate each day.
—Lama Zopa Rinpoche
You are welcome to offer any amount toward this incredibly holy object offering.
You can learn more about the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche during long life puja with Geshe Doga, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 19, 2014. Photo by Laura Miller.
Five dakini dancers entering the gompa, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 19, 2014. Photo by Laura Miller.
Each year, a long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche is offered on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. This puja takes place at the close of the yearly Kopan lam-rim course, or at the end of a CPMT meeting. This year, it was offered following the CPMT 2014 meeting.
A long life puja with the five dakinis was offered on Friday, September 19, in the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion. A video recording of the puja is available on the CPMT livestream page.
A beautiful collection of praises and requests from FPMT centers, projects and services around the world were read aloud to Lama Zopa Rinpoche by regional and national coordinators who were present:
“We offer this praise to you Rinpoche, on behalf of all of your disciples throughout the world. We offer this praise on behalf of all sentient beings, who wander like blind children at the edge of the perilous cliffs of samsara, certain to fall to our deaths without your guidance….”
You can read this entire, moving collection of praises and requests here.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered an extensive dedication at the end of the puja, including all the people working within the FPMT organization and all FPMT centers, projects and services around the world.
The purpose of the long life puja is for students to purify the mistakes that occur in relation to their teacher, and to create the causes and conditions to continue to receive benefit from that teacher for a very long time. Please rejoice that we can make this offering and may it create the cause for our most precious Guru to have a very long long life.
You can contribute anytime towards future long life pujas offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
You can learn more about the Long Life Puja Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Italy earlier this year.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, recently offered US$50,000 toward a new place for His Holiness the Dalai Lama to stay when in Bylakuppe, India. This new accommodation is being built by the Tibetan Settlement Office in Bylakuppe.
Please rejoice that FPMT is able to offer service to His Holiness, in this way.
Recently, Lama Zopa Rinpoche composed a beautiful prayer, “Remembering the Kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan People.”
You are welcome to donate any amount to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund toward the cost of this offering.
You can learn more about the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
Holy objects and extensive offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling. Photo by Chris Majors.
It takes Sangha many hours each day to offer waterbowls as part of the extensive offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling. Photo by Chris Majors.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has requested Sangha at Kachoe Dechen Ling to make extensive offerings daily including the extensive offering practice. These offerings have been done every day for 16 years and include water bowls, light offerings and flower offerings outside in the beautiful gardens. The waterbowl offerings alone can take many hours to perform each day.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche personally engages in the extensive offering practice daily, no matter where he is. The offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling and also at other centers and students’ homes around the world are used as a basis for the offerings that Rinpoche then offers in his daily practice.
Extensive Offering practice is very important to Lama Zopa Rinpoche who engages in this practice daily, usually before lunch. Photo by Chris Majors.
All of these offerings and the practice are dedicated to the success of all FPMT centers, projects and services, and that they all may be of most benefit, to all the kind benefactors, students, volunteers, to those who are sick and have passed away, for world peace, and to all beings everywhere.
Please rejoice in these offerings and please also use them in your practice. You can enjoy a gallery of photos documenting the beautiful extensive offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling and Amitabha Pure Land.
You are welcome to contribute to these daily extensive offerings by donating to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund.
You can learn more about the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
Rejoice…
Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing an elephant in Bodhgaya, India, 2012. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Since 2011 Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, has been covering the cost of food for a large elephant Rinpoche named “Bodhichitta” who lives in Bodhgayga, India. Rinpoche gave one condition to the owner of this elephant: He must circumambulate the elephant regularly around the Bodhgaya Stupa or the holy objects at Root Institute. This, of course, is to help the elephant create merit and ultimately bring to enlightenment.
When Rinpoche met Bodhichitta the elephant for the first time, as Rinpoche was reciting mantras to it, the elephant was observed having tears running down its face. Please enjoy this moving video of an incredible sweet moment.
You are welcome to donate to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund and contribute to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others:
You can learn more about the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast visions for the FPMT organization is to sponsor 1,000 Nung-Nä retreats. Upon hearing about Rinpoche’s vision, Institut Vajra Yogini quickly picked up the project of hosting these retreats and has now started a third set of 108 Nyung-Näs, from mid-November 2013 to mid-June 2014.
More than 125 students from 12 different countries took part in one or more Nyung-Näs, accumulating an amazing total of about 1,000 individual Nyung Näs! Four people offered a consecutive year of their lives engaging in these retreats.
The Nyung-Nä retreat is an intensive practice that carries great blessings and is highly praised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche as a supreme method for transforming the mind. The practice includes taking the 24-hour Mahayana precepts every day, with the addition of complete fasting and silence every second day. One does four – 2 ½ hour sessions of well-structured practice that includes meditation, prostrations and mantra recitation each day. It is a powerfully effective experiential practice that can be done by anyone with respect and faith for the practice.
16 people did more than eight Nyung-Näs, four of them managing to do more than 100 Nyung-Näs. This is something amazing in which to rejoice!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, sponsored some of these retreatants, as he had done for the two previous sets. The next set of 108 Nyung-Näs is scheduled from the November 18, 2014 to the 20th of June 2015. Lama Zopa Rinpoche is again offering sponsorship for up to 10 people able to commit for 100 Nyung-Näs.
These Nyung-Näs will be led in French but people can follow simultaneously in English or any other language.
Everybody is welcome to join for one or more Nyung Näs, you can contact Institute Vajra Yogini to enter any number of these retreats (1-100) when they begin the next set.
Contributing to the sponsorship of these Nung-Näs or completing one or more yourself is directly contributing to Rinpoche’s wishes.
Nyung-Näs are a most powerful, most beneficial and quickest way for you to develop bodhicitta, to collect extensive merit to quickly achieve enlightenment, to become Chenrezig, to liberate sentient beings from the oceans of samsara suffering and bring to enlightenment….This is an extremely powerful practice, it in an incredible way to develop bodhichitta.
—Lama Zopa Rinpoche
You can learn more about the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
Most precious self-emanating statue of Chenrezig said to be the actual deity itself in Phakpa, Garsha Khandroling, India.
In July 2013 Lama Zopa Rinpoche engaged in retreat with Khadro-la and Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche in the valley of Lahual, India, which is known by meditators as Garsha Khandroling, “Land of the Dakinis.”
The retreat took place in one of the holy places in Garsha, Phakpa (or Triloknath), a small village with an ancient temple that houses a self-emanating statue of Chenrezig said to be the actual deity itself.
During the retreat, Rinpoche committed to offer light to this statue for as long as the statue remains. The light is offered through a giant eighteen-gallon silver butter lamp which is in front of the statue.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, has just paid 27,000 Rs for this offering to continue through 2015. A Kopan monk carried the money offering on the way to attending the Kalachakra Initiation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Ladakh and offered the money to the caretaker to ensure the light continues for another year. This will be an annual offering ensuring that the light never diminishes.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche explained the importance of Phakpa and this Chenrezig statue to Ven. Sarah Thresher and others. She recalls:
The care taker of the statue and the giant butter lamp.
“Legend tells of a shepherd who came to the valley from Tibet. (Rinpoche says the shepherd was a holy being and Khandrola thinks he may have been an emanation of Tara). The shepherd would take the village goats up to a small lake in the mountains to graze but when the goats came back down to the village they had no milk. The village people began to suspect that the shepherd was taking the milk for himself, but this was not true, and the shepherd decided that the next time he went up the hill he would hide and watch to see what happened. What he saw was that Chenrezig would emerge from the lake and drink the goats’ milk.
“The shepherd approached Chenrezig and explained that he was being accused of taking the goats’ milk. He requested Chenrezig to please come down with him and tell the local people it was not true. Chenrezig agreed and told the shepherd to carry him on his back down to the village. Chenrezig said to the shepherd, “You may hear a noise as we are leaving but whatever happens don’t look back!” Sure enough, as they descended, the shepherd heard a loud sound but, ignoring Chenrezig’s advice, he looked behind and saw seven white men following. When these seven beings saw the shepherd they turned back and transformed into seven nagas or snakes that eventually merged into the hillside. (Rinpoche says that if the shepherd had not turned back these could have been more deities and there would have been more holy objects to liberate sentient beings but due to our karma that didn’t happen.)
“As the shepherd continued walking, Chenrezig became heavier and heavier, and by the time they reached the village, where there was a lot of conflict and fighting, Chenrezig became too heavy to carry. The shepherd then dropped Chenrezig who transformed into pure white marble. For this reason, it is said the statue is actually Chenrezig who has taken the form of a statue for us sentient beings. The shepherd also absorbed to a stone and both images, along with a black stone representation of Four-armed Mahakala with a naturally arising OM MANI PADME HUNG inscription at the back are housed in the small temple.
“Several miracles have been reported in connection with the Phakpa over the years, including the statue speaking and dripping with nectar. These days, a kind and gentle old Gelukpa monk takes care of the temple and pilgrims. He was appointed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and has been there for sixteen years. Rinpoche hopes that in the future more monks will settle and a small monastery will develop, the monks engaging in study and practice—particularly lam-rim—as well as performing pujas for the local people and pilgrims.
“Tibetans and Buddhists from the Himalayan regions come to Triloknath to pray and also to do Nyung-ne, Chenrezig fasting retreat. Rinpoche encouraged us to practice and dedicate as much as possible at the temple, explaining that all the prayers made to the Phakpa and shepherd’s image will be fulfilled. He also advised us to trek up to Omay Tso, the Milk Lake from which Chenrezig emerged. It is a steep and challenging 3-5 hour walk up the mountains and the water in the lake is white. This water descends down in a powerful stream and becomes the water supply for the village. Outside the temple taps also gush with white water. We all drank this and it was fresh, tasty and pure. It is said that even taking a few steps towards the Omay Tso is powerful.”
Written by Ven. Sarah Thresher with input from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the help of Tushita staff and referring to “Garsha, Heart Land of Dakinis” published by Garsha Young Drukpa Association, Keylong, 2011.
You can learn more about the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
You are welcome to contribute to this ongoing offering of light to this most precious Chenrezig statue: