receive our newsletters
join Friends of FPMT
FPMT Community: Stories & News
Greenhaugh Hall, Hexham, Northumberland, United Kindgom. Photo courtesy of Land of Joy.
Andy Wistreich, FPMT registered teacher and coordinator of Land of Joy, a developing FPMT retreat center in the UK, sent this exciting update on the group’s ongoing property hunt:
“Following extensive research, property visits all over the UK and a long check by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Rinpoche advised us to progress the purchase of Greenhaugh Hall in Northumbria as quickly as possible.
“Greenhaugh Hall is attracting a lot of attention as its setting and views are simply beautiful – perfect for the type of retreat center we have been looking for, but also a perfect location for other purchasers. The pressure is on to raise enough funds right now, in order for us to begin negotiations with the vendor before someone else makes a better offer.”
Land of Joy hopes to raise £350,000 (US$581,875) by September 2014 in order to make an appropriate offer. Find more information about their progress and ways to participate on their homepage and Facebook page.
Mandala 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 on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Dechen Ling, the first meditation chalet at Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land, Villatale, France. Photo courtesy of Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land.
Sylvaine Litaud, co-director of Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land, shares exciting news about the FPMT retreat facility and aromatic and medicinal plant farm located in the mountainous southeastern corner of France:
The first meditation chalet at Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land, called “Dechen Ling” was completed last summer and hosted its first solitary retreat. It was quite a rush to have it ready for Ven. Charles, who had planned six months before to start a retreat at the end of August 2013. At that time, there was not even a sign of a single euro for the work left to be done – 300 meters (984 feet) of a heavy electric wire had to be unfolded and tracked through the sloping forest.
The vista from Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land’s first meditation chalet. Photo courtesy of Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land.
However, it is really amazing to see how things can work out quickly when the positive energy of such senior meditators is involved, and now, a small nice wooden house in the middle of wild nature with all amenities and facing a beautiful landscape is ready to host modern yogis and yoginis.
Ven. Charles presence could not have been a better inauguration for Thakpa Kachoe and all sponsors and volunteers were very happy. We thank all our Dharma friends who helped the building financially, including the International Merit Box Project donors.
Mandala 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 on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Umbar, the new caretaker, manager Pema, Phil Hunt and Tania Duratovic, Nepal, January 2014. Photo courtesy of Animal Liberation Sanctuary.
Phil Hunt, co-coordinator of Enlightenment for the Dear Animals, shares the most recent updates from Animal Liberation Sanctuary (ALS), a sanctuary for animals rescued by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from being killed or neglected so that they may live out their natural lives in peace and attain a higher rebirth:
At the start of November 2013, Dr. Howard Ralph from Australia was called over to undertake several operations on the animals assisted by ALS coordinator Tania Duratovic. Goats Norbu, Nyingjey, Tilopa, Tsering, Khedrup, Dawa (a sheep), and others benefited from this visit. Several Nepali veterinarians came to observe the operations as it is a rare thing for them to be able to participate in surgery.
The animals also benefited from Kopan’s annual November course. Students recited mantras and prayers every morning to the animals and many helped out during the mad rush of 34 animals circumambulating (running) around the stupa, keeping them from escaping to the garden.
The new year began with the four-legged residents of the Animal Liberation Sanctuary at Kopan Monastery and Kopan Nunnery in Nepal moving to their new living quarters on land nearby. The land was originally purchased in 2006 but building work did not begin until 2011. A young caretaker family has moved in and in the first week of January so did the animals: 48 goats and 2 sheep (8 cows will remain at Kopan where the terrain is more suitable for them). The move took place over a couple of days with animals being led (or often the other way around!) by several workers from Kopan. The track is very steep and narrow in places so we were quite anxious that the more compromised animals, like Dawa the three-legged sheep and Norbu with his partially amputated leg, may not make it. But they all arrived safely, although very exhausted, and set straight in munching on the grass and leaves.
The monastery residents and the nunnery residents hadn’t met each other so that was another concern for us, but they all seemed to get on quite well, even with a few head butts and a bit of pushing. The new shelter has facilities to separate quieter animals, including a separate stall for Dawa and Nyima the two sheep to sleep safely, as well as a quarantine area and a treatment room. We were also happy to have Roshan from MEND pay us a visit to measure Norbu for a prosthetic limb. We are all very happy that the move went well and the animals are all settling into their new premises. We look forward to them all having a long and healthy peaceful life there.
Learn more about Enlightenment for the Dear Animals and the Animal Liberation Sanctuary Project on their website. You can support the project by visiting their information page on fpmt.org.
Mandala 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 on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Opening ceremony for Jade Buddha for Universal Peace’s visit to Trung Tam Phat Giao To Dinh Minh Dang Quang in Santa Ana, California, January 2014. Photos courtesy of Ian Green / Jade Buddha via Twitter.
Among the many holy object projects created by FPMT students, the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace stands out as a truly international project. Australian student Ian Green oversaw the creation of the Jade Buddha from the enormous Polar Pride jade boulder found in British Columbia, Canada. The boulder was carved in Thailand and modeled on the Buddha statue inside the Mahabodhi Stupa in Bodhgaya, India. Since 2009, it has been touring the world.
In the new issue of Mandala, we report on the Jade Buddha’s current tour of North America, which began on January 2 at the Vietnamese Buddhist Congregation of the United States, Trung Tam Phat Giao To Dinh Minh Dang Quang in Santa Ana, California.
Read the complete story with our online edition for Mandala April-June 2014.
Mandala 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 on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
The participants of Langri Tangpa Centre’s first virtual pilgrimage, November 2013. Photo courtesy of Langri Tangpa Centre.
Miffi Maxmillion, spiritual program coordinator of Langri Tanga Centre in Brisbane, Australia, shares an innovative way to bring the practice of pilgrimage to students unable to travel:
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has often talked about the benefits of pilgrimage, but not all of us are so lucky to go on one. We took Rinpoche’s advice, the Discovering Buddhism pilgrimage notes, and made a fantastic day of it!
Over 20 pilgrims joined in our virtual adventure around the holy Buddhist sites. We viewed a selection of slides from each of the eight Buddhist holy places. Some photos from the 1700s, when they were still mounds of dirt and ruins with trees growing out the top, and some more recent and in the process of restoration. Students who had personally visited these sites shared their impressions, and we discovered details about the lives of the Buddha and his disciples that made them incredibly vivid and immediate – what a bunch of courageous and eccentric practitioners!
Students are able to visit “Bodhgaya” without leaving Australia, November 2013. Photo courtesy of Langri Tangpa Centre.
As we traveled to the eight altars set up around our gompa (just a few feet apart, but we did move all the chairs!), we did prostrations, made offerings and read the sutra associated with the site. (We burned our fingers on the light offerings when reciting the Angulimala Sutra!) By the time we got to Sankashya, the place where Buddha descended from Tushita, the afternoon storm had rolled in, thunder was shaking the heavens, and we were sure the celestial ladder was about to descend right there in front of us! We ended 15 minutes earlier than planned, with personal dedications and a heartfelt wish held by all to travel in the Buddha’s footsteps all the way to enlightenment. We’ve put together a pilgrimage kit now, and I can’t recommend it enough – one of the highlights of 2013.
Mandala 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 on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Choe Khor Sum Ling students at the Jangchup Lamrim teachings, Sera Je Monastery, India, December 2013. Photo by Bill Kane.
Dee Shekhar, member of Choe Khor Sum Ling in Bangalore, India, shares news from the December 2013 Jangchup Lamrim teachings with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Sera Je Monastery in South India:
The month of December proved to be doubly important for the members of Choe Khor Sum Ling. We were very blessed to receive Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Bangalore and two members of our center had the unique blessing of hosting Rinpoche and his team for dinner.
On December 24, 2013, the streets of Bylakuppe were thronged with people with khatas for nearly 10 kilometers [6 miles] to welcome His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who began the second installation of incredible Jangchup Lamrim teachings on December 25, 2013. Nearly 30,000 people from different countries waited to see and hear His Holiness teach. The monasteries were kind enough to accommodate people traveling from far and wide.
Khensur Lobsang Tsering, the inaugural speaker at Choe Khor Sum Ling’s founding, was also at the Jangchup Lamrim teachings, Sera Je Monastery, India, December 2013. Photo by Shanti Y.
His Holiness began the teaching at Sera Je Monastery by making his students see the presence of spiritual thought in the world and thanking India for its contribution to Buddhism and also by grounding us in the reality of the 21st century. His Holiness gave the lung and commentary on The Swift Path, The Easy Path, The Essence of Refined Gold, The Essence of Nectar, and The Sacred Words of Manjushri. His Holiness then taught extensively on the greatness of the teachings, the qualities of a teacher, the topic of meditation, bodhichitta – aspiring and engaging, suffering and the hell realms.
His Holiness encouraged students to study Je Tsongkhapa’s In Praise of Dependent Origination on the day of his long life puja. Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave a lung of the text at the Tsawa Khangsten.
On the last day of the teaching, His Holiness bestowed the Avalokiteshvara initiation in connection to aspiring bodhichitta on all his assembled students. The teachings ended with the promise of meeting later this year to study Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.
Choe Khor Sum Ling members also had the great fortune of making khata offerings to various buddhas and great teachers such as Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khadro-la, Khangser Rinpoche, Ribur Rinpoche, Dagri Rinpoche, Kyongla Rato Rinpoche and His Eminence Kyabje Choden Rinpoche, Khensur Lobsang Tsering and of course His Eminence the 7th Ling Rinpoche, who organized the teachings.
It was a blessing to be amidst all the great teachers and scholarly monks and nuns. All in all, this was a great blessing of pilgrimage for Choe Khor Sum Ling students.
Mandala 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 on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Mandala April-June 2014
We have just published our new issue of Mandala, featuring coverage of FPMT’s holy objects, including updates on the Maitreya Projects and the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion and celebrating the 40th anniversary of the International Mahayana Institute!
In this issue’s online edition, we share two pages from the print issue featuring news from the Maitreya Buddha Kushinagar Project. You can also find many more stories on FPMT holy objects as well as photos and video from the international FPMT mandala.
The print issue is on its way to readers. If you would like to receive Mandala in your mail box, sign up to Friends of FPMT at the Foundation Friends level and support the all the communication work of FPMT International Office, including the “Lama Zopa Rinpoche News” blog and all of Mandala’s online content.
Ösel on his way to begin studies in Hawaii!
Occasionally Ösel shares his thoughts and experiences on his Facebook page. In this update, he gives discusses the role every action has on our experience of life.
Life has so many ways of appearing to us. There is such complexity in each moment, each sensation we receive and create. Are we even aware of each passing second, and each experience, which combined, makes what life is for each of us? We may be very subtly aware, but I don’t think we really assimilate how important every action we do is; how habits are so powerful in our daily life. How these “actions” multiply incredibly every time we repeat an action and create the habit. Habits are so strong in our lives. That is why we must be very aware of our habits, and if we feel we are not on the right path towards understanding our inner being, towards nourishing our body and minds, towards helping ourselves and others become more functional, emotionally balanced, peaceful, loving, kind, and joyful; then we must check our habits and focus on what we want to accomplish in the big picture and the long run.
My thoughts are similar to yours. I can identify with emotions humans may have felt in some great moments of their life. I can imagine what it must have been like for the explorers who were discovering something new for themselves and the rest of humanity. Just like an astronaut, who is moving into a new place, a new dimension. What is different from everything else? We are so complex, and each of our organs means so much to our lifestyle. Each breath we take means so much for the next couple minutes we live. Each bite of food we eat, every time we speak, every time we walk, every time we blink. All those moments are so small in our daily life, but yet so big and important. And these are all actions we do consciously. I guess life is so dependent on so many tiny details, that we don’t realize how interdependent on everything else we are every second of our parallel lives.
Thank you everyone for your love and kindness, really appreciate it! Just turned 29 a couple weeks ago.
La vida tiene muchas maneras de aparecerse a nosotros. Hay tal complejidad en cada momento, cada sensación que recibimos y creamos. ¿Somos conscientes de cada segundo que pasa, y cada experiencia que tenemos? Combinados crean lo que es parte de la vida para cada uno de nosotros. Podemos estar conscientes muy sutilmente, pero no creo que realmente asimilemos la importancia detrás de cada acción que tomamos. Por ejemplo; los hábitos son tan poderosos en nuestra vida diaria. Estas “acciones” se multiplican increíblemente cada vez que se repite la acción y esto en cambio crea el hábito. Los hábitos son tan fuertes en nuestras vidas. Es por eso que tenemos que ser muy conscientes de nuestros hábitos; y si sentimos que no estamos en el camino correcto hacia la comprensión de nuestro ser interior, de nutrir nuestro cuerpo y mente, de ayudarnos a nosotros mismos y los demás a ser más funcionales, emocionalmente equilibrados, con paz interior, amorosos, compasivos, y alegres; entonces debemos investigar nuestros hábitos y enfocar lo que queremos cumplir en esta vida, mirando desde fuera de la burbuja, y a lo largo del tiempo.
Mis pensamientos son similares a los tuyos, al igual que yo puedo identificarme con las emociones humanas que podrían haber sentido muchos individuos en algunos grandes momentos de su vida. Me puedo imaginar lo que debe haber sido para los exploradores que estaban descubriendo algo nuevo para ellos y para el resto de la humanidad. Al igual que un astronauta, que está entrando en un nuevo lugar, una nueva dimensión.
Que es diferente de todo lo demás? Somos tan complejos, y cada uno de nuestros órganos es esencial en muchos aspectos para nuestro estilo de vida. Cada aliento de aire que tomamos significa todo para los próximos par de minutos en que el vivimos. Cada bocado de comida que comemos, cada vez que hablamos, cada vez que caminamos, cada vez que parpadeamos. Todos estos momentos son tan pequeños en nuestra vida diaria, pero al mismo tiempo tan grandes e importantes. Y estas solo son acciones que hacemos conscientemente. Supongo que la vida es tan dependiente de tantos pequeños detalles, no nos damos cuenta de lo importante que son las sutilezas de la vida. Todos somos completamente interdependientes del resto de todo lo demás cada segundo de nuestras vidas paralelas.
¡Muchísimas gracias a todo el mundo por tu amor y cariño, lo agradezco un montón! Cumplí 29 años hace unas semanas.
Ven. Lhundrup and the students of Shen Phen Ling Study Group, Victoria, Australia, February 2014. Photo courtesy of Shen Phen Ling.
Julie Klose, study group coordinator for Shen Phen Ling Study Group in northeast Victoria, Australia, offers this message of thanks to Australian monk Ven. Thubten Lhundrup from Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery:
Shen Phen Ling Study Group in Albury/Wodonga has been blessed to have been receiving monthly teachings on Discovering Buddhism topics from Ven. Lhundrup for several years. His willingness to undertake the four-hour drive from Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery in Bendigo to Wodonga, and an overnight stay each month, is amazing.
His dedication to sharing the Dharma with us has ensured the continued existence of our group and been of enormous benefit to us all. Although very sad to see him leave us for the time being, we wish him well for his studies in Dharamsala, India.
Mandala 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 on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Dusum Sangay Guru Rinpoche statue, February 2014. Photo courtesy of Chandrakirti Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre.
Phillipa Rutherford, co-director of New Zealand’s Chandrakirti Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre, shares news about the successful completion of some of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice:
We would like to let people know we have manifested a 2-meter (7-foot) Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) statue and we are currently filling it and reorganizing the altar to fit it. This is Dusum Sangay Guru Rinpoche, the manifestation of Guru Rinpoche who dispels all obstacles and brings amazing success.
The statue was crafted in Nepal and Ani Fran at Kopan Monastery coordinated the production of it. We are very happy to have fulfilled this wish of our precious Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Mandala 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 on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Children use secular rituals to engage with the CCC curriculum. Photo courtesy of Pam Catyon.
Creating Compassionate Cultures (CCC), an organization dedicated to providing tools and training to help educators offer children a deeper, holistic education, has recently soft-launched the Online Institute for Creating Compassionate Cultures (OICCC). The Online Institute will offer a 12-course online training program starting March 31, 2014, to educators and anyone interested in learning the CCC methodology – the Seven Steps to Knowledge, Strength and Compassion.
“This comprehensive program engages the inner world of trainees,” explains CCC founder Pam Cayton, “and provides practical tools for implementing the CCC curriculum in a variety of settings. Participants throughout the world can come together in this new online venue and explore course material through original CCC content, contemplative practice, discussion forums and multimedia from some of the leading neuroscientists, educators and psychologists today.”
Inspired by Lama Yeshe’s vision for secular education, the idea for CCC began developing in 1989 at Tara Redwood School in California. Pam officially founded CCC in 2008. “I wanted to give educators a way to offer children a holistic education that addressed not only their academic needs, but their psychological, emotional and social needs, too. For example, the curriculum includes a component for children to learn how to identify emotions by associating them with colors and learning how to express them publicly in appropriate ways. The heart of all of this is the Seven Steps to Knowledge, Strength and Compassion, the theoretical basis that helps the curriculum develop a child’s natural ethics, wisdom and compassion.”
Pam hopes that the OICCC will give interested people more training with the material than could be done in a weekend workshop and expand the “classroom” to a global scale, meaning international students can work together to understand and experiment with the ideas discussed.
“I want people to understand that this program is suitable for parents, teachers, psychologists and anyone who works with children and families,” Pam says. “I believe lots of people can benefit from this and I’m so glad to be carrying on Lama Yeshe’s vision for education in this way.”
Creating Compassionate Cultures invites everyone to preview course offerings on the new OICCC.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing goat that he liberated, November 2010. Photos courtesy of Tania Duratovic and Phil Hunt.
Animal liberation is a practice often recommend to students for removing obstacles and to create the causes for a long life. With animal liberation, special care needs to be taken since the practice involves direct contact with living beings. Mandala has asked experienced animal liberation practitioners Tania Duratovic and Phil Hunt, coordinators of the Animal Liberation Sanctuary at Kopan Monastery, to share some of their practical knowledge of animal blessing and liberation practices for the January-March 2014 issue of Mandala.
Just what is the difference between animal liberation and an animal blessing? In the Buddhist sense, animal liberation is rescuing animals from impending death and then giving them Dharma by undertaking certain Buddhist practices including circumambulation and mantra recitation. It is usually done as a practice for long life and removing life obstacles, the merits being dedicated to someone else with specific obstacles, as well as to all living beings. An animal blessing, on the other hand, will include the same practices of circumambulation and mantra recitation but the animal involved has not necessarily been recently rescued from death, like someone’s pet.
Whichever activity you are undertaking, liberation or blessing, such Buddhist practices to help animals have many benefits. They help the animals, the people doing the practices and those for whom the practices are dedicated. However, there are also risks and with that comes responsibilities.
Of utmost importance is the care of those living beings by practitioners whether temporarily, prior to release into the wild, or long term as pets or at a sanctuary. While Buddhists believe the karmic benefit of doing these practices will be ongoing and perhaps have a greater effect in future lives, the welfare of the animals in this life is also critical. Animals should be handled and cared for as the “kind mother sentient beings” we are taught that they are, and as the fragile living creatures that share our planet and suffer physically, mentally and emotionally. …
From Mandala January-March 2014