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

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

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

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

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

The Beginnings of Lama Yeshe’s Work in the West

By Ven. Thubten Pemo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Originally published in Mandala, March-April 2000. 

The Benefits of Doing Retreat

By Ven. Thubten Pemo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the meantime, one can be Kind.

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

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

Lama Yeshe teaching at Chenrezig Institute, 1979. Photo courtesy of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive has released a new free book by Lama Yeshe, Knowledge-Wisdom: The Peaceful Path the Liberation. This collection is drawn from teachings given by Lama Yeshe in the 1970s and 1980s, when he and Lama Zopa Rinpoche traveled the world, teaching extensively. Lama Yeshe consistently encouraged students to recognize and develop their limitless potential, and his dynamic teaching style means that these teachings are as relevant and accessible today as when first taught.

From this new book we share an excerpt from a discourse by Lama Yeshe at a refuge ceremony held at Chenrezig Institute, Australia on September 12, 1979:

When you take refuge in Buddhadharma, the important point is that you have recognized your own profound potential, and from the beginning can see that, “I can do something; I can take responsibility for liberating myself.” This is different from the attitude we normally have: “I’m hopeless, I’m hopeless; maybe God, maybe Buddha, maybe Lama can do something for me.” This sort of human attitude is wrong. From the Buddhist point of view, it is wrong to think, “I’m hopeless, Buddha can do something for me.” That attitude is wrong because it’s not true. By believing that you are hopeless you have already decided that you are nothing; you have already put a limit on your profound quality. The important thing in taking refuge is to have the understanding that you can do something to solve the problem of everyday life by relying, with confidence and trust, on the Buddha’s wisdom—you can also call it your own activated wisdom—to liberate you from confusion and suffering. So it is really worthwhile. The real significance of taking refuge in Dharma wisdom is that it is the entrance to the path to enlightenment.

That is why, traditionally, people in Buddhist countries take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha every day. But Western people don’t need to copy this, going to the temple daily, taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha without concentration. We don’t need to follow the customs of those countries. What we need to do is to recognize what brings us a liberated, joyful life. Instead of relying on, taking refuge in, chocolate and apples and biscuits and toys, instead of taking refuge in the beach, movies or popcorn, we should understand in our hearts that the liberated joyful life does not depend on those conditions, those worldly phenomena.

The lamrim shows exactly, logically, scientifically that human happiness and joy do not depend on material conditions. You should understand this clean clear and determine that that is reality. Then you will not be upset when you don’t get presents or chocolate or when people don’t pay attention to you. Otherwise, small things always upset you and small things make you dissatisfied. The over-extreme expectation of getting things from the external world makes problems. So, taking refuge in Buddhadharma instead is really worthwhile.

You can read more of this teaching on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive or order the whole collection of teachings in print or ebook format. 

Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org and Mandala Publications share the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. 

Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984), who founded the FPMT organization with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was able to translate Tibetan Buddhist teachings into clear ideas that resonated with the Western students he met and taught in the 1970s and ’80s. These teachings by Lama Yeshe continue to profoundly connect with students today. Here Lama Yeshe discusses some aspects of the Western mind he had observed since teaching Western students. 

Lama Yeshe at Chenrezig Institute, 1979. Photo courtesy LYWA.

It is very good to see the reality of Western life, or the Western way of living life, to check up historically. If you do, you will really get a bit of a hard shock, I tell you. It is not happy, Western life is definitely not a happy life, I can say. I’m sorry. Even though you think your life is happy, it’s not true. I’m not saying that I have investigated each individual and discovered that each one is unhappy. I am not saying that. But I am just looking at it sort of generally. It is a very difficult life. And also, people in Western samsara have some kind of instinctive attitude. I don’t know, perhaps I can say instinctive—there is no checking, no observation. They just do things, just spinning, just doing things instinctively, instinctively, spinning themselves. This makes me so afraid. No observation, no checking what’s going on. That’s dangerous.

I can see when Western people start to meditate, when they begin to observe their attitude, then they can see, “What has been happening to me?” At some point they really become crazy. Why? Because before they were just going round and round like this, then suddenly [Lama circles his finger round and round in the air and suddenly brings it up to his eyes indicating that people first circle around until they suddenly see themselves for the first time], pam! So their nervous system is shocked. Then, instead meditation making them better, they get worse. But it is much better to question for a minute and then rest, rather than just spinning around. That way you do not become worse.

Therefore, it is good to learn how to change one’s instinctive behavior in order to transform the Western life. It is the instinctive attitude that leads to certain actions; any movements of the body and speech result from attitudes of the mind. And in order to transform that, you need quite a lot of effort, observation and penetration on the motivation.

What I’m saying is, my point is, that it is important that each of us has the attitude or aim of looking beyond sense pleasures. Even philosophically, we can think, “Well, yeah, today I’m not getting any chocolate. Yeah, OK. I’m not getting chocolate. Well, I’m not going to die. I can have other pleasures. I can eat muesli!” Or you can think, “My boyfriend has disappeared. Well, he is one man. OK. He has disappeared, but there are so many of them. So, if I wait, maybe another one will appear.” Instead of being so concrete, which makes you kill yourself, which is so dangerous, relax. But that doesn’t mean, I’m not saying that you should not be concerned with this life’s pleasures at all. You can have pleasure, but you should know that this pleasure is not the only one and that you should not grasp at it in such a neurotic way. It is not worth it. This pleasure is temporal: it comes, it goes, it comes, it goes.

Let me give you an example. I was a Tibetan refugee. I had a samsaric nest, my parents, my siblings—I had four or five sisters and three or four brothers. My pleasure did not depend on my sisters or brothers; it did not depend on the Tibetan environment. I still have pleasure in Australia, don’t I? However, many refugees were very sad and sometimes they even killed themselves, thinking, “Now I have lost my country. I have lost my wife, my husband, my children. I have lost everything. There is no more point in living.” So they killed themselves. Attitude is so extremely important. The only thing that makes me happy is that I think, “Hmm, not too bad.” That is profound; from the Buddhist point of view, that is profound. With this, you are almost Buddha. You can see that another condition can make you just as happy as the previous one. And understand that relative conditions change from time to time; they cannot last permanently. That gives you room; you have room.

So actually, attitude is the essence of life. Just like a pillar keeps a house from falling down, attitude is the source of life. A good life and good relationships come from a good attitude. A bad attitude causes human beings to fight each other and have disastrous relationships. A good attitude is, “We have the same potential, we live together, we help each other and we can grow and be helpful for each other.” If we humans have that kind of attitude, human relationships can be good and worthwhile. But if we have a low attitude, our lives become very shaky. Western life in particular is so shaky, unbelievably shaky.

The greatest suffering in the West is the incredible changing of life; the fickle mind changing, changing, changing. This creates most of the suffering of the Western life. This is my observation. Because fundamentally, there is no stability in our relationship. We human beings live with each other. Whatever you do affects me, whatever I do affects you. So if you are shaking, if you are spinning, it makes me go like that as well. I cannot cope. In fact, I cannot cope with Western students’ attitude and life—it would be much better if I went back to Nepal! [Lama pretends to get off the throne.] I’m joking!

Excerpted from “The Enlightenment Attitude,” a teaching Lama Yeshe gave at Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1979, which is included in a forthcoming collection of teachings from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, Knowledge-Wisdom, the Peaceful Path to Liberation, due to be released in early 2023. 

Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org shares the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. 

Lama Yeshe teaching at Chenrezig Institute, Australia,1979. Photo courtesy of Pearl Bailey (donor) and Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984), who founded the FPMT organization with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was able to translate Tibetan Buddhist teachings into clear ideas that resonated with the Western students he met and taught in the 1970s and ’80s. These teachings by Lama Yeshe continue to profoundly connect with students today. Here Lama Yeshe discusses renunciation and bodhicitta.

This teaching was published in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive e-Letter No. 223 January 2022, excerpted from Vajrayogini teachings given by Lama Yeshe at Chenrezig Institute, Australia, in September 1979. The transcript is lightly edited by Nicholas Ribush and kept largely in Lama Yeshe’s original words. You can continue reading this teaching, and find additional introductory discourses on this topic, on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website. 

Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org and Mandala Publications share the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. 

Lama Yeshe giving a public talk at the Theosophical Society, Adyar Theatre, Sydney, Australia, 1975. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984), who founded the FPMT organization with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was able to translate Tibetan Buddhist teachings into clear ideas that resonated with the Western students he met and taught in the 1970s and ’80s. These teachings by Lama Yeshe continue to profoundly connect with students today. Here Lama Yeshe urges students to understand the primacy of the correct mental attitude when practicing Dharma.

Excerpted from a public lecture given by Lama Thubten Yeshe at the Theosophical Society, Adyar Theatre, Sydney, Australia, April 7, 1975 (Archive #329). First published in The Peaceful Stillness of the Silent Mind, a free publication from Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (lamayeshe.com). Also published as “Attitude Is More Important than Action” in Mandala January–June 2016.

Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org shares the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. 

Lama Yeshe giving a public talk at the Theosophical Society, Adyar Theatre, Sydney, Australia, 1975. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984), who founded the FPMT organization with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was able to translate Tibetan Buddhist teachings into clear ideas that resonated with the Western students he met and taught in the 1970s and ’80s. These teachings by Lama Yeshe continue to profoundly connect with students today. Here Lama Yeshe encourages students to have a clear understanding of why they want to practice Dharma.

These days, even though many people realize the limitations of material comfort and are interested in following a spiritual path, few really appreciate the true value of practicing Dharma. For most, the practice of Dharma, religion, meditation, yoga, or whatever they call it, is still superficial: they simply change what they wear, what they eat, the way they walk, and so forth. None of this has anything to do with the practice of Dharma.

Before you start practicing Dharma, you have to investigate deeply why you are doing it. You have to know exactly what problem you’re trying to solve. Adopting a religion or practicing meditation just because your friend is doing it is not a good enough reason.

Changing religions is not like dyeing cloth, like instantly making something white into red. Spiritual life is mental, not physical; it demands a change of mental attitude. If you approach your spiritual practice the way you do material things, you’ll never develop wisdom; it will just be an act.

Before setting out on a long journey, you have to plan your course carefully by studying a map; otherwise, you’ll get lost. Similarly, blindly following any religion is also very dangerous. In fact, mistakes on the spiritual path are much worse than those made in the material world. If you do not understand the nature of the path to liberation and practice incorrectly, you’ll not only get nowhere but will finish up going in the opposite direction.

Therefore, before you start practicing Dharma, you have to know where you are, your present situation, the characteristic nature of your body, speech, and mind. Then you can see the necessity for practicing Dharma, the logical reason for doing it; you can see your goal more clearly, with your own experience. If you set out without a clear vision of what you are doing and where you’re trying to go, how can you tell if you’re on the right path? How can you tell if you’ve gone wrong? It’s a mistake to act blindly, thinking, “Well, let me do something and see what happens.” That’s a recipe for disaster. 

Buddhism is less interested in what you do than why you do it—your motivation. The mental attitude behind an action is much more important than the action itself. You might appear to outside observers as humble, spiritual, and sincere, but if what’s pushing you from within is an impure mind, if you’re acting out of ignorance of the nature of the path, all your so-called spiritual efforts will lead you nowhere and will be a complete waste of time.

Often your actions look religious but when you check your motivation, the mental attitude that underlies them, you find that they’re the opposite of what they appear. Without checking, you can never be sure if what you’re doing is Dharma or not.

You might go to church on Sundays or to your Dharma center every week, but are these Dharma actions or not? This is what you have to check. Look within and determine what kind of mind is motivating you to do these things.

Many countries have their own historical religious cultures, but it’s a misconception to think that simply following these customs makes your actions spiritual. First of all, what is culture, what is social custom? Societal conventions have nothing to do with universal understanding-knowledge-wisdom. And at an individual level, it doesn’t matter where you come from—East or West—your society’s traditions of eating, drinking, sleeping, and other worldly activities have nothing to do with religion.

If you think they do, your understanding is really primitive. I don’t mean your religion is primitive; I mean your understanding of your religion is primitive—whether you’re Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or anything else, your view of your religion is a total misconception. If you go to your church or temple simply out of custom—“I go because everybody else does”—it’s silly and illogical. There’s no significance. You don’t know what you’re doing or why.

If you are going to practice Dharma, meditate, follow the spiritual path, do so with understanding. If you don’t understand what you’re doing or why, don’t do it.

For example, when Lord Buddha formulated the rules of monastic conduct, the vinaya, he said, “If your motivation for becoming a monk or nun is simply to get food, clothing, and shelter, you can’t be ordained.” Look at why you became a member of your own religion in the light of what the Buddha said.

Often we adopt one faith or another for temporal reasons of reputation or comfort, or because “I like their ideas.” How do you know that you like their ideas? What is it about them that you like? Have you really checked them out? Have you checked to see if those ideas fit your everyday life? Will they bring you spiritual realizations and an everlastingly peaceful mind? Or do they just sound good? “I like their ideas; they sound good.” How do they sound good? You have to check up.

Our grasping, superficial mind is always just looking outside. We never look to see how the ideas we hear suit our daily life. That’s why there’s always a big gap between us—the human beings—and the theory and practice of religion. Then, what’s the purpose of that path? It’s completely useless. Our ego is still immersed in its materialistic trip. Some people join a spiritual community because, “It’s so easy. They give me great food, and I don’t need to work.” That’s so small-minded. Still, many people are like that. I’m not criticizing anybody in particular; I’m just generalizing. This is just a simple example. You’ll find people like that in every religion.

Therefore, when you decide to practice any religion, you have to know why. It’s not simply a matter of learning what that religion says. You have to check with your own mind, “Why do I accept this religion’s ideas?” That’s what you need to check. Otherwise, you can study your religion’s philosophy in depth and have a head full of beautiful ideas but still have no clue how those ideas relate to your life. That’s a total misconception of the purpose of religion.

Excerpted from a public lecture given by Lama Thubten Yeshe at the Theosophical Society, Adyar Theatre, Sydney, Australia, April 7, 1975 (Archive #329). First published in The Peaceful Stillness of the Silent Mind, a free publication from Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (lamayeshe.com). Also published as “Attitude Is More Important than Action” in Mandala January–June 2016.

Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org and Mandala Publications share the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. 

Portrait of Lama Yeshe taken most likely at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1974. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984), who founded the FPMT organization with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was able to translate Tibetan Buddhist teachings into clear ideas that resonated with the Western students he met and taught in the 1970s and ’80s. These teachings by Lama Yeshe continue to profoundly connect with students today. Here Lama Yeshe discusses why we need to have an understanding of emptiness.

Published in Mandala eZine February 2010. Excerpted from the FPMT Education Program Buddhism in a Nutshell: Essentials for Enlightenment, a compilation of teachings and essays by Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Ven. Amy Miller. This book and audio program set covers all the quintessential topics found in Tibetan Buddhism.

Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org and Mandala Publications share the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. 

Lama Yeshe driving to Reno, Nevada, 1980. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe is the official, authorized biography of Lama Yeshe. The two volume book tells the fascinating story of Lama Yeshe, how he met Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and how they created the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). It begins in Tibet, where Lama was born, and moves to the refugee camp in Buxa Duar, West Bengal, India, where Rinpoche became his student. The story continues to other parts of India and Nepal, and finally to the entire world.

Big Love contains hundreds of personal stories about Lama Yeshe from students, as well as more than 1,500 photos. Here’s one of the book’s more high-octane stories about Lama Yeshe.

Driving with Lama

Life with Lama Yeshe was never dull. Peter Stripes had a fashion business in Melbourne and was one of the very first customers of Roger Wheeler’s export business in Kathmandu. Lama had recently helped him find a Tara statue in Delhi. Wishing to return the favor, Stripey bought a little red Fiat 500 for Lama and sent it up to Chenrezig by train. Yeshe Khadro and Jhampa Zangpo, who had arrived at Chenrezig from Dharamsala a couple of months earlier, had the unenviable task of teaching him how to drive. Certainly, whatever Lama lacked in know-how he made up for with boundless enthusiasm. In the clear country air, the roaring of an over-revved engine, and the grinding of gears provided a backdrop to Rinpoche’s lamrim teachings. Much to Yeshe Khadro’s horror, Lama often took both hands off the wheel while bowling along, turning to her with a huge grin. Jhampa Zangpo was also beside himself with fear. “Lama said I got too hysterical, but his antics were hair-raising. He had so much gusto and absolutely no interest in taking things slowly,” he said.

While driving alone one day, Lama accelerated instead of braking on a curve and shot off the road down a steep incline. Fortunately, this rapid descent was halted by a tree. A neighbor who witnessed this mishap clambered down to find Lama Yeshe uselessly revving the engine. Lama scrambled out the passenger door and returned to his house, leaving a couple of discreet students to haul the little car back up onto the road. …

A Special Opportunity

Nicholas Ribush, director of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, which published Big Love, wants to let FPMT students know of a special opportunity for receiving the biography. He writes:

“If you receive the LYTWA monthly eletter, you will know that through the kindness of a generous benefactor we are offering 200 copies of Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe for $35 (plus shipping), which is $50 off the regular price! So far about fifty copies have been bought.

“Not only is this a great opportunity for individual buyers, but FPMT centers should also consider buying several copies for their bookstores and to give away as gifts to benefactors.”

Get to Know Big Love

Adele Hulse, one of Lama Yeshe’s earliest students, wrote Big Love. In telling Lama’s story, she highlights his special connection with early Dharma seekers and skillfully weaves their intimate stories with details of where Lama went, the teachings he gave, and the centers he inspired. It brings to life how special he was and how he connected with people from all over the world and all walks of life. You can read about the creation of the book in the Mandala article, “A Monumental Accomplishment: The Making of Big Love.”

You can also read more from Big Love. We shared the books second chapter, “1941–58: Living a Monastic Life,” as part of Mandala July-December 2019.

Read “What People Are Saying About Big Love” including quotes from Tenzin Osel Hita and Richard Gere!

Learn more about Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe, and find links to more excerpts and ordering information:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/shop/big-love-life-and-teachings-lama-yeshe

Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org and Mandala Publications share the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. 

Lama Yeshe with Lolly and Dieter Gewissler’s son, Madison, Wisc., US, 1977. Photo by Morgan Groves, courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984), who founded the FPMT organization with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was able to translate Tibetan Buddhist teachings into clear ideas that resonated with the Western students he met and taught in the 1970s and ’80s. These teachings by Lama Yeshe continue to profoundly connect with students today. Here Lama Yeshe discusses two of the four immeasurables.

The four immeasurables are immeasurable equanimity, love, compassion and joy. I’ll talk about just a couple of these.

The meaning of immeasurable, or limitless, love is clear from the words themselves. Fundamentally, we all have love; even animals have love. But the problem with our normal human love is that it’s limited. We choose our love objects very selectively, whether they be other people or anything else. There are innumerable phenomena throughout the universe, but we choose just a few favorite objects to love. This kind of fanatical love is actually a problem. Normally, we say love is always good. Its positive side can be good, but its extreme, narrow side is not. One reason it’s a problem is that it gives us an extreme view of its object, where we exaggerate its good qualities. Another is that it gives rise to the symptoms of conflict that always arise from the dualistic mind. The inevitable reaction to fickle, narrow love is conflict and discomfort.

Take, for example, the Dharma student. When you first get into Buddhism, your love changes slightly in that it now becomes, “I love Buddhism; I love Dharma; I love Lama.” Then it develops further in this direction: “This is really good. Before, I was down, but Buddhism has brought me right back up. Now I’m happy.” Now you’ve really got a taste for Dharma. The problem is that every time you imprint, “This is good; this is good; this is good; Dharma good; meditation good,” instinctively there arises the mind that thinks that anything that is not Buddhism is unimportant. Especially when you start studying philosophy and learn that there are aspects of other religions’ philosophy that contradict what we believe in Buddhism, you start to put other religions down. You get to the point where you don’t even like to hear the words Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and so forth.

That means you’ve lost your love. Instead of making you more tolerant and free, what you’ve been calling love has become a cause of conflict. I’m talking about love from the religious point of view. When you say, “I love Dharma,” be careful that you don’t love too much.

The point is that you should be using Dharma to solve your own problems, not create more. That’s its only purpose. The function of Dharma is to become an antidote to your own problems. If your love of Dharma causes conflict in your mind, makes you more narrow and limits your communication such that you just want to ignore practitioners of other religions, your love’s your problem.

The way your love becomes limitless is not through blind religious faith. It’s not that someone tells you your objects of love are innumerable and you simply have to believe it. There’s clear logic behind it. Say there’s somebody whom you already love. Ask yourself why you love that person. Usually you’ll reply that it’s because that person’s kind to you. That reason applies equally to all other sentient beings, but you should know all this from having studied the lamrim, so I’m not going to go into any more detail here. This is one of the reasons why understanding of the lamrim is a prerequisite to taking tantric teachings.

But don’t take immeasurable love literally. Just because you love all sentient beings doesn’t mean you have to give people whatever they ask for or sleep with everybody. True, profound, universal love can be wrathful too. True love doesn’t have to come with a smile; it can come with a frown. Our problem is that we interpret love too superficially. If people frown at us we automatically assume they don’t like us.

One Tibetan yogi said, “Evil friends don’t necessarily look like scorpions.” What he meant was that sometimes the people who are nicest to us are the worst for us. Scorpions are clearly dangerous, and their very appearance makes us afraid. But a person who strokes us lovingly on the arm, gives us gifts and whispers lovingly in our ear can be more dangerous than a scorpion. Such a person might even appear to be kinder to us than Lord Buddha. He was incredibly kind, but he never stroked our arm, gave us gifts or whispered in our ear. The false friend might demonstrate such superficial loving actions, but in the end will cheat us and ruin not only this life but also many lives to come.

We often find problems between parents and children. Most parents instinctively love their children, no matter what the children do. But when the children fail or do stupid things, the parents get worried. Sometimes their emotions and frustration manifest unskillfully as anger and aggression, and the children think that parents really hate them. They don’t see the deep love behind the scolding. This is just another example where what’s on the surface belies what’s underneath.

I don’t need to say anything about immeasurable compassion and joy, but I will make a couple of points about immeasurable equanimity. …

If you develop equanimity towards all sentient beings, you release all mental agitation. If you are extremely neurotic, if your consciousness is not fundamentally even, you’ll find it impossible to direct your mind into single-pointed concentration. If you can’t do that, it’s very difficult to practice tantric yoga.

The extreme mind is a big problem. Lord Buddha had two brothers. One of them had unbelievable lust. He was always running after women. He was totally impossible. He was so overwhelmed with lustful hallucinations that there was no way that Lord Buddha could give him teachings. For example, say I’m in a nightclub with twenty girls, dancing and drinking, and you come up to me, “Hey, let me tell you some Dharma.” I’m going to go berserk. Even if Lord Buddha himself wanted to give me teachings, I’d tell him to leave me alone. It was like that. So he had to come up with another solution.

One day Lord Buddha showed this brother a vision of another realm. It was a hellish environment with flames and smoke all around, and in the middle there was a huge cauldron sitting on a big fire, bubbling with boiling oil and surrounded by fearsome protectors. Somebody asked what the cauldron was for, and Lord Buddha’s brother heard one of the protectors say, “Shakyamuni’s brother is up there on earth, dancing, drinking, and lusting his life away, but when he dies he’s going to be reborn right here in this pot.” He totally freaked out. Suddenly he comprehended what he’d been doing and what was going to result. He was so upset that he couldn’t even eat. Then with his great skill, Lord Buddha manifested a vision of a beautiful, peaceful environment that was in complete equilibrium. No extreme suffering; no extreme happiness. That made his brother’s mind very tranquil and even, and at that moment, Lord Buddha gave him teachings. As a result, he realized the emptiness of his own mind, released his ego, and became an arhat.

Therefore, to practice the yoga method, you need a firm foundation of equanimity so that you can control your mind and set in the one direction. I can’t stress enough how necessary this is. But if you can develop equanimity, you will find that state of mind itself extremely blissful. The dualistic mind is a mind of extremes—uneven and unbalanced. It’s a painful mind. It’s the psychological equivalent of constantly having a nail poked into you. The extreme mind is a complete hindrance to your developing the peaceful, blissful mind of equanimity.

Published in Mandala July-December 2014. Excerpt from Commentary on the Yoga Method of Divine Wisdom Manjushri, Manjushri Institute, Cumbria, England, August 1977. Edited from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive by Nicholas Ribush.

 Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org and Mandala Publications share the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. 

Lama Yeshe visiting Sera Monastery in Tibet in 1982. Lama also visited Sera Monastery, where only seventy monks remained. He found the site of his old room, sat down on the rubble and meditated. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

The Tibetan New Year, Losar, falls on March 3 this year. For FPMT students, this day has additional significance as it commemorates the anniversary of the parinirvana of Lama Thubten Yeshe, who co-founded FPMT with Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Lama Yeshe’s heart stopped beating just before dawn on Losar, March 3, 1984. He was forty-nine years old. In 1959, Lama Yeshe fled the Chinese Communists in Tibet, going into exile in India. He survived tremendous hardship living as a refugee monk in Buxa Duar, where Lama Zopa Rinpoche became his heart disciple. In 1967, the two lamas began teaching Western students, leading to the establishment and flourishing of Kopan Monastery in Nepal and the FPMT organization throughout the world.

As part of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice on how to celebrate Losar, Rinpoche recommends sharing stories and remembrances about Lama Yeshe. Here is an excerpt from Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe:

Gelek Rimpoche and Thubten Yeshe loved to debate. One of their favorite tricks was to make their opponent laugh. “Monks love to laugh,” said Gelek Rimpoche. “If you win, they laugh, if you make a mistake, they laugh, if you joke, they laugh. Thubten Yeshe’s body language was very distinctive and he made people laugh with all sorts of silly gestures, jumping around, making shapes with his mala (rosary). At Drepung Loseling we were always looking for good opponents. Thubten Yeshe’s bright round eyes shone when he debated and everyone could see he was having a great time. But he was not just a clown. Rather, he was a natural communicator.”

Off the debating ground Thubten Yeshe was quiet and humble, but on it he was unmatched. “He was sly,” said another classmate. “He’d argue back and forth and then crack a joke to distract his opponent. If he felt he was losing, he’d turn to a third monk and say, ‘Well, how about you? Aren’t you going to debate with me, too?’ Then that monk jumped into the argument too, confusing the first challenger.”

“Afterward, Thubten Yeshe wrapped himself up and sat under a tree in long silent meditation,” recounted his friend Jampa Trinley. “I’d sneak up and hit him with my long yellow hat and say, ‘You should go off to the mountains, you yogi!’ Sometimes he liked to go over all the points of a debate with close friends.”

Another classmate, Geshe Thubten Thinley, recalled Thubten Yeshe’s talent for coming up with amusing one-liners. “He set the place on fire with his antics. A good debate was sheer joy to him and time meant nothing. He saw the funny side of everything in a flash. Debate is based on a logical progression toward a conclusion that must be either yes or no, arrived at by reasoning, scriptural references and mutual agreement by the two debaters. Thubten Yeshe never conceded defeat, no matter how strongly his case was proven wrong. He never gave an inch and always showed great flair and elegance in his arguments. He treated each monk with the same respect, regardless of whether they were in a higher class or had just entered the monastery. We had a friend there who enjoyed telling fortunes. He told us the one person in our group whom he could see doing something really special was Thubten Yeshe,” said Geshe Thubten Thinley.

As a member of the Lhasa aristocracy, Gelek Rimpoche had met Heinrich Harrer, the author of Seven Years in Tibet, and his co-escapee from British internment in India, Peter Aufschnaiter, who had arrived in Tibet in 1944 and Lhasa in 1946. There were very few Westerners in the country: a British consul, a trade representative and three English radio operators—two in Lhasa and another in Chamdo. Tibetans generally regarded Europeans as “barbarians.” But one day Thubten Yeshe happened to see one of these foreigners in the street: “‘Oh, a barbarian,’ I thought. So I stopped and had a really good look. I decided he was not a barbarian at all.”

Lama Yeshe taking photos of people taking photos at the zoo in Amsterdam, 1980. Photo by Jan-Paul Kool; courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

You can read the entire chapter from Lama Yeshe’s biography Big Love from which the above is excerpted: “1941–58: Living a Monastic Life.” Learn about the creation of Lama Yeshe’s biography in the article “A Monumental Accomplishment: The Making of Big Love” from Mandala July-December 2019. For a remembrance of Lama Yeshe from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, see “Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the Qualities of Lama Yeshe.” 

You can find teachings from Lama Yeshe on FPMT.org and Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (LamaYeshe.com).

Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org and Mandala Publications share the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. 

Lama Yeshe doing puja, 1975. From the collection of images of Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and the Sangha during a month-long course at Chenrezig Institute, Australia. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984), who founded the FPMT organization with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was able to translate Tibetan Buddhist teachings into clear ideas that resonated with the Western students he met and taught in the 1970s and ’80s. These teachings by Lama Yeshe continue to profoundly connect with students today. Here Lama Yeshe discusses spiritual art.

Lama Yeshe gave this teaching at a weekend seminar in Christchurch, New Zealand, June 14, 1975. Edited by Nicholas Ribush. Published in Mandala magazine, January 2013.

Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org and Mandala Publications share the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. 

Zasep Tulku, Lama Yeshe, Geshe Loden, Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1977. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984), who founded the FPMT organization with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was able to translate Tibetan Buddhist teachings into clear ideas that resonated with the Western students he met and taught in the 1970s and ’80s. These teachings by Lama Yeshe continue to  be profoundly meaningful for students today. Here Lama Yeshe discusses suffering.

For the most part, we all understand the superficial kinds of suffering such as when someone has a headache or is crying. We say, “Oh, he is suffering so much.” But we are not aware of the true suffering—the disturbances, conflict, and dissatisfaction that pervade the mind. It is hard to understand the nature of true suffering.

Suffering is much more than having a headache or bleeding when one is injured. That kind of suffering is easy to comprehend. The most fundamental kind of suffering is the pervasive dissatisfaction we all experience in our lives. You may be wealthy, beautiful, or powerful, it doesn’t matter. Dissatisfaction is still there, all the time, day and night. This is true suffering. It doesn’t matter if you are walking, dancing, laughing, or even if you are totally embracing life. As far as suffering is concerned, there are no distinctions among human beings.

The cause of dissatisfaction is a lack of wisdom, not knowing the reality of true suffering. This is the basic human problem. We should reflect on the nature of dissatisfaction and examine what creates the causes of suffering. Many Western people think, “I’m happy! Why should I think about suffering? I don’t want to talk about suffering, dissatisfaction, and confusion. I have everything.”

But if you really check up carefully, every one of us is connected with another person, another sentient being. We share this planet with millions of other living beings. And in those relationships with others, we experience confusion and dissatisfaction. We want to be happy, but it is difficult.

It doesn’t matter if you are in a specific relationship with another person or not. Every human being wishes to be happy and not to suffer. This exists equally in all of us. Whether you are a religious person or not, you have some kind of concept, some idealistic idea in your mind of what will make you happy and what will make you unhappy. We all have this idea. Even children have such ideas, even before they can put them into words. These likes and dislikes are intuitive. All human beings are busy trying to solve their problems in order to be satisfied and happy, motivated by an intuitive sense of “I want, I want, I want.”

So the question becomes, what is the solution to this? How to bring about human satisfaction? This is the question. And we really don’t know the answer to this. Instead, we hypnotize ourselves into thinking that no problem exists. But this is totally unrealistic. It is just a mistaken opinion. If you are realistic and thoroughly examine your life—how much satisfaction you actually have in your life—you will come to understand, rather than hypnotizing yourself into believing a mistaken hallucination. If we really check up, we will come to understand that the desire to be happy and to avoid suffering is a basic characteristic of all human beings.

In addition, by not understanding that the root of our confusion and dissatisfaction is not outside of us but is within, that it is a part of our mind, we then make wrong judgments and come to mistaken conclusions. Even if you are not a philosopher, you still have this instinctive philosophy within you. It is important to examine your thinking carefully to detect this kind of mistaken philosophy so that you can correct it, eliminate it; so that you can cut the wrong conception that is the main cause of suffering.

This teaching is excerpted from a public talk on the four noble truths given to more than three hundred people at Kew Town Hall in Melbourne, Australia, July 19, 1977. Edited by Nicholas Ribush from archive #110. Published in Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s E-letter October 2021. Read more about Lama’s 1977 trip to Melbourne in Big Love, pp. 586–90.

Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org and Mandala Publications share the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.