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Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the long life puja offered to him at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
UPDATE: The FPMT Education Services’ booklet How to Offer a 1,000 Tsog Offerings is now available to help complete this advice.
Ven. Roger Kunsang is the assistant to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and CEO of FPMT Inc. He shares this message with the entire FPMT community:
Dear Friends,
In talking with Rinpoche recently it has become more clear regarding the importance of this long life puja we are having in Singapore at Amitabha Buddhist Centre on March 13. Rinpoche has been quite subtle, but has indicated that there are obstacles for himself this year. Rinpoche also said recently that one of the main things that will help is this long life puja in Singapore with all the FPMT centers and students participating, and prior to the puja, the 100,000 tsog offerings – this was advised by Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme).
Please try to be at the long life puja or participate at a distance wherever you are.
We have to continue to create the karma for Rinpoche to be with us for a long time and to purify our karma for Rinpoche not to be here. It is in our hands.
FPMT – so many students around the world – have done so much to benefit others under Rinpoche’s patient and compassionate guidance, as well as under Lama Yeshe’s compassionate guidance. We need Rinpoche to live a very long and healthy life so we can continue to benefit sentient beings as much as possible.
Sincerely,
roger
Here are the details on the long life puja in Singapore:
The official long life puja on behalf of the entire FPMT will be offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore on Sunday, March 13 as part of Rinpoche’s teaching event there. The puja will start at 9 a.m. Singapore time (GMT+8).
During the long life puja Rinpoche will be requested to give teachings on lojong (thought transformation). These teachings and the long life puja will be webcast live on FPMT’s Livestream page so that all can participate live or by video later.
How You Can Participate:
Help your local center to offer prayers and practices for the health and long life of Lama Zopa Rinpoche with a long life puja and by performing 100,000 tsog offerings with Lama Chöpa.
Donations to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Long Life Puja Fund are welcome.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service. For more, visit FPMT.org, where you can also find more information for FPMT centers, projects, services and study groups.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, South India, January 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang
We hope you enjoy our January E-News – out now!
In it you’ll find:
- News about Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Official Long Life Puja
- It’s Merit Box Collection time!
- Updates from FPMT Education Services
- Photos from the Long Life Puja Offered to His Holiness the Dalai Lama
and more!
Subscribe to the FPMT International Office eNews today and receive important updates about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FPMT International Office, and the broader FPMT organization directly to your email box.
Message from Ven Roger Kunsang, assistant to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and CEO of FPMT Inc :
“Dear Friends,
This year seems especially important for all Rinpoche’s students to come together in some way to offer practice and prayers for Rinpoche’s long and healthy life. When I asked Khadro-la for her observation, Khadro-la answered with a deep concern and wish that all the students in all the centers, projects and services come together in some way and offer a long life puja to Rinpoche, as well as perform 100,000 tsog offerings.
Khadro-la went on to explain how very important it is for Rinpoche to be present in this world for a long time, teaching and benefiting sentient beings in many different ways. Khadro-la talked about Rinpoche’s many special qualities, impressing how fortunate we are to have Rinpoche with us, guiding us in so many ways.
Please everyone join the Long Life Puja, participate in whatever way you can.”
The Official Long Life Puja on behalf of the entire FPMT will be offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore on Sunday, March 13th (as part of Rinpoche’s teaching event there). The puja will start at 9am Singapore time.
During the long life puja Rinpoche will be requested to give teachings on lojong (thought transformation). These teachings and the long life puja will be livestreamed so that all can participate live (or by video later).
How You Can Participate:
Help your center to offer prayers and practices for the health and long life of Lama Zopa Rinpoche with a long life puja, and by performing 100,000 tsog offerings with Lama Chopa.
Donations to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Long Life Puja Fund are welcome.
More Information for FPMT Centers, Projects, Services and Study Groups
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme), South India, January 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Video teachings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche are available 24/7 via Rinpoche Available Now!
Season’s greetings to you! We hope you enjoy the December 2015 FPMT International Office eNews.
There’s so much to rejoice about, including:
- A long life puja being offered to His Holiness the Dalai Lama during the Jangchup Lamrim teachings
- Sera Je Food Fund’s celebration of 25 years of offering food
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s newest book, How to Enjoy Death (coming out soon!)
- Giving the gift of Dharma – Foundation Store’s holiday specials
Subscribe to the FPMT International Office eNews today and receive important updates about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FPMT International Office, and the broader FPMT organization directly to your email box.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with a new friend he met while shopping and to whom he gave a 30-minute introduction to Buddhism, California, US, October 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang
We invite you into the November FPMT International Office E-News, out now. Enjoy:
- Highlights of Lama Zopa Rinpoche News
- What’s New from FPMT Education Services
- How to Give a Gift that Helps Others
- Opportunities to Rejoice
and more!
FPMT has just launched a new gift-giving program that offers an alternative to buying material gifts for friends and family. Give a Gift that Helps Others enables one to contribute to a compassionate charitable project as a gift for someone else. One then gets to send a special gift card or e-card to the recipient that highlights how their gift will benefit others.
Donations can be made to help liberate animals, offer food to the monks of Sera Je Monastery, build holy objects, or provide for the basic needs of others through the social services.
You can learn more and also order a gift for someone here.
We hope you enjoy our October edition of the FPMT International Office E-News!
This month you will find:
- News about the annual Long Life Puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- The latest on Rinpoche’s Teaching Schedule
- News about Living in the Path, and new mantras to download
- How FPMT Charitable Projects are supporting His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- Three new FPMT Study Groups!
and of course much more!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering a mandala during tsog puja, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Subscribe to the monthly International Office News to receive the latest information on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s schedule and advice; new Dharma practice materials; FPMT centers, projects and services around the world; and opportunities to offer service.
Portrait of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, New York, USA, August 2015. Photo by Edward Sczudlo.
Please enjoy the September 2015 edition of International Office News, FPMT International Office’s monthly e-newsletter.
This month, discover:
- Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on “How to Overcome Depression”
- Ways to stay up to date on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s ever-changing schedule
- A newly revised edition of Daily Meditation, a Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s compilation of prayers, practices, and meditations needed to start one’s day
- A recent update from Kopan Helping Hands, Kopan Monastery’s and Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery’s organization to help those affected by the Nepal earthquake
- Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s new website
- … and more!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche doing an incense puja for those who are sick on his first day in Mexico, where Rinpoche was leading retreat, September 6, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Subscribe to the monthly International Office News to receive the latest information on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s schedule and advice; new Dharma practice materials; FPMT centers, projects and services around the world; and opportunities to offer service.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama and His Eminence Choden Rinpoche, New Delhi, India, August 29, 2015. Photo courtesy of Sera Je Monastery.
We are very saddened to share the news that His Eminence Choden Rinpoche passed away on September 11 at 1:30 a.m. India time at Sera Je Monastery in South India. Choden Rinpoche was a highly respected Buddhist master and a much loved teacher, who taught at many FPMT centers over the years.
Choden Rinpoche was born in 1933 in eastern Tibet and was recognized at age three. At age eight he entered Rabten Monastery, and at age fifteen he went to Sera Je Monastery, where he studied the five main texts. Choden Rinpoche became an expert on the teachings on Vinaya – monastic discipline. He was a highly respected scholar and was chosen as one of two Sera Je monks to debate with His Holiness the Dalai Lama during His Holiness’ geshe exams.
During the communist Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1959, Choden Rinpoche stayed in Tibet and went into solitary retreat. He never left his small, dark room in Lhasa from 1965 to 1985, and was virtually unknown in his monastery for this reason. In 1985 he was allowed to leave Tibet for India and has since taught for many years at Sera Je Monastery in South India as well as at Dharma centers throughout the world, including many FPMT centers.
On August 29, 2015, His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with Choden Rinpoche in New Delhi. His Holiness told Choden Rinpoche that he remembered the first time that Choden Rinpoche came to his attention. It was many years ago during an audience with monks at Norbulingka, the summer palace of His Holiness in Tibet. His Holiness said that he remembered seeing how the rays of the sun were falling on Rinpoche’s head and how a bee landed on his head. Choden Rinpoche said he had no memory of that. His Holiness said that at the time he thought that Choden Rinpoche was a magnificent lama. [Photos and translated English text provided by Ven. Tenzin Gache and Ven. Tenzin Namdak of Sera IMI House at Sera Je Monastery. Rebeca Cuan Corral provided a Spanish language translation of the meeting.]
His Holiness also said that since arriving in India, Rinpoche has done his best in many ways such as giving teachings, imparting philosophy lessons to the monks and sharing the Buddhadharma with students throughout the world. His Holiness said that it is important to rejoice in this work.
If you would like a more detailed description of the event of his transition, as well as the collection of prayers that were advised by Choden Rinpoche himself before he showed the aspect of passing away, for all of his students to offer at this time – please click here.
Read updates on the Facebook page set up for this.
See “The Life of a Hidden Meditator: Choden Rinpoche” from Mandala July 2000 to read more about Choden Rinpoche’s experiences in Tibet at Sera Monastery and in Lhasa after 1959. The complete multi-part feature “The Life of a Hidden Meditator” is available as a PDF. You can also read more recent stories about Choden Rinpoche on FPMT.org.
Mandala will have a complete obituary for His Eminence Choden Rinpoche in the January-June 2016 issue.
We hope you enjoy the August edition of the FPMT International Office E-news – out now!
This month we bring you:
- Highlights from Lama Zopa Rinpoche News
- Recent Grants Offered by our Social Services Fund
- Newest Online Feature from Mandala magazine
- Celebrating FPMT’s International Sangha Day…with pizza!
and of course more…….
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, New York, USA, July 2015. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been receiving oral transmissions from Khyongla Rinpoche. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
We invite you to read the July edition of our FPMT International Office E-news!
In this month’s e-news, you’ll find:
- Celebrating His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 80th Birthday
- News from the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund
- New Materials from FPMT Education Services
- Merit Box Grants have been Awarded
- Foundation Store New Products
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching in Moscow, Russia, July 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
We hope you enjoy our June FPMT International Office E-News.
In this month’s e-News you’ll find:
- Highlights of News, Activities and Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Introducing the just-published Mandala magazine
- New mantra card from FPMT Education Services
- Update about our Work a Day for Rinpoche campaign
…and more!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with koalas, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang