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Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition
The FPMT is an organization devoted to preserving and spreading Mahayana Buddhism worldwide by creating opportunities to listen, reflect, meditate, practice and actualize the unmistaken teachings of the Buddha and based on that experience spreading the Dharma to sentient beings. We provide integrated education through which people’s minds and hearts can be transformed into their highest potential for the benefit of others, inspired by an attitude of universal responsibility and service. We are committed to creating harmonious environments and helping all beings develop their full potential of infinite wisdom and compassion. Our organization is based on the Buddhist tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa of Tibet as taught to us by our founders Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.
- Willkommen
Die Stiftung zur Erhaltung der Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) ist eine Organisation, die sich weltweit für die Erhaltung und Verbreitung des Mahayana-Buddhismus einsetzt, indem sie Möglichkeiten schafft, den makellosen Lehren des Buddha zuzuhören, über sie zur reflektieren und zu meditieren und auf der Grundlage dieser Erfahrung das Dharma unter den Lebewesen zu verbreiten.
Wir bieten integrierte Schulungswege an, durch denen der Geist und das Herz der Menschen in ihr höchstes Potential verwandelt werden zum Wohl der anderen – inspiriert durch eine Haltung der universellen Verantwortung und dem Wunsch zu dienen. Wir haben uns verpflichtet, harmonische Umgebungen zu schaffen und allen Wesen zu helfen, ihr volles Potenzial unendlicher Weisheit und grenzenlosen Mitgefühls zu verwirklichen.
Unsere Organisation basiert auf der buddhistischen Tradition von Lama Tsongkhapa von Tibet, so wie sie uns von unseren Gründern Lama Thubten Yeshe und Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche gelehrt wird.
- Bienvenidos
La Fundación para la preservación de la tradición Mahayana (FPMT) es una organización que se dedica a preservar y difundir el budismo Mahayana en todo el mundo, creando oportunidades para escuchar, reflexionar, meditar, practicar y actualizar las enseñanzas inconfundibles de Buda y en base a esa experiencia difundir el Dharma a los seres.
Proporcionamos una educación integrada a través de la cual las mentes y los corazones de las personas se pueden transformar en su mayor potencial para el beneficio de los demás, inspirados por una actitud de responsabilidad y servicio universales. Estamos comprometidos a crear ambientes armoniosos y ayudar a todos los seres a desarrollar todo su potencial de infinita sabiduría y compasión.
Nuestra organización se basa en la tradición budista de Lama Tsongkhapa del Tíbet como nos lo enseñaron nuestros fundadores Lama Thubten Yeshe y Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
A continuación puede ver una lista de los centros y sus páginas web en su lengua preferida.
- Bienvenue
L’organisation de la FPMT a pour vocation la préservation et la diffusion du bouddhisme du mahayana dans le monde entier. Elle offre l’opportunité d’écouter, de réfléchir, de méditer, de pratiquer et de réaliser les enseignements excellents du Bouddha, pour ensuite transmettre le Dharma à tous les êtres. Nous proposons une formation intégrée grâce à laquelle le cœur et l’esprit de chacun peuvent accomplir leur potentiel le plus élevé pour le bien d’autrui, inspirés par le sens du service et une responsabilité universelle. Nous nous engageons à créer un environnement harmonieux et à aider tous les êtres à épanouir leur potentiel illimité de compassion et de sagesse. Notre organisation s’appuie sur la tradition guéloukpa de Lama Tsongkhapa du Tibet, telle qu’elle a été enseignée par nos fondateurs Lama Thoubtèn Yéshé et Lama Zopa Rinpoché.
Visitez le site de notre Editions Mahayana pour les traductions, conseils et nouvelles du Bureau international en français.
Voici une liste de centres et de leurs sites dans votre langue préférée
- Benvenuto
L’FPMT è un organizzazione il cui scopo è preservare e diffondere il Buddhismo Mahayana nel mondo, creando occasioni di ascolto, riflessione, meditazione e pratica dei perfetti insegnamenti del Buddha, al fine di attualizzare e diffondere il Dharma fra tutti gli esseri senzienti.
Offriamo un’educazione integrata, che può trasformare la mente e i cuori delle persone nel loro massimo potenziale, per il beneficio di tutti gli esseri, ispirati da un’attitudine di responsabilità universale e di servizio.
Il nostro obiettivo è quello di creare contesti armoniosi e aiutare tutti gli esseri a sviluppare in modo completo le proprie potenzialità di infinita saggezza e compassione.
La nostra organizzazione si basa sulla tradizione buddhista di Lama Tsongkhapa del Tibet, così come ci è stata insegnata dai nostri fondatori Lama Thubten Yeshe e Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Di seguito potete trovare un elenco dei centri e dei loro siti nella lingua da voi prescelta.
- 欢迎 / 歡迎
简体中文
“护持大乘法脉基金会”( 英文简称:FPMT。全名:Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) 是一个致力于护持和弘扬大乘佛法的国际佛教组织。我们提供听闻,思维,禅修,修行和实证佛陀无误教法的机会,以便让一切众生都能够享受佛法的指引和滋润。
我们全力创造和谐融洽的环境, 为人们提供解行并重的完整佛法教育,以便启发内在的环宇悲心及责任心,并开发内心所蕴藏的巨大潜能 — 无限的智慧与悲心 — 以便利益和服务一切有情。
FPMT的创办人是图腾耶喜喇嘛和喇嘛梭巴仁波切。我们所修习的是由两位上师所教导的,西藏喀巴大师的佛法传承。
繁體中文
護持大乘法脈基金會”( 英文簡稱:FPMT。全名:Found
ation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition ) 是一個致力於護持和弘揚大乘佛法的國際佛教組織。我們提供聽聞, 思維,禪修,修行和實證佛陀無誤教法的機會,以便讓一切眾生都能 夠享受佛法的指引和滋潤。 我們全力創造和諧融洽的環境,
為人們提供解行並重的完整佛法教育,以便啟發內在的環宇悲心及責 任心,並開發內心所蘊藏的巨大潛能 — 無限的智慧與悲心 – – 以便利益和服務一切有情。 FPMT的創辦人是圖騰耶喜喇嘛和喇嘛梭巴仁波切。
我們所修習的是由兩位上師所教導的,西藏喀巴大師的佛法傳承。 察看道场信息:
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Actions that give harm to other sentient beings aren’t those of a bodhisattva. In Buddhism, there’s no such thing as a holy war. You have to understand this. It’s impossible to equalize everybody on earth through force.
Lama Thubten Yeshe
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The Foundation Store is FPMT’s online shop and features a vast selection of Buddhist study and practice materials written or recommended by our lineage gurus. These items include homestudy programs, prayers and practices in PDF or eBook format, materials for children, and other resources to support practitioners.
Items displayed in the shop are made available for Dharma practice and educational purposes, and never for the purpose of profiting from their sale. Please read FPMT Foundation Store Policy Regarding Dharma Items for more information.
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Study & Practice News
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Mantras Available for Your Study and Practice
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.
- Tagged: mantras
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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.
- Tagged: milarepa
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Lama Tsongkhapa Day (Ganden Ngamchoe) is December 7
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.”
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.
- Tagged: lama tsongkhapa, lama tsongkhapa day
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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
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.
- Tagged: ksitigarbha, kṣitigarbha ten wheels sutra, sutra
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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.
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Lhabab Duchen is on November 4, 2023!
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.
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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.
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Quotes for Life from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
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
20
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-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.
12
Chokhor Duchen, one of the four annual holy days of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, takes place this year on July 21. On these holy days, the power of any meritorious action is multiplied by 100 million, as taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.
Known in English as “Turning the Wheel of Dharma”, Chokhor Duchen commemorates the anniversary of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s first teaching. It is said that for seven weeks after his enlightenment, the Buddha did not teach. Afterward, Indra and Brahma offered a dharmachakra and a conch shell, and requested Guru Shakyamuni Buddha to teach. Accepting, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma for the first time at Sarnath in his teaching on the four noble truths.
Practice Advice
Specific practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for merit-multiplying 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
- Reciting the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels
In addition, Rinpoche recommended doing Shakyamuni Buddha Puja. A beautiful and deeply inspirational puja, the text was recently reformatted with hyperlinks for smooth navigation so that individuals can easily do the core practice and any additional ones as their time allows.
Please note: If you wish to do the abbreviated version of the Shakyamuni Buddha Puja, we strongly encourage you to use this original Shakyamuni Buddha Puja as advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. You can abbreviate it to according to your needs by leaving out some prayers or not doing the additional prayers recommended in the puja.
A longer list of recommended practices can be found on “Practices for Merit Multiplying Days and Eclipses.” You can also find advice for merit-multiplying days in French and practice materials for merit-multiplying days in other language.
Of course, it is also good to do any of the other meritorious activities advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on these great holy days.
In accordance with the advice of Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, FPMT students are encouraged to observe all the auspicious dates in the Buddhist calendar by Indian Standard time, instead of any other local time.
Celebrate International Sangha Day
Chokhor Duchen is also the day on which FPMT celebrates International Sangha Day! International Sangha Day provides an opportunity for monastic and lay communities to come together in recognition of their interdependence and celebrate the ways in which they mutually rely on each other’s practice of the Dharma.
We have collected some ways you can honor monastics on International Sangha Day, in the Sangha section of the Affiliates Area. This is also the best day for affiliates to make their mandatory annual donation of US$240 or more to the International Mahayana Institute (IMI), which supports the worldwide FPMT Sangha community. Please make your donation directly to IMI, which now holds and administers the fund previously known as the Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund.
You can also watch a video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche praising the amazing commitment of Sangha to live in the path in “The Sangha Are the Real Heroes Because They Are Defeating the Delusions.” You can find additional inspiration, encouragement, and advice for Sangha collected online.
Offerings on Chokhor Duchen
Every merit multiplying day, the Puja Fund sponsors a large number of pujas and practices performed by thousands of Sangha. During this Chohkor Duchen, the Puja Fund will offer the following on behalf of the entire FPMT organization and all students, benefactors, and beings:
- Recitation of the Kangyur by Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery
- Recitation of the Prajnaparamita Sutraby Gyudmed Tantric College
- One Thousand Offerings to Namgyalmaand Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupa by Sera Lachi Monastery and Gyuto Tantric College
- Medicine Buddha puja and Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupaby Gaden Lachi Monastery
- Namgyalma long life ritual and Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupaby Drepung Lachi Monastery
- Offerings to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to over 10,000 Sangha, including those in International Mahayana Institute Sangha communities
- Offerings of robes to the Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, and saffron and umbrellas to the Boudhanath and Swayambunath stupas in Nepal
- Printing sutras, making stupas and Buddha tsa-tsas, and liberating animals
Please consider joining in these pujas and offerings by supporting the Puja Fund.
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.
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.
- Tagged: buddha day, buddha multiplying day, chokhor duchen, fpmt puja fund, international sangha day
22
We are very pleased to share two compositions by Lama Zopa Rinpoche that have been recently made available.
Extensively referencing the words of the past masters to illustrate his point, Lama Zopa Rinpoche stresses in How This Human Life Becomes the Method for Achieving Complete Buddhahood through Buddhist Study and Service that “the fastest way of achieving the state of buddhahood” is by offering your gurus service and practice with the faith that every single one of your gurus is the Buddha. Rinpoche adds that, by the wish to benefit others and serving the guru, one’s actions “become the holy Dharma.” And from that comes the joyful thought, “In this entire world there is no one who has greater fortune or merit than me.”
An Abbreviated Chakrasamvara Tsog is a beautiful condensed tsog practice composed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, with offerings and request made to all the deities of the Heruka Chakrasamvara mandala. Extensive tsog offering was made during the Heruka Lama Chopa at the seventh day pujas for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s swift return. This prayer, An Abbreviated Chakrasamvara Tsog, was recited many times to offer the tsog to the deities of the mandala, along with other tsog offering prayers. This practice is suitable for those who have received the Heruka initiation.
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.
- Tagged: lama zopa rinpoche
16
We are fast approaching the auspicious merit-multiplying day of Saka Dawa Duchen—the fifteenth day of the fourth month in the Tibetan lunar calendar—which commemorates Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana.
Saka Dawa Duchen is one of the four great holy days of the Tibetan calendar, each of which celebrates an anniversary of Shakyamuni Buddha’s display of extraordinary powerful deeds for sentient beings’ sake. On these four days, karmic results are multiplied by 100 million, as taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.
Falling on June 4, 2023 for us this year, it is a day when karmic results are multiplied by 300 million times as it commemorates Shakyamuni Buddha’s three major life events.
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 videoof 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
In addition, the Shakyamuni Buddha Puja is a practice recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for these four great holy days. This is a beautiful and deeply inspirational puja, its extensive seven-limb practice includes an homage to the Buddha that recollects his heroic and compassionate deeds as a bodhisattva in his previous lives. The puja text was recently reformatted, with hyperlinks for smooth navigation, so that individuals can easily do the core practice and any additional ones as their time allows.
A longer list of recommended practices can be found at “Practices for Merit Multiplying Days and Eclipses.” You can also find advice for merit-multiplying days in French and practice materials for merit-multiplying days in other language.
Of course, it is also good to do any of the other meritorious activities often advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for these great holy days.
In accordance with the advice of Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, Lama Zopa Rinpoche observes all the auspicious dates in the Buddhist calendar by Indian Standard time, instead of any other local time.
Pujas and Offerings on Saka Dawa Duchen
The FPMT Puja Fund is arranging an extensive array of pujas on Saka Dawa, dedicated to the swift return of our precious guru, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Rinpoche mentioned many times that he wishes for, “the pujas being sponsored and offered on each of the four Buddha days to continue forever, or for as long as the monasteries and nunneries exist.” Rinpoche has mentioned how important they are for the success of the whole organization and for FPMT to be most beneficial to all beings.
We are so honored and committed to continue this request of Rinpoche.
On Saka Dawa (June 4 this year), as part of the Tara Puja Fund, we are sponsoring two different recitations of the 100,000 Praises to Tara by over 4,000 sangha as well as recitation of the Prajnaparamita, Medicine Buddha puja, 1,000 Offerings to Buddha Namgyalma, and other pujas and practices. Offerings will be made to over ten thousand sangha and to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus as well as to the holy stupas in Nepal and the Buddha statue in Bodhgaya.
You are welcome to join in these offerings but the most important thing is to remember on the actual day that the pujas and offerings are happening and to rejoice and dedicate the merit. Rinpoche said, “that this is the best business, the best way to create the most extensive merit.”
Let’s rejoice in all of the meritorious activities happening in the FPMT and around the world on this auspicious merit-multiplying day!
Special thanks to the Liberation Prison Project for preparing this year’s Tibetan calendar which is available as a digital download. 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 and practice materials, FPMT Education Services nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
- Tagged: saka dawa
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