Study & Practice News

The Heart Sutra is the most widely known sutra of the Mahayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It is part of the Prajnaparamita Sutras, which is a collection of about 40 sutras composed between 100 BCE and 500 CE. The Heart Sutra is a presentation of profound wisdom on the nature of emptiness. Reading and reciting the Heart Sutra is a powerful way to create the conditions for having a direct realization of emptiness.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explained that the only thing that can directly cut ignorance, which is the root of suffering and samsara, is wisdom realizing emptiness. There are many teachings on emptiness, but these teachings are found condensed in the Heart Sutra.

We are happy to share the revised edition of the Heart Sutra Practices and Instructions for Retreat. Based on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings, this booklet presents experiential instructions on how to meditate on emptiness. Rinpoche provides a clear explanation of how to approach this subtle topic, how the experience of meditating on emptiness should feel, and how to avoid mistakes in your meditation. It contains necessary materials for completing a Heart Sutra retreat according to the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

This is the practice booklet that will be used in the Heart Sutra Retreat being held at Kopan Monastery from April 15-20, 2024. 

Students can find more links to Heart Sutra materials and resources below:

• The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra – MP3 Download
• The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra – eBook & PDF
• Watch the teaching in which Rinpoche gives the oral transmission of the Heart Sutra on video. (The oral transmission begins at 42:58.)
• FPMT Basic Program Online: Heart Sutra
• Essence Of The Heart Sutra by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, eBook & PDF
• Audio: Emptiness Explained – MP3 Download

• Audio: How to Meditate on Emptiness – MP3 Download

Please learn more about the Heart Sutra Retreat and commemoration being offered at Kopan Monastery in April 2024. 

Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.

Shakyamuni Buddha. Image by Jane Seidlitz.

The Fifteen Days of Miracles—from the first day of the Tibetan new year, Losar, (this year on February 10, 2024) until the fifteenth, Chotrul Duchen (this year on February 24, 2024)—commemorate the special time when Guru Shakyamuni Buddha showed miraculous powers in order to subdue six tirthikas, or non-Buddhist teachers, who lacked faith in him, and to inspire more faith in his followers. It culminates on the full moon, the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar.

Please keep in mind: In accordance with the advice of Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, Lama Zopa Rinpoche observed all the auspicious dates in the Buddhist calendar by Indian Standard time, instead of any other local time.

All fifteen days are merit multiplying days, when the merit of virtuous actions performed on each of these days is multiplied by 100 million, according to the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Advice for the Fifteen Days of Miracles

You can find Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for merit multiplying days, including the Fifteen Days of Miracles, collected online. (Find also here advice and practice material for merit-multiplying days in French)

If the members of your community decide to recite the Sutra of Golden Light on these special days, we invite them to report their recitations on the Sutra of Golden Light reporting page.

Advice Specifically for Losar, the Anniversary of Lama Yeshe’s Passing Away

Lama Yeshe teaching at Chenrezig Institute, Australia,1979. Photo courtesy of Pearl Bailey (donor) and Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

For FPMT, Losar is a special time as it commemorates the anniversary of FPMT founder Lama Yeshe’s parinirvana at dawn of Losar in 1984.

Please refer to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice and request to FPMT affiliates as to how to mark this special day in Collected Advice from Rinpoche in the Affiliates Area, and in particular his request to offer extensive Lama Chopa with tsog.

A recent addition of Rinpoche’s advice is a short Tibetan text translated and commented on by Rinpoche, Advice for the Anniversary of the Guru’s Passing Away, which explains the importance of making offerings on the anniversary of the passing away of one’s guru.

This Losar marks forty years since the passing away of Lama Yeshe. Rinpoche also requested that centers host annual events on Losar day to introduce new students to Lama Yeshe. These events might include students who knew Lama Yeshe sharing their favorite stories, watching videos of Lama teaching, or reading stories about Lama. 

Additionally, according to the wishes of Rinpoche, on the anniversary of Lama Yeshe’s passing each year (Losar), gold will be offered to the Lama Yeshe statue at Kopan Monastery. This has now been occurring for the last two years and will be ongoing, in order to honor Rinpoche’s request. FPMT affiliates which have statues of Lama Yeshe are also encouraged to offer gold in this way every year, or as you are able.

Creating Merit for the FPMT Organization During the Fifteen Days of Miracles

Every merit multiplying day, the FPMT Puja Fund sponsors extensive pujas and offerings to be made on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. This Losar and during the fifteen days of miracles, ten thousand ordained sangha from all major monasteries will engage in various pujas and offerings, such as reciting the Prajnaparamita Sutra, offering one thousand Sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyalma, Medicine Buddha puja, Namgyalma long life ritual, and Sixty-four Offerings to Kalarupa. These practices are dedicated  to all the FPMT centers, projects, and services; all students, volunteers, those who offer service in FPMT; and to all beings.

Offerings are also made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to sangha in FPMT international sangha communities. In addition, robes are offered to the Buddha statue in Bodhgaya, and new parasols and whitewash are offered to Boudha and Swayambu stupas.

Various sutras will be printed and over a thousand animals will be liberated.

Please join us in rejoicing in these incredible practices and offerings, especially remembering them on the actual days, when one’s merit is multiplied 100 million times. It is also possible to participate in any of these pujas and offerings by contributing any amount.

About the Fifteen Days of Miracles

The Fifteen Days of Miracles are a time for pilgrimage and intensive Dharma practice. During this period, many Tibetan monasteries hold a Great Prayer Festival—Monlam Chenmo—for several days or even weeks, during which the Sangha recite prayers from morning until evening. Kopan Monastery, who has been the main host of the Great Prayer Festival for FPMT since 1998, will be hosting it again this year.

Additionally, according to the wish of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Nalanda Monastery in France will be hosting a Gelug Monlam for the first time in the West from February 23 to 25. A Monlam Chenmo Prayer Book will be made available, and centers or students who wish to host their own Prayer Festival or recite some of those prayers during this period are welcome to do so. We will send out information on this prayer book as soon as it is available.

Liberation Tibetan Calendar

Special thanks to the Liberation Prison Project for preparing this year’s Tibetan calendar. A limited view of the calendar is always available on “Dharma Practice Dates” as a courtesy to FPMT students around the world.

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche prostrating at Vulture’s Peak, the site of Buddha’s first teaching, Rajgir, India, February 2, 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The Four Verses pays homage to the buddhas in their corporeal and non-corporeal manifestations, and to the places where the historical Shakyamuni Buddha had displayed his twelve deeds or visited.

Seeing the immense benefit of reading and making offerings to the Four Verses, Lama Zopa Rinpoche recommended for FPMT centers to have it nicely framed for display on the altar, and also to give away printed copies of it to their students. 

All are welcome to download this printable card for display on one’s altar. 

This translation of the Four Verses was completed by Rinpoche in 2002 and updated by FPMT Education Services in 2023. The card was designed by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The Foundation Store offers many beautiful digital cards and posters, many designed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, which are available to download and display in appropriate areas on one’s altar or in one’s home. 

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche writing mantras on a patio umbrella in order to bless all those that sit underneath it, Aptos, California, US, June 2017. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The FPMT.org website offers so many resources, including prayers and practices, for students wishing to begin or enrich their Dharma practice. Our Mantras Page offers a complete list of mantras available to you, as well as some information on how particular mantras are commonly used in various situations. 

A mantra is a series of syllables, most often in Sanskrit, that is the subject of recitation, meditation, or other spiritual practice. While mantras also exist in the sutras, most are recited in conjunction with the practice of a particular tantric meditational deity, whose qualities they also embody. The term “mantra” means “mind protection,” because mantras function to protect the mind from ordinary impure appearances. Thus, in the context of deity yoga, mantras are indispensable as they not only function as a vehicle for a practitioner to develop the attainments of a deity, but also aid in training the mind to view all phenomena, including all sound, as pure.

We invite you to explore all that our Mantras Page has to offer you and your practice. Additionally, please feel very free to peruse all that is available on our Prayer and Practice Materials Page. 

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Card which Rinpoche designed and wanted displayed next to any Milarepa statue, painting, or thangka.

In April 2022, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered a Milarepa initiation and teachings to a small group of senior Kopan monks, senior Khachoe Ghakyil Ling nuns, Western sangha, and some lay students. On this occasion Rinpoche translated the “Verse to Put at the Base of Paintings and Statues of Milarepa” by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye.

We are delighted to share a card which Rinpoche designed and wanted displayed next to any Milarepa statue, or thangka. This card is available for download for those who wish to display it with a Milarepa image or statue. 

The great yogi Milarepa (1040-1123) is one of the most revered figures in Tibetan history and among all sects of Tibetan Buddhism. Milarepa’s guru was the famous translator, Marpa (1012-1097), himself the main disciple of Naropa (1016-1100).

Marpa taught Milarepa through a variety of seemingly futile tasks. One famous story records that Milarepa was instructed to build a large tower out of nearby boulders. Once the tower was complete, he was asked to tear it down and rebuild it in another location. Once this task was complete, he again was instructed to tear it down and rebuild. Other stories account for Marpa’s teachings on enduring and persevering through hardships. Milarepa’s devotion to his guru enabled him to progress on the path quickly. 

We invite you to watch the teaching that Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered prior to the Milarepa initiation in April 2022. A full transcript of this teaching is also available. 

For Milarepa statues at FPMT centers, we’ve added the verse for FPMT Affiliates to download, print, and display – to the section Rinpoche’s Advice for the Center Altar and Gompa in the Affiliates Area, specifically under Further Recommendations.

The Foundation Store offers many beautiful digital cards and posters, many designed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, which are available to download and display in appropriate areas on one’s altar or in one’s home. 

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Tsongkhapa with his two main disciples.

Ganden Ngamchoe, literally “Ganden Offering of the Twenty-Fifth Day,” or Lama Tsongkhapa Day, is a celebration of the anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana. It is celebrated on the twenty-fifth day of the tenth month of the Tibetan calendar. This year, Lama Tsongkhapa Day falls on December 7.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche encouraged students to engage in a variety of practices on Ganden Ngamchoe to celebrate and create merit.

Here are some of the prayers and practices recommended by Rinpoche for a celebration of Lama Tsongkhapa Day:

English

• 1,000 Offerings to Lama Tsongkhapa
• Extensive Offering Practice
• The Glorious One of the Three Worlds (Päl dän sa sum ma)
• A Hymn of Experience
• Destiny Fulfilled
• Prayer for the Flourishing of Tsongkhapa’s Teachings
• Lama Tsongkhapa’s Secret Biography
• Dependent Arising: A Praise to the Buddha

French

French materials, including “Prière pour le développement de Lama Tsongkhapa” and “Hymne au Bouddha Shakyamouni pour son enseignement sur la production dépendante,” are available through Les Éditions Mahayana. You can also find more practice materials related to Lama Tsongkhapa, including practices in Spanish and other languages, in the Foundation Store.

Tibetan

• The Thousand Offerings to Lama Tsongkhapa
• Päl dän sa sum ma (The Glorious One of the Three Worlds)
• Lama Tsongkhapa’s Secret Biography

You can read more detailed advice from Rinpoche on the above practices on the page “Practices for Ganden Ngamchoe, Lama Tsongkhapa Day.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with a picture of Lama Tsongkhapa that Rinpoche liked very much, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, February 2022. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In addition, for the 2019 celebration of the 600th anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave instructions for prayers and practices to do for a Lama Tsongkhapa Celebration Day at FPMT centers, projects, and services.

For students unable to attend a celebration at an FPMT center or join an online celebration, the main practice recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche is Lama Chopa with extensive light offerings if possible. If one is unable to arrange Lama Chopa, Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga is also recommended. In addition, recitation of any or all of the Lama Tsongkhapa-related prayers and texts is encouraged.

If you need advice or help organizing appropriate prayers and practices for your community on this special day, please feel free to contact us.

We also wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone about the precious advice we received from His Holiness the Dalai Lama to recite Chanting the Names of Noble Manjushri for the swift return of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, which can be added to the Lama Tsongkhapa Day auspicious activities.

*In accordance with the advice of Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, Lama Zopa Rinpoche observed all the auspicious dates in the Buddhist calendar by Indian Standard time, instead of any other local time.

You can find a full catalogue of FPMT prayers, practices, and advice materials on FPMT.org.

An image of Kṣitigarbha that Lama Zopa Rinpoche traveled with and kept with him.

For the benefit of students, Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised the translation of the Kṣitigarbha Ten Wheels Mahāyāna Sūtra from the Great Collection into English, kindly sponsored by Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore. This 292  page translation is now available according to the wishes of Rinpoche!  

In the wide-ranging discourse the Buddha expounds on the “ten wheels” that define a just king’s rule; the knowledge and qualities of a tathagata; the ethics, conduct and practices to be adopted by the Buddha’s ordained followers; the features and qualities of the three vehicles; the practice of confession; the ten virtues and their ripening results; and the ten perfections.

The Tibetan text in the Kangyur is a translation of the Chinese rendition; there is no extant Sanskrit edition. The masterful and uplifting English translation quoted below and available to all was undertaken by Gavin Kilty.

We are so happy to make this precious translation available to all.

Qualities of Kshitigarbha and His Dharani

The bodhisattva Kshitigarbha, for whom the sutra is named, features most prominently in the first two chapters of the sutra. Alongside the inspiring description of his inconceivable qualities is an account of the exceptional benefits of the dharani mantra which he received:

The bodhisattva mahāsattva Kṣitigarbha is adorned with countless, immeasurable, and unimaginable qualities, so much so that the śrāvakas, the pratyekabuddhas, and all those of the world are unable to conceive of them. This bodhisattva is a treasure of supreme qualities. He is a mine of the jewels of liberation. He purifies the eyes of the bodhisattvas. He is the navigator who leads sentient beings to nirvāṇa. Just as a wish-fulfilling jewel brings down all jewels like rain, he fulfills all hopes and desires. He is like a treasure island for many traders.

Often referred to as the Ksitigarbha long mantra, the Buddha said of this amazing dharani:

It was well spoken to cleanse the stains of existence. It was well spoken to pacify the era of troubles. It was well spoken to cleanse nonvirtuous thoughts. It was well spoken to tame the great elements. It was well spoken to purify lower rebirths. It was well spoken to remove the imprints of bad deeds. It was well spoken to fulfill all hopes. It was well spoken to ripen the harvests. This, which was well spoken by all the buddhas, has been blessed by all the tathāgatas. This, which was well spoken, will be blessed by the bodhisattvas. Rejoice! 

Through this dhāraṇī, all virtuous Dharmas are produced and increased. The store of seeds, the roots, the shoots, the branches, the trunks, the leaves, the flowers, the fruit, the plants, and the taste and aroma of the harvests will all be produced and in-creased. The rains and the beneficial aspects of earth, water, fire, and air will all be created and increased. Joy and happiness will be created and increased. Jewels and wealth will be created and increased. Strength and power will be generated and increased. All the necessities of life will be produced and increased.

Venerable Bhagavān, through this dhāraṇī, beings are saved from the four rivers. It brings about an increase in the aims of the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, male lay practitioners, and female lay practitioners of the entourage of the Bhagavān and so on, up to the production and increase of the necessities of life. Through this mantra, the noble nectar-like teachings of the Bhagavān will grow to completion, will remain for a long time to come, and will bring benefit and happiness to the sentient beings of the three realms.

Prayers Made to Kshitigarbha are Powerful and Wish-Fulfilling

Kṣitigarbha in a monk aspect. Statue at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, USA.

Thus Lama Zopa Rinpoche often advises that prayers to Kshitigarbha are much more powerful than those made to other bodhisattvas, emphasizing in the Ksitigarbha Practice: “This dharani mantra is the best one to do for any problems in any situation. Even reciting four or five times, just a few times, is very powerful. [The sutra] talks about so much power, how important the bodhisattva is; even reciting or just thinking of the name of the bodhisattva is very, very powerful.”

It is like this. Son of the family, if some beings for a hundred eons were to go for refuge with single-pointed minds to Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, Samantabhadra, and bodhisattva mahāsattvas as many in number as grains of sand in the Ganges riverbed, and say the names of these great bodhisattvas, and visualizing them, make offerings to them and prostrate to them with great devotion, and make prayers to fulfill their wishes, and if others for just an instant with single-pointed minds say the name of the bodhisattva mahāsattva Kṣitigarbha, and visualizing him, make offerings to him and prostrate to him with great devotion, all their prayers will be swiftly answered and fulfilled.

Why is that? In order to bring benefit and happiness to every sentient being, this bodhisattva mahāsattva Kṣitigarbha longs to fulfill their prayers, like a treasury of wish-fulfilling jewels. In this way, this great being, in order to thoroughly ripen sentient beings, for a long time made prayers of firm resolve and meditated on great compassion and on extraordinary perseverance. Therefore, he is greater than all other bodhisattvas and you should make offerings to him with great devotion.

Benefits of Upholding Sutra

The sutra culminates with the Buddha entrusting it to Akashagarbha, exhorting him to give protection and work for those who uphold it in any way.

Son of the family, this great instruction, this Dharma gateway known as the Kṣitigarbha Ten Wheels, I entrust to you. Retain and propagate these points of Dharma. Those beings who read it, recite it, contemplate it, teach it widely to others, or practice it purely, you must protect in ten ways, work for their happiness, and guide them for a long time. 

What are these ten? It is like this. Protect their wealth and their ways of obtaining it and do not let it diminish. Guard them from all harm and make them free from harm. Guard them from wrong views and wrong ways, and see that they eradicate the path of the ten nonvirtues. Guard their bodies and speech from all harm, and make such harm nonexistent. Protect them from, and eradicate all criticism and slander. Protect them from weakening their ethics and practice. Eradicate completely all harm from spirits, all disturbance of the elements, all untimely illness, and old age.51 Guard them from untimely events, improper behavior, wrong views, and epidemics. Even if they should die, protect them so that they behold the buddhas, that they are reborn in the higher realms, and that they find happiness and well-being.

Son of the family, those beings who read this Dharma, recite it, contemplate it, teach it widely to others, or practice it purely, protect them in these ten ways, bless them, and by these ten, work for their happiness and guide them for a long time.

You can download the most precious translation of his powerful sutra as well as the Ksitigarbha practice booklet compiled by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. 

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, June 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche often spoke about solar and lunar eclipses, which are considered auspicious for practice and provide opportunities for accumulating merit by multiple folds. As stated in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic, the karmic results of actions are multiplied by 700,000 times on lunar eclipses, and 100 million times on solar eclipses. 

We have created a new page which containing all of Rinpoche’s most essential advice for solar and lunar eclipses, a resource we hope students will find very valuable.

There is a partial lunar eclipse occurring this Saturday, October 28. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche pointed out that the multiplying effect of eclipses occurs regardless of whether the eclipse is partial or full. Rinpoche advised, however, that the merit-multiplying effect does not last the whole calendar day and as such, merit-making activities should be carried out during the occurrence of the eclipse. Therefore, to use the opportunity for practice, students should check for the timing of the eclipse in their own location. Such information may be found at timeanddate.com and similar websites.  

For practice advice on merit-multiplying days associated with the major life events of Buddha Shakyamuni Buddha, see Practice on the Four Great Holy Days.

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Depiction of Shakyamuni Buddha’s return to earth from the God Realm of the Thirty-Three after teaching Dharma for several months to the gods. From rigpawiki.org

Lhabab Duchen, one of the four great holy days of the Buddhist calendar, takes place this year on November 4.

Lhabab Duchen celebrates Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s return to Earth from the God Realm of the Thirty-Three after teaching Dharma for several months to the gods, including his mother, Mayadevi, who had died a week after Buddha’s birth and been reborn there. As a merit multiplying day, the karmic results of actions done on this day are multiplied 100 million times. This amazing result is taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Practices for Merit Multiplying Days

Specific practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for these special days include:

• Taking the eight Mahayana precepts: students can receive the lineage of these precepts from a specially produced video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche granting them, which was edited from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation video series, recorded in May 2020 at Kopan Monastery.
• Reciting the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels

A longer list of recommended practices can be found at “Practices for Merit Multiplying Days and Eclipses.” Find advice for merit-multiplying days in French and practice materials for merit-multiplying days in other languages.

The recently translated Sutra of Great Liberation, which Lama Zopa Rinpoche extolled the immense benefits of engaging in, is another sutra that can recited on this special day.

In accordance with the advice of Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, Lama Zopa Rinpoche observed all the auspicious dates in the Buddhist calendar by Indian Standard time, instead of any other local time.

Offerings on Lhabab Duchen

On Lhabab Duchen the FPMT Puja Fund will be sponsoring numerous pujas, such as the recitation of the Prajnaparamita as well as thousands of recitations of Names of Manjushri (Jampal Tshen Jo) for the swift return of our precious Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, as well as many additional pujas and prayers. We will also be making monetary offerings to thousands of sangha, to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus; and offering saffron, new coat of paint, umbrella, and new robes to holy objects in India and Nepal. Please consider joining in this vast offering and extensive prayers that have been specifically set up by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the benefit of the whole organization and all beings.

Please join us in rejoicing in all the meritorious activities happening within the FPMT organization and around the world on this auspicious merit-multiplying day!

Special thanks to the Liberation Prison Project for preparing a Tibetan calendar with information on holy days and other important dates.

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

The FPMT affiliate FDCW (Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom) brings us some wonderful initiatives, available
to those interested in understanding their own mind and emotions and bringing compassion into daily life.

In 1983 Lama Yeshe began formulating the idea of Universal Education. “The world needs a new system of education because the old one is too dated for the intelligent people of today and produces a great deal of conflict and dissatisfaction in the present generation. […] We have to get rid of people’s old concepts and give them a new imagination; a new, broad way of looking at themselves and the world. That’s what I mean by “universal.” 

Universal Education is rooted in Buddhist philosophy, psychology and science: a 2,500 year old tradition committed to rigorous empirical investigation and authentic practice. It is presented using contemporary language and methods suitable for people of all traditions and cultures, and encourages a non-dogmatic and experiential approach.

FDCW follows in the footsteps of this inspiration by creating programs built on universal values and training people in a modern, secular facilitation style.

Growing Compassionate Hearts Conference with multiple speakers
October 10-11, 2023. This conference is online.

FDCW aims to equip children and young people with the skills for creating a kinder, wiser, more compassionate society. This is an exciting opportunity to hear from a wide range of experienced educators and practice the methods that have proved effective for them. 

FDCW has been inspired by His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s vision of educating the heart not just the intellect. An education that is based on values like forgiveness, kindness, and affection. By watering the seeds of natural empathy, building resilience through better understanding of how things exist, and above all, caring for others, our young people can face the future with courage and confidence.

This two day conference offers a wide range of inspiring talks, lively discussions as well as experiential methods, and new perspectives on walking this path alongside children and young people.

Learn more, watch a video trailer for this conference, and register:
www.compassionandwisdom.org/growing-compassionate-hearts-2023

Wisdom Dialogues Ep 4: Make Your Mind an Ocean with Ven. Thubten Wangdu
September 18, 2023, 2 p.m. BST. This program is online. 

Join Ven. Thubten Wangdu, resident teacher of Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamkot, India, in this exploration of the mind. The various meditation techniques that were taught by the Buddha are methods for us to become more genuinely happy human beings — to cultivate a sense of inner contentment and well-being that is lasting. This derives from seeing more clearly how things actually are. From the Buddhist perspective, our repeated experiences of dissatisfaction and frustration do not have external conditions as their root cause, but all mental problems come from the mind. Therefore, if we aspire for true satisfaction in our lives we have to investigate and recognize the nature of our own mind and discover how our minds interpret reality.

Learn more and register:
www.compassionandwisdom.org/calendar/2023-wisdom-dialogue-sept-thubten-wangdu

Compassion Based Living Course with Mabel Odessey
Eight week course from September 28 – November 16, 2023.  This course is online. 

The Compassion Based Living Course (CBLC) is an eight-week course that draws on insights and practices from neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and Buddhist psychology. This experiential course follows on from the 8-week Mindfulness Based Living Course and supports further development of our self-compassion and compassion for others.

Learn more and register:
www.compassionandwisdom.org/calendar/mabel-cblc-september23

Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) provides secular training, programs and resources across many sectors of society – schools, universities, hospices, workplaces, healthcare, youth groups and community centers. 

In 2021 Ven. Tenzin Namdrol from Kopan Monastery told Christine Schnoell, SPC of Panchen Losang Chogyen center in Vienna, Austria, that Lama Zopa Rinpoche liked the digital cards that she had posted on Facebook, of various quotes of his with accompanying photos. 

Rinpoche picked 16 cards and gave instructions to Christine on how to improve their design. As Rinpoche wished to use them as gifts to students, Ven. Tenzin Namdrol printed them and offered them as a birthday present to Rinpoche in December 2021. “Dear Ani Tenzin very kindly supported the process and then had the wonderful idea of having these selections printed as cards for Rinpoche as a birthday surprise. Our precious Rinpoche was very happy about this!” says Christine.

We are now happy to make these beautiful cards available at the Foundation Store!

Ven. Tenzin Namdrol and Christine dedicate: “With the wish that our endlessly kind Lama Zopa Rinpoche may return to us very quickly and that these cards may support this. May they evoke and strengthen our deep devotion to Rinpoche!”

Download these cards from the FPMT Foundation Store: shop.fpmt.org/quotes-for-life-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche.html

Lama Zopa Rinpoche giving the oral transmission of the Sutra of Great Liberation, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is reported to have spoken of the Sutra of Great Liberation as early as 2006, though it was especially in the later years of his teachings that Rinpoche gave prominence to the inconceivable benefits of engaging with this sutra. In 2020 Rinpoche asked Ven. Gyalten Lekden at Sera Je Monastery to translate this important sutra so that many people can read it in English explaining, “It is great to translate this, unbelievable. So many people can read it. Because most people can’t read Tibetan, they have to read English. Then they liberate so many sentient beings from lower realms, lower nirvana, and samsara, and they achieve enlightenment. It has unbelievable benefits if we translate it.”

We are so pleased to announce that this translation has been completed and is now available just in time for the merit multiplying day, Chokhor Duchen! We gratefully thank Amitabha Buddhist Centre for sponsoring this important translation in accordance with the wishes of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. 

The Sutra of Great Liberation is formally entitled, The Arya Mahayana Sutra Called “Arya All-Expansive Great Liberation, Purifying Negative Deeds through Cleansing Remorse, Perfectly Arranged Accomplishment of Buddhahood.” The Tibetan text, found in the Kangyur, is a translation of the Chinese rendition, the Sanskrit source text having been lost over the course of time.

Ven. Lekden says in his introduction that this sutra has cultural importance in Tibet and is widely recited, not just on holy or “merit-multiplying” days, but also for the benefit of the recently deceased, by those experiencing obstacles or difficulties, and by devotees who understand and appreciate its power. Benefits explained from the sutra itself:

This powerful sutra, which was expounded just before the Buddha’s parinirvana, covers a wide variety of topics, including the three vehicles, the three refuges, how to confess and purify, proclamation of names of many buddhas and bodhisattvas, descriptions and causes of the thirty-two marks of an enlightened being, extensive advice on how to practice the Dharma, instructions on how to do the actual purification, and the signs of purification.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has stressed the importance of this sutra, expounding on its benefits and giving the oral transmission of it, during the extensive series of thought transformation teachings given at Kopan Monastery, during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Rinpoche emphasized that that engaging with this sutra in any way, even unintentionally, has “unimaginable benefits.” He said that anyone who hears even the name of the sutra, writes, reads, prints, or keeps a copy of it collects unimaginable merit. Reciting it is an easy method to purify all the very negative karmas. Furthermore, anyone who memorizes, holds, or keeps a copy of it will become free from suffering, will never be reborn in the lower realms, and become enlightened. The same is true for anyone who simply hears its powerful mantra. You can access the mantra from the Sutra of Great Liberation in PDF and audio; and also learn more about this powerful mantra. 

Because of these benefits, Rinpoche recommended that we recite the sutra when we are able, and that it would even be beneficial to “keep the sutra.” Rinpoche noted, wherever a copy of this sutra is kept, this is a place where the Buddha himself resides. 

Get the Sutra of Great Liberation in English: 
shop.fpmt.org/the-sutra-of-great-liberation-ebook-pdf.html

Get the Tibetan pecha of the Sutra of Great Liberation (for printing):
shop.fpmt.org/Tibetan-Pecha-of-the-Sutra-of-Great-Liberation-PDF_p_3567.html

The oral transmission and commentary of the Sutra of Great Liberation can be found:
fpmt.org/tag/sutra-of-great-liberation

Through comprehensive study programs and practice materials, FPMT Education Services nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.