FPMT Community: Stories & News

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Nepal, March 27, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

On April 14 at 10 p.m. Nepal time, blood came from Rinpoche’s left nostril, signaling that Rinpoche had ended his meditation.

The room was then made cold to maintain the holy body, and this morning the holy body was packed in ice. 

The embalming process is the next step.

Khandro Kunga Bhuma has advised that today (April 15) is a dakini day, and that 7: 30 p.m. Nepal time today is the special time of the dakini day that fits for Rinpoche’s holy body to begin the embalming process. Khandro Kunga Bhuma will continue to take care – she is now in Nepal.

Two lamas are there who will be in charge of the embalming process, which may take several months. They are Geshe Wangdu, ex-Gyumed abbot; and a Nyingma lama (from whom Lama Zopa Rinpoche had taken transmissions), and who looked after the embalming of Trulshik Rinpoche. Ven. Roger will keep us informed about the process and timeline and we will continue to share updates on this process.

His Excellency Ling Rinpoche suggested that Rinpoche’s holy body be embalmed (rather than cremated) because Lama Zopa Rinpoche has so many students and is so widely known, as then people can come and pay their respects to Rinpoche’s holy body—it will become an object of pilgrimage at Kopan. As previously mentioned, Ven. Roger requested His Holiness the Dalai Lama to comment on this suggestion, and His Holiness advised that this is a very good way forward.

Pujas continue to go on constantly everywhere at Kopan: everyone in the monastery and nunnery is participating. The livestream of the prayers by Rinpoche’s room is continuing.

Additionally, groups are coming from other monasteries to do their own prayers in the gompa at Kopan in their own way for Rinpoche. We are making offerings to them.

Many, many monasteries are also doing pujas and prayers for Rinpoche in their own gompas. We will make offerings to them also.

Please continue trying to fulfil Rinpoche’s holy wishes, especially to practice impermanence and bodhicitta in the context of the lamrim. Fulfilling the gurus’ holy wishes is a very important part of inviting the guru to return.

We are delighted to share that we just received the swift return prayer composed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in Tibetan, which is downloadable from the Updates Regarding Lama Zopa Rinpoche page. We will make it available in English as soon as possible.

We are also very happy to share the swift return prayer composed by Khandro Kunga Bhuma, in Tibetan and with a quick translation into English, also now downloadable from the Updates Regarding Lama Zopa Rinpoche page.

We rejoice in the swift return prayers kindly composed by other lamas also. We will add them to the Updates Regarding Lama Zopa Rinpoche page as soon as possible.

May Rinpoche be reborn as quickly as possible in a place where he can be very quickly recognized and be of most benefit to sentient beings.

Big love,

Your friends at FPMT International Office

We will continue to send out updates as they become available, and these will be collected on this update page.

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 at Kopan Monastery, March 25, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab

Yesterday we shared the incredibly heart breaking news that on April 13^th, Lama Zopa Rinpoche showed the aspect of passing away.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is still in the meditation stage in his room in Kopan Monastery. A short video of Rinpoche in clear light meditation is available on Youtube if you would like to view our precious guru at this time.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in clear light meditation, Kopan Monastery, April 13, 2023. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In the room next to the room where Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s holy body sits in meditation, Kopan monks immediately started and are continuously engaged in twenty-four hour prayers, pujas and self-initiations, and in Kopan’s main gompa prayers are being offered continually. The ongoing prayers with the monks and nuns are being livestreamed and you can connect with that now on Youtube.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama advised on the prayers and practices to be done in Kopan, and also immediately accepted to compose a swift return prayer for Rinpoche’s students.

Lelung Tulku is at Kopan and offering special prayers and puja, and Khandro Kunga Bhuma will arrive tomorrow.

The Kopan monks twenty-four hour prayers, pujas, and self-initiations have thus far included Yamantaka self-initiation, The Eight Prayers (many times), Lama Chopa (several times), recitations of Manjushri’s root text and Drang Nge Lekshe Nyingpo, and many Tara prayers.

This morning, April 14, the Kopan nuns took over and began an all day Vajrayogini self-initiation, which is done extensively. In the evening the monks will perform Guhyasamaja self-initiation, which will continue all night.

On April 15, a number of Gyudme tantric monks arrive and will be joined by Kopan monks to do extensive Five-deity Heruka Body Mandala self-initiation. This will continue every day, twenty-four hours a day, for many days.

Following advice from His Eminence Ling Rinpoche, and confirmed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s body will not be cremated, but will be embalmed. Khandro Kunga Bhuma will help to take care of this process.

We will announce information regarding the main prayer ceremony for Rinpoche once the time comes and we have specific details to share. 

Khandro-la very clearly said that Rinpoche took on the obstacles for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and maybe other lamas also, but definitely Rinpoche took on obstacles of His Holiness.

Rinpoche continues in clear light meditation, which gives us a very special opportunity to connect with Rinpoche’s holy mind.

Please keep trying to fulfil Rinpoche’s holy wishes, especially to practice impermanence and bodhicitta in the context of the lamrim. Fulfilling the gurus’ holy wishes is a very important part of inviting the guru to return.

We will continue to send out updates as they become available, and these will be collected on this update page.

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 arriving at Tsum Valley, Nepal, April 10, 2023. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Our precious guru is sitting in meditation at Kopan Monastery. 

Rinpoche had been up in the mountains in the Tsum Valley since Monday, and had to be brought down urgently as Rinpoche was experiencing altitude sickness.

On arrival back in Kathmandu this morning, Rinpoche stopped breathing.  The main doctor at Karuna Hospital tried for some time to revive Rinpoche, but that was not  successful.  Rinpoche entered meditation at about 9.30am Nepal time, today Thursday April 13th.

His Holiness has been informed, and is giving advice.

The lama gyupas and monks are taking turns in sessions offering Cittamani Tara with Rinpoche, as advised by His Holiness. Other pujas and prayers are being offered here in Kopan.

Khadro-la has advised that this is a most important and precious time for students.  Khadro-la went on to advise that the best thing for the students to do at this time is to practice bodhicitta in particular, as well as impermanence in the context of the lamrim, and then also as much as one can to help fulfil the guru’s holy wishes.

Khadro-la insisted that we should take this opportunity to try to achieve all or some of the lamrim in our own practice.  Meditating and praying to the guru to receive his blessings and guidance is very important. And to try as much as possible to complete Rinpoche’s projects and holy wishes, so already to generate that wish that we’ll be able to do that.

Please pray and dedicate for Rinpoche to be reborn as quickly as possible in a place where he can be very quickly recognized and be of most benefit to sentient beings.

Please keep trying to fulfill Rinpoche’s holy wishes, especially to practice impermanence and bodhicitta in the context of the lamrim.  Fulfilling the gurus’ holy wishes is a very important part of inviting the guru to return.

As you know, Rinpoche was the embodiment of bodhicitta, and always stressed the importance of remembering impermanence, and the essential need to put the teachings into practice.  This is what we can do for our precious guru now – please try to follow Rinpoche’s heart advice. We can all connect with the guru and receive the guru’s blessings in this way – NOW is a very important time for this.

Our hearts are breaking, we take all our support from Rinpoche’s teachings, and the guidance of His Holiness and our teachers, and in our FPMT family.

Big love

On behalf of Ven Roger Kunsang
FPMT International Office

We will send out updates as they become available. 

Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is  Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.

The Lawudo Temple, 1984. Photo courtesy of Michelle Le Dimna.

Michelle Le Dimna arrived in Kopan for the 1978 November course and stayed in Nepal and India following teachings and doing retreat until February 1985. Michelle has spent about 40 years translating Dharma books into French. She was instrumental in organizing relic tours in France and Belgium and helped with fundraising for the Maitreya Project. 

Below is Michelle Le Dimna’s account of her visit to Solu Khumbu in 1984-1985 and her three-month winter retreat in Lawudo.

This story was first published in the Love Lawudo quarterly newsletter #5 in 2019. 

Rinpoche’s Advice and the Hardships of Getting to Lawudo

After Lama [Yeshe] passed away, I had the opportunity to have a long interview with [Lama Zopa] Rinpoche. It was the first time I could really accept whatever he would tell me to do. First, he sent me to Namo Buddha for a month’s retreat, then he told me to go for a three-month retreat at Lawudo. It’s difficult nowadays to imagine a world without the internet and even without a phone. I had no idea what I would find there, and I couldn’t tell anyone in Lawudo that I was coming. So, while waiting in Kathmandu at the end of the monsoon, I prepared what I thought would be necessary for my survival: a stove and kerosene. I remember not knowing whether Ani Samten [Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s sister] would be able to cook for me.

I took a bus from Kathmandu, but it didn’t get very far because a landslide had cut the road off, so I found myself at night in a shop, looking for a porter to help me to carry my load to Lawudo. A Nepali man said he would do it. I noticed that he was wearing smart shoes, but he was the only choice I had. After one day’s walk, he asked me for his money and made his escape without any warning in the early morning. I then found a young guy in the village, with bare feet, wearing very light white clothing, who was quite poor but also quite strong. As the nights were getting cool, I started to lend him my shawl, but after a few days I noticed I had got a lot of body lice which were quite hard to get rid of! He would only eat potatoes as he wanted to save as much money as possible. As he was not a talkative or noisy one, it was really nice to walk with him, day after day. It took maybe ten days in total to reach Namche. I felt very sorry that I was not able to give him as much money as he deserved, but there were no banks there and I had to keep enough for the three months to come.

Ani Samten (Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s sister) and Amala (Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s mother), Lawudo, 1984. Photo courtesy of Michelle Le Dimna.

The Difficulties and the Joys of Being at Lawudo

I bought butter and tsampa at the Namche market—it would be my daily breakfast—but the butter was not clean and there was a lot of moisture in it. It certainly didn’t help my stomach problems and I had dysentery during my whole stay because of amoebas and other parasites. I met Ani Samten and the monk from Kopan who was helping her, at the market and we walked together to Lawudo. Ani Samten was about my age, and I considered her as a sister. The relationship was easy and warm, we could communicate with our broken English.

Ani Samten preparing butter tea, 1984. Photo courtesy of Michelle Le Dimna.

With Amala [Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s mother], we only had a dozen of Tibetan words to communicate in: yapodu, yapomindu, tsutiche, mambo tsutiche and so on. Anyway, she was continuously reciting loudly OM MANI PADME HUM. The only conversations we had were concerning Rinpoche. She reminded me of my mother who had to bear not having news of her daughter for so long.

I had lunch with Amala and Ani Samten every day. I enjoyed eating potatoes every day very much. I love potatoes and am very used to them because I come from Bretagne [France]. They were very tasty with erma (timut in Nepali), chili sauce, and butter, of course. The potatoes would be sliced and dried in the sun or else placed in a big hole in the ground so that they wouldn’t get frozen. Every evening I went back to the kitchen for a short while just to enjoy a tea and sit by the fireplace. 

I was staying in a room just above the gompa and wearing my down jacket day and night. In December for sure, but maybe even before that, the water became frozen. The sun was hot during the day, so I don’t think I suffered from the cold. At night, sometimes I would sit outside and look at the sky. At the beginning I was very surprised to see so many shooting stars. They were very close and once I could hear the sound of a meteorite falling down very nearby. I thought I would be able to find it the next day, but it didn’t happen. It felt like magic, but actually it was simply because the meteorites were catching fire while entering into the atmosphere and the atmosphere is not far above at that altitude.

At the end of my retreat I allowed myself to tour around a bit. I had the opportunity to have a meeting with Charok Lama, using my poor words of Hindi and Tibetan! Another time, I went down to Thami, the village where Rinpoche was born. I also participated in a few pujas at the nunnery down below, which was very powerful. I am full of memories!

Remembering Death

Throughout the three months, only once did a group of trekkers visit Lawudo. Other than that, I saw no other Westerners. They were French, so we had a bit of a conversation. A week later, when Ani Samten came back from the market in Namche, she told me that one lady from this group had fallen down from the path and died. I was shocked. And it reminded me how strongly I felt the presence of death when I was preparing for my trip to Lawudo. Lama Lhundrup especially insisted very much that I should remember death at all times. He told me that Zina also went to the Himalayas for retreat, but she died up there before finishing it, so I had to be ready, he said something like that.

Dreaming of a Nice Hot Shower

Michelle Le Dimna fire puja at Kopan Monastery at the end of her three month retreat at Lawudo, 1985. Helped by young Daja Wangchuk. Photo courtesy of Michelle Le Dimna.

When the first snowfall came, I had to think of getting back down from the mountains. Ani Samten filled up my rucksack with crushed aromatic plants such as juniper, which came to 21 kilos. But when I started to make my way back, I had so much energy that I was running all the time. It didn’t take me long to get to Kathmandu, a week if I remember well. I was in such a dirty state that on my way I was dreaming more and more of a hot shower and when I arrived at my regular hotel, The Blue Star, I went straight to the shower. I put on the soap, but either the water was cold or there was no water! Strong expectations but big laughter, rather than big disappointment. When I was back in Kopan—where I performed the fire puja—Rinpoche invited me for a Sherpa meal one-to-one as he wanted to have fresh news of his family.

So that was my experience of doing retreat at Lawudo. Years later, when I read The Lawudo Lama I realized that I had no idea of the power of the place, it was incredible! So, this is just my small story at my level. But I feel very grateful to have been given this opportunity and to have had this connection.

Please consider subscribing to the Lawudo newsletter which is published four times each year on the major holy days. For more information about Lawudo Gompa and Retreat Center, please visit the Lawudo Gompa website. You can also follow Lawudo on Facebook. 

FPMT.org brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 150 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friends of FPMT member, which supports our work.

Participants with Wendy Ridley, registered facilitator, at the Foundation Service Seminar, Malaysia, 2017.

We are delighted to announce that Kopan Monastery, Nepal, will be hosting an FPMT Foundation Service Seminar (FSS) from September 21-26, 2023.

Kopan is hosting this FPMT Service Seminar following the Light of the Path Retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche (which is taking place September 3-17 registration for this retreat opens April 1), in order to make it easy and affordable for FPMT students to participate in both the retreat and the seminar.

Kopan Monastery is the home of the FPMT organization, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche is spending more time at Kopan in recent years, so it is very precious that Kopan is hosting a FSS right after Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Light of the Path retreat.

The FSS is designed for those already offering service, and for anyone interested in offering service, in the FPMT organization.

François Lecointre facilitating the Foundation Service Seminar, Tara Institute, Melbourne, Australia, May 2022. Photo courtesy of Tara Institute.

The FSS explores how one can best offer skills and develop qualities in service. It provides a firm basis to serve effectively and joyfully within the FPMT organization by developing a shared understanding of the FPMT mission and how that translates into action for centers, projects, services, study groups, and individuals. Older students and volunteers who have participated in the FSS have felt re-energized by it. The FSS is an opportunity to experience Lama Yeshe’s “family feeling” and to nourish existing and prepare future directors, SPCs, board members, registered teachers, staff and volunteers. 

For more information on the Foundation Service Seminar, visit FPMT Service Seminars. You can also read more about past Foundation Service Seminars held around the world.

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.

Ven. Thubten Pemo at Kopan Monastery. Year unknown, photographer unknown. Courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Earlier this month we received the news that Ven. Thubten Pemo, ordained since 1974 and one of the first students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, passed away. We shared an inspiring letter she wrote to Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the late 1990’s discussing her experiences in retreat. 

Please enjoy two pieces written by Ven. Pemo in 2000 for Mandala magazine and in 2006 for Sangha magazine. The first piece is about the beginning of Lama Yeshe’s work in the West; and the second is advice from Ven. Pemo about the benefits of doing retreat. 

We will continue to share details of Ven. Pemo’s extraordinary life as one of the first Western students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. 

• The Beginnings of Lama Yeshe’s Work in the West
• The Benefits of Doing Retreat

The Beginnings of Lama Yeshe’s Work in the West

By Ven. Thubten Pemo

Lama Yeshe with Ven. Thubten Pemo, 1983. Photo courtesy of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Last summer was the 25th anniversary of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche’s first teaching tour to the West, a tradition that has continued annually ever since. Many of us were at Kopan Monastery in Nepal, when around July 4, 1974, Lama and Rinpoche got their passports and, accompanied by Ven. Max Matthews, left on their first trip to America.

Arriving in New York City, they visited Geshe Wangyal’s center in New Jersey and then went to see their teacher, Geshe Sopa Rinpoche in Madison, Wisconsin. After that they went to Indiana to meet their student Louie-Bob Wood, where they established the first FPMT center in the West, the Bodhicitta Foundation for Developing Human Potential (which closed a year or two later).

Lama Zopa went back to Geshe Sopa in Wisconsin while Lama Yeshe visited other lamas, including Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Tarthang Tulku in Berkeley, and Dezhung Rinpoche in Seattle, giving teachings in most places. The visit concluded with a weekend meditation course by both lamas in New Jersey.

The lamas returned briefly to Nepal and then headed out again, this time for their first visits to Australia and New Zealand and the first Kopan-style meditation course ever given in the West. Ven. Yeshe Khadro had gone ahead to help Tom and Kathy Vichta organize the course, which was held in Queensland. After the course, Lama was shown a piece of land nearby at Eudlo. This became Chenrezig Institute. Ven. Ann McNeil, who had accompanied the lamas to Australia, stayed behind to build the gompa and develop the center.

When the lamas returned to Kopan, we met with Rinpoche in the Kopan gompa and he told us about their first visit to the West, where Lama got to see a supermarket for the first time. In his teachings, Lama often used to use supermarkets as examples of excess; now he finally got to see one. The students also took the lamas to Macy’s in Manhattan so that they could see a big department store. Rinpoche told us how they looked for something to buy. “So I bought a belt,” he said. He bought a belt to hold up his shemdap (lower robe).

In the early 1970s, Kathmandu and India were quite primitive and did not have big supermarkets or nice modern things to buy. Kopan had neither electricity nor toilets. The motor roads were unpaved.

I was talking with Lama Yeshe before he left Kopan for America and told him about all the good food in the West, especially the cheese. At that time, you couldn’t get good cheese in Kathmandu, and Lama acted like he really liked cheese, like finally he and Rinpoche would get to eat some good food. Then, after acting interested, Lama looked at me and said, “I don’t care about cheese.”

These words had a big effect in my mind. I suddenly understood that the lamas were not going to the West with any interest in obtaining worldly happiness from good quality objects or sense pleasures. Lama did not care about that at all. All Lama cared about was bringing Dharma to the West and benefiting sentient beings.

At the same time, 26 years ago, Lama Yeshe started the International Mahayana Institute for his monks and nuns. In 1974, there were 15 Western monks and nuns at Kopan. Publishing began around the same time. One of our first publications was The Wish-Fulfilling Golden Sun of the Mahayana Thought Training, Rinpoche’s lam-rim textbook, which we used at the early Kopan courses. It was written down and edited by Nick Ribush and typed by me. I typed seven days a week. Each day, I began typing after breakfast and typed until 2 a.m. Then I would close the typewriter and go to my room to read prayers, recite mantras and so forth. I’d go to sleep at 4. I did this seven days a week. This was how I spent my first year as a nun.

Dr. Nick also published transcripts of Rinpoche’s Kopan course teachings. The teachings from the third, fourth and fifth courses were typed from handwritten notes and those from the sixth course from Sally Barraud’s shorthand and rudimentary cassette tapes. There was no tape recorder at Kopan in the very early days. Then I brought one back from New York and from then on we taped all the lamas’ teachings on it. I used to type most of the books, prayers, sadhanas and commentaries that we published onto wax stencils, and then we’d print them on a Gestetner duplicating machine that Lama had allowed us to buy in Kathmandu. The Kopan monks also used it for their Tibetan texts.

Within a few years this fledgling attempt at publishing the Dharma had a name, Publications for Wisdom Culture. Eventually, it grew into Wisdom Publications as well as, more recently, the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. These days, the Archive is much more technologically advanced than it was at the beginning, with my portable tape recorder, weird cassettes, no electricity, almost dead batteries and prehistoric manual typewriters.

Interestingly enough, Wisdom’s first professionally published book, Wisdom Energy, contained the lamas’ teachings from the American tour of 1974, their first in the West.

So, 1999 was the 25th anniversary of that first trip to the West, and it also marked the beginnings of the FPMT as an international organization. Never in our wildest dreams would any of us back there at Kopan in 1974 have ever imagined that, before the end of the century, Lama and Rinpoche’s activities would grow to comprise more than 120 centers all over the world.

Actually, I have just received the latest issue of Mandala in the mail. Reading the news from all the FPMT centers, I cried, it was so overwhelming. In their world tours these past 26 years, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche have done an unbelievable amount of work to bring the Dharma to people everywhere on earth. Reading about the Dharma activities of all the students connected to our centers is so incredible and amazing that I don’t have words to describe it.

In the summer of 1974, our lamas planted a small seed. That small seed has grown into a huge bodhi tree that gives shelter and nourishment to thousands and thousands of people all over the world. This is another benefit of bodhicitta, the bodhicitta of our gurus, and the virtuous thoughts of the thousands of people who have met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche and given their lives to carrying out their holy wishes. No words can describe how great this is.

Lama Yeshe created many “golden flower students.” Thank you, Lama.

See you in the sky (as Lama would say).

Originally published in Mandala, March-April 2000. 

The Benefits of Doing Retreat

By Ven. Thubten Pemo

Ven. Thubten Pemo, Maitreya Instituut, Maasbommel, The Netherlands, 1986. Photo by Jan-Paul Kool. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

The benefit of doing retreat is that one becomes a better person. A good human being. A good member of human society. One becomes better than one was before, gradually, one gives up any thoughts or wishes to give harm to other living beings. One helps, serves and benefits others with one’s body, speech, and mind.

The benefit of doing retreat is that one becomes more warm-hearted, more loving, gentle, generous, open-hearted, compassionate, patient and genuinely nice. A nice person. One becomes kind.

For more than thirty years I have listened to Buddhist teachings and attempted to understand them. In this retreat house I decided that the most important thing in our lives is kindness. To be kind. To everyone we meet. All the time. Everyone appreciates kindness. Everyone wants to receive kindness from us. Kindness is the meaning of life. Loving kindness. Compassion. Bodhicitta. These are the meaning and purpose of our human life.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said, “My religion is kindness.” Buddhism has thousands of teachings. His Holiness has condensed all these teachings into one word kindness. One word with vast meaning. To be kind is our life’s work, to WANT to be kind, to cultivate kindness, to express our loving-kindness when we interact with others. With eyes of loving-kindness to gaze upon another sentient being. To act with loving-kindness all the time. Cultivating this attitude of loving-kindness is the benefit of doing retreat.

I have known teachers who have this quality. When listening to oral teachings from a teacher whose voice was the sound of great kindness, merely to hear his voice brought tears to my eyes. I have seen holy teachers whose face was compassion. Their facial expressions cause my heart to explode.

The benefit of doing retreat is that one wants to become like one’s teachers and all the Holy Beings. One is inspired to practice Dharma. And one inspires others to practice Dharma. They also want to do retreat some day.

The benefit of doing retreat is that the practices purify one’s negative karma and accumulate vast merits. One is liberated from experiencing countless future sufferings. Every day one becomes closer to Enlightenment.

The benefit of doing retreat is that it gives one time to think about and understand the oral teachings one has heard the books one has read. Away from one’s busy life, one’s job, family and friends, one has more quiet, peaceful time for oneself, time to contemplate and study. Time to put into practice the teachings that one has received from one’s precious teachers, time to learn about oneself. Time to clearly see one’s thoughts and motivations.

The benefit of doing retreat is that one sees who one’s own mind creates problems and suffering. It appears to come from outside of oneself. Suffering happens because of the way one thinks. One makes oneself unhappy.

The benefit of doing retreat is that one has time alone to recognize one’s own mistakes and faults, and to correct them. By correcting one’s own mistakes and faults, one becomes a better person. In each year one is a little bit better than one was before. There is some improvement and other people notice the one has changed and is “better than before.” One has some good qualities that actually inspire other people to practice Dharma and attempt to meditate.

The benefit of doing retreat is that one has time to meditate on Bodhicitta, for the benefit of all sentient beings. To become a Buddha for them. Oneself cultivates the attitude of working for others, serving others, cherishing others, for them, to benefit them. For their happiness and freedom from suffering, oneself is practicing the path, one’s mind becomes closer to Bodhicitta, the mind of Enlightenment.

The benefit of doing retreat is that one puts effort into becoming less selfish. One meditates on the disadvantages and shortcoming of cherishing oneself. One meditates on the benefit of cherishing others. With a brave mind, with courage, one begins to decide, to want to cherish others more than oneself. Slowly one changes one’s attitude from cherishing oneself to cherishing others. Caring for others. Taking care of others.

Caring if other sentient beings are happy or sad. One is creating the causes of future suffering or of happiness. Caring if sentient beings are circling within the six realms of samsara or are free. One generates loving-compassionate concern for others and determination to help them in every way – to give them everything they need until they are Enlightened.

The benefit of doing retreat is that one sees clearly one’s mental afflictions and works to overcome them. One works are lessening and abandoning, overcoming one’s attachment, anger, hatred, pride, jealousy, ignorance and so forth.

Before one was following the mental afflictions and allowing them to continue and increase. Even being happy when one’s affliction arises – as if it is something “good” for oneself.

In retreat, one applies antidotes to these harmful mental afflictions. One works hard to overcome them. When the antidotes are effective, one’s mind becomes more peaceful. It is not easy to overcome one’s mental afflictions – they go away and then they return. They are sneaky and tricky. Difficult to recognize and to overcome.

The benefit of doing retreat is that gradually, slowly one’s wisdom increases. One sees one’s fantasies. One sees the hallucinations that one’s mind creates. One begins to recognize the hallucination AS hallucination, instead of as true, as real. This brings some peace to one’s poor exhausted mind.

The benefit of doing retreat is that it gives one time to develop one’s positive qualities. Virtuous thoughts give one more happiness and less suffering in life. One experiences mental happiness that is not dependent upon sense pleasures, not dependent upon something “good” happening to oneself.

The benefit of doing retreat is that sometimes one experiences satisfaction and contentment. Less desire. Less craving. Less attachment. Less agitation. One becomes less “freaked out” and disturbed by things, people, places, and so forth.

The benefit of doing retreat is that one begins to get SOME little bit of control over one’s wild mind. The mind which runs everywhere – searching for happiness. Trying to avoid whatever is unpleasant. A pleasure and pain that is somewhere outside of oneself.

The benefit of doing retreat is to being to find happiness within oneself. Inner Joy – Joy and happiness that are there. Somewhere. One did not experience it before. It was difficult to find happiness amidst all the suffering, amidst all the garbage of one’s own mind.

There is some joy and happiness from within and one KNOWS that it is possible for one’s own mind to experience every happiness from the smallest, up to the greatest bliss of full Enlightenment. It is possible for one to practice the teachings that lead to this.

One’s Holy teachers have practiced this path. And oneself can do it, too. With Bodhicitta. For the benefit of all the kind mother sentient beings.

The ultimate benefit of doing retreat is that oneself becomes a Fully Enlightened Buddha. Equal in realizations with all other Buddhas, guiding numberless sentient beings to Enlightenment. With countless emanations to benefit sentient beings. To attain that noble goal, it takes many lifetimes of study and meditation. It is unbelievable hard work.

In the meantime, one can be Kind.

Written by Ven. Thubten Pemo at Land of Calm Abiding. August, 2006.

Ven. Thubten Pemo, a New Yorker, was among the first students of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Ordained by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in 1974, she spent most of the time since then studying and practicing in India. Holder of a mystical mirror-reading divination lineage and renowned for her wish-fulfilling jola (a type of bag often carried by monks and nuns). Ven. Pemo passed away in March 2023 in California, USA. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche watching the offerings of song and dance at his arrival at Taplejung, Nepal, March 2, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

We are very pleased to share with you our March 2023 e-News! This issue features news and causes for rejoicing including:

• Recently published teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
• An update on offering 1,000 Buddha statues to His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• In-depth FPMT Education program news
• New materials to support your Dharma study and practice
• Opportunities and changes within the FPMT organization

and much more!

Please read this month’s e-news in its entirety.

Have the e-News translated into your native language by using our convenient translation facility located on the right-hand side of the page.

Visit our subscribe page to receive the monthly FPMT International Office e-News directly in your email inbox.

2022 Lawudo trekking group with Lawudo staff, guides, and porters in front of Lawudo Gompa. In the center top is Ven. Robina and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s sister Ani Ngawang Samten. Photo courtesy of Kristina Mah.

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the fourth annual Lawudo Trek to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s cave at Lawudo in Solu Khumbu with Ven. Robina Courtin took place in Nepal’s autumn last year. Twenty-seven pilgrims met on October 3, 2022 at Kopan, Monastery, where Ven. Robina offered four days of teachings. An unusually long monsoon meant they had to change plans and travel in small groups by helicopter from Kathmandu rather than take the plane to Lukla as usual. The pilgrims walked for three days, led by Amber Tamang and his Three Jewels Adventures team, and spent four days in retreat at Lawudo.

Lawudo Trek organizer Kristina Mah shares details of this extraordinary pilgrimage:

As always, our days of teachings from Ven. Robina at Kopan, supported by Ven. Katy leading meditations, set the tone, preparing us for the intensity of the next ten days of trekking up the mountains and retreating at Lawudo. Our group were from Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, and the USA. Some had been booked since 2019. For Dom, visiting Lawudo was fulfilling a wish he has had since 2015: “I couldn’t believe it was finally happening!”

Bad weather prevented us from leaving for Lukla as scheduled, so we postponed for a day. We thought about taking helicopters instead, which would add at least US$7,000 to our bill. Fortunately a most kind benefactor offered the funds, otherwise we might not have made it to Lawudo at all.

Many of our group had never flown in a helicopter and delighted in the experience, but Jacque, “can vividly remember that first terrifying, ominous helicopter ride. Everyone else was all smiles when we landed but I was just happy to have made it out alive!” Our guides pointed out their villages as we passed the lower mountain villages.

We traveled in small groups to get to the mountains. Nineteen of us found ourselves at Surke (8,316 ft / 2,535 m), a tiny village that was perched 1,066 ft / 325 m under Lukla. We were dropped there by the helicopters, which could not fly further with the heavy cloud cover at higher altitude. Four of us, Yannai, Bec, Katharina, and Geraldine managed to land at Monjo. There, the local monk was so kind and opened the gompa for them to do their own practice. Seven of us had to wait an extra night in Kathmandu before catching our helicopters.

Ven. Robina, Ven. Katy, and Dinae landing at Surke on the way to Namche. Photo Julian Reinhold.

Amber and Furi, the last of our local guiding team, and four trekkers arrived in time for breakfast at Surke. We were thinking about Ven. Robina finally getting her helicopter from Kathmandu all the way to Namche, when just then a helicopter landed on the helipad in the lawn behind the dining room. There was Ven. Robina, and our last group of trekkers, jumping out under the spinning propellers! “What are you all doing at Namche?” Ven. Robina asked, as we greeted her on the lawn. “This is Surke, Venerable,” I replied. “But we’re supposed to be at Namche!” she exclaimed with as much confusion as the rest of us. The pilot flew off without a word!

We took time to have tea and work out our next steps. A larger group of twenty-one trekkers would depart on foot regardless of the weather and a smaller group would wait for the next helicopter out. Ven. Robina brought everyone together for a recitation of the Heart Sutra before we parted ways. Thankfully, the same pilot came back to pick up Ven. Robina, Ven. Katy, Dinae, and Julian. They would arrive at Namche later that day, where we’d all eventually meet for two days to acclimatize before heading to Lawudo.

Dom navigating one of the longer
suspension bridges before Namche.
Photo Jacque Rabie.

For our group, the first day of walking was long. It started with a steep climb towards Lukla and we encountered light rain on the track. Everyone was in good spirits and simply happy to be walking after being mostly indoors since meeting at Kopan. “It’s amazing, but harder than I thought it would be,” said Dom. At the pace we were going, it seemed more realistic to aim to arrive at Phakding and stay the night there, at Namaste Lodge. Our porters were already waiting for us in Monjo, the original destination of our helicopters. They walked back to Surke to collect our bags and arrived after dark. We were so grateful.

After dinner, Chammi Tenzing Sherpa, the lodge owner, let us use the sound system when Ven. Robina called to check in on us and sing Tara mantras over WhatsApp in the dining room. To make up some lost time, we would walk all the way to Namche the following day.

We set out from Phakding at 8 a.m., refreshed, and walked purposefully. Our pace picked up with the determination to get to Namche where the others already were. We managed to reach Monjo in great time, at 10 a.m. Mahesh, one of our guides, kindly offered our group tea at his own home on the way.

The walk was beautiful. After leaving the city it was good to be immersed in the different rhythm and energy of Solu Khumbu. Walking the trail, it is common to see trains of donkey or dzo (a hybrid between a yak and a cow) carrying building materials, shopkeepers tending to their stores, children coming and going hand-in-hand, porters with immense loads strapped to their heads, and Nepali music playing out of their tinny phone speakers. Toni took time to find the right words: “The people and life are so… authentic!”

It was the first time we have run the trek in Autumn. Although we caught the end of an unusually long rainy season, it also meant that waterfalls hundreds of meters high were overflowing and rainbows glistened through with sunshine. There were clear views of towering snow-capped peaks. Every few hundred meters, stones and enormous boulders carved and painted with ancient prayers lined the path. Prayer wheels and flags were in abundance, not to mention breathtaking views of valleys and mountains at the top of the world. We witnessed a different way of life, experienced a sensory feast, and at the same time were offered countless opportunities to observe our attachment to comfort and practice non-attachment when things turned out unexpectedly. All of us were reunited at Namche, where we met our full Three Jewels Adventures team. Some of our porters walk for days from their villages to meet us. Amber told us that hundreds of travelers were not able to find flights and were stuck in Kathmandu while our group of twenty-nine people managed to fly and arrive safely at Namche, and we were only one day behind our original schedule. This was amazing.

Kristina and Amber Tamang, our lead guide, and his team of guides, porters, and a cook. From top left: Lok, Furi, Chopendre, Amber, Pasang, Nirajan, Abinas, Jeythar. Bottom left to right: Mahesh, Mingmar, Kiran, Furi, Niran, Kristina. Photo Julian Reinhold.

As in previous years, we stayed at Namche for two nights. After staying in small villages, people were dazzled by the bakeries, massage clinics, cafes with great coffee and shops to buy anything you needed in the mountains and more. “It’s the Times Square of the Himalayas!” said Jacque.

Namche Bazaar is a bustling trade and trekking nexus inside Everest (Sagarmāthā) National Park. Trekking parties often stop there before continuing to popular destinations in the region such as Everest Base Camp, Gokyo Lakes, and Island Peak (Imja Tse). Ven. Robina gave us teachings in the beautiful gompa built into Zamling Guesthouse, where we stay every year. She read to us from Lama Yeshe’s Mahamudra: How to Discover Our True Nature, inspiring us and getting us excited about our retreat at Lawudo. The morning sun streamed through the windows as she began reading, “It is extremely difficult to knock out the ego. You cannot seek the ego’s projections philosophically, with your intellect. When you practice mahamudra, intellect is the enemy. You have to go beyond the intellect—you have to meditate. Then real transformation can come.” She looked up from her iPad, “It sounds very tasty, doesn’t it?” We were hooked.

While we were at Namche, Dawn became unwell. The treatment for Dengue was pain relief, hydration, and rest, so it was decided that she stay put. We made sure she was as comfortable as possible, and Mingmar, one of Amber’s team, and our friends at Zamling Guesthouse took care of her for the next five days. She was in kind and capable hands. Ven. Robina would pick her up in her helicopter on the way back down the mountain.

Ven. Katy Cole on the walk from Namche to Lawudo.
Photo by Kristina Mah.

At Namche, we hoped for a break in the weather, but we soon realized that the rain was not going anywhere. It was decided that the twenty-six of us would walk to Lawudo on the morning of October 11 as we didn’t want to lose any more time. Fog had sunk deep into the valley. We set out at 8am, hoping to arrive before the predicted afternoon storm. Our group spread out along the trail and many of us arrived at Lawudo in time for lunch at noon.

Our last group, of eight people, led by Ven. Robina, was yet to arrive at 2:30 p.m. Ani Samten-la sent a lunch of boiled potatoes, chapati, yak cheese, and honey with Lok and I, who ran down the hill to greet them. She had sent some masala tea an hour earlier. The group happily stopped for a bite and recharged their energy on the stones along the path on the hill overlooking the Mende helipad.

After lunch, they continued steadily, Ven. Robina mentioning when she paused to catch her breath that, “when we experience pain for something virtuous, we are purifying a few eons of attachment. Aren’t we lucky!”

Amber had helped Ven. Robina all the way from Namche and up the final leg to Lawudo. “He held my hand for the entire five hours,” she said, “as if he was taking care of his grandmother. I wouldn’t have made it otherwise.”

Ven. Robina set up her usual “office” overlooking the valley at the edge of the lawn in front of the Lawudo gompa where the internet connection is best.
Photo by Jacque Rabie.

Amber said that he felt “lucky to walk hand-in-hand with Ven. Robina. And we had blue sky when we hoped for it.” Reflecting on the journey later he said, “For me, it was yet another experience of a lifetime to travel with such an admirable person. With all that happened, and particularly because of walking with Ven. Robina, it makes me think this was the best trek yet. I can’t imagine any other trip better than this!”

Finally at Lawudo’s gate, Ven. Robina was greeted by Ani Samten-la. It was moving to see them reunited again after three years.

Ven Tsültrim, a Swiss nun who is staying at Lawudo for six months, accompanied Ven. Robina and Amber through the open gate that Ven. Katy was holding while the rest of us cheered. Finally we were all together.

Ven. Robina gave us teachings in the gompa every morning, afternoon and evening. To receive teachings in such a blessed place is pretty special. But it wouldn’t be until our third day that the clouds finally lifted to reveal the splendor of the surrounding mountains. It was easy to imagine why Rinpoche’s previous incarnation, the yogi Kunsang Yeshe, would have chosen such a place to meditate. For Viva, it was “a thrill to see the mountains for the first time when the mist finally lifted.”

View from the walk from Mende to Lawudo. Photo by Jacque Rabie.

In between teachings, people involved themselves in different tasks around the hermitage and went on short hikes to explore the area. Georges inspired others to join him during morning yoga sessions on the gompa lawn. One afternoon, Ven. Tsültrim showed Yannai, Manuela, Geraldine, and Katharina how to do water bowl offerings Sherpa-style. Mark and Toni cleaned the Lawudo house windows. Many of us visited Lama Kunsang Yeshe’s stupa behind the property and walked to the ridge of the mountain. Dom and Jacque walked to Charok, another hermitage and the birthplace of Charok Lama, a contemporary of the Lawudo Lama, on the same side of the mountain. They were lucky to meet Charok Ani-la who lives there and is often on long-term retreat. She served them warm orange juice, a local drink that we were also served upon arrival at Lawudo. Not many words were exchanged because of the language barrier. But she pointed to a photo and said in English, “It is Charok Lama… My father,” and smiled. After sitting with her in silence for a while after finishing their drinks, they made offerings, and said goodbye.

Ani Samten-la is the mother of Lawudo. She has lived there for over fifty years. Wearing worn-out robes, an apron, a saffron-colored fleece beanie and an old pair of pink and black Sketchers, she’s such a presence. She patiently posed for photos with a new pair of shoes that Rinpoche had sent with us to offer her. One morning before our teachings, Ani Samten-la came to sit in the sun shining on the gompa steps. A small group formed around her as she told stories of her childhood with Rinpoche (she is about six years older), and stories of the gompa construction and her experiences over the years. She captivated us with her special way of storytelling and her laughter. At one point while talking about herself she said, “No merit. Nothing. Just eating, sleeping… Nothing. Just eating and sleeping.” “Like Shantideva,” Ven. Tsültrim cut in. We all knew that Ani Samten-la has never stopped working and taking care of everyone who enters the Lawudo gate.

Ven. Robina Courtin, Ani Ngawang Samten, and Lawudo Trek organizer, Kristina Mah.

Lawudo feels like a place trapped in time. There has been running water there since only 2019. There are many daily tasks and always something to do. Yet, on another level, it is a place that feels separate from the mundane. These mountains have been blessed by the presence of great meditators and holy beings for centuries and it’s said that Solu Khumbu is a sacred hidden valley, a beyul, blessed by Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) that offers refuge in times of great strife or trouble.

People feel this special quality. “After a rollercoaster of emotional ups and downs and uncertainty about being able to attend the trek, it was an extraordinary privilege to be allowed access into this beyul,” Julian said. “Observing this very different way of life in the monastery at such an altitude was eye-opening and life-affirming.” Anna was returning to Lawudo after her first visit five years ago. “I realized everything was there. It was possible. Achievable. Enlightenment.”

Ven. Robina offering teachings in front of the cave on the last day of the retreat. Photo by Ven. Katy Cole.

On our last day, we had teachings in front of Rinpoche’s cave. Many of us felt that the end of our retreat had come too soon. Our time there was so precious, especially after the two-year delay and the effort we had to expend to get there. “So thankful to the holy beings who enabled our group to overcome all obstacles to our pilgrimage,” said Viva.

As we got ready to part ways and farewell Ani Samten-la and the Lawudo community along with three of our trekkers, Georges assured us confidently, “We have met before, and we will meet again!”

We split up again into small groups for the journey back to Kathmandu. By the end of the trek, Jacque had cut through his fear of helicopters and happily volunteered to catch one to Kathmandu from Lukla. Thankfully, Dawn was feeling much better by the time Ven. Robina arrived back at Namche in her helicopter to pick her up. Ani Samten-la sent her a blessing scarf and chocolate.

Lawudo trekkers, October 2022. Photo shared by Kristina Mah.

Ven. Robina often speaks of the bond that people form and feel when they go on pilgrimage together. Perhaps the bond forms while greeting obstacles and going through “magical moments” along the journey that forge a mini community created from around the world. “It was amazing to see how the group grew closer day by day and friendships were made so quickly,” said Julian. “The trek is such a rare opportunity,” said Mark. “I was so glad to have met so many kind and genuine people and share our journey together.” “It felt like a true pilgrimage with many highs and challenges that we took in stride,” said Aidan. For Jacque, his time in Nepal after discovering Ven. Robina on TikTok a month earlier, was “truly, a life-changing experience.”

We gathered for a final practice together at the ancient Boudha Stupa, not far from downtown Kathmandu. Before we started our circumambulations, Ven. Robina led us in dedicating all the merits of our amazing journey and refreshed our aspiration to have the courage to always do what is most beneficial and to never give up. It’s a sentiment that resonates with us after this trek and Dom captured it beautifully. “The Lawudo Trek was a trip of a lifetime. Not only because of the people we met but the magical moments along the way,” he said.

Amber said, “This was the best trek ever,” despite all obstacles and changes of plan. When Ven. Robina heard this, she said, “Isn’t that interesting. I trust Amber’s wisdom.”

We recently received the very sad news that Ven. Thubten Pemo, ordained since 1974 and one of the first students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, has passed away. 

In the late 1990s Ven. Pemo, an American nun, was in retreat and wrote a letter to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Rinpoche sent this letter to Ven. Robina Courtin, who was editing Mandala magazine at the time, and asked her to publish it, which she did anonymously. Ven. Robina recalls, “I was so moved by this. It just shows that we really do not know who anyone is. There was this seemingly ordinary nun, but from her letter it sounds like she was a holy being.”

As we prepare a tribute to her life and incredible qualities, we thought others would find great inspiration and causes for rejoicing reading this letter she wrote to Lama Zopa Rinpoche many years ago. 

Ven. Thubten Pemo, being offered a birthday party in 2012. Photo courtesy of Land of Medicine Buddha.

My dearest Precious Rinpoche,

Please be well and happy and continuously teach and guide numberless beings to full enlightenment. With your great kindness and compassion, please take care of me, a helpless creature overwhelmed by ignorance.

After numberless years of hardships and suffering, I have arrived at Shiné Land and a retreat house. I constantly work on my mind and every day there are new understandings and I learn more things about Dharma and about myself. I found delusions that I did not know I had. I see my faults, stupidity and mistakes. I see my ignorance all day and night.

I see the appearance of a person, together with every moment of mind. And I wonder how to be free of this appearance of a person – who is the dictator of my life and actions. I understand “self cherishing” or “selfishness” in a different way than before. I see how attachment arises. I see how anger arises. I see how we constantly want happiness. And on many levels I understand the eight worldly dharmas and put more effort into abandoning them.

I have a different understanding of karma, and different understanding of patience. New understanding of what Mahayana is, what bodhicitta is. And how to live the life as a “merely labeled person” instead of as a self-existent, independent person who wants everything for me.

I know and understand what the “guru” is. I know that the guru is all the buddhas. The guru is all the yidams. All the buddhas are the guru. All the yidams are guru. Looking at the merit field, all the holy beings have the same mind, blissful, empty, clear awareness. Just this outer body is different. The appearance or form changes but They all have the same mind. That is what You are. That is what I am.

One day I was looking at a picture of Padmasambhava and I received blessings from him. After that, my winds keep entering the central channel. One night I was sitting on the chair at the kitchen table. When I breathed in, the winds entered my central channel and my breathing stopped. I sat like that for one hour, without breathing. It felt like I could stay like that, without breathing, for as long as I wished. During meditation, if we really manifest the most subtle mind of clear light, with all the winds absorbed in the heart chakra, then, Rinpoche, what is it that stops or prevents us from dying? What causes us to come out of the clear light and to continue to live? What is your answer to this?

After this experience, on another day I was lying on the bed and there was a vision and presence of Chakrasamvara and Vajrayogini. After looking at Chakrasamvara for some time, the thought came to request initiation from Him. For the next few days, three or four or five days, its seems like I received the vase initiation and the secret and wisdom initiations from Chakrasamvara with the body mandala. There was so much bliss that for the first time I understand what an initiation is. When it came to the fourth initiation, the word, then there was no emptiness feeling and it stopped. The next day I woke up and received the fourth initiation.

Since that day, my mind keeps going into clear light, thoughts stop and I stay like that for hours. In this thoughtless space, usually my breathing stops also. This meditation on pure awareness without thoughts, gives great peace to my mind, and satisfaction and contentment. I lose all interest to seek happiness from sense objects. I do not need to do anything nor to go anywhere.

Sometimes I wake up and my mind goes into dharmakaya and stays there for hours. I cannot go to the toilet or eat. Sometimes at around two or three o’clock in the afternoon, I finally can stop and go to eat breakfast.

I find it difficult to manifest as the nirmanakaya form. Some days I can just make it to the sambhogakaya. Mostly I am stuck in dharmakaya. While I am in thoughtless space, I can clearly see the appearance of a person begin to arise. Then thoughts come like, “I did this and I did that.” Even the thought comes, “Let me out of here.” It must be like this at the death time. The mind is the subtlest mind of clear light and a self or person arises and wants to take another body.

My question is: how much time should I stay in dharmakaya before manifesting sambhogakaya? How much time in sambhogakaya before arising in nirmanakaya form? Is it good to remain for hours in dharmakaya so that I can get used to it?

The mind/body of bliss causes the clear light mind to manifest. Ven. Lama Yeshe told me to meditate “with no thoughts.” I thought this would be impossible, but now I see that my mind can remain like that for hours and watch the mind closely and when a thought arises then I bring the mind back the clear light experience. This is the mind that arises as Tara. The problem is that I never get to arise as Tara. Rinpoche, what is your advice?

Now there is the situation that so much energy is coming. At the base of the spine, the energy exploded for days. Now my charkas are full of energy and the energy is going down and up the central channel. The chi energy has appeared. I never had chi energy before. While meditating, the body starts to do chi-gong. There is so much chi energy. It feels like I could do chi-gong for hours. The hands get so much chi energy that I am using it to heal my body. One day it seemed like I went into trance and my hands healed my body and cleaned my aura. This never happened before. There is so much chi energy coming from the navel chakra and base of the spine. Question: what should I do with the chi energy, Rinpoche? How do I direct the chi energy?

It is giving life to my exhausted body. Yesterday there was so much happening that I did not eat breakfast until five o’clock in the afternoon.

Rinpoche, what is your advice for meditating on bliss and emptiness? It is difficult for my mind to experience emptiness when there is bliss. Should I do some analysis first? If there is a clear awareness bliss and no appearance of a self-existent person who is having this experience, then is that a correct way to meditate on bliss and emptiness according to tantra? Should I generate the self-existent person and then negate it? What are the various ways that I should do this?

I noticed that bliss stops desire and anger from arising. There is no desire for getting small pleasures from sense objects or people. I don’t care if I eat pizzas or mo-mos. I don’t want something. I don’t crave for small worldly happiness. I don’t care if someone harms me. I don’t feel jealousy of other people’s happiness. I don’t feel the need to be with people nor to look at beautiful scenery or objects. When the mind is satisfied and craving stops, then the eight worldly dharmas have lost their power. There is an inner peace and calm. The mind of the buddhas must be something incredible – beyond anything we can conceive of.

What all sentient beings want is the everlasting Bliss of the Enlightened mind, but do not know that such a thing exists. So we live in suffering and we create the causes for more suffering in the future. And we think that we are happy and everything is okay. We are so stupid and foolish. Our life is a dream created by our own concepts and appearances of situations and things. Everything appears so real.

One important question. Help! The texts say to see all to see all forms as the body of the deity. What does this mean? I can understand to see people as the body of Tara. What is the meaning of all forms? When I see a tree, then I don’t see the form of a tree? Instead I see the form of Tara? When I see a mountain, I see Tara instead of the form/shape of mountain? I sleep on a bed that is Tara? I eat a bowl of rice and vegetables – that is a bowl of Taras? Rinpoche, please explain the correct way of doing this and how to train my mind.

The text say to hear all sounds as mantra. When the airplanes fly over my house, instead of airplane motor, do I hear OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA? When the blue birds go “squawk” outside my house, instead of “squawk” do I hear OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA? How do I do this practice? Please explain clearly because I do not understand it. I can understand the outer objects are of the nature of emptiness and bliss. That is the same nature as the mind of the deity. But “all forms as the body of the deity?” I am Tara and the whole space is filled with bodies of Tara? Is this possible? When a person speaks to me, I only hear Tara mantra? I do not understand. What kind of world is Tara living in? Please help.

I received your kind card and a photos of Rinpoche with His Holiness. Then I received your beautiful blanket and a box of food and tissues (for the running nose of Tara). And really thank you Rinpoche for your kind offering (of blissful empty Taras)….

When one’s mind is blissful, empty, clear awareness, then sound becomes the manifestation or appearance of emptiness and bliss. And the world is seen as a pure land of the lama-yidam, who are inseparable from each other and inseparable from one’s own mind. Blissful, empty awareness – I offer you. Please bless me to complete all the realizations from devotion to the guru up to full enlightenment. Please bless me quickly. Please bless me soon. Please bless me now. Please bless me without ceasing. Forever.

Please pray that Ven. Pemo, “May never ever be reborn in the lower realms, may she immediately be born in a pure land where she can be enlightened or to receive a perfect human body, meet the Mahayana teachings and meet a perfectly qualified guru and by only pleasing the gurus mind, achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.”

Ven. Thubten Pemo, from New York, was among the first students of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Ordained by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in 1974, she spent many years studying and practicing in India. She was a holder of a mystical mirror-reading divination lineage and renowned for her wish-fulfilling jola (a type of bag often carried by monks and nuns). Ven. Pemo passed away in March 2023  (we are still confirming the exact date of her passing) at her home in Santa Cruz, California, USA. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodhgaya, India, January, 2023. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

We are happy to share FPMT International Office’s Annual Review 2022: Rejoicing in a Year of Offering the Methods for Peace and Happiness.

Please take some time to enjoy this year’s online annual report, which includes details about activities such as offering access to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s precious teachings; helping keep the international community connected and informed; providing guidance and structure to FPMT centers, projects, and services; facilitating charitable giving to many worthy initiatives; and disseminating the Dharma around the world.

Please view our 2022 annual report and join us in rejoicing in another year of helping to actualize Lama Yeshe’s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes for the FPMT organization and the world. 

Please note, the FPMT Annual Review 2022 is available only online:
fpmt.org/fpmt/annual-review

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