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Ven. Gache explaining quantum physics to the senior monks at Sera Jey, January 2024/
Ven. Tenzin Gache, FPMT registered teacher and current director of Sera IMI House in South India, recently took the time to thoughtfully answer this question from a student: “How can we gain confidence in aspects of the Buddha’s teachings that are not accessible to our perception, for example, reincarnation?” As this question is familiar to all of us wishing to establish deep faith in Buddha’s teachings, we share his full answer below.
Addressing Doubt in the Buddha’s Teachings
By Ven, Tenzin Gache
Tibetan Buddhists in general, and especially followers of Je Tsongkhapa, consider themselves inheritors of the “Nalanda Tradition” that arose in ancient India. The trademark approach is critical investigation, rather than reliance on faith and adherence to established conventions. To question fundamental tenets of the Buddha’s teachings is not considered “bad karma” but is instead a dutiful display of respect for the lineage. This attitude is reflected in these passages, two attributed to the Buddha himself, and one from a contemporary master:
“It is fitting for you to be perplexed, Kalamas, fitting for you to be in doubt. Doubt has arisen in you about a perplexing matter. Come, Kalamas, do not go by oral tradition, by lineage of teaching, by hearsay, by a collection of scriptures, by logical reasoning, by inferential reasoning, by reasoned cogitation, by the acceptance of a view after pondering it, by the seeming competence [of a speaker], or because you think ‘the ascetic is our guru.’ But when you know for yourselves: ‘These things are wholesome; these things are blameless; these things are praised by the wise; these things, if accepted and undertaken, lead to welfare and happiness,’ then you should live in accordance with them.”[1] [“Logical reasoning” here is understood as reasoning divorced from empirical investigation, and does not imply that reasoning in general is not a necessary tool.]
Oh monks and scholars, as you would
test gold by burning, cutting, and
by rubbing it, just so accept
my words: not through respect for me.[2]
If scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims.[3]
The Nalanda masters identified two possible approaches to the teachings: the “dull faculty” approach of faith or trust in a person, and the “sharp faculty” approach of critical analysis and trust in reasoning. Those who employ the first approach gain faith and enter the path more quickly, but those taking the second approach eventually gain an unshakable faith and, though slower to begin the path, will ultimately reach enlightenment far more quickly.
The second quotation above is seen as the source for the “sharp” approach, and later masters such as Aryadeva and Dharmakirti broke the advice into three parts, corresponding to three levels of analysis for three potential objects of knowledge:
- “Burning” symbolizes testing the manifestly obvious aspects of the teachings against our direct experience. If we can verify through sense consciousness (including with a microscope) that something the Buddha said does not accord with reality, we can and should discard it.
- “Cutting” symbolizes testing the slightly hidden aspects of the teachings against reason. The Buddha may have spoken of something we cannot directly experience, yet this teaching does not withstand reasoned analysis, we can discard it.
- “Rubbing” symbolizes checking the very hidden aspects of the teachings for internal contradiction. In some cases, the Buddha may have spoken of something that is only accessible to clairvoyance. We might not be able to test it against our experience or against reason, but if the teaching contradicts itself or another teaching the Buddha gave, we can put it aside.
A key point here is that it is considered inappropriate to employ a later stage of analysis at an earlier step. For example, if something is accessible to reasoning, we cannot appeal to textual authority to verify it. This is not simply a rule but reflects the stepwise approach. We always start with the earlier stages, so if something was accessible to reason, we would have already confirmed or rejected it before reaching the last stage. We only appeal to authority when something is beyond our ability to reason—and even then, we do so only with significant caution, as I will explain below.
The heart of the Buddha’s teachings is the four noble truths, and this teaching is the fulcrum upon which we weigh the other teachings. The four noble truths are a slightly hidden phenomenon, accessible to reason. If we have not used reason to establish these, then we have no basis for judging more esoteric claims. Critically, the teaching on karma and reincarnation forms an essential element of the four truths, as the interplay between the origin of suffering—karma and delusion—and the resultant suffering—aggregates arising under the power of karma and delusion. Reincarnation is something we must approach through critical analysis and not by appeal to the Buddha or someone else’s authority.
This point is sometimes misunderstood because certain teachings on karma are used as examples of very hidden phenomena. But the important distinction is between an understanding of karma in general rather than the result of a particular action. For example, in one sutra the Buddha claims that a particular lay supporter will be reborn as a monkey due to derogatorily calling an arhat a monkey. Although we can understand in a general sense that a concordant cause might lead to a particular concordant result, to know with certainty the result of any action we would need to know the details of all the myriad factors involved. What was the motivation behind the statement? Did the speaker regret it afterward? What other actions did he do in this or other lives that might be more powerful and override this action as the cause for the next birth? These are questions that can only be answered with profound clairvoyance. This distinction is analogous to predicting the weather—we can establish through reason and investigation the general patterns of meteorology, and make informed estimates about next week’s weather, but to know for sure that there will be a thunderstorm on Sunday would require knowing a nearly infinite interplay of causes.
If karma and reincarnation are accessible to reasoning, how can we approach them? The traditional teachings speak of employing either reason or scriptural quotation, but I think that today we can also talk about appeal to evidence. Ultimately our interpretation of evidence will depend on our use of reasoning, but gathering evidence in support of a hypothesis is in line with the dictum that we first appeal to direct perception. There is a wealth of high-quality evidence available, and a good introduction to the field can be found in Rebirth in Early Buddhism & Current Research by Bhikkhu Analayo.[4]
To use reasoning, we can first step back and ask, “What kind of world would have to be possible to allow for reincarnation?” A universe functioning solely according to the laws of classical physics would not allow for a nonmaterial mind to have any causal efficacy in the material world. Furthermore, a purely material mind—one that is either identical with, or a byproduct of, the brain—would not exist before birth and would cease at the time of death. These two notions—a classical universe and a material mind—are both ones that we can approach through reasoning and study of the available evidence. As serious practitioners of Buddhism, it is our responsibility to pursue such an approach, rather than appeal to either the authority of traditional Buddhist masters on the one side, or modern materialist scientists and philosophers on the other. This issue is too critical to the heart of Buddhism—to the truth or untruth of the four noble truths—for us to decide on hearsay. It is beyond the scope of this current essay to address the argument in detail, so I will do so in a subsequent one. The key point is that such investigation is not a diversion from serious practice but constitutes the practice of analytical meditation. The Buddha described practice as comprising study, contemplation, and meditation. What subject is more crucial to study and contemplate than the four noble truths? Liberation in Buddhism comes through wisdom seeing things as they are, not through reciting the right mantra formula or abiding in single-pointed concentration. These other practices can be utilized as powerful supplements for the development of wisdom but are not intended as replacements.
Finally, we come to the question of how to examine very hidden phenomena. Predicting specific details of karmic causation, like unfolding weather patterns, requires detailed knowledge of seemingly countless causes and conditions. Sense perception and even reasoned analysis alone cannot reveal these details. When the Buddha makes a claim about the karmic effect of a particular action, or the past cause leading to a present result, can we accept the statement as valid? The claim might not be “falsifiable” in the strict sense, but Nalanda masters developed tools that we can use to analyze the statement for potential flaws. Some traditional accounts speak of Mount Meru at the center of the universe. Mount Meru, if it exists, is not a very hidden phenomenon—it ought to be accessible to direct perception. If we use modern telescopes and other reliable devices and cannot perceive it, we can comfortably put such statements aside without controverting our adherence to Buddhist principles. We can also use modern methods of textual analysis to question the source of many statements, rather than assuming that any sutra attributed to the Buddha was indeed spoken by him. Tsongkhapa himself took such an approach in analyzing Indian texts, making maximum use of the tools available in fifteenth century Tibet.
In some sutras we see statements like “merely by reciting the name of Amitabha, you will be reborn in Sukhavati.” The Nalanda masters considered such a statement interpretable, meaning it cannot be taken literally because it contradicts teachings that can be verified by reasoning. If merely reciting the name of Amitabha led to birth in Sukhavati, there would be little need for cultivating ethical discipline, concentration, and insight. Karmic causation would essentially be nullified, because every other action a person did in their lifetime would have no bearing. The masters did not reject this statement but interpreted it in a nonliteral way. The teaching was meant for those who are easily discouraged, to uplift their spirits. The intention was not that simply reciting Amitabha’s name once would immediately lead to birth in Sukhavati after death, but that it would create a positive imprint that could lead to evolution over many, many lifetimes, eventually culminating in that result.
The Buddha’s claim that a particular lay adherent would be born as a monkey in the next life does not contradict his earlier teachings and is plausible within the framework of karmic causation. Does that mean that we can accept it? For one thing, to determine that it is plausible within that framework requires a deep understanding of the teachings on karma, and a conviction in their efficacy based on previous investigation. It also requires an understanding of what enlightenment is, and a conviction that the Buddha was an enlightened being. None of these points—the efficacy of karma, enlightenment in general, and even the Buddha’s enlightenment—is a very hidden phenomenon. Even if a practitioner has generated genuine valid cognition toward these points, it is questionable whether their conviction in the truth of the specific statement can ever reach the level of incontrovertibility that we can reach through reasoned analysis. The Geluk authors did indeed call such a conviction an “inference through belief,” but it is unclear whether Dharmakirti and his Indian contemporaries considered this sort of inference as on par with inference through the power of reason. In any case, we can be honest with ourselves about the limits of our knowledge. It is always possible that a statement attributed to the Buddha was not spoken by him. Even if it was, it is possible that he meant it in an allegorical way, as a skillful means to address the needs of disciples at the time. Even if it was meant literally, ascertaining its veracity hinges on conviction that the Buddha himself was infallible. This latter sort of conviction is not something that we can base on authority, but something that we must investigate with reasoning, taking us right back to the second stage of examining slightly hidden phenomena. Especially in the modern world, where there is a strong emphasis on questioning and reliable corroboration of unconventional claims, we as Buddhist practitioners cannot afford to lean on the authority of the past. We need courage and diligence to examine things for ourselves. We don’t pursue such examination just to convince others, but to confront our own doubt and work with our own minds. Doubt doesn’t leave us bewildered but clears a path that can lead to incontrovertible certainty when we are brave enough to follow that path as far as it will go.
Ven. Tenzin Gache is originally from Boston and graduated from Tufts University in 2005. During his college years he became a student of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Choden Rinpoche. In 2006 he ordained with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and has lived and studied at Sera Jey Monastery since that time. Currently he is in the final year of the standard geshe studies program, and next year will begin the intensive exams to qualify for the title of lharampa geshe.
[1] From the Kalama Sutta, found in Bhikkhu Bodhi, 2012. The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, p. 281.
[2] I have translated this verse from the Tibetan as it appears in Rje Tsong kha pa, 2002. Drang ba dang nges pa’i don rnam par ‘byed pa’i bstan bcos legs bshad snying po. Taiwan: The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, p. 3. Ironically, locating its original source within the Buddha’s teachings is a controversial matter, and most Tibetan scholars cited the quotation as it appears in an extant commentary by the Indian master Shantarakshita. Regardless of whether the Buddha made this exact statement, it certainly reflects themes he espoused in many other discourses.
[3] His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 2005. The Universe in a Single Atom. New York: Morgan Road Books, p. 3.
[4] Bhikkhu Analayo, 2018. Rebirth in Early Buddhism & Current Research. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, 2008.
We join students, friends, and admirers around the world in wishing His Holiness the Dalai Lama every good wish imaginable on his ninetieth birthday! A voice for the voiceless, a light in the dark, a complete and total manifestation of compassion for every living being—Your Holiness, please, please live long in this life; and in all future lives please continue to guide all of us who so desperately need your perfect example of kindness, patience, humility, and skillful means toward universal peace in the world.
For more on His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his beneficial activities, please visit DalaiLama.com.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Mind Science of Reality Symposium, organized by Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa and Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy, September 2017. Photo by Olivier Adam.
The time has come for students, friends, and supporters around the world to join together in celebrating the ninetieth birthday of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet, which occurs this year on July 6, 2025. We recently shared several resources available to enrich your practice and observation of this special and auspicious day.
We also wanted to offer one more reminder to please REJOICE that the FPMT organization will be offering one hundred statues of Shakyamuni Buddha to His Holiness during a special long life puja for His Holiness on July 5 in Dharamsala! Five representatives from the FPMT community will be present to offer the statues. Please rejoice and read more about this offering.
About humanity’s need for love and compassion, His Holiness commented:
His Holiness the Dalai Lama comforts an elderly woman on the final day of his visit to Leh, Ladakh, India on August 24, 2016. (Photo by Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL)
“Ultimately, the reason why love and compassion bring the greatest happiness is simply that our nature cherishes them above all else. The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. It results from the profound interdependence we all share with one another. However capable and skillful an individual may be, left alone, he or she will not survive. However vigorous and independent one may feel during the most prosperous periods of life, when one is sick or very young or very old, one must depend on the support of others.
“Interdependence, of course, is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings who, without any religion, law or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an innate recognition of their interconnectedness. The most subtle level of material phenomena is also governed by interdependence. All phenomena from the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests and flowers that surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without their proper interaction, they dissolve and decay.
“It is because our own human existence is so dependent on the help of others that our need for love lies at the very foundation of our existence. Therefore we need a genuine sense of responsibility and a sincere concern for the welfare of others.” Please read His Holiness’s full message on Compassion and the Individual.
His Holiness has offered this world ninety years of perfect guidance and inspiration and has served as a true living example of compassion in action, particularly in the face of adversity and unimaginable challenges. May students around the world unite in strong prayers for His Holiness to continue living a strong, stable, and long life for the benefit of all who so desperately need him as a guiding light of universal love.
For more on His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his beneficial activities, please visit DalaiLama.com.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
His Holiness smiling during the proceedings of the celebrations in honor of his ninetieth birthday according to the Tibetan calendar (the fifth Tibetan day of the fifth Tibetan month) in the Main Tibetan Temple Courtyard in Dharamsala on June 30, 2025. Photo by Tenzin Choejor, courtesy of DalaiLama.com.
On July 6, students, friends, and supporters around the world will observe the incredibly momentous occasion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s ninetieth birthday. We wanted to remind you of the vast resources available to you, to practice in the most beneficial and powerful way possible.
We also wanted to share the statement released by His Holiness on July 2 affirming the continuation of of the institution of the Dalai Lama. An excerpt from His Holiness’s statement reads:
“Although I have had no public discussions on this issue, over the last 14 years leaders of Tibet’s spiritual traditions, members of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, participants in a Special General Body Meeting, members of the Central Tibetan Administration, NGOs, Buddhists from the Himalayan region, Mongolia, Buddhist republics of the Russian Federation and Buddhists in Asia including mainland China, have written to me with reasons, earnestly requesting that the institution of the Dalai Lama continue. In particular, I have received messages through various channels from Tibetans in Tibet making the same appeal. In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue.
“The process by which a future Dalai Lama is to be recognized has been clearly established in the 24 September 2011 statement which states that responsibility for doing so will rest exclusively with members of the Gaden Phodrang Trust, the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.” Please read the full statement by His Holiness.
Great Festival Celebrating His Holiness
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered extensive advice on prayers and practices to do for His Holiness’s birthday, remarking that by doing these prayers and practices, students also benefit their own Dharma practice. You can find Rinpoche’s collected advice in the booklet How to Do the Great Festival of His Holiness’ Birthday in the Best Possible Way.
Long Life Prayers
The PDF booklet Prayers for the Long Life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibet contains prayers for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and for Tibet.
Online Teachings by His Holiness
Teachings by His Holiness are usually live streamed, and also available for viewing later as video recordings. DalaiLama.com also has links to live web streams, scheduled events, summaries of events, and more.
Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara) Practice Materials
His Holiness is respectfully held as a manifestation of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara), the buddha of compassion, by his disciples. Prayers to Chenrezig recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on our special page dedicated to Chenrezig practices and mantras.
Please rejoice that over 56 million mantras of OM MANI PADME HUM have been recited through the Mani Mantra Recitation Initiative for His Holiness Dalai Lama’s Long Life from March 1 to June 30, organized by Yeshin Norbu Center, the FPMT Center in Stockholm! We will share a full report on this incredible offering very soon.
May your celebrations and practices honoring His Holiness’s birthday be most joyous and auspicious, and may His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet continue to have a long and stable life, to continue to guide and inspire all sentients in desperate need of his perfect example of compassion, and to dispel all the misery of the world, from lifetime to lifetime without any separation!
Recently shared news regarding His Holiness the Dalai Lama:
- Statement from His Holiness Affirming the Continuation of the Institution of Dalai Lama
- His Holiness’s Birthday Celebration on June 30 in Dharamsala
- In Honor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 90th Birthday: A Heartfelt Offering from the FPMT Organization
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama: The Purpose of Life Is To Be Happy
- Three Buffalos Liberated in Honor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Long Life and 90th Birthday
- The Kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan People
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
His Holiness greeting an elderly Tibetan man as he makes his way to the main Tibetan temple to participate in a long life puja in Dharamsala, December 6, 2024. Photo by Tenzin Choejor, courtesy of DalaiLama.com.
As His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s ninetieth birthday is approaching on July 6, 2025, we hope to remember the unbelievable and unshakeable kindness of His Holiness. According to the Tibetan calendar, His Holiness’s birthday fell today, the fifth day of the fifth month. Festivities for this occasion took place at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala organized by the Dhomey Cholkha, people from Amdo. An estimated 7,000 attendees gathered in the Kalachakra Temple and the Tsuglagkhang, the courtyard, as well as Kirti Gompa and the nearby parking lot.
His Holiness shared the following words during the event:
“Here we are today on my 90th birthday, Although I am now 90 years old, I’m physically healthy and well. All these years I’ve worked for the good of Tibetans and the Dharma. I’ve also established links with people around the world and engaged in useful discussions with scientists. My life has been worthwhile. I’ve visited many other countries and met all kinds of people. I feel my life as a human being has been of benefit to the people of the world and I dedicate the rest of my life to the benefit of others.
“As far as the institution of the Dalai Lama is concerned, there will be a framework for it to continue. I was born in Dhomey and moved to Lhasa where I was able to study. As I already said, I think I have been able to serve the Dharma and sentient beings and I am determined to continue to do so.”
One of His Holiness’s core messages to the world is the need for and benefit of cultivating kind-heartedness, “the good heart” as His Holiness says. Today , in honor of his 90th birthday celebration in Dharamsala, we are sharing one of His Holiness’s very practical teachings on this topic. Published in India Today in 2021.
The Purpose of Life Is To Be Happy
By His Holiness the Dalai Lama
The basic source of all happiness is a sense of kindness and warm-heartedness towards others. We are all the same as human beings. We are born the same way, we die the same way, and we all want to lead happy lives.
The key to happiness is peace of mind. This is not something that can be bought. Inner peace has to be cultivated by each of us from within. All our religious traditions, despite whatever philosophical differences there may be among them, carry the same message of love and warm-heartedness that is the foundation of such peace of mind.
I sometimes wish that we were more like children, who are naturally open and accepting of others. Instead, as we grow up, we fail to nurture our natural potential and our sense of fundamental human values. We get caught up in secondary differences and tend to think in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Education can change this. We need to learn to distinguish the destructive nature of emotions like anger, fear and attachment, which disturb our peace of mind, from the positive qualities of compassion that are genuine sources of happiness.
I often ask myself what the purpose of life is. I conclude that it is to be happy. We have no guarantee of what will happen in the future, but we live in hope, which is what keeps us going. There is sometimes insufficient understanding of the difference between sensory consciousness and mental consciousness. The ultimate source of happiness is a mental feeling of joy, and not a wealth of material goods. The sensory pleasure material things provide is generally short-lived. Such satisfaction does little to allay anxiety and fear. On the other hand, mental joy sustains itself.
Nowadays scientists too agree that our basic human nature is compassionate and warm-hearted because that is the way our lives begin. Without our mother’s love and affection we would not have survived. Since we depend on other human beings for our own happiness, it is natural to feel warm-hearted towards them. Human beings are responsive. No matter how beautiful a flower may be, it won’t react to my smile. But if I smile at another human being, she or he generally smiles in return, and even animals react positively.
Today, the world is mostly focused on external development. However, ancient Indian traditions emphasize looking within to find the real source of joy. To be happy it is our minds we must transform. This is the basis of the longstanding traditions of ahimsa, doing no harm, and karuna, wishing others to be free from suffering.
Compassion, an active concern for others’ well-being, is not only part of religion, it also belongs to our lives as human beings. From compassion we develop self-confidence; that brings inner strength, allowing us to act with transparency and candor. If a person is happier, his or her family is happier; if families are happy, neighborhoods and nations will be happy. By each of us working to transform ourselves, we can change our human way of life and make this a century of compassion.
We must continually consider the oneness of humanity, remembering that we all want to be happy. And indeed, everyone has a right to a happy life. Along the way we may be faced with problems, but we must not lose hope. We must keep up our determination without being impatient to achieve quick results.
If you agree with anything I have written here, I hope you will follow it up in your day to day lives. As I have said before, if you want others to be happy, practice compassion, if you want to be happy, practice compassion.
Originally published by India Today, September 30, 2021.
Please also remember that on the joyful occasion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s ninetieth birthday, the FPMT organization will be offering one hundred statues of Shakyamuni Buddha to His Holiness! Please rejoice and read more about this offering occurring during a special long life puja for His Holiness on July 5 in Dharamsala.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered extensive advice on prayers and practices to do for His Holiness’s birthday, remarking that by doing these prayers and practices, students also benefit their own Dharma practice. You can find Rinpoche’s collected advice in the booklet How to Do the Great Festival of His Holiness’ Birthday in the Best Possible Way.
For more on His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his beneficial activities, please visit DalaiLama.com.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the occasion the laying of the foundation stone for The Dalai Lama Centre for Tibet and Indian Ancient Wisdom on the Maitreya land in Bodhgaya, India. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
We are delighted to share the June 2025 enews with you. We share many causes for rejoicing including:
- Rejoicing in His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday
- Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche: Prayers to stop wars
- Valuable resources for students of Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- A simple explanation of karma by Lama Yeshe
- Pujas and prayers offered on Saka Dawa
- News from FPMT centers
- Opportunities for service, practice, and retreat
and much more!
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.
His Holiness meeting with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Dharamsala, India, November 2, 2022. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
As His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s ninetieth birthday is approaching on July 6, 2025, we hope to remember the unbelievable and unshakeable kindness of His Holiness.
“I thought that it would be important especially for Western people who had become Buddhist to remember the great kindness they had received from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Padmasambhava, the Dharma Kings, Shantarakshita and the Tibetan people as a whole,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said in 2011, explaining his motivation for composing the prayer “Remembering the Kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan People.” This prayer is included in the booklet Prayers for the Long Life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibet.
“While thinking how important it is, in addition to providing whatever help to Tibet that they can give, for these Westerners to at least direct their thoughts and wishes to the welfare of the Tibetan people, this prayer came to my mind,” Rinpoche said. “I composed it especially for the success of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s wishes, and in particular for the Tibetan people, and for there to be perfect peace and happiness in the world and for all sentient beings to achieve enlightenment.”
In a new book by His Holiness, Voice for the Voiceless: Over Seven Decades of Struggle with China for My Land and My People (published By William Morrow, 2025), His Holiness tells the story of the heart-breaking struggle he has had with China to save Tibet and its people for nearly seventy-five years. “Ever since first being forced into exile in India in 1950, my primary task has been the cause of Tibet and its people,” His Holiness explains in Voice for the Voiceless. “I am now approaching my ninth decade. The issue of Tibet remains unsolved, while my homeland is still in the grip of repressive Communist Chinese rule. Tibetans inside Tibet continue to be deprived of their dignity as a people and their freedom to live their lives according to their own wishes and their culture, as they did for more than a millennium before 1950. Since any expression of Tibetan identify is seen today as a threat by Tibet’s new rulers, there is the danger that in the name of “’stability’ and ‘territorial integrity’ attempts might be made to erase our civilization.”
Remembering the Kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan People concludes:
“Our Refuge and Savior, the Supreme One: His Holiness the Dalai Lama
And the Tibetan people have been so kind to us!
Remembering this we make the following dedicating prayers:
May all His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s wishes be successful immediately;
May the Snow Land of Tibet achieve pure freedom
And develop the Buddha Dharma even more than before in Tibet;
And may all mother transmigratory beings achieve enlightenment quickly!”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered extensive advice on prayers and practices to do for His Holiness’s birthday, remarking that by doing these prayers and practices, students also benefit their own Dharma practice. You can find Rinpoche’s collected advice in the booklet How to Do the Great Festival of His Holiness’ Birthday in the Best Possible Way.
Please also remember that on the joyful occasion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s ninetieth birthday, the FPMT organization will be offering one hundred statues of Shakyamuni Buddha to His Holiness! Please rejoice and read more about this offering occurring during a special long life puja for His Holiness on July 5 in Dharamsala.
For more on His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his beneficial activities, please visit DalaiLama.com.
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.
Hayagriva thangka image, courtesy of Nalanda Monastery
Hayagriva is the wrathful manifestation of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. The practice of Most Secret Hayagriva is extremely powerful to grant help and support and to quickly pacify obstacles. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said that one of the reasons that Sera Je Monastery has been so successful and able to produce so many qualified teachers, who have very good understanding of Dharma, good hearts, and subdued minds, is due to the blessings—or holy actions—of the deity, Most Secret Hayagriva. Not only outwardly, but also inwardly having great success, this is due to this deity.
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. Both Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche had a special connection to the Most Secret Hayagriva.
Most Secret Hayagriva Retreat: A Rare Opportunity!
“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. So now that Rinpoche is no longer with us, we are organizing the group retreat every year for the students to do. This retreat will be held in Nalanda for the first time and then every year in Kopan Monastery as a group retreat. One needs the initiation to attend.” — Ven. Roger Kunsang
Following the Most Secret Hayagriva Initiation that will be given by His Eminence Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Delek at Nalanda Monastery July 7 and 8, a very rare opportunity of a two-week retreat has been organized on the grounds of Nalanda Monastery starting on July 11. Nalanda has invited four qualified geshes from Sera Je Monastery: Geshe Thubten Sonam (retreat leader), Genden Dhargey (main chant leader of Sera Je), Geshe Dorjee Wangdak (Sera Je chant leader), and Geshe Tashi Dondrup (an artist of butter sculptures and tormas).
Monthly Sponsored Pujas
Elaborate tormas for Most Secret Hayagriva puja, Kopan Monastery, 2020.
The FPMT Puja Fund sponsors a monthly Extensive Most Secret Hayagriva puja (Hayagriva Tsog Kong) at Sera Je Monastery, performed by about 40 of the most senior monks who specialize in the practice. This is an all day puja with an elaborate torma offering and extensive prayers and meditation. This puja is dedicated to all FPMT centers, projects, and services; for the success of all Dharma activities and removal of obstacles; to all students who are facing obstacles; to the benefactors of the Puja Fund; and to all beings.
Practice Lineage and New Practice Booklets
There are two initiation lineages of this deity. The “common lineage” is from Guru Rinpoche to Siddha Darchar down through many Sera Je lamas. Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave initiations based on this lineage. The “uncommon lineage” is from the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lozang Gyatso, who received it in a pure vision and is a part of his Pure Visions Bearing the Seal of Secrecy (Sangwa Gyachen), down to His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama, and more recently Kyabje Jhado Rinpoche.
Most of the Hayagriva practice texts, called “activity manuals (lejang),” are based on the Fifth Dalai Lama’s composition. The Fifth Dalai Lama composed two activity manuals. The extensive one is called The Melody of Fearless Vajra: The Activity Manual for the Chanting and Meditation of Wrathful Most Secret Lotus, and the shorter one, Compendium of the Heart Essence.
FPMT Education Services has recently made available two practice booklets:
- The Melodious Laughter of the Mighty One composed by Dagri Lozang Thubten Namgyal (19th century) is based on Compendium of the Heart Essence with additions from Melody of Fearless Vajra. This activity manual is used when the entire Sera Je Monastery does their annual Hayagriva retreat.
- A Concise and Complete Sadhana of Bhagavan Wrathful Glorious Most Secret Hayagriva compiled by Jhado Rinpoche is based on Melody of Fearless Vajra and is meant for daily practice or for the intermediate sessions of an approach retreat.
We gratefully thank Nalanda Monastery for sponsoring the translation of these two major sadhanas which will be used in the retreat at Nalanda Monastery.
These booklets can be practiced by those who have received either the common or uncommon initiations.
Practice of the Most Secret Hayagriva Mantra
Lama Zopa Rinpoche says the Hayagriva practice reciting the 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 says 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 mantras 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.
To do the mantra practice, you must have received the Most Secret Hayagriva initiation, or an oral transmission of the mantra, or, at the minimum, special permission from a qualified guru.
For more information about the Most Secret Hayagriva Retreat at Nalanda Monastery June 11- 28, 2025, please visit Nalanda’s 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.
Eleven graduates of LZRTP 9 program.
Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program (LRZTP) is an FPMT project in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India. LRZTP has produced many gifted Dharma interpreters-translators for FPMT Dharma centers since its conception over twenty-three years ago. In addition to the two-year intensive training program, LRZTP also runs short Tibetan language courses and offers private online Tibetan language lessons.
The latest interpreters training course, LRZTP9, successfully finished with eleven new graduates on June 3, 2025! We are happy to share this report from LRZTP on this achievement:
After two years of hard work and dedication the students of LRZTP 9 can finally say: yes, we have made it! Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo school’s ninth two-year Tibetan language program has now come to an end. The group of eleven students who came to Dharamsala in 2023 from all over the world are now happy graduates of one of the most demanding programs in the world of Tibetan language studies.
As is usually the case the students started their adventure with LRZTP from different levels. There were beginners, there were those who had already studied some Tibetan and there were those who at the beginning of the program were already quite advanced either in language or Dharma studies. In the end Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program is happy to announce that the latest graduates come from: Australia, Germany, Israel, Sweden, Poland, United States and Argentina.
The final module of the two-year program (Module 9) differed somewhat in terms of the contents when compared to previous modules of the second year. The main feature of the last module was the interpretation (oral translation) workshop. There were four days each week devoted to the interpretation practice. On two days half of the class was theory of interpretation, the other half was practice. Not all of these days were mandatory, but addressed to those whose main aim was learning to interpret the Dharma teachings between Tibetan and English (or their mother tongue). Additionally, now upon the official graduation, those who are interested have been attending an extra interpretation workshop three times a week, which will be going on until the monsoon break in the latter part of July.
The main guest teacher in Module 9 was Geshe Losang Drakpa who taught Introduction to Tantra and on the dissolution stage. We are very grateful to Geshe-la and to all the guest teachers who visited in the course of LRZTP 9 for devoting their time to the students. Geshe Losang Drakpa was also one of the honorary guests at the graduation ceremony.
The graduation ceremony was preceded by an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at His residence in McLeod Ganj. The next day, 3rd June, the actual graduation was organized at school. All students, all teachers, guest teachers and staff were invited to attend. The ceremony began with prayers, serving of tea and traditional sweet rice, followed by the official welcome of all guests by Julia Wilson, the Program Coordinator.
LRZTP 9 students came to the stage to proudly receive their well deserved certificates as well as some small graduation gifts.
Several of the main teachers, including the special guest teacher Geshe Losang Drakpa, then took the stage to address the happy graduates. After all the well wishes and congratulations, students one by one came to the stage to proudly receive their well deserved certificates as well as some small graduation gifts. Finally, the students themselves, gave small individual speeches and were later interviewed in Tibetan by the reporters of Tibet Express.
The official part of the ceremony ended with a delicious lunch prepared for the occasion by the school’s wonderful cooks. Later, everyone had tea and cakes and engaged in individual conversations.
We would like to stress here how much of hard work the students have put into their learning in LRZTP. It took great effort on their part to not only master the extensive material of the two years but also to gain confidence as future translators and interpreters of Tibetan language and Dharma teachings. Everyone did a wonderful job and we are very proud of all the graduates. They all did really well in the course and will certainly be brilliant lotsawas if they only choose to. They will also carry on the good name of the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program into the world.
In October of 2025 the next two-year program – LRZTP 10 – will begin. The registration is still open. Anyone who has been seriously thinking of joining but has not yet registered, is most welcome to do it. The online and at-school individual classes still continue, so if you feel like two years is too long or you have other goals, check the LRZTP website and consider joining these individual one-on-one teacher-student meetings.
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.
Twenty-One Taras on display at the Melbourne Town Hall. Photo by Gina Lewis.
In 2014, Lama Zopa Rinpoche requested Peter Iseli to paint a very big ( 15 meters x 9 meters, 49 ft x 30 ft) Twenty-One Taras thangka. Peter and his wife Jangchub Iseli-Sangmo spent four years creating the thangka, one section at a time, in a studio at Institut Vajra Yogini in France. At the end of 2017, Lama Zopa offered this thangka to Tara Institute (TI) in Melbourne, Australia, “to show to as many people as possible.”. In 2019 Peter made final changes requested by Rinpoche. For the third year in a row, this thangka was displayed at the Melbourne Town Hall during the annual multicultural Vesak celebrations.
Cynthia Karena shares the details of this year’s event:
In the early morning pre-dawn hours of Saturday May 3, a dedicated group of volunteers gathered to maneuver a heavy 9.5 meter (31 ft) tube containing our giant Twenty-One Taras Thangka through Tara Institute onto a waiting truck outside.
After its initial ‘unveiling’ in 2018 at the prestigious White Night festival in Melbourne, Tara Institute has most recently displayed the 21 Taras Thangka as part of the annual multicultural Vesak celebrations at the Melbourne Town Hall for the past three years.
We arrived at the Town Hall just at sunrise, where we began unrolling and hoisting the thangka, once again releasing the Taras! It’s always a beautiful experience watching the thangka flutter and rise, slowly revealing the Taras row by row. This year’s event coincided with election day in Australia, so seeing the Taras was a good purifying antidote to all the madness of the election campaign.
Many of us here at Tara Institute see the Twenty-One Taras Thangka as a precious connection with Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Not only did he give us this magnificent thangka, but he was with the thangka every day for a month at his 2018 retreat when it hung inside the Great Stupa in Bendigo. “It’s wonderful to be here. You can really feel the presence of Rinpoche,” says TI member Carol Malina.
Rolling of the thangka. Photo by Cynthia Karena.
Many people walked in off the street and were amazed by these beautiful “Buddhist goddesses’,” and staff from the Melbourne Tourist Office two doors down kept coming in to ask questions or to just sit and gaze at the thangka. One woman said she sat for an hour because she couldn’t stop looking at the Taras. This year, we also did a public group recitation of the Twenty-One Tara praises, which was moving and powerful with the thangka towering in front of us.
At the end of the day, rolling up the thangka is another technical exercise. Due to the immense size, it takes at least an hour to roll up, as we need to smooth out developing wrinkles with each roll, and make sure we roll straight to avoid overhang, which is easy to do when there is 15 meters of fabric to roll onto a 9 meter long tube! But the upside is that we are up close and personal with each Tara, able to see in detail the extraordinary work Peter has created.
With grateful thanks to Cynthia Karena for this report!
Several FPMT centers have commissioned large thangkas and are now hosting festival days where these holy objects can be enjoyed. We invite you to rejoice in the displaying of these magnificent holy objects which was one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization. As Rinpoche has explained, doing this makes it “so easy for sentient beings to purify their heavy negative karma and making it so easy for sentient beings to create extensive merit. Which makes it so easy to achieve the realizations of the path and so easy to achieve liberation and enlightenment.”
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.
2025 Maitripa College graduates and Chaplain Endorsees with President Yangsi Rinpoche and faculty. Photo by Chris Majors.
On May 17, the Maitripa College community, Portland, OR, USA, gathered to celebrate the 16th Commencement Ceremony honoring the 2025 graduates of the Master of Arts in Buddhist Studies and Master of Divinity programs. Dean of Education, Namdrol Miranda Adams shares a moving report of the ceremony:
On a warm spring day in Portland, Oregon this May, the Maitripa College community gathered in person and online to celebrate the 16th Commencement Ceremony, honoring the 2025 graduates of the Master of Arts in Buddhist Studies and Master of Divinity programs.
This milestone marks not only the culmination of rigorous academic and contemplative training, but also the beginning of lives deeply committed to service, wisdom, and compassion in the world. The diverse paths of this year’s graduates reflect the heart of Maitripa’s mission: integrating traditional Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and practice with the challenges and needs of modern life.
Our 2025 graduates have engaged deeply with Buddhist texts and teachings, developed their meditation practices, and completed intensive education and fieldwork. Now, they are stepping into the world as educators, caregivers, and community leaders. Among this years’ graduates are those working in special education, elder care, and suicide prevention—each embodying the union of spiritual depth and skillful means.
This year’s Commencement Address was delivered by esteemed Buddhist scholar and translator, and longtime Maitripa College friend Dr. Roger Jackson, who offered a spirited encouragement to seek wisdom not only in the texts and traditions of Buddhism but also in the world around us. With humor and heart, he reminded us that inspiration can be found everywhere—even in the words of the Beat Poets—and called on graduates to remain curious, courageous, and open in their journeys.
The ceremony was a joyful and moving gathering of faculty, students, friends, family, and supporters. It included traditional prayers and dedications, heartfelt reflections, and an offering of gratitude to the teachers and mentors who have guided the graduates on their paths.
As Maitripa College enters its 20th year, we are inspired by the example of this graduating class and all of our alumni who are manifesting the Dharma through lives of engaged, compassionate service. May the merit of their practice and study continue to benefit countless beings.
To learn more about Maitripa College and its programs, visit www.maitripa.org.
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.
Painting of the new gateway, Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore. Photo courtesy of ABC.
Ven. Tenzin Tsultrim of Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC), Singapore. shares news of the completion of their newly renovated gateway:
The Amitabha Buddha statue above ABC building’s gateway now shines with renewed radiance after over two months of repairs and repainting. The statue now sits with a fresh coat of paint on a newly constructed lotus, flanked by the two dragons that have also been carefully restored with gold paint.
Newly finished restored gateway at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore. Photo courtesy of ABC.
The structures had been damaged by heavy rainfall over the year-end monsoon season and on the brink of collapse! The statue was carefully removed for repairs to be done. Two monks from Kopan Monastery, Ven. Jampa (Gen Tseme) and Ven. Sherab, together with ABC member Jeremy Chu, completed repainting the entire gateway with all its detailed sculptures and mouldings, including the mantras. The work was completed on April 25 and Amitabha Buddha once again sits serene over the gateway.
Beautiful detail of the new gateway at ABC.
ABC director, Tan Hup Cheng, is very pleased with the finished result: “It will serve as a source of inspiration and blessing for people passing by our center. We can rest assured our Guru Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche would have been very happy at the completion of this major restoration of the Amitabha Buddha gateway.”
It was Rinpoche who had advised having the Amitabha Buddha seated above the building’s entrance along with specific accompanying details and mantras. Rinpoche had always emphasized how important it was for powerful mantras to be placed where they could be of greatest benefit to sentient beings.
The gateway is decorated with four such mantras that have the power to purify eons of negative karma and protect one from falling into the lower realms, just even by seeing them:
1) The Six Syllables of Clairvoyance Mantra
A AH SHA SA MA HA
This mantra decorates the skirting of the parapet that holds Amitabha Buddha and the dragons.
2) The Six-Syllable Mantra of Chenrezig
OM MANI PADME HUM
3) The Stainless Lotus Pinnacle Mantra
OM PADMO USHNISHA VIMALE HUM PHAT
Mantras #2 and #3 are painted above the snow lions and Garuda.
NAMO RATNA TRAYAYA OM KAMKANI KAMKANI ROCHANI ROCHANI TROTANI TROTANI TRASANI TRASANI PRATIHANA PRATIHANA SARVA KARMA PARAM PARA NI ME SARVA SATTVA NANCHA SVAHA
This mantra appears on a red background just above the door entrance.
Door entrance at ABC.
There are inconceivable benefits to sentient beings in having this gateway that was designed according to Rinpoche’s advice.
Please join us in rejoicing on the completion of this extremely auspicious gateway at ABC in Singapore!
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.