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Geshe Tarchin, resident geshe at Chandrakirti Meditation Centre, on the cover of the Nelson Mail blessing a chicken. Photo courtesy of Enlightenment for the Dear Animals.
From Phil Hunt and Tania Duratovic, project coordinators and founders of Enlightenment for the Dear Animals and coordinators of the Animal Liberation Sanctuary in Nepal:
World Animal Day was celebrated across the globe on October 4, 2013. At Chandrakirti Meditation Centre in New Zealand, Geshe Tharchin and students visited the Nelson SPCA and blessed all the animals (which made the front page of the local paper!), as well as blessing the beings in the ocean. The students pledged to be vegetarian for the day and the center screened 108 Yaks in the evening.
In Bangalore, India, Choe Khor Sum Ling also screened 108 Yaks, visited a local animal shelter and made donations for the animals.
A student in Germany committed to go vegetarian for October with the hope to make it last longer.
Animals were blessed on World Animal Day at Vajrayana Institute’s stupa, Ashfield, Australia, October 2013. Photo courtesy of Enlightenment for the Dear Animals.
At Vajrayana Institute, Australia, students brought their pets and resident teacher Geshe Samten lead the animal blessing and many circumambulations of the stupa.
Enlightenment for the Dear Animals wants to know how you celebrated World Animal Day, email info@enlightenmentforanimals.org or visit their Facebook page to share.
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.
Masters Program students (left to right): Ven. Tiziana Losa, Jacob Fisher, Yaniv Sagi, Marina Brucet, Hans Burghardt, Yumi Terada and Joan Dombón, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia, Italy, July 2013. Photo courtesy of ILTK.
The 2008-2013 class of the FPMT Masters Program have “just completed their final exams with the intention to enter retreat in 2014,” Olga Planken, Basic Program and Masters Program coordinator for FPMT Education Services, reported to Mandala this week.
Mandala recently featured an interview with five students from the 2008-2013 cohort before their exams had taken place, answering questions about the challenges and benefits of completing the extensive program and what they were looking forward to in the future:
Students from the 2008-2013 FPMT Masters Program cohort sit for their final exams, 2013. Photo courtesy of www.facebook.com/mpretreat.
What do you hope to gain from the culminating one-year retreat?
Marina: I really hope to be able to integrate some of the things we’ve learned during the Masters Program into myself, to gain deeper understanding of the Dharma and of myself, and to set the basis to stabilize and start transforming my mind at a deeper level, a task that I hope will not only be done during the retreat but will continue for the rest of my life. As I see it, it’s the only way to effectively be of benefit to others.
Yumi: I hope to be able to develop some inner qualities that can be really used to help others.
Ven. Tiziana: I feel the need now to have more time to reflect on what I have been studying. Reflection and meditation are essential to gain experience of what we have learned. I am feeling very fortunate to have this rare opportunity.
Jacob: The opportunity to really be in a perfect environment for meditation, and the chance to try and really become this Dharma that we’ve been studying.
Hans: The integration at a deeper level of some of the subjects we’ve studied, and an increased wish to do long retreats.
Masters Program students are now making preparations for their one-year retreat. As part of the preparations, seven of the students have created a fundraising campaign to make it possible for them to be supported during their retreat. So far they have raised €37,800 (US$50,800).
After Masters Program students successfully complete their retreat, they graduate from the program and are then eligible to apply to become FPMT registered teachers. As reported in “The Need for Qualified Teachers” (Mandala April-June 2013), FPMT registered teachers serve as much-needed instructors at FPMT centers around the world, offering authentic Dharma instruction and helping fulfill the wishes of Lama Zopa Rinpoche for education within FPMT. Several resident teachers in FPMT centers today were trained in the FPMT Masters Program’s first cohort, including Don Handrick, Thubten Norbu Ling, US; Sixte Vinçotte, Institut Vajra Yogini, France; Emily Hsu, Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center, US; and Wai Cheong Kok, Vajrayana Institute, Australia.
Masters Program graduates also serve in various other roles to support FPMT education programs, such as teaching assistants, tutors, and coordinators for Masters and Basic Programs, both residential and online, and several teach Discovering Buddhism.
To learn more about the fundraising campaign to finance Masters Program students on their one-year retreats, visit their webpage: Support the rEvolution. You can also connect with the students on their 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.
Ven. Thubten Dechen arrives at Mt. Mitake, Japan, September 2013. Photo by Doc O’Connor.
Do Ngak Sung Juk is the FPMT center in Tokyo, Japan. Center director Doc O’Connor shares news of hosting two esteemed teachers:
Do Ngak Sung Juk in Tokyo had their annual nyung nä with FPMT Taiwan’s Ven. Thubten Dechen September 20-23, 2013. The weekend retreat took place at a traditional Japanese inn on Mt. Mitake. Located in a vast national park, Mitake has a mountain shrine that has existed for almost 2,000 years. The inn has catered to pilgrims for decades.
It was good to read Rinpoche’s comments about serving delicious food in the recent FPMT newsletter. The inn is known for their exquisite meals and even with the nyung nä meal requirements, they were able to maintain their high standard. So not only during the nyung nä did we experience the suffering of beings in the lower realms, but the limited meals gave us a god realm experience, enabling us to generate compassion and make offerings to beings in all realms.
Do Ngak Sung Juk is grateful to Taiwan’s Heruka Center for sharing their invaluable translator with us.
After two years and three postponements, Do Ngak Sung Juk members were happy to have Ven. Tenzin Pemba, co-director of Mahayana Buddhist Association (Cham Tse Ling) in Hong Kong, visit us the weekend of October 19-20, 2013. Ven. Pemba finished teaching the 17-verse The Courageous Hero Gaining Liberation by Overcoming the Fears of the Hazardous Passage of the Intermediate State. At the conclusion of his teachings, we had mixed feelings – happy because we had finished the text, but on the other hand, sad because it is said that an unfinished text creates the cause for the teacher to return.
We hope to purify obstacles and create the karma for more frequent visits by Ven. Pemba to Tokyo. Much, much gratitude to Hong Kong’s Mahayana Buddhist Association for sharing their wonderful teacher with Do Ngak Sung Juk.
Ven. Pemba with the students of Do Ngak Sung Juk, Tokyo, Japan, October 2013. Photo by Doc O’Connor.
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.
Homemade candles are a keepsake of the day. Photo by Ven. Lozang Drolkar.
Ven. Lozang Pema shares how some nuns at Chenrezig Institute in Queensland, Australia, support the Buddhist and non-Buddhist members of their local community:
Although many members of the Chenrezig Nuns Community are engaged in the study program at Chenrezig Institute, we are also engaging with the community on a number of levels, including conducting baby naming ceremonies.
Vens. Lhagsam and Drolkar have conducted the ceremonies over many years with the practice becoming increasingly popular. The simple ceremonies take place at Chenrezig Institute under the Bodhi tree, near one of our stupas or at the Garden of Enlightenment.
“My role in the ceremony is to set the tone, be the visible sign of a spiritual path and bring that element to the event,” Ven. Drolkar said. “I tailor the ceremony to suit the family’s wishes and, as much as I can, make the occasion special and personal for them, something they remember fondly.
“We have an outline, but it is very flexible. We welcome the guests and the baby, read poems that reflect Buddhist or secular values; there is also an opportunity for the baby’s parents or grandparents and family members to speak. We light candles which they can take home as a keepsake. I say a short prayer and sometimes chant mantra. We can plan for it to be non-denominational or very Buddhist.
Rebecca and Kurt Rogers doing a reading at their son Knox’s naming ceremony. Photo by Christine Foxwell.
“People from all walks of life, and often from interstate, attend the ceremony. My guess is about 30% of the parents would identify as Buddhist and 30% have values that align with Buddhist values or philosophy; the rest want a non-denominational ceremony.
“I’m not a civil celebrant. His Holiness the Dalai Lama encourages Buddhists (and others) to value other religions, so I aim to make the ceremony inclusive. We have had great feedback about our ability to be flexible.
“It’s a privilege to be a part of an occasion parents consider very special, an occasion that marks the beginning of their child’s spiritual life. It’s also wonderful that people who probably wouldn’t ever come to a Buddhist center have come to Chenrezig Institute.”
Chenrezig Institute offers to its community a venue and support for other important occasions, including commitment ceremonies between partners and memorial/dedication ceremonies.
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.
A very long, winding queue at the Thimphu event, Bhutan, October 2013. Photo courtesy of Maitreya Heart Shrine Relic Tour.
The Maitreya Heart Shrine Relic Tour, a collection of sacred relics of the Buddha and other Buddhist masters assembled by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, broke a record for most visitors in Thimphu, Bhutan, the country’s capital. The relics were showcased in RAPA Hall to an estimated 62,000 according to Ugyen Wangdi in an email to Rinpoche.
“A lady in yesterday’s TV interview on Bhutan Broadcast Service,” Ugen adds, “said that the relics came to Bhutan through your auspices.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche replied:
Thank you very, very much your kind letter and photos and thank you so much supporting the relics. It becomes great purification, way to collect extensive merits for sentient beings, plants the seed of the path to enlightenment that makes it more possible to achieve enlightenment and to free all the sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring to enlightenment.”
After Bhutan, the Maitreya Heart Shrine Relic Tour continues its European and Asian tour in Sikkim and then with an extended stay in Australia. The concurrent Americas tour is in Miami, Florida, United States until November 17 before moving on to Texas, New Mexico, California and Washington.
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.
Past editions of the FPMT International Office e-news are always available to enjoy.
Ven. Tenzin Gyeltsen, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Dagri Rinpoche going to the ocean to bless sentient beings, Aptos, California, USA, October 2013.
Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang
Geshe Kelsang Wangmo at Kadampa Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, US, October 26, 2013. Photo by David Strevel.
Geshe Kelsang Wangmo, who became the world’s first female geshe in April 2011, nears completion of her US teaching tour, which includes several FPMT centers.
Geshe Kelsang Wangmo speaking in New York, NY, US, October 2013. Photo courtesy of Shantideva Meditation Center’s Facebook page.
On October 16, Shantideva Meditation Center, in New York City, co-sponsored with Tibet House US a talk with Geshe Wangmo on scriptural presentations of the Buddhist understanding of reality.
Geshe Wangmo then traveled to North Carolina to meet the enthusiastic students at Kadampa Center in Raleigh. Over three days in late October, she explained the purpose of debate in Tibetan Buddhism and her journey to become the first female geshe. On October 28, she left students with advice on how to establish their own daily practice, drawing from the materials in FPMT’s Discovering Buddhism courses.
Next, Geshe Wangmo traveled to Northern California for a three-day visit to Land of Medicine Buddha (November 1-3) to talk about the sixteen aspects of the four noble truth. She visited Vajrapani Institute on November 6 and gave a public talk on how her intensive studies transformed her personally.
Geshe Wangmo returns to the East Coast and will meet with Guhyasamaja Buddhist Center students in Virginia on November 8-10. She will give a public talk and weekend retreat on the four noble truths and how they are “relevant to contemporary life and how we can use them to define a balanced, realistic sense of happiness.”
Geshe Kelsang Wangmo with (from left) Vajrapani Institute director Fabienne Pradelle, Land of Medicine Buddha director Denice Macy and Geshe Wangmo’s mother, LMB, California, US, October 2013. Photo courtesy of LMB’s Facebook page.
In co-sponsorship with Jewel Heart Center in New York City, Shantideva Meditation Center welcomes Geshe Wangmo back for the tour’s concluding event, an explanation of the Heart Sutra in relation to emptiness and the two truths.
In Mandala’s exclusive October-December 2012 interview with Geshe Kelsang Wangmo – “The Joy of Study: An Interview with Geshe Kelsang Wangmo” – Geshe Wangmo shares how she became a geshe, the obstacles she overcame, and the benefits of rigorous study.
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.
Occasionally Ösel shares his thoughts and experiences on his Facebook page. In this update, he pleads with us to shift our minds from oriented toward gaining wealth, self enjoyment and power, toward taking care of the earth and its inhabitants.
Tenzin Ösel Hita. September 2013, Land of Medicine Buddha, California, USA. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
Today I woke up with a very strong feeling in my being. I felt that Mother Earth is suffering immensely and whatever we are doing every day, if it is not to help Earth get better, there won’t be a planet for us to live in 50 years from now. If these atrocities keep happening then we have no possibility of life, of practicing loving-kindness or Dharma. But worst of all, the opportunity for all the sentient beings who will be born in the future on this planet will become null.
The strong karma we are creating by egoistically focusing on wealth, self enjoyment, and power is keeping alive the ignorance in our beings. This karma is creating a vortex of energy which is drowning Planet Earth and everyone else. The planets may look lifeless from our perspective, but this is just like the perspective that bacteria and ameba have of our individual self. We are composed by millions of living organisms. They don’t understand what we are going through, but they are affected by our emotions and experiences even though they don’t know why or have the capacity to understand.
The main reason why I’m talking about this is because I saw it so clearly this morning. The doctor prescribed me a double dose of the strongest antibiotics due to an infection that suddenly appeared on my leg for no particular reason. After a week it kept growing, no clear cause of why it started, it just popped out by itself. Even with antibiotic cream it kept getting worse. The doctor said it is very dangerous if the infection gets into my bloodstream.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ösel. October, 2013, Aptos, California. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
So I’ve been taking antibiotics for two days now and last night i had the two pills on an empty stomach. This morning i was so dizzy and weak, I couldn’t stand up. I felt that my little infection is so small compared to what happens every day on this planet just because people are chasing continuously after wealth, power and self-enjoyment. This is the direct cause of so much suffering everywhere, and I believe very strongly that each of us can make a huge difference if we just try to be more conscious of our actions and our thoughts. Personally i am thinking of studying permaculture and starting work for the planet. To sleep near the earth and be far from all these distractions and chaos created by society. It doesn’t make sense to burn down your own home while you are in the office struggling with what society expects of you. The true richness is inside of us, the true wealth is inside of us, the real understanding of what our potential is. We are not here to make money and pollute the planet, we are here to evolve and help the planet improve. Each individual has the power to do this, and it is our job to make this a reality. Already there are many people involved in this movement, and I really want to help this energy flower everywhere.
Thank you for participating and please keep up the good work.
Take care and Big love. osel
Jetsün Pema with Sangha at Nalanda Monstery, France, October 21, 2013. Photo courtesy of Nalanda’s Facebook page.
Jetsün Pema at Nalanda Monastery, France, October 21, 2013. Photo courtesy of Dana Lissy’s Facebook page.
Jetsün Pema, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s sister, recently visited Nalanda Monastery. Jetsün Pema was welcomed by the resident Sangha and lay community on a sunny autumn Sunday in October. A large outdoor lunch was organized in Nalanda’s garden in honor of her visit.
Nalanda, located in rural France, is FPMT’s monastery for Western monks. In September, Nalanda began offering the residential Masters Program for the first time. Nalanda also welcomed Jangste Chöje Rinpoche in October.
Lunch at Nalanda with Jetsün Pema, France, October 21, 2013. Photo courtesy of Dana Lissy’s 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.
Foundation Service Seminar, Jamyang Buddhist Centre London, October 2013. Photo courtesy of Tara Melwani’s Facebook page.
A successful FPMT Foundation Service Seminar wraps up on Saturday, October 26. The gathering drew more than 40 people from 17 countries for five full days of sessions on skillfully offering service within the FPMT mandala. Jamyang Buddhist Centre London hosted the event, which was put together by FPMT Education Services.
A collection of FPMT regional coordinators, center directors, spiritual program coordinators, center board members, resident Sangha, interpreters, touring teachers and study group coordinators participated in the seminar, organized around the Four Means of Drawing Sentient Beings. With time for reflection and meditation, participants were led through sessions focusing on various aspects of the Four Means, which are:
- Giving (resources, Dharma, protection from harm, loving kindness)
- Speaking kind words
- Teaching according to the level of the student
- Practicing what you teach
Following the Foundation Services Seminar, many participants are attending a three-day training in order to lead the seminar in their home region, country or center. In this way, they will be able to share inspiration and guidance on skillfully offering service with hundreds of people actively engaged at FPMT centers, projects and services around the world.
Mandala will offer a full report on the gathering in our next issue, January-March 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.
Cover of latest “Roots of Wisdom,” Root Institute’s newsletter
Bodhgaya, India, is the sacred location of the Buddha’s enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree. Root Institute, the FPMT retreat center located just a 15-minute walk from this holy site, offers students many opportunities to study, practice and offer service.
The latest edition of Root’s newsletter, “Roots of Wisdom,” shares inspiring teachings, stories and interviews that give a flavor of the beneficial activities happening at the center, including an account of His Holiness the 17th Karmapa’s recent visit and impromptu teaching on the nature of the mind.
Root offers a full spiritual program from October through March for students of all levels. Ven. Antonio Satta is mong this year’s teachers featured in the newsletter. Ven. Sarah Thresher, Glen Svensson, Jimi Neal, Kay Cooper and Gordon McDougal are also teaching or leading retreats this year at Root.
In addition, the newsletter features advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche; an interview with Geshe Jamphel Gyaltsen, a lharampa geshe from Sera Je who has been staying at Root and who will be going to Nalanda Monastery in France to become a resident teacher; and updates on Root’s charitable projects: Shakyamuni Buddha Community Health Care Programme, the Maitreya School and Tara Children’s Project.
For more information on Root Institute, visit rootinstitute.ngo.
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.
Stupa De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre, Kangaroo Island, Australia, September 2011. Photo by George Manos.
Will Abram, director of De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre on Kangaroo Island, Australia, shared some exciting news with Mandala for the October-December 2013 issue.
Australia’s De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre is located on Kangaroo Island, a 20-minute flight or a 40-minute ferry ride from Adelaide, a city of 1.2 million people and capital of South Australia. The island is unique in many ways, being one of the most recently settled places on the planet. It is estimated that even the aboriginal habitation of the island ceased between five to ten thousand years ago. Home to the second largest numbers of unique flora and fauna on planet earth, the island has benefited from the lack of invasive animals that have damaged much of the mainland’s natural habitat.
De-Tong Ling, nestled into the northwestern part of the “conservation heartland” of the island, was originally established for people to do solitary retreats. So far five retreat cabins have been built with plans for another seven. Group retreats have also been conducted on the island annually for the last 10 years. These group retreats have been held on the adjoining property owned by Kimball Cuddihy, who helped found and direct De-Tong Ling from 1988 until 2012.
This year, the first group retreat was held at the center in the room underneath the newly completed Enlightenment Stupa. Including the gompa underneath, it is the largest completed stupa in Australia, standing some 14 meters [46 feet]. …
From Mandala October-December 2013