Announcements

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ganden Tri Rinpoche, India, November 2017. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

We hope you enjoy the April edition of the FPMT International Office e-News!

This month we bring you:

• Updates to Rinpoche’s schedule, including an initiation particularly beneficial to those serving in the organization;
  
• New materials from Education Services;
  
• More to rejoice about, including news about a recent Foundation Service Seminar, and dates of upcoming FPMT Service Seminars!

… and more!

The FPMT International Office News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his sister, Anila Ngawang Samten, Nepal, February 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Welcome to the March edition of the monthly FPMT International Office e-News!

This month we bring you:

• Highlights of Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
• An Invitation to Read Our 2017Annual Review: Serving the Teachings of the Buddha
• Rejoice in Our Investment in the Entire Organization
  
• New Materials from Education Services
  
• New FPMT Study Groups
  
• Tara Introduced to Australia!

..and more!

The FPMT International Office News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.

FPMT International Office is happy to announce FPMT Annual Review 2017: Serving the Teachings of the Buddha is now available to read as an eZine and a downloadable PDF.

International Office, also called Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s office, helps fulfill the vision of FPMT’s founders Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, assists with the actualization of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast vision for the FPMT organization, and supports 164 centers, projects, and services in 39 countries that comprise the international FPMT network. Each year, International Office shares our accomplishments and rejoices in what has been achieved. 

“From the bottom of my heart and bones, thank you numberless times for all your service; dedication; practice of holy Dharma with your body, speech, and mind; and for your devotion and good heart,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche says in his letter in this year’s annual review. 

“The ultimate aim is to benefit sentient beings, whose minds are obscured and suffering, and for them to achieve happiness in this life and happiness in future lives, then the ultimate happiness of liberation from samsara and of buddhahood, the total cessation of obscurations and completion of realizations,” Rinpoche continues.

“Therefore, sentient beings receive all the peace and happiness up to enlightenment by serving the teachings of Buddha, so that the teachings exist continually and develop, and also by serving the Sangha, who preserve and spread Dharma in this world.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Roger Kunsang in Vienna, Austria, September 2017. Photo by Andrea Husnik.

In addition to Rinpoche’s letter, FPMT Annual Review 2017 includes an update from FPMT CEO Ven. Roger Kunsang, an overview of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s tireless Dharma activities, and highlights from International Office’s departments. 

New this year, we’ve made a special online photo album for the annual review, sharing photos from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 2017 travels to India, Nepal, Mongolia, Russia, the United States, Austria, and Italy. Scroll or click through to see Rinpoche throughout the year bringing benefit to all sentient beings and giving us so much in which to rejoice!

We invite you to read FPMT Annual Review 2017: Serving the Teachings of the Buddha, now available online in eZine and PDF formats:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/annual-review/

See photo highlights from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 2017:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/lama-zopa-rinpoches-2017/

FPMT International Office is Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s office and works daily to achieve its mission of “preserving and spreading Mahayana Buddhism worldwide by creating opportunities to listen, reflect, meditate, practice, and actualize the unmistaken teachings of the Buddha, and based on that experience, spread the Dharma to sentient beings.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during Root Institute’s 30th anniversary celebration, India, January 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

All good wishes for Losar (Tibetan New Year) to you, from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and all at FPMT International Office.

Our Losar greetings are part of the February FPMT International Office e-News.

In addition to our Losar message, we invite you to enjoy:

• Updates to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Schedule
• How we can keep you updated daily!
• Why it’s time to empty your Merit Box
• News about Foundation Service Seminars in Spanish

and more…..

The FPMT International Office News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the official long life puja offered at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 14, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

We invite you to enjoy our January e-News.

This month we bring you:

• How to Report your Recitations for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Health
  
• Rejoicing in Another Year of Charitable Giving
  
• Two New Stories from Mandala magazine
  
• Two New FPMT Study Groups
  

… and more, with lots of lovely photos!

The FPMT International Office News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Italy, October 2017. Photo by Piero Sirianni.

Warm Seasons Greetings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT International Office!

Our greetings come as part of the December FPMT International Office e-News.

As well as our greetings of the season, we bring you:

• A Reminder about Updates to Rinpoche’s Schedule
• Our Year-End Generosity Campaign
  
• Welcome to the New Issue of Mandala magazine!
• Rejoicing about: A New FPMT Center, and 2 New Study Groups!
       Two Fruitful Foundation Service Seminars!
  

… and more, with lots of lovely photos!

The FPMT International Office News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.

Venerable Bhikshus, whoever sees dependent and relative origination, sees the Dharma.
Whoever sees the Dharma, sees the Buddha.
What is this dependent and relative origination of which I speak?
It is this: because this exists, that arises. Because this is born, that is born.

It is like this: through the condition of ignorance, compounding factors. From the condition of compounding factors, consciousness … name and form … the six sense spheres … contact … feeling … craving … grasping … existence … birth … aging and death. From the condition of aging and death, agony, wailing, suffering, unhappiness, and mental disturbance all arise. Like that, merely this enormous heap of suffering arises.

—From the Salistamba, or Rice Seedlings Sutra, [translation by Ven. Tenzin Gache] the primary source of teachings on the twelve links of dependent arising.

In his new article for Mandala titled “Personalizing the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination,” Ven. Tenzin Gache shares a comprehensive view of what Lama Tsongkhapa considered to be the most profound teaching from the Buddha.

Exploring each of the twelve links, Ven. Tenzin offers a clear depiction of this Dharma topic, which many practitioners consider to be an elusive subject, and in doing so he offers a thorough account of one of Mahayana Buddhism’s most significant teachings.

Read Ven. Tenzin Gache’s new article “Personalizing the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination” in its entirety: 
https://fpmt.org/mandala/online-features/personalizing-the-twelve-links-of-dependent-origination/

Find more in-depth stories and interviews on Mandala:
https://fpmt.org/mandala/online-features/

Mandala is offered as a benefit to supporters of the Friends of FPMT program, which provides funding for the educational, charitable and online work of FPMT.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche being shown the Inner Job Description app on a phone, with Ven. Roger Kunsang and Wendy Ridley, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, October 2017. Photo by Violette Pilot.

Would you like help in transforming your daily life into Dharma practice?  If so, the Inner Job Description App is for you.

Initially produced as a card for practitioners to write upon, the Inner Job Description (IJD) is now available as an app for mobile devices.

Like the ‘pen and paper’ version of the IJD, the app is tool for developing mindfulness of our thoughts, speech, and actions. By using the IJD daily, our increased awareness of self-defeating mental habits can allow us to change our minds in positive ways.

As Lama Zopa Rinpoche notes in “How to Be a Real Professional,” “You have all these external professions—how to do this, how to do that from school, college, and university—but without inner professionalism: how to live life, how to do everything mentally, how to do everything—business or professional activity, whatever you do—with pure attitude, positive mind, non-ignorance, non-anger, non-attachment, especially with the non-selfish mind.” By tracking your behavior over time, you will learn how to make every day a profound inner practice.

A screen shot of the Inner Job Description App landing page.

The Inner Job Description was designed to help us understand how we can develop as “inner professionals,” transforming our service into Dharma practice.

The app enables you to track your progress throughout the day, and then to review how you are developing as an inner professional. You can choose to receive regular reminders from the app in the form of inspiring quotes by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Thubten Yeshe.

We invite you to use the IJD Mindfulness Practice App to become an inner professional. Download the Inner Job Description App for free on Google Play and the Apple App Store (search for Inner Job Description).

The app is due to the kindness of a generous sponsor, allowing the digital IJD to be offered free of charge. Currently the app is only available in English, but we are exploring the possibility of making the app available in other languages.

The Inner Job Description practice is an essential part of the FPMT Foundation Service Seminar, which we recommend to anyone already offering, or considering offering, service in the FPMT organization

Look out for an interview with Amy Cayton, FPMT Service Seminar Coordinator, about the IJD and the Foundation Service Seminar, in the January–June 2018 issue of Mandala magazine.

Learn more about the Inner Job Description online, where you can downlowd the IJD Card, watch a video on how to use the IJD, and find links to the app:
https://fpmt.org/education/training/inner-job-description/

Mandala is offered as a benefit to supporters of the Friends of FPMT program, which provides funding for the educational, charitable and online work of FPMT.

 FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the 100 Million Mani Retreat, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, October 2017. Photo by Piero Sirianni.

Welcome to the November FPMT International Office e-News!

This month we bring you news about:

• The New Inner Job Description App
  
• Updates from Two FPMT Charitable Projects
  
• Who Friends of FPMT Help
• How to Give a Gift That Helps Others
  
• The Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program
  

…and more!

The FPMT International Office News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Italy, October 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

We invite you to read the October edition of the FPMT International Office e-News now!

This month we bring you:

• News about the annual long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and how to contribute
• Highlights of Rinpoche’s Advice this last month
  
• Newly Available from Education Services
  
• New from Mandala Magazine
  
• Two New FPMT Study Groups!
  

…and more!

The FPMT International Office News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with a child attending the Kadampa Center family camp, who had made this buddha statue for Rinpoche, North Carolina, USA, September 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The September FPMT International Office e-News is out now!

This month we bring you news about:

• Long Retreats with Lama Zopa Rinpoche
• A New Module of Living in the Path
  
• Investing in Holy Object Creation
  
• Mantra Hat Back in Stock!

and more!

The FPMT International Office News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, USA, June 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Welcome to the August FPMT International Office e-News!

In this month’s e-News we bring you:

• Updates on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Schedule
• News about New Modules of Living in the Path
  
• New Features from Mandala 
• News of a New Book by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
  

…and much more!

The FPMT International Office News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.