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FPMT News Around the World
FPMT News Around the World
Participants at the Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom Gathering 2011, August 2011, Institut Vajra Yogini, France. Photo by Ven. Freeman Trebilcock.
Being Your True Nature, a film by Tenzin Ösel Hita and Matteo Passigato, introduces the work of the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) and the programs that comprise Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom. Since its December 2012 premiere, Being Your True Nature has been viewed almost 8,000 times in more than 100 countries.
In response to requests for more detailed information about Universal Education, FDCW has shared video interviews with some of the key people who appear in the movie talking about their work. They include Pam Cayton (founder of Tara Redwood School), Rasmus Hougaard (founder of The Potential Project) and Dekyi-Lee Oldershaw (founder of the Transformative Mindfulness program) as well as many others who have developed programs responding to the needs of their communities, including family camps, programs for fostering compassion and wisdom in the workplace and work with prisoners.
Video: Interview with Dekyi-Lee Oldershaw
You can find all of the interviews by visiting the “Cast” page on Being Your True Nature’s website.
The Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom is a non-profit organization established in 2005 with the aim of helping people everywhere to develop their natural capacity to be kind and wise. FDCW is affiliated with FPMT.
With more than 160 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
It’s not too late to become a Friend of FPMT at the Basic level or higher and receive the April-June 2013 issue, featuring the complete “Skies of Benefit” article!
FPMT News Around the World
Choe Khor Sum Ling Study Group during retreat with Ven. Tenzin Namjong, Bangalore, India, March 2013. Photo courtesy of Choe Khor Sum Ling.
Choe Khor Sum Ling, FPMT’s study group in Bangalore, India, had an intensive three-day retreat led by Ven. Tenzin Namjong on the topic “How to Transform Your Mind.” The “city retreat” attracted many new students to the active South Indian study group. In preparation for this retreat, Ven. Namjong, who is an FPMT registered teacher and resident of Sera IMI House, encouraged students to read His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s commentary on the Eight Verses of Mind Training and Bodhisattva Attitude: How to Dedicate Your Life to Others by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Choe Khor Sum Ling student Dee Shekhar writes:
On each of the three days of retreat, Ven. Namjong led us through the two kinds of meditation and also the visualization practice of the Avalokiteshvara. He emphasized the need to read and practice the Eight Verses of Mind Training. The retreat also had discussions between Ven. Namjong and students about Buddhism, focusing on the meaning of the Eight Verses. Together, we also recited prayers and practices from the FPMT Prayer Book and read selections from Bodhisattva Attitude.
The format of the retreat worked well, as it led all participants to read and contemplate the teaching in an immersive and intensive manner. On the last day, students also learned tong-len practice and dedicated for the benefit of all sentient beings.
With more than 160 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
It’s not too late to become a Friend of FPMT at the Basic level or higher and receive the April-June 2013 issue, featuring the complete “Skies of Benefit” article!
FPMT News Around the World
Geshe Lobsang Jamphel, abbot of Nalanda Monastery. Image www.nalanda-monastery.eu.
Nalanda Monastery has opened the application process for their residential Masters Program. Beginning in September 2013, this is the first time the full-time study program will be offered in France. Nalanda Monastery abbot, Geshe Lobsang Jamphel, will be the main teacher for the Masters Program, which is the most advanced and in-depth of the FPMT education courses. Sze Gee Toh, a well respected translator and scholar, will serve as the teaching assistant. Classes will be held in English.
The Masters Program is based on Lama Yeshe’s vision for a comprehensive educational course similar to the traditional geshe programs of the Gelug monasteries. Geshe Jampa Gyatso helped develop the seven-year program of study and retreat. The program has been offered twice at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy. With its combined focus on study, meditation, behavior, service and teacher training, the Masters Program offers students the opportunity to become well-rounded Dharma practitioners as well as qualified teachers to others in the FPMT community.
With more than 160 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
It’s not too late to become a Friend of FPMT at the Basic level or higher and receive the April-June 2013 issue, featuring the complete “Skies of Benefit” article!
FPMT News Around the World
FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his tour of Asian centers, offering teachings at Mahayana Buddhist Association (Cham Tse Ling) in Hong Kong on March 23-24. The teachings, which are scheduled for 3-7 p.m. local Hong Kong Time (UTC +8), will be streamed live.
On Saturday, March 23, Rinpoche teaches on “How to Face Death without Fear.” On Sunday, March 24, Rinpoche will give a motivational teaching before offering a Vajrasattva initiation.
This will be the last live webcast from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Asia tour. Video of other recent teachings given by Rinpoche in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia are available to watch online.
With more than 160 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
It’s not too late to become a Friend of FPMT at the Basic level or higher and receive the April-June 2013 issue, featuring the complete “Skies of Benefit” article!
FPMT News Around the World
Ven. Rita Riniker. Photo by Martin Schwall.
Shedrup Zungdel, an FPMT study group in Belgium, welcomed FPMT registered teacher Ven. Rita Riniker in February. Ven. Rita taught on “The Four Immeasurables,” calling them “the immune system for our consciousness.”
Shedrup Zungdel wrote to Mandala:
Some of the audience remarked on how pleased they were with Ven. Rita’s way of teaching, commenting: “She is so grounded;” “She speaks out of her experience;” “She speaks in a suitable way for me;” and “I can understand; it’s not too high for me.” Others felt encouraged and inspired to continue their efforts in practicing loving kindness and compassion.
Shedrup Zungdel formed as a study group two years ago. The success of the weekend teaching with Ven. Rita reinforced “our confidence in our innate potential,” the group shared.
With more than 160 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
It’s not too late to become a Friend of FPMT at the Basic level or higher and receive the April-June 2013 issue, featuring the complete “Skies of Benefit” article!
FPMT News Around the World
If you’ve ever wanted to see what pilgrimage is for a teacher like Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Mystic Tibet, the 2007 documentary by Christina Lundberg, offers a priceless portrait of amazing selflessness and devotion, chronicling the experiences of a rare 2002 retreat with Rinpoche to Tibet. In celebration of Mandala’s newest issue, the Foundation Store is offering Mystic Tibet at a 40% discount.
“We are doing pilgrimage, but we have to understand the benefits. We have to understand what skies of benefit we get each time we see a statue of Buddha, a picture of Buddha. Like that, [we have to understand] what happens to this mental continuum,” Rinpoche told his students and fellow pilgrims. “Pilgrimage is to subdue one’s own mind; to use every opportunity to do the most extensive purification and to accumulate the most extensive merit so that we can have the realizations of the path.”
Find the trailer of Mystic Tibet below. Read a review of Mystic Tibet on fpmt.org/mandala/.
With more than 160 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
It’s not too late to become a Friend of FPMT at the Basic level or higher and receive the April-June 2013 issue, featuring the complete “Skies of Benefit” article!
FPMT News Around the World
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Singapore, March 2013
FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore, March 8-10. During Rinpoche’s teachings, FPMT offered live streaming video to the international FPMT community.
But if you weren’t able to watch live, you can find the videos online. Included in the videos are a motivational teaching from Rinpoche before a Medicine Buddha jenang, teachings on refuge and on making light offerings, and the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
You can keep up-to-date with news on FPMT video streaming by visiting the “FPMT announcements” page and subscribing (in right-hand column of page).
With more than 160 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
FPMT News Around the World
His Holiness the Dalai Lama reading sutra on Vulture’s Peak, India, 2002
“Although a bit belatedly, it’s the time of year to happily reflect on what our international sutra reading group accomplished ‘virtually’ in 2012,” Doc O’Connor Nemoto, director of Do Ngak Sung Juk Centre in Tokyo, wrote in a recent email. The Japanese center has a “virtual” sutra reading program, where participants from around the world read a specific sutra at the same time twice a month.
In her email, Doc quotes Yangsi Rinpoche’s advice on sutra recitation published in Mandala’s January-March 2013 issue:
The purpose of practice is merit accumulation and purification, and if we read just a portion of a sutra, it is effective for both of these. You don’t need to read all the sutra at once. I’ve been doing a translation of a text with my class at Maitripa College, and it says that if you read even only one shloka, one verse, of a text about emptiness, there is even more merit in that than doing millions of offerings.
“So with this thought of all the positive we created not only for ourselves but what we’ve spread around the world,” Doc continues, “let’s analyze the numbers from 2012:”
- 3 – number of languages our readers read in (Japanese, English, Chinese)
- 9 – number of countries we had readers (Japan, USA, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, India, Canada, China/Hong Kong)
- 24 – number of times we read
- 30 – average number of people who read each time
- 91 – total number of Sutras of Golden Light read
- 131 – total number of Sanghata Sutras read
“How absolutely wonderful! With heartfelt appreciation to each and every one of you, especially Jean Chen for organizing on average 22 of her friends and family to join in with us. Thank you, thank you!” wrote Doc.
Mandala rejoices with Do Ngak Sung Juk Centre and all participants in their virtual sutra reading group.
With more than 160 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
FPMT News Around the World
Lama Zopa Rinpoche reading FPMT Taiwan’s Mandala in Mandarin, February 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
FPMT Taiwan published what may be the first-ever version of Mandala magazine in Mandarin and presented a copy to FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche during his recent visit.
According to Ven. Roger Kunsang, Rinpoche’s assistant and CEO of FPMT, the first part of the magazine contains a selection of key articles from the 2012 issues of Mandala (originally published in English). The second part has articles featuring the three FPMT-affiliated centers in Taiwan: Shakyamuni Center, Jinsiu Farlin and Heruka Center.
Mandala applauds the work of FPMT Taiwan and encourages other centers around the world to contact us about publishing articles translated into the language spoken at your center. Currently we offer some articles translated into Spanish, French, Vietnamese and Russian.
With more than 160 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT,
which supports our work.
FPMT News Around the World
With more than 160 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
FPMT Around the World
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, October 2011. Photo by Philippe Garric.
On Saturday, February 23, Lama Zopa Rinpoche will be broadcast live over the internet from Jinsui Farlin in Taipai, Taiwan, giving a motivational teaching before bestowing the Chenrezig jenang.
The live webcast is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. Taiwan time (UTC +8; see chart of times in other time zones); time is subject to change.
The webcast can be viewed at http://new.livestream.com/FPMT/JinsuiFarlin.
FPMT News Around the World
Host FPMT Mongolia is sending out the invitation to come to the retreat worldwide, encouraging people to not miss this precious opportunity:
In the infinite kindness and compassion of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, we have the great blessings of this fortune to be guided by Rinpoche, in the 100 Million Mani Retreat in Mongolia.
As Rinpoche would say, “The benefits of reciting the Compassion Buddha mantra are infinite, like the sky.”
The reason why the benefit of reciting the six syllable mantra is quite unimaginable, and why it is an extremely popular practice in all the four great traditions of Tibetan Buddhism is because this is the essence of all Dharma – the very purest Dharma – thus, making it the most powerful way to purify negative karma and the easiest way to collect extensive merit to quickly achieve enlightenment.
We need the special blessing of Compassion Buddha to transform our mind into bodhichitta – to renounce self and cherish others and make our meditation on bodhichitta effective. Without bodhichitta there is no true happiness in our own lives nor can we cause all the happiness for all sentient beings.
The retreat is scheduled August 1-30, 2013, at Chinggisiin Khuree, a ger (yurt) camp 14 miles [23 kilometers] from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. More details will be coming soon to FPMT Mongolia’s “100 Million Mani Retreat 2013” website.
Rinpoche has a very strong commitment and connection to Mongolia, as documented in “Looking to Mongolia” from Mandala January-March 2011. For more, you can read online Mandala’s coverage of FPMT in Mongolia and Rinpoche’s trips to Mongolia, including entries from Ven. Roger’s “Life on the Road with Lama Zopa Rinpoche.”
With more than 160 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.