The News Roundup is a digest of short community highlights from FPMT centers and individuals around the world, as part of our ongoing effort to nourish the “family feeling” and bring back the “News Around the World”  and “News in Brief” sections previously featured in the print Mandala magazine that so many of us have missed! This list of stories is not exhaustive, —just a sample of all the great activities happening in the FPMT family worldwide. Please also stay tuned for our upcoming roundup of beneficial activities around the world undertaken on Lhabab Duchen (November 1) which we will share soon. 

We hope that reading these highlights will inspire you to rejoice in the family feeling and good works happening in our global FPMT community!  If you would like to share photos or details from your center, we would be happy to include them in the upcoming edition.

Holy Objects | Prayers & Practices | Milestones | Compassion in Action | Interfaith | Community | International FPMT Family

Holy Objects

Artist Sonam restoring holy statues at O.Sel.Ling Centro de Retiros. Photo courtesy of the O.Sel.Ling Centro de Retiros Facebook page.

(Spain) O.Sel.Ling Centro de Retiros is hosting the artist Sonam, who has come from Nalanda Monastery in France to restore several of the statues in the gompa! We rejoice in this offering of skill to the holy objects of O.Sel.Ling.

(US) Kadampa Center is rejoicing in the work being done on its stupa! Thanks to many volunteers, as well as artist Jampal Lama and project lead Trina Smith, the center has almost completed the repainting of this beautiful and sacred object. 

(US) We rejoice with Vajrapani Institute in celebrating forty years of its beautiful Enlightenment Stupa. We are grateful to everyone who has helped bring stupas around the world to life, contributing to the realization of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Vision!

(US) At Shantideva Center last summer, Geshe Tenley noticed that some of the statues’ faces were worn or damaged and cautioned that it was not auspicious to let them stay that way. The center was fortunate to have an experienced Tibetan artist, Sonam Rinzin, who used real gold to restore the faces of the altar’s large central Buddha and several of the smaller ones. In addition, he opened the eyes of a couple of other statues. Congratulations to Shantideva Center on the completed restoration! 

Map showing the locations where Rinpoche’s relics are enshrined in French Polynesia. Photo courtesy of the Naropa Meditation Center Facebook page.

(French Polynesia) The Naropa Meditation Center on October 8 participated in the global Black Guru Rinpoche Statues Project, an initiative of Tibetan Buddhism, initially founded by Kathok Moktsa Rinpoche, to contribute to eradicating disasters, resolving conflicts, and promoting peace in the world. Here is the map of the sites where Rinpoche’s relics are enshrined in French Polynesia. These relics contain relics, texts, amrita pills, and more. We rejoice with Naropa Meditation Center and everyone who participated in this magnificent project in French Polynesia and around the globe.

Prayers & Practice

Long-life puja for Geshe Doga. Photo courtesy of the Tara Institute Facebook page.

(Australia) Tara Institute has been offering a puja of long life for Geshe Doga since 1998. The tradition began following a request for advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche when Geshe-la was in the hospital experiencing back and leg pain. Rinpoche advised that there were no obstacles to Geshela’s health, but recommended that Tara Institute offer the Sixteen Arhats Puja five times, with more than 500 sets of offerings.  This year, thirty-nine sangha members and more than 200 people gathered for this auspicious occasion. In preparation for the puja, Tara Institute invited students to undertake the White Tara sadhana and mantra recitation over the six weeks leading up to the occasion. In all, twenty-six students participated, completing an extraordinary 815,960 mantra recitations. 

One-day Chenrezig retreat led by Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi at Amitabha Buddhist Centre. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre’s Facebook page.

(Singapore) Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in led two special practices in October. On October 17, he enabled participants to deepen their Dharma practice and cultivate greater compassion through the blessings of Chenrezig. The one-day retreat consisted of a Chenrezig sadhana practice, guided meditations, and mantra recitations. On October 24–25, during the Medicine Buddha Healing Festival at the center, Khen Rinpoche led long pujas together with the Sangha from Kopan Monastery, who arrived earlier to prepare for the weekend. On Saturday, participants offered a Medicine Buddha puja with 1,000 offerings, followed by a White Mahakala puja, and on Sunday a White Umbrella Deity puja. Students gathered to pray for peace, their loved ones, and all sentient beings.

(India) Tushita Meditation Centre was honored and delighted that His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche accepted the request to give the Vajrasattva Jenang on October 22. We rejoice with the Tushita Meditation Centre and everyone who received this precious transmission.

(India) The entire monastic community of the Sera Jey Monastery has united to mark the anniversary of a historic milestone for Tibet and global peace: on October 17, 2007, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was honored with the United States Congressional Gold Medal. In a joint statement, the Abbot, former Abbots, Tulkus, Chief Disciplinary Master, Chant Master, Administration, Heads of Departments, and Khangtsens, alongside the member monks, conveyed their collective joy on this memorable occasion. The prestigious medal was bestowed in deep recognition of the Dalai Lama’s outstanding and enduring contributions to peace, non-violence, human rights, and interfaith understanding, as well as his unwavering leadership in promoting democracy, freedom, and peace for the Tibetan people. For the Sera Jey community, the anniversary serves as a profound moment to reflect on His Holiness’s lifelong message of universal responsibility and compassion, which continues to inspire millions across the globe.

(Canada) Lama Yeshe Ling Centre continues its commitment to peace in our world by reciting the Sutra of Golden Light on the first Saturday of every month. On Saturday, October 3, students met on Zoom once again, helping to fulfill the wishes of Lama Zopa Rinpoche to create the causes for peace in our world and in our own lives. In Australia, too, the Tara Institute’s students are continuing their Friday evening group recitations of the sutra, in person and online, and have now reached a total of 3,116 recitations. 

Milestones

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama granted an audience to Australian FPMT students and Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim. Photo courtesy of Tibet.Net’s Facebook page.

(India) On October 14, His Holiness the Dalai Lama welcomed more than 280 devotees at his residence in Dharamshala, including a pilgrimage group of around 165 organized by Chenrezig Institute in Australia. Many members of FPMT centers in Australia were present, along with Chenrezig Institute’s resident teacher, Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim; board member, Calvin Yu, Miffi Maxmillion, SPC of Langri Tangpa Centre; and Iwona, Alex, and Jim from Buddha House. During the audience, Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim offered His Holiness 135 long-life Lama Tsongkhapa statues, along with prayers for his long and healthy life. You are welcome to watch the video here.

(Australia) Hayagriva Buddhist Centre has announced that Geshe Ngawang Rabga, a lharampa geshe (the highest grade) of Sera Jey Monastery and former resident geshe at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, will join the center as its new resident geshe. We rejoice with Hayagriva Buddhist Centre in welcoming Geshe Ngawang Rabga! 

(Australia) Hayagriva Buddhist Centre member Wayne Tinlin is volunteering at Project 108, together with some 40,000 other volunteers, to raise 108 Stupas of Enlightenment in a single day in Bhutan. 

(Australia) François Schick is continuing his Buddhist pilgrimage on the new Stupa Walk, an 808-mile (1,300-kilometer) route from the Australian Buddhist Vihara in Katoomba, one of Australia’s first established Buddhist monasteries, to the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, which he expects to reach by mid-December.

(Australia) Congratulations to Tara Institute, which, thanks to generous sponsors, has made the teachings given by Venerable Geshe Doga at Tara Institute in 1988 available once again,  releasing a new booklet featuring the teachings on the Ganden Lha Gyama Commentary and Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, edited and compiled by Mark Fernandes, with the Tibetan source material translated by Sandup Tsering. The booklet was launched on October 10, giving students the opportunity to study and practice this profound material.

(France) Congratulations to Nalanda Monastery for obtaining approval for its renovation project of the barn at the retreat center, Maitreya Pure Land, to create a space for hosting group or solitary retreats at reasonable cost. They plan to begin the renovation in 2027 and complete the work before the end of 2028.

(Spain) Congratulations to Tekchen Chöeling Center! This month marks one year since the center moved. A year of work, perseverance, and joy; also, of course, of overcoming obstacles.  The center looks forward to continuing growing and contributing to the world as a place of personal growth, peace, understanding, and love, so necessary in these times. Thank you to Tekchen Chöeling Center and to all the FPMT centers in the world for your incredible efforts to benefit all!

Compassion in Action

Animal rescue organized by FPMT Mongolia. Photo courtesy of FPMT Mongolia’s Facebook page.

(Mongolia) On October 6, the Great Khulna Preservation Center, thanks to the donations received for its animal rescue efforts, rescued 18 more sheep, bringing the total number of sheep to 120. In accordance with the vision of Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Mongolia, all these aged sheep, goats, horses, and cows will be herded and fed until the end of this generation, and all donations are dedicated solely to this cause. We deeply rejoice in the merit of this animal rescue effort!

(Australia) Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha Hospice on October 18 presented the South Australia Death Festival, a warm, community-led gathering about what it means to be human. For one day, it opened a space to explore death, dying, grief, and remembrance with honesty, creativity, and compassion. We rejoice in this compassionate space for the whole community.

(UK)  Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) this autumn announced the launch of A Mindful Heart, a comprehensive twelve-session downloadable course designed specifically for facilitators, teachers, session leaders, and anyone who brings groups together in their community. Inspired by Pam Cayton’s Creating Compassionate Cultures program, this toolkit equips educators, community leaders, and mindfulness teachers to guide transformative journeys of inner growth. We look forward to seeing how these tools help create safe, trusting spaces for genuine connection in our communities.

Interfaith

Members of the Nelson Tasman Interfaith Council, the Nelson-Tasman Bahá’í, Latter-day Saints, and Zen Buddhist communities, and the sangha of Chandrakirti Meditation Centre gather for an interfaith event. Photo courtesy of Chandrakirti Meditation Centre’s Facebook page.

(New Zealand) Chandrakirti Meditation Centre on October 17 held an interfaith gathering and celebration to come together in prayer, song, and shared intention to celebrate our common humanity, and to extend compassion, healing, and peace to all beings and to the world. They were joined by the Nelson Tasman Interfaith Council and members of the Nelson-Tasman Bahá’í, Latter-day Saints, and Zen Buddhist communities. The center is very grateful to have shared this celebration with everyone who attended!

“Buddhist Relics and Cultural Relics Exhibition and Blessing Ceremony” at Taichung Guangyang Dazang Temple. Photo courtesy of Shakyamuni Buddha Center’s Facebook page.

(Taiwan) Shakyamuni Buddha Center monks on October 5, joined the Dhananjayagupta, Nibbana monks at the Taichung Guangyang Dazang Temple for the “Buddhist Relics and Cultural Relics Exhibition and Blessing Ceremony.” We rejoice in this shared celebration of the Buddha’s relics.

Phara Khenchen Rinpoche and representatives of the Land of Joy volunteer team meet with Theravada monks at Aruna Ratanagiri (Harnham Buddhist Monastery). Photo courtesy of the Land of Joy Facebook page.

(UK) Phara Khenchen Rinpoche and representatives of the Land of Joy volunteers met on October 9 with the Theravada monks of Aruna Ratanagiri (Harnham Buddhist Monastery), a monastery in the Thai Forest tradition and part of the lineage of Ajahn Chah. Visits like this are a reminder that the Buddha’s teachings flow through many streams. Different traditions share the same aspiration to wisdom and compassion.

Community

Community visit to the Asian Civilisations Museum with Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, organized by Amitabha Buddhist Centre. Photo courtesy of the Amitabha Buddhist Centre Facebook page.

(Singapore) Amitabha Buddhist Centre organized a visit to the Asian Civilisations Museum with Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi on October 4, focused on the Journey to the Sacred Caves of Dunhuang: Buddhism and the Silk Road exhibition. A unique community opportunity to learn more about Buddhist history, art, and the spread of Buddhism across Asia.

(Malaysia) Losang Dragpa Centre started on October 4 a regular lamrim study group to study and reflect on the teachings of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche compiled in the book Lamrim Year: Making Life Meaningful Day by Day. We rejoice that they are helping to fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes wishes: “The lamrim contains everything we need to take us all the way to the ultimate state of enlightenment.” 

(Romania) White Mahakala Study Group volunteers, after completing the stupa, are working hard on the final mile, building the gates of the land and the walls in the attic for the first visit to Romania of His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche. A big thank you to all the donors, supporters, and volunteers!

(US) Thubten Kunga Ling Center offered a new one-day seminar, “Volunteer Service,” based on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast vision of cultivating “service as practice”. The volunteers explored with Venerable Kalden how offering service can benefit ourselves, others, and ultimately the wider world. We rejoice in all the people interested in offering service as part of their practice!

(US) Land of Medicine Buddha just finished the series “Parenting with Compassion and Wisdom,” led by Pam Cayton and following the framework developed over 35 years at Tara Redwood School inspired by Lama Thubten Yeshe’s vision of Universal Education, based on ancient wisdom and contemporary science. We rejoice with all the parents and kids who took part!

International FPMT Family 

GMR Group, Dharamsala, India, October 2026. Photo courtesy of the Global Mani Retreat Group.

(International) On October 17, FPMT Global Mani Retreat (GMR) Coordinator Selina Foong and members of the GMR team had the privilege of meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama to offer him 100 Buddha statues. We are grateful to the entire GMR team led by Selina Foong for their tremendous efforts in organizing this global online retreat. 

October 25, Khandro Tseringma Rinpoche offered a major teaching for the Global Mani Retreat (GMR) on “How to Generate Chenrezig in Daily Life.”

On Sunday, October 25, Khandro Tseringma Rinpoche offered a major teaching on “How to Generate Chenrezig in Daily Life.” The Global Mani Retreat concluded on Sunday, November 1, following five months of practice together. A closing session celebrating this shared effort will be held on Saturday, November 7, with His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche kindly joining us for the occasion. The session will also include the announcement of the total number of mantras collectively accumulated during the retreat.  Discover more about the Global Mani Retreat.

We Want to Hear Your Story! 

These highlights are sourced from the social media, newsletters, annual reports, websites, and WhatsApp groups of FPMT centers, projects, and services. If you would like to share your news and highlights with the wider FPMT family, we would be so happy to hear from you! 

In addition to these highlights, please also read longer community news stories and news from around the world!

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.

In 1974, Tom and Kathy Vichta helped organize the first lamrim course held in the West, at Diamond Valley in Queensland. From that course came Chenrezig Institute, bringing Tibetan Buddhism to Australia and becoming the first FPMT Center, now celebrating fifty-two years of service. As a continuation of our yearlong celebration of the FPMT organization turning fifty in December 2025, we are delighted to share the story of Tom and Kathy Vichta, one of the first couples among the early students of FPMT! We rejoice in Tom and Kathy’s lifelong service and share their story here, in Kathy’s own words.

Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Tom Vichta, Kathy Vichta, and baby Goodie. Yeshe Khadro and Ann McNeil also appear in the photos. Mooloolaba, Australia, 1974. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Kathy, Tom, and Baby Goodie on Their Road to Kopan

Lama Yeshe used to say that we should really be grateful to the Chinese because they were the condition for Tibetan Buddhism to leave its isolation in Tibet and spread far and wide, even to this remote area of Australia. An interesting thought and one that could be discussed for a long time. But really, I think the best thing for me to talk about is my own experience of how Buddhism, or more specifically the Tibetan Buddhism taught by my teachers, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was planted and nourished outside India and Nepal, the countries the Tibetan refugees had, for the most part, fled to from 1959 onwards.

In late 1969, my husband Tom and I escaped from Melbourne and its busy city life for a more natural country life. We found a run-down property in Diamond Valley on the Mooloolah River, where we set ourselves up to grow food, build a house, and raise a family. Many people visited wanting to do the same thing, but for most it was impossible because of the land prices, and they went home disappointed. Tom and a friend found 140 acres (about 57 hectares) of land in Yandina (a town nearby), and were able to divide it into fourteen different sized plots and sell it to fourteen happy people at $100 per acre — thus Starlight Community was born and more than fifty years later it is still running.

Two friends, Nick Ribush and Marie Obst (later Ven. Yeshe Khadro), used to visit from Brisbane on weekends, and one day Nick and Tom went off in their beach buggies through the bush and ended up at a lovely property with a view to the sea. They thought this would be a good place to try the same process that had worked so well at Starlight Community. A farmer walked by, who just happened to own the land, which was 160 acres (about 65 hectares), and when they asked if he wanted to sell it and, if so, how much he’d like for it, it turned out they had enough to buy it, together… and a couple of days later they did. The land didn’t turn out to be quite as easy to divide in the same way as Tom had been able to do in Yandina, and soon Nick and Marie were planning an overseas trip, which would eventually take them through Indonesia and Thailand to Nepal and Kopan Monastery. That was in 1972; we had a young baby, Goodie, and life was very full and happy.

Third Kopan Meditation Course Participants. Nepal. December 1972. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

So… Nick and Marie arrived at Kopan just in time for the third course (November 1972) that two amazing Tibetan Lamas had started to offer to Western students, and decided to stay. During that course Nick began writing enthusiastic letters to friends in Australia, telling them they must come immediately to Nepal — it was the most important thing they could do! We received our letter in Sydney as we were travelling south in our Kombi with baby Goodie, and, quite frankly, it seemed there was no choice — Nick was persuasive, but also it felt as if this was fate… it was something we were supposed to do. Tom had been in Kathmandu in about 1966–67 and already felt some affinity with the Tibetan monks he saw there.

We headed to Canberra, had the baby added to our passports, and planned how to get to Nepal, the cheapest route being via Indonesia, Thailand, and India, with a side trip to Nepal from there. The journey was not easy. Goodie turned one in Indonesia, and I managed to pick up bacterial dysentery along the way, but we made it into Kathmandu — and amazingly ran into friends from Melbourne that first day. Nick’s letters had brought about twelve friends and his lovely mother, Beatrice Ribush, to Nepal to do the next course at Kopan, in April 1973.

I personally had no plan to attend the course  — I had a baby to care for, after all — and really no interest in taking on a spiritual path; Tom had always been interested in spiritual questions and had investigated Buddhism. I set myself up for a month near Boudhanath stupa in a house Max Matthews had lived in, planning to visit Kopan from time to time and have a peaceful month in relative comfort. Almost immediately, there was some kind of currency crisis, and the Nepalese banks stopped changing Australian dollars — and that was all we had! The only place I could afford to stay and eat was Kopan Monastery, where they accepted our Australian money. So, I headed up to ask for help, and it was as if they knew I was coming. Tom had found a little house (actually an upstairs room above where the animals were kept in a little mud-brick house belonging to a Nepalese family). Another lady at Kopan had a little boy about the same age as Goodie, and she had already arranged a Nepali babysitter, so… I had no excuse not to attend the course (although I was excused from the 4:30 a.m. precept sessions).

Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught long sessions about lamrim twice a day, and the approximately 180 students were pretty supportive for the most part, but Kopan was hard going for a Western girl with a baby, no running water, no electricity, and food that was probably quite good, but not suitable for a feeding mother with a colicky child. Goodie was quite ill twice with gastroenteritis, and when I eventually took her down to the hospital outside Kathmandu, I had so little money I had to choose between staying to wait for her tests, or getting transport back to Kopan. That evening I sat in the little library room at Kopan feeling quite miserable, but a tap on the door revealed Lama Yeshe peering in, asking if he could help. I cried and told him what was going on, and he cuddled Goodie and told me to just give her black tea for a couple of days and let her eat some biscuits he blessed and gave me — simple sugar tea biscuits…Of course, Goodie was better almost immediately. Goodie met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the age of one at Kopan and remained quite close with them when she was small. There is a lovely story Lama Yeshe told (and then it was retold many times, much to my daughter’s embarrassment). He said that one day, when they were eating lunch together, Goodie interrupted Lama to tell him not to speak with his mouth full, that she couldn’t understand him and she could see the food in his mouth. Lama thought this was fabulous: a little child (I think she was three at the time) teaching him something that was actually a vinaya instruction.

Soon I went back to attending Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings, and with Lama Yeshe’s blessing, the teachings came alive for me! I remember we were hearing about the qualities of the Buddha, and I really saw that for me Lama Yeshe WAS a Buddha.

So, we finished the one-month course, took refuge with Lama Yeshe and received our Buddhist names, and we attended our first initiation without knowing much about what was going on, except that it had something to do with Chenrezig…

Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche arriving at Maroochydore airport, welcomed by Tom and Kathy Vichta. Queensland, Australia, 1974. Photo by Wendy Hobbs. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Bringing the Dharma to Australia: Peace, Love, and the Lamas’ Teachings by the River

Tom Vichta at Chenrezig Institute, August 1976. Photo courtesy of Chenrezig Institute.

We travelled a little more and went home exhausted, but wanting to continue to follow the path we had found. Tom, in particular, wanted to learn more and to see whether this Eastern wisdom would relate to the Western lifestyle. He returned to Nepal alone for the fifth course in November 1973 and really got into it.

After the course, Lama Yeshe sent him off to Tushita Meditation Center in Dharamsala for a retreat in his own cabin there, and then he travelled to Bodhgaya to meet up with the group coming from Kopan for teachings and Kalachakra Initiation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It became very important to Tom to check whether these Buddhist teachings would be applicable in Western life. It was during those special days in Bodhgaya that Tom asked Lama Yeshe to come to Australia and was quite surprised when Lama Yeshe immediately said, “Give me a ticket, dear, and I’ll come!”

Lama Yeshe arriving at Maroochydore airport, welcomed by Kathy Vichta. Queensland, Australia, 1974. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

I hadn’t heard from Tom for ages, but then, in mid-January, I received a phone call at the friend’s place where I was staying in Brisbane — an excited call from Varanasi. Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche were coming to Australia in August 1974, and we were to organise a Kopan-style meditation course in September!

Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1975. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

We lived on a farm in the bush five miles (about eight kilometers) from the nearest very small town (with a river that often flooded our road, keeping us in or out). We had electricity, but of course there were no computers in those days, no emails… and we had no phone and quite frankly no money. Tom had sold our second car to be able to go back to Kopan the second time. We had to go to the local post office to receive or make a phone call. And yet, once Tom arrived home, we started planning. Across the river from our farm was a lovely big flat paddock next to a beautiful clear river — cow pasture, quite lush and green. We called it Magic Valley (because lots of magic mushrooms grew there). Tom approached the local family who leased it from a timber company to run their cattle there, and asked if we could use it for a month. Amazingly, with a few instructions about leaving it the way we found it, they agreed!

The circus tent, later the gompa, hired at Diamond Valley. The lamas taught their first retreat in Australia at Diamond Valley in southeast Queensland, August 1974. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

It was the decade of pop festivals, and really the plans started that way. We built simple cabins for Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the hill. We hired a huge circus tent — big enough to hold two hundred people or more — and another, smaller army tent to use as a field kitchen, and made arrangements for providing vegetarian meals for up to 200 people, grinding our own soy coffee and having a local baker provide hundreds of healthy rolls a day. The portable toilets of the ’70s were somewhat more primitive than today’s portaloos, but these were hired and placed in a row in the valley, as well as a tin shed which served as office and shop (and my sleeping quarters from time to time). There was no power on the site and everyone brought (or even built) their own accommodation. We truly had no experience and very little money and yet somehow it came together.

Ven. Yeshe Khadro came ahead early and helped us get ready, especially to prepare the text which Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Nick Ribush had put together for Kopan courses and that we printed for the people coming to Diamond Valley using the ‘Roneo Machine’ at the local school.

The kitchen/dining area, Chenrezig Institute, Australia 1975. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Without a phone or social media or much advertising, somehow the word got out, and by the end of August, around two hundred people made their way to Diamond Valley to camp in the bush, wash in the river and sit in a tent listening to teachings that most of them knew nothing about for a whole month! People volunteered to help cook and clean, and one amazing man even came every day with his four-wheel drive and trailer, to remove the “buckets” from the toilets! So incredibly kind! After a quick trip to the US and some time in Melbourne, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche finally landed in the tiny Maroochydore airport in Queensland at the end of August 1974, with a tall Canadian nun called Ann McNeil, in time to start the first–ever lamrim course in the West, in Diamond Valley, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. They were met by people who had come early to help with the preparations, a group that included people who are still involved today, like Colin Crosbie (a previous director who is still living at the Institute and currently chairs the executive committee), Krissie and Garrey Foulkes (another previous director), and Elli and Lindsay Pratt (yet another previous director who lives nearby). They were greeted at the valley by others, many of whom had met them at Kopan and were to go on to open centers in other parts of Australia.

Lama Yeshe at Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1975. Photo courtesy of Chenrezig Institute.

After a few frantic, incredibly busy days, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche settled into the rather primitive rooms that had been built for them on the hillside, the kitchen started providing nourishing meals, and we all settled into many hours of teachings and meditations in the tent.

Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Tom Vichta, Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1974. Photo of Wendy Hobbs. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche would teach lamrim from the text that had been prepared, The Wishfulfilling Golden Sun, twice a day, and Anila Ann McNeil would lead discussions and meditations. Then, when people were feeling a little overwhelmed — like they couldn’t take any more — Lama Yeshe would come to give a special talk and have us all in stitches, inspired and happy, and able to go on!

I found it all very full-on, with a two–year-old at my feet, and begged my mother for help. She very kindly came up from Melbourne to look after Goodie for over two weeks, bearing the primitive living remarkably well. A British monk, Phra Khantipalo, who had spent twelve years in Thailand, was staying with us, and it was quite an advantage for him to be able to drop in for a cuppa and explain a little about Buddhism to my Presbyterian Scottish mother. She loved the lamas, of course, especially Lama Yeshe, but found them quite difficult to comprehend. Even Tom’s mother dropped in with a partner, and they parked their caravan in the valley for a few days — and were similarly delighted by dear Lama.

Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Yeshe Khadro and Ann McNeil, blessing the prayer-flag pole, Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1976. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Moving Forward: Building the First FPMT Center 

Construction of the gompa at Chenrezig Institute, 1975. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

About two–thirds of the way through the course, Ann McNeil called a big meeting in the tent to see what people wanted to do after the course. A great number said they really wanted to continue to learn and practise what Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche had been offering them so generously; they wanted something to continue after Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche had left. Three pieces of land were suggested — our own farm in Diamond Valley, a property near Maleny, and the 160 acres (about 65 hectares) in Eudlo that Tom and Nick had found in 1972. Money was pledged and we started to think in earnest about how to move forwards. Lama Yeshe was quite definite that it would not be on our farm — that was our home, and the Institute would be HIS! He checked carefully with one of His Holiness’s tutors, Trijang Rinpoche. Then Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited the Eudlo land that Tom and I (and Nick and Ven. Yeshe Khadro) had offered. At that stage it was an unused dairy farm, with no access or facilities but a great view of the sea. Tom was feeling very uncomfortable that this was not such an appropriate place, but Lama Yeshe noticed his discomfort and, with a big hug, assured him it was absolutely perfect.

Lamas and students walking to the land, Eudlo. Australia, 1974. Photo Courtesy of Kathy Vichta.

At the end of the course, in September 1974, students walked a few kilometers along the river and up to the new land with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche (others made the precarious drive in with tables and cushions and tsog). On the lawn where Nick and Tom had first decided to buy the 160 acres (about 65 hectares) of bushland, on the spot where the Chenrezig Gompa now stands, a moving puja was offered by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche accompanied by our visiting Theravadin monk Phra Khantipalo. The land was consecrated and blessed and named “Chenrezig Institute for Wisdom Culture.” Lama explained that,  just as a culture is used to turn milk into yogurt, the wisdom taught at the Institute would be the catalyst for Buddhism to grow and bless countless beings. Many years later I was asked to transcribe a talk that Lama Yeshe had given about what a country center should be like. It was as if he was describing Chenrezig Institute: a little difficult to access, distant from towns, an expansive view, peaceful surroundings, with room to develop a diverse community, etc.

Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Phra Kantipalo, a Theravadin monk , during the consecration puja of the Chenrezig Insitute, 1974. Photo Courtesy of Chenrezig Institute.

At the beginning we just worked day by day, happily following Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes. Honestly, I usually felt that we were just following a natural path laid out by our teachers and didn’t think of the “bigger picture” very much. But Lama Yeshe told us to plan for a long time — I don’t remember if it was fifty or five hundred years, but to us, in our early twenties, it seemed very long. In retrospect, years later, we could see that there were centers growing all over the world and that was exciting and inspiring!

Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the entrance of the gompa with Ven. Ann McNeil, Ven. Max Mathews, and Dr. Nick Ribush. Chenrezig Institute, 1975. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

To her surprise, after the consecration of the land, which would become Chenrezig Institute, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche announced that Anila Ann McNeil would stay to help establish the new Institute, and we all sadly said goodbye to Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche…

Anila Ann and a group of the Diamond Valley students stayed on with us at Diamond Valley at first. The group planned and meditated together and went up to the land to clear and plant as often as they could. First they managed to build a small hut where the old farmhouse had originally stood. After some time Anila Ann announced that she simply had to move up to the property or it would never really get going. So, in January of 1975, she moved in, together with a student who arrived on the road as we were taking her up there: Eion Meades, the first resident! Tom and the others staying with us still went up every day on Tom’s trusty tractor, and gradually things started to grow. 

Tom Vichta with Elli Pratt, Nigel, and Yana Bowen at the first open-air office at Chenrezig Institute, set up for the first course, 1975. Photo courtesy of Chenrezig Institute.

Miraculously, by May 1975, the gompa had been built… The land, high on the slopes, was in danger of slipping, so it was decided to build on secure brick piers. Inside, on a large wooden floor (lovely hardwood bought from the local Eudlo mill), posts made from trees cut on the property held up a soaring roof, and the back wall was completed with small rooms built in on each side. It was an amazing feat. All the materials, including huge beams, joists, and rafters, had been carried by hand up the hill from the only area a truck could access — carried by many hands. When everyone was getting concerned about their lack of building experience, Steve, a long-haired builder, walked up the road offering to help; these kinds of things happened often.

Lama Yeshe thanking Tom Vichta, 1975. Photo coutesy of Chenrezig Institute.

At first, with a small child, I was not so closely involved in the day-to-day happenings. Of course, when Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche came to Queensland I found a way to be with them as much as possible, but Tom was the one who worked with Anila Ann McNeil and really got the Institute going. To raise funds for the Institute, I started small businesses, things I could do at home with Goodie at my feet: first, a clothing business, because people didn’t have comfortable clothes for sitting in meditation, which developed into a huge range of clothes and accessories; then the sale of second–hand gorgeous jackets and kimonos sent by a student who had moved to Japan; and, most successfully, porcelain wind chimes that I designed and made, block printed with Tibetan symbols and mantras. Years later we would see these in homes all across Australia and the world.

Lama Yeshe, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche leading a puja. Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1975. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

By the time Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche returned in May 1975, the gompa was ready for them to teach — roll-down blinds had been erected to keep out the wind and rain, and I still laugh when I remember the new altar being painted and brought in at the back of the gompa just in time for Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche arriving at the front. Anila Ann now moved into one of the back rooms of the gompa, and the first little cabin was made into a kitchen which, with outside areas roofed by orange builders’ plastic, fed nearly two hundred people for the four weeks of the first course at the new Institute!

Rainbow over the gompa, Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1975. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Under the Guidance of the Lamas 

Both Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited us often during the early years, and these were very special times when they would give many instructions about how to develop the Institute. There would be meetings with the director(s), the committees, and many of the longtime students and residents, at which the lamas gave advice about the education programs, the creation of holy objects and even the family life of students. These instructions were recorded and, although completion sometimes took many years, they were followed. We had to make development plans for the local council regularly and always tried to run major plans past Lama Zopa Rinpoche. It gave us so much more confidence in our plans.

Lama Yeshe and Yeshe Khadro with Tom and Kathy Vichta and Goodie. Chenrezig Insitute 1981. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

There would also be joyful days of fun and celebration. The children loved to perform for the lamas! Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote a whole script around the twelve links, and it was performed to much hilarity. One year Geshe Lama Konchog tried to train a group to perform Cham dances. Costumes were sewn long into the night, and the performance was one we will always remember!

Lama Zopa Rinpoche speaking with Kathy Vichta in the gompa, Chenrezig Insitute, Australia,September 1987, Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

It was wonderful to see how people took Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice to heart and involved themselves in these projects joyfully: for example, the beautiful Namgyalma Stupa dedicated to Lama Yeshe and completed in 1992; the Twenty-one Taras statues which are now in a special Tara Shrine room under the main gompa; the very large Chenrezig thangka painted by Peter Iseli and requested by Lama Zopa Rinpoche (he was very specific with details, and he also designed and donated it to be hung on holy days and during celebrations); the glorious Garden of Enlightenment — one central stupa surrounded by seven smaller ones — where smaller stupas containing blessed ashes rest in beautiful tropical gardens, inspired by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2011; and, most recently, in 2026, the magnificent new Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and students circumambulating Namgyalma stupa at Chenrezig Institute, 1987. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

To be perfectly honest, not everything was smooth sailing, and harmony was not always maintained as we would have hoped. Groups of people with strong energy do have disagreements from time to time. But the connection to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT was always very important. We tried to make sure Lama Zopa Rinpoche continued to visit whenever we could arrange it, inviting him very often, and praying he would come. When there were many people at the Institute who had not met Lama Zopa Rinpoche, keeping that connection was very important, and the older students worked hard to keep it strong.

Tom Vichta assembling the base of the large prayer wheel at Chenrezig Institute, 1994. Photo courtesy of Chenrezig Institute.

Teachings with Lama Zopa Rinpoche were always powerful. It was like a light shining directly into my heart. Even in those times when I really didn’t understand what he was teaching, the faith that he and Lama Yeshe were perfect teachers would mean that I would investigate not whether what he said was true, but how it was true. I can say that the most life-changing teaching I received from Lama Zopa Rinpoche is in his little book Transforming Problems into Happiness. He has taught this lojong method many times, but in the 1980s, I used to carry the early version of this little book with me and sometimes just let it fall open and take that page as my lesson for the day. So profound then and still now…

Balancing Dharma Life and Family

In late 1984, Lama Zopa Rinpoche asked me to take on the role of director. I was quite overwhelmed; I was a housewife and mother with no organisation experience, but he assured me I’d be fine, and I really loved the close connection. In 1984, Tom’s mother very unexpectedly gave us some money, and, without much deliberation, we used it to travel to Kopan to take part in the Vajrasattva retreat Ven. Gyatso was leading after the passing of Lama Yeshe. On arrival, we hired a motorbike and drove straight up to the front of the Kopan Gompa. I saw Lama Zopa Rinpoche coming out and Ven. Roger rushing out, seemingly trying to stop our meeting… It turned out that Rinpoche was actually doing the preparation for an initiation and not speaking, but he seemed to know we were coming. We were led upstairs to the roof of the old gompa (on the way stopping to meet a very young Tenzin Zopa) and sat down with Lama Lhundrup and Geshe Lama Konchog. Afterwards Ven. Roger explained that I was to be asked to be director at Chenrezig Institute — it felt like the venerable lamas on the roof were ‘checking me out’. I have always suspected that this was all set up in advance.

I remember going to my first CPMT meeting as director in 1985, being amazed and delighted by the wonderful family of students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and the fabulous things they were already achieving all over the world!

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Kathy Vichta, Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1991. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

I was director for about ten years and felt a very strong and precious link to Rinpoche, especially during those years. There were many times when I felt he directly answered my prayers (sometimes immediately) and “knew” exactly what I was going through. It was also beautiful that Goodie could “hang out with” Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche as she grew up, and with other wonderful lamas like Geshe Thinley, Geshe Sopa, Geshe Lama Konchog (and later his incarnation, Phuntsok Rinpoche), Lama Osel, Ribur Rinpoche, and many more. I can see that many of her beliefs have been formed by those meetings during her formative years. My husband was, of course, a great support both financially and emotionally. He often had to take over running the home and family when I went off to meetings or became so busy I would sometimes have to stay at the Institute.

Lama Yeshe with Gudrun (Goodie) Vichta, Tom and Kathy’s daughter. Chenrezig Institute 1974. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

It was interesting that my Dharma practice became much stronger during those hectic years, in spite of how busy and stressed I would sometimes become — I felt it was important to attend pujas, teachings, and special events, and to do retreats, and somehow I managed. Later, when my daughter was away studying herself and I had stopped being director, I was able to take up full-time study of the FPMT Basic Program and soon became the coordinator of the program at Chenrezig Institute, which grew in an amazing way. We were very fortunate to have an extremely learned geshe, Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Tashi Tsering, along with a very well-educated Western monk, Ven. Jampa Ignyen (who came to us after fifteen years at Sera Monastery), and a star of the FPMT Translator Program, Voula Zarpani, come together to create something very precious. Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Tashi Tsering was resident teacher at Chenrezig Institute from 1990 to 2009, when His Holiness requested him to go to Gyudmed Tantric College, first as Gegur and then abbot — a very special opportunity!

For young people who want to raise a family and stay connected to the Dharma, I can only show them the example of how to live a Dharma life as well as they can and share those values with their children. Lama Yeshe was very clear in one of the talks he gave at Chenrezig in the early days that parents should NOT neglect their children in order to attend teachings — that was their first responsibility… Lama Zopa Rinpoche has given some wonderful advice about how to care for and “educate” children, and many centers (including Chenrezig Institute) have special children’s programs.

Spreading Love and Compassion Since 1974

I could go on and on — it is now more than fifty years’ history, but what I am trying to express mostly is that the inspiration and pure teachings of our precious lamas lived on in us, and in the amazing effort of those early people and the thousands since… Through their efforts, we have been able to make our gompa, kitchen and grounds glorious, especially with the many holy objects advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche bringing inspiration to our many visitors. A monastic community has been established and supported, and we have provided a rich teaching program and accommodation and meals for many.

The physical situation, the roads, and the buildings have certainly changed. Life was very primitive at first. The property had great potential but no entry road, no electricity, no easy water supply, and of course no gompa and no accommodation. Over the next fifty years the Institute was transformed through the generous donations and incredible hard work of many hundreds of devoted students.

And that energy has continued throughout the fifty years I have been involved at Chenrezig Institute. Literally thousands of people have given their time and effort — and their donations — to enable this beautiful Institute to continue. They have attended teachings, attended and led retreats, meditated and taught meditations.

20th Anniversary celebrations at Chenrezig Institute. Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Kathy Vichta at Namgyalma stupa. September 1994. Photo Credit Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

We celebrated the twentieth anniversary in 1994 with great excitement, with teachings and pujas and the consecration of our second prayer wheel. Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught a four-week course as he had in 1974 and invited all the geshes from the region to join him in pujas, consecrations and celebration for a week afterwards. Smaller celebrations were held on the thirtieth and fortieth anniversaries (again with dear Lama Zopa Rinpoche), and then a huge celebration again on the fiftieth anniversary. I think a great way to show what wonderful development was achieved over this time is the photobook I prepared for that big fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Institute in September 2024.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the eight stupas that are part of the Garden of Enlightenment at Chenrezig Institute, Queensland, Australia, September 2014. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

All these things have been accomplished through the immeasurable blessings of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. They generously gave us the teachings and encouraged us to follow them, but, so much more than that, they inspired us; they showed us their perfect example of pure, immeasurable love and compassion and their endless energy to help all sentient beings every minute of every day.

More than fifty years later, we sincerely rejoice in all the years of dedication and truly joyous effort which has brought us to this point. May all the teachers and students and centers of FPMT flourish forever!

Kathy Vichta offers a statue and a request to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the end of the event at Chenrezig Insititute. June 2018.

With heartfelt thanks to Tom and Kathy Vichta for sharing this precious personal account.

Watch the history of Chenrezig Institute in this beautiful documentary by Ben Philipps.

Read more about The Origin of Tibetan Buddhism in Australia, a documentary made by independent filmmaker Małgorzata Ola Dobrowolska when she was volunteering at Chenrezig Institute.

The photobook of the center’s development, prepared by Kathy Vichta for the huge fiftieth anniversary celebration, can be viewed here

Discover the story of Chenrezig Institute

To read more about Chenrezig Institute, please visit FPMT’s stories and news about Chenrezig Institute.

Are you an early student of FPMT who was there at the beginning? Do you have a story to share about how you met Lama Yeshe or Lama Zopa Rinpoche or the impact they have had on your life? Have you personally achieved or actualized a request, advice, practice accomplishment, or project given to you by Lama Yeshe or Lama Zopa Rinpoche? We want to hear from you!

Please explore all of the resources we have compiled related to FPMT history. We look forward to all of your creative ideas on how to bring this year-long celebration to your own local activities and personal practices! Please use the hashtag #50YearsFPMT in your social media posts so we can all be connected in this way. 

Foundation for the Preservation of the 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.

As the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) has celebrated its fiftieth anniversary over the past year, the 2026 Global Mani Retreat (GMR) has brought together students from around the world to recite the mantra of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. What began as a wish to fulfill one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast visions for FPMT grew into a worldwide retreat spanning more than five months, and the retreat is now in its final days!

Since it began on May 17, the FPMT Global Mani Retreat has included teachings from Khen Rinpoche Geshe Thubten Chonyi; a rare oral transmission and commentary from His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche; a teaching on Bodhicitta from His Eminence Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche; a teaching on practicing compassion through the profound view of emptiness from His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche; and the latest teaching, “How to Generate Chenrezig in Daily Life,” from Rangjung Neljorma Khandro Tseringma Rinpoche. After five months, the Global Mani Retreat will conclude on Sunday, November 1, and a closing session celebrating five months of practice together will be held on Saturday, November 7. His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche will kindly join us at this closing session.

Among the many causes for rejoicing, the most recent was the audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, attended by Global Mani Retreat coordinator Selina Foong and representatives of the Global Mani Retreat team. We also rejoice in the milestone reached by FPMT Mongolia during their fourteenth annual 100 Million Mani Retreat, which was part of the official Global Mani Retreat program. Held at Idgaa Choizinling Dratsang in Ulaanbaatar, the retreat drew between 150 and 250 people a day and accumulated 109,208,246 mantras, passing its goal of 100 million.

Here Selina Foong, Global Mani Retreat coordinator and FPMT regional coordinator for East and Southeast Asia (ESEA), reflects on how the retreat unfolded and shares the meaningful experiences and blessings of a journey to Dharamsala, India, to make offerings to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other precious teachers.

GMR Group, Dharamsala, India, October 2026. Photo courtesy of the Global Mani Retreat group.

The FPMT Global Mani Retreat is truly an unprecedented worldwide effort to celebrate FPMT’s fiftieth anniversary year. 

Conceptualized only in January 2026, I can still clearly recall the heady mix of sheer excitement, wide-eyed awe, and genuine trepidation at this very idea. From “WHAT?? An event lasting more than five months?!” to “WOW, this is giving me goosebumps”, and everything in between. As speaker after speaker started to respond positively to our invitation and the program took shape, I too sat back and gasped :“WHAT?!” 

 And that is how it all started. A simple wish to fulfill one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast visions for FPMT—holding 100 Million Mani retreats—quickly snowballed into this massive event, with participation from all corners of our global FPMT community together with high lamas we had only ever dreamed of inviting. Month after month since our launch on May 17, 2026, the retreat’s amazing progress continued to manifest before our very eyes. Every session was unique; every session was special. On top of it all, FPMT Mongolia hosted its fourteenth 100 Million Mani Retreat, which was also part of our overall program this year. Everything unfolded so smoothly that I had to continually pinch myself.

Buoyed by this tide of powerful blessings as we approached the retreat’s conclusion, a small group of us representing the Global Mani Retreat team had the good fortune to travel to Dharamsala, India, in October 2026 to offer our Mani practice as well as 100 Shakyamuni Buddha statues on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. It was a trip filled with joy and wonder. As Andrey Lomonosov, director of Ganden Tendar Ling, Russia, said, “This magic is unimaginable. We are so blessed to be able to come and give such offerings to His Holiness. I feel this was all enabled by His Holiness himself, and that we all as a Dharma family are protected by His Holiness. This is the first time I felt it. It is so amazing!”

And indeed the blessings were palpable, collectively for all of FPMT, as well as for the ten of us there who somehow found ourselves together at the same time, in the same place, in front of the holy ones we aspire to one day become. There was a sense of recognition between us, and we immediately felt like family. It was profoundly joyful.

His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama with Selina Foong and Ven. Thubten Gyalmo, Dharamsala, October 17, 2026. Photo courtesy of OHHDL.

Our FPMT group audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Saturday, October 17, was part of a larger public audience. On a beautifully clear morning, we lined up with our hearts thumping. All the early chaos of security checks, ascertaining queue positions and locating the Buddha statues to be offered (!) melted away as we approached His Holiness. A strange blanket of calm descended upon me as I found myself in front of His Holiness after Dale Davis, member of the FPMT Inc. board, had greeted him extremely movingly. Time seemed to stand still as the words tumbled out of my mouth. All I now recall is His Holiness repeatedly patting me on the face and hand as I explained and presented him with the Global Mani Retreat greeting card, and how his face lit up brightly at the sight of Chenrezig on its cover… all the while with a sea of smiles surrounding us.  

His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama with Dale Davis, FPMT, Inc. board member, Dharamsala, October 17, 2026. Photo courtesy of OHHDL.

Following Dale Davis and me were the rest of our group members, each taking their turn to offer a Buddha statue and receive His Holiness’s blessings: Ven. Thubten Gyalmo, resident Western teacher at the Mongolian FPMT center Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling; Cristian Cowan, GMR sessions co-coordinator for FPMT North America and spiritual program coordinator at Vajrapani Institute, California; Irina Hueso Roldán, GMR Spanish parallel series and FPMT national coordinator for Spain; Andrey Lomonosov, director at Ganden Tendar Ling, Russia; Harald Weichhart, GMR multimedia manager and FPMT media resource manager; Jasmine Mohtashami, GMR graphic designer and people and community manager at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, London; Frances Howland, GMR assistant coordinator and FPMT regional coordinator for South Asia; and Shanti Yajnik, co-director at Tushita Meditation Centre, India. Rejoice!

The blessings continued to rain down on this very special day.  

The Global Mani Retreat group at New Serkong House, the residence of His Eminence Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche, Dharamsala, India, October 2026. Photo courtesy of the Global Mani Retreat group.

We paid a visit to New Serkong House, where Gen Thubten Sherap and Abishek, the kind attendants to His Eminence Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche, showed us around and introduced us to some extremely precious holy objects. His Eminence Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche had kindly offered a powerful teaching on “Bodhicitta” for our Global Mani Retreat, so it was without question that we would pay a visit to his residence even in his absence (as he was then in the midst of a European tour)— and what’s more, to chomp on the juicy apples from his orchard! What nobody had expected, however, was that His Eminence himself would personally leave us a voice message all the way from Austria, during our actual visit. Even his attendants found the timing to be incredibly auspicious. So of course, our entire group sent a raucously joyful voice message right back. It truly felt like His Eminence was right there with us, in that holy room.

His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche with the Global Mani Retreat team, Dharamsala, India, October 2026. Photo courtesy of the Global Mani Retreat group.

A delicious (and extremely large) lunch at Tibet Kitchen later, and it was on to the next highlight of our day—an audience with His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche at his beautiful residence in the hills. His Eminence was extremely jovial, and expressed great happiness at our Mani retreat. He repeated several times how very important Chenrezig practice is, and how Mani recitations can bring peace not only to our world, but to the entire universe. He also encouraged us to continue offering this Mani retreat, year after year! By the time we left, it proved impossible to wipe the smiles off our faces, and we all felt as light as air.

There was in fact one more highlight on this most special of trips. The day before our “Special Saturday”, we visited Tushita Meditation Centre, where a delicious lunch was generously offered to us before we spent some time at Lama Yeshe’s Memorial Stupa, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s room, and the Hayagriva Room. The power was palpable, and the experience was deeply meaningful.

The Global Mani Retreat group at Lama Yeshe’s Memorial Stupa, Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamsala, India, October 2026. Photo courtesy of the Global Mani Retreat group.

We bade goodbye to each other after only a short time together, but I think we all knew deep down that the magnitude of the occasion and the camaraderie we forged will stay with us till the end of our days. And that it was on the basis of all sentient beings that we arrived at this point, and so it was for all sentient beings that we experienced this deep happiness. We are fortunate ones indeed. May the lives of our gurus be long and may Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s unmistaken reincarnation swiftly return!

Written by Selina Foong, Global Mani Retreat coordinator and FPMT ESEA regional coordinator. Please also see a previous inspiring report about this event from Harald Weichhart -GMR multimedia manager and FPMT media resource manager.

With Our Deepest Gratitude to Selina Foong

As retreat coordinator, Selina has guided this retreat with great dedication, joy, and care. She and her team offered the international FPMT family a retreat on a scale we have never attempted before, helping fulfill one of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s most cherished wishes and celebrating FPMT’s fiftieth anniversary by bringing us together to practice, create the causes for peace, and support the long life and activities of our precious teachers. As shared in the recent FPMT Inc. Board update, this was the first project to bring students from all over the world together, and the results have been very encouraging. Selina, thank you so much for your kindness and tireless work overcoming every professional and personal challenge that occurred during this period! We rejoice in all you have made possible, and we are so grateful to you and to everyone on your team.

Here is a message of thanks from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from a teaching Rinpoche gave at the end of the 2000 Mani retreat at Chenrezig Institute. It is excerpted from the revised second edition of Teachings from the Mani Retreat, recently released by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive:

… I think this practice is really fantastic. It is something that you find more and more inspiring—not something that becomes more and more boring. The more sessions you do, the more inspiring it becomes. That is very good. The more you develop your compassion, the more you see the kindness of sentient beings and how much they are suffering, and you then don’t find any hardship in doing retreat or nyung nä. Not finding any difficulty in doing the practice is a sign of receiving the blessing of the deity… Again here I would like to thank very much everyone who has been doing the retreat, especially the Sangha, who have been the main ones. From the bottom of my heart I thank all of you who have participated in any of the sessions from time to time. Thank you very, very much. And I thank very much also the sponsors and benefactors. You are always in my prayers, and I will dedicate the merits.

Excerpt from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings from the Mani Retreat, page 162. Teaching given at Chenrezig Institute, Australia. December 2000. Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

The Global Mani Retreat Enters Its Final Days

The Global Mani Retreat will conclude on Sunday, November 1, and a closing session celebrating five months of practice together will be held on Saturday, November 7. His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche will kindly join us at this closing session, which will also include Ven. Roger Kunsang, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s holy shrine, the umzes (chant masters) of Kopan Monastery, a video recording of the audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and more. You are welcome to send your mantra count through this form until Monday, November 2, 2026, 8:00 a.m. (UTC). The numbers reported so far are already wonderful, and we look forward to sharing the grand total at the closing session.

Recordings of many sessions, together with the slideshows that preceded them, are available on the Global Mani Retreat YouTube channel. To keep up with all the details, please visit our webpage and join the Facebook group. You can also read Teachings from the Mani Retreat online or listen to an audio recording from the 2000 retreat.

With gratitude to Selina Foong, Global Mani retreat coordinator and FPMT ESEA regional coordinator for sharing this story, and to the entire GMR team for their tremendous efforts in organizing this global online retreat.

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.

From September 23 to 26, 2026, Kalachakra Centre in Saint-Cosme, France, hosted a Teacher Development Service Seminar (TDSS) bringing together sixteen participants for four days of learning, reflection, and connection. Facilitated by senior Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) teachers Andy Wistreich and Annelies van der Heijden, the seminar was supported by a dedicated team of volunteers who helped foster a warm, supportive, and engaging learning environment.

2026 TDSS Students and facilitators Kalachakra Centre September 2026. Photo courtesy of  Kalachakra Centre’s Facebook page.

The success of this TDSS was made possible through the expertise, guidance, and dedication of senior facilitators Andy and Annelies. We extend our gratitude to both for their thoughtful leadership and commitment to supporting participants. This seminar also provided a valuable training opportunity for emerging facilitators. We welcome Ven. Thubten Jamyang and Ven. Tenzin Palmo as they prepare to lead future TDSS.

The 2026 TDSS marked a new phase in training and support for registered teachers, prospective teachers, facilitators, and meditation leaders across the FPMT network. Designed to accommodate diverse schedules while preserving the depth and warmth of in-person connection, the seminar, used a three-part learning format:

1. Pre-seminar online modules: Through the Maitripa online platform, participants could engage in self-paced foundational study delivered by Ven. Yonten and Namdrol Adams. Core topics included the ethical qualities and discipline of a Dharma teacher, adult learning styles, trauma-informed pedagogy, and inclusive facilitation practices.
2. In-person residential seminar: Held over four days at the peaceful Kalachakra Retreat Center, the residential gathering offered immersive discussions, peer sharing, and hands-on practicum sessions focused on practical teaching application.
3. Post-seminar reflection: A final integrative module encouraged ongoing reflection, journaling, and goal setting, helping participants carry their learning forward into their teaching environments.

Beyond developing practical teaching skills, the seminar created meaningful opportunities for teachers and students to connect, share personal reflections, learn from one another, and build lasting relationships with peers across the FPMT community.

2026 TDSS Students and facilitators Kalachakra Centre September 2026. Photo courtesy of  Kalachakra Centre’s Facebook page.

Ven. Tenzin Palmo shared: 

“The TDSS brought together a diverse group of people from different backgrounds and with varied experiences—both ordained and lay—all united by an interest in teaching and sharing the Dharma through effective approaches … we explored the nuances of helpful versus unhelpful teacher qualities, alongside different teaching and learning styles. Through interactive pair and group discussions, we formulated ideas, shared insights, and received feedback in a safe, supportive environment. Throughout the program, we were encouraged to view every activity through a dual lens: participate while evaluating each technique for our future facilitation toolkits.

“A full day spent designing an introductory Buddhist course highlighted the complexity of curriculum planning. It revealed a wide range of approaches, as well as the joys and challenges of small-group collaboration. On the final day, an emergent dialogue on ‘what we can do in a world that is falling apart’ brought challenging reflections, yet left us with a sense of hope and togetherness. At the start, we were cautioned that we might not leave with answers to every question—but we left with plenty of food for thought and a rich network of new connections.”

Ven. Lobsang Gyaltsen shared:

“I think I can safely say that there was a sense of connection between us, and it felt supportive. We heard new approaches that some of us will probably use in our future teaching. For example, we learned to build a course together, which many of us had never done before. It was challenging for some, but in the end everyone found a way to work together, and the results were very good. There were older teachers, newer ones, and aspiring teachers, and each of us could take something helpful from wherever we were.

“One benefit is that teachers come together, share, and learn from one another, which can help us find better ways to present the Dharma to Western audiences. I think learning to collaborate is very beneficial; it also brings mutual respect, humility, and more wisdom. Because the TDSS asks how we can share the Dharma effectively, it creates a special space to explore that question. As teachers, we can get caught in our habits and don’t always take the time to think deeply about these questions, so the seminar opens a window to do so. For new teachers, it can be very supportive, giving them methods to develop their teaching skills. For more experienced teachers, it offers new approaches and a chance to share with peers. Older teachers can share their experience, and newer teachers can bring fresh perspectives.”

Participant Josep Manresa commented: 

“After this seminar, I will no longer feel alone when preparing courses, teaching them, or sharing the Dharma… because I will carry with me the inspiration, the tools, the skills, the humanity, the kindness, and all the other richness that we have shared during these four days at the Saint-Cosme Kalachakra Center. I will no longer feel alone because I now know that there are other people like me who are also engaged in preparing courses, teaching them and who care about finding the best way to share the Dharma.”

Participant Tahlia Lin said:

“Annelies and Andy guided us with the utmost care, wisdom, and professional expertise. We explored many key concepts related to teaching and sharing the Dharma within the FPMT framework. Through group discussions, course planning exercises, and the development of essential soft skills for “holding the space” for students, we gained a wealth of practical tools and insights. Participants openly shared their ideas, experiences, and perspectives, which greatly enriched the learning process for everyone. I left the training with renewed motivation, greater confidence, and a very joyful mind.”

Read here to find out more about either hosting or attending a Teacher Development Service Seminar or email the FPMT Service Seminar Coordinator on  fpmtss@fpmt.org

With gratitude to the entire TDSS team led by Wendy Ridley for their tremendous efforts in organizing this seminar.

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.

Ven. Roger Kunsang and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, ILTK, Italy October 2017.

Study Buddhism, a project of the Berzin Archives, is releasing a multi-part interview with Ven. Roger Kunsang. Ven. Roger has been a member of the FPMT Inc. Board of Directors since 1989. He served as CEO of FPMT Inc. from 2005 to 2026, and is now FPMT’s Interim Executive Director and Senior Advisor. In 1986, he became attendant and secretary to Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche. For the next 37 years, until Rinpoche passed away in April 2023, he lived and traveled with Rinpoche 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Four videos have been released so far, with more to come over the next few weeks. In these first videos, we hear Ven. Roger’s personal journey that landed him at his first Kopan Course in 1974; his decision to become a monk; the life of the early Western monks and nuns in India and Nepal; and an extremely moving personal account of serving as Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s attendant for nearly forty years. We invite you to enjoy this ongoing interview series, and we truly rejoice in Ven. Roger’s life of service, devotion, and effort to help make FPMT the organization it is today. 

Please watch the most recently released video, “I Lived With a Bodhisattva for 40 Years.”

The Study Buddhism channel features interviews with the world’s leading Buddhist masters, practitioners, and scholars.

Please also enjoy a recent interview with Ven. Roger discussing his fifty years in robes, conducted by International Mahayana Institute Director, Ven. Thubten Chokyi. 

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.

Scott Brusso was among the Western students who met Lama Thubten Yeshe in the early 1970s. He ordained, led the monks at Kopan Monastery, and served as spiritual program coordinator (SPC) at Chenrezig Institute and Tara House in Australia, where he also taught East and West psychology at Lama Yeshe’s request. After Lama Yeshe passed away in 1984, Scott returned to Chicago and built a career in the financial markets. Even in that environment, he never let go of the strength of Lama Yeshe and what he had learned. Scott’s life shows how the Dharma can be brought into the West, into any situation, without relying on Buddhist terminology, just as Lama Yeshe taught.

As part of our fiftieth anniversary celebration, Scott shares his pioneer story. What follows is largely in his own words.

Scott Brusso at Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1979. Photo courtesy of Scott Brusso.

Something Was Missing

I can’t speak for other people, but I had a very different lifestyle from most of the people I grew up with. I was born in 1951 on the north side of Chicago, into a normal family with no religion.

When I was about five, I remember thinking about reincarnation, though I didn’t know the word. Just that people don’t end at this life but go on from life to life. When somebody finally told me what it was called, I was very happy, because it gave a name to something that was already inside me. I also used to ask myself, “Am I in somebody’s thumb? Is there a whole world inside my thumb?” Years later, when we learned about the body mandala, the tantric practice of seeing the body as a universe in itself, that question came back to me. So when I heard these teachings, it was like going home. It had always been there.

I was a pretty good kid for the most part, with a lot of energy; school didn’t make much sense to me. I didn’t know what I wanted to be. I just knew something was missing, and I always had the energy to find out what it was.

When I was about seven, or a little older, I had a very interesting experience. A lot of kids have this: you’re half-asleep, about to fall asleep, and you think there might be a witch outside the window. I felt that, and then it wasn’t a witch. I entered a timeless state, which I would call great bliss today. I had no sense of time, and I have almost never felt anything like it since. Later I came to think it was a blessing from Vajrayogini, a female Buddha. 

In my teens, I took up karate, and alongside it, hatha yoga, and I started combining that with my own kind of meditation. I felt there was much more to life than what the modern world offered.

At about nineteen, I picked up a friend in Tacoma, Washington, and we drove down to San Francisco with my two German Shepherds. Why San Francisco? Honestly, I don’t know. I just had a feeling. I had everything I owned in a Volkswagen van: a bicycle, a little TV, my personal things. One night my friend asked whether we should put the dogs in the van to protect everything. I said no; I wasn’t putting the dogs in the car overnight. In the morning I heard construction outside, looked out, and couldn’t find my van. It had been stolen, with everything inside. And I felt a deep sense of relief—I felt free! There’s always a little worry in your mind when you go to bed and when you get up, and now it was gone. Only later could I connect that feeling to renunciation, when you learn in practice about letting go of attachment.

One evening in San Francisco I went to the beach with some friends. The waves picked up, and we all got soaked. When I got home, I realized I didn’t have my keys, so I went up to the roof to wait until morning. The temperature dropped, and because I was completely wet, I was very cold. Somehow, I sat there meditating and became aware of the heat inside my body. I concentrated on that inner heat. Years later, when I learned inner heat meditation (tummo), I remembered that night on the roof in San Francisco. After learning the practice, I felt that I must have learned it in a previous life.

While I was there, I was fortunate to take teachings from Suzuki Roshi. I was kind of a hippie, but mostly I was training in martial arts for tournaments, and through my Japanese teachers I was involved in Japantown. I didn’t have a real direction other than that. Then one day I was at the apartment of a girl I was dating, who I believe was either an assistant or a manager to the band Santana. Behind where I was sitting was a big shelf of medical books, about thirty of them in a series. I opened one and started reading, and I immediately felt a compassion for the world. A kind of bodhichitta experience. I also thought that studying all those books would take me forever, and that there might be a different way to heal people. That was a strong catalyst. I needed to go off and find something.

I got rent-free lodging at a macramé factory, where I worked in exchange, and put some money together to reach the Seychelles Islands. I had heard about them and thought, “That’s where I should do my retreat.” So I took a boat from Brindisi to Athens, spent some time there, and then went to Ios, where I spent time in a cave. Then it was Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, heading for southern India so I could reach the Seychelles.

Around 1972, I got off a bus in Dharamsala.

I had never heard of Tibet, but there was a Tibetan Buddhist there, and he gave me some direction.

That was really the start of that journey.

Meeting the Dharma

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Scott Brusso at Kopan Course, 1974. Photo courtesy of LYWA.

Every morning there were three classes at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, at nine, ten, and eleven to twelve, all with Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey. There were about twenty-five or thirty Westerners, such as Jon Landaw, Alex Berzin, and Ven. Sangye Khadro.

I wasn’t interested in the Seychelles anymore after I got to Dharamsala. That was it—my answers were lying right there in those teachings. I was already committed that I had found something!

Yogi, Venerable Jampa Kunchog, came to Dharamsala some time after I did, and from then on we were like Dharma brothers.

We stayed in lower Dharamsala, walked up to the Library every day, took the classes, and went back down for lunch. It was so mystical. The mountains, big horns sounding over the whole valley, and His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama leading huge pujas outside. It was like being in Tibet. It was so phenomenal! At the end of 1973 the Library went on break for the month, and many people went to Bodhgaya for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakra initiation. Yogi and I went too. Then I heard that Lama Yeshe was giving a talk at a Japanese temple, at night. So we went. It was very mystical, and with Geshe Dhargyey’s blessing we both decided to attend the sixth Kopan course that spring.

After the sixth Kopan course, in May 1974 Yogi and I took Lama Yeshe’s Heruka Vajrasattva initiation and teachings —from which came the book Becoming Vajrasattva. The Tantric Path of Purification.— We then joined the Kopan group retreat. The group retreat was about twenty-five or thirty students. Ven. Sangye Khadro sat across from me and Yogi was next to me. At the conclusion of your 100,000 mantras plus other requirements, you could leave, but I didn’t want to leave. Where was there to go? It was the most fantastic situation I’ve ever had! So, I stayed about five months, almost a double retreat.

Lama Yeshe with newly ordained monks at Tushita Meditation Centre in 1976. Among them are Scott Brusso, with a khata in the front row. Photo courtesy of LYWA.

After the retreat Yogi and I both asked Lama Yeshe if we could get ordained, and he was fine with that, and sent me to see my parents; he said, “I think I want you to go back and see your parents first, to make sure.” So while the others were ordained, I went back to the U.S. My parents were fine and had no problem with it, but it delayed my ordination.

In July and August of 1974 the Lamas went to the U.S. for their first international tour lectures. They gave a talk in Madison, Wisconsin, and I had sent my parents there, they were completely flabbergasted and enthralled. While I was in the U.S., the Lamas were giving courses in Nashville, Indiana, and I brought my friends and talked them into coming to Kopan with me.

I received novice ordination from H.H. Trijang Rinpoche in 1976, and my full vows were from Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche. After the ordination Yogi and I lived at Kopan, where Lama Lhundrup was kind enough to teach us debate. Yogi and I were both very stubborn; and we kept arguing and debating all through the years, right up until he passed away. It was no different from those early days at Kopan.  Yogi, Venerable Jampa Kunchog, passed away in April 2026.

Ordination of Scott Brusso, Tushita Meditation Centre, 1976. Photo courtesy of LYWA.

During this time Lama Yeshe made me the geko, so for a time I was in charge of the monks at Kopan. Here I did a long retreat in a house on the hillside, and when Geshe Sopa came from Madison to teach the Bodhicharyavatara at Kopan, I helped with the preparations. It was very special to just be able to sit with him there for hours and hours. Geshe Sopa was one of the most renowned Buddhist scholars in the world, and he was one of Lama Yeshe’s main teachers.

Ninth Meditation Course, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe and Scott Brusso, 9th Meditation Course, Kopan, 1976. Photo courtesy LYWA.

Offering Service in Australia

At the end of 1978 Lama Yeshe asked me to go to Australia, to Chenrezig Institute, founded in 1974,  as SPC and in charge of the first Western residential sangha.

There were a few different communities on a couple of hundred acres: local people, monks, and nuns. Besides the Dharma teachings, we offered courses in medicine, tai chi, and yoga, things that weren’t being offered there, so that people could find other ways in and other ways to connect with themselves.

Scott Brusso during a meditation course in Bendigo (Australia). Photo courtesy of Scott Brusso.

In September 1979 Lama Yeshe conferred the Vajrayogini initiation and gave teachings on the tantric practice of Vajrayogini to a group of students preparing for retreat at Chenrezig Institute in Australia, and I led the Vajrayogini retreat for about twenty-five students.

After a couple of years at Chenrezig Institute, Lama Yeshe sent me to Melbourne, to Tara House, which is now Tara Institute. A geshe had been sent out to be the resident teacher, and I was helping give teachings too. Every week I went to Monash University to teach about the psychology of the mind. I also went around Australia and New Zealand giving East and West psychology courses with Patrick Jansen, a Jungian analyst and a student of Dora Kalff. We put together an East and West understanding of the mind, looking at what was close to being the same and what was different. People liked us, and Lama Yeshe was very happy, because he enjoyed working with Dora Kalff.

In 1981, Lama Yeshe bestowed his historic teachings from a two-week Mahamudra retreat in Australia, which were eventually published in Mahamudra, How to Discover Our True Nature. The retreat was held at Sandhurst Town, on land that Ian Green had donated for courses, and I was the retreat leader. There was no Great Stupa there then; the place was just called Sandhurst Town. I would lead the meditations and take Lama Yeshe back and forth.

Scott Brusso leading meditation during the Mahamudra retreat in Bendigo, Australia, 1981. Photo courtesy LYWA.

The townspeople were invited for a whole day on a Saturday. At a committee meeting the week before, someone asked Lama Yeshe, “What if it rains?” I expected him to say we’d have umbrellas or big tents. Instead he said, “Don’t worry, it won’t rain.” They asked, “But what if it does?” and he said, “Don’t worry.” I had complete faith in Lama Yeshe and believed anything he said. But in the car going back I said, “Did you have to say ‘I guarantee?’ Couldn’t you just say, ‘We should be okay?'” He turned to me, his eyes went big, and he said, “You doubt me?” I didn’t doubt him. I was worried about what other people would think. This was my Lama, and I wanted everybody else to believe in him too. I believe that created some negative karma for me, and I’m still purifying it! On Saturday morning of the retreat week, the sky was full of thick clouds. I came to get Lama Yeshe ready to go over to Sandhurst Town, and he was on the little front veranda, doing a fire puja. A short while later there was not one cloud in the sky. No rain, nothing. The whole day was clear and beautiful. That was so powerful for me.

Lama Yeshe, with Scott Brusso, bestowing his teaching “A Letter to a King” in Australia, 1981. Photo courtesy LYWA.

The same year Lama Yeshe led a puja at Tara House, in Melbourne. Two days later he gave a weekend course to eighty people on Nagarjuna’s Letter to a King. During the teaching I was picking random questions from the audience out of a basket. While he was answering one question, I was picking out the next. I read it then decided it wasn’t very good. So I put it back and went to choose another. This was all quite invisible to everyone else and done below the lip of the basket. But Lama stopped in mid-sentence, turned to me and said, “Don’t discriminate! Give it to me now—that one!”

Zong Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe (to his left). In the front row, from right: Scott Brusso, Max Mathews, and Peter Kedge. Tushita Meditation Centre, First Enlightened Experience course, 1982. Photo courtesy of LYWA.

First visit of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama in Australia, here with Scott Brusso. Australia, 1982. Photo courtesy of Scott Brusso.

The year after, in June 1982, was the “First Enlightened Experience”, a landmark gathering organized by Lama Yeshe in Bodhgaya to offer special initiations, transmissions, and retreats for Western monks, nuns, and lay practitioners. By then I was also part of the committee that brought His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama to Australia for the first time in 1982. It was a quiet, low-profile visit, but a lot of people were working on it.

Lama Yeshe with Scott Brusso and Piero Cerri in Bodhgaya, India, during the First Enlightened Experience in 1982. Photo by Ina Van Delden. Courtesy of LYWA.

After almost five years in Australia, Lama Yeshe wanted me to go to Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa  in Italy, to be the SPC there. He also wanted to send me to Vajrapani Institute in Santa Cruz, but because I was so attached to Australia I didn’t go and I think this really impacted my karma negatively. 

Meanwhile, I was giving a one-month course in Australia, I kept sensing something about my mother. When the retreat ended I called her, and she said everything was great. I went back to Melbourne and it kept coming back to me, so I called again from Tara House. “No, I’m good, everything is good.” It didn’t stop, so I made the decision to fly back to Chicago. Not long after I arrived, she became seriously ill. I spent the next year taking care of her, and she passed away at the end of that year (1983).

In 1984, I was in California, visiting a friend, when Lama Yeshe passed away on March 3. I went to Vajrapani Institute, where Lama Zopa Rinpoche and others were. I sat meditating next to Lama Yeshe’s body all day.

At that point I was still a monk, but I was living pretty much as a Westerner. I was still going places and giving teachings, at friends’ centers and at yoga centers. As time went on, it became apparent to me that maybe I should make a change and become, essentially, a Westerner. If I had listened to Lama Yeshe and gone to Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa or Vajrapani, I don’t know if that would have happened…

Lama Yeshe

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings were a little hard on Westerners sometimes when they started hearing about death and dying and making use of your human rebirth and so on—not for me. I was enthralled because of Dharamsala too, but then Lama Yeshe came in. He’d pick just the right time to come in and give a talk, and everything would change. He’d be saying something, and then all of a sudden, he’d break into laughter.

I remember a student was saying something about being an actor, and Lama said, “I’m an actor, you know?” and this is what Lama Yeshe could express. He could manifest differently to everybody because of that power, of his strength. Coming from emptiness, coming from the empty nature, he can become anything. Lama Yeshe could change, like an actor, into anything at any time to give teachings. No matter how few words he had, he got the meaning across. Lama would manifest differently to others. He could get through to everybody, no matter who it was. 

We’d be inside the meditation tents and there would be 200 people there, many of them were doubtful, but Lama Yeshe had them all in hysterics. He’d get the ideas across. If his words weren’t coming out exactly right, he would start acting it or something. Lama Yeshe had the power of communication. The meaning of the Tibetan words and the Sanskrit words are pretty clear in their language, but Western language is very different. So this is something Lama Yeshe, even with his imperfect English he learned which types of Western terminology and expressions might evoke a proper intellectual understanding. We need to go past our intellectual understanding and have deep realization but these are the steps to that. It’s leading the way. He can’t give us the realizations, but he can lead the way with this. And so he was very powerful; his understanding of the human mind was so complete. I’ve taken teachings from every different Tibetan tradition, as well as from Zen and others in my life. I’ve never been with a lama like Lama Yeshe, my root guru, and I’ve never had things happen to me like they happened with him. And as well, with Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Lama Yeshe, Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche, and Scott Brusso at the 10th Meditation Course at Kopan Monastery in 1977. Photo by Jan-Paul Kool. Courtesy of LYWA.

Lama Yeshe had no resonant titles, Lama was simply Lama Yeshe. He looked like a simple monk, and yet he was unbelievable. Lama Yeshe was just beyond belief. I’d never been in that kind of energy before. The whole gompa was filled, and Lama Yeshe controlled the entire environment. It was a completely mystical experience for me. 

I can say that every single time Lama Yeshe spoke I would have an awakening, taking place inside my mind. It was phenomenal. When he gave teachings, they woke my mind up to a tremendous degree, and I received them live. Even today I use some of the things he said, because he was so clear. He would say your mind is like a mirror. A mirror can reflect, but when there’s dirt on it, the reflection is distorted. The dirt and the mirror are not one, so you can clean it, and then you see clearly. Or your mind is like the ocean. When storms come, the waves are thirty or forty feet high and you can’t see anything. But go down into the depths and it’s calm and clear. That exists within ourselves in every moment of our lives.

One day at Kopan, Lama Yeshe came to give a talk, and somehow I found myself up in his room, talking to him. He held my head like Tibetans do touching foreheads. I never felt our foreheads touch; I only felt something like an electric current. It was very powerful. Years later I asked him and he said: “Psychic energy, darling!”

A note from Lama Yeshe to Scott Brusso: “To a successful monk.” Photo courtesy of Scott Brusso.

At one point Lama Yeshe was teaching a course near Santa Cruz, California, and I went and stayed with him. Not as his attendant; I just came and stayed. I believe it was then that he gave me a damaru, which I still have. On another visit he gave me a photograph of himself, which is on my mantel. On the back he signed it, “To a successful monk.” At that stage I was. I didn’t stay one, but at that stage I had done enough retreats and teaching that I hadn’t deteriorated badly.

In 1974 during Lama Yeshe’s Heruka Vajrasattva initiation and teachings  I came out of the retreat. I was just trying to stay in the present, right there, and in a small section of the Kopan library there was a sandbox, like the ones used for sandplay therapy, and I saw a drawing of little places set out all over the world. “What is this?” I asked Lama Yeshe. “This is where I’m going to have centers.” He had a vision of what FPMT was to become all over the world. My mind was blown. He was so far beyond.

His name, Yeshe, means wisdom, like primordial wisdom in Tibetan, and Lama Yeshe was the embodiment of the Buddha’s wisdom. Lama Yeshe had the wisdom, the wisdom of Mahamudra, the wisdom of the Vajrayana teachings, the wisdom of Dzogchen. That’s all the same wisdom, the complete wisdom of emptiness and understanding. 

Looking back at that little sandbox with these things inside of it, I’m now thinking…everything to do with FPMT today, that it exists, is because of Lama Yeshe.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Scott Brusso at the First Enlightened Experience in 1982. Photo by Ina Van Delden. Courtesy of LYWA.

Hearing teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche was on a different level. They weren’t on the intellectual level of “this is point one, this is point two, this is point three.” In a one-month course, point one might take him three weeks to finish, at two sessions a day. The sessions were supposed to last a couple of hours, but he wasn’t on the level of conventional time, as many of the older students can tell you.

What it did inside was a transformation of the consciousness. He would take you to levels inside yourself. The teaching was a journey inward. I believe he stayed on a subject for such long periods because in a course of 200 people, some students pick things up very quickly and others take longer and longer. He would try to transform everybody in the room, finding every different angle. That was more than fifty years ago, and the impact has never left me, because it hits on such a deep level. That is the difference when teachings come from someone’s own practice, and his practice was continuous.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Scott Brusso on the roof of the old Gompa, Kopan. Photo courtesy of Scott Brusso.

I was with Lama Zopa Rinpoche many, many times, including walking in the mountains of the Solu Khumbu region, and he was never different. Walking, sitting in meditation, praying, eating, it was always the same. Everybody knew he hardly slept, if at all.

We learned how to act as monks, physically, by watching him. His hand mudras and gestures in pujas were a thing of beauty. He was teaching us through his actions, not only through what he was saying at that moment.

Once, for reasons I don’t know, he gave me a hat. Most lamas wear yellow hats, but the Nyingma and Sakya wear red, and this one was red, because in his previous life, as the Lawudo Lama, he was a Nyingma yogi. The hat had been stored away for a long time, so it was wrinkled and not perfectly straight. My interpretation was that my mind was not straight. My mind was crooked.

Scott Brusso with the hat donated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Photo courtesy of Scott Brusso.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche used to like to recite a prayer on bodhichitta, and I think about it a lot. As I remember it:

The precious bodhichitta, the cause of all happiness and success—may it be born within all living beings’ minds, and within our minds, in an instant. And anything that has been lost before, may it be brought back again.

Coming Home to Chicago

Scott Brusso at Lawudo, 1977. Photo Courtesy of LYWA.

I was back in the U.S. (1984) like somebody who came from another planet, in my mid-thirties. Other people had a big resume, with university and internships and jobs, and I had nothing. Because of Lama Yeshe and the power of the teachings, I was able to move forward.

As a monk, and even when I was living in the city of Melbourne, you’re pretty much protected. Here you have to find your way. I think my years as a monk are why I was able to meet the challenges of Western life. In Buddhism, everything is what we make of it, and when we learn that the Dharma has a way to work with all these situations, every one of them can be worked with. That was Lama Yeshe’s teaching, always: we can learn from the situation.

I married, started a family, and built a career in the financial markets, mostly foreign exchange. I had learned a little about foreign exchange intuitively, from living in different countries.

On my first day on the trading floor at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, there were different pits for each currency, and a board up on the wall where the prices change. It hit me. It’s very strange, because I’ve spent a lot of my time praying for peace, happiness, and freedom from suffering for all beings. And here many people buy something at five dollars and pray it goes to six, or sell it at six and pray it goes to five. It was strange to see all that mental energy being spent that way. It helped me keep a lot of perspective.

After that my life was like a tornado. When the winds of karma catch up to you, they blow you in certain ways. I traveled all over the world for work and didn’t run into the Lamas much. Chicago has never been a great center for spirituality. For some reason I don’t understand, there hasn’t been much here over the years, and when the Lamas came to the U.S., they went up to Madison, or to California, or to New York. Nobody told me to open a center in Chicago, and I didn’t. I went by what the Lamas do: the Buddha only taught when people asked him, and teachings happen when people ask for them. 

Lama Yeshe taught that we can bring the Dharma to the West without leaning on Buddhist terminology. When I think about my own life, in the middle of the financial markets, I’d say that’s right: in a way, that is what has been happening. Lama Yeshe’s teaching was always that we can learn from whatever situation comes our way. He said that poisons can be turned into medicine. That’s what he taught everywhere he went, even when he was walking around.

The very basics of what I had learned, and the strength of Lama Yeshe—those I never let go of.

His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama with Scott Brusso, in Madison Wisconsin 1998. Scott recalls that, as His Holiness was leaving the parliament building, He walked past the waiting crowd and came directly over to greet him. A similar encounter took place in August 1999, when His Holiness visited Chicago’s Field Museum and stopped to bless Scott and his son Zack. Photo courtesy of Scott Brusso.

“An action is considered to be a part of Dharma practice solely on the criterion of its effect on the mind. If delusions are eradicated and sufferings diminished by what we do, then this is Dharma. Thus even if we spend most of our time working inside an office in a crowded city or doing menial labor and the like, we can still be practicing Dharma. The essential thing is that our delusions decrease in strength. Any type of action can be transformed into a Dharma practice if it is done with the proper motivation. If we keep in mind the importance of working to eliminate our ignorance so that we can more effectively help others overcome their suffering, whatever we do is Dharma.” – Lama Yeshe, in Wisdom Energy: Basic Buddhist Teachings, Wisdom Publication, 1976

We are grateful to Scott Brusso for sharing this story as part of FPMT’s fiftieth anniversary celebration, and we would love to hear from other pioneer students with memories of their own to share. Were you there at the beginning? Do you have a story to share about how you met Lama Yeshe or Lama Zopa Rinpoche, or about the impact they have had on your life? We would love to hear from you.

Please explore all of the resources we have compiled related to FPMT history, and use the hashtag #50YearsFPMT in your social media posts so we can all be connected.

Foundation for the Preservation of the 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.

FPMT Global Mani Retreat (GMR) Coordinator Selina Foong and members of the GMR team had the privilege of meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama last Saturday, October 17. Harald Weichhart -GMR multimedia manager and FPMT media resource manager shares more about the audience in his own words.

Global Mani Retreat team, Dharamsala, October 17, 2026. Photo by Ven Tenzin Choklang.

On Saturday, October 17, 2026, ten representatives of the Global Mani Retreat team traveled to Dharamsala from all corners of the world for an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

1. Dale Davis, FPMT, Inc. board member
2. Selina Foong, GMR coordinator and FPMT regional coordinator for East and Southeast Asia
3. Frances Howland, GMR assistant coordinator and FPMT regional coordinator for South Asia
4. Ven. Thubten Gyalmo, resident Western teacher at the Mongolian FPMT center Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling 
5. Shanti Yajnik, co-director at Tushita Meditation Centre, India 
6. Andrey Lomonosov, director at Ganden Tendar Ling, Russia
7. Cristian Cowan, GMR sessions for FPMT North America and spiritual program coordinator at Vajrapani Institute, California
8. Irina Hueso Roldán, GMR Spanish parallel series and FPMT national coordinator for Spain
9. Harald Weichhart, GMR multimedia manager and FPMT media resource manager
10. Jasmine Mohtashami, GMR graphic designer and people and community manager at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, London

On behalf of the entire FPMT organization, the group offered the Mani practice, together with one hundred Shakyamuni Buddha statues, for His Holiness’s good health and long life.

His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama with Selina Foong, Dharamsala, October 17, 2026. Photo courtesy of OHHDL

Harald says: “Seeing His Holiness the Dalai Lama in person is a rare opportunity. It was a great honor to be part of the Global Mani Retreat group in McLeod Ganj and to represent FPMT as we offered His Holiness this year’s 100 Buddha statues.

“At 91, His Holiness looked to be in good health and seemed to defy his age. He does not speak with those attending, but each of us could place a personal request with him. Simply holding His Holiness’s hands is an experience of a lifetime.

“The atmosphere at the temple was magical. By coincidence, the Geshema graduation ceremony was happening at the same time, with the nuns debating in full force all around us.

His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama with Dale Davis, FPMT, Inc. board member, Dharamsala, October 17, 2026. Photo courtesy of OHHDL

“Our group was wonderful and full of joyful people, and everybody connected right away, whether we had met before or not. Many of us had to overcome real obstacles just to get there. Andrey topped them all. His flight was canceled, then airport security held him over his bell and he missed the next flight by five minutes. He traveled via Amritsar instead and arrived just in time. Clearly, it was meant to be.”

Upcoming Teachings

Khandro Tseringma Rinpoche will offer a teaching on Sunday, October 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (UTC). The topic is “How to Generate Chenrezig in Daily Life.” The closing session will take place on Saturday, November 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (UTC).

You are welcome to follow all the details of the Global Mani Retreat on our webpage and to join the Facebook Group. You can send your mantra count through this form until Monday, November 2, 2026, 8:00 a.m. (UTC)

With under two weeks left in the retreat, the numbers reported are already outstanding! We look forward to sharing the grand total at the Closing Session on Saturday November 7th.

With gratitude to Harald Weichhart for sharing this story, and to the entire GMR team led by Selina Foong for their tremendous efforts in organizing this global online retreat.

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.

Animal blessing at Tara Institute, Oct 4, 2026. Photo courtesy of TI.

On October 4, 2026, Tara Institute in Australia celebrated World Animal Day, an international day of action for animal welfare. The community gathered for an animal blessing ceremony, an animal liberation, and candle offerings for lost or ill pets. Their event reflects the wishes of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who has taught extensively on benefiting animals.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche wished for FPMT centers to host animal blessing events to bring new people to the Dharma and to benefit all the animals. In his words: ” The pets and the people get so much benefit from these events. This is a new thing that I would like to start. As much as possible for there to be animal blessing events when I visit the centers.”

The Dharma community offered an animal blessing ceremony led by Geshe Lobsang, an animal liberation, and candle offerings in remembrance of lost or ill pets. Forty dogs, one cat, and one chicken took part in the animal liberation, and twelve containers of worms were given a second chance to live out their natural lives.

Animal blessing ceremony led by Geshe Lobsang, Photo courtesy of TI.

By holding these practices, the community at Tara Institute is helping to realize the wish of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his vast vision for the animals’ lives. Lama Zopa Rinpoche shared about animal blessings: “The purpose is to bring peace to the animals and to make their lives meaningful, so sooner or later they can be fully awakened and achieve highest happiness.” 

There are many ways we can help animals, including rescuing them from untimely death, caring for their health, and helping plant imprints that purify their karma, create merit, and become the causes that can ripen their future enlightenment.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained the benefits of the practice of animal liberation: “By doing prayers and chanting powerful mantras for the animals, they receive a higher rebirth and liberation. This practice purifies immediately the oceans of samsaric suffering.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing a dog at an animal blessing in Moscow, Russia, 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Tara Institute also raised funds for the FPMT Animal Liberation Fund as part of its World Animal Day activities. The fund has supported ongoing animal liberations throughout the FPMT organization for many years, including weekly liberations and blessings. The Animal Liberation Fund and has also offered substantial support to projects that rescue and benefit animals like Kopan Monastery’s Animal Liberation Sanctuary, and others.

Animal Liberation Resources Available

FPMT Education Services has also published a number of prayer and practice resources that are available to engage in animal liberation practice at home, including ebooks and PDFs, a printable liberation bug catcher tool designed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and audio recordings. .

Resources for Benefitting Animals 

• Advice page for benefiting animals
• Recitations for Animals audio album
• Charity to Ants PDF
• Animal Liberation Tools
• Liberating Animals from the Danger of Death PDF
• Blessing the Animals in the Ocean PDF
• Liberating Animals eBook & PDF
• The Five Powerful Mantras for Liberating Sentient Beings from the Lower Realms:
• Wish Fulfillment for All Animals: Their Happiness and Liberation—Powerful Buddha Names and Mantras and the Benefits of Reciting Them

Thanks to Tara Institute and to everyone who takes part in these practices, helping Rinpoche’s wishes for benefiting animals become a reality. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has taught extensively on methods for benefiting sick and dying animals. You can find Rinpoche’s advice on the “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche” page and also on Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s“Lama Zopa Rinpoche Online Advice Book”   and “Benefiting Animals”

To learn more about FPMT’s Animal Liberation Fund, which directly supports Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes to protect animals from danger and expose them to the Dharma, and to offer support to ongoing animal liberation activities, visit the Animal Liberation Fund page online.

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.

Our latest newsletter is now available!

In addition to precious advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe, we are happy to share many causes for rejoicing from last month, and we hope you will take the time to enjoy news and updates from around the world, including a roundup of recent beneficial activities supported by FPMT Charitable Projects.

You will also find information on new study and practice resources and opportunities available to you, and important changes in the organization. 

Please read this month’s newsletter in its entirety. 

Have the e-News translated into your native language by using our convenient translation facility located on the right-hand side of the page.

Jamyang Buddhist Centre (JBC) sits in the heart of bustling London, with around 10 residential volunteers at any time and a network of about 100 more, local and remote, who serve in roles from hospitality to tech to blog writing. Hundreds of students join its teachings in person and online, and new volunteers are constantly onboarding. To serve this community well, JBC created a new role in 2025 dedicated to the center’s volunteers and community life, and welcomed its first People & Community Manager, Jasmine Mohtashami.

Here she shares what she has learned in the role so far, and what it might offer centers across the FPMT mandala.

Ven. Thubten Drolma, JBC executive director, with Miguel Espinosa, JBC carpenter and artist, and Robin Bath, JBC trustee. JBC, 2026. Photo by JBC London.

What Prompted JBC to Create this Role?

Maintaining relationships with volunteers and community members takes sustained investment. Other volunteers often did this work, but people move on, roles go vacant, and communication styles differ. Investing in community is investing in the Dharma, and a center’s long-term success depends on healthy, responsible, and transparent relationships with its volunteers and community members.

What Turns a Visitor into a Community Member?

A visitor becomes a community member at two key stages: first, when they’re new, before they’ve started courses or formed a relationship with the Dharma; and later, when they begin offering service, a time when interpersonal challenges can cut their time at the center short.

The answer often lies hidden – how many parts of someone’s identity are we speaking to? Are we making space for communal vulnerability, for productive tension, for random joy? Are we able to hold the business of tight deadlines amidst Lama visits, while also sitting with community members in crisis (and take care of ourselves at the same time, knowing when to say no and take a day off)?
Investing in community work is fundamentally investing in the Dharma, ensuring that centers continue to benefit beings for many more years.

When I first discovered the Dharma, it struck me how different Buddhist organisations that I visited had different kinds of communities: in some of them, people practiced together daily, taking on much responsibility amidst busy lives, travelling great distances to see each other, helping each other move and taking care of one another during hospital visits.
In others, people met once a year, and communication was fragmented. There was a lot of movement in service positions, groups that folded, and people who left the dharma entirely was normalized.

The Dharma was wonderful everywhere – but the quality of community was different.

And the more I started becoming engaged at Jamyang London Buddhist Centre (JBC), studying the Exploring Buddhism course and volunteering for Lama visits, the more I asked myself: How can I safeguard this incredible community I have found?
And when the new position of People & Community Manager was advertised at JBC I knew that my spiritual home too understood that community doesn’t sustain itself – it needs tending.

I was thrilled to join the team at JBC. Having worked in campaigning and volunteer management before, I took note of what made Dharma community engagement seamless and sustainable:

• Transparency and support in offering service. A way in to the center was accessibly advertised and meaningful in shaping the center and held throughout the experience. Resources were designed bottom-up and frequently updated in collaboration with the people they were for.
• Professional and kind communication, time-sensitive and personal, suiting individuals accessibility needs.
• Spaces to be other than “student”, but together – affinity groups such as LGBTQ+ and BIPOC spaces which are easy ways in; or informal, creative spaces in the Kindness Cafe, easy ways to make friends and ask questions on how others engage with the Dharma.
• An openness to name tensions. People are people, and each obstacle can be used on the path, individually and as a community. Fair and clear pathways for listening and resolution help people find a way forward. This is the thinking behind our new Wellbeing Framework, which sets out how we raise concerns, resolve disagreements, and repair harm with care — and which other centers are welcome to draw on for their own communities.

But I want to be honest about something here too – naming tension well is harder than it sounds. People are, understandably, wary of anything that resembles a process, because being asked to “attend” something can feel like an accusation before a word is even spoken. So in practice, we might not name the wellbeing framework or walk through formal steps, which still let people know their voice is fairly valued. Instead, we make space for listening, and where it feels right, gently probe into mind training: whether the situation is really as fixed as it appears, what our own part in it might have been, where compassion for a flawed and struggling person might open something up.

Not everyone wants to talk. Not every conversation resolves. Sometimes people aren’t in a place where continuing to engage is safe or right for them. But being genuinely available, and not shying away from difficult conversations, has made a real difference. The aim was never to keep everyone in the room, or to keep every relationship comfortable – it’s to engage compassionately, safely, and in a way that means the center responded responsibly when it mattered.

What Are the Main Responsibilities of the People & Community Manager?

• HR for staff
• Holding the relationship with our Kindness Café facilitators, who offer free secular activities
• Volunteer infrastructure: keeping records up to date, ensuring everyone completes training, and ensuring equal opportunities, treatment and feedback channels across every department
• The Wellbeing Framework, which lets people raise concerns or questions transparently and know what follow-up to expect
• Supporting the team to onboard volunteers responsibly and sustainably
• The residential Karma Yogi programme, making it sustainable and enjoyable

Iris, a translator, Kate on the Cafe team, Zola from hospitality and Ven Jampa on the ritual attendant team, chatting with Jasmine Photo Courtesy of JBC’s newsletter

How Does the People & Community Role Add Value to Day-to-Day Operations?

The power of community comes from repetition. It’s from these strengths being demonstrated again and again. Being a familiar face. A gradual accumulation of small moments of trust and recognition.

Volunteering creates the conditions for exactly that. When someone commits to turning up regularly, something opens up – relationships deepen, the center starts to feel genuinely familiar, and the teachings begin to find expression not just in meditation but in how we show up for one another. That’s a kind of practice in itself.

On any given week I might be coaching our different coordinators on the various needs of volunteers, training up new facilitation leaders for self-held affinity groups, discussing communication styles with our residential volunteers, writing up HR policies for the team or organizing a day to celebrate our volunteers. I’m also building out our onboarding and resource training systems so that people – whether they’re joining as volunteers or staff – have a real sense of what they’re stepping into and how they belong. A year in, the volunteer infrastructure feels grounded and built-out, and we’re turning our attention to mentoring long-term students into leadership positions, incorporating mind training into the very ethos of our residential program, and so much more – the community speaks, and we listen.

What Concrete Changes have Happened During the First Year?
Much of the first year was systematising: building structures that don’t depend on one person. 

• Volunteer infrastructure that was ad hoc is now sustainable and tangible. Volunteers in every department, remote or on-site, receive the same opportunities and follow-up.
• All community members can raise concerns, such as accessibility needs and special requests.
• We’ve built relationships with long-standing community members and listened to their feedback.
• We’re engaging the local community, for example giving building tours to the Lambeth heritage community.

Two examples show the impact.

Shared structures for volunteers
We replaced ad hoc arrangements with structures that are clear and open to everyone:

• An updated Volunteer Agreement that sets out what is expected and what protections volunteers have, so nothing is left to assumption
• A transparent Wellbeing Framework, available to all, with a clear route for raising concerns and knowing what follow-up to expect
• One digital hub holding every form, resource and way to get involved, so remote volunteers get updates and can take part just as on-site volunteers can

Looking after our people at the front line
Front-facing volunteers and facilitators have taken part in group reflective practice sessions hosted by our Inclusivity Ambassador, Matt, where they can share what it’s like to serve the public. We also held one-to-one conversations with team members and created an incident log where people can flag difficult encounters. Together these give people a space to feel heard.

What Does JBC Hope to Develop Next?

• Bringing back our Inclusivity Ambassadors, championing and mentoring people from minority backgrounds to hold some of our activities.
• Revamping the residential Karma Yogi program around lojong and mind training, so participants leave having achieved something and deeply engaged with the Dharma.

A Thought for the Wider FPMT Community

I’ve been reflecting on what it means for a center to consciously invest in this kind of role, and I think it’s worth sharing with the broader network.

Every center has people at its edges – those who attend regularly but haven’t yet found their way into a deeper sense of belonging, or volunteers who give generously without always feeling fully seen into community, or those who have co-created spaces for years, sometimes decades, but burn out or face immersion aversion. Tending to those people isn’t peripheral work. It’s some of the most important work a center can do.

That doesn’t have to mean a dedicated staff role – it might look very different depending on the size and context of your center. But it does mean asking the question: who is actively looking after the human experience of our community members? Who ensures that volunteers feel valued, that newcomers are genuinely welcomed, and that long-term members are able to take time off?
These questions aren’t secondary to educational programs, they are what keep them alive for many more years to come.

Some lessons from our first year that other centers could adapt:

• Invest in volunteer management. Onboarding more people than you can support means people fall through the cracks. Long-term members get overlooked, treatment becomes uneven and resentment grows.
• Build more than a work relationship. A relationship with volunteers differs from one with employees. If we only turn to volunteers when we need work done, and don’t create safe, transparent ways to communicate, it can damage both the centre and individuals. Social spaces help.
• Build infrastructure that outlives volunteer coordinators. Keep the database current and know who has signed the ethical policies. It’s basic, but it makes a big difference, and it doesn’t require a dedicated post.
• Look after the core team. People who offer service risk giving too much. Ask who is looking after them.
• Create feedback loops. Centers rely on volunteers and community members but rarely have capacity to learn from them. Even small, gradual efforts to hear and act on people’s experiences, including those of people with different abilities, make an impact.

After all, our community spans beyond our center walls and remote students, and includes the entire FPMT family. Building a warm, sustainable and courageous home for the Dharma takes all of our initiative – what a privilege and joy it is to be of service to the Dharma together!

Written by Jasmine Mohtashami, People & Community Manager for JBC. Jamyang is very happy to offer more information about the development of their People & Community Manager role, should any FPMT center wish to pursue creating a position like this to suit their own community’s needs. 

We welcome the submission of news stories from those within the FPMT community. This can be a story about something you have personally completed or accomplished, about someone else who has done so, or about the FPMT center, project, or service of which you are a part. Ideal submissions will give readers reasons to rejoice, share ideas, and create connections between those in the international community. Have something to share? Please let us know!

On September 5-6, 2026 FPMT Australia and Langri Tangpa Centre organized 110,000 tsog offerings to Guru Rinpoche, also known as a Guru Bumtsog practice. This powerful practice, offered every two years, was led by Geshe Rabten from Atisha Centre, Geshe Tsultrim from Chenrezig Institute, Geshe Choden from the Tibetan community and Geshe Tenzin Zopa. Students from across Australia took part in the powerful, joyous multi-day event. Here, Miffi Maxmillion, Spiritual Program Coordinator of Langri Tangpa Centre, shares a personal account of the Guru Bumtsog.

Sangha at the Guru Rinpoche Bumtsog held at Langri Tangpa Centre in Brisbane.

Over a year in preparation, six months of buying tsok (we had to taste-test before buying in bulk!), a week to set up, two invigorating days to offer, and a week to pack down — that was the Guru Bumtsog 2026 that came very slowly and then suddenly very fast, and then dissolved into rainbows filling our hearts.

We built the room around the drums, literally and metaphorically. The drum is the binding, driving force of the puja, almost shamanistic, consciousness riding on the rhythm. In Guru Bumtsog the drum becomes like a magnetic pulse, drawing in your own energy and that of the universe, and aligning it with enlightened love and compassion. So we placed the drums in the center of the room facing each other, at the end of the seated row, forming a U-shaped configuration, very inclusive for puja.

Gompa with drums prepared for the Guru Bumtsog practice, September 2026, Langri Tangpa Centre, Australia. Photo courtesy of LTC.

One of the drums came from Kopan in a colorfully carved frame and sounded perfect when we unpacked it, but after the reduced humidity of the plane wore off, it went from boom-boom to tack-tack. We replaced it with a synthetic drum after driving all around Brisbane on a detective hunt. It was a kid’s drum with cartoon jungle animals, so I covered it with brocade and painted the inside gold. The other drum was a shaman’s drum from America, also synthetic, and it sounded a little deeper. We commissioned a similar frame from the Men’s Shed, a minimalist echo of the Kopan frame, and Helene 3D printed the Dharmachakra and deer for the decoration.

We had spent the previous “holidays” constructing geshe thrones, with the bases from the Men’s Shed, decorating them with found antique objects from my mother’s cupboards, [Inta McKimm, who founded the Langri Tangpa Centre], with new mass-produced imitation Louis XIV flimsy wood carvings we painted gold, and with small metal dragons and flaming Norbu headers from Nepal. Like embroidering with wood, each throne-back had its own theme — the Rustic Nepali, the French Chateau, the Naga King… Geshe Zopa was so impressed! He said: “Why do we need to send for overseas? We can make them here, just as good!” Spending many construction hours to “offer a throne” created the merit for the coming year of preparations to go well and everything to come together on the day. 

With the seats of enlightenment set, and the drums in prime position, we could start layering the decorations and piles of offerings. One hundred jams, three hundred pieces of fruit, six swirl-turrets of chocolate, nine double-decker platters of coconut slices and wasabi peas, a fence of chips standing guard, and a mountain of biscuits arranged in peaks along the window ledges. The flowers on the main altar were about five feet (1.5 meters) high, framing the Buddha, with the gold-leaf tsa-tsas and other holy objects underneath like presents under a Christmas tree. The ‘torma’ was a three-tiered glass container of white sugar almonds, red jaffas, and blue jellybeans; a sturdy spinal column of OM AH HUM.

Financially, it took a courageous commitment! But FPMT Australia impressed upon us the importance of generosity. Over the weekend, more sponsorships came in: many people donated; one sangha member donated $500 to the puja; and an anonymous benefactor donated $20,000 to replace the cracked gompa windows.

Flower Team for the Guru Bumtsog practice, September 2026, Langri Tangpa Centre, Australia. Photo courtesy of LTC.

Behind the scenes was much more than the hard work of setting up marquees and serving breakfast and lunch and homemade cakes and chai — there were hidden moments of exquisite care. Barbara came to me and said, “I’ve lost a quite precious thing — someone gave it to me and I wrapped it in a serviette and it’s been cleared away with the cups.” So I enlisted Maureen and Gary, who had prepared our sanitary plan and cleaned all the bins in preparation — one bin for recycle cups and plates, one for toilet rubbish — which turned out to be greatly appreciated and not overkill at all! They tipped over and searched through every bin. Barbara found the takeaway cup with the half-eaten banana bread still in the bottom — but no precious thing! They kept looking, unwrapping, burrowing, until — success! There it was, still wrapped in a serviette, right near the cup, at the bottom of the third bin! That makes it clear that the care and kindness of the LTC volunteers are the beating heart of Guru Bumtsog. Twenty volunteers tag-teamed, serving and sitting in on a session, working harmoniously to bring this event to fruition.

A heat wave hit Queensland over the weekend, the searing sun a tangible reminder of the perils of samsara, beautiful but deadly. It’s hard to appreciate the enormous merit we create deep in this karmic storm; — redirecting climate change, social dislocation, wars, and glacial upheavals. These global crises hovered in the back of our minds, a continual backdrop as tangible and oppressive as the heat. The Guru Bhumtsok prayers became a cry in the wilderness for all sentient beings, and a balm for the mind.

Prayers for the Guru Bumtsog practice, September 2026, Langri Tangpa Centre, Australia. Photo courtesy of LTC.

They say that when people sing together, your heartbeats begin to synchronize. We feel it when suddenly in the Twenty-One Tara Praises we are all chanting in unison, literally creating harmony within our hearts. The same thing happens when you set off a bunch of metronomes; over a short time they all synchronize. A puja, and especially one as energetic as a Guru Bhumtsok, does this with our own mind – we are harmonized with each other and with the enlightened energy of Guru Rinpoche, drawn into his gravitational field, forcefully aligned with altruism and wisdom. There were moments in the puja where people said they were transported to some parallel reality, suspended there in continual reverence, connected for a moment to Guru Rinpoche’s world. It also helped that many of us already knew the tunes, as we have been doing Lama Chopa together for years, and recently added Guru Rinpoche prayers on protector days along with the usual praises to Mahakala and Hayagriva.

Geshe Rabten from Atisha Centre, Geshe Tsultrim from Chenrezig Institute, Geshe Choden from the Tibetan community and Geshe Tenzin Zopa for the Guru Bumtsog practice, September 2026, Langri Tangpa Centre, Australia. Photo courtesy of LTC.

Geshe Tenzin Zopa, who so kindly and enthusiastically led the weekend’s events, said, “The Geshes mentioned again and again in last few days that this Guru Bhumtsok has been one of the best arrangements as far as concerned of organisations wise, as well as the perfections and energy of the pujas etc. All areas were perfect and we are rejoicing so much in the vast merits.” 

We easily reached the 100,000 tsog offering count, as well as Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga each morning and offering Lama Chopa in the final sessions. The geshes stayed in a “geshe palace,” and all the sangha had a rare opportunity to catch up with each other over delicious lunch and beautiful table settings.

Dharma goodie bag contents for the Guru Bumtsog practice, September 2026, Langri Tangpa Centre, Australia. Photo courtesy of LTC.

The goodie bags — Dharma show-bags full of delight and surprise — were our offering to all the attendees. We scoured the cupboards discovering many blessed objects – mani pills, Hayagriva powder, long life pills. But all the packaging was in Tibetan – which was which? On the day we were labelling them, Ven. Yeshestomo visited from Dharamsala, and she got on WhatsApp and conferred in real time with her tutor to translate the mysterious packets for us. We prepared a mini bubble maker with the verse from the Diamond Cutter “A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream…”. We made a puzzle book on Guru Rinpoche and LTC with excellent prizes for anyone who completed all three. Everyone received a welcome khata, a Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (LYWA) book, a long-life mantra bracelet, blessing cords from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, robes from offerings at Bodhgaya, and we also offered the sangha long-life pills. 

Prayers for the Guru Bumtsog practice, September 2026, Langri Tangpa Centre, Australia. Photo courtesy of LTC.

During the puja a continuous flow of people offered khatas to the geshes and to the thrones of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and His Holiness, and red envelopes to all the sangha. Over the weekend Demi developed a system where we could contribute to a pool of offering money and put our names on the roster for each session. Then Demi divided the money between 20 or so envelopes, and we offered in pairs during each session. As the weekend progressed the pool of money grew rather than diminished! This was a cultural adaptation that meant everyone could be involved no matter what amount they could offer.

One attendee said: “I’m so inspired by what you have developed at Langri Tangpa Centre. It feels you have a real family feeling for members that develops their minds and hearts very well. It makes me wish I lived in Brisbane again.”

And one of the volunteers said: “Thank you Miffi, Stacey, Maria, Ian for being such exceptionally gifted and compassionate Captains of this huge life raft of Dharma to lift all sentient beings quickly out the ocean of samsara to enlightenment. Much appreciated to be part of this journey.”

Thank you! Thank you everyone who came along, who donated, who prayed — and you too who are rejoicing! I hope to meet you all someday in the wonderful land of Orgyen!

With grateful thanks to Miffi Maxmillion for submitting this thoughtful piece! 

You can read more about the previous Guru Bumtsog practice in Australia. 

The FPMT Australia Community’s Second Annual Guru Bumtsog

The Power of Guru Rinpoche: The Heart-Opening Guru Bumtsog Experience

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.

His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche and the pilgrims in Anuradhapura Sri Maha Bodhi tree .

For many FPMT students, His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche needs little introduction. A former abbot of Namgyal Monastery — His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s own monastery in Dharamsala — and one of the most highly regarded lamas of the Gelug lineage, Rinpoche has for decades been treasured by Sanghas around the world for the clarity of his teaching and the warmth of his presence.

From July 18-25 2026, Rinpoche led a group of students from Mongolia, Singapore, Australia, and beyond on a pilgrimage to Sri Lanka — a country not usually associated with Mahayana Buddhist activity, but one whose place in the history of the Dharma runs far deeper than most of us realize. Over nine days, the pilgrimage brought Theravada and Mahayana practitioners together in ways not seen on the island for centuries. This is an account of that journey, told partly in the words of Venerable Tenzin Lekdron and partly in the words of fellow pilgrims and the Sri Lankan people who welcomed them.

Venerable Tenzin Lekdron met His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche briefly in Bendigo, Australia. Not long after, she was asked if she would be available to accompany Rinpoche and his Mongolian and Singaporean students on a pilgrimage to Sri Lanka — an invitation she was delighted to accept.

“I could see two great opportunities in this journey,” she recalled. “The first was to meet with the head of all Theravada Buddhist lineages in Sri Lanka, the Malwatte Mahanayaka Thero, and to further that relationship. The second was to offer the Sri Lankan people a rare and extraordinary chance to receive the Avalokiteshvara empowerment — a ceremony that had not been given on the island since the twelfth century.” Here we share the story of this pilgrimage from Ven. Lekdron:

His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche fulfilled both wishes, and many others, meeting every situation with extraordinary kindness and wisdom in a country as volatile as it is unpredictable. The Malwatte Mahanayaka Thero shared that he had visited Lhasa ten years earlier and, through what he saw there, had developed great admiration for Tibetan practitioners — for their courage and their commitment to the Dharma. “We cannot imagine organizing so many monks in a single monastery, thousands, what it takes to feed and educate them. I admire them very much,” he said. When His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche asked if he had any advice, the Mahanayaka Thero replied: “Unity is the most important thing among us. No matter what path we follow, we must be united.”

Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera. The Malwatte Mahanayaka Thero,  the chief prelate of the Malwatta Chapter of the Siam Nikaya in Sri Lanka.

His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche also shed light on just how special Sri Lanka has been in the history of Buddhism, explaining that the Buddha is said to have visited the island more than three times, with references to this found in the Kangyur and Tengyur. Sri Pada, one of the island’s most sacred mountains, is said to be a place where many teachers taught Sutra and Tantra — a rare glimpse into a past most of us can barely imagine.

Stephanie McGrane, a pilgrim from Atisha Centre in Bendigo, shared:

“On 18 July 2026, the day of Chökhor Düchen, His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche offered the oral transmission of Chapters 4 and 5 of The Sutra of Sublime Golden Light (31-chapter version) in Sri Lanka, in the peaceful garden setting of the Walpola Rahula Buddhist Institute. The Institute is renowned for welcoming people of all faiths to participate in its meditation programs, making it a particularly meaningful setting for this auspicious occasion. Approximately 80 people attended in person, while a further 750 joined online. It was truly an international gathering, with Sri Lankan nationals sitting alongside members of Jhado Rinpoche’s pilgrimage group from Mongolia, Malaysia, Ukraine, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and many other countries.”

Welcoming His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the event was that it had been confirmed only a week beforehand. Despite this short notice, the FPMT family spread the word with remarkable speed, enabling 750 people around the world to join the precious transmission online — a response that reflects the deep yearning people have to connect with authentic Dharma masters such as His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche, and to take part in activities that contribute to peace and harmony throughout the world, the very benefits traditionally associated with sutras such as The Sutra of Sublime Golden Light. Venerable Dhammananda, the Institute’s current resident teacher, called it an auspicious event, noting that its founder, Walpola Rahula Thero, was among the earliest monks to work for Buddhist unity. It was, she said, a fitting way to mark Chökhor Düchen before the group set out on pilgrimage to the island’s holy sites.

The Empowerment of 1000-Armed Chenrezig, Anuradhapura

His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche during the Empowerment of 1000-Armed Chenrezig, Anuradhapura

Hirushan, facilitator and translator for the Tara Lanka study group, offers the following account:

His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche bestowed the empowerment of 1000-Armed Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara) at the historic Abhayagiri Stupa Monastery in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, on the twentieth day of the sacred Esala month, according to the Pali lunar calendar.

The ceremony brought together 120 people, including 53 pilgrims — Rinpoche’s students from Mongolia and devotees from Australia, Singapore, France, and Sri Lanka. Significantly, around 25 Sri Lankan Theravada monks also took part, together with local Sri Lankan devotees, with the coordination of Venerable Pepiliyawala Narada Thero, coordinator of the Pali and Sanskrit Exchange.”

His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche during the Empowerment of 1000-Armed Chenrezig, Anuradhapura

Sri Lanka has a profound and ancient connection with the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The Karandavyuha Sutra preserves two remarkable stories linking Avalokiteshvara with the island of Simhala, an ancient name for Sri Lanka, the Land of the Sinhalese. In one account, Avalokiteshvara manifests as a divine horse and helps the Bodhisattva Gautama Shakyamuni escape the Rakshasis who held him captive on the island. In another, Avalokiteshvara appears as a handsome prince, subdues the Rakshasis, and teaches them the Dharma.

Abhayagiri and the Bodhisattva Tradition

The Abhayagiri monastery holds significant archaeological evidence connecting it to the Mahayana and Bodhisattva tradition. A marble statue discovered at the summit of the stupa’s sanctum depicts Amitabha Buddha flanked by the Bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Mahasthamaprapta, and a bronze statue of Avalokiteshvara has also been found at the site. Another notable structure, identified as an Abhisheka Mandapa, is thought by scholars to have been used for the ritual ablution (abhisheka) of Buddha and Bodhisattva statues — and possibly for ritual initiations or tantric empowerments.

Tales of Three Nuns

The story of this empowerment can also be traced through the lives of three remarkable Buddhist nuns whose histories, in different ways, connect Sri Lanka, the Buddhist monastic tradition, and Avalokiteshvara.

First, Arahant Sanghamitta Mahatheri, sister of Arahant Mahinda Thera — who formally introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka in the third century BCE. Arahant Sanghamitta later travelled to Sri Lanka carrying the sacred sapling of the Sri Mahabodhi, still venerated today in the holy city of Anuradhapura. She established the bhikkhuni ordination lineage in Sri Lanka, which later spread as far as China at its height before eventually disappearing in later centuries.

Second, Bhikshuni Lakshmi, associated with the lineage of the 1000-Armed Avalokiteshvara practice and, through it, with the tradition of Nyung Nä retreat. According to the traditional account, she was born in Oddiyana and abandoned by her family after contracting leprosy. With profound faith in the Compassionate One, she undertook twelve years of intense Chenrezig practice, sustaining herself on one meal every two days, until she encountered Avalokiteshvara directly and attained enlightenment.

Third, Venerable Tenzin Lekdron, a Sri Lankan-born Australian nun, who requested that His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche bestow this sacred empowerment in Sri Lanka. She played a leading role in organizing the ceremony, with the support of the Tara Lanka Study Group.

A Tradition That Never Completely Disappeared 

Although the Mahayana tradition institutionally declined and largely disappeared from Sri Lanka after the twelfth century, veneration of the Bodhisattvas — particularly Avalokiteshvara and Tara — continued for centuries, gradually becoming woven into mainstream Theravada culture. Avalokiteshvara survived on the island in a particularly distinctive form: the deity known today as God Natha, one of Sri Lanka’s most important Buddhist deities, is widely understood by scholars to be connected with Avalokiteshvara, although he is popularly identified with Maitreya.

Seen this way, the empowerment of 1000-Armed Chenrezig at Abhayagiri is more than an isolated, contemporary Buddhist ceremony. It marks a meaningful moment in the revival and reconnection of Sri Lanka with a strand of its own ancient Buddhist heritage — one in which Theravada, Mahayana, the Bodhisattva ideal, and the long veneration of Avalokiteshvara have intersected throughout the island’s history.

A young Sri Lankan student named Sahan summed up the day best:

“When I heard the Avalokiteshvara abhisheka was being given in Sri Lanka by a prominent Tibetan Rinpoche, I dropped everything and made my way to Anuradhapura. I am familiar with Avalokiteshvara practice and the mantra, as I join Tara Lanka events. What I saw in the Abhayagiriya hall was beyond anything I could have imagined — Theravada and Mahayana monks sitting side by side, a Tibetan lama offering empowerment with rituals unfamiliar to us, and all of us participating as though it were the most ordinary thing. I can say this was a miracle. I know Sri Lanka, and I know that for such an event to happen, and come to completion without incident, was a miracle. Please keep coming back, offering us opportunities to follow the Bodhisattva path. I am so very grateful to all of you. It’s not easy for us to travel, so please come to us.”

With special thanks to Venerable Tenzin Lekdron for sharing this story, to Amitabha Buddhist FPMT Centre in Singapore for sponsoring the Avalokiteshvara thangka used in the empowerment, to all the pilgrims for their offerings at the holy places visited, and to the Tara Lanka study group members for their hard work.

Jhado Rinpoche is currently on tour in Europe. Please see the full schedule to take advantage of the opportunities available. 

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.