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Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Pokhara, Nepal, December 2021.
Welcome to the March 2022 edition of our e-news! This issue features news, updates, resources, opportunities, and causes for rejoicing including:
- An update on the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on March 11
- Teachings and excerpts from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Rejoicing in new holy objects created for the success of FPMT and all beings
- A list of new resources available in the Foundation Store
- News about opportunities and changes within the organization
And much more!
Please enjoy 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, Pokhara, Nepal, December 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Losar Tashi Delek!
Happy Tibetan new year to all our dear friends!
With love from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and everyone at FPMT International Office.
Read more about Losar, the Fifteen Days of Miracles, and what practices to do during this auspicious period, which begins on March 3 this year!
The Liberation Tibetan Calendar 2022: Year of the Water Tiger 2149 is now available. Many thanks to the Liberation Prison Project for continuing to produce this calendar, which also supports the work of the project. A limited view of the calendar is always available on “Dharma Practice Dates” as a courtesy to FPMT students around the world.
We Invite New Friends for the New Year
Friends of FPMT supporters have complimentary access to our online study programs like Discovering Buddhism, Heart Advice for Death & Dying, and Basic Program, downloadable materials from FPMT Education Services, ebooks from Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the Mandala Magazine e-archive, the 2022 Liberation Calendar, and more.
We’re hoping to welcome at least 108 new Friends during these fifteen merit-multiplying Buddha Days. Learn more about the Friends program and giving levels.
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.
Telo Tulku Rinpoche looking through Nalanda Monastery Workshops’s catalog of silicone tsa-tsa molds, Moscow, Russia, November 2021. Photo by Nima-Handa.
The Tsa-tsa Workshop, an educational project of Ganden Tendar Ling Center, the FPMT center in Moscow, Russia, has been teaching the tsa-tsa making practice since November 2019. Center director Andrey Lomonosov shared the following update on the workshop.
At the beginning of 2021, a community from Kalmykia asked us to help make tsa-tsas for the construction of a temple complex in the village Ketchenery. Kalmykia is a republic in Russia where Buddhism is the primary religion. Ketchenery is special because it is the birthplace of Geshe Ngawang Wangyal (1901-1983), who played a key role in introducing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. In 1958, Geshe Wangyal established the first Tibetan Buddhist Dharma center in the United State, where leading Western scholars such as Robert Thurman, Jeffrey Hopkins, and Alexander Berzin studied. The temple complex that is being built in Ketchenery is on a site that His Holiness the Dalai Lama personally chose and consecrated when he visited Kalmykia thirty years ago.
Image of temple complex planned for Ketchenery, Kalmykia
For the construction of the temple complex, it was necessary to produce 10,000-12,000 tsa-tsas by the end of 2021. Local residents make tsa-tsas from clay, but it is difficult for them to make a large amount without the help of others. At the beginning of 2021, we began making tsa-tsas for Ketchenery as group practices on weekends.
Making tsa-tsas in Ketchenery, Kalmykia, Russia, May 2021. Photo by Nima-Handa.
In May 2021 by the blessing of Telo Tulku Rinpoche—who is the Shadjin Lama of the Kalmyk Republic (Head of Kalmyk Buddhists) and the representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Russia, Mongolia, and Commonwealth of Independent States countries—a group of eight volunteers led by Nima-Handa, the coordinator of the workshop, went to Ketchenery to make tsa-tsas on site. It took eighteen hours to drive from Moscow to Ketchenery by car. The volunteers brought with them all the necessary equipment—silicone molds, plaster, paints, as well as books that the Ganden Tendar Ling Center presented to the villagers. During one week, the volunteers were able to make about 1,500 tsa-tsas. It was intended for them to stay longer and make more, but, unfortunately, due to the outbreak of the pandemic in the village, the volunteers had to return to Moscow.
Telo Tulku Rinpoche looking at tsa-tsas, Moscow, Russia, November 2021. Photo by Liana.
In Moscow, we continued to make tsa-tsas for Ketchenery. In September the directors of Ganden Tendar Ling decided to rent a special room for the workshop that allowed people to make tsa-tsas not only on weekends but on other days as well. Every week around twenty people engaged in making tsa-tsas in our workshop.
On November 28, Telo Tulku Rinpoche visited the workshop to consecrate the next batch of ready-made tsa-tsas before being sent to Kalmykia. It was a great honor for the volunteers to receive Rinpoche in the workshop. We talked in detail about the process of making a tsa-tsas from plaster and showed him all of our tools and materials. Rinpoche was very pleased with our success and noted that this is a real contribution to the revival of Buddhist art in Russia, lost during the years of repression in the last century. Rinpoche recommended that next year we should travel to Kalmykia to train local residents in the practice of making tsa-tsas.
By the end of 2021 the total quantity of tsa-tsas sent to Kalmykia exceeded 3,000 pieces. We were very happy to make our contribution to fulfilling the wish of His Holiness Dalai Lama to build a temple complex in the village Ketchenery in Kalmykia. Our special thanks to Nalanda Monastery Tsa-Tsa Workshop, which supported us in learning the practice of making tsa-tsas.
Telo Tulku Rinpoche with Tsa-tsa Workshop volunteers, Moscow, Russia, November 2021. Photo by Nima-Handa.
To learn more about Ganden Tendar Ling Center, visit their website:
https://fpmt.ru/
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from 150 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Chandragiri Hill Resort, Nepal, November 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
We are pleased to share our February e-News with you!
This issue features news, updates, resources, opportunities, and causes for rejoicing including:
- A long life puja being offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on March 11
- Teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Resources for your practice on Losar and Fifteen Days of Miracles
- Information about this year’s Merit Box collection
- New FPMT Masters Program offered in two locations
- Opportunities and changes within the FPMT organization
And much more!
Please enjoy 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.
The FPMT International Office e-News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.
Tenzin Ösel Hita and his son, Norbu. Photo courtesy of One-Big-Love.com.
On behalf of the entire FPMT organization, FPMT International Office wishes Tenzin Ösel Hita a very happy birthday and a long, healthy life. May his beneficial activities, including his Global Tree Initiative, flourish and may his wishes manifest without delay!
Tenzin Ösel Hita, the recognized reincarnation of FPMT founder Lama Yeshe, turns 37 this year. He shared this on his Facebook page:
“For my birthday this year, February 12, I am asking for donations to the Global Tree Initiative! This is the best present you can offer.
“We are entering a new age. I feel that the One Universal Family, through the Global Tree Initiative (PlantGrowSave.org) is going to unite people from all religions into a harmonious whole as we participate and collaborate around this life-generating activity. This is one of the pillars of the Dalai Lama—religious harmony.
“We are living a non-sustainable, consumerist life. Therefore, the least we can do is collaborate in planting a few trees. Individually but together, we will make a difference in the next two hundred years. The trees that we plant, now, will bring benefits for hundreds of years, long after we are gone.”
Learn more about Ösel and his projects on his website:
https://one-big-love.com/
Rowena Mayer, 81, died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States, on January 26, 2022, of cancer
By Don Handrick
Rowena Mayer, 2010. Photo courtesy of Rowena’s Facebook page.
Rowena Mayer met the Dharma for the first time in the early 1980s when she attended a teaching with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Santa Cruz, California. After that she started going to Vajrapani Institute in Boulder Creek for classes and retreats while raising her family in Big Sur. One of her California Dharma friends David Molk recalled Rowena’s cheerful perseverance in her practice as she worked as a school teacher. She lived right at Pacific Valley School in Big Sur in chaotic, cramped circumstances, which might have discouraged or distracted a less stable and persistent practitioner.
Rowena moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2002, and shortly afterward connected with Thubten Norbu Ling Tibetan Buddhist Center(TNL), where she served as the center director from 2006 until early 2018, guiding the development of its programs and events, and helping the community to grow into one of the largest Buddhist centers in Santa Fe. As the “mommy” of the center, Rowena was a constant presence, greeting and welcoming nearly everyone who came through its doors.
During her years as center director, she persisted in inviting Geshe Thubten Sherab to return to New Mexico, where he had worked at FPMT’s International Office when it was located in Taos from 2001-2003. It was her strong wish that Geshe Sherab become the center’s first resident geshe, and in 2013 he agreed to do that on a part-time basis, sharing the teaching duties for half of each year with TNL’s other resident teacher, myself.
Rowena with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Geshe Thubten Sherab, and Don Handrick at Thubten Norbu Ling, Santa Fe, 2017. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.
She also continually invited Lama Zopa Rinpoche to come to Santa Fe. And her years of dedication to TNL, the FPMT organization, and Rinpoche resulted in his weeklong visit in August 2017, which included several teachings and initiations that were attended by over 200 people. The blessings of Rinpoche’s visit continue to benefit TNL in that it has grown into a large community of practitioners with an expanded program and a new building that is set to open later in 2022.
Nearly a hundred members of the TNL and FPMT community who knew Rowena joined an online Medicine Buddha puja that was conducted for her by Geshe Sherab on the evening of January 26, 2022. Rowena’s daughters and other family members watched the puja that night with her, and she took her last breath shortly before the puja ended. A few days before she passed, she had mentioned to one of her daughters that Medicine Buddha had visited and spoke with her, so it seemed most auspicious that her final moments came during that particular puja.
Rowena will be remembered for her incredible kindness and the loving concern she showed to so many. Moreover, as a practitioner, she demonstrated a genuine enthusiasm for the Dharma that will continue to inspire all those who practiced with her. What a blessing it was to have had her in our lives!
*After reading this obituary, Lama Zopa Rinpoche commented: “From the person’s side, to live the life as a very good human being and from Medicine Buddha’s side, the most powerful is to make prayers to and practice in degenerate times (from sutra and from tantra). Hence Rowena had no worries at the time of death. Whoever one practices in the life can therefore appear to oneself at death time.”
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/).
Eléa Redel, 74, died of rheumatoid polyarthritis, on January 7, 2022, in Lavaur, France
By Christian Charrier
Eléa Redel, 2021. Photo courtesy of Institut Vajra Yogini.
Eléa Redel was finally released from her long-term physical suffering on January 7, 2022, at Institut Vajra Yogini, France. Geshe Loden, our resident teacher, was at her side and informed Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who responded immediately. Instructions were given and Eléa, lying on her bed, entered straightaway into meditation while Geshe-la and IVY director Nicolas Brun offered practices. She remained absorbed for five days without showing any external sign of death. A message came from His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s secretary expressing that Chenrezig was taking care of the departure of our dearest friend.
Eléa was born in France in 1947. She met Lama Yeshe in 1979 in Dharamsala and became actively involved in the FPMT organization. In France, she served as a translator and founder of Vajra Yogini Publications (now “Editions Mahayana”). In India, she was the director of Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program, one of the leading schools in the training of specialized interpreters and translators from Tibetan.
Eléa was a charismatic and sensitive person, and people enjoyed her company. She was also an intelligent student, who got her inspiration and wisdom from her kind heart. Although she never studied in a strictly academic way, her knowledge of Dharma was both very thorough and practical. She had an unwavering devotion to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Yeshe, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, whose words she translated or helped to translate into French. She was a reliable and meticulous translator and copy editor.
Eléa was the first person I met when I arrived at Institut Vajra Yogini in 1981 during Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s visit. She immediately struck me as being a leading figure there. At this time, she would wear rainbow-colored woolen gloves with cut-off fingers as she spent her days typing on an old machine. (We did not have computers or even heaters in those days.) I soon discovered that behind her rainbow gloves were fingers that had started to swell and take on a deformed aspect. Day by day, as her whole body slowly transformed, pain and infirmity became more and more vicious. But she was brave and did not let her crippling disease stop her from serving the community and the Dharma. She also continued to travel to India and Nepal for teachings and retreats, and went on a pilgrimage to Tibet with Rinpoche.
Eléa with Ven. Charles Trebaol. Photo courtesy of Institut Vajra Yogini.
Although tortured physically, her inner rainbow light continued to shine through and illuminate her environment and friends. Her suffering gradually became a catalyst for spiritual growth. And her way of accepting her illness, with forbearance and patience, revealed a true bodhisattva heart. Her courage was indeed a source of admiration and inspiration for many of us.
In the last years of her life she could not eat, drink, stand up, walk, go to bed, or get up by herself. She needed assistance every time she moved and had to cope mentally with her dependence on others for whatever activity she had to perform or anything she wished to do. Very tough to take for such an independent person!
Gradually she had to let go of her work as a translator and copy editor. In the last years, she concentrated mainly on doing her practices and advised whoever came to visit her. During one of my last visits, she told me that if she had the chance to find another precious human life, she would like to come back as a graceful and sensuous lady whose practice of Dharma would benefit others by “mere sight.” Isn’t it strange that we all wish to be what we already are! Eléa was indeed a beautiful lady, wearing the armor of patience and perseverance, and exemplifying a bodhisattva training in the six perfections. Remembering her, my yo-yo heart fluctuates between sadness and joy.
You can read “Changing Suffering into Happiness” written by Eléa Redel in 1999 for Mandala magazine. This piece has also now been translated into French.
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 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 on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice page.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Paris, 2006. Photo by Duc (pixiduc) from Paris, France, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Buddhist monk, Vietnamese Zen Master, engaged-buddhism proponent, and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh passed away on January 22, 2022, at the age of 95. Spiritual leaders as well as FPMT students and centers around the world have been sharing the deep appreciation they had for this teacher of non-violence and mindfulness.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama released the following message of condolence:
“In his peaceful opposition to the Vietnam war, his support for Martin Luther King and most of all his dedication to sharing with others not only how mindfulness and compassion contribute to inner peace, but also how individuals cultivating peace of mind contributes to genuine world peace, the Venerable lived a truly meaningful life. I have no doubt the best way we can pay tribute to him is to continue his work to promote peace in the world.”
His Eminence the 7th Kyabje Ling Rinpoche encouraged everyone to rejoice and to be inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh’s exemplary life of tireless service to the Buddhadharma and to promoting non-violence, peace and harmony in Vietnam and throughout the entire world.
We invite you to read two teachings from Thich Nhat Hanh previously published in Mandala magazine, Embracing Anger, and Going Home to Yourself.
For more on Thich Nhat Hanh and his passing, please visit the Plum Village website.
FPMT.org brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe as well as from students, teachers, and others in the FPMT community. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Pokhara, Nepal, December 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Best wishes for an auspicious new year from FPMT International Office!
We are happy to bring you our first e-News of 2022. This issue offers news, updates, and causes for rejoicing including:
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent activities and a new photo album
- Continued progress on a stupa being built in Hunsur, India
- New prayers, practices, and MP3s available from FPMT Education Services
- Opportunities and changes within the FPMT organization
and much more!
Please enjoy 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.
The FPMT International Office e-News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.
Screenshot of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching during the Twenty-one Tara statues consecration at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore.
Recently, Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) in Singapore completed an ambitious holy object project advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The three-year project added statues of all the Twenty-one Taras, each standing twenty-four inches high, to the altar in ABC’s beautiful gompa. As part of the October 2021 statue consecration ceremony activities, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered a teaching via Zoom. We are happy to share the video of this teaching with a complete transcript.
Here’s a summary of Rinpoche’s teaching:
Rinpoche begins by thanking everyone listening for their daily Dharma practice, specifically for benefiting others. Rinpoche then offers praise directly to Tan Hup Cheng, director of ABC, for his decades of service to Rinpoche, actualizing Rinpoche’s wishes. Rinpoche also thanks Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, resident teacher of ABC, explaining that, “Even if you offer him skies of wish-granting jewels, not just diamonds, it is never enough. It is not enough to repay the kindness of Khen Rinpoche teaching each word, each time, each class.” Rinpoche also thanks all of the people who have worked to develop ABC and have put effort in with body, speech, and mind over the years. (Watch a short history of ABC on YouTube.)
“Without ABC having started, then all those sentient beings wouldn’t get this opportunity,” Rinpoche explains. “They would not get this opportunity to be closer to freedom from samsara and closer to achieving enlightenment. So many didn’t get reborn in the lower realms and got a higher rebirth. You have to know that—it all came from all the members who worked at different times, who dedicated their precious time to ABC.” Rinpoche emphasizes that working for the center is fulfilling His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s wishes.
Several of the Twenty-one Taras statues at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore.
Rinpoche explains that everything you do with bodhichitta covers the six-realm sentient beings and benefits all the beings you see around you. When you help one single sentient being, you are fulfilling all the Buddhas’ holy wishes. In fact, helping sentient beings is the best offering to the buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Even if you don’t believe in reincarnation and karma, Rinpoche says, you still need holy Dharma, you still need patience. Even if you don’t know Dharma, you need loving kindness and compassion, forgiveness, and moral discipline.
One of the completed Tara statues completed at ABC, Singapore.
You also need to practice contentment and satisfaction, Rinpoche urges. Without it, it is like your mind is in hell. Your happiness has to come from your mind and your suffering has to be stopped from your mind. The mistake is believing that happiness and suffering come from the outside. In fact, enlightenment and hell are in your hands and depend on how you think.
Rinpoche then offers some practical advice for practicing thought transformation in daily life:
- When you experience suffering think that it finishes your negative karma and that you will have happiness in the future.
- When you experience suffering take others’ suffering on yourself.
Rinpoche then spends time discussing Mother Tara, who Rinpoche says is the manifestation of all the buddhas’ holy actions. The consecration of the statues followed this teaching.
Please join us in rejoicing in the completion of this beautiful holy object project, the ongoing success of ABC fulfilling Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes, and the offering of this teaching from Rinpoche during the auspicious consecration event.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
To help ensure grants like this continue toward holy objects, all are welcome to offer a donation of any amount to the Holy Objects Fund.
Ven. Thubten Lhamo offering puja.
The French nun Ven. Thubten Lhamo took refuge at Kopan Monastery in Nepal with Lama Thubten Yeshe in December 1979. She was ordained at Kopan in April 2017, on her sixty-sixth birthday. On November 13, 2017, under Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice, she started a three-year Vajrayogini retreat at Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land in France. To conclude the retreat, Ven. Lhamo had to do fire pujas, which were done with the advice of Geshe Tenzin Loden, the resident geshe at Institut Vajra Yogini (IVY) in France. It took her four months to prepare for doing these pujas at IVY and four additional months to complete them, which happened in July 2021. As we publish this interview, Ven. Lhamo is in the Pyrenees finishing some commitments and doing more retreat.
As she was doing the fire pujas, Nicolas Brun, director of IVY, sat down with Ven. Lhamo to talk about the retreat. She shared that it does not feel appropriate to her to call it “her retreat” since so many people helped her with it. This reflection of her humble and sincere approach to practice runs throughout this interview. Please note that this interview was done in English although French is Ven. Lhamo’s first language. We are so pleased to share it with you. May it be the source of incredible inspiration for your own practice and retreat aspirations!
Offerings at Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land, France.
The Interview
Nicolas Brun: How did you decide to do three-year retreat? It is a large undertaking. What motivated you to do it?
Ven. Lhamo: So, I did not decide. I asked Lama Zopa Rinpoche for advice because I have made so many mistakes. There were many things to do. The advice was written: “three-year retreat.” I thought it was a preliminary practice. I didn’t understand. And then when I stopped working, I asked Rinpoche about this retreat, and he told me, “Vajrayogini retreat.” That’s the way it happened.
How long did it take to prepare to go into retreat? What are the preparations you made?
It took me a long time because when you do retreat you have to do nine preliminaries. Some preliminaries I had done before, but some I had not done. It took me, maybe … two years? More than one year. So I did them at different places—Osel Ling, my house, Institut Vajra Yogini, Nepal, Bodhgaya. I received help from Holly [Ansett] to know what all these preliminaries were because, again, I didn’t know anything about this. It was very funny, you know, I had no information about all this. So the main thing was this preparation.
Beautiful surroundings at Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land.
Describe what an average day was like during the three-year retreat. What was your environment like?
For me it’s not easy to wake up early in the morning, so I woke up at 6:20 A.M. and would start quite late. But I felt okay doing like this. I was doing four sessions a day, maybe two hours each, and finishing later in the evening. I think it was okay for me to do like this. The main thing was to do the four sessions. Except sometimes when I was very tired, I would do three or even one when I was exhausted. But I kept doing my four sessions most of the time. I also had to do my normal practice. I had to cook. I went for a walk every day at lunch time because I was in a very beautiful place in the mountains, and I think for me this was a very good habit because I needed space, you know. The forest was beautiful, and there were animals. It was a good way to relax.
What advice was important to you during this retreat?
I was doing what Lama Zopa asked me to do. This was very important because most of the time I felt that I don’t understand anything, I’m unqualified, my mind is unsubdued. The only thing I had was Rinpoche told me to do this retreat. That was the only thing that could keep me there on my cushion. He knows why I am doing this. But I don’t remember that he gave me special advice. Maybe I would have needed more advice, but maybe I didn’t know how to ask for it, I don’t know. This could maybe have to come from me, but I didn’t ask Rinpoche.
For other people, I think it might be really nice if you have someone who can really help you when you feel bad. And at some point Geshe-la [Geshe Loden] here helped me, but more for practical questions like how to do the fire pujas and things like this.
But what was going on inside, I had to cope with it. I didn’t feel helpless, but maybe that’s the job to do.
Ven. Lhamo at Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land, France.
What was the most difficult part of doing the three year retreat? Did you ever think about giving up?
It was difficult just to be with myself. This is always difficult because you face your mind all day long. You cannot escape. You have to cope with it and face it.
I didn’t think to give up, I don’t think so. But I was desperate, I cried a lot. I had many wounds inside. But I could see that everybody has, so that gives me more compassion for people. When I do funny things or bad things, it is because I have this wound that is not cured. But my challenge was not to get hypnotized by my wounds, but to go very deep inside the wound because then at some point it’s like it disappears. I had this experience. I didn’t think to give up because I said, “Yes, I will do.”
Were there other difficult things other than being with yourself?
Sometimes you can be sick. I became very thin during my retreat. I had problems with the liver, pain all night. And to cope with this, the main thing is the mind.
You have to accept yourself and learn to love yourself. I considered that if I don’t love myself, then I cannot love anyone because then I will pretend I love others just to gain a good feeling or to look nicer or to have a reputation or things like this. I could see it was a duty to love myself. And I wrote, “I have to love myself even when I don’t love myself.” And maybe this is the main thing I have learned. I mean, I am not finished learning this.
Because then, all of the practice is twisted, and I had this question all the time, “Where is the practice? What is the practice?” I had this question and I still have this question. It’s like you have questions, and you just follow something, and the questions are more important than the answers. This is the feeling I have; it is a process—“Where is the practice? Who am I? Who is practicing?”—because I didn’t want to just pretend.
Some of the animals of Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land, France. Photo courtesy of Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land.
What was the most pleasurable part of doing the retreat?
It was not coming from my practice. [Laughter.] The pleasurable part was to go outside in the woods and to see the animals, and I met the people living there, very simple people. It helped me a lot because I talked with them, not much, but yes I talked. They knew I was in retreat, but I didn’t talk about my retreat. I like people like this. No big words, no big complicated Buddhist world.
Sometimes I felt good, and I followed the advice of Lama Yeshe. Lama Yeshe said to write down things. So I had on my table a small booklet, and especially in the morning I wrote many things.
So you had the advice to have a little booklet for writing down notes during the retreat?
Yes, when the thought comes, write it down because some seconds after, it’s finished. So you have to write it down when it comes. It used to come during my first session in the morning. I started and then I write. It was the best time to write. Have it ready to write in, so you don’t have to look for anything.
Do you read through the booklet again sometimes?
I am sometimes surprised what I wrote. Sometimes nice things, yes. So it’s just like a glimpse of something.
What was the most significant thing you learned in the retreat?
What I said before, to love myself. Then, at some point, I don’t know why I had this feeling that good or bad is the same—feeling good, feeling bad is the same. I had this feeling when I finished my retreat. I lost it now.
Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land, France. Photo courtesy of Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land.
You noticed after the retreat there was a little bit of equanimity?
I have no name [for it]. I have this feeling to go somewhere I have no name. I cannot say. Just, to love oneself. Because it’s not me, me, me. Because you can be fascinated by this. It’s just to love yourself, kind of, at the same time detached. I had this feeling that really, this was necessary. And that [there are these questions about] the practice—Where is the practice? Where is the real point? You have to [do this] work, you know? Because I can pretend, which I did before. I did pretend I was a holy being [laughs]. Then I made so many mistakes. So, yeah, Where is the practice? What is the practice? What does it mean really?
What advice do you have for others who are considering doing a long retreat?
I would like to say first that I am a very ordinary being. That means, anybody could do this retreat. Because I am just nobody special. I could do this retreat because so many people helped me all the time. So I had this feeling that it’s not my retreat.
When you feel bad, when you feel lost, at least you remember, “my guru told me to do this.” At least I had this.
Of course, to prepare the material things is so important. Like your papers [such as mail], medicine, health, teeth, what to eat. So with these things you have to be very well organized and have different solutions if things change. People can die. People can get sick. So be very clear about all this.
And then, if you are sick, what do you do? Do you go to see a doctor? Are you going to stay in your house? So I think maybe something has to be done about the caretaker. To help them to know what to do. Because when I was sick, it was difficult, and it’s like, I had to really be sure that I was sick, you know. To allow myself to go to the doctor. I waited until really I couldn’t cope with it. I went to the doctor, and one time to the dentist also.
So the caretakers, it would be important that the caretakers have training or maybe advice about how to help people during retreat because sometimes you have to make big decisions.
Yes, like to go to the doctor, I was not sure if I could wait. Do I have to go or not? I didn’t know, so that was difficult. And you have to think about what to do if people die. Because, of course, some people can die. You have to prepare to separate from your family. For me to separate from my grandson was most difficult.
Do you have any more advice?
Not to wait to be too old. You need energy and to be in good health. Because, of course, if you have pain, it is difficult. You have to know your limits and to know what you need. And for me, I had pain in the knees. But I couldn’t go see a physical therapist. I can go once to the doctor, but I cannot go every week to see them. So then, okay, you have to cope with your pain.
Ven. Lhamo (center) with Geshe Loden and Nicolas Brun, Institut Vajra Yogini, France.
You are doing fire pujas to complete the retreat. How long will that last?
About the fire pujas, I didn’t know anything because you cannot know everything before starting, there are too many things to know. So then you learn little by little. When I asked Lama Zopa Rinpoche he told me to ask Geshe Loden at Institut Vajra Yogni. So then Geshe Loden spoke about making pills, 650,000 pills. Then, I had to buy a machine in China to make pills. So then, that was very difficult. But, what was nice is that many people helped me to make these pills. And during the process we learned a lot. Sometimes we were desperate during the retreat because the machine was not working. Then it was very friendly and very joyful at the same time—the feeling to help each other and do something nice. Actually it was a very good experience. So when we finished it was, “Oh! Finished!” But it is not finished because now I have to burn all of these pills. So to burn I think it will take maybe three months. Something like this.
What do you have planned for what comes next?
I don’t know what I will do next. Maybe I will go to Dorje Pamo Nunnery. I will ask Rinpoche’s advice. This is the main thing. I will offer what I intend to do, and I will ask his advice because I don’t know.
And I still have more retreats to do anyway, all the other retreats. But when I was doing the three-year retreat, I had the feeling that my life now is retreat. I didn’t have the feeling that I will finish now. It’s not that I mediate, I am not a meditator. And if I did this retreat I think it is because I am lazy, I have no discipline. So I need something strong, and then I do.
I hope you are able to find another strong project.
I will see what Lama Zopa Rinpoche says. Really, I feel him a lot. And this place, this place in the Alps, is a very nice place. Because as soon as you go outside, you have this big, big space and it’s beautiful. So this helped a lot.
Billions of Thanks from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
After the retreat, Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote a letter to Ven. Lhamo, including the following:
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, November 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Billions of thank yous for finishing this retreat … so inspiring! And great that Geshe-la was able to help so it was clear for you.
Numberless thanks for doing the retreat and dedicating the life to sentient beings, following His Holiness’ wishes and Lama Yeshe, and that you were able to complete with Geshe-la’s help—as he did two three-year retreats himself—so fortunate! I am sure Vajrayogini is blissed out and extremely pleased. Now you’re ready to go to the pure land. Now in the world there are so many problems with the pandemic, environment, etc. Now you can go to Vajrayogini pure land and there you can become enlightened very quickly, much quicker than in Amitabha pure land, as it takes more than one life there.
This is great inspiration in the world for others to do the three-year retreat of Vajrayogini.
More Advice and Reflection from Ven. Lhamo
In addition to what Ven. Lhamo said about the retreat in her interview, she also wanted to share the following with students thinking about engaging in retreat:
Ven. Lhamo doing puja
- Know yourself with honesty before starting.
- Have a schedule that you can keep according to your capacities and preferences, but have a clear structure and rhythm.
- Have a mentor with whom you can communicate, receive help, and clarify what you are doing and what is happening involving inner work and practical issues.
- Receive the blessing of your teacher, sometimes it is the only “thing” you have to continue.
- Solitude makes you discover and perceive new things. You go through death and craziness. It is not an intellectual reflection but a practical living experience.
- You can sing the practice, listen to audio.
- Do practical work like painting and making things.
Ven. Lhamo said, “When I finished, my first thought was, ‘This was a preparation. I would like to do the real retreat.’ To finish is not easy. … And I really don’t know what I will do after.”
Ven. Lhamo also wishes to sincerely thank the many people who helped her, including sending offerings on her behalf, helping her with the fire pujas, and preparing the pills needed for the fire pujas.
FPMT.org brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe as well as from students, teachers, and others in the FPMT community. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
You can learn more about Thakpa Kachoe Tibetan Buddhist Retreat Land: www.thakpakachoe.org
Lama Zopa Rinpoche giving a teaching during the opening of Buddha House in its new location, Adelaide, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche inspired thousands of students from around the world through the teachings they offered at Kopan Monastery in Nepal during the 1970s and 80s. The centers started by those early students formed the basis for the international FPMT organization. Many of those centers continue to thrive, bringing Dharma teachings to a new generation of students. This year two FPMT centers, Nalanda Monastery in France and Buddha House, in Adelaide, Australia, celebrated their fortieth anniversaries. Here’s an update on Buddha House, based on an article by Lyndy Abrams, who was both key to the founding of the Buddha House and currently serves as the center’s director.
In early December, Buddha House hosted a celebration of its fortieth anniversary. Due to the pandemic, the event was smaller than anticipated. Regardless, forty people gathered for a celebratory dinner, which included a special video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, a presentation on the history of the center with 200 photos, and lots of shared reminiscing, laughter, and rejoicing.
In Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s video, he sends his greetings and reminisces about the times he has spent at Buddha House. Rinpoche named and thanked all the past directors many times and said they created “skies of merit” and “sacrificed their lives” with patience and dedication. He thanked all the past teachers making special mention of the incredible kindness of Khensur Kangyurwa Lobsang Thubten Rinpoche. He called him Khensur Rinpoche Guru, saying he had helped very much, was very knowledgeable, and was an expert on all the teachings. After giving specific teachings on emptiness, developing bodhicitta, and not wasting our lives, Lama Zopa finished by saying if you help the FPMT center, you help so many sentient beings and this is why the center exists. This is most important, Rinpoche says, to give the opportunity to study the Buddha’s teachings.
Lama Yeshe with Will, Lyndy, and Sarah Jay Abrams, Adelaide, Australia, 1981. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Buddha House’s history goes back to the 1970s when Lyndy and Will Abram attended a month-long lamrim courses at Kopan Monastery in Nepal with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In 1981, when Lyndy and Will heard that Lama Yeshe would be doing a teaching tour of Australia, they extended an invitation for him to come and teach in Adelaide.
In late July of that year, Lama Yeshe arrived in the South Australia capital city and taught for three days on The Three Principal Aspects of the Path. The teachings were attended by about seventy-five people, many asking if there was a local center where they could learn more about Buddhism. While in the car driving Lama Yeshe to the airport, Lyndy asked Lama Yeshe if they could start a center in Adelaide.
“Lama said, ‘Yes,’ and to call it Buddha House, Centre for Advanced Buddhist Studies,” Lyndy writes about the historic moment. “He added that it was up to the students to make it happen, and he advised that we do lamrim meditation.”
Lama Yeshe was accompanied by Ven. Thubten Dondrub on the visit, who is from Adelaide and was by then an ordained monk. Gen Dondrub, as his students call him, became the resident teacher of Buddha House in 2012. This year the center purchased an adjoining property for Gen Dondrub to live in, ensuring he is well cared for even after retirement. The center also offered him a long life puja in June. “We are most fortunate to have him as our teacher,” Lyndy writes.
Tony Migalka, Judy Wagner, Jan Vaughan, and Cathy Davis making long life offerings to Gen Dondrub at Buddha House, Adelaide, South Australia, June 2021. Photo by Joanne Foo.
Over the years, Buddha House has been served by many excellent resident teachers, who Lama Zopa Rinpoche listed and thanked in the video he recorded for the anniversary. The center has also been blessed with visits by many inspiring and well regarded teachers. In particular, in 1992 the center organized a visit to Adelaide by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which included a multi-faith event, a Dharma teaching and Chenrezig empowerment, and a public talk attended by over 12,000 people.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has also visited Buddha House on seven occasions over the years. Rinpoche’s first visit was in 1984. Rinpoche’s most recent visit was in 2018, when Rinpoche came to the opening of the center’s new building.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the opening of Buddha House in its new building, Adelaide, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
“Buddha House has a very strong volunteer base, with no paid workers. Many have given over twenty years of service, either in the office or leading meditations. Some of the founding members still lead meditations,” Lyndy Abram writes. “Buddha’s Bowl Catering has brought in need funds during our evolving years with up to twenty volunteers cooking and serving food at major events. Buddha House volunteers supported the building of the stupa at DeTong Ling Retreat Centre, our sister center on Kangaroo Island, and volunteers have ensured the success of many other projects, including the initial visits of the Gyuto monks and events with the Maitreya Loving Kindness Relic Tour.”
The center has an active spiritual program that includes regular Dharma teachings and several guided meditations offered each week. They also organize several popular outreach programs, including a program for those recovering from addiction, a children’s class, programs for those with life challenging illnesses, and a mental health first aid training course. The center also mentors the Himalayan Buddhist refugee community living in the northern suburbs.
Please join us in rejoicing in all the beneficial activities of Buddha House and its dedicated students for so many years.
To learn more about Buddha House, visit their website Buddhahouse.org.
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.