Massimo Corona with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe, Nepal, 1972. Photo by LYWA collection.

Massimo Corona was among the first students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche and is one of the pioneers of Tibetan Buddhism in Italy. Over the past five decades, he has helped found Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, the second FPMT center in the world and the first Italian Buddhist center. He has served in many roles, including founding director of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Pomaia, member of the first FPMT Inc. Board of Directors, executive director of FPMT International Office, publisher of Mandala magazine, director of the Ganden Do Ngag Shedrub Ling, FPMT center in Mongolia, and interim president of ILTK’s board—offering not only his own life but the devotion, labor, and generosity of his entire family.

As a continuation of our yearlong celebration of the FPMT organization turning 50 in December 2025, we are delighted to share  Massimo Corona’ s story and images as one of the early students of FPMT!  We rejoice in Massimo’s lifelong service and share his story here, largely in his own words.

A Life Offered in Guru Devotion

First Encounter with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Massimo Corona was born in 1947 and raised in Milan, Italy, into a wealthy family whose fortune came from the fashion industry. As a university student during the student protest uprisings of 1968 that swept through Italy and the wider West, Massimo was drawn into that spirit of searching and questioning. It would prove to be the beginning of a much longer revolution—not a political one, but a Dharma revolution.

Massimo Corona and  Michael Losang Yeshe (Michael Cassapidis). Lawudo Retreat Centre, 1972, Photo by LYWA collection.

After reading about Swami Naryanananda, Massimo decided to travel to India in search of a spiritual teacher.  It was April 1971, and he was twenty-three years old. His younger brother, Luca, then sixteen, had also been sent later to India by their parents, who hoped to distance him from the political unrest in which he had become involved. When Luca ran out of money, Massimo traveled to Kathmandu to help him. It was Luca who suggested they visit Kopan Monastery, where his friend Claudio Cipullo was staying. As Massimo approached the old gompa, a poster explaining the Four Noble Truths caught his attention. “This is exactly what I need,” he thought.

It was there that he first met Lama Yeshe.

Listening to Lama teach, Massimo felt as though every word was directed to him personally. “As soon as Lama started talking, I felt it was all about me – about my mind, my problems, my hopes, faults and dreams. I thought, my God, this is my teacher!” He immediately abandoned his plan to travel to Rishikesh to meet the swami and instead remained at Kopan, where Lama Yeshe had begun teaching Western students.

During their first private interview, Lama Yeshe asked if he wished to receive teachings. When Massimo answered yes, Lama replied:” Well, remember, this is not a path for curiosity, this is a path for practice.”

Looking back, Massimo says: “Meeting Lama Yeshe for me was love at first sight. He guided my life, not only through teachings. He taught from his heart, and that was why he touched our hearts. Practically every word Lama Yeshe said had an incredible impact on me. Lama was telling me what to do with my life. I asked him everything. It was a guru-disciple relationship—not just receiving teachings but having a beacon for my life!”

Near Ordination and Life Change of Plans

IMI audience with His Holiness, Included in the photo are: Massimo Corona, Bonnie Rothenberg, Chokey Thubten (Debra Spring Livingston), Dieter Kratzer, Gareth Sparham Jampa Sampo (Mark Shaneman), John Feuille, Ordination, Pende Thubten (Jim Dougherty), Piero Cerri (Thubten Donyo), Steve Malasky (Pearl),  Ursula Bernis, Yogi (Konchog Jampa). May 1975. Photo by LYWA collection.

Lama Yeshe had set a date in Dharamsala for Massimo’s ordination, to be conducted by Ling Rinpoche alongside the Canadian monk Jampa Sampo. The morning before the ordination, however, Carol—an American woman with whom Massimo had been traveling—arrived and told him that she was pregnant.  For several days he struggled with the decision. Too embarrassed to ask Lama Yeshe for advice, he reflected alone before deciding that he could not leave his unborn child without a father. Instead, he chose to remain a lay practitioner and raise his child in the Dharma. On December 23, 1971, their daughter, Maitri Dolma Corona, was born in the American Hospital of Kathmandu. Soon afterward, Massimo carried her to Lama Yeshe for a blessing, bringing with him the finest Darjeeling tea he could find as an offering. During Carol’s pregnancy, they also had the opportunity to meet His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama for the first time. The audience took place in a small sitting room at his residence in Dharamsala. His Holiness asked Massimo a question that stayed with him throughout his life: “How can you be sure that what you perceive is not a dream?” The question immediately reminded Massimo of something he himself had wondered as an eleven-year-old child, when he had once asked his brother in the dark: “How can we be sure our parents are not a dream?”

 The Early Kopan Courses

Massimo Corona with the newborn baby Maitri at the second Kopan Meditation Course. Included in the photo are: Ann McNeil (Anila Ann), Mark Shaneman (Jhampa Zangpo), Steve Malasky, Gen Wangyal, Åge Delbanco (Babaji), Peter Kedge, Geshe Thubten Tashi (seated in middle), Losang Nyima, Chris Kolb (Ngawang Chötak), Ron Brooks. Spring 1972. Photo by LYWA collection.

The following year, Massimo attended both the March and November Kopan courses. As a young father with a newborn daughter, he was able to follow Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings more easily than many of the other students because, before the course began, he had spent time with Rinpoche preparing a thirty-page booklet in English to help communicate the teachings. It was the first version of The Wish-Fulfilling Golden Sun of the Mahayana Thought Training teachings from the Kopan Course.  

The third Kopan Course brought together around fifty students, many of whom would later become future pillars of FPMT, including Peter Kedge, Marcel Bertels, Nick Ribush, Marie Obst, Claudio Cipullo, Piero Cerri, Luca Corona, among many others, and it was here that Massimo felt that something significant was beginning.

Massimo Corona at the third Kopan Meditation course with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Piero Cerri, Steve Malasky (Steve Pearl), Nick Ribush. Fall 1972. Photo by LYWA collection.

Over the following months, his connection with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche deepened. He accompanied them to Bodhgaya to attend teachings by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche on The Lama Chopa commentary. Later that summer, he traveled to Lawudo, where he helped distribute food to the Lawudo family and began a Vajrasattva retreat in the Lawudo Cave with Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

While staying there, his infant daughter, Maitri, developed bronchitis and a dangerously high fever just as heavy snow cut the family off from the outside world. Massimo eventually found a jar of sulfonamide left behind by a Mount Everest expedition and gave it to her twice a day until the fever finally subsided. Once she had recovered, he carried her on his shoulders all the way down the mountain to Lukla airport in a single day. At the time, the family was living in Ram’s house near Kopan, close to Laxman’s home. One evening Maitri would not stop crying. Desperate, Massimo and Carol carried her to Lama Yeshe. “He looked at her for a few moments then reached over and pulled out a thorn lodged in the back of her knee. She stopped crying immediately.”

During the time in Lawudo, Lama Yeshe invited Massimo to sponsor a tantric puja at Thamo Nunnery. Watching Lama during the ceremony, Massimo felt as though he had become completely motionless. Afterward Lama said “Did you see? During the puja Lama is gone. Lama is not there! One day, dear, you will learn that the real guru is inside you.”

Toward the end of the year, Lama Yeshe held a public examination at Tushita Retreat Centre in Dharamsala. Massimo remembers: “The room was packed—about one hundred and fifty people. Lama called me and the other senior students, including Jon Landaw. Each of us could choose a topic. I was first and chose The Three Principal Aspects of the Path by Je Tsongkhapa. They seemed happy with my presentation. Then Lama Zopa Rinpoche questioned me about emptiness and the self, asking very unusual questions to see whether I had really understood.” Massimo did all right; one student in the room told him afterward, “I’ve just seen the future of a great Dharma teacher.”

Bringing Buddhism to Italy

Massimo Corona, Piero Cerri, and Claudio Cipullo— the “three Italian Musketeers”—were the first Italian students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. It was Piero who formally invited Lama Yeshe to teach in Italy.

The first meditation course was held in 1975 at a Barnabite fathers’ retreat center in Eupilio, near Como, with Massimo, Carol, Claudio, and Piero arranging accommodation for eighty students. Wilma, Massimo’s mother, came and when introduced to Lama Yeshe, was immediately and warmly greeted by him. She fell completely in love with Lama Yeshe, —a meeting that planted an important seed of support for the years to come.

The following year, Massimo’s second child, Yeshe, was born in Switzerland. Later that year, he helped organize a second lamrim course in Tartavalle, near Taceno, translated by Stefano Piovella. Around this time, Wilma invited Lama Yeshe to stay for two days at the family’s country house near Asti. Massimo’s father, Pino, initially skeptical of Lama Yeshe’s intention, was won over during a private conversation overlooking the family vineyards, in which Lama Yeshe articulated Pino’s own life principles back to him, one by one. “Tell these young people they have to work, that they can mix Dharma with ordinary life. There’s no need for them to abandon.” Moved to tears, Pino pledged his support to create a Dharma center in Italy.

Lama Yeshe with Massimo Corona, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, November, 1982. Photo by LYWA collection.

During the second Italian lamrim course, Lama Yeshe called Massimo, Piero, and Claudio to his room one evening and asked, “Well, are we going to make a center in Italy or not?”

The three enthusiastically agreed. Lama then asked what they should call it: “Atisha? Lama Tsong Khapa? Or what do you like?”

Lama Yeshe then turned to the question of leadership. “Who is going to be the director? We make democratic. We vote. I vote for Massimo. Who do you vote for? And who is the Spiritual Director? I vote for Piero. And we need a secretary—that is Claudio. See how democracy works? It’s very good!”

Lama Yeshe also instructed them to leave their studies of Tibetan debate with Geshe Rabten at the Tibet Institute in Switzerland so they could work directly at the center and support the new students. Although Massimo loved studying debate, he left everything behind and began searching for a suitable location for the center.

Lama Yeshe and Massimo Corona with the team of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa. Included in the photo are: Claudio Cipullo, Franchino Morgante, Massimo Andreuzza, Franco Piatt, Claudio Gambirasio. Pomaia 1983. Photo by LYWA collection.

The new Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa was first established in 1976 in a small apartment in Milan while Massimo searched throughout Italy for a permanent home. He placed advertisements in local newspapers and traveled across Veneto, Tuscany, and Umbria, eventually visiting more than one hundred properties. The castle at Pomaia was chosen for its immediate habitability. Massimo sent photographs of the building to Lama Yeshe, who quickly replied, “Perfect. Okay.”  The preliminary purchase agreement was signed in April 1977.  It was, in every sense, a family offering: Massimo’s father, Pino, gave most of the funds from what would otherwise have been Massimo’s inheritance, while his mother, Wilma, stood among the twelve founding members who registered the center with the Italian government, in December 1976.  In April 1977, the first residents moved in, with Massimo the first to sleep in the old castle.

This marked an important milestone in the development of Buddhism in Italy. Although Buddhism had already begun to take root in Italy during the 1960s, the founding of the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute (ILTK) in 1976 marked a turning point, as it became the first permanent Buddhist center in Italy.

Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the center with the students. Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, 1978. Photo by LYWA collection.

In September 1977, on his first visit to Pomaia, Lama Yeshe told the community that two things were essential to a center: Dharma, and money—a statement that startled the largely countercultural audience. “He explained that without money, nothing could be accomplished,” Massimo recalled. During the same visit, Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught for ten days on lamrim and thought transformation, and Lama Yeshe gave a ten-day course on the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga practice. “Why do we need a guru? Because in order to cure our diseased minds, we need the help of someone who knows how to do it. Since it is extremely difficult to understand how the mind works, we need the guidance of an expert in this area.”

As director from 1977, Massimo oversaw the restoration of the building alongside a steady daily routine of practice. By December, the community had grown to fifteen residents, and a management committee was established. During the first three years, more than half the castle was dismantled, only two rooms were livable, and with no proper gompa, the teachings were held in a huge tent in the courtyard. 

The lamas continued to visit the Institute every year, at least in the early period. During Massimo’s time, the Institute was incredibly fortunate to host many great teachers, including Kyabje Zong Rinpoche in 1978. This year, Lama Yeshe arrived at ILTK on September 13, a few days after Zong Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Zong Rinpoche was teaching the lamrim, and Lama Yeshe was to give a course on the fifty-one mental factors, a study of the mind and its functions according to Buddhist psychology. At the end of the teachings, Lama Yeshe had a long meeting with Massimo and the ILTK community: “If there is no Dharma community, people lose contact with each other. So Pomaia has the function of refuge.” 

The following year brought another period of intense activity. In July 1979 the lamas arrived at ILTK, where Lama Zopa Rinpoche began teaching a course on the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation. While Geshe Yeshe Tobten had already arrived with Massimo’s younger brother, Luca, who had by then become a monk and was serving as his translator.

Lama Yeshe with Massimo and Pino Corona, Harvey Horrocks, and Franco Piatti. Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, 1983. Photo by LYWA collection.

Massimo with the community worked from early morning until late at night preparing for the visits of the lamas. By then the gompa had finally been completed, one dormitory was finished, much of the castle had been restored, and the upper floor of the lamas’ residence was ready for use. During these years the Institute welcomed many eminent teachers, including Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche, Geshe Jampa Lodro, and Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, who made his only European stop at ILTK to give teachings and a Yamantaka initiation.  After several years of intensive work, Massimo stepped down as director in 1980 in order to attend to family matters. When Lama Yeshe asked who should succeed him, Massimo recommended Harvey Horrocks, who became director after Claudio Cipullo had served in the role temporarily.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, with Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Included in the photo are: Massimo Corona, Elisabeth Drukier, Harvey Horrocks, India, JW- Jamyang Wangmo (aka Helly Pelaez or Jampa Chokyi), Jacie Keeley, Nick Ribush, Stefano Piovella, Susanna Parodi Corona, Uldis Balodis, Zia Bassa. Dharamsala 1981. Photo by LYWA collection.

Family Life and Continued Service

Massimo Corona and Susanna Parodi Corona, New Delhi, 1982, Photo by Greg Moscatt.

Although he had stepped down as director of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Massimo’s service to Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche continued in many different ways. At the same time, he returned to the family fashion business, directing the Karma fashion house in Milan together with stylist Susanna Parodi, who would later become his wife. Massimo always smiled when recalling how Lama Yeshe had introduced them. One day in 1980, Lama turned to him and said, my daughter Susanna don’t you think is pitty [pretty]? I think she is really pitty!” The following year, while Massimo was interpreting for Lama Yeshe at an international yoga conference in Milan, Lama turned to Susanna and said, “You look after my sponsor!”, referring to Massimo.

Lama Yeshe and Massimo Corona at the Yoga conference, Milan, 1981, Photo by LYWA collection.

In 1982, Massimo traveled to Tushita Retreat Centre in Dharamsala to receive teachings and  empowerments from Kyabje Song Rinpoche. However, a business commitment required him to leave before the teachings had concluded. Soon afterward, Lama Yeshe wrote to him: “[…] You are in my heart making success for all sentient beings. I dedicate your efforts. Thank you so much. And anything I can do from time to time, you let me know.” 

That same year ILTK hosted the first visit of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Lama Yeshe arrived two days before and the community worked tirelessly to get the place ready, ”I can still see the incredible toil of working neck deep in trenches installing sewerage lines under the scorching July sun” said Massimo.

The following year, 1983, Lama Yeshe anticipating his declining health, proposed forming an international board of directors for FPMT so that Lama Zopa Rinpoche would be free to focus on teaching rather than administration. Massimo served on this first FPMT board alongside ten other longtime students.

That September, Lama Yeshe made what would become his final visit to Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa. During the visit he invited Massimo to dinner and insisted on preparing the meal himself. Massimo has never forgotten that evening, “That was the last meal he ever cooked for me.”

Passing of Lama Yeshe

Massimo Corona and Susanna Parodi Corona doing puja for Lama Yeshe, Vajrapani Institute, Boulder Creek, California, March, 1984. Photo by LYWA collection.

In January 1984, during Lama’s final weeks, he invited Massimo and Susanna to Palam, Delhi. “He was in bed with oxygen and his little dogs on the bed. As soon as he saw us he took the tubes out and started crying, so soft and gentle,” said Massimo. “I had never seen him cry before. He told us ‘I know you Italians love me so much, but don’t worry, I’ll never leave you.'”

On March 3, 1984 Lama Yeshe passed away in Los Angeles, USA.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche leading the procession to the cremation of Lama Yeshe, followed by Mummy Max, Massimo Corona and other students. Vajrapani Institute, California, March, 1984. Age Delbanco (Babaji) (Photographer). Photo by LYWA collection.

At the time, Massimo happened to be in New York on business. As soon as he heard the news, he and Susanna flew to California and drove directly to Vajrapani Institute. They arrived just as Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Geshe Sopa were about to open Lama Yeshe’s casket. “Rinpoche held my hand and said, ‘The beautiful film is finished. Now the movie has come to an end. Don’t worry. Lama loved you so much. You always did what he wanted,'” Massimo remembered. “From then on it was all pujas. It was intense, very intense, I cried very strongly.”

Building the Foundation

Massimo’s service continued through the following decades alongside his work in business.

In December 1995, he helped establish FPMT Italy as a national legal entity, an initiative led by his mother, Wilma, together with other students. Ownership of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa was transferred to the new foundation after the original owners generously donated their shares. 

In 1998, his father, Pino Corona, passed away. Years earlier, Lama Yeshe had asked that a plaque be placed at the Institute in recognition of the generosity of the Corona family, saying that without their support the center would not have existed. Although the plaque was never installed, Lama’s words remain a lasting tribute to their generosity.

Group photo with Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Taos, New Mexico, 1999. Photo by Roger Kunsang.

At the end of 1999, Massimo became executive director of FPMT International Office, then relocating from Land of Medicine Buddha in California to Taos, New Mexico. Drawing on his background in business and finance, he introduced professional accounting procedures and arranged for FPMT Inc.’s financial records to be certified by public accountants—work that later proved essential when government authorities requested documentation of the organization’s finances. He also served as publisher of Mandala magazine during this period, and worked to expand Mandala‘s international readership. The magazine, however, continued to serve primarily as the voice of the FPMT community, remaining true to its longstanding mission.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with FPMT Board of Directors. USA, 2002. Photo by Roger Kunsang.

In May 2002, Massimo organized a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash with Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the holy time of Saka Dawa, bringing together about fifty pilgrims from around the world. From this journey came the FPMT documentary Mystic Tibet: An Outer, Inner, and Secret Pilgrimage, by filmmaker Christina Lundberg. When plans for the pilgrimage changed repeatedly because of unforeseen circumstances that Lama Zopa saw in his mo divination, the group ultimately undertook a pilgrimage around Central Tibet instead. The participants made pilgrimage to many holy places, including a late-night puja at the nunnery where Lama Yeshe’s former incarnation was once abbess. “A really special time” recalled Massimo, during which “Lama Zopa explained everything.”

At Milarepa’s cave, Rinpoche advised the group to pray strongly for the ability to actualize guru devotion as Milarepa had. For Massimo, guru devotion has remained the foundation of his life of service. “Whatever difficulties one has, it can be overcome by the guru devotion practice.”

Looking back over decades of service, he sees no separation between Dharma practice and organizational work. “My advice is to really try to integrate the FPMT work with Dharma with the Guru Devotion […] and if I am working for that, I’m doing it with a very strong devotion, try to make it possible and realize whatever was his vision.” He believes this is especially important for those serving in leadership positions at centers, study groups, and projects: “It is a bigger responsibility if you’re doing it to please your guru; even if you encounter obstacles if you have the guru in your heart, they don’t hurt you.”

Massimo stepped down as executive director of International Office and publisher of Mandala in 2006, though he remained on the FPMT Inc. Board of Directors until June 2008.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the FPMT Board of Directors, US, 2004. Photo by Roger Kunsang.

Although he had completed many years of organizational responsibility, his wish remained the same. “I kept saying to Lama Zopa all the time, ‘I want to work for you. I dedicate my life to your activities, whatever they are.'” In 2012, that wish was answered: Ven. Roger Kunsang called to relay Rinpoche’s request that Massimo serve in Ulaanbaatar, at the Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling center of FPMT Mongolia. Massimo served as director there for eighteen months. Among his strongest memories is the devotion of the local community. “Every day they were coming to the room, the ground floor of the building, these ladies doing all kinds of offerings, water bowl offerings, early morning, every day,” he said. “One woman told me, ‘I have to thank you. Since my husband started coming here, he stopped drinking.'”

After returning to Italy in 2015, he rejoined the community at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa. Around 2020, a moment of urgent need for the Institute, he was once again asked to serve—this time as interim president of the board.

Massimo Corona offering kata to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy 2017. Photo by Roger Kunsang.

Today, Massimo and Susanna live in a house provided by Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in recognition of his decades of service. Although he was born into considerable wealth, Massimo used what would have been his inheritance to help purchase the Institute and later donated his ownership share to FPMT Italy.  Looking back, he says he has never regretted that decision. “I actually rejoice when I think of all the people who came here and found the entrance to a real spiritual practice—not an ego-driven one. That’s fantastic.”

His Holiness the 14th Dalia Lama with Massimo Corona, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, June 13, 2014. Photo by Piero Sirianni.

For Massimo, that offering was never simply about a building. It was another expression of guru devotion. “I dedicate my life to the Dharma activities of our Lamas, whatever they are.” From a young man searching for a teacher on the road to Kopan, to one of FPMT’s earliest center directors, a founding board member, and a longtime leader of International Office and Mandala, Massimo Corona’s life has been shaped, decade after decade, by a single unwavering thread: devotion to his gurus and willingness to serve wherever needed.  His story is also the story of a family’s offering. Through the generosity of his family, Pino, Wilma and Luca Corona, the encouragement and companionship of Susanna, and Massimo’s own willingness to dedicate his time, resources, and abilities to the Dharma, countless students have encountered the teachings through the communities they helped establish and sustain. More than five decades after first arriving at Kopan, the thread that has guided his life remains unchanged: serving the vision of his gurus so that others may encounter the Dharma.

We rejoice in his kindness, in the kindness of his whole family, and in the countless lives that have benefited, and continue to benefit, from what they offered.

With grateful thanks to Fabiana Lotito for conducting interviews with Massimo about his life with the FPMT organization.

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 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. 

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. 

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 | Teaching Tours & Visits | Dialogue & Discussion | Compassion in Action| International

Holy Objects

Land of Medicine Buddha, 2026, Medicine Buddha Festival. Photo Courtesy of LMB Facebook Page

(USA) Land of Medicine Buddha, on June 27, displayed the 24-foot (7.3 meters) Medicine Buddhas thangka and the Eight Great Bodhisattva thangkas during their ‘Medicine Buddha Festival’. Festivals with large thangkas are a cultural tradition in the Himalayan regions of Tibet and Nepal. On special occasions, these large thangkas are displayed for veneration and for attendees to receive blessings. Lama Zopa Rinpoche brought this custom to the FPMT centers as one of his Vast Visions. We rejoice with all who helped bring it to life!

Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat Center, working at the steps of the Prayer Wheel. 2026, Photo courtesy of Rinchen Jangsem Ling Facebook page.

(Malaysia) Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat Center is continuing to make wonderful progress on its massive prayer wheel project. Having completed the rotation base—the first sacred milestone—in May (read more in the previous news roundup edition), the community is now building the steps. The prayer wheel project started in 2018, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche once noted that the diameter of the prayer wheel is the width of twelve children’s hands joined in a circle—a measurement that teachers and children together calculated at approximately five meters, which proved to be exactly the width of the delivery truck. The construction has been challenging, but sustained by perseverance and blessing, the community is moving steadily forward. We rejoice in this dedicated effort for the benefit of all sentient beings.

The large printed thangka at Nalanda Monastery, 2026. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Center Facebook page.

(France) Generous sponsors from Amitabha Buddhist Center (ABC) in Singapore, have offered a large printed thangka of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s statue in Bodhgaya measuring 10.3 × 15.7 feet (3.15 × 4.80 meters), to Nalanda Monastery. The thangka will be presented in the monastery on auspicious days, offering the community an opportunity to purify the mind and accumulate merit. It will be displayed publicly for the first time during the Great Monlam in Paris on the occasion of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s ninety-first birthday, July 6–8, 2026. The same printed thangka of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha has been donated by ABC to FPMT Nagarjuna Alicante, Spain and a slightly smaller version, measuring  12.4 feet (3.78 meters), was donated to Chenrezig Institute, Australia, last month. We are deeply grateful for this generosity and rejoice in the merits accumulated.

(Romania) The Garden of Maitreya, in collaboration with Nalanda Monastery, began building a stupa in Bucharest in May (read more in the previous news roundup edition) and on June 14, held the Groundbreaking Ceremony for the stupa, a puja led by Geshe Sherab. During his time in Romania, Geshe Sherab also visited the FPMT White Mahakala Study Group for a weekend of teachings. We rejoice in this new auspicious beginning. 

Prayers & Practices

 (Malaysia) Losang Dragpa Center celebrated, Zamling Chisang (World Incense Puja Day) on June 29, a significant Tibetan Buddhist festival observed on the fifteenth day of the fifth month of the Tibetan calendar. Regarded as an auspicious occasion for purification and the accumulation of merits, the day traditionally sees practitioners make their way to hilltops and mountain peaks to offer incense and raise prayer flags. The festival also commemorates Guru Rinpoche’s subjugation of local deities and the establishment of Samye Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet.

Chenrezig Institute practitioners who successfully completed all eight sets of Nyung Nä, on June 2, 2026. Photo Courtesy of CI Facebook Page.

(Australia) We rejoice with Chenrezig Institute practitioners who successfully completed all eight sets of Nyung Nä, on June 2,  led by Venerable Ailsa. Their dedication, perseverance, and sincere practice throughout the retreat series are truly inspiring. 

(Sweden)  Yeshin Norbu Center’s practitioners, following the precious visit of His Eminence Ling Rinpoche, — during which he bestowed the Vajrasattva jenang,— gathered on June 12–17 for a six-day Vajrasattva retreat. The retreat unfolded in an atmosphere of sincerity, quiet effort, and mutual support, with a shared wish to purify obscurations and create the causes for transformation. Each morning began with Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s practice How to Make My Lives Wish-Fulfilling, setting a heartfelt motivation for the day, followed by prostrations to the Thirty-Five Buddhas. Throughout the day, sessions of Vajrasattva practice alternated with calm abiding (shamatha) meditation, a rhythm that allowed both purification and the settling of the mind to develop side by side. 

Langri Tangpa Center Participants of their first Yamantaka self-initiation in 30 years – an auspicious start to a new era! Photo Credits of LTC Facebook page.

(Australia) Langri Tangpa Center on June 14 held their first ceremonial of Yamantaka self-initiation since 1997,—a meaningful milestone! The six hour ceremony was led by Venerable Tsewang, and was attended by fourteen practitioners, and took several hours to prepare and dismantle. May their practice continue to flourish!

Teaching Tours and Visits

(Europe) In June, Nalanda Monastery and Vajrayogini Institut, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa welcomed the final dates of the European tour of His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche, which began in April.

His Eminence Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche, began his European tour in May, with teachings at Centro Muni Gyana, in Sicily on June 6-9, followed by Vajrayogini Institut in France on July 2-4. The full schedule is available on Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche’s website.

We deeply rejoice in the kindness of all the involved in these extensive Dharma tours and the careful preparation they require. We look forward to sharing stories from these visits in the coming months.

USA) We rejoice with the Ocean of Compassion Buddhist Center (Gyalwa Gyatso) for their new center space. On June 14, the community was deeply honored to welcome Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa, one of the last generations of Tibetan Buddhist scholars to begin their educational careers in Tibet prior to the Chinese invasion. He played an instrumental role in the reestablishment and preservation of Tibetan Buddhist and spread it to the Western world. Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa for the occasion led the Cittamani Tara Puja and blessed the new center space, with powerful practices that are designed to clear obstacles, cultivate success, and bring prosperity to the new location and broader community. Congratulations!  

Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa at Ocean of Compassion Buddhist

Also continuing in Europe is the teaching tour of Geshe Zopa, who has been visiting for the first time several FPMT centers, including Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelug-zentrum (Austria), Longku Center and Lhagsam Tibetan Meditation Center (Switzerland), Tara Mandala Center (Germany) Nalanda Monastery (France) and Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (Italy).

Nagarjuna Center— Alicante, on June 14, was honoured to welcome the monks of Gaden Jangtse Khamtsen Monastery. Photo courtesy of NC Facebook Page.

(Spain) Nagarjuna Centro— Alicante, on June 14,  was honored to welcome the monks of Gaden Jangtse Khamtsen Monastery. The visit was made even more meaningful by the deeply moving reception of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s relics and the powerful puja offered by the Gaden monks. The monks offered extensive dedication prayers for the center’s community and their families—that they may have the favorable conditions to continue supporting a place where the Dharma flourishes—and expressed deep gratitude for all the kindness they have received.

Dialogue & Discussion

 (Italy) Centro Tara Bianca, in partnership with the UBI (Unione Buddhista Italiana), local civic institutions, and national bookseller partners, is spreading the Dharma beyond the centers’ walls, through the project “On Dharma’s Route.” Inspired by The Art of Happiness – A Handbook for Living by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Geshe Konchog Kyab, the center’s resident teacher, has given public talks followed by question-and-answer sessions, throughout bookstores in the region. Since its launch, the project has engaged hundreds of people, entirely new to Buddhism who have shown remarkable openness and interest. May these Dharma seeds continue to thrive!

Bridging Perspectives: Buddhism and Science in Dialogue

In the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, science and spirituality together can better serve the needs and well-being of humanity. “I hope both science and spirituality may develop to be of better service to the needs and well-being of humanity,”  His Holiness says in, The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality (2005). In recognition of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s outstanding contribution to fostering dialogue and collaboration between Buddhism and Science for the benefit of humanity, several FPMT centers have been actively working to bridge these two fields. We rejoice in their efforts to bring this vision to life and to serve others through this meaningful work. Here are some highlights of this work taking place within the FPMT mandala.

Jamyang Buddhist Center London, with Science & Wisdom LIVE, June 20, a dialogue between Geshe Tenzin Namdak and Professor Murray Shanahan. Photo courtesy of JBCL Facebook Page.

(London) Jamyang Buddhist Center, with Science & Wisdom LIVE, hosted on June 20, an inspiring dialogue between Geshe Tenzin Namdak, Jamyang’s resident teacher, and Professor Murray Shanahan, Emeritus Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Imperial College London and Principal Scientist at Google DeepMind, moderated by Chris Scammell of the Buddhism & AI Initiative, titled “Can Thinking about AI help us understand our selves?” We will be covering this event more extensively in an upcoming article. 

(Italy) Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in collaboration with the University of Pisa, and Prof. Bruno Neri, has just completed a video documentary, titled “Clear Light’” which investigates the connection between meditation and subtle states of consciousness, thanks to the rare collaboration of the monks and geshes of the Sera Jey Monastic University. We will share more details on this documentary soon. 

We look forward to sharing more about Buddhism and Science in the coming months. Do let us know if something is happening at your center!

Compassion in Action

(India) Maitri Charitable Trust in Bodhgaya distributed 454 rations of food and supplements over the past three months, including pulses, milk powder, and infant cereal, in monthly rations to 137 people and provided care for seventy-seven mothers, ninety-five children and young girls, and thirteen elderly women for treatment. They also detected sixty-five leprosy cases and fifty-three TB patients, carried out three Prevention of Deformities camps with fifty-eight leprosy patients, and distributed fifty-two pairs of sandals to disabled leprosy patients. They also vaccinated seventy-four dogs against viral diseases, rescued five animals, treated forty-one animals in their clinic, and cared for eighteen more. 

The Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) has released its 2025 annual report. During the year, FDCW shared the 16 Guidelines program with communities worldwide through partners in Nepal, Italy, Russia, Israel, and India. FPMT Mongolia also adapted the program for people with visual impairments and introduced it at the National Association for the Blind. We rejoice in this far-reaching work.

International FPMT Family 

In celebration of our fiftieth anniversary, the entire FPMT community has been participating in an unprecedented Global Mani Retreat – an inspiring collective offering of practice, harmony, and dedication to the awakening and benefit of all beings, helping to fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Vision of accumulating 100 Million Mani mantra recitations worldwide.

We Want to Hear Your Story! 

How did your center celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday (July 6) and how will it observe the upcoming holy day of Chökhor Düchen (July 18)? Reach out and share your plans to be included in the next FPMT News Roundup edition.

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.

Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Photo from dalailama.org

Today, communities of students and supporters of the universal message of loving-kindness around the world celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 91st birthday on July 6, 2026.

The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) International Office joins the world in gratefully rejoicing in His Holiness’s exceptionally beneficial life, and we offer prayers for his good health and long life among us. His Holiness has been an incomparable source of reverence and guidance to the FPMT organization since its inception. Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche always reminded us that the highest priority for the FPMT is fulfilling the wishes of and offering service to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. “This is the quickest and most vast way of benefiting sentient beings,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained.

You can read here the resources for practice on this special day, offered for all those wishing to make His Holiness’s birthday as beneficial as possible — a way to honor a life of unending service to others, marked with extraordinary patience that inspires us all.

Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, during his 91st birthday in Ladakh. Photo credits Tenzin Choejor, dalailama.org

Praises and Requests

“Praises and Requests to His Holiness the Dalai Lama” is a collection of praises of, comments about, and requests for His Holiness the Dalai Lama by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, found in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Online Advice Book.

Prayers and Writings by His Holiness

The All-Pervasive Sphere of Great Bliss, Free of Elaboration: Requesting Activities of Palden Lhamo is a short prayer to the protector Palden Lhamo, written by His Holiness in 1973 and primarily aimed at invoking the goddess for the sake of Tibet and its people. The English translation was done by Gelong Tenzin Namjong at the request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

When His Holiness was nineteen years old, he composed a Chenrezig guru yoga sadhana titled The Source of All Attainments: The Yoga of the Inseparability of the Guru and Avalokiteshvara. The practice includes visualizations to inspire the development of compassion and wisdom, and is explained by Lama Yeshe in Becoming the Compassion Buddha.

The FPMT Foundation Store offers a number of books and inspirational messages of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Online Celebration of His Holiness’s Birthday

The celebration of His Holiness’s birthday from the Shewatsel Teaching Ground in Leh, Ladakh, India has been live streamed and is available for later viewing on DalaiLama.com and YouTube. During this celebration His Holiness opening message with the auspicious prayer that he recites daily as soon as he wake up, that Je Tsongkhapa composed in the Lamrim Chenmo:

“May the Dharma be revived and spread through compassion. Wherever it has spread before and declined, may it revive; and where it has not spread in the past, may it shine forth.”

The FPMT International Office and all the Centers, Study Groups, and Projects wish His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama a very auspicious 91st birthday and sincerely request His Holiness to live for a very long time, to continue bringing his universal message of peace and compassion to the world and may His Holiness’s wishes be totally fulfilled for the benefit of all.

Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, during his 91st birthday in Ladakh. Photo credits Tenzin Choejor, dalailama.org

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.

His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche embarked on a two-month European tour beginning in April 2026, visiting FPMT centers and Dharma communities across nine countries. We are delighted to share a digest of his visits to FPMT centers across Germany, Austria, Latvia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, and France, where His Eminence offered, initiations, teachings, and refuge and lay vows. With grateful thanks to Yongzin Lingtsang Labrang for the wonderful photos and information.

His Eminence Kyabjé Yongzin Ling Rinpoche, Nalanda Monastery 2026.

His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche was warmly received upon his arrival in Munich, Germany, by members of the Aryatara Institut and the Tibetan Community of Munich. During the weekend of April 25-26, His Eminence bestowed two days of teachings on the Seven-Point Mind Training (Lojong), and compassionately conferred the Refuge and Lay Vows. In addition, he granted the initiation of The Four-Armed Avalokiteshvara. Hundreds of students including the local Tibetan community queued to offer a khata to His Eminence after the teachings and initiation organized by the Aryatara Institut. His Eminence also kindly met with and gave advice to the Tibetan Community of Munich and, visited the FPMT center in Munich. 

His Eminence Kyabjé Yongzin Ling Rinpoche at Aryatara Institut, Munich, Germany, April 2026.

His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche at Aryatara Institut, Munich, Germany, April 2026.

In Berlin, His Eminence bestowed Seven Medicine Buddha Brothers initiation and teachings on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva at Dharma Mati Center (Rigpa) where he also met and gave advice to the Tibetan community. There, he also received Venerable Thubten Chodron for an audience. Ven. Chodron, a pioneer student of FPMT, originally received her ordination from the previous Ling Rinpoche, His Holiness the 6^th Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche, who was the Principal Teacher for His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and whom His Holiness refers to as “My Root Guru.”

H.E. Ling Rinpoche with Venerable Thubten Chodron in Berlin, April 2026.

On May 6, His Eminence arrived in Vienna, Austria, where a warm and heartfelt reception was offered by the members of Panchen Losang Chogyen Center and the Tibetan community. On May 8, His Eminence graciously bestowed the highest yoga tantra Buddha Amitayus Long Life Initiation to the Tibetan Community of Austria.

H.E. Ling Rinpoche at Panchen Losang Chogyen Centre, Vienna, 2026.

At Panchen Losang Chogyen Center on May 9-10, His Eminence graciously bestowed the Orange Manjushri initiation, teachings on The Three Principal Aspects of the Path and Refuge with Lay Vows. People from several different countries attended the two-day program with great devotion to receive these precious Dharma teachings and blessings. 

Later on May 13, His Eminence briefly visited Prague, Czech Republic where he bestowed the highest yoga tantra Buddha Amitayus Long Life Initiation and taught on The Four Noble Truths at Tibetan Open House.

In Latvia, over the weekend of May 16–17, at Ganden Buddhist Meditation Center, in Riga, His Eminence bestowed a precious teaching on The Heart Sutra, and bestowed the Orange Manjushri initiation plus Refuge Vows. The two-day program brought together many devoted students and practitioners to receive Dharma guidance and blessings. 

H.E. Ling Rinpoche at at Ganden Buddhist Meditation Center, in Riga, May 2026.

On May 21, His Eminence received a warm welcome reception by the local Dharma community of Yeshin Norbu Meditation Center in Stockholm, Sweden. His Eminence offered a public talk on the importance of cultivating a loving heart for inner peace and happiness. Here, His Eminence emphasized that true inner peace and happiness come from working on the mind and spoke of a paradox of our times: although peace is a universal wish, often the world tries to achieve it through systems conditioned by fear, competition, and defense – how can true peace can arise without cultivating peace within our own hearts?  On May 23–24, His Eminence gave teachings on The Four Immeasurable Thoughts and bestowed the Vajrasattva with Consort Initiation with Refuge and Lay Vows. 

H.E. Ling Rinpoche at Yeshin Norbu Meditation Center in Stockholm, Sweden.

One of the students from the local Dharma community asked His Eminence about his relationship with Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He recalled: “He was a wonderful human being and teacher, something that you don’t realize when he is with us physically but when the person is gone then we really realize how he was. He lived his life totally for others, and this is something very hard to find – he neglected his own welfare, his health and always lived for serving others, something very unique. He lived his life very simply, down to earth, totally simple, no luxury, almost without belongings, only his books and prayer objects. This is one of the main reasons I respect him.“

He also recalled that in the 1960s Lama Zopa Rinpoche met His Holiness the 6^th Kyabje  Yongzin Ling Rinpoche, his predecessor, in Ghoom Monastery in the Darjeeling area of West Bengal, India, developing a strong friendship. The current Ling Rinpoche knew Lama Zopa Rinpoche from the very beginning of his life, though not remembering the first time of their meeting. Lama Zopa later requested His Eminence to teach around in the FPMT centers. This was one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s last wishes, which His Eminence is doing his utmost to fulfill.

His Eminence Ling Rinpoche with Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

His Eminence remembers meeting Lama Zopa Rinpoche a few times in his last year, especially in his last month. He recalled receiving the sad news by phone, which he expressed as being painful and difficult, but then His Eminence realized it was a big teaching Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave and the right time to take rebirth to benefit people. “May all his wishes come true and may he come back in someone who can really benefit people, who could fill in the shoes of Lama Zopa and continue to benefit countless sentient beings, so the student must continue to pray, because the karmic relationship is very strong,” His Eminence advised. “Remember his kindness and then pray for the unmistaken child, someone who could lead the students, look after them, and fill in his shoes, this is your responsibility; I’m doing mine!”  

Please watch the video to see this heartfelt reflection. 

On May 27, His Eminence received a warm welcome upon arrival at Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport in the Netherlands from the heads of several local Dharma centers. On May 28, His Eminence visited local Dharma centers to bestow blessings and give talks, starting at the Maitreya Instituut in Loenen, where he received a warm reception and held a question-and-answer session with the members and students of the Dharma center and later visited Jewel Heart to give a public talk on The Buddhist Response to a World in Turmoil.  

H.E. Ling Rinpoche at Kadam Choling, May 2026.

On May 29-30, the three local Dharma centers, Jewel Heart, Kadam Chöling and Maitreya Instituut, collaboratively hosted His Eminence to teach A Song Based on Experience by Je Tsongkhapa and as it was the holy day of Saka Dawa, the three centers offered His Eminence a Long Life Prayer Ceremony. Later in the auspicious day, the Tibetan Community of the Netherlands and Rigpa community of Amsterdam separately offered two Tsogs to His Eminence.

On June 3, His Eminence received a heartfelt and joyous welcome at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia in Italy. During June 5-7, His Eminence began with consecrating the Stupa of Enlightenment for Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Later he offered commentary on The Songs of Experience by Je Tsongkhapa and bestowed the highest yoga tantra Buddha Amitayus Long Life Initiation conferring blessings for longevity, merit, and spiritual accomplishment for all. His Eminence was invited to bless a local Dharma center which he did later as well. 

H.E. Ling Rinpoche at ILTK, June 2026.

In France, on June 11, His Eminence received a warm welcome from Nalanda Monastery and Institut Vajra Yogini in Toulouse, by the resident geshes, monastics and members of the community. On June 12, he compassionately offered the precious highest yoga tantra empowerment of Je Rigsum Chikdüp  the combined practice of Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, and Vajrapani in one at Institut Vajra Yogini.

H.E. Ling Rinpoche at Institut Vajra Yogini, France, May 2026.

On June 13-14, His Eminence graciously bestowed two-days of teachings at Nalanda Monastery on The Three Principal Aspects of the Path by Je Tsongkhapa, and kindly bestowed the initiations of Arya Sitātapatrā (White Umbrella Goddess) and the Long-Life Empowerment of Cintachakra White Tara, The Wish-Fulfilling Wheel, with great compassion and kindness. His Eminence later traveled to the Paris area to continue his teachings and initiations at Instituts Ganden Ling and then with the Tibetan Community.

H.E. Ling Rinpoche at Nalanda Monastery, France 2026.

His Eminence concluded the European tour in Basel, Switzerland where he received a grand, traditional welcome ceremony by the Tibetan Community of Basel and continued to share his blessings by bestowing initiations, teachings and meeting with the communities at large.

H.E. Ling Rinpoche at Nalanda Monastery, France 2026.

On July 5, His Eminence will kindly offer (online) the Chenrezig Sadhana: Oral Transmission & Commentary for the entire FPMT community as part of the Global Mani Retreat, in continued fulfillment of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes. Attending this teaching is also a wonderful way to celebrate the July 6 birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama! 

We invite you to read more about the Global Mani Retreat and join the FPMT community in this precious accumulation.

We offer congratulations and thanks to all of the FPMT centers involved in making this tour a success and benefit to so many who received teachings along the 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.

Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi leading puja at the Vesak Celebrations 2026.

Welcome to this month’s newsletter!

We hope that you all took advantage of many merit-increasing opportunities over the Saka Dawa period.

In this month’s newsletter, you will find many causes for rejoicing from around the FPMT mandala, as well as some upcoming precious opportunities for study and practice, including Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s collected advice on how to celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s upcoming birthday on July 6. 

Please read this month’s enews 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.

Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email inbox.

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 May 29 to 31, 2026, Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) held its twenty-ninth annual public Vesak celebration — marking the full moon day on which Buddhists around the world commemorate the Buddha’s birth in Lumbini, his enlightenment in Bodhgaya, and his passing in Kushinagar. Director of ABC Tan Hup Cheng shared some incredible details of the history and effort behind this event, and we are delighted to share this story with you. 

Vesak Celebrations 2026, Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre.

Vesak is a time to reflect on the preciousness of this human life and on the reality of impermanence — that all beings are subject to birth, old age, sickness, and death. It is also a time to renew our refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha as the unmistaken path to liberation. For twenty-nine years, Amitabha Buddhist Centre has offered this occasion to the wider community of Singapore, and we rejoice in what this year’s celebration made possible.

The three-day event was held at the Aljunied Open Ground beside the MRT station — the same site where the first public celebration took place in May 1997. This year, as in previous years, more than 3,000 people gathered over the course of the three days.

Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi leading puja at the Vesak Celebrations 2026. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore.

They were especially fortunate that Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi was able to join them. Rinpoche led Refuge and the Five Precepts, the Eight Mahayana Precepts, and blessings for the public and for animals, and presided over the pujas together with the Kopan Sangha. Over the three days, the community gathered for Chenrezig Puja, Yamantaka Fire Puja, Tara Puja, Namgyalma Puja with 1,000 offerings, White Dzambhala Wealth Deity Puja, Medicine Buddha Puja, and Vajravidarana Ritual.

30ft (9 meters) Maitreya Statue during Vesak Celebrations 2026, Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre.

A focal point of this year’s celebration was a thirty-foot (nine-meter) Maitreya statue — a large holy object made from polystyrene foam and displayed at the center of the grounds for circumambulation and offerings. Each year, ABC creates and displays a new holy object in this way as part of the merit-making offered to all who attend. Community activities throughout the three days included a bodhicitta art coloring contest, sutra tracing, gilding a statue of the Buddha, and the traditional bath offering ceremony.

Tan Hup Cheng, ABC director reflects on how this offering has grown over nearly three decades:

Vesak Celebrations 2026, organised by Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre.

“The first public Vesak celebrations began in May 1997, on this same site next to the MRT station. The conditions came together to allow us to do it on a big scale, and every year when a Dharma celebration of this scale is staged, you see a spontaneous appearance of volunteers coming forward to man the different stalls. I have seen children below twelve going round to serve drinks to the other volunteers. You also see grandmothers over seventy coming to sell candles and flowers. You also see devotees coming to make offerings to the Buddha images, with deep devotion.”

Vesak Celebrations 2026, Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre.

The preparation behind this offering is itself a year-long practice. An eleven-member volunteer executive committee, four staff members, and two hundred volunteers carry the work together. Dates are set a year in advance. Ten months out, organizers write to authorities for permission to use the open ground. Three months before, publicity on social media begins and sponsorships are invited from members and the public. Two months before, contractors and service providers are engaged. Two weeks before, the large tentage goes up and stalls are installed. Eleven weeks before the event, monks from Kopan Monastery arrive to lead all the pujas. On the opening day, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi and the Kopan Sangha begin the celebration with the first puja.

Vesak 2026, Singapore. Photo Courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre

ABC is committed to staging this public Vesak event each year in order to offer as many people as possible the opportunity to create merit and encounter the Dharma. “Many of our existing members came to ABC because of Vesak,” Tan Hup Cheng recalls. “Some members of the public will come to the center and study the Dharma. It is a life-changing experience for them. They may not have met the Dharma had we not organized this event.”

Thank you dinner for the volunteers of Amitabha Buddhist Centre. Vesak 2026. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre

The director notes that events of this scale are only possible with a large and dedicated volunteer force. The weekend following the celebration, ABC hosted a buffet dinner at Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant for all who had served — joined also by Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi — as an expression of gratitude for their collective effort and kindness.

We rejoice with Amitabha Buddhist Centre, with Khen Rinpoche, with the Kopan Sangha, and with the thousands of people who year after year find their way to the Dharma through this generous and sustained offering. May all the merit created over these three days benefit all sentient beings.

Please read about other events and celebrations around FPMT during the holy month of Saka Dawa.

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!

Volunteers of the Vesak Celebrations 2026, Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Centre.

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.

Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman passed away on June 16, 2026, at the age of eighty-four, at his home in Woodstock, New York.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Prof. Robert Thurman viewing a White Tara thangka offered by Shantideva Meditation Center to Tibet House, New York, August 2015. Photo by Edward Sczudlo. Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Professor Robert Alexander Farrar (Bob) Thurman was widely regarded as America’s foremost scholar of Tibetan Buddhism and a tireless advocate for the Tibetan people and their culture. He held a Ph.D. from Harvard University and the Jey Tsong Khapa Chair in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University—the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West. A prolific author whose books brought Tibetan Buddhist thought to a broad readership, he was also co-founder and president of Tibet House New York and the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, and a recipient of the Padma Shri award. In 1997, Time magazine named him one of its 25 Most Influential Americans. Professor Thurman was an FPMT Registered Teacher in the Senior Teachers in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition category. He remained active in his work for Tibet House and Menla, his retreat center in the Catskills, up until his death. 

Ven. Roger Kunsang shares, “Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Bob Thurman had a long relationship going back to the 1970s with many meetings filled with lots of laughter– joking and then serious discussions on teachings, texts, and Tibet.”

Professor Thurman first met Lama Thubten Yeshe in 1978 in Delhi, where Nick Ribush arranged a lunch at the Imperial Hotel. Lama Yeshe shared with him a vision: to translate all volumes of the Tibetan Tengyur into English. The Tengyur comprises over 3,600 treatises on the “liberating arts and sciences”—too vast for any single person to translate in a lifetime. Years later, in 2011, Professor Thurman led the monumental effort to begin the translation of the Tengyur collection into English, Chinese, Hindi, and other languages through the American Institute of Buddhist Studies at Columbia University Press, as the Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences series. He taught at several FPMT centers and contributed articles to Mandala magazine. In August 2015, he welcomed Lama Zopa Rinpoche to Tibet House during Rinpoche’s visit to New York City. 

Born in New York City in 1941, Professor Thurman was among the earliest Western scholars and practitioners to devote his life to Tibetan Buddhism. He made tremendous contributions to the study, preservation, and dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism through his extensive writings, translations, and academic work, a contribution that was also recognized by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. His Holiness expressed his condolences, describing Professor Thurman as one of the world’s foremost scholars of Buddhism:

“As a Buddhist scholar, his knowledge was truly remarkable, including his command of the Tibetan language. He devoted his entire professional life to sharing that knowledge, not only with his students, but with the wider world through his writings and teachings. He understood profoundly that the survival of Tibetan Buddhist culture is inseparably linked to the future of Tibet itself. I greatly valued his efforts on behalf of the Tibetan people and their culture, expressed so visibly through institutions such as Tibet House.”

Dalai Lama’s tribute to Robert A.F. Thurman, June 17, 2026

In 1964, Professor Thurman became the first Westerner ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk directly by the Dalai Lama. He studied for almost thirty years as a personal student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama who described him as a great friend.

“I learned with deep sadness of the passing of […] my dear friend, Prof. Robert Thurman. […] As you know, Bob and I shared many years of warm friendship since we first met in India in the late 1960s.”

Professor Thurman belonged to the first generation of scholars and practitioners who made authentic Tibetan Buddhist teachings broadly accessible to Western students following the Tibetan diaspora. Among his many publications, Professor Thurman was the translator of The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bantam Books, Inc., 1993), and author of many other books, including Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness (Riverhead Trade, 1999), The Central Philosophy of Tibet: A Study and Translation of Jey Tsong Khapa’s Essence of True Eloquence (Princeton University Press, 1994), Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp of the Five Stages: Practical Instructions in the King of Trantras, The Glorious Esoteric Community (Columbia University Press, 2011), Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet (Harry N. Abrams, 2000), and Why the Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet, and the World (Simon and Schuster, 2008), among others.

Rinpoche with Professor Bob Thurman Photo: Ven.Sherab Aug 2015

His Holiness reflected “Bob lived a meaningful life and has left behind a legacy that will continue to inspire future students of Tibetan Buddhism and culture for generations to come. I am sure that the merit he accumulated through a lifetime of service to humanity will bear fruit in lives to come.”

To explore Professor Bob Thurman’s life work in more detail, please visit his personal website. 

Please pray that Robert A.F.  (Bob)Thurman may never ever be reborn in the lower realms, may he be immediately born in a pure land where he can be enlightened or to receive a perfect human body, meet the Mahayana teachings and meet a perfectly qualified guru and by only pleasing the guru’s mind, achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible. More advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on death and dying is available, see Death and Dying: Practices and Resources (fpmt.org/death/).

To read more obituaries from the international FPMT mandala, and to find information on submission guidelines, please visit our new Obituaries page (fpmt.org/media/obituaries/).

An interview with Dr. Robert A.F. Thurman, “Engaged Realism,” originally published in Mandala, October–November 2006, is available to read online.

News Roundup Special Saka Dawa Edition: May 17, 2026 marked the beginning of the holy month of Saka Dawa, which continued through June 15 and commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha. The most sacred day of the month—Saka Dawa Düchen—fell on May 31. Saka Dawa means “Month of Merit,” while Duchen means “great occasion,” referring specifically to the full moon day that culminates the month. On Saka Dawa Duchen, karmic results are multiplied by 300 million times, as taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic, making it an extraordinarily precious opportunity to accumulate merit through virtuous activity of body, speech, and mind.

Saka Dawa Düchen is one of the four major Buddhist holy days in the Tibetan tradition. It is also observed in many Theravada and Vajrayana communities as Vesak, making it a rare occasion that brings together Buddhists from diverse traditions to celebrate the Buddha’s life and teachings. While observances vary from one tradition to another, the day highlights the shared values that unite Buddhist communities around the world.

Saka Dawa is considered an especially auspicious time for Dharma practice. Throughout the month, and particularly on May 31, centers, projects, services, and study groups across the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) marked the occasion with pujas, teachings, animal liberation practices, acts of generosity, and community gatherings.

In this special edition, we share a sample of how the FPMT mandala observed the holy month. We will also soon feature a dedicated story on the three-day Vesak celebration in Singapore, organized annually by Amitabha Buddhist Centre. 

We hope these highlights inspire rejoicing in the many expressions of practice, service, and community taking place throughout our global FPMT family.

Saka Dawa Düchen at Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Malaysia, Photo courtesy of Chokyi Gyaltsen Center’s Facebook page.

(International) On Saka Dawa Duchen, the FPMT Puja Fund  , on behalf of the entire FPMT organization, sponsored two recitations of the 100,000 Praises to the Twenty-One Taras, the recitation of the Guhyasamaja Root Tantra, 1,000 Offerings to Buddha Namgyalma, Medicine Buddha Puja and recitations of Jampal Tshen Jo (Chanting the Names of Manjushri). Offerings were made to all the sangha undertaking these practices and to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus. The stupas of Boudhanath and Swambyunath in Nepal were freshly painted, and the umbrellas at the pinnacle of each stupa was replaced, and a new set of robes offered to the Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya. The merit generated  by these activities was dedicated for the swift return of our most precious guru, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche; for the success of all the centers and projects of the FPMT organization; all the students, volunteers, and benefactors. 

(International) The FPMT Global Mani Retreat launched on May 17, 2026, the first day of Saka Dawa month, bringing together practitioners from around the world in a collective effort to accumulate one hundred million recitations of OM MANI PADME HUM. Ven. Sarah Thresher led group practice on Saka Dawa from the very same place where, exactly 56 years ago—and also in the holy month of Saka Dawa—Lama Zopa Rinpoche first led a Chenrezig fasting retreat at the behest of the local community. . Ven. Sarah also explained how the Chenrezig practice, Nyung-na, and 100 Million Mani retreat all came from Lawudo

Kopan Monastery, Nepal, water bowl offerings. Saka Dawa, 2026, photo courtesy of Kopan Monastery.

(Kopan, Nepal) The Sangha of Kopan Monastery engaged in the recitation of the Kangyur texts during Saka Dawa, dedicating the merit that all families and friends be blessed with peace, wisdom, and compassion, and that all beings benefit from these prayers. The monks also completed one Nyung Nä, while the community at Kopan Nunnery completed eight Nyung Nä retreats. In Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s room, a group of monks offered a Yamantaka short self-initiation, Lama Chopa (Guru Puja) with Tsog, and many offerings. Venerable Tenzin Namdrol organized water bowl offerings in front of the Thousand Buddhas.

Animal liberation on Saka Dawa. June 2026, Vajrayana Institute,Australia. Photo courtesy of Vajrayana Institute,’s Facebook page

(Australia) At Vajrayana Institute, the day began with an animal blessing, people and animals circumambulated holy objects — including holy images, relics, statues, stupas, and texts — while reciting prayers and mantras as advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Saka Dawa at Buddha House. June 2026, Buddha House , Australia. Photo courtesy of Buddha House,’s Facebook page

At Buddha House, students came together as a community to celebrate Saka Dawa. The community took Precepts vows and offered the Bathing the Buddha ceremony in the afternoon, recited Chanting the Names of Manjushri, made extensive offerings, and closed the evening with a Shakyamuni Buddha Puja. At Chenrezig Institute, the team raised the large Shakyamuni Buddha Thangka in the Nalanda Masters Garden. During the day, they offered extensive water bowls in front of the thangka, prayers, special Dharma Kids activities, and sutra writing, closing with a Medicine Buddha Puja. The Atisha Centre offered a light offering ceremony, circumambulating the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion and chanting the Shakyamuni mantra, with a talk by Geshe Rabten. All donations supported the completion of the new Machig Labdron Nunnery gompa. The Tara Institute celebrated Saka Dawa with a puja attended by more than 160 people. A separate group of students engaged in an all-day practice session of prostrations, prayers, and meditations.

(New Zealand) At Chandrakirti Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre, Geshe Tharchin taught the final two Sunday classes of the term for the public meditation class, followed by a community lunch and a Guru Puja Tsog in the evening.

(India) Tushita Meditation Centre offered a guided morning meditation (hybrid), followed by a Dharma movie, sutra reading, a public teaching by Venerable Thubten Wangdu — What the Buddha Taught — a Medicine Buddha Puja, and a light offering ceremony with Sangha. At Root Institute  all sponsor donations for the day were offered to sponsor a Guru Puja at Namgyal Monastery and to make money offerings to the Sangha, together with extensive flower and butter lamp offerings at Mahabodhi Stupa, offering of robes to Shakyamuni Buddha, and hanging prayer flags at Mahabodhi Stupa. All sponsors’ names and dedications were also read at Mahabodhi Stupa.

Gyudmed Tantric Monastery recited the Guhyasamaja Root Tantra for the benefit of all beings, for the FPMT organization and family,  and the swift return of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Sera Je and Sera Mey Sangha recited 100,000 praises to Tara dedicated to all beings.

Root institute’s offerings at the Mahabodhi Stupa for Saka Dawa, June 2026. . Photo courtesy of Root institute’s Facebook page

Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat and His Eminence the 14th Siling Tongkhor Rinpoche for Saka Dawa, June 2026. Photo courtesy of Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat’s Facebook page

(Malaysia) Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat Centre welcomed His Eminence the 14th Siling Tongkhor Rinpoche, who is pictured blessing the Buddha bath. The Losang Dragpa Centre offered a thousand offerings. At  Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Geshe Tenzin Deyang led special prayers, the gompa was adorned with extensive offerings, and the strong participation from the community made the occasion meaningful and uplifting.

(Taiwan) Shakyamuni Center and Jinsiu Farlin Center, following a two-day intensive Thousand-Arm Guanyin retreat, celebrated Saka Dawa with a Buddha bath ceremony.

(Singapore) Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) celebrated Vesak over three days in commemoration of Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana.  For the occasion, a twenty-foot Maitreya Buddha statue was installed as a central highlight of this year’s celebrations, offering an inspiration toward love and compassion for the benefit of all beings. We will also soon be sharing an inspiring story of the behind-the-scenes work and dedication offered by ABC to put on an event like this. 

(France) At Institut Vajra Yogini, the Saka Dawa program with Geshe Loden began with taking the Eight Mahayana Precepts and Guru Yoga of Lama Tsongkhapa, followed by Shakyamuni Buddha Puja, Tara prayers, animal liberation, Bodhisattva Vows with Geshe Loden, and Refuge Practice, closing with Lama Chopa (Guru Puja).

At Nalanda Monastery, the Saka Dawa program similarly began with taking the Eight Mahayana Precepts and Guru Yoga of Lama Tsongkhapa, followed by the Practice of Chenrezig as part of the FPMT Global Mani Retreat and animal liberation. After the community lunch, students read sutras in the main gompa and performed Lama Chopa (Guru Puja) and Tsog light offerings.

The Kalachakra Center opened Saka Dawa by broadcasting in French the teaching of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama on the Buddha’s past lives (the Jataka tales). After a community lunch, students listened to readings from the Jataka tales, followed in the afternoon by Guru Yoga practice with Venerable Gyaltsen, and concluding with a teaching by Geshe Dakpa on the life of Shakyamuni Buddha.

Animal liberation during Saka Dawa at Nalanda Monastery, France, June 2026. Photo courtesy of Nalanda Monastery’s Facebook page.

(Germany) At Tara Mandala Center, during both the Nyung Nä Retreat and Saka Dawa, many people dedicated themselves to preparations and activities with great care. Approximately 400 lives were rescued from death by fishing hook, blessed with mantras and prayers, and released. Prayer flags in the Tara Mandala garden were renewed and hung, extensive offerings were made, and sutras were recited for several hours. At Aryatara Institute, Saka Dawa began with taking the Eight Mahayana Vows with Venerable Thubten Drolma, followed by Medicine Buddha Puja and Shakyamuni Buddha Puja.

Plaque with the face of Padmasambhava Guru Rinpoche. Romania, Saka Dawa 2026. Photo courtesy of Garden of Maitreya’s website

(Romania) The three FPMT groups welcomed Saka Dawa Düchen, each in their own way, but all with the same heart turned toward Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. White Mahakala Study Group offered a community gathering — a welcome opportunity to reconnect, practice together, and strengthen the bonds of Dharma. Grupul de Studiu Tara Alba (White Tara) offered a Lama Chopa (Guru Puja) with Tsog. Garden of Maitreya Study Group, on the shore of the Black Sea, placed a plaque bearing the face of Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava as a blessing for the countless beings that live in the depths and for the entire region, followed by a modest Tsog offering on the sand of the shore.

(UK) The community of Jamyang London Buddhist Centre gathered in the gompa for sutra recitation and precepts with Geshe Namdak in the morning; in the evening, the Tibetan community gathered for prayer and practice. At Jamyang Leeds, the community joined for morning prayers led by Venerable Barbara, followed by chanting the Names of Noble Manjushri and a Vajrasattva Puja for Saka Dawa Düchen.

Centro La Sabiduría de Nagarjuna for Saka Dawa, Bilbao, June 2026. Photo courtesy of Centro La Sabiduría de Nagarjuna’s Facebook page

(Spain) Centro La Sabiduría de Nagarjuna‘s director, Koke, and SPC Elena attended the Saka Dawa celebration alongside other Buddhist centers in Bilbao.

(Switzerland) At Lhagsam Tibetan Meditation Center, the community gathered for Shakyamuni Buddha Puja, meditation, dedications, and long-life prayers.

(USA and Brazil) At Tubten Kunga Ling Center and at Centro Shiwa Lha (Brazil) students met in person and online to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts led by Venerable Kalden.

Land of Medicine Buddha for Saka Dawa, May 2026. Photo courtesy of 100,000 Stupa Project at Land of Medicine Buddha’s Facebook page

(USA) At Ocean of Compassion Buddhist Center, the community led by Ven. Angie took the Eight Mahayana Precepts and participated in a Medicine Buddha Puja. In Land of Medicine Buddha the community celebrated Saka Dawa over the weekend.  On Saturday, Venerable Angie led the animal liberation practice, Venerable Samten led the light offerings, chanting of the Names of Noble Manjushri, and prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas. On Sunday, following a morning meditation with Venerable Yangchen, an extensive Medicine Buddha Puja was offered. At Tse Chen Ling Center, students gathered for a morning Mani Retreat session, followed by a Medicine Buddha Puja. 

Kurukulla Center for Saka Dawa, June 2026. Photo courtesy of Kurukulla Center’s Facebook page

The Kurukulla Center‘s gompa was filled with the local Tibetan community, who gathered on the holy day for Lama Chopa (Guru Puja) and a community lunch. Prayers continued throughout the day to create merit and benefit for all beings. They also celebrated the Interfaith Celebration with so many distinguished guests and attendees united together in the mutual goal of promoting world peace and harmony. The Shantideva Meditation Center held a Puja Practices Day offering animal liberation and a Cittamani Tara Puja. The community gathered to create a merit-building space by offering water bowls and arranging tsatsas and other holy objects. They then circumambulated 1,000 worms while reciting mantras. These worms had been rescued from being sold as live mealworms, blessed, and then placed in a safe composting bin where they could continue living in a protected environment.

Shantideva Meditation Center, June 2026. Photo courtesy of Shantideva Meditation Center’s Facebook page

We Want to Hear Your Story! 

The news 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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche reciting the Sutra of Golden Light at Mahabodhi Stupa, Bodhgaya, India, March 2014, Photo by Andy Melnic.

Ruediger Knie, a devoted German student of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, is undertaking a remarkable initiative: reciting the Sutra of Golden Light 21 times across 51 African countries. Lama Zopa Rinpoche made a personal vow to propagate this text and give oral transmissions of it in many parts of the world. Having the sutra recited as much as possible is also one of  Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT. The project begins in November 2026 and will continue for two to three years, totaling 1,080 readings across the continent!   

Ruediger has always sought to put Rinpoche’s advice into practice in tangible ways. His journey began with reading the foreword of the German translation of the Sutra of Golden Light, which includes Rinpoche’s guidance that the sutra should be recited in countries experiencing conflict and violence.  

 “I would like to make this request with my two palms together: to please recite the Sutra of Golden Light for world peace as much as you can.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche 

Photo: Offerings in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s room at Kopan Monastery, with Ruediger Knie Photo courtesy of Ruediger Knie

Although Ruediger has never been to Africa, he recalls: “When countless refugees attempted to cross the Mediterranean, and so many drowned, I felt a deep wish to help in a different way.” With the intensifying climate crisis and the continent’s growing population, he sees the potential for suffering to increase and feels inspired to create positive imprints through this practice. 

Traveling through 51 African countries—the 49 mainland nations, plus Madagascar and the Cape Verde Islands—requires careful planning. Ruediger intends to recite the sutra at least 21 times in each country, including the independence-seeking regions of Western Sahara and Somaliland. In Nigeria, the readings will be split between Lagos and the Biafra region. This totals 1,071 recitations. To reach the auspicious number of 1,080, he plans additional recitations in two of the poorest countries: five extra in Madagascar and four in South Sudan, over two to three years.  

“I deeply believe in the power of prayers,” he says. Praying in turbulent times is also the initiative that IMI Sangha started in 2022, following Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for Generating Peace in the World. 

Photo: refuge ceremony, Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ruediger Knie, Kopan 1997. Photo courtesy of Ruediger Knie

Ruediger first met Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1997 during the annual Kopan meditation course. Since then, he has remained a devoted student, attending teachings and retreats across four continents whenever possible. Through Rinpoche’s kindness and skill in showing how to benefit others, Ruediger’s mind has been deeply opened and inspired. Over the years, he has organized a relic tour event and supported fundraising for the Maitreya Project. 

The first journey will begin in mid November 2026 and will cover 13 countries, with 273 recitations planned until March 2027. It will start in Côte d’Ivoire and conclude in Tunisia, followed by three more journeys to complete all 51 countries. 

Photo: Ruediger Knie with the Sutra of Golden Light, Bodhgaya 2026. Photo courtesy of Ruediger Knie

Given the fast-changing political situations in some regions, Ruediger will often recite near entry points such as airports and capitals to save time and reduce costs. There will be exceptions, however, where he hopes to read in places that naturally attract people, such as the pyramids in Egypt, Cape Point near Cape Town, and Victoria Falls between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Where possible, he aims to recite in public spaces and to bring additional benefit by placing small Namgyalma mantras in airports, and, time permitting, blessing animals and the waters of rivers, lakes, and the ocean. 

Please join us in rejoicing in Ruediger’s ambitious plans to recite this powerful sutra in Africa! For more information, please contact him directly (goldenlight.africa@gmail.com). Ruediger will also be documenting his travels on Facebook and Instagram starting in October. 

Sutra Recitation for World Peace

Lama Zopa Rinpoche said about the Sutra of Golden Light, “This text is very precious; it brings peace and happiness and is very powerful to stop violence. By hearing this text, one’s karma is purified.” Rinpoche made a personal vow to propagate the Sutra of Golden Light and give oral transmissions of it in many parts of the world. Having the sutra recited as much as possible was also one of Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT. Rinpoche has said, “I would like to make this request with my two palms together, to please recite the Sutra of Golden Light for world peace as much as you can.”

At this time, with the world in trouble in many ways, actions taken toward world peace are desperately needed. 

Please visit our webpage dedicated to the recitation of the Sutra of Golden Light where you will find many resources and links, including:

• PDFs of the sutra in fifteen different languages
• Audio and video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering an oral transmission of the sutra
• Advice from Rinpoche on the benefits of reciting the sutra
• Instructions on how to dedicate your recitations and how to report them
• Stories from students about experiences reciting the sutra

“The holy Sutra of Golden Light is extremely powerful and fulfills all one’s wishes, as well as bringing peace and happiness for all sentient beings, up to enlightenment. It is also extremely powerful for world peace, for your own protection, the protection of your country, and the world. Also, it has great healing power for living beings in the area in which you are reciting.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

We have compiled resources to help you engage with all of the sutras we make available. 

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!

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.

**Please note that this is an update of the previous communications from June 10 and June 12. 

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, Portland, Oregon hosts the headquarters of both FPMT and Maitripa College, an affiliate of FPMT.  A few days ago, a local newspaper based in Portland released two articles relating to some allegations of sexual abuse and their handling by Maitripa College and the FPMT organization, as well as a court complaint in North Carolina, which is a separate matter. Since then, these articles have been shared online and commented on by others.

We fully understand the concerns and questions these articles will raise in our community, which is why we want to clarify a few points regarding the situation.

As an organization, the FPMT exists to work for the well-being of sentient beings, and as a board, we take this mission very seriously. Over its 50 years of existence, the FPMT has consistently striven to uphold the highest ethical standards.

We want to strongly reaffirm that there is no place for abuse of any kind in our organization, and our commitment to address all complaints of abuse appropriately and with equanimity is unwavering. The FPMT is also committed to doing whatever is necessary to prevent harm from occurring to anyone who enters our mandala. We will continue working to foster better understanding of the teachings of the Vajrayana tradition and their implementation through the education of all who engage, study or come in contact with it at our centers.

Our Policies

In 2002, we were among the first Buddhist organizations to implement an Ethical Policy, which all teachers and persons in positions of authority were required to sign.

Then, in 2021, applying the lessons learned from the situations concerning Dagri Rinpoche, we implemented the FPMT Protecting from Abuse (PfA) policy. The policy included guidelines on recognizing abuse, procedures to be followed, respecting confidentiality, and guidelines for teachers, staff, and volunteers. We also introduced a mandatory training course for all those in positions of authority.

To ensure the safety of students, visitors, staff, and all who come in contact with our centers, projects, and services, we are continually working to improve our efforts.  We therefore prioritized a major review of our FPMT PfA policy, which will be completed this year. The review is looking at all areas connected with safeguarding and our centres’ duty of care to ensure that no complaint goes unaddressed or unresolved.

North Carolina

On June 10, the FPMT Board circulated an update that indicated the North Carolina complaint was settled amicably. Our notification was premature. While the parties are continuing to negotiate a settlement agreement in which we do not admit any liability, any agreement reached will be confidential and will not permit us to make any further statements about the dispute or the validity or invalidity of the allegations set forth in the complaint. Out of respect for our organization and the plaintiff in the lawsuit, we ask that you disregard that “North Carolina” portion of the June 10 statement if you received it. 

Portland

The other allegations involve Yangsi Rinpoche, the resident teacher in Maitripa College.

FPMT International Office was informed by Maitripa College about these complaints and their outcomes at the time they were handled locally. The process followed and the outcomes reached appeared to be appropriate and adequate, and we understood the matter to be closed.

However, the complainants have recently reached out directly to the FPMT International Office to object to how their complaints were handled by Maitripa College and to request further action from our side. Accordingly, the FPMT International Office decided to commission a review of the case and a risk assessment from an independent third party specializing in safeguarding. This is ongoing.

While Yangsi Rinpoche is considered innocent during the review, according to FPMT policy and processes, and due to the serious nature of the allegations, he was asked in April 2026 to step down from teaching or leading any other activities at FPMT centers, including Maitripa College, until the matter is resolved. 

In parallel with the independent third-party review of the complaints, an internal review of the case has been commissioned to assess specifically whether the previous complaints were processed by Maitripa College and the FPMT in accordance with our Protecting from Abuse policy. 

Maitripa College, as well as Yangsi Rinpoche, have expressed their full support for the FPMT to carry out its due diligence in conducting an independent review in accordance with their policies and procedures for protecting students. Both Maitripa College and Yangsi Rinpoche are cooperating fully and openly with that process.

Conclusion

We will, of course, keep you updated regarding any further developments concerning these matters and the conclusions reached. We cannot stress enough how seriously we take complaints of abuse – abusive behavior of any nature is absolutely not tolerated on any level in the organization.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you for your ongoing commitment to fulfilling the wishes of our precious Lamas for the benefit and welfare of all beings.

With best wishes from the FPMT Inc. Board of Directors:

Khenrinpoche Geshe Chonyi
Ven. Pemba Sherpa
Ven. Roger Kunsang
Karuna Cayton
Dale Davis
Paula de Wys

Lama Zopa Rinpoche leading a Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong puja at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, September 4, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Hayagriva is the wrathful manifestation of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. The practice of Most Secret Hayagriva is extremely powerful for granting help and support and for quickly pacifying obstacles. Both Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche had a special connection to the Most Secret Hayagriva. As Ven. Roger Kunsang explained, “The Most Secret Hayagriva retreat is the practice/commitment that Lama Yeshe gave to Lama Zopa Rinpoche to do every year for the protection and success of the entire FPMT organization. And now this is a commitment the whole organization is taking on.” We rejoice in the upcoming opportunities to participate in this retreat: August 12–29, 2026, at Nalanda Monastery in France, and March 31–April 14, 2027, at Chokyi Gyaltsen Center in Penang, Malaysia.

Twenty-three years ago, Lama Zopa Rinpoche established the Puja Fund as a way to sponsor ongoing prayers and practices dedicated to the success and longevity of the entire FPMT organization. One puja that Rinpoche advised as particularly important for FPMT, due to the organization’s close connection with the deity Hayagriva, is the Extensive Most Secret Hayagriva Puja.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe had a special connection to the Most Secret Hayagriva. Lama Zopa Rinpoche said that reciting the Hayagriva mantra is very powerful. “My suggestion is to recite it. It helps numberless sentient beings and yourself from sickness and untimely death and never get born in lower realms.” Practicing Hayagriva can help, “pacify the outer and inner obstacles for actualizing the path to enlightenment and success in Dharma practice, in serving the teachings of the Buddha, and serving sentient beings.” Rinpoche said that when reciting the mantra, you can think about purifying sickness, spirit harm, negative karma, defilements, and the imprints of oneself and all sentient beings, and also collecting the attainments of the holy body, holy speech, and holy mind. You can also recite the mantra while doing meditation on the four activities: peaceful, increasing, controlling, and wrathful. These are all done with the motivation of attaining enlightenment for the benefit of sentient beings. 

Hayagriva thangka image, courtesy of Nalanda Monastery.

The practice of Hayagriva can be traced back to ancient India, to masters such as Mahasiddha Nagarjuna and Guru Rinpoche. It was then developed in Tibet and practiced by other realized beings such as Siddha Darcharwa and the Great Fifth Dalai Lama. The practice was brought to Sera Je Monastery in Lhasa by its founder, Kunkyen Lodro Rinchen Sengge, and has been maintained purely in Tibet. The unbroken lineage continues in Sera Je Monastery in South India, where it is extensively studied and practiced by a group of monks specialized in the practice. 

The entire Sera Je Monastery performs the Most Secret Hayagriva retreat annually. It is quite rare, as it requires very qualified monks to prepare all the necessary conditions.

This year, we especially rejoice because Gomde Rinpoche from Sera Je, one of the few specialists of this very special and powerful practice, has accepted an invitation to come to Nalanda Monastery in France to lead the Most Secret Hayagriva, on August, 12 to 29, 2026. It is not the first time Nalanda Monastery has hosted this retreat. Connecting with this lineage, kept unbroken from the time of the Buddha and practiced by realized holy beings such as Nagarjuna, Guru Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and the Sangha of Sera Je in South India today, is something very special for retreat participants. 

His Eminence Kyabje Jhado Rinpoche has also graciously accepted an invitation to preside over the entire Most Secret Hayagriva Retreat program at Chokyi Gyaltsen Center in Penang, Malaysia, from March 31–April 14, 2027. 

In the words of Ven. Roger: 

“The Most Secret Hayagriva is the practice/commitment that Lama Yeshe gave to Lama Zopa Rinpoche to do the retreat every year for the protection and success of all the FPMT. So now that Rinpoche is no longer with us, we are organizing the group retreat every year with this specific purpose of removing obstacles and bringing success to the FPMT organization, centers, projects, and services. One needs the initiation to attend.” 

On April 13, 2027, coinciding with the fourth anniversary of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche showing the aspect of passing away, a Hayagriva Tsog Kong Puja will be held. The collective merit generated will be dedicated to the successful recognition of Rinpoche’s reincarnation and the swift fulfillment of all his holy wishes without obstacles. 

We are very happy to have this opportunity for the entire FPMT family this summer at Nalanda Monastery and next year at Chokyi Gyaltsen Center. 

For more information, visit the Nalanda Monastery website. and the Chokyi Gyaltsen Center website.

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.

Pencil drawing made by Liberation Prison Project student Dylan and gifted to LPP, November 2018. Image courtesy of LPP.

Liberation Prison Project  – US, has partnered with Edovo, the largest learning platform for incarcerated people in the United States, to make Buddhist and meditation materials available to people in prison across the country. Technology has long been an integral part of the world, and “Tech for Good” offers an opportunity to leverage technological advancements for the benefit of communities and society at large. One such solution is the ed-tech platform, Edovo, which offers the Edovo Learn App, a self-directed software application built exclusively for corrections, offering a comprehensive suite of educational, vocational, and rehabilitative programs at no cost to incarcerated individuals. LPP Director, Smitha Lahiri, shares this update.

“Physically in the house of no release, but when the mind is practicing Dharma it becomes the house for achieving ultimate real liberation from the real samsaric prison.” ~Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Liberation Prison Project  (LPP) has been serving the incarcerated for over thirty years, offering spiritual advice and teachings to people in prison interested in exploring, studying, and practicing Buddhism. Since its founding by Ven. Robina Courtin in 1996, the project has supported the Buddhist practice of over 20,000 individuals in prisons around the world, to transform their lives. LPP’s Dharma Friends program provides spiritual guidance and support to incarcerated individuals through letters and other digital communication channels, while the Dharma books program donates books and Buddhist study materials. 

In 2024, the LPP Education program embarked on a journey to bring Mahayana Buddhism courses and study materials to the incarcerated individuals through the ed-tech platform Edovo, in an effort to extend LPP’s reach exponentially. Edovo has today been adopted by over 50% of US prisons, serving more than a million incarcerated individuals. The learner experience on Edovo for the FPMT courses is similar to the FPMT’s online learning platform, where students have access to videos and audio recordings of teachings and guided meditations along with transcripts to read through.

In March 2025, with the support of FPMT Education Services, LPP launched the introductory courses Buddhism in a Nutshell and Meditation 101. As part of this first release on Edovo, LPP also deployed forty-eight books and reading materials with support from Wisdom Publications and Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

In April 2026, as part of the second major release on Edovo, LPP offered the fourteen-module comprehensive FPMT course Discovering Buddhism, the Liberation Calendar, books, and reading materials with the help of publisher partner organizations. In addition, LPP shared the entire compilation of the popular short-form content series by Ven. Robina Courtin, Something to Think About, which offers nuggets of Buddhist wisdom applied to everyday life scenarios —an arduous effort but one that was more than worthwhile.

Surveying the learner analytics for LPP content gives us a sense of fulfillment. These are not just statistics, but sentient beings like all of us, looking for ways to reduce their suffering. And it is a deep practice for all of us involved to keep the true spirit of Dharma in supporting the Dharma journey of people we will never know or meet.

To date, over 13,000 unique learners and over 62,000 lesson starts have been recorded for LPP materials. LPP’s completion rate on the platform is over 16%, one of the highest among Edovo content providers. The recent release of Discovering Buddhism has seen over 2,000 lesson engagements in less than a month, and the first module Mind and Its Potential has been completed by fifty-seven prisoners already.

With Edovo’s guidance, LPP has been able to bring these courses out in the most optimal way, with both pre and post course evaluations. We look forward to studying the learner responses to better understand the effectiveness of the courses, and to bring further enhancements to our content as needed.

LPP offers immense gratitude to the FPMT Community Support Fund for the grant received in supporting our work with Edovo. Every contribution goes a long way in providing incarcerated individuals with continued access to the Dharma.

Last but not least, our deepest gratitude goes to our partners FPMT, Wisdom Publications, and Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (LYWA) and to the volunteers CJ Wilkerson, John Castelloe, Jyothi K, Niraj Gupta, Suzie Boehm, Beth Martin, and Smitha Lahiri who generously gave four months of their time to bring the current release to fruition. Please join us in rejoicing in their efforts and in praying that the conditions are ripe for more and more prisoners to receive the Dharma.

Please learn more about the Liberation Prison Project and how you can help support their work. 

Written by Smitha Lahiri who has been volunteering as Director of Liberation Prison Project since December 2025, having been Assistant Director prior, and a volunteer since January 2025. She first came in contact with FPMT at the Bangalore center, Choe Khor Sum Ling in 2015. She has been a long time Buddhist student and practitioner and has earned a diploma as well as a masters’s degree in Buddhist Philosophy. She has served multiple Dharma organizations in various capacities over the years and lets the FPMT Inner Job Description guide her in everyday life. 

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!

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.