FPMT Community: Stories & News

Lama Rinpoche with Ani Chodron at Kopan Nunnery, 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Venerable Ani Chodron was born in the year of the wood bird in 1945 in the village of Tsum near the border of Tibet in northeast Nepal. She is the oldest of four children, all daughters, born to Mingmar Tshok and Mingma Tsewang. Her parents were nomads and farmers, and her uncle Gelong Pasang Tsering was known as the chanting master of Mu-Gompa.

At the age of nine, Ani Chodron ordained at Ranchen Nunnery. She received from His Holiness the previous Chosang Rinpoche the great initiations of Avalokiteshvara, Yamantaka, and Vajrayogini. When her uncle retired from Mu-Gompa to enter retreat in a nearby cave, the senior monks and nuns chose Ani Chodron to be his assistant. There she performed one hundred thousand each of mandala offerings, prostrations, guru yoga recitations, and long mantras of Vajrasattva.

Geshe Lama Konchog at Kopan Monastery, 1985. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

In 1959, Geshe Lama Konchog escaped Tibet via a route revealed to him in a dream which led him across the border to the village of Tsum. After many years meditating in solitude in a cave of Milarepa, he settled in a cave about an hour outside of Tsum known as Gaden Gompa.

Ani Chodron remembers when she heard the great mahasiddha Geshe Lama Konchog had moved to a nearby cave. She joined her uncle, three nuns from Ranchen Nunnery, and seven monks from Mu-Gompa to pay their respects and request teachings. The group received from Geshe Lama Konchog profound instruction and were led in a great Vajrayogini retreat. Together they performed four hundred thousand mantra recitations.

When Ani Chodron’s mother died at the age of 39, she moved home to the village in Tsum to help her family. After some time, Geshe Lama Konchog paid the family a visit. He advised the family to arrange a marriage for Ani Chodron’s younger sister so that Ani Chodron could continue her retreat. The family agreed, and Geshe Lama Konchog chose a husband for Ani Chodron’s younger sister, Ami Bhuti. In 1975, in the village of Tsum, Ami Bhuti gave birth to Tenzin Zopa, now Geshe Tenzin Zopa, an FPMT teacher.

Ani Chodron’s first nyung na retreat was led by Geshe Lama Konchog. The intense purification practice is highly praised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche as a supreme method for transforming the mind. Nyung na involves fasting, meditation, prostrations, mantra recitations, and taking Mahayana precepts each day. In Geshe Lama Konchog’s commentary on nyung na he said, “You should work hard. I have already completed 2,000 sets of nyung na retreats.”

At times the conditions in the cave were so poor it tested Ani Chodron’s faith as to whether she would be able to complete the nyung na retreats. For many years, she would go down to the village to beg for tsampa, rice, fruit, or any food at all just to be able to survive the retreats in the cave. Whenever she questioned whether she had the strength to continue, she recalled Geshe Lama Konchog’s words in order to fortify her resolve. Incredibly, in the end, Ani Chodron was also able to complete 2,000 nyung na retreats.

Over the years, Geshe Lama Konchog became a beloved figure in Tsum village. Ani Chodron’s nephew spent so much time at Geshe Lama Konchog’s feet that as a little boy Tenzin Zopa assumed he was his grandfather. Geshe Lama Konchog taught the local ordained and lay community, and every year he would lead a nyung na retreat that included both villagers and Sangha.

Tenzin Phuntsok Rinpoche, the recognized reincarnation of Geshe Lama Konchog. Nepal, 2006. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Ani Chodron did retreats with Geshe Lama Konchog in the summer and traveled with him to India in the winter to attend teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The walk from Tsum to Kathmandu took sixteen days. In Kathmandu they stayed in Thamel at Katasyambu because they had no money. They would sell Tibetan incense and share what they collected. It took two days of walking non-stop day and night to reach the border of India. In India they received from His Holiness the Dalia Lama initiations for Kalachakra, Yamantaka, Avalokiteshvara, and Vajrayogini. His Holiness also gave teachings on the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Each time she returned to Tsum she continued to receive Dharma teachings at Gaden Gompa.

On October 15, 2001 the great mahasiddha Geshe Lama Konchog passed away at the age of 84. Ani Chodron’s nephew Tenzin Zopa had long-since been ordained as a monk and become a devoted disciple of Geshe Lama Konchog. He presided over the ceremonies and funeral for his precious guru at Kopan Monastery in Nepal.

In 2006, Ani Chodron came to Kopan Monastery to take care of Tenzin Phuntsok Rinpoche, the recognized reincarnation of Geshe Lama Konchog. She had no hesitation and only joy at being given the opportunity to serve because, as she explains, she understood the power of the opportunity provided for her to purify her negative karma and to accumulate merit. At Kopan, she received many Dharma teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Ani Chodron credits any progress in her practice and on her path to following the guidance of her holy gurus.

This remarkable nun has simple advice for her dear Dharma brothers and sisters, “I only have a humble request [for] you to follow wholeheartedly the advice of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Guru Kyabje Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.” 

This article was written by Heather Melton Fox based on an interview with Ani Chodron. Thanks to Ngudrup Tsering for translation of this interview. Edited for publication by Carina Rumrill.

If you are inspired to support people undertaking retreats like what you have read about here, please consider offering to the Practice and Retreat Fund which provides grants and sponsorships to students engaged in retreats such as 108 nyung na retreats, 100 million mani retreats, recitations of sutras, and long-term retreat.

If you are interested in learning more about the practice of nyung na, you can find many resources in the Foundation Store.

Jo Marie Galt, 71, died in Santa Cruz, US, on September 1, of cardiac arrest resulting from various contributing health factors.

By Elaine Jackson

Jody Galt with dog Dawa. Photo courtesy of Shasta Wallace.

Jo Marie Galt (Jody) was loved by her Dharma family at Vajrapani Institute where we met in the late seventies and early eighties. She is remembered as always being the first one to volunteer for the hard jobs with a smile and determination. She will be deeply missed.

Jody was born on March 31, 1951, in Missouri, but most of her childhood, which she described as really difficult, was spent in Spokane, Washington. She was fourteen when her mother took her own life. Then, at sixteen, Jody ran away from home making strong prayers for answers.

Traveling in Mexico, Jody met Jim Ezell, her first husband and father of her daughter, Alicia, who was born in May, 1970. After Jody and Jim separated, Jody settled in Selma, Oregon where, together with Andy Robbins, she built a log cabin. It was here that their son, Ben, was born in 1978.

Jody had prophetic dreams. She described one dream where a book fell from the sky with one word on the page: “Vipassana.” She had no idea what that meant but became curious, went to the library, and began to read Dharma books.

In May 1980, Lama Yeshe led a Chenrezig retreat at Grizzly Lodge near Mount Shasta. It was sponsored by Vajrapani Institute. Jody sold her trailer to raise money to attend that course. It was there that she met Diney Woodsorrel and George Galt. After that course, Jody and her family moved to Berkeley.

Judy Weitzner recalled, “When Jody and Andy moved to the Berkeley Dharma House just after Grizzly Lodge, Jody was invaluable in her efforts to keep things organized. She was an exceptionally hard worker and contributed with cleaning and cooking. She attended many teachings and classes. Geshe Thardo was the resident teacher, but Lama Yeshe, Lobsang Chonjor, and Zong Rinpoche, as well as others, also offered teachings. It was at the Berkeley Dharma House where Jody first met Shasta Wallace, who was living at Vajrapani Institute at the time.” When the Dharma House closed in 1981, Jody moved to Vajrapani.

Jody said that Berkeley was too wild for her, so she went to Vajrapani. She and Andy had separated by then, but Andy came to Vajrapani from time to time, and eventually settled in Boulder Creek.

Shasta, a founder and long-time Vajrapani resident, recalls that Jody was always willing to jump in and help no matter how daunting the job. Shasta remembers such a job. It was cleaning and restoring a grease-laden, dilapidated-looking, commercial cookstove bought in San Francisco from an old restaurant in the Mission District. It looked like a wreck, but it needed to be functional for a retreat in one week. Jody told Shasta that not only could it be done, but it would be done. She helped take it apart, soak the encrusted parts and scrub it until it shined. It served as the cookstove in the Vajrapani kitchen for many years.

Initially, Jody and her children, Ben and Alicia, lived at Vajrapani in the “Dzome,” a canvas structure originally built by Rick Crangle and Jacie Keeley in 1978. It had an outdoor shower, an outhouse, and a small separate hut used for a kitchen. Jody was no stranger to rustic living. As she recalled, “Ben was three and Alicia was eight when we moved into the Dzome. That’s where I did my retreats – Tara and Vajrayogini. At 3:00 a.m. I would wake up. I loved it there so much. I wanted to be part of the community. I paid my $40.00 every month, hauled cement bags, and did what I could. In those days, we joked that I was living at Vajrapani, where you pay to work.”

Jody remembered working on the trails around the Chenrezig Gompa, while it was under construction, when Bill Kane came down with a terrible case of poison oak. Since Jody seemed to be immune, it became her job to pull the poison oak, and pull it she did, for two or three weeks. She ended up also getting the worst case of poison oak she had ever seen.

Janet Brooke recalls, “I met Jody when she arrived at Vajrapani in early 1981 following Lama Yeshe’s course at Grizzly Lodge. We were both mothers at the time. Her son Ben was a year older than my infant, Lise. There were many other children at Vajrapani who were close in age at the time, so Jody and I inevitably shared a lot of time around children.

“Jody and I also connected with the hard work needed to build this wonderful retreat center. We shared a love of gardening. Jody was very knowledgeable and experienced in this area. I learned so much from her. Together we had the opportunity to plant and create the garden beds around the stupa and surrounding the Vajrapani Gompa. This was all done under Jody’s expert guidance and skill and with great joy at being able to make such a wonderful offering. It was fun and, when working with Jody, it was guaranteed that somewhere along the way, no matter how hard the job, there would be a lot of laughter. Jody had a great sense of humor, and we shared a lot of laughter. There was hard work and there was laughter, and there were difficult times too. It was during the most difficult times in my life that Jody did her best, despite her own difficulties, to be there for me, as much as she was able, and I will be forever grateful.”

Jody had started a landscaping business and employed a few Vajrapani women who needed to make some money. Bev Gwyn remembers that two of Jody’s clients were Dick and Ramona Andre, who bought Lama Yeshe’s house in Rio del Mar (Santa Cruz), after Lama’s passing. Ramona loved Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Jody and maintained a relationship with Bev and Jody until her passing this year. Dick still lives in Lama’s house.

Following torrential rains, Jody’s beloved Dzome became unlivable when the roof collapsed. The family moved to Boulder Creek. Jody refers to Tom Waggoner as her “guardian angel,” who built her a house on Vajrapani land so she could move back about a year later. As she said, “It was the biggest gift of kindness.” Then, as luck would have it, that new house was irreparably damaged by a mudslide the following winter. Jody and the kids had to climb out a bedroom window to escape. They moved back to Boulder Creek.

In 1983, Lama Yeshe gave his last teaching a Vajrapani Institute when he taught the Six Yogas of Naropa. It was attended by so many of his beloved students, including Diney, George, and Jody. Diney was soon diagnosed with terminal cancer and died at the end of that year. Jody helped George as caregiver for Diney and also his three children, Shyela, Bodhi, and Sanje.

In October 1988, George and Jody were married. Jody continued to work in landscaping and engaging in other creative projects. She attributed her creativity to her mother who was an artist. Her parents had lived in Japan and her mother was greatly influenced by her time there. When Jody was living in the Berkeley Dharma House, she was quilting. Judy Weitzner shared that she gave Jody her old dresses which were cut up and returned to Judy in the form of a quilt with the Tara mantra on all four sides. Judy said it was the most heartfelt gift she ever received. Jody responded, “It was because of how much I treasured the gift of Dharma you gave me.”

Lama Yeshe at a family gathering at Vajrapani Institute, California, 1983. Photo by Carol Royce-Wilder.

Jody once shared, “Lama told me it was always going to be really difficult for me to see him. I was very shy and had such low self-esteem that I felt I should not be bothering someone for whom I had so much respect. At Grizzly Lodge, on the last day, Lama said that anyone could come in to talk with him. I told myself, ‘OK this is it.’ I was intimidated, but Lama said, ‘I think you have something you wanted to ask me.’ I said, ‘Lama, if you appear in my dream and give me teachings, is that what I should take as the truth?’ Lama replied, ‘Whenever I appear to you, you can believe what I’m telling you, even in a dream form.’ That was so encouraging to me.”

Judy explains, “Vajrapani is a miracle. It is magnificent. Lois (Greenwood) and I were talking about how when Lama spoke, people heard different things. People often took different pieces of his vast vision to make real.”

For the last many years of her life, Jody lived in pain from a degenerative spinal disease which led to half a dozen surgeries. Additionally, Jody’s immune system was attacking her nervous system leading to pain, numbness, and loss of motor control, for which she endured ongoing medical procedures.

About this period, Jody once shared, “Twice when I was in the hospital, very sick, Lama and Rinpoche and Chenrezig appeared in my room. I was delusional. I didn’t know where I was. When I saw them, they weren’t just figures. They were glowing, sparking, alive entities that I could feel radiating love out to me. Then, I knew they were there, whether I could see them or not. I thought, ‘OK, I gotta trust you.'”

Jody continued, “Once when I was in the hospital, they thought I had meningitis in my spine so I was in isolation. The man next to me was dying. I started saying prayers. I asked the nurse if he was going to make it. She told me it was doubtful. When they called a code blue I just said prayers. Ten minutes later he was OK. The nurse said, ‘I don’t know what kind of prayers you are saying, but they are sure powerful.’”

Jody found the practice of tonglen helped her the most. About this practice she said, “Thinking about the suffering of others almost always takes me away from focusing on my own pain and my own problems. I have other meditations, like Tara, but my go-to constantly is tonglen. Rinpoche is always sending me so much energy. He sends beautiful chants and prayers for when the pain gets very bad.”

Once while Rinpoche was visiting Jody in her home and offering advice, Jody asked Rinpoche what karma she had to have so much suffering. Rinpoche told her that by suffering that pain, she was taking it on so Rinpoche did not have to suffer it. Jody relied on Rinpoche’s words for inspiration and consolation.

When asked what practices she did during the difficult times, she said, “It is hard, but I think, if in any way I could take on the suffering of others and relieve them, how great that would be. Every two weeks I go to the hospital. I remember that the blood I get comes from others, and I see others sick with cancer, so I hold that in my mind. I bear the pain for others.”

Jody died peacefully in the hospital surrounded by George, her daughter, Alicia, and Shasta. Often in her decline,  Tom Waggoner was also at her bedside. The practices from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice were followed. There was a stupa at her crown, a prayer wheel at the bend of her left arm, a Namgyalma mantra over her heart, and the prayers Rinpoche designed, with all the important mantras to be recited, gently resting on her chest. Breathing evenly and peacefully, when the last breath left her body, Rinpoche was notified, prayers were recited, including Medicine Buddha, The King of Prayers, and many mantras. Medicine Buddha puja was also done at Vajrapani Institute that evening and will be continued every seven days until the forty-ninth day.

We cherish our memories and pray; may Jody be free … at last.

We offer grateful thanks to Elaine Jackson and all of Jody’s dear friends and family who contributed to this obituary.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche requests that students who read obituaries pray that the person mentioned finds a perfect human body, meets a Mahayana guru, and becomes enlightened quickly, or be born in a pure land where the tantric teachings exist and they can become enlightened.” While reading obituaries we can also reflect on our own death and impermanence prompting us to live our lives in the most meaningful way. More advice from Lama Zopa Ripoche on death and dying is available, see Death and Dying: Practices and Resources (fpmt.org/death/).

To read more obituaries from the international FPMT mandala, and to find information on submission guidelines, please visit our new Obituaries page (fpmt.org/media/obituaries/).

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with flower offering at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, August 26, 2022. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Our September e-News is now available!

This issue features news, updates, resources, opportunities, and causes for rejoicing, including:

• Recent teachings and advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
• Thanks to all for their prayers for Ven. Roger
• News about stunning images of the Sixteen Arhats now available to all
• Rejoicing in eleven years of Nyung Na retreats at Institut Vajra Yogini
• New blogs and stories from FPMT.org
• Newly available materials to support your Dharma study and practice
• Opportunities and changes within the 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 FPMT International Office News directly in your email inbox.

Two of the images of the Sixteen Arhats now available in the Foundation Store.

With the project almost three decades in the making now completed, we are happy to share with you beautiful images of the Sixteen Arhat statues which are housed at Nalanda Monastery, France, for your own home and practice.

Nalanda Monastery’s Assistant Director, Ven. Kalden, shares some background on the statue project:

“In order to develop and make everything possible for Nalanda Monastery to flourish, almost 30 years ago, Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised that it would be very beneficial to have statues of the Sixteen Arhats in our altar. All the great teachers say that this is very auspicious to have those statues in the monastery as it creates the causes to attract new monks and to keep the vows purely. As the primary goal of Nalanda is to preserve the monastic tradition, those statues are of a high importance.”

Arya Gopaka, one of the Sixteen Arhats now at Nalanda Monastery.

The Sixteen Arhats (Foe Destroyers) are also known as the Sixteen Sthaviras (Elders) and have destroyed their inner enemy, the delusions, and attained liberation from cyclic existence. At the time of the Buddha’s parinirvana, they vowed to remain in the world to preserve the Dharma until the time of the future buddha, Maitreya.

These sixteen statues were sculpted by artist Jonathan Partridge in Australia, and brought to Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala, India in 2006. Ven. Yonten, an IMI monk from Nalanda, was tasked with shipping the statues safely from Dharamsala to the monastery in France. The local monsoon climate at the time was making the clay brittle, and the already fragile statues, which have varying and unique sizes, called for some inventive and meticulous packing and shipping.

With all the care and precautions, they arrived to France mostly intact, but needing repair. Jonathan was asked to come to Nalanda and repair them and also to finish the amazing Buddha statue in the main gompa of Nalanda Monastery and all the intricate artwork surrounding it. Following the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Bertrand Cayla then created molds of all statues with the help of the late Ven. Tsultrim and Cai Martinez and Losang Rabten from Spain. These molds can now cater to FPMT centers, who would like to receive a set of these statues themselves.

The masterful painting of the statues was offered by Sonam Sherpa, a talented Nepali artist who has completed many large projects for Nalanda, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and other FPMT centers. A short documentary of Sonam’s work on the statues was filmed in 2015.

Once the statues were fully completed, the monastery offered a consecration puja, and the statues now reside on the main altar. Earlier this year, Nalanda was awarded a grant through the Merit Box Project to help fund the creation of the altar to hold the statues.

Please enjoy this short video on the making and history of these statues:

Images of the Statues Available to Download and Print

Lama Zopa Rinpoche requested the statues be photographed so the images could be available to others. A collection of professionally-produced images of the statues, complete with beautiful backgrounds, is now available for download in the FPMT Foundation Store.

Arya Rahula, one of the Sixteen Arhats now at Nalanda Monastery.

The images can serve to inspire and be an object of offerings, and accompany practice of the Sixteen Arhats puja. Here are some of the benefits of making offerings and prayers to the Sixteen Arhats:

• All the victorious ones (buddhas) are pleased.
• Anyone who correctly practices it will have no obstacles.
• One will be able to abide in pure morality.
• It increases one’s scriptural understanding and realization.
• One will have perfect inner and outer conditions to practice Dharma.
• One will not be overwhelmed by untimely death and will have a long life.
• The community of Sangha will be increased.
• The study and practice of the Tripitaka (Three Baskets) will increase.

Artist Sonam Sherpa composed the following dedication. We invite you all to join us in rejoicing in the completion of this incredible project and the availability of these auspicious images for all:

Order the complete set of images of the Sixteen Arhats statues through the Foundation Store.

Don’t miss also Nalanda’s upcoming program for 2023: The Sound of Many Hands Clapping Debate course, led by Geshe Tenzin Losel and presented in English. In February they begin a new program, Stepping out on the Path, also led by Geshe Losel in English. A five-month course for those who wish to dive deeper into the following His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s book: Becoming Enlightened. Parallel to this, resident teacher Geshe Gyaltsen, will give teachings on Arya Nagarjuna texts, enriching one’s understanding of emptiness and dependent arising. And to finish the year a precious commentary, group sadhana practice, and the approximation retreat with fire puja of Solitary Hero Yamantaka will also be guided by Geshe Gyaltsen.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at the conclusion of the Exploring & Living in the Path course at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore, August 7, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

From March 27 through August 7 of this year, FPMT East & Southeast Asia offered their first international live online course to bring together students throughout the region. The classes varied in topics and formats, alternated between Chinese and English, and were led by a number of class leaders. The program concluded auspiciously with Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering a surprise teaching, “You Are So Fortunate to Meet the Lamrim Teachings,” for the final session of the course during his visit of Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore. This is a very useful teaching for us all in which Rinpoche discusses the importance of the lamrim and Dharma study. 

Below is a cheerful report from Selina Foong, Regional Coordinator for FPMT East & Southeast Asia Regional Office, on the Exploring & Living in the Path course:

We recently concluded our first regional course Exploring & Living in the Path, and what a wonderful experience it was! When 2021 was drawing to a close, this course did not even have a name. In fact, it was nothing more than a vague wish to connect with more of our Dharma brothers and sisters in the East and Southeast Asian region, and to encourage and inspire each other amidst the challenges of Covid-19 which by that point had worn many of us out. We decided that the undoubted basis of the course should surely be Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his precious teachings, and that was how it all began.

The idea germinated rapidly, and in March 2022, we launched Exploring & Living in the Path to an international online audience, with more than 175 people joining us on 27th March. WOW! (The course draws from Rinpoche’s Living in the Path program, which has a selection of Rinpoche’s teaching videos as a part of every session.)

From that auspicious beginning, a session was held every fortnight. There were a total of 10 sessions, alternating between English and Chinese. Every session was centered on a specific theme, and was a lively mix which included Rinpoche’s video extracts as well as further elaborations and personal sharing. Each session was presented by a different class leader, drawn from across our region. This worked very well as it highlighted both the rich variety and strong commonality between us all. We also noticed a consistent core of participants as the sessions progressed, which was very encouraging.

Class leaders for Exploring & Living in the Path regional online course. Images courtesy of FPMT East & Southeast Asia Facebook page.

The class leaders worked really hard to prepare for their respective sessions and to select their relevant Rinpoche video extracts, so much so that many of them said they were unable to sleep prior to their session, such was their level of anticipation (and anxiety!). Well, it was all worth it in the end. Every session went without a hitch—give or take a few hyperactive monkeys jumping on overhead wires, impatient pet dogs barking for the session to finish, and a translator unable to hear much of what the class leader was saying due to poor internet connection! It all added to the fun (in retrospect!).

It had been such a humble start to our regional cooperation. When it started, we had no idea if anybody would even join our Zoom sessions. As the weeks and months went by, momentum gathered. Even so, we could not have predicted, even in our wildest dreams, that the final teaching would be by Rinpoche himself, simultaneously translated into seven languages, with participants from our entire region (Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, Taiwan and the other Chinese speaking countries), and students and friends from seventeen other countries in total, including Argentina, Canada, Finland, and the Philippines. Amazing!

And the most profoundly joyful thing? Feeling our Holy Guru and his blessings with us, every step of the way. The online course had started on March 27, a tsog day, which we had no idea about when we were preparing the schedule. Our first class leader, Ven. Drachom, then surprised us by presenting his session not from his base in Singapore, but from Kopan Monastery where Lama Zopa Rinpoche also was at the time. And the course concluded on August 7, another tsog day, with a beautiful guru puja followed by a teaching by Rinpoche himself at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, our very doorstep! We had zero inkling of any of this until the last minute, and we continue to marvel at it all.

May the merits generated from this first regional course be dedicated to our incomparably kind and precious Holy Guru Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, without whom we would be hopelessly lost. May Rinpoche have excellent health, a stupendously long life, and may all his wishes be instantly fulfilled!

We invite you to enjoy this video celebrating a year’s highlights from FPMT East & Southeast Asia during 2021-2022, which was compiled by regional coordinator Selina Foong and played before Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s first teaching on August 7 at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore.

Video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teaching at the end of this event, “You Are So Fortunate to Meet the Lamrim Teachings,” is available to view on YouTube . A full transcript of this teaching is available for download. 

Recordings of the “Exploring & Living in the Path” online course can be found on the FPMT East & Southeast Asia Youtube channel.

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.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama teaching in Dharamsala to 9,000 students, July 2022. Photo by Cynthia Karena.

From July 8-9, 2022, His Holiness gave teachings in Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, HP, India, to 9,000 students. His Holiness offered the Heruka Initiation of the Luipa Tradition. FPMT Australian student Cynthia Karena, a regular contributor to FPMT.org who  attended the initiation with others from Tara Institute, Australia, spoke to participants about their experience, and shared her own.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama blessing Tara Institute Resident Teacher Geshe Doga, July 2022. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Initially I thought it was madness when I heard a group from Tara Institute was going to Dharamsala in July. Who goes to India in the monsoon? But Geshe Doga (our resident teacher) once told me that when you have an opportunity to see His Holiness, you should take it. So twenty-one of us donned our gumboots and traveled with Geshe Doga to receive the Heruka Initiation of the Luipa Tradition, along with around 9,000 others. 

The initiation was held from July 8-9 in the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala with a long life prayer to His Holiness on July 10. We were also lucky enough to arrive in time for His Holiness’s 87th birthday celebrations on July 6.

As well as the Heruka initiation, His Holiness also spoke about selfishness and compassion. I couldn’t help but notice His Holiness spoke on this almost immediately after one group with plenty of space around them refused a seat to one of their own! There are always selfish seating issues in every teaching I have ever attended. 

What really struck a chord with me was when His Holiness emphasized looking within, rather than externally, to reach Buddhahood. Getting there is the tricky bit. His Holiness says we need to manifest and use the clear light mind to meditate on emptiness. Am I capable? I’m hoping this initiation will kick-start something profound.

Chatting to people about their experiences, doubts, and fears, I’m convinced there were 9,000 versions of His Holiness individually interacting and benefitting each one of us. I continue to be amazed at the profound effect His Holiness has on us all.

His Holiness teaches a crowd of 9,000 in Dharamsala India, July 8-9 2022. Photo by Cynthia Karena.

Dr. Ross Moore, FPMT registered teacher, and former director of Tara Institute came to India in the wake of a bone marrow transplant to treat cancer. “I was so very deeply moved by the opening twenty minutes of His Holiness’s introduction to the preliminaries of the Luipa Chakrasamvara practice in which a concise and profound account of the purpose of tantra was given,” Ross shared. “Sitting there among hundreds of accomplished Sangha and dedicated lay practitioners I shared in the inspirational call to seek enlightenment, not by referring out there—to the realm of sensual perceptions—but rather, to turn inside by learning how to dissolve our coarse conceptual minds into our own innate mind of clear light and then use this to realize emptiness.” 

For Ross, this was a truly transformative event. “Having had my own brush with death and serious illness, it was made blatantly obvious that to delay attempting such—admittedly very profound—practices was clearly nothing less than negligence, if not also deluded foolishness. The message is clear: there is no better time to meditate than now.” 

When Damien Busby, another former director of Tara Institute saw His Holiness in person he had a “sudden feeling that everything was right in the world. Just seeing His Holiness was enough for me, the whole trip felt justified.

“The one thing that struck me was seeing some of the old lamas; and thinking how many of the lamas that I was fortunate enough to see in past trips have now departed. The sense I got was that my life was also over and that I really need to reduce the distractions and trivial activities from my life.”

We recently published very precious words from Lama Zopa Rinpoche praising the qualities of His Holiness the Dalai Lama:
https://fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche/his-holiness-has-taken-the-responsibility-to-do-the-holy-actions-of-all-the-infinite-buddhas/

For more information on His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his beneficial activities, please visit DalaiLama.com and also view His Holiness’s public schedule. 

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 Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.

Gen Ngawang Namgyal, pictured right, with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the young Rigsel Rinpoche, November 2021, Kopan Monastery, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Gen Ngawang Namgyal died in Kathmandu, Nepal, on July 5, 2022.

Gen Ngawang Namgyal was one of the first monks at Lawudo and Kopan Monastery. Before his passing on July 5, Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited him at Karuna Hospital, offering prayers and pujas for him, at his bedside. We invite you to rejoice in his life, living in morality and serving the Dharma. Please offer prayers at this critical time for him, that he may quickly attain enlightenment or be born in a pure land where he can become enlightened quickly.

Gen Ngawang Namgyal was born in Solo Khumbu, Nepal. His father had a close connection with Lama Zopa Rinpoche when both he and Rinpoche were young. He ordained as a child and split his early life between the villages of Thame and Lawudo, sometimes receiving teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche when Rinpoche would visit Lawudo in the very early days. He later arrived at Kopan Monastery from Lawudo during Kopan’s very first days, receiving teachings from Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khensur Lama Lhundrup, and others, as the monastery began to take form. 

Gen Ngawang Namgyal shared the following from a June 2020 interview about his time during the founding of Kopan:

“At Kopan Monastery also texts were rare. At night we would copy out Tenets and prayers and other texts on our own notebooks, then Lama Yeshe would teach us how to recite prayers and so forth. We carried on like that. From that time, I’ve stayed at Kopan, for a long time. The number of monks has gradually increased, the studies and facilities and so forth gradually becoming better and better without much trouble. We all work together very well. It’s not that those of us here from the beginning have done everything. Everybody has worked very hard to make it what it is.”

While the monastery was developing, Gen Ngawang Namgyal would continue to travel back to Lawudo. Life was challenging there, and the small group of Lawudo monks had to beg for potatoes at times for food. Eventually, as the number of monks increased at Kopan, and trips to Lawudo became more difficult, he moved to Kopan permanently, where he would spend the rest of his life.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche reciting mantras for Gen Ngawang Namgyal just before he passed away at Karuna Hospital. Gen Namgyal was one of the first monks of Kopan and Lawudo Monasteries. Kathmandu, Nepal, June 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

To conclude the 2020 interview about his life at Kopan, Gen Ngawang Namgyal shared:

“In dependence on [the lamas’ and so many supporters’] kindness our monastery has developed and improved. The main improvement is subduing one’s own mind, improving oneself depends on subduing the mind. It’s just as it says in the prayer:

‘Bless me that my mind becomes Dharma, that Dharma becomes the path, and that path be without obstacles.’

“And then if one can make effort until reaching the state of buddhahood that is excellent. Just external development is not development. In order to develop internally we need study, but to study and not understand how to use that to develop internally one becomes very strange. To use the studies one has put within to develop and improve as a person we need to work at using methods to subdue our minds through practice. When we have external needs fulfilled with favorable conditions, these are just external things. The main thing is to improve our minds by improving our studies and improving our practice in order to gradually achieve liberation and enlightenment. You all probably know all this. So, this is what little I have to say.

“May Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche have a long stable life, and all his holy activities spread, and whatever Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche intends, may this be effortlessly and spontaneously accomplished. Then also, may all the various foreigners who have helped our monastery develop through sponsorship and their efforts caring for the monastery, they have really wonderfully served the monastery, then all the ordained Sangha, and the teachers, for all the benefactors, and for all I offer prayers. We should not pray just for ourselves alone that we achieve the state of enlightenment, that’s not good, but if we can pray for all sentient beings to achieve the state of enlightenment that’s best.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche requests that students who read obituaries pray that the person mentioned finds a perfect human body, meets a Mahayana guru, and becomes enlightened quickly, or be born in a pure land where the tantric teachings exist and they can become enlightened.” While reading obituaries we can also reflect on our own death and impermanence prompting us to live our lives in the most meaningful way. More advice from Lama Zopa Ripoche on death and dying is available, see Death and Dying: Practices and Resources (fpmt.org/death/).

To read more obituaries from the international FPMT mandala, and to find information on submission guidelines, please visit our new Obituaries page (fpmt.org/media/obituaries/).

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Singapore, July 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

We are pleased to share our August 2022 e-news with you! This issue features news, updates, resources, opportunities, and causes for rejoicing, including:

• News about Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings in Singapore
• Newly published teachings and advice
• Rejoicing in support offered to children in India and Nepal
• Information about scholarships available for the next FPMT Masters programs
• Opportunities and changes within the FPMT organization
• Highlights from the Foundation Store

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 FPMT International Office News directly in your email inbox.

Rinpoche in the garden at Kopan Monastery, Kopan Monastery, Boudhanath, Nepal; Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang. 

We are pleased to share our July 2022 e-news with you! This issue features news, updates, resources, opportunities, and causes for rejoicing, including:

• An update on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s health and practices offered for Rinpoche’s long life
• An overview and new photo album of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent activities
• Links to new teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
• Social Service grants offered in support of elderly Tibetans as well as vulnerable animals
• New resources for 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 FPMT International Office News directly in your email inbox.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering an oral transmission of the Sutra of Golden Light, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, October 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said about the Sutra of Golden Light, “This text is very precious; it brings peace and happiness and is very powerful to stop violence. By hearing this text, one’s karma is purified.” Rinpoche has made a personal vow to propagate the Sutra of Golden Light and give oral transmissions of it in many parts of the world. Having the sutra recited as much as possible is also one of Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT. Rinpoche has said, “I would like to make this request with my two palms together, to please recite the Sutra of Golden Light for world peace as much as you can.”

Flower offering on a river bank in Ukraine where students performed an animal liberation on Saka Dawa despite a bomb landing near their location.

For many years, students around the world have been reciting this powerful sutra to fulfill Rinpoche’s wishes and bring about a better world. So far this year, students in more than thirty countries have been reciting the Sutra of Golden Light. As of June, the sutra has been recited more than 1,250 times in 2022, with more than a fourth of those recitations happening in Ukraine.

When war broke out in Ukraine, a Buddhist student there made a translation of the sutra into Ukrainian.  A group of students there then began reciting the sutra daily. This group also held an animal liberation for over 100 crawfish on Saka Dawa. A bomb landed in front of them on the other bank of river as they practiced, but they continued. One of the participants shared, “So this  is our life now—hearing bombs and warning alarms, but keeping on practicing.” This practice of animal liberation was inspired by Chapter Seventeen, “The Previous Lives of Jalavahana’s Fish Disciples.” Another student shared, “That chapter told us how Jalavahana saw the numerous hundreds of fish, that had a lack of food and water and helped them. The strength of Jalavahana’s compassion for those fish was so powerful that  it touched my heart. Having read this chapter, the seed of bodhicitta emerged in our  hearts.”

Ganden Tendar Ling Center in Moscow has also organized a group recitation of the Sutra of Golden Light on Zoom, completing 108 recitations as of late May. Ganden Tendar Ling wrote about the ongoing group recitation practice, “We dedicated the merits to peace in the whole world, to a good rebirth of the killed people, to the leaders of all countries to meet the Dharma and to govern their countries according to the Dharma, to development of compassion in the heart of all people especially of the military people, to generating bodhicitta in the mind of those who were reciting the sutra and in the minds of all sentient beings. We dedicated merits to the long life of His Holiness Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. We continue the group recitation and are going to collect another 108.”

Students in Singapore, the Netherlands, and Italy have also contributed significantly to this year’s recitation count. The total count of Sutra of Golden Light recitations done is 54,029 by students in ninety countries. Students doing the recitations have regularly reported experiencing a sense of peace from even reciting a small amount of the sutra. 

Please visit our webpage dedicated to the recitation of the Sutra of Golden Light where you will find many resources and links, including:

• PDFs of the sutra in fifteen different languages
• Audio and video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering an oral transmission of the sutra
• Advice from Rinpoche on the benefits of reciting the sutra
• Instructions on how to dedicate your recitations and how to report them
• Stories from students about experiences reciting the sutra

“The holy Sutra of Golden Light is extremely powerful and fulfills all one’s wishes, as well as bringing peace and happiness for all sentient beings, up to enlightenment,” Rinpoche said in the advice “Recite the Golden Light Sutra for World Peace.” “It is also extremely powerful for world peace, for your own protection, the protection of your country, and the world. Also, it has great healing power for living beings in the area in which you are reciting.”

Learn more and find links and resources on our Sutra of Golden Light page:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/sutras/golden-light-sutra/

Related reading: Institut Vajra Yogini Offers Over 1,000 Recitations of ‘Sutra of Golden Light’ to Rinpoche:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt-community-news/news-around-the-world/institut-vajra-yogini-offers-over-1000-recitations-of-sutra-of-golden-light-to-rinpoche/

Currently FPMT Translation Services is overseeing the translation of the 29-chapter and 31-chapter versions of the Sutra of Golden Light as well as reviewing the translation of the 21-chapter edition. You can help sponsor these projects through the FPMT Translation Fund.

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

His Holiness the Dalai Lama smiling at guests gathered for a long life ceremony for His Holiness, Dharamsala, India, June 24, 2022. Photo by Tenzin Choejor, courtesy of DalaiLama.com.

Tibetans around the world, along with an international community of students of Tibetan Buddhism, celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 87th birthday on July 6. 

FPMT International Office joins the world in gratefully rejoicing in His Holiness’s exceptionally beneficial life and we offer prayers for his good health and long life among us. His Holiness has been an incomparable source of reverence and guidance to the FPMT organization since its inception, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche reminds us continuously that the highest priority for the organization is fulfilling the wishes of and offering service to His Holiness. “This is the quickest and most vast way of benefiting sentient beings,” Rinpoche has explained. 

We have compiled resources for all of those wishing to make His Holiness’s birthday as beneficial as possible, as the means to honor a life of unending service to others, marked with extraordinary patience which inspires all. 

On behalf of all sentient beings in desperate need of your perfect example of universal love and unending compassion for others—please, please live a very long time, Your Holiness!

For more on His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his beneficial activities, please visit DalaiLama.com.

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

Illumin8 Festival of Light and Peace, June 4, 2022, the Great Stupa, AUS. Photo courtesy of the Great Stupa.

On June 4, 2022, the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, in Bendigo, Australia, offered a sold-out Illumin8 Festival for the first time since 2019, enabling them to showcase all of the new Peace Park lighting features onsite. Thanks to funding from Regional Development Victoria and the City of Greater Bendigo, the Peace Park was lit up in a vibrant display of lights and color. The Great Stupa shared the following in a recent newsletter:

“The guests who braved the weather were treated to a fun night of multicultural performances from local talent, local vegetarian food, a chance to explore our Peace Park at night, and the all new fairy light display, as well as enjoy roaming performers, all concluding with a fireworks show and our Burning the Bad. It was such a great experience to be able to hold an event again, we can’t thank all our supporters enough who helped by coming or being a part of our night. We are looking forward to bringing you much more night time entertainment throughout the years to come.”

We invite you all to rejoice in these incredible images of this festival below and the inspiring work and ongoing achievements of the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion. 

Illumin8 Festival of Light and Peace, June 4, 2022, the Great Stupa, AUS. Photo courtesy of the Great Stupa.

Illumin8 Festival of Light and Peace, June 4, 2022, the Great Stupa, AUS. Photo courtesy of the Great Stupa.

Illumin8 Festival of Light and Peace, June 4, 2022, the Great Stupa, AUS. Photo courtesy of the Great Stupa.

Illumin8 Festival of Light and Peace, June 4, 2022, the Great Stupa, AUS. Photo courtesy of the Great Stupa.

Interfaith members joined Maree Edwards MP and Great Stupa Library volunteers following news of the funding for the new Great Stupa Library. Photo courtesy of the Great Stupa.

We are also rejoicing in the additional news that the Great Stupa has received funding to begin building a library, which will be located inside the stupa, due to be completed in November 2022. Lama Yeshe had a vision that the Great Stupa would include a library, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama encouraged the project to develop the library as a center to encourage wider research, study, and discussion on Buddhism, along with science, other religions, and contemplative philosophies. The Great Stupa offered thanks to the Multicultural Community Infrastructure Fund and the Victorian Government for providing the funding. More information can be found in a recent article by Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

To learn more about the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion and the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace, visit the website:
https://www.stupa.org.au

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 Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.