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Boudha Stupa, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
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.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche leaving Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, March 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
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.”
Heruka Lama Chopa puja seven days after Lama Zopa Rinpoche showed aspect passing at Kopan Monastery, April 20, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
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.
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.
Singer Lhamo Dukpa offering a song to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Bhutan, June 2016. Photo by Ven. Losang Sherab.
We are happy to share these beautiful tunes in Tibetan of two swift return prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche by the Bhutanese artist Lhamo Dukpa. These versions are for the inspiration of students.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche met singer Lhamo Dukpa in Bhutan in 2016. When she heard of Rinpoche’s passing, she offered beautiful tunes of the swift return prayers composed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Rangjung Neljorma Khandro Tseringma.
Ven. Roger Kunsang was moved by this offering and requested her to record it professionally in a studio, which was kindly sponsored in Bhutan.
We invite you to listen to these audio recordings here, or by downloading them to listen to whenever one wishes.
This audio features the tunes in Tibetan-language of A Prayer for the Swift Return of Lama Zopa Rinpoche composed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso:
This audio features the tunes in Tibetan-language of A Lamenting Wail, A Supplication for the Swift Return of the Supreme Lord of Refuge, Lama Zopa Rinpoche by Rangjung Neljorma Khandro Tseringma (p.12):
These tunes are also available as free downloadable MP3s:
- A Prayer for the Swift Return of Lama Zopa Rinpoche by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso – MP3 Download
- A Lamenting Wail, A Supplication for the Swift Return of the Supreme Lord of Refuge, Lama Zopa Rinpoche by Ranjung Neljorma Khandro Tseringma – MP3 Download
Prayers for the Swift Return of Lama Zopa Rinpoche are available for download in several languages: https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/updates-regarding-rinpoche/#swiftreturn
You can watch a video of Lhamo Dukpa recording and singing A Prayer for the Swift Return of Lama Zopa Rinpoche by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
Skilled staff and excellent teachers are ready to receive the students for these two extraordinary, residential, full-time FPMT Basic Programs! Alongside each of these BPs, an FPMT Masters Program will be running, facilitating exclusive and stimulating interaction between the students of the two in-depth programs.
Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa’s peaceful grounds.
The FPMT Basic Program becomes more interesting and beneficial the more intensively and extensively it is studied. Having sufficient time to get a good understanding of the BP texts and commentaries, with meditation, retreats, reviews and discussions included for each subject; and the final review and three-month lamrim retreat offered as part of the program is the most complete and recommended way to engage with this program. It follows Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s design and advice in detail and is a rare and wonderful chance to seriously deepen one’s study and practice.
Tranquil setting of Nalanda Monastery, France.
These are once in a decade opportunities, not to be taken for granted! All suitable students are encouraged to apply.
More information can be found on the FPMT Basic Program at Nalanda Monastery: https://nalanda-monastery.eu/basic-program/
More information can be found on the FPMT Basic Program at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa: https://www.iltk.org/en/basic-program-buddhismo/corso-residenziale/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche circumambulating the stupa at O.Sel.Ling, Spain, May 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave teachings on how to make offerings and circumambulate holy objects at the sacred stupa at Boudhanath, Nepal, during the pandemic and in a letter to students in Russia who make holy objects. We are pleased to make these teachings available in the booklet form in Create Skies of Merit by Making Offerings and Circumambulating Stupas.
This 32-page booklet explains the benefits of making offerings to and circumambulating stupas as well as how to think when making offerings and how to collect extensive merit.
Rinpoche emphasizes the importance of, first, offering to all sentient beings based on the example of making a flower offering:
“First, we make charity of this flower to every hell being, every hungry ghost, every animal—think of just the ants: scientists say there are about 13,000 different types of ants.”
Rinpoche then teaches the importance of making an offering on behalf of all sentient beings:
“When we offer on behalf of all sentient beings, it includes your father, mother, brother, sister, any friends, your enemy, anyone, including whoever has died. Doing puja for those who’ve been born in the lower realms can liberate them; they can get a higher rebirth and meet the Dharma—they get so much benefit.”
When we think this way, all sentient beings collect merit, whether they are our friends, enemies, or strangers.
Rinpoche also explains how the practice of circumambulating stupas with body, speech, and mind are done. We do not circumambulate stupas just for our own sake, but we go around the holy objects to benefit all sentient beings.
When it comes to the action of speech while doing circumambulation, Rinpoche advises not to waste time gossiping while circumambulating the holy object, but instead recite different mantras and prayers. Circumambulating with our mind means that we do it with devotion to our guru and compassion to all sentient beings as well as do visualizations that the light purifies all sentient beings.
Whenever we have an opportunity to circumambulate holy objects, it is wonderful to apply these simple yet powerful pith instructions by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in order to collect extensive merit.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche shopping for flower offerings, Boudhanath, Nepal, July 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Additional Audio and PDF Resources
This practice was composed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to create the most extensive merit possible when making any kind of offering. This is one of Rinpoche’s heart practices for the accumulation of merit.
Rinpoche gave this advice on how to collect “the most unbelievable merit” when making offerings, originally in relation to offerings to the Boudha Stupa located in Kathmandu, Nepal.
This booklet explains the benefits of offering flowers to holy objects as well as describes how to do flower offerings including the recitation of the flower offering mantra which makes flower offerings vast, transforming them into ten million or more flower offerings.
Clouds of Offerings Mantra – MP3 Download
This audio contains recitation of Clouds of Offering Mantra by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. This mantra is not only for blessing, it also has the power to multiply the offerings. There are numberless buddhas and by reciting this mantra each buddha receives skies of offerings.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche created this offering card as a welcoming and explanatory sign for anyone visiting the gardens of his house in Aptos, California, USA. Rinpoche has said that anyone can use this where there are many flower and water bowl offerings.
Padmasambhava’s Instruction on Offerings to Stupas
King Trisong Detsen requested Guru Rinpoche to give a teaching on the benefits of prostrating to, circumambulating, making offerings, and offering service to stupas. Padmasambhava gave a detailed explanation of the particular benefits and results of different types of offerings, such as the set of offerings and offerings included in the long mandala offering.
Download Create Skies of Merit by Making Offerings and Circumambulating Stupas for your own practice: https://shop.fpmt.org/stupa-offering-circumambulation-pdf.html
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.
We are pleased to share news about the Wisdom Publications release of The Swift Path: A Meditation Manual on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment by Panchen Losang Yeshe and translated by Szegee Toh into English. This book is the third title in the Wisdom Culture Series published by Wisdom Publications in association with FPMT. Under the guidance of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the series provides English-language readers with key works for the study and cultivation of the Mahayana Buddhist path, especially works of masters within the lineage of Lama Tsongkhapa and the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. “Wisdom culture,” an expression frequently used by Lama Yeshe, is a Dharma culture rooted in wisdom and compassion. The Wisdom Culture Series is intended to support this vision by transmitting the timeless wisdom of the Dharma through authoritative and accessible publications.
Origin of the Translation Project
Six years ago, Lama Zopa Rinpoche led the fifth Light of the Path retreat in North Carolina, US. During this retreat Rinpoche recommended a student, Diana Carroll, to study and practice The Swift Path by the eighteenth-century master Losang Yeshe, the Second Panchen Lama. The Swift Path was composed as a supplement to The Easy Path written by the First Panchen Lama, Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, who was tutor to the Fifth Dalai Lama. The Swift Path is a meditation manual on the lamrim, or stages of the path to enlightenment, and is included in the set of texts known as the “Eight Great Lamrims”.
As there was no translation of this text in English, Diana Carroll contacted FPMT International Office and offered to sponsor the translation with the funds that she had received due to the kindness of her late father, George Carroll. FPMT Education Services approached Szegee Toh about the project. Szegee is a graduate from the FPMT Masters Program class of 2004, and has since served as interpreter and teaching assistant in the FPMT Masters Programs held at Istituto Lama Tsong Khapa, Italy, as well as Nalanda Monastery, France. Several of her text translations are used in the FPMT study programs.
We are delighted that Szegee’s precise and elegant translation is now available. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has recommended this lamrim text to a number of students and it is very useful to use as a meditation manual.
You can order The Swift Path from Wisdom Publications: https://wisdomexperience.org/product/the-swift-path/
Rinpoche blessing and reciting mantras for two goats that had just been saved from the butcher and live at Animal Liberation Sanctuary, Khachoe Ghakyil Ling (Kopan Nunnery), July 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche compiled a list of mantras and buddhas’ names that are powerful for benefiting animals. We are pleased to make this available in booklet form in Wish-fulfillment for all Animals: Their Happiness and
Rinpoche requested, “These things are so easy to do and have great meaning, and the advice has pure reference, so the intelligent ones should do the practice.”
We also offer the following audio resources:
Recitations for Animals: This audio contains recitations by Lama Zopa Rinpoche suitable for animals to hear throughout their lives – when they are in good health, or when they are sick or dying. Hearing each mantra and text creates an imprint and blessing in the mind that brings the result of good rebirths, liberation from samsara, and ultimately, full enlightenment. Lama Zopa Rinpoche advises that playing them for any animal will bring immense benefit.
The Five Powerful Mantras for Liberating Sentient Beings from the Lower Realms: This album contains Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s oral transmission (*lung) of the five powerful mantras: the Kunrig Mantra, the Stainless Pinnacle Essence Mantra, the Lotus Pinnacle of Amoghapasha Mantra, the Namgyalma mantras (long and short), and the Buddha Mitrugpa Mantra.
Animal blessing, Ganden Tendar Ling, Moscow, Russia, May 2017. Photo by Renat Alyaudinov.
Shakyamuni Buddha turning the wheel of Dharma for the first time, Land of Medicine Buddha, Wish Fulfilling Temple mural, Soquel, California, USA.
FPMT is now present in 36 countries and in order to meet the study and practice needs of non-English speaking FPMT students, many practice resources, texts, study programs, and teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche are now translated by volunteers. We wanted to take the opportunity to share some of the resources currently available.
FPMT Materials
Many essential FPMT study and practice materials are available in various languages.
Audio and Video
Due to the kindness and hard work of some dedicated nuns and translators, FPMT is also able to offer recorded teachings in both audio and video in multiple languages. While almost all teachings are translated into Italian and Spanish, there are also many teachings available in French, Russian, and Chinese. Several teachings have also been translated into Portuguese, Indonesian and German. Tibetans will find teachings in a dedicated section on our website.
The best way to access these videos is via the FPMT Rinpoche Available Now page. Each teaching event detail page has tabs for the respective language. You can also search tags to find all pages which have various language videos in them, for example, “fpmt.org/tag/italian-videos” for Italian, “fpmt.org/tag/french-videos” for French, etc.
You can also subscribe directly to YouTube on the following channels:
Suscribirse al canal de YouTube FPMT Español y activar notificaciones para recibir avisos cuando se suba un nuevo video.
Iscriversi al canale YouTube FPMT Italiano per essere avvisati quando vengono caricati nuovi video.
Abonnez-vous à la chaîne YouTube FPMT Français pour être informé de la mise en ligne de nouvelles vidéos.
Inscreva-se no canal YouTube FPMT Portuguese e ative notificações para ser avisado de todos os novos vídeos.
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.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche leading incense puja on Kopan Hill on the third day of Losar, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
The Fifteen Days of Miracles—from the first day of the Tibetan new year (Losar, February 21, 2023) until the fifteenth (March 7, 2023)—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, which is the actual day of Chotrul Duchen.
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. This year there will be a Monlam Chenmo at a monastery in Swayambhu which Kopan Sangha will be attending.
All fifteen days are merit multiplying days, when the merit of virtuous actions performed on these days is multiplied by 100 million, according to the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.
Advice Specifically for Losar, the Anniversary of Lama Yeshe’s Passing Away
Lama Yeshe, Switzerland, 1978. Photo by Ueli Minder, courtesy of the 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.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche translated and commented on a short Tibetan text, Advice for the Anniversary of the Guru’s Passing Away, that explains the importance of making offerings on the anniversary of the passing away of one’s guru. It sets out the benefits of making offerings, how to make the offerings with six remembrances, and how to offer and dedicate the roots of virtue collected.
Since one of the very best ways to make offerings to the guru is to offer extensive Lama Chopa with tsog, Lama Zopa Rinpoche requests FPMT centers to do this practice on Losar in honor of the anniversary of Lama Yeshe’s passing away. Doing so brings about the greatest purification of negative karma and collects the most incredible merit.
This Losar marks thirty-nine years since the passing away of Lama Yeshe. Rinpoche also recommends that centers host annual events 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.
The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive has made available the 1984 edition of Wisdom Magazine (the precursor of Mandala magazine), which was a tribute to Lama Yeshe published shortly after his passing.
Advice for the Fifteen Days of Miracles
Students can find Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for merit multiplying days, including the Fifteen Days of Miracles, collected online. (Advice for merit multiplying days can also be found in French.)
(Rinpoche offers additional advice for FPMT centers celebrating special days throughout the year in the Affiliates Area.)
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.
Please keep in mind: 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.
Creating Merit during the Fifteen Days of Miracles
Sangha offering puja at Kopan Monastery, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
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, the following pujas and offerings will be made by ten thousand Sangha, who are undertaking the practices and dedicating them to all the FPMT centers, projects, and services; all students, volunteers; those who offer service to the FPMT organization in any way; and to all beings:
- Gyudmed Tantric College will recite the Prajnaparamita (three versions)
- Gyuto Tantric College will offer Namgyäl Tong Chö and Zangcho
- Sera Je and Mey monasteries will offer Druk Chu Ma, Namgyäl Tong Chö, and Zangcho
- Gaden Jangtse and Shartse Monastery will offer Medicine Buddha puja, Druk Chu Ma, and Zangcho
- Drepung Gomang, Loseling Monastery will offer Namgyäl Tsechog puja, Druk Chu Ma, and Zangcho
In addition, the following auspicious activities are sponsored:
- Offerings are made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to Sangha in FPMT international Sangha communities.
- Robes are offered to the Buddha statue in Bodhgaya, and new parasols and whitewash are offered to Bouddha and Swayambhu stupas.
- The following sutras are printed: Golden Light Sutra, Arya Sanghata Sutra, Vajra Cutter Sutra, Sutra of Great Liberation and Amitayus Long Life Sutra.
- Over 1,500 animals are liberated
- Tsa-tsas and stupas are made, filled, and consecrated
Please take a moment to rejoice in all these incredible practices and offerings that have been arranged. You can also participate in any of these pujas and offerings by contributing any amount.
Liberation 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 and practice materials, FPMT Education Services nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Kopan monks making light offerings on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, December 10, 2020, Kopan Monastery. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Ganden Ngamchoe, literally “Ganden Offering of the Twenty-Fifth Day,” is also known as Lama Tsongkhapa Day. It is a celebration of the anniversary of the parinirvana of Lama Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), the founder of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. This auspicious and holy day is celebrated on the twenty-fifth day of the tenth month of the Tibetan calendar, which is December 18 this year.
Thangka of Lama Tsongkhapa.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche encourages FPMT students to engage in a variety of practices on Ganden Ngamchoe to celebrate and create merit, including making light offerings. Rinpoche has advised, “Light offering is very important, in particular, by making light offerings you are able to dispel the darkness of ignorance and develop Dharma wisdom. Any light offering can dispel darkness, it doesn’t have to be just a butter lamp. You can offer electric lights and even the sun.”
Many FPMT centers are offering celebrations on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, both on site and online. 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.
Rinpoche has also given detailed advice about practices to do at FPMT centers, projects, and services. Please see the page “Practices for Ganden Ngamchoe, Lama Tsongkhapa Day” for details on these practices. Here are some of the prayers and practices recommended by Rinpoche for a celebration of Lama Tsongkhapa Day, which can also be done by students as they are able:
English
- 1000 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
Tibetan
- The Thousand Offerings to Lama Tsongkhapa
- Päl dän sa sum ma (The Glorious One of the Three Worlds)
- Lama Tsongkhapa’s Secret Biography
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.
*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.
You can read more about Lama Tsongkhapa Day and find a full catalogue of FPMT prayers, practices, and advice materials on FPMT.org.
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 great yogi Thangtong Gyalpo, a thangka in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s house, Aptos, California, US.
As many communities worldwide are entering flu season, we wanted to share some practice materials specific to supporting and protecting our health. Here are some available for download through the Foundation Store:
- The Dharani of the Goddess Parnashavari: Parnashavari, or Loma Gyonma in Tibetan, is a goddess of the kriya tantra class whose practice protects from contagious diseases. The deity is relied on to help dispel epidemics. The recitation of this dharani-mantra, together with the short praise and dedication, is simple way to engage in Parnashavari’s practice, for the benefit of oneself and others.
- Loma Gyonma Mantra (audio): This audio features Geshe Gelek Chodha, resident teacher at Kadampa Center, reciting Loma Gyonma (Parnashavari) mantra.
- Loma Gyonma Meditation: The meditation of the Yellow Leaf-Wearing Female Solitary Ascetic (Parnashavari), helps pacify diseases.
- The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: The Blessed Prayer Known as “Liberating Sakya from Disease”: Lama Zopa Rinpoche commented on this practice, “One time in Tibet, an epidemic disease happened in Sakya and so many people died. Then the Bonpos and tantric practitioners, ngagpas, did many pujas but nothing helped. So then, I guess, he made prayers to stop all this epidemic disease in Sakya. Then everything completely stopped after he did this prayer. So this prayer is also good for this epidemic disease [Covid-19] now to stop it. It is good to recite it to stop it in the world.”
- Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo’s Prayers (audio): This album by Lama Zopa Rinpoche features the oral transmission of several of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo’s prayers. Thangtong Gyalpo (1385 – 1464) was not just a great yogi, but a skilled engineer and artist, famous for helping the people of Tibet in very practical ways. He is said to have built 58 iron bridges, 60 wooden bridges, 118 ferry crossings, 120 assembly halls and temples, 111 stupas, and many hundreds of large and small statues, as well as creating innumerable paintings.
- Vajrapani Hayagriva Garuda: The practice of the Three-fold Wrathful One for protection.
- The Arya Wisdom Mantra of Six Syllables: From the text: “The Destroyer Qualified Gone-Beyond One said to the Venerable Ananda: The wisdom mantra of six syllables protects, completely saves, completely protects, and completely guards from being stricken by diseases of the brain, diseases of the eyes, diseases of the ears, diseases of the teeth, diseases of the nose, diseases of the tongue, diseases of the heart, diseases of the stomach, diseases of the back, diseases of the ribs, diseases of the urinary system, diseases of the calves, diseases of the feet, diseases of the limbs, diseases of the secondary limbs, indigestion, swelling, obstructions of the womb; sicknesses that arise from wind, that arise from bile, that arise from phlegm, and those that arise from a combination of these; extremely serious contagious diseases; contagious diseases of one day, two days, three days, and four days; momentary contagious diseases; contagious diseases of the day, and contagious diseases of the night.”
- We also would like to direct students to Medicine Buddha practices and other resources related to healing.
The practices listed above are not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment from a doctor or health care professional. Always contact your health care professional regarding any medical advice.
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