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A smiling Geshe Sonam Gyaltsen poses for the camera, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2014. Photo courtesy of Maitreya Instituut, used with the permission of Jeroen Collier.
Born in Lhasa, Tibet, on June 4, 1941, Geshe Sonam Gyaltsen—also known as Geshe Dhonden—is one of forty-six resident geshes serving FPMT around the world. Geshe-la has written a 695-page book about his life, in collaboration with Maitreya Instituut student Koosje van der Kolk. A Life Story: How Any Old Monk Mirroring the Mind of Dhonden Spent His Life in Another’s Country is based on the many interviews Koosje conducted with Geshe-la from 2006-2017.
Geshe Sonam Gyaltsen entered Tsawa khangtsen in Gaden Jangtse Monastic College at the age of six. In 1959, at the age of eighteen, he escaped to India, and was sent to Buxa Duar refugee camp. He went to south India ten years later, where he helped to establish the Tibetan monasteries.
A Life Story begins with a message from Geshe-la. “I am just a simple monk, in the old days in Tibet before 1959, only high lamas, officials and other important people wrote their life stories. So, my life story is not important, then why did I write my life story?”
Geshe Sonam Gyaltsen teaching a classroom of young monastic students, Mundgod, India, 1979. Photo courtesy of Maitreya Instituut.
He shares that he wants people to know what life was like in a Tibetan Gelug monastery prior to the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the harshness of life in Buxa Duar, and the challenges of building the monasteries in south India.
Geshe-la says of Buxa Duar, “… In Tibet, there was a great and strong fire of Buddha Dharma until the Chinese Communists destroyed the monasteries. The fire of the Buddha Dharma was almost extinguished but the 1300 philosophy monks in Buxaduar kept the glowing embers burning by studying philosophy, thus preventing the Buddha Dharma from Tibet from being extinguished.”
Of his time building the monasteries, he says, “… Oh, there were so many problems and we worked so hard—in the fields as well as in study and ritual to preserve the glowing embers of Buddha Dharma. Only this way did it become possible to put paper and wood on the glowing embers so that the fire of Buddha Dharma could burn again.”
Geshe Sonam Gyaltsen blessing co-author and editor Koosje van der Kolk, Maitreya Instituut, Amsterdam, Netherlands, circa 2000s. Photo courtesy of Maitreya Instituut.
At this time, A Life Story is only available for purchase through Maitreya Instituut Loenen in the Netherlands. Contact the center for details:
https://www.maitreya.nl/loenen-openingstijden-adres-email-telefoon.htm
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.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche received a pink rose from a young person wearing a white khata, Munich Airport, Munich, Germany, November 2018. Photo by Hermann Wittekopf.
Aryatara Institut, a FPMT center in Munich, Germany, hosted Lama Zopa Rinpoche from November 3-12, 2018. Sabine Kehl, a long-term member of the center who manages Aryatara Institut’s Facebook page and translates for the center shares the story.
After months of preparation and anticipation, the time had finally come. Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived at Munich Airport on the evening of November 3, 2018. He was warmly welcomed by our FPMT resident teacher Ven. Fedor Stracke, representatives from Aryatara Institut, and many students who joyfully greeted him with khatas and flowers. We all felt embraced by Rinpoche‘s generosity and kind heart.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the FPMT Europe Regional Meeting participants, Tara Mandala Center, Landau, Germany, November 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Rinpoche spent his first week in Munich in private retreat at a wonderful rented house in a quiet area of Munich. The house had been lovingly decorated and prepared for Rinpoche, Ven. Roger Kunsang, Ven. Holly Ansett, Ven. Lobsang Sherab, and Ven. Lhundup Tobgye.
During this week Rinpoche found time to attend the FPMT Europe Regional Meeting which was held at Tara Mandala Center, a FPMT center in Landau, Germany.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with volunteers and sponsors of the Munich event at a short informal visit to Aryatara Institut, Munich, Germany, November 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Rinpoche made a visit to our center, where he gave a very inspiring talk to about fifty volunteers, sponsors, and students who founded our center in 1980. He thanked all those who helped organize his stay and all those who made it possible for Aryatara Institut to make Dharma in the Mahayana tradition accessible in Munich and Germany for nearly forty years.
An especially heart warming experience was when Rinpoche handed out little toy pets he had blessed to all of the volunteers. We all love our new furry friends who carry Rinpoche’s blessing and remind us of Rinpoche every day. This private visit to our center was a wonderful and rare opportunity for all of us, especially for those who had not met Rinpoche before.
Aryatara Institut resident teacher Ven. Fedor Stracke and Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the little toy pets Rinpoche blessed, Munich, Germany, November 2018. Photo by Alex Volk.
The big weekend of teachings and a Great Medicine Buddha initiation finally began on Friday, November 9, at 7 p.m. at Reithalle Munich. Four hundred students from all over Europe and even India were eager to attend Rinpoche’s teachings.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Reithalle München, Munich, Germany, November 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Rinpoche‘s teachings were inspiring, heart-warming, and full of wisdom. Thanks to German language translator Ven. Fedor Stracke, Italian language translator Ven. Siliana Bosa, French language translator Ven. Losang Gyaltsen, Czech language translator Jitka Pouzarová, Spanish language translator Ven. Paloma Alba, and transcriber Ven. Joan Nicell everyone was able to follow Rinpoche’s amazing and wisdom-filled words.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave the Great Medicine Buddha Initiation at Reithalle München, Munich, Germany, November 2018. Photo by Hermann Wittekopf.
In the mornings Ven. Fedor Stracke held review sessions translated into German by Philip Quarcoo. These sessions were also met with great interest.
The big weekend came to a close at 1 a.m. on Monday, November 12, with the conclusion of the Great Medicine Buddha initiation.
Rinpoche left Munich for Bern, Switzerland, later that day, following a quiet lunch at a vegan restaurant. Ven. Fedor Stracke, Aryatara Institut board members, and a few students waved Rinpoche goodbye as his car departed our city for Bern.
The inspiration and benefits all of the students, event organizers, and volunteers received from Rinpoche’s visit to Munich will surely last for a long time. We all hold the memories of these remarkable days dear in our hearts.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Annelies van der Heijden, past Aryatara Institut director Alnis Grants, recently ordained Ven. Jangsem (Burgel Noris), children’s program coordinator Cora Boer-Sakals, board member Hermann Wittekopf, former board member Inge Siebenwurst, resident teacher Ven. Fedor Stracke, director Rosana Rodrigues-Herzog, Sabine Kehl, dog Jamie who attended all teachings and received blessings from Rinpoche, spiritual program coordinator Robert Schwabe, board member Thorsten Schrammek, board member Alex Volk, and Thomas Herzog after lunch at the vegan restaurant, Munich, Germany, November 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
For more information about Aryatara Institut, visit their website:
https://aryatara.de/
Watch video recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings from his 2018 European tour, which includes Spain, Germany, and Switzerland, and also find audio recordings of translations of the teachings in several languages as well as English language transcripts here:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/europe-tour-2018/
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.
Ven. Robina Courtin leading a Vajrasattva Retreat at Peter Canisius House, Pymble, New South Wales, Australia, September 2018. Photo by Vajrayana Institute.
Vajrayana Institute, a FPMT center just outside of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, organized a Vajrasattva retreat with Ven. Robina Courtin that took place at Peter Canisius House from August 28-September 2, 2018. Anna Carmody, a long-time FPMT student who attended the retreat, shares the story.
“Listen to these teachings as if you are hearing this for the first time,” Ven. Robina Courtin instructed the thirty-six students gathered for a six-day residential and non-residential Vajrasattva retreat at a Jesuit retreat center in the leafy outskirts of Sydney, Australia.
Most of the students were able to take this as a residential retreat, a chance to get away from the responsibilities and pressures of everyday life. Students enjoyed relaxing indoors in the lounge and dining hall. Outside—it was spring in the southern hemisphere—students relaxed on the lawn, wandered through the gardens, walked the labyrinth, and contemplated in the garden’s holy nooks.
Discussion groups meeting outside of Peter Canisius House, Pymble, New South Wales, Australia, September 2018. Photo by Vajrayana Institute.
This was a gathering of old and new friends. Many of the students had attended other teachings offered by Ven. Robina, in person or online. Several had been on pilgrimage with Ven. Robina.
Even so, there was work to do. This was a Vajrasattva retreat, a chance to uncover, understand, and do something about our negative emotions. It was an opportunity to purify our negative deeds, and learn how to stop creating negative karma, or at least make a start at it.
Ven. Robina shared a Tibetan saying, “Nothing gets more difficult with practice,” as as she navigated students through each of the topics of the lamrim, meanwhile explaining its connection to the powerful Vajrasattva practice and the four opponent powers.
Apart from the wonderful teachings and guided meditations, there was morning meditation with Ven. Gwen Drolkar, who worked tirelessly as Ven. Robina’s attendant. We also had discussion groups that wrestled with the task of applying these topics: the law of cause and effect, so fundamental to the Buddha’s teachings; dependent origination; and the role of the delusions in our everyday life. This was a time to work out how these teachings applied to us, and to see our life through Buddha’s teachings, not through any other theory or philosophy.
Students engaged in discussion at Peter Canisius House, Pymble, New South Wales, Australia, September 2018. Photo by Vajrayana Institute.
And then there were inspiring stories of our teachers and their dedicated students. Although we were in the large, quite formal teaching and meditation hall, it was like being a child again, sitting around the kitchen table listening to your aunties, laughing and wondering at life itself.
To inspire us further, Ven. Robina also read from Lama Thubten Yeshe’s book Mahamudra: How to Discover Our True Nature. Advice was offered for daily practice. Many students took the opportunity to avail themselves of private sessions and Ven. Robina’s generous and insightful advice.
At the very last teaching, after offering a thanksgiving mandala, Vajrayana Institute invited Ven. Robina to return to Sydney in 2019 for another residential retreat. She graciously accepted the invitation.
For more information about Vajrayana Institute, visit their website:
https://vajrayana.com.au/
For Vajrasattva practice resources, visit the FPMT Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/search.asp?keyword=vajrasattva&search=
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.
Panelists speaking at the InterSangha meeting, Nalanda Monastery, France, September 2018. Photo by Nalanda Monastery.
Ven. Losang Gyaltsen, director, Nalanda Monastery in Lavaur, France—40 km (25 miles) from the city of Toulouse—shares about a gathering of Buddhists from different schools and traditions.
On September 16, 2018, Nalanda Monastery had the honor of hosting the second InterSangha meeting organized by the Communauté Bouddhiste de Toulouse (Buddhist Community of Toulouse). This organization is part of the Union Bouddhiste de France (Buddhist Union of France). The organization gathers together different Buddhist groups, including the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the Thai Tradition, and the Vietnamese and Japanese schools.
The InterSangha meeting began with an introduction and Pali sutra chanting. This was followed by a discussion on compassion, with different speakers from the various traditions. The participants then gathered into discussion groups to talk about the subject and share their experiences and questions, as well as their understandings of compassion.
Discussion group at the InterSangha meeting, Nalanda Monastery, France, September 2018. Photo by Nalanda Monastery.
Everyone brought food that we all shared in a friendly atmosphere.
In the afternoon, a walking meditation was organized, and then different activities were proposed by the different Buddhist groups. This included an introduction to meditation, a Chenrezig ritual, a meditation on loving kindness, and a Zen ritual and meditation.
We concluded the day with prayers related to compassion, including a Shantideva prayer and the Mettā Sutta in Pali.
Leading practice at the InterSangha meeting, Nalanda Monastery, France, September 2018. Photo by Nalanda Monastery.
This day was filled with joy, as well as a feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood. We are happy to have contributed to this beautiful day and look forward to the next one!
By spending time together talking and sharing, we discover that we have more common than we think. At the same time we learn to appreciate the unique qualities of each tradition. They all arise out of the compassion and wisdom of our incomparable teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha. It is beautiful to see how his wisdom and compassion have traveled through time, and how his teachings are expressed by the different traditions.
InterSangha meeting group photo, Nalanda Monastery, France, September 2018. Photo by Nalanda Monastery.
We wish to thank all the organizers and participants. We pray that our InterSangha meeting becomes a cause of harmony and peace.
For more information about Nalanda Monastery in France, visit their website:
https://nalanda-monastery.eu/index.php/en/
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Lama Yeshe’s famous teaching style is fully present in this book, according to the book’s editor, Ven. Robina Courtin: “His words are not only experiential but also direct, funny, deceptively simple, and incredibly encouraging—enlightenment seems possible.”
Here Lama Yeshe explains mahamudra in the book’s opening chapter:
According to Tibetan Buddhism, mahamudra is one of the most advanced teachings of the Buddha. Mahamudra is Sanskrit: maha means “great” and mudra can be translated as “seal.” When you lend me one hundred dollars, we make a contract and we seal it, don’t we? It shows: “Next year I have the obligation to pay you back.” You have the document as a guarantee.
However, this seal, this great seal, is not a physical seal made in a factory. It is the universal reality of emptiness, nonduality, non–self-existence. It exists in all phenomena, including sentient beings. It is also not some made-up philosophical concept. It doesn’t matter whether you accept it or deny it. If I say, “I don’t believe there is an earth; I don’t believe there is a sun,” who cares? Even though I reject the existence of the sun, I’m standing in the rays of the sun. Even though I deny the existence of the earth, I’m standing on the earth.
The reality of nonduality is inescapable. It is the inborn nature of all phenomena. It exists equally in all things: organic, nonorganic, permanent, impermanent, including all beings. It exists always within us. The name we give it is mahamudra.
Learn more about and order Mahamudra: How to Discover Our True Nature by Lama Yeshe on Wisdom Publications’ website:
https://wisdomexperience.org/book/mahamudra-0
You can also order Mahamudra: How to Discover Our True Nature from the FPMT Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Mahamudra–How-to-Discover-Our-True-Nature_p_3130.html
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.
The Elephant’s Secret Kitchen, Cafe at Jamyang, London, UK, September 2018. Photo by Louis Porter.
Cafe at Jamyang, an initiative of Jamyang Buddhist Centre London, is situated in the heart of the Elephant and Castle neighborhood in London, UK. The Cafe joined together with the University of the Arts London, London College of Communication to produce a cookbook, The Elephant’s Secret Kitchen. Ilaria Mezzogori, chef/managing director, Cafe at Jamyang, and author of the cookbook shares the story.
In April 2017 we took off for a journey. It’s now September 2018, and we have reached land.
The Elephant’s Secret Kitchen, London, UK, September 2018. Photo by Shana Pagano.
In this past year we have cooked food, written down recipes, taken pictures, drawn illustrations, brewed colors, and printed paper.
Then on September 11, a few dozen cardboard boxes were delivered to our Cafe in Elephant and Castle. And we could finally say, “Our book is here!”
Many times during a busy lunchtime, I would hear the same question over the Cafe counter: “When are you making a recipe book?”
Once I forgot to say, “We don’t really have the time.” Instead I asked, “Shall we make it together?”
And so it was that Cafe at Jamyang and the London College of Communication started this journey.
The Cafe offered the recipes and stories that had passed through its kitchen and that needed to be preserved. The College provided its rooms, paper, and ink, while its students and tutors brought the recipes and and stories to life with images and color.
University of the Arts London, London College of Communication students working on The Elephant’s Secret Kitchen, Cafe at Jamyang, London, UK, August 2017. Photo by Alissa Metchnik.
The Elephant’s Secret Kitchen was printed using an eco-friendly paper created by a recycling process far more advanced than the standard on the Heidelberg lithography press at London College of Communication.
Learn more about Cafe at Jamyang, and purchase The Elephant’s Secret Kitchen on the cafe’s website:
http://www.cafeatjamyang.co.uk/
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.
Leaving from Rachen Nunnery for the first hike, to Milarepa Cave of Doves, Tsum, Nepal, May 2018. Photo by Tsum pilgrimage participant.
In May 2018 a group of twenty-two pilgrims, including Losang Dragpa Center resident teacher Geshe Jampa Tsundu, Tsum Project coordinator and former Rinchen Jangsem Ling secretary Low Yuet Kiew (“YK”), and FPMT Southeast Asia regional coordinator Selina Foong traveled together to Tsum, Nepal. This is an excerpt from Selina’s recently published online story, Pilgrimage to the Hidden Valley of Tsum, Nepal.
Our second day dawned bright and clear, and we joined the nuns in their daily Tara puja before setting off on our first hike.
First up, Milarepa’s Cave of the Doves! Here, dakinis had transformed into doves in order to listen to the Dharma from Milarepa. There were three separate but adjacent parts—a meditation gompa, a small cave with his very clear footprint on a large rock, and another small gompa with holy statues.
Arriving at Milarepa’s Cave of the Doves, Tsum, Nepal, May 2018. Photo by Tsum pilgrimage participant.
How moving to peer out from those dim tiny spaces towards the endless snowy peaks beyond, and realize that the great saint Milarepa would have done much the same centuries ago, as he meditated on the nature of reality! Galvanized and inspired, I recalled this beautiful line from Calling the Lama from Afar: “Magnificently glorious guru, please bless me to abide one-pointedly in practice in isolated places, not having any hindrances to my practice.”
On our way down, we stopped at another holy cave. Here, the great yogi Geshe Lama Konchog had meditated. Gazing at the piles of stones and then further into the darkness, the tranquility was palpable.
Visiting Geshe Lama Konchog’s retreat cave below Milarepa’s Cave of Doves, Tsum, Nepal, May 2018. Photo by Tsum pilgrimage participant.
As it turned out, these holy places had a way of suspending the normal passage of time in more ways than one. As we trekked back and looked at our watches, we were suddenly startled. What was to have been an easy walk this morning had turned into a five-hour expedition! Whoops! Blame it on all the posing and photos!
Read Selina’s full online story, Pilgrimage to the Hidden Valley of Tsum, Nepal:
https://fpmt.org/mandala/in-depth-stories/pilgrimage-to-the-hidden-valley-of-tsum-nepal/
Read Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for pilgrimage:
https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/teachers/zopa/advice/Pilgrimage_Advice.pdf
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.
Khen Rinpoche Geshe Thubten Chonyi, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Tan Hup Cheng in front of Amitabha Buddhist Center’s new entrance painted by Peter Griffin, Singapore, September 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived in Singapore on September 10, 2018, where he was greeted by a large group of students at the airport. Rinpoche spent the following three weeks leading activities at FPMT center Amitabha Buddhist Centre. The program ended on September 29 with a long life puja for Rinpoche. Shila Gephel, a long-time student of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, shares the story.
Kelvin Lee, Doris Lim , Toh Su Fen, Tan Wee Meng, Sandra Chen, and Ong Cheng Cheng at the Amitabha Buddhist Centre registration table, Singapore, September 2018. Photo by Tan Seow Kheng.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s presence at Amitabha Buddhist Centre galvanized both old and new students, many who had come from different parts of the world, including Mongolia, Spain, Italy, Britain, Taiwan, and neighboring Malaysia.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Tan Hup Cheng watching Khen Rinpoche Geshe Thubten Chonyi offer the golden crown to the Chenrezig statue at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, September 2018. Photo by Tan Seow Kheng.
The program started on September 13 with Rinpoche offering the newly finished golden crown to the Chenrezig statue in the main gompa and taking time to explain about the incredible benefits of offering to holy objects. “It is exactly the same as having made offerings to the actual Buddha or Chenrezig, and that means also exactly the same as offering to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche making offerings to Chenrezig during the golden crown offering ceremony at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, September 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Watch the short video, A Thousand Hands – The Wish Fulfilled, by Ven. Tenzin Tsultrim:
https://youtu.be/98Z0Px5aL1o
Rinpoche continued in the days after to give mind-training teachings, an Amitabha Obtaining the Pure Land initiation, and extensive Lama Chopa commentary. Rinpoche said that so many holy beings actualized the Lama Chopa and that this teaching has not degenerated; it is still warm with blessing.
Ven. Tenzin Tsultrim, Ven. Gyalten Rabten, and Ven. Tenzin Drachom making the offering to Lama Zopa Rinpoche during Lama Chopa at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, September 2018. Photo by Tan Seow Kheng.
Rinpoche also reminded us that “if one doesn’t get to practice Dharma, learn Dharma, actualize the true path, wisdom directly realizing emptiness, then we will cycle again endlessly in samsara, suffering. The most important answer is to want to benefit others, that is the real answer.”
Wong Lai Kuen and Jangchup, named by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, during the tsog puja at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, September 2018. Photo by Tan Seow Kheng.
To the people attending the South East Asian Regional Meeting, Rinpoche spoke about the Masters Program and Basic Program that are being taught in the centers and the importance of doing retreat after study. “Even if one is able to actualize one lamrim realization, it is so worthwhile.”
Rinpoche then said how his wish now is for FPMT students to develop lamrim experiences more and more, and that the most important thing for FPMT’s success is to have good samaya with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Yeshe, and Rinpoche.
A long life puja was offered to Rinpoche on the last day of the program with Rinpoche reminding us again about “how important it is to practice the bodhisattva attitude so all your actions are dedicated for sentient beings.”
In these three blessed weeks, the center was filled to capacity as humans and pets alike imbibed the unending wisdom of the holy guru and rejoiced at the collection of dreamlike merits.
The Amitabha Buddhist Centre choir singing Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life prayer to Rinpoche, Singapore, September 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Watch a short video created by Alaric, Heather, and Qiping that captures the highlights of Rinpoche’s visit:
https://youtu.be/JP7-v5PxcKk
To learn more about Amitabha Buddhist Centre, visit their website:
https://fpmtabc.org/
View the photo album of Rinpoche’s visit to Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/singapore-september-2018/
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach LIVE from Spain, Germany, and Switzerland, October 19-November 18! For links to live video streams:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/
Find complete videos of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent teachings, including from Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/
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.
Geshe Tenzin Zopa at Tara Meditation Center, Burnbury, Western Australia, September 2018. Photo by Julie Halse.
Geshe Tenzin Zopa visited FPMT center Tara Meditation Center in Bunbury, Western Australia, from September 1-2, 2018. Fran Steele, spiritual program coordinator, shares about the visit.
On Saturday, September 1, Geshe Tenzin Zopa taught about how to care compassionately for the dying person.
Geshe-la stressed the importance of correct motivation, of kindness at all moments. Often we act as carers doing a job, or out of obligation.
Geshe Tenzin Zopa, Robert, and Beth at Tara Meditation Center, Burnbury, Western Australia, September 2018. Photo by Julie Halse.
He then talked about the need for mindfulness, using his brother’s care of Geshe Lama Konchog as his example.
To care well we can’t come from a place of thinking, but from the heart that is in tune with the other person’s needs. We cannot be concerned about showing the person our Buddhist way, rather to simply listen, and help them connect with their own inner peace.
Geshe Tenzin Zopa and Naomi at Tara Meditation Center, Burnbury, Western Australia, September 2018. Photo by Julie Halse.
The extreme delicacy of those final moments as the mind propels us from the ‘hallucinations’ of this life to the next ‘hallucination’ was brought home vividly. It is a great responsibility to care for a loved one at this time.
The following day, Geshe-la talked about compassionate dying from the perspective of the person who is dying. We can use our death to create compassion in ourselves for those around us, so that our mind is filled with compassion when we die. Alternatively, we can use meditation on emptiness to prepare us to use the clear light wisely.
Many in the audience did not have tantric initiation so Geshe-la based his explanation of the stages of dying on what is said in sutra. The emphasis is on preparing our mind in the Bodhisattva path now before we are faced with the pain and confusion that occurs at the time of death.
Geshe Tenzin Zopa at Tara Meditation Center, Burnbury, Western Australia, September 2018. Photo by Julie Halse.
In response to a question, Geshe-la explained the importance of reliance on a guru as refuge.
He also described how to set up the environment, get help or give help with practices and mantra and what might be helpful after death, such as laying Namgyalma mantra on the body and blessing ashes.
This is only a fraction of all the wonderful wisdom we were given, and I finished hoping that Geshe-la would come back and continue the story of what to do between death and the next rebirth.
For more information about Tara Meditation Center, visit their website:
http://hmt.org.au/
For additional advice on death and dying, visit:
https://fpmt.org/death/
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.
Reciting the Suwarnoththaba Sutra, the Sinhala version of the Golden Light Sutra at Abayagirya stupa, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, August 2017. Photo courtesy of Ven. Tenzin Lekdron.
Ven. Tenzin Lekdron, Tara Lanka Study Group coordinator, rents a flat in Kandy, Sri Lanka, and regularly travels to Colombo to help the community. She shares an update from Sri Lanka.
Three years ago, I landed back in my home country of Sri Lanka. It had been an unplanned return driven by the earthquake that struck while I was staying at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery in Nepal. Before that I had been newly ordained in India by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I lived eighteen years in Australia, where I met Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the Golden Light Sutra.
The Suwarnoththaba Sutra, the Sinhala version of the Golden Light Sutra, Sri Lanka, September 2017. Photo courtesy of Ven. Tenzin Lekdron.
In Sri Lanka, I’m an oddity; a Sri Lankan nun but in robes that are unlike anything else in the country. We have an FPMT Study Group called Tara Lanka.
There are probably around fifty people who have connected with Tara Lanka Study Group in various parts of the country where I have given talks and performed sutra and Medicine Buddha pujas and so on. Those people are from various strata of society.
Reciting the Suwarnoththaba Sutra, the Sinhala version of the Golden Light Sutra, Kandy, Sri Lanka, January 2017. Photo courtesy of Ven. Tenzin Lekdron.
Life is very harsh for most of the people here, so the focus is on purification and trying to help wherever it is practical.
In July 2018 FPMT registered teacher Ven. Birgit Schweiberer came to Tara Lanka Study Group for three weeks. She generously funded herself to come out from Austria and give commentary on the Golden Light Sutra.
Completing thirty-six recitations of the Golden Light Sutra as an offering to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Aranayaka, Sri Lanka, November 2017. Photo courtesy of Ven. Tenzin Lekdron.
There are some great stories about results we’ve had from reciting the Golden Light Sutra.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche talks about freeing suffering pretas through giving them Dharma. In June 2017 I led a family in a recitation of the Golden Light Sutra at their home. This recitation was an interesting one. The lady of the house was being urged by spirits to keep reciting the Golden Light Sutra. Fingers crossed that the spirits have migrated to a better rebirth.
Completing thirty-six recitations of the Golden Light Sutra as an offering to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Aranayaka, Sri Lanka, November 2017. Photo courtesy of Ven. Tenzin Lekdron.
To learn more about Tara Lanka Study Group, visit their website:
http://taralanka.org
Learn about and download the Golden Light Sutra by visiting the FPMT website:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/sutras/golden-light-sutra/
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.
Association of Himalayan Buddhists of South Australia (AHIMBSA) and Lyndy Abram at Buddha House, South Australia, May 2018. Photo courtesy of Buddha House.
Lyndy Abram, center director of Buddha House, an FPMT center located in a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, shares about the center’s friendship with the Himalayan Buddhist community of South Australia.
Last September we received a request from the Association of Himalayan Buddhists of South Australia (AHIMBSA) for a blessing from our then-resident teacher, Geshe Konchog Kyab. About forty people of all ages came to Buddha House for the visit. They were very excited to meet with a lama. I decided to follow up with the AHIMBSA representatives to see what we could do to help them.
It turned out there are 3,500 Himalayan refugees living in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. They have been coming here since 2008, and it is a growing community. They told us that they had lived most of their lives in refugee camps in Nepal and had previously been in Bhutan. They told stories of torture and having been in solitary confinement, chained, for years. Some of the people who directly experienced this were at the meeting. They told us they had not had access to any Buddhist teachings due to the circumstances of being a refugee.
The Board of Buddha House agreed we should partner with their community, offering teachings for the adults and the children, and whenever a visiting teacher comes to involve them in the visit.
Our friendship with them is growing. A large number of AHIMBSA members came to Buddha House in May 2018 for the opening of our new location, where they met Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Some of the children sang a national song as part of the ceremony.
Bahadur Gurung, AHIMBSA chairman, and Jogen, translator, having afternoon tea with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, South Australia, May 2018. Photo courtesy of Buddha House.
Rinpoche had afternoon tea with Bahadur Gurung, AHIMBSA’s chairman, and Jogen, translator, and they shared their stories with him. Rinpoche said to them it is much better for you to practice Dharma here than it was in Nepal, because in the refugee camps you did not have access to Dharma teachings.
Buddha House wants to ensure we help AHIMBSA as much as possible. We are so fortunate to have the Dharma, as well as the freedom to practice, attend teachings, and spend time with the Dharma community. Meeting them and hearing their stories has helped us understand our good fortune.
AHIMBSA youth and Buddha House Dharma Kids Club greet Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Buddha House, South Australia, May 2018. Photo courtesy of Buddha House.
They would particularly like help with the children, which we are able to do through providing a Dharma club. Ven. Dondrub and myself go to a hall AHIMBSA hires monthly. I run a Dharma club for kids class then Ven. Dondrub gives a Dharma talk to the adults. Since many community members do not speak English, they provide a Nepali translator for him.
AHIMBSA really wants help with their young adults. I asked Geshe Tenzin Zopa, who has met with them twice now for teachings and blessings, what they might do. He suggested doing activities teenagers want to do—outings, camps—and then introduce Dharma topics in a setting they feel comfortable in.
AHIMBSA youth performance at AHIMBSA’s second anniversary celebration, Cambodian Buddhist Hall of Salisbury, South Australia, July 2018. Photo courtesy of Buddha House.
In July 2018 AHIMBSA celebrated its second anniversary by throwing a celebration held at the Cambodian Buddhist Hall of Salisbury. They invited Buddha House representatives to a joyous day of entertainment, and to honor the lives of their elders. Three women in their nineties were given certificates of honor and were covered in blessing scarves and shawls by the local members of parliament.
They honored people from organizations who help their community which included myself, representing Buddha House. The children were given blessing strings and mantra cards which were a gift from Rinpoche.
Lyndy Abram with AHIMBSA youth at AHIMBSA’s second anniversary celebration, Cambodian Buddhist Hall of Salisbury, South Australia, July 2018. Photo by Janne Graham.
The young people performed cultural, Bollywood, and modern-style dances. There were also music performances, and a meal and chai were given to the more than 1,000 people in attendance. It was a wonderful day.
We are so fortunate to have met with this vibrant, happy community we can now call our friends.
For more information about Buddha House visit their website:
http://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.
MAITRI paramedical staff member Arun disbursing supplements to pre and post-natal mothers during a Child Mobile Clinic, south of Bodhgaya, India, January 2018. Photo by Phil Hunt.
Phil Hunt, coordinator of FPMT probationary project Enlightenment for the Dear Animals, writes about his visit in early 2018 to FPMT project MAITRI Charitable Trust in Bodhgaya, India. These organizations are examples of one of FPMT’s Five Pillars of Service, Social or Community Service. This is a short excerpt from Phil’s recently published online story, “MAITRI Charitable Trust: Service in the Land of Noble Truths.”
Heading out at dawn through the outskirts of Bodhgaya on one of MAITRI Charitable Trust’s regular Mother & Child mobile clinics, I could quietly witness the pollution and poverty all too apparent at the edges of towns and the main roads.
It’s not the romantic image one would like to have of the place where the Buddha walked and taught all those years ago. Bodhgaya is in Bihar, and Bihar has one of the highest incidences of leprosy, TB, and infant mortality, and one of the lowest literacy rates in India.
The work that MAITRI does is not romantic either. Identifying people with leprosy, cleaning and dressing ulcers in flesh damaged due to localized deadening of the nerves, identifying people with tuberculosis (TB), collecting and analyzing sputum samples, assisting undernourished TB patients, or prenatal mothers, or newborn babies, and treating injured, maimed, and sick animals that have nowhere else to go. …
MAITRI director Adriana Ferranti reviewing a new leprosy case, MAITRI Charitable Trust, Bihar, India, January 2018. Photo by Phil Hunt.
Looking around Bodhgaya and surrounding districts at the poverty and ignorance, how could you possibly think you could make any impact? Yet these are the sentient beings Buddhists have pledged to bring to enlightenment, that Christians go to serve following the example of Jesus, that the left side of politics works to uplift, that the right side of politics promises to benefit through a ‘trickle down’ economy. They are the global neighbors with whom we have responsibility to share the riches of the world fairly. Indeed, these are the beings that might have been our direct neighbors if our karma had been very slightly different. …
Read Phil’s full story, “MAITRI Charitable Trust: Service in the Land of Noble Truths,” and view more of his photos online:
https://fpmt.org/mandala/in-depth-stories/maitri-charitable-trust-service-in-the-land-f-noble-truths/
For more information about MAITRI Charitable Trust, visit their website:
https://maitri-bodhgaya.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.