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FPMT News Around the World
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 | Milestones | Compassion in Action| International
Holy Objects
The Vajrayogini statue arrives at Institut Vajra Yogini. Photo courtesy of the Institut Vajra Yogini Facebook page.
(France) Institut Vajra Yogini at last welcomed the long-awaited arrival of its sacred Vajrayogini statue, a project years in the making. Modeled in three dimensions and painted by Bertrand Cayla following the recommendations of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the statue was originally commissioned by François Lecointre and created under the direction of Nicolas Brun, with its final stages lovingly completed in recent months thanks to Venerable Tendar and Christophe Rotiel. The lotus base was filled with great care by Venerable Thubten and Venerable Gyaltsen, while Bertrand Cayla filled the body of the statue. Upon its arrival, the statue was blessed by Geshe Loden La and placed on the altar of the small second-floor gompa — an altar designed by Marcel Jolinon and built with the devoted help of his son-in-law and grandson.
(Italy) Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa was honored to receive the auspicious blessing of His Eminence Ling Rinpoche, who kindly led the puja for the filling of the earth element for the Stupa of Enlightenment dedicated to Lama Zopa Rinpoche together with the resident geshe of the Institute. Geshe Zopa likewise consecrated the water vase for the water element with the resident geshe. Work on the stupa’s crown continues with the devoted support of volunteers from Stupa Onlus. The crown was consecrated by His Eminence Serkong Rinpoche on July 29. This was the final puja before the stupa’s full consecration on December 3, 2026.
(USA) Kadampa Center announced a wonderful project for the fall: with the devoted help of volunteers, the center will completely repaint its beautiful stupa.
The thangka arrives at The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion. Photo courtesy of The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion Facebook page.
(Australia) Chenrezig Institute was honored to inaugurate a new Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue on July 11, fulfilling a wish Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche first expressed more than two decades ago. It took the generous support of sister center Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) in Singapore, together with a new three-dimensional printing technique never before used to create sacred Buddhist art, to bring the statue from China to Queensland. Tara Meditation Centre‘s Kalachakra Stupa is nearing completion at its crown and will be shipped to Australia in approximately two weeks. The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, home to one of the largest collections of sacred relics — including precious relics of Gautama Buddha — brought part of its collection on tour to the Sri Lankan Buddhist Monastery in Brisbane on the weekend of July 4–5, where three thousand people and twenty-five monks from various Buddhist traditions gathered in devotion to pray before the holy relics. Several more holy objects are on their way to the Great Stupa: the first of twelve huge fully brocaded thangkas depicting the Deeds of the Buddha has arrived from Nepal to grace the walls of the temple; the giant aura for the Kshitigarbha statue, nearly three years in the making, will soon be fixed in place; and a Baby Buddha statue — the same size and gold-leaf finish as the original in Lumbini, generously offered by the NRNA (Non- Resident Nepali Association) and the five municipalities of the Lumbini Buddha Circuit — is in production in Nepal to welcome guests at the main entrance. We rejoice with all who helped bring these blessings to life!
(India) The Maitreya Project in Kushinagar has reached a hopeful new stage. Building on land offered near two of Buddhism’s most sacred sites—the Ramabhar Stupa and the Mahaparinirvana Temple—the project is now moving forward on a clearly defined three-acre site, supported by a new partnership with the International Buddhist Confederation and the kindness of His Eminence Ling Rinpoche. Plans for a Maitreya statue in Bodhgaya are also advancing, on land offered by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2020. Developed in coordination with the Dalai Lama Trust, the statue will be built above a gompa housing sacred objects gathered by Rinpoche, including life-sized statues of the Twenty-One Taras and Sixteen Arhats. Please read the full update on both of these projects.
Prayers & Practices
FPMT Centers Celebrate the Ninety-First Birthday of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
The auspicious Ninety-First birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama was celebrated with joy throughout the FPMT mandala family on July 6. The day serves as an international “Day of Compassion,” honoring His Holiness’s boundless kindness with his favorite gift: our practice.
Kopan Monastery celebrates the 91st birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on July 6, 2026. Photo courtesy of the Kopan Monastery Facebook page.
Asia (India) Kopan Monastery, on the auspicious occasion of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s Ninety-First birthday, offered the Sixteen Arhats Puja and an incense puja. At Sera Jey Monastic Institute, the administration was honored to organize a birthday celebration ceremony at Sera Jey Gatseling: Venerable Khensur Tenzin Jampa Chösang Rinpoche graciously served as chief guest, joined by Sera Jey’s council committee, department heads, khangtsens, and council members. The ceremony began with khatas reverently offered to a portrait of His Holiness, followed by tea and sweet rice, and a birthday cake-cutting presided over by Khensur Rinpoche; the chief guest and guests also planted 1,130 trees at Sera Jey Gatseling in his honor. Tushita Meditation Centre marked the day with drop-in meditation, a screening of the documentary Mission: JOY, a birthday cake, and a special puja led by resident teacher Venerable Tenzin Thegchog, with attendees reverently offering khatas and receiving blessings. Choe Khor Sum Ling Centre held a Vajra Cutter Sutra recitation and an extensive light offering, dedicated with devotion to the long life and continued teachings of His Holiness and the benefit of all sentient beings. We rejoice with our whole Indian sangha family! (Singapore) Amitabha Buddhist Centre celebrated with a puja graciously led by Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chönyi together with the sangha. (Taiwan) The Jinsiu Farlin community gathered together to offer their most sincere blessings and heartfelt devotion.
Pacific Region (Australia) Buddha House gathered to offer the prayers recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the long life and good health of His Holiness. Hayagriva Buddhist Centre celebrated with a group practice and the raising of 108 Guru Rinpoche prayer flags, followed by a puja. Atisha Centre remembered the kindness of His Holiness with long-life prayers, and Tara Institute prayed that he remain with us for many years to come; as Geshe Lobsang said at the start of the puja, even His Holiness’s mere presence is a precious blessing for the peace and stability of the world! (New Zeland) Dorje Chang Institute offered long-life prayers and recited one thousand OM MANI PADME HUM mantras
Geshe Tenzin Namdak and Ven. Wangyel welcoming precious holy relics into the gompa, Photo by JBC London Facebook Page.
Europe (UK) At Jamyang Buddhist Centre, Geshe Tenzin Namdak led a sutra recitation in the gompa with great devotion, including the Heart Sutra and the Chanting of the Names of Manjushri, offering prayers for His Holiness’s long life and good health. On this special day, Geshe Namdak and the community were also honored to welcome precious holy relics into the gompa, including robes of both the Fifth and Thirteenth Dalai Lamas. We rejoice in this auspicious blessing! (Netherlands) Maitreya Instituut held special guru pujas to celebrate His Holiness’s ninety-first birthday and to pray that he remain with us for many more years to come. We rejoice in this heartfelt wish! (Germany) Aryatara Institut celebrated with an animal liberation ceremony and a Chenrezig practice. (Austria) Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelugzentrum marked the day with a The Praise to the Names of Manjushri and a Lama Chöpa guru puja. We rejoice in this auspicious offering! (Switzerland) Longku Center and Lhagsam Tibetan Meditation Center celebrated with the recitation of the Avalokiteshvara guru yoga sadhana, offerings to His Holiness, a meditation on bodhicitta, and closing dedications and long-life prayers. Gendun Drupa Centre marked the occasion with a teaching kindly offered by Venerable Losang. (France) Institut Vajra Yogini celebrated the day in a truly special way, honored by the presence of His Eminence Serkong Rinpoche and Dr. Alexander Berzin, who were touring Europe together. After a long-life puja and tsog offering, a flag-raising ceremony was followed by a teaching graciously given by Dr. Berzin. To mark the occasion and conclude the Year of Compassion, Nalanda Monastery joined the Great Monlam in Paris, July 6–8, together with Geshe Jamphel, Geshe Gyaltsen, Geshe Norbu, and the monks and nuns of Nalanda Monastery. His Eminence Ganden Tri Rinpoche Lobsang Dorje, His Eminence Jangtse Chöje Gosok Rinpoche, and His Eminence Sharpa Chöje Rinpoche also graciously bestowed teachings and initiations during this deeply auspicious Great Prayer Festival. We deeply rejoice in the blessings of this extraordinary gathering! (Italy) Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Centro Ewam, and Centro Tara Cittamani offered a puja for the long life of His Holiness — that he may continue to grace us for a long, full, and stable life. Centro Lama Tzong Khapa in Treviso marked the day, Geshe Damdul and Lama Palden kindly offered the Meditation on the Two Bodhicittas as transmitted by His Holiness. (Spain) Centro La Sabiduría de Nagarjuna in Bilbao recited, with heartfelt devotion, the sadhana recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Sister centers Nagarjuna Valencia and Nagarjuna Granada celebrated with a Lama Chöpa tsog puja and a long-life puja for His Holiness, respectively, and sister center Tekchen Chö Ling offered five hundred prayer flags, an incense pot, and prayers to mark the auspicious occasion. We rejoice in the collective merit!
North America (Canada) At Lama Yeshe Ling, Geshe Sonam honored the day with a transmission of A Prayer to Kindle the Three Kinds of Faith Addressed to the Seventeen Great Panditas of Glorious Nalanda, composed by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and recited the long-life prayer for His Holiness. (USA) The FPMT North American Regional Office hosted a session to recite the Chenrezig practice with Gen Don Handrick, part of the FPMT Global Mani Retreat. Vajrapani Institute, following Rinpoche’s advice and led with devotion by Venerable Angie, offered the Prayer for the Long Life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Prayer that Spontaneously Fulfills All Wishes, Remembering the Kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan People, and the Prayer for Tibet, concluding with a group khata offering. At Kurukulla Center, Geshe Tenley graciously joined the Tibetan community and local Dharma students to celebrate with a birthday cake.
Latin America (Brazil) Centro Shiwa Lha celebrated with a long-life prayer and the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM, honoring His Holiness’s steadfast commitment to peace and compassion. (Colombia) Centro Yamantaka celebrated with the resident teacher, offering prayers and renewing the heartfelt aspiration to develop wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all beings.
Chökhor Düchen
On this special day, the FPMT community also rejoiced deeply in the Sangha Jewel, celebrating International Sangha Day. Lama Zopa Rinpoche considered the sangha to be the real heroes, defeating the delusions; they are our guides, our inspiration, and a precious field of merit. We rejoice with all the monasteries and nunneries in the FPMT mandala, and with the International Mahayana Institute (IMI), which supports the worldwide FPMT sangha community.
(International) On this auspicious day, the FPMT Puja Fund was pleased to sponsor numerous pujas, including a Guhyasamaja self-initiation, a Namgyalma long-life puja, and Drukchuma puja. The stupas of Boudhanath and Swayambhunath in Nepal were freshly painted, with new umbrellas offered at each pinnacle, and a new set of robes was reverently offered to the Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya. Animals were liberated, sutras recited and printed, and offerings made with devotion to all of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to the IMI sangha communities throughout FPMT — extensive practices established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the benefit of the whole organization and all beings. We rejoice in this precious day!
Offering from Root Institute during the auspicious occasion of Chökhor Düchen. Photo courtesy of the Root Institute Facebook page.
Asia (Nepal) Kopan Monastery commemorated the first turning of the Wheel of Dharma by Buddha Shakyamuni with ceremonies, prayers, offerings, and other merit-making activities; the sangha of Kopan Nunnery joyfully engaged in prayers, recitations, and Dharma practice. May the light of the Buddha’s teachings continue to illuminate the world, bringing peace, wisdom, compassion, and lasting benefit to all sentient beings! (India) Sera Lachi — the monks of both Sera Jey Monastic Institute and Sera Mey Monasteries — joined together in prayers in the main gompa, offering the Namgyalma Buddha puja, and in the protector room offered the Drukchuma puja ten times, dedicated to the long life, health, and protection from obstacles of the whole FPMT family —May the powerful prayers offered by the sangha on this auspicious day be swiftly actualized! Tushita Meditation Centre marked Chökhor Düchen with guided morning meditation, a screening of the film Life of Buddha, sutra reading, a public teaching by Venerable Thubten Drolkar titled “The Heart of Buddha’s Teachings,” a Medicine Buddha puja, and a light-offering ceremony with the sangha. Root Institute was honored to commemorate the holy day in Bodhgaya with a Festival of Lights and Merit: the resident nuns offered butter lamps, flowers, and prayer flags at the Mahabodhi Stupa, sponsored a guru puja and protector puja, and made offerings to the monks of Namgyal Monastery. (Singapore) Amitabha Buddhist Centre celebrated with a Sixteen Arhats puja. We rejoice with ABC! (Malaysia) The Chokyi Gyaltsen Center community celebrated with extensive offerings — eight-offering sets, tsog, flowers, and lights. Geshe Deyang led heartfelt prayers to Shakyamuni Buddha, followed by a Tara puja, warmly attended by many who joined together to offer devotion and accumulate merit.
Pacific Region (Australia) Buddha House began the day by taking the eight Mahayana precepts in the early morning, followed by Rinpoche’s morning motivation and prostrations to the Thirty-Five Buddhas, continuing with extensive offerings, the chanting of the names of Manjushri, and closing with a Shakyamuni Buddha puja. Tara Institute held a recitation of the compassion mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM, one thousand times, followed by In Praise of Dependent Origination by Lama Tsongkhapa, dedicating the merit to the long life of His Holiness. At Vajrayana Institute, Geshe Ngawang Samten led a guru puja and a practice session for the FPMT Global Mani Retreat.
The Nalanda Monastery community with Khen Rinpoche Geshe Wangdu on the auspicious occasion of Chökhor Düchen. Photo courtesy of the Nalanda Monastery Facebook page.
Europe (UK) At Jamyang Buddhist Centre London, Chökhor Düchen was honored with a sutra recitation led by Geshe Tenzin Namdak.(Germany) Aryatara Institut gathered from early morning to take the eight Mahayana precepts, followed by a Shakyamuni Buddha puja and Lama Chöpa with tsog. (Switzerland) Lhagsam Tibetan Meditation Center honored the day with a meditation on the four noble truths and the recitation of The Yoga of the Inseparability of the Guru and Avalokiteshvara. Longku Center marked the occasion with prayers from the Lhagsam Prayer Book, a meditation on the four noble truths, The Source of All Attainments: The Yoga of the Inseparability of the Guru and Avalokiteshvara, and closing dedications. (France) Nalanda Monastery was honored to welcome Khen Rinpoche Geshe Wangdu for a full day of teachings on this auspicious day: developing bodhicitta through the six causes and one effect, a commentary on Nagarjuna’s Homage to Buddha Shakyamuni, and a guru puja, during which the great thangka of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, kindly offered by Amitabha Buddhist Centre, was also blessed. We deeply rejoice in this precious visit!
North and Latin America (Canada) At Lama Yeshe Ling, Geshe Sonam led a meditation on bodhicitta, followed by a ceremony for receiving the aspiring and engaging bodhisattva vows. Geshe Sonam also kindly gave the oral transmissions of Lama Tsongkhapa’s Three Principal Aspects of the Path, the Migtsema prayer and name mantra, and Shakyamuni Buddha’s mantra, concluding with dedication prayers and prayers for the unmistaken and swift recognition of the reincarnation of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche. (USA) The FPMT North American Regional Office hosted a recitation of the Chenrezig practice with Gen Don Handrick, part of the FPMT Global Mani Retreat, commemorating the anniversary of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s first teaching. Kadampa Center took the eight Mahayana precepts before dawn, followed by a Tara practice and, in the afternoon, a special online Chenrezig practice with Gen Don Handrick. At Kurukulla Center, Geshe Tenley kindly offered a twenty-four-hour Mahayana precepts ceremony and a Lama Chöpa guru puja. (Mexico) Centro Khamlungpa celebrated the holy day with a recitation of the Buddha Shakyamuni puja and a light offering.
Teaching Tours and Visits
(France) Institut Vajra Yogini had the great honor of welcoming His Eminence Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche, July 2–4, who graciously bestowed teachings from the Lojong: Taking Suffering on the Path by Lama Tsongkhapa, with a commentary by Dr. Alexander Berzin, followed by two lectures on July 4–5 on ignorance and karma, and on dependent origination. After celebrating His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday together with the Institut Vajrayogini community, His Eminence Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche paid a visit to Nalanda Monastery on the same day, July 6. His Eminence also graced Centre Kalachakra with his presence, teaching for four days on key points of Chandrakirti’s foundational text, Entering the Middle Way, from July 8, with a commentary by Dr. Alexander Berzin, concluding his European tour.
Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche bestows a weekend of teachings and an initiation at Land of Medicine Buddha. Photo courtesy of the Land of Medicine Buddha Facebook page.
(USA) Land of Medicine Buddha was honored to host an extraordinary weekend of teachings and initiation with Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche. Overflowing with gratitude for Rinpoche’s profound wisdom, compassion, and generosity in sharing these precious teachings, the community gathered together for these practices for the benefit of all beings.
We deeply rejoice in the kindness of all 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.
Milestones
Graduation certificate ceremony for the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program. Photo courtesy of the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program Facebook page.
(India) Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program (LRZTP): Congratulations to all the graduates! The online Tibetan-language course, running from 2021 to 2026, has come to a close. While graduates will receive their certificates by post, one student was able to receive hers in person on July 2 at LRZTP. She is also the recipient of a scholarship for Indian students and is completing an extra week of free personal classes at the school. Congratulations to all the graduates!! Tushita Meditation Centre‘s half-year report is out, and we rejoice with the whole community: 1,045 students have joined the center for residential courses and retreats, and 469 more for short courses, through mid-July this year. Rejoice, rejoice!
(Australia) On the weekend of July 18, the new Yeshe Gompa at Machig Labdron Nunnery was officially and joyfully opened and consecrated. Geshe Doga, Geshe Rabten, Geshe Lobsang Dorje, Geshe Tenzin Zopa, Geshe Jangchub, Venerable Dorje, the two Gyuto ritual masters Venerable Kedrub and Venerable Konchok, together with Venerable Tsapel and all the nuns of Machig Labdron and Venerable Cathy and Venerable Anna from Melbourne, conducted the rituals over three days, attended by many benefactors and friends of the nunnery. The first day featured speeches by Geshe Doga, Ian Green, Geshe Rabten, and Venerable Tsapel; Geshe Doga reflected with gratitude that the fruits of his forty-four years of teaching in Australia rest firmly on the generosity of Ian and Judy Green, particularly their donation of the land that now forms the basis of the Machig Labdron nunnery. Adding to the joy, Geshe Doga turned ninety-one on July 13; he was directly invited by Lama Yeshe to come to Australia and to Tara Institute. We rejoice for his forty years of service fulfilling the wishes of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche! Congratulations!
Celebration of Geshe Doga’s 91st birthday at Tara Institute on July 13, 2026. Photo courtesy of the Tara Institute Facebook page.
Compassion in Action
Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling presents gifts in honor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday to 50 mothers and their newborn babies in the postpartum ward. Photo courtesy of the FPMT Mongolia Facebook page.
(Mongolia) Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling Center, in collaboration with Kunchab Jampaling Asral, presented gifts in honor of His Holiness’s birthday to fifty mothers and their newborns in the postpartum ward of Khüree Maternity Hospital. We rejoice with our Mongolian sangha in this compassionate offering!
(Singapore) Amitabha Buddhist Centre, on July 4, partnered with the Chinese Development Assistance Council to distribute groceries to 250 low-income households across the heartlands of Singapore; each household received US$80 worth of donated food and groceries, including rice generously donated during the Vesak celebration. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of ABC’s members, friends, and sponsors, the early rounds of JINPA (Joy in Practicing Altruism) have been a resounding success since the program’s launch in April 2013. We rejoice with ABC in this compassionate service! Congratulations!
(Australia) Congratulations to Atisha Centre, which is developing a Centre for Universal Education, to be housed in a beautiful yurt village — the first yurt is now going up! We rejoice in this new and auspicious beginning!
(USA) Shantideva Meditation Center helped send five hundred local children back to school with essential school supplies for the fall term, partnering once again with Camp Friendship in Brooklyn, New York. We rejoice in this compassionate outreach! Congratulations!
(Colombia) We rejoice in the kindness and generosity of the Centro Yamantaka community, who came together to collect donations and food for people affected by the earthquake in Venezuela. On Sunday, July 26, together with resident teacher Geshe Lobsang Kunchen, community members delivered the donations to a nearby shelter. They also continue to dedicate prayers for the Venezuelan community, especially those facing the greatest hardship during this difficult time, with the heartfelt wish that conditions improve and that all those affected may find peace, stability, and happiness.
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.
The next major teaching of the retreat will be on August 9 with His Eminence Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche who will be generously offering a teaching on bodhichitta!
The next online practice sessions are with Venerable Amy Miller on August 15, and Venerable Tenzin Drachom on August 22. We rejoice with the whole FPMT mandala in this precious collective offering!
We Want to Hear Your Story!
These highlights are sourced from the social media, newsletters, annual reports, websites, and WhatsApp groups of FPMT centers, projects, and services. If you would like to share your news and highlights with the wider FPMT family, we would be so happy to hear from you!
In addition to these highlights, please also read longer community news stories and news from around the world!
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
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.
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.
(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.
We hope that reading these highlights will inspire you to rejoice in the family feeling and good works happening in our global FPMT community! Soon we will be sharing a news roundup of Saka Dawa and Vesak activities from centers around the world. If you would like to share photos or details from your center, we would be happy to include them in the upcoming edition.
Dialogue & Discussion | Prayers & Practice | Teaching Tours and Visits |
Holy Objects | Compassion in Action | Innovation
Dialogue & Discussion
FPMT Regional Meeting Brings Together Center Leaders Across Australia and New Zealand
Participants at the 2026 FPMT regional meeting at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, April 2026. Photo by Ian Green.
(Australia) The Atisha Buddhist Center hosted on the weekend of April 25, 2026 the annual regional meeting of FPMT centers across Australia and New Zealand. We were overjoyed that over 45 center directors, SPCs, and executive staff gathered at the annual regional meeting. The gathering was hosted in collaboration with the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, where participants stayed and met together throughout the weekend. The meeting offered an opportunity for connection, discussion, and shared reflection while also strengthening the sense of “family feeling” that lies at the heart of the FPMT community.
Bridging Perspectives: Buddhism in Dialogue
(France) Nalanda Monastery hosted the third “Dialogue Between Science and Buddhism” on May 9, 2026, this time exploring “The Nature of Life” with Geshe Tenzin Norbu and Dr. Joana Xavier, attended by 50 people. Two hours of fruitful dialogue brought together academic scientists and Tibetan Buddhist monastics in the spirit envisioned by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. We rejoice for this inspiring collaboration! You can watch the full event on the Nalanda Monastery YouTube Channel.
At Langri Tangpa Centre on May 13, Miffi Maxmillion — spiritual program coordinator (SPC) — Maria Thornton, secretary, and Stacey Gossip, director, along with some Sangha members, represented Langri Tangpa Centre at Parliament House. This special Vesak event was organized by the Buddhist Council of Queensland. Awards were presented to those who had made a significant contribution to Buddhism in Queensland. Inta McKimm, who founded Langri Tangpa Centre in 1982, was honored for her years of service to the Dharma; her daughter, Miffi, accepted the award on her behalf.
(France) The Kalachakra Center welcomed practitioners from many traditions on May 1, 2026, hosting an interreligious dialogue entitled “Inner Peace, Outer Peace.” Buddhist, Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, and Humanist voices came together to practice and deepen mutual understanding — continuing a commitment to interreligious dialogue that the centre has nurtured for over fifteen years, in the spirit of His Holiness and our Lamas’ wish to foster universal human values and inter-religious harmony.
“Dialogue Between Science and Buddhism” on “The Nature of Life” with Geshe Tenzin Norbu and Dr. Joana Xavier at Nalanda Monastery, France, May 9, 2026. Photo courtesy of Nalanda Monastery Facebook page.
Prayers & Practice
Offering Long Life Pujas to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
(Australia) Chenrezig Institute, as part of an upcoming pilgrimage to India in October 2026, guided by resident teacher Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim, is making a very special offering to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It is Geshe Tsultrim’s heartfelt wish to offer 135 statues of Long Life Lama Tsongkhapa to His Holiness: each measuring 23 cm, made of red copper, with the face beautifully adorned in 24-karat gold.
The number 135 carries deep significance. In recent years, His Holiness has expressed his wish to live to 130 years, and this offering is made with sincere prayers for his long and stable life for the benefit of all sentient beings. We rejoice wholeheartedly for this extraordinary Dharma offering and for all who will be part of it.
Venerable Konchok and Geshe Tenzin Namdak in London. Photo courtesy of Jamyang London Buddhist Centre.
(US) We also rejoice that the four Bay Area FPMT centers — Land of Medicine Buddha,Ocean of Compassion,Tse Chen Ling, and Vajrapani Insitute — are offering monthly Long Life Prayers for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa on the first Sunday of each month, from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm Pacific Time. In addition, North American FPMT centres offer prayers together every Thursday online, from 11:30 am to 12:00 pm ET. Just hearing the prayers brings great benefit, and the presence of everyone offers support to the whole group. We deeply rejoice for these communities practicing together in such a beautiful spirit of unity.
From Service in London to Higher Tibetan Studies in Dharamsala
(UK) In the FPMT family, we rejoice in seeing students develop their potential of infinite wisdom and compassion. We are especially happy for the young Venerable Konchok, who — in just six years — has gone from volunteering at Jamyang Buddhist Centre London to becoming an upcoming student at the Sarah College of Higher Tibetan Studies in Dharamsala, with the aspiration from there to join Sera Jey Monastery and begin the traditional twenty-year Geshe programme. What an inspiring journey for the next generation of Sangha. Congratulations, Venerable Konchok!
Practice
Student at the Bathing the Buddha Ceremony, Shakyamuni Center, Taiwan, May 23, 2026. Photo courtesy of Shakyamuni Center Facebook page.
(Taiwan) Shakyamuni Center students concluded a two-day intensive Buddha-receiving retreat on May 23, 2026, followed immediately by the auspicious Bathing the Buddha Ceremony, with focused chanting of Buddhist hymns. We rejoice in this beautiful observance and in the dedication of all who took part.
(French Polynesia) We rejoice that on the auspicious day of Losar, Naropa Meditation Center offered a traditional Polynesian welcome ceremony for the relics of Lama Zopa Rinpoche donated by the FPMT and brought back from Nepal. An orchestra accompanied a Tahitian welcome song honoring the occasion and praising peace and harmony.
Pilgrimage
(India) During the Losar period, the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program generously organized and offered a pilgrimage for its students to the sacred site of Tso Pema. One of the students later created and released a personal video diary on YouTube, offering a heartfelt glimpse into the pilgrimage experience and the inspiration it brought. We rejoice in this meaningful opportunity for students to deepen their connection with the Dharma and the holy places of Guru Rinpoche.
Teaching Tours and Visits
(Europe) His Eminence Ling Rinpoche’s European tour began in April 2026, with teachings already offered in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Latvia, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Several FPMT centers have had the joy of welcoming him: Aryatara Institute in Munich, Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelugzentrum in Vienna, Ganden Buddhist Meditation Center in Riga, Yeshin Norbu Center in Stockholm, and Maitreya Instituut in Loenen. The tour continues through June — the full schedule is available on Ling Rinpoche’s website.
Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche’s European tour began in Italy in May and will continue through August. The full schedule is available on Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche’s website.
We look forward to sharing stories from these visits in the coming months.
(Brazil) From March 16–30, 2026, Geshe Tenzin Zopa paid his first visit to Brazil, teaching at Shiwa Lha Cente across two weekends.The first weekend he taught on the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva; the second on The Two Truths. The visit also included a screening of the documentary The Unmistaken Child at a local cinema, attended by more than seventy-five people. Students and Geshe Tenzin Zopa the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro together. Many who attended were deeply moved by Geshe-la’s devotion to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and by his encouragement to deepen their practice. We rejoice in this visit and hope it opens the way for more Dharma teachers to visit Brazil.
Geshe Tenzin Zopa and students at Shiwa Lha center, Brazil, March 2026. Photo courtesy of Venerable Thubten Kalden.
Holy Objects
Prayer wheel’s volunteers. Photo courtesy of Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat Centre Facebook page.
(Malaysia) Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat Centre has reached a sacred first milestone in the making of their prayer wheel, completing the steel bearings that will carry trillions of mantras enshrined within. This was accomplished through profound dedication, unwavering effort from volunteers and committee members, and the generous support of many donors.
(French Polynesia) We rejoice in a significant milestone for Naropa Meditation Center: the completion of the winding of 377 microfilms to construct a prayer wheel to be installed in the sea off Tahiti — a project requested by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the Pacific Ocean. The winding was begun by André Mamet and Yannick Sacault, both former directors of the Naropa Meditation Center, together with Jean-Michel Pilaut, treasurer of the Center, and Gilbert Mu Wong, who designed and created the winding system and is the father of current Center director Robyn Mu Wong.
ILTK- Stupa Work in progress. May 2026. Photo courtesy of Stupa Onlus.
(Italy) Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa is building the Stupa of Enlightenment dedicated to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and has now begun work on the four steps, which will be consecrated on June 5th in collaboration with Stupa Onlus.
(Romania) The Garden of Maitreya, in collaboration with Nalanda Monastery, is building a stupa in Bucharest, which has now been filled with mantras.
(Nepal — Kopan) The Memorial Stupas of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khensur Rinpoche Lhundrup Rigsel at Kopan Monastery and Nunnery are nearing completion. On December 11, 2026, the Stupa of Complete Victory — enshrining the sacred relics of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche — will be consecrated at Kopan Monastery. It consists of one large central stupa surrounded by 32 smaller Namgyalma stupas, and the ceremony marks the completion of this memorial to our compassionate Guru. Everyone in the FPMT family is warmly invited to join.
At Kopan Nunnery, a stupa replica of the Mahabodhi Stupa in Bodhgaya commemorates both Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khensur Rinpoche Lhundrup Rigsel, the first abbot of Kopan. Its inner sanctum contains 1,000 statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and 1,000 statues of Heruka. The inauguration is planned for December 14, 2026.
Compassion in Action
(UK) Jamyang Leeds Buddhist Centre serves diverse communities through their outreach work — visiting hospitals, offering end-of-life care, going into schools, colleges, and universities to share knowledge of the Dharma, and supporting Buddhist patients and their families during some of life’s most challenging moments. We offer our deep gratitude to their Lead Chaplain, Roy Poulter, who after many years of dedicated service is now stepping back from this role due to health reasons. As he shares in the center’s annual report, the future of the Buddhist Chaplaincy Service in Leeds is at present uncertain, as there is no one locally able to continue this essential work. We sincerely hope that the causes and conditions for a new Buddhist Chaplaincy Service to arise will ripen soon, and we rejoice deeply for Roy’s years of compassionate service.
At the same time, there is encouraging news from Italy. Through Liberation Prison Project Italy, two new Buddhist operators have recently begun offering support in the prisons of Milano Bollate and Monza, helping to expand access to Buddhist spiritual care within the prison system. We rejoice for this meaningful Dharma activity.
(Spain) Nagarjuna Barcelona has been collaborating with the Primary Care Center Ramón Turró, offering meditation and mental health workshops from February through the first week of April 2026. The program focuses on cultivating mental calmness and developing qualities such as joy, courage, patience, and forgiveness as antidotes to depression, anger, and other causes of mental distress. We rejoice for this thoughtful initiative bringing the Dharma’s practical wisdom into a healthcare setting.
Innovation
(Australia) At Langri Tangpa Centre, SPC Miffi Maxmillion has invented a board game as part of the Discovering Buddhism assessment. Rather than public exams or debates, the center encourages non-confrontational — and highly enjoyable — ways to integrate Dharma study with lived experience. Loosely inspired by Monopoly, the game uses unique lamrim cards to explore how we overcome negative mental states and cultivate positive qualities. Unlike Monopoly, however, the goal is not to become a property tycoon — it is to become a fully enlightened Buddha for the benefit of all!
Photo courtesy of Langri Tangpa Centre Facebook Page.
Miffi designed, printed, and laminated every single card herself. The game unfolds at a relaxed pace, with players collecting positive cards and discarding negative ones as “true cessations.” Instruction cards prompt reflection on one’s own life and study, and a handy booklet helps everyone stay on track and support one another. We rejoice for this creative and joyful way of helping students engage with the path!
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 offering an oral transmission of the Sutra of Golden Light, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, October 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has 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 has 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 is 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.”
Flower offering on a river bank in Ukraine where students performed an animal liberation on Saka Dawa despite a bomb landing near their location.
For many years, students around the world have been reciting this powerful sutra to fulfill Rinpoche’s wishes and bring about a better world. So far this year, students in more than thirty countries have been reciting the Sutra of Golden Light. As of June, the sutra has been recited more than 1,250 times in 2022, with more than a fourth of those recitations happening in Ukraine.
When war broke out in Ukraine, a Buddhist student there made a translation of the sutra into Ukrainian. A group of students there then began reciting the sutra daily. This group also held an animal liberation for over 100 crawfish on Saka Dawa. A bomb landed in front of them on the other bank of river as they practiced, but they continued. One of the participants shared, “So this is our life now—hearing bombs and warning alarms, but keeping on practicing.” This practice of animal liberation was inspired by Chapter Seventeen, “The Previous Lives of Jalavahana’s Fish Disciples.” Another student shared, “That chapter told us how Jalavahana saw the numerous hundreds of fish, that had a lack of food and water and helped them. The strength of Jalavahana’s compassion for those fish was so powerful that it touched my heart. Having read this chapter, the seed of bodhicitta emerged in our hearts.”
Ganden Tendar Ling Center in Moscow has also organized a group recitation of the Sutra of Golden Light on Zoom, completing 108 recitations as of late May. Ganden Tendar Ling wrote about the ongoing group recitation practice, “We dedicated the merits to peace in the whole world, to a good rebirth of the killed people, to the leaders of all countries to meet the Dharma and to govern their countries according to the Dharma, to development of compassion in the heart of all people especially of the military people, to generating bodhicitta in the mind of those who were reciting the sutra and in the minds of all sentient beings. We dedicated merits to the long life of His Holiness Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. We continue the group recitation and are going to collect another 108.”
Students in Singapore, the Netherlands, and Italy have also contributed significantly to this year’s recitation count. The total count of Sutra of Golden Light recitations done is 54,029 by students in ninety countries. Students doing the recitations have regularly reported experiencing a sense of peace from even reciting a small amount of the sutra.
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,” Rinpoche said in the advice “Recite the Golden Light Sutra for World Peace.” “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.”
Learn more and find links and resources on our Sutra of Golden Light page:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/sutras/golden-light-sutra/
Related reading: Institut Vajra Yogini Offers Over 1,000 Recitations of ‘Sutra of Golden Light’ to Rinpoche:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt-community-news/news-around-the-world/institut-vajra-yogini-offers-over-1000-recitations-of-sutra-of-golden-light-to-rinpoche/
Currently FPMT Translation Services is overseeing the translation of the 29-chapter and 31-chapter versions of the Sutra of Golden Light as well as reviewing the translation of the 21-chapter edition. You can help sponsor these projects through the FPMT Translation Fund.
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from 150 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama smiling at guests gathered for a long life ceremony for His Holiness, Dharamsala, India, June 24, 2022. Photo by Tenzin Choejor, courtesy of DalaiLama.com.
Tibetans around the world, along with an international community of students of Tibetan Buddhism, celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 87th birthday on July 6.
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, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche reminds us continuously that the highest priority for the organization is fulfilling the wishes of and offering service to His Holiness. “This is the quickest and most vast way of benefiting sentient beings,” Rinpoche has explained.
We have compiled resources for all of those wishing to make His Holiness’s birthday as beneficial as possible, as the means to honor a life of unending service to others, marked with extraordinary patience which inspires all.
On behalf of all sentient beings in desperate need of your perfect example of universal love and unending compassion for others—please, please live a very long time, Your Holiness!
For more on His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his beneficial activities, please visit DalaiLama.com.
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.
Telo Tulku Rinpoche looking through Nalanda Monastery Workshops’s catalog of silicone tsa-tsa molds, Moscow, Russia, November 2021. Photo by Nima-Handa.
The Tsa-tsa Workshop, an educational project of Ganden Tendar Ling Center, the FPMT center in Moscow, Russia, has been teaching the tsa-tsa making practice since November 2019. Center director Andrey Lomonosov shared the following update on the workshop.
At the beginning of 2021, a community from Kalmykia asked us to help make tsa-tsas for the construction of a temple complex in the village Ketchenery. Kalmykia is a republic in Russia where Buddhism is the primary religion. Ketchenery is special because it is the birthplace of Geshe Ngawang Wangyal (1901-1983), who played a key role in introducing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. In 1958, Geshe Wangyal established the first Tibetan Buddhist Dharma center in the United State, where leading Western scholars such as Robert Thurman, Jeffrey Hopkins, and Alexander Berzin studied. The temple complex that is being built in Ketchenery is on a site that His Holiness the Dalai Lama personally chose and consecrated when he visited Kalmykia thirty years ago.
Image of temple complex planned for Ketchenery, Kalmykia
For the construction of the temple complex, it was necessary to produce 10,000-12,000 tsa-tsas by the end of 2021. Local residents make tsa-tsas from clay, but it is difficult for them to make a large amount without the help of others. At the beginning of 2021, we began making tsa-tsas for Ketchenery as group practices on weekends.
Making tsa-tsas in Ketchenery, Kalmykia, Russia, May 2021. Photo by Nima-Handa.
In May 2021 by the blessing of Telo Tulku Rinpoche—who is the Shadjin Lama of the Kalmyk Republic (Head of Kalmyk Buddhists) and the representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Russia, Mongolia, and Commonwealth of Independent States countries—a group of eight volunteers led by Nima-Handa, the coordinator of the workshop, went to Ketchenery to make tsa-tsas on site. It took eighteen hours to drive from Moscow to Ketchenery by car. The volunteers brought with them all the necessary equipment—silicone molds, plaster, paints, as well as books that the Ganden Tendar Ling Center presented to the villagers. During one week, the volunteers were able to make about 1,500 tsa-tsas. It was intended for them to stay longer and make more, but, unfortunately, due to the outbreak of the pandemic in the village, the volunteers had to return to Moscow.
Telo Tulku Rinpoche looking at tsa-tsas, Moscow, Russia, November 2021. Photo by Liana.
In Moscow, we continued to make tsa-tsas for Ketchenery. In September the directors of Ganden Tendar Ling decided to rent a special room for the workshop that allowed people to make tsa-tsas not only on weekends but on other days as well. Every week around twenty people engaged in making tsa-tsas in our workshop.
On November 28, Telo Tulku Rinpoche visited the workshop to consecrate the next batch of ready-made tsa-tsas before being sent to Kalmykia. It was a great honor for the volunteers to receive Rinpoche in the workshop. We talked in detail about the process of making a tsa-tsas from plaster and showed him all of our tools and materials. Rinpoche was very pleased with our success and noted that this is a real contribution to the revival of Buddhist art in Russia, lost during the years of repression in the last century. Rinpoche recommended that next year we should travel to Kalmykia to train local residents in the practice of making tsa-tsas.
By the end of 2021 the total quantity of tsa-tsas sent to Kalmykia exceeded 3,000 pieces. We were very happy to make our contribution to fulfilling the wish of His Holiness Dalai Lama to build a temple complex in the village Ketchenery in Kalmykia. Our special thanks to Nalanda Monastery Tsa-Tsa Workshop, which supported us in learning the practice of making tsa-tsas.
Telo Tulku Rinpoche with Tsa-tsa Workshop volunteers, Moscow, Russia, November 2021. Photo by Nima-Handa.
To learn more about Ganden Tendar Ling Center, visit their website:
https://fpmt.ru/
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from 150 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Paris, 2006. Photo by Duc (pixiduc) from Paris, France, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Buddhist monk, Vietnamese Zen Master, engaged-buddhism proponent, and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh passed away on January 22, 2022, at the age of 95. Spiritual leaders as well as FPMT students and centers around the world have been sharing the deep appreciation they had for this teacher of non-violence and mindfulness.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama released the following message of condolence:
“In his peaceful opposition to the Vietnam war, his support for Martin Luther King and most of all his dedication to sharing with others not only how mindfulness and compassion contribute to inner peace, but also how individuals cultivating peace of mind contributes to genuine world peace, the Venerable lived a truly meaningful life. I have no doubt the best way we can pay tribute to him is to continue his work to promote peace in the world.”
His Eminence the 7th Kyabje Ling Rinpoche encouraged everyone to rejoice and to be inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh’s exemplary life of tireless service to the Buddhadharma and to promoting non-violence, peace and harmony in Vietnam and throughout the entire world.
We invite you to read two teachings from Thich Nhat Hanh previously published in Mandala magazine, Embracing Anger, and Going Home to Yourself.
For more on Thich Nhat Hanh and his passing, please visit the Plum Village website.
FPMT.org brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe as well as from students, teachers, and others in the FPMT community. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Screenshot of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching during the Twenty-one Tara statues consecration at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore.
Recently, Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) in Singapore completed an ambitious holy object project advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The three-year project added statues of all the Twenty-one Taras, each standing twenty-four inches high, to the altar in ABC’s beautiful gompa. As part of the October 2021 statue consecration ceremony activities, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered a teaching via Zoom. We are happy to share the video of this teaching with a complete transcript.
Here’s a summary of Rinpoche’s teaching:
Rinpoche begins by thanking everyone listening for their daily Dharma practice, specifically for benefiting others. Rinpoche then offers praise directly to Tan Hup Cheng, director of ABC, for his decades of service to Rinpoche, actualizing Rinpoche’s wishes. Rinpoche also thanks Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, resident teacher of ABC, explaining that, “Even if you offer him skies of wish-granting jewels, not just diamonds, it is never enough. It is not enough to repay the kindness of Khen Rinpoche teaching each word, each time, each class.” Rinpoche also thanks all of the people who have worked to develop ABC and have put effort in with body, speech, and mind over the years. (Watch a short history of ABC on YouTube.)
“Without ABC having started, then all those sentient beings wouldn’t get this opportunity,” Rinpoche explains. “They would not get this opportunity to be closer to freedom from samsara and closer to achieving enlightenment. So many didn’t get reborn in the lower realms and got a higher rebirth. You have to know that—it all came from all the members who worked at different times, who dedicated their precious time to ABC.” Rinpoche emphasizes that working for the center is fulfilling His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s wishes.
Several of the Twenty-one Taras statues at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore.
Rinpoche explains that everything you do with bodhichitta covers the six-realm sentient beings and benefits all the beings you see around you. When you help one single sentient being, you are fulfilling all the Buddhas’ holy wishes. In fact, helping sentient beings is the best offering to the buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Even if you don’t believe in reincarnation and karma, Rinpoche says, you still need holy Dharma, you still need patience. Even if you don’t know Dharma, you need loving kindness and compassion, forgiveness, and moral discipline.
One of the completed Tara statues completed at ABC, Singapore.
You also need to practice contentment and satisfaction, Rinpoche urges. Without it, it is like your mind is in hell. Your happiness has to come from your mind and your suffering has to be stopped from your mind. The mistake is believing that happiness and suffering come from the outside. In fact, enlightenment and hell are in your hands and depend on how you think.
Rinpoche then offers some practical advice for practicing thought transformation in daily life:
- When you experience suffering think that it finishes your negative karma and that you will have happiness in the future.
- When you experience suffering take others’ suffering on yourself.
Rinpoche then spends time discussing Mother Tara, who Rinpoche says is the manifestation of all the buddhas’ holy actions. The consecration of the statues followed this teaching.
Please join us in rejoicing in the completion of this beautiful holy object project, the ongoing success of ABC fulfilling Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes, and the offering of this teaching from Rinpoche during the auspicious consecration event.
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.
To help ensure grants like this continue toward holy objects, all are welcome to offer a donation of any amount to the Holy Objects Fund.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche giving a teaching during the opening of Buddha House in its new location, Adelaide, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche inspired thousands of students from around the world through the teachings they offered at Kopan Monastery in Nepal during the 1970s and 80s. The centers started by those early students formed the basis for the international FPMT organization. Many of those centers continue to thrive, bringing Dharma teachings to a new generation of students. This year two FPMT centers, Nalanda Monastery in France and Buddha House, in Adelaide, Australia, celebrated their fortieth anniversaries. Here’s an update on Buddha House, based on an article by Lyndy Abrams, who was both key to the founding of the Buddha House and currently serves as the center’s director.
In early December, Buddha House hosted a celebration of its fortieth anniversary. Due to the pandemic, the event was smaller than anticipated. Regardless, forty people gathered for a celebratory dinner, which included a special video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, a presentation on the history of the center with 200 photos, and lots of shared reminiscing, laughter, and rejoicing.
In Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s video, he sends his greetings and reminisces about the times he has spent at Buddha House. Rinpoche named and thanked all the past directors many times and said they created “skies of merit” and “sacrificed their lives” with patience and dedication. He thanked all the past teachers making special mention of the incredible kindness of Khensur Kangyurwa Lobsang Thubten Rinpoche. He called him Khensur Rinpoche Guru, saying he had helped very much, was very knowledgeable, and was an expert on all the teachings. After giving specific teachings on emptiness, developing bodhicitta, and not wasting our lives, Lama Zopa finished by saying if you help the FPMT center, you help so many sentient beings and this is why the center exists. This is most important, Rinpoche says, to give the opportunity to study the Buddha’s teachings.
Lama Yeshe with Will, Lyndy, and Sarah Jay Abrams, Adelaide, Australia, 1981. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Buddha House’s history goes back to the 1970s when Lyndy and Will Abram attended a month-long lamrim courses at Kopan Monastery in Nepal with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In 1981, when Lyndy and Will heard that Lama Yeshe would be doing a teaching tour of Australia, they extended an invitation for him to come and teach in Adelaide.
In late July of that year, Lama Yeshe arrived in the South Australia capital city and taught for three days on The Three Principal Aspects of the Path. The teachings were attended by about seventy-five people, many asking if there was a local center where they could learn more about Buddhism. While in the car driving Lama Yeshe to the airport, Lyndy asked Lama Yeshe if they could start a center in Adelaide.
“Lama said, ‘Yes,’ and to call it Buddha House, Centre for Advanced Buddhist Studies,” Lyndy writes about the historic moment. “He added that it was up to the students to make it happen, and he advised that we do lamrim meditation.”
Lama Yeshe was accompanied by Ven. Thubten Dondrub on the visit, who is from Adelaide and was by then an ordained monk. Gen Dondrub, as his students call him, became the resident teacher of Buddha House in 2012. This year the center purchased an adjoining property for Gen Dondrub to live in, ensuring he is well cared for even after retirement. The center also offered him a long life puja in June. “We are most fortunate to have him as our teacher,” Lyndy writes.
Tony Migalka, Judy Wagner, Jan Vaughan, and Cathy Davis making long life offerings to Gen Dondrub at Buddha House, Adelaide, South Australia, June 2021. Photo by Joanne Foo.
Over the years, Buddha House has been served by many excellent resident teachers, who Lama Zopa Rinpoche listed and thanked in the video he recorded for the anniversary. The center has also been blessed with visits by many inspiring and well regarded teachers. In particular, in 1992 the center organized a visit to Adelaide by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which included a multi-faith event, a Dharma teaching and Chenrezig empowerment, and a public talk attended by over 12,000 people.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has also visited Buddha House on seven occasions over the years. Rinpoche’s first visit was in 1984. Rinpoche’s most recent visit was in 2018, when Rinpoche came to the opening of the center’s new building.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the opening of Buddha House in its new building, Adelaide, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
“Buddha House has a very strong volunteer base, with no paid workers. Many have given over twenty years of service, either in the office or leading meditations. Some of the founding members still lead meditations,” Lyndy Abram writes. “Buddha’s Bowl Catering has brought in need funds during our evolving years with up to twenty volunteers cooking and serving food at major events. Buddha House volunteers supported the building of the stupa at DeTong Ling Retreat Centre, our sister center on Kangaroo Island, and volunteers have ensured the success of many other projects, including the initial visits of the Gyuto monks and events with the Maitreya Loving Kindness Relic Tour.”
The center has an active spiritual program that includes regular Dharma teachings and several guided meditations offered each week. They also organize several popular outreach programs, including a program for those recovering from addiction, a children’s class, programs for those with life challenging illnesses, and a mental health first aid training course. The center also mentors the Himalayan Buddhist refugee community living in the northern suburbs.
Please join us in rejoicing in all the beneficial activities of Buddha House and its dedicated students for so many years.
To learn more about Buddha House, visit their website Buddhahouse.org.
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.
Gompa of Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling during 100 Million Mani Retreat, which was streamed live to participants, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, September 2021. Photo courtesy of FPMT Mongolia.
One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization is to sponsor 100 million mani retreats around the world. During a 100 million mani retreat, participants collectively recite 100 million OM MANI PADME HUM mantras. For a ninth year, FPMT Mongolia and Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling, the FPMT center in Ulaanbaatar, have organized a successful 100 million mani retreat. Tuya Purevgonchig, who became director of Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling and FPMT Mongolia in June 2021, shared the news of the completion of the retreat in a letter to Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
“I am happy to report to you that we have successfully completed the ninth Mani Retreat, a hundred percent online, in accordance with the current guidelines and circumstances of the pandemic, as instructed by the Mongolian government,” Tuya writes. The retreat took place September 6 through October 6, 2021.
FPMT Mongolia and Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling organized their first mani retreat in 2013. That initial retreat was led by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and was the first big retreat that he led after he manifested a stroke in 2011. Since then, they have organized a 100 million mani retreat annually.
Offerings and altar in gompa of Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling during 100 Million Mani Retreat, which was streamed live to participants, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, September 2021. Photo courtesy of FPMT Mongolia.
Ven. Thubten Gyalmo, resident teacher at Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling, and four other nuns of Dolma Ling Nunnery in Ulaanbaatar led the retreat from 7:30 A.M. until 6:30 P.M. every day in the gompa at the center, which was streamed live to the public.
Jhado Rinpoche spoke at the retreat’s opening ceremony. He also gave a talk on the benefits of the six syllables of the mani mantra during the retreat. Geshe Thubten Zopa, an FPMT touring teacher, attended the first and last sessions, giving a talk and concluding dedications.
The center organized mantra recitations separately at the Battsagaan Temple of Gandan Tegchenling Monastery for the last three days of the retreat. Two hundred monks attended on the first day, then between thirty to fifty monks from Idgachoinzinling Dratsangs attended on the last two days.
Gompa of Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling during 100 Million Mani Retreat, which was streamed live to participants, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, September 2021. Photo courtesy of FPMT Mongolia.
“It was challenging and yet truly a rewarding first mani retreat experience for me as a new director. However, with the kindness of all the FPMT Mongolia staff, nuns, donors, and the Dharma students from all around the world, we managed to complete the Mani Retreat 2021 together successfully,” Tuya writes.
“This year, the total number of mantra recitations was 114,442,502. On behalf of FPMT Mongolia, I’m delighted to offer Rinpoche this mantra number with all the merit accumulated. May it be a cause for Rinpoche to have a very long life and may it steadily accomplish all your wishes for Mongolia, bringing limitless benefit to sentient beings.”
Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, September 2021. Photo courtesy of FPMT Mongolia.
The Practice and Retreat Fund provides grants and sponsorships for students engaged in retreats such as 108 nyung nä retreats, 100 million mani retreats, recitations of sutras, and long term retreat.
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.
Foundation Service Seminar participants at Nalanda Monastery, France, September 2021. Photo by Ven. Zoksang.
The Foundation Service Seminar (FSS) is the “FPMT immersion retreat.” It provides essential information and nourishment for all serving, or wishing to serve, in the FPMT organization. The FSS Retreat is key to deeply understanding the FPMT organization and the attitude we seek to cultivate as we offer service in the organization. This experiential retreat helps us to actualize the advice that service is practice and to enjoy and rejoice when offering service. Séverine Savignan, who participated in the recent FSS at Nalanda Monastery near Lavaur, France, shares her thoughts on the experience:
Those of us who gathered for the Foundation Service Seminar in late September were fortunate to be able to retreat for a few days at Nalanda Monastery in France. With beautiful gardens surrounding us, a great group of thirty-seven participants settled into the monastery’s amazing gompa for five days of sessions. I’ve been living and studying here in Lavaur since 2019, and it was truly refreshing to be able to connect with other Dharma practitioners, coming from Brazil, Romania, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
While we all can look at the FPMT.org website to learn more about what the FPMT organization has to offer, attending the FSS in person helped me really understand in-depth what this international mandala is about. Facilitators Annelies van der Heijden and François Lecointre walked us through FPMT’s lineage, its foundation by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and the history of its development. We learned about Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT and the Five Pillars of Service (Dharma, Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom, social/community service, interfaith activities, and revenue generating activities). Participants had opportunities to reflect and talk to each other throughout these sessions, making it highly meaningful.
FSS facilitator Annelies van der Heijden, Nalanda Monastery, France, September 2021. Photo by Ven. Zoksang.
I was quite surprised to discover the amount of resources that are available within the FPMT network to support our individual and collective practices. There are many study programs and secular materials available. In addition, there are many charitable projects around the world. Navigating all of these activities and resources is a bit like a maze. Our challenge will be using these resources wisely in order to support our respective projects.
Lama Yeshe created a sense of “family feeling” within the FPMT organization, and it was a key point of the FSS to foster that community feeling and help us set the intention for perpetuating it. Another key point was Lama Yeshe’s vision for the preservation of the Dharma. All this was quite powerful on a personal level, and I think that all of the participants went back to their respective centers and projects with many ideas and points to reflect upon.
FSS participants in a break out group discussion, Nalanda Monastery, September 2021. Photo by Marine Cecilia.
FSS participants playing an Inner Job Description game, Nalanda Monastery, September 2021. Photo by Marine Cecilia.
The format of the seminar was both focused and participatory. There was so much to learn about offering service within the FPMT mandala. We could have spent two more days covering all the details. We nonetheless had time to exchange ideas during tea breaks and lunch time.
This seminar reinforced my conviction that for any Dharma project to succeed, we need a clear motivation, a solid common foundation, and an appropriate structure for doing the work. Our role while offering service within the FPMT organization is to think on how we can help support and actualize the vision and wishes of our lamas, whatever our competencies are, and whatever time we can wisely and happily give.
We know that serving a center, a monastery, a project, or a study group requires a lot of energy. And indeed, as mentioned during the seminar, I shall not forget to relax, rejoice, and rest!
Ven. Palmo Detchen taking notes during the Foundation Service Seminar, Nalanda Monastery, France, September 2021. Photo by Ven. Zoksang.
Séverine Savignan is a French student based in Lavaur, France. While living in Singapore, she and her husband met the Dharma in 2015 at Amitabha Buddhist Centre. Now both Séverine and her husband study at Nalanda Monastery, while also raising a nine-year-old son.
For more information on the Foundation Service Seminar and to find out how to register for future events, visit FPMT Service Seminars.
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.