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Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition
The FPMT is an organization devoted to preserving and spreading Mahayana Buddhism worldwide by creating opportunities to listen, reflect, meditate, practice and actualize the unmistaken teachings of the Buddha and based on that experience spreading the Dharma to sentient beings. We provide integrated education through which people’s minds and hearts can be transformed into their highest potential for the benefit of others, inspired by an attitude of universal responsibility and service. We are committed to creating harmonious environments and helping all beings develop their full potential of infinite wisdom and compassion. Our organization is based on the Buddhist tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa of Tibet as taught to us by our founders Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.
- Willkommen
Die Stiftung zur Erhaltung der Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) ist eine Organisation, die sich weltweit für die Erhaltung und Verbreitung des Mahayana-Buddhismus einsetzt, indem sie Möglichkeiten schafft, den makellosen Lehren des Buddha zuzuhören, über sie zur reflektieren und zu meditieren und auf der Grundlage dieser Erfahrung das Dharma unter den Lebewesen zu verbreiten.
Wir bieten integrierte Schulungswege an, durch denen der Geist und das Herz der Menschen in ihr höchstes Potential verwandelt werden zum Wohl der anderen – inspiriert durch eine Haltung der universellen Verantwortung und dem Wunsch zu dienen. Wir haben uns verpflichtet, harmonische Umgebungen zu schaffen und allen Wesen zu helfen, ihr volles Potenzial unendlicher Weisheit und grenzenlosen Mitgefühls zu verwirklichen.
Unsere Organisation basiert auf der buddhistischen Tradition von Lama Tsongkhapa von Tibet, so wie sie uns von unseren Gründern Lama Thubten Yeshe und Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche gelehrt wird.
- Bienvenidos
La Fundación para la preservación de la tradición Mahayana (FPMT) es una organización que se dedica a preservar y difundir el budismo Mahayana en todo el mundo, creando oportunidades para escuchar, reflexionar, meditar, practicar y actualizar las enseñanzas inconfundibles de Buda y en base a esa experiencia difundir el Dharma a los seres.
Proporcionamos una educación integrada a través de la cual las mentes y los corazones de las personas se pueden transformar en su mayor potencial para el beneficio de los demás, inspirados por una actitud de responsabilidad y servicio universales. Estamos comprometidos a crear ambientes armoniosos y ayudar a todos los seres a desarrollar todo su potencial de infinita sabiduría y compasión.
Nuestra organización se basa en la tradición budista de Lama Tsongkhapa del Tíbet como nos lo enseñaron nuestros fundadores Lama Thubten Yeshe y Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
A continuación puede ver una lista de los centros y sus páginas web en su lengua preferida.
- Bienvenue
L’organisation de la FPMT a pour vocation la préservation et la diffusion du bouddhisme du mahayana dans le monde entier. Elle offre l’opportunité d’écouter, de réfléchir, de méditer, de pratiquer et de réaliser les enseignements excellents du Bouddha, pour ensuite transmettre le Dharma à tous les êtres. Nous proposons une formation intégrée grâce à laquelle le cœur et l’esprit de chacun peuvent accomplir leur potentiel le plus élevé pour le bien d’autrui, inspirés par le sens du service et une responsabilité universelle. Nous nous engageons à créer un environnement harmonieux et à aider tous les êtres à épanouir leur potentiel illimité de compassion et de sagesse. Notre organisation s’appuie sur la tradition guéloukpa de Lama Tsongkhapa du Tibet, telle qu’elle a été enseignée par nos fondateurs Lama Thoubtèn Yéshé et Lama Zopa Rinpoché.
Visitez le site de notre Editions Mahayana pour les traductions, conseils et nouvelles du Bureau international en français.
Voici une liste de centres et de leurs sites dans votre langue préférée
- Benvenuto
L’FPMT è un organizzazione il cui scopo è preservare e diffondere il Buddhismo Mahayana nel mondo, creando occasioni di ascolto, riflessione, meditazione e pratica dei perfetti insegnamenti del Buddha, al fine di attualizzare e diffondere il Dharma fra tutti gli esseri senzienti.
Offriamo un’educazione integrata, che può trasformare la mente e i cuori delle persone nel loro massimo potenziale, per il beneficio di tutti gli esseri, ispirati da un’attitudine di responsabilità universale e di servizio.
Il nostro obiettivo è quello di creare contesti armoniosi e aiutare tutti gli esseri a sviluppare in modo completo le proprie potenzialità di infinita saggezza e compassione.
La nostra organizzazione si basa sulla tradizione buddhista di Lama Tsongkhapa del Tibet, così come ci è stata insegnata dai nostri fondatori Lama Thubten Yeshe e Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Di seguito potete trovare un elenco dei centri e dei loro siti nella lingua da voi prescelta.
- 欢迎 / 歡迎
简体中文
“护持大乘法脉基金会”( 英文简称:FPMT。全名:Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) 是一个致力于护持和弘扬大乘佛法的国际佛教组织。我们提供听闻,思维,禅修,修行和实证佛陀无误教法的机会,以便让一切众生都能够享受佛法的指引和滋润。
我们全力创造和谐融洽的环境, 为人们提供解行并重的完整佛法教育,以便启发内在的环宇悲心及责任心,并开发内心所蕴藏的巨大潜能 — 无限的智慧与悲心 — 以便利益和服务一切有情。
FPMT的创办人是图腾耶喜喇嘛和喇嘛梭巴仁波切。我们所修习的是由两位上师所教导的,西藏喀巴大师的佛法传承。
繁體中文
護持大乘法脈基金會”( 英文簡稱:FPMT。全名:Found
ation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition ) 是一個致力於護持和弘揚大乘佛法的國際佛教組織。我們提供聽聞, 思維,禪修,修行和實證佛陀無誤教法的機會,以便讓一切眾生都能 夠享受佛法的指引和滋潤。 我們全力創造和諧融洽的環境,
為人們提供解行並重的完整佛法教育,以便啟發內在的環宇悲心及責 任心,並開發內心所蘊藏的巨大潛能 — 無限的智慧與悲心 – – 以便利益和服務一切有情。 FPMT的創辦人是圖騰耶喜喇嘛和喇嘛梭巴仁波切。
我們所修習的是由兩位上師所教導的,西藏喀巴大師的佛法傳承。 察看道场信息:
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Live with compassion. Work with compassion. Die with compassion. Meditate with compassion. Enjoy with compassion. When problems come, experience them with compassion.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
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The Foundation Store is FPMT’s online shop and features a vast selection of Buddhist study and practice materials written or recommended by our lineage gurus. These items include homestudy programs, prayers and practices in PDF or eBook format, materials for children, and other resources to support practitioners.
Items displayed in the shop are made available for Dharma practice and educational purposes, and never for the purpose of profiting from their sale. Please read FPMT Foundation Store Policy Regarding Dharma Items for more information.
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Lama Zopa Rinpoche News
11
FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche has done much to care for the animals at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land (BAPL), located in a remote area of Washington State, in the northwestern United States. One examples is creating a bird feeder where birds and other animals are blessed by mantras as they feed.
Rinpoche has had many displays of animals statues with signs created on the retreat land, offering visitors short Dharma teachings. He also has had made many signs with mantras and images of deities that purify just by seeing.
In addition, BAPL has a 13-foot (4-meter) tall statue of Amitabha Buddha, which was created in Vietnam of white marble, as well as a smaller statue of Medicine Buddha. The statues are surrounded by beautiful gardens and flower offerings. Rinpoche has organized a yearly festival to honor the Amitabha statue and the retreat land.
A new video shows many of these statues, signs, and activities on the retreat land and features Rinpoche’s chanting.
Watch a video of tour of Buddha Amitabha Pure Land:
https://youtu.be/n6f2vNdL5PA
See photos from Rinpoche’s visit to Buddha Amitabha Pure Land and Pamtingpa Center in Washington State, US:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/washington-us-july-august-2019/
In October, watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings streamed live from Russia:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/
Find video and audio recordings and transcripts of Rinpoche’s recent teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-singapore-2019/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
- Tagged: animal art, animals, buddha amitabha pure land, video, video short
4
On September 30, Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived in Elista, the capital city of the Russian Republic of Kalmykia, which is the only region in Europe where Buddhism is the primary religion. Rinpoche traveled to Elista to offer a Great Chenrezig initiation and lead a 100 million mani retreat.
The events with Rinpoche begin on Friday, October 4, and run through October 20. Between 250-450 students are expected to attend, including many students from Ganden Tendar Ling, the FPMT center in Moscow.
Rinpoche then travels to Moscow to teach on “How to Develop Bodhicitta in the Modern World (a commentary on Khunu Lama Rinpoche’s The Jewel Lamp: A Praise of Bodhichitta),” October 25-27. Students from Ganden Tendar Ling are organizing the teachings in Moscow and also helping with the 100 million mani retreat in Elista.
Rinpoche’s teachings will be streamed live from Russia. For links to streaming video:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/
Learn More about Ganden Tendar Ling Center:
https://fpmt.ru/
Find video and audio recordings and transcripts of Rinpoche’s recent teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-singapore-2019/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
30
Lama Zopa Rinpoche concluded a busy visit to Singapore last week. Three weeks earlier, Rinpoche landed in Singapore, where he was enthusiastically greeted by students at the airport, despite the late time of his arrival.
During his visit at Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC), the FPMT center in Singapore, Rinpoche gave general teachings as well as commentary on Lama Chopa.
Students at ABC offered a long life puja to Rinpoche with Lama Chopa and the Sixteen Arhat Long Life Prayers on Sunday, September 22.
Many students around the world watched the live webstreaming of Rinpoche’s teachings from ABC, especially in Taiwan, due to Ven. Thubten Dechen’s simultaneous translation of the teachings into Chinese.
Rinpoche’s teachings from ABC are available as video and audio recordings, including Italian translations of the teachings and a Spanish translation of one day of teachings. A written English transcript is also being made available.
ABC is a vibrant and active center. According to Ven. Holly Ansett, it’s a very inspiring center for its high level of student involvement and the scale of offerings and holy objects there. While staying at ABC, Rinpoche also attended the center’s 30th anniversary celebration.
Watch the Long Life Puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Lama Chopa and Sixteen Arhat Prayers from ABC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn3tyEXX43I
Learn more about Amitabha Buddhist Centre:
http://www.fpmtabc.org/
Find video and audio recordings and transcripts of Rinpoche’s recent teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-singapore-2019/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
27
In August, Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended the Amitabha Buddha Festival at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land (BAPL) in remote Washington State in the United States. This is the fourth time the festival has been held and the third time Rinpoche has attended. The festival was envisioned by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to honor the large Amitabha Buddha statue and retreat land at BAPL.
Rinpoche translated and created the text for the festival, which took place in front of the 13-foot (4-meter) tall Amitabha Buddha statue. Preparations for the festival took about a week and were done by the resident Sangha and the Sangha traveling with Rinpoche. Local students from the nearby Pamtingpa Center in Tonasket came for the festival.
Rinpoche, Sangha, and students did the offering prayers all morning. About forty to fifty people attended.
Neighbors of the retreat land were invited for the offered lunch with Rinpoche, Sangha, and local students. About fifteen neighbors attended and enjoyed the event. People in the area tend to be conservative, so creating a good connection with them is important. Rinpoche was pleased with the event and said he thought it was very nice.
While staying at BAPL, Rinpoche also took time to bless a local lake. Rinpoche, Sangha, and students spent two days preparing blessed food for the fish in the lake. Then the group took two small boats on to the water.
Rinpoche’s boat had flags on it that he designed. The flags say, “Wish granting boat—fufilling all the wishes of the fish and all others who live in or use this water,” and “We are liberating the fish from the cause of suffering and bringing them to peerless happiness—the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations.”
Rinpoche recited sutras and mantras. The fish and other beings in the water were also blessed with a relic and a mantra blessing wheel, and were offered blessed food and water.
See more photos from Rinpoche’s visit to Buddha Amitabha Pure Land and Pamtingpa Center in Washington State, US:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/washington-us-july-august-2019/
Find video and audio recordings and transcripts of Rinpoche’s recent teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-singapore-2019/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
- Tagged: amitabha buddha festival, animal art, animals, blessing water beings, buddha amitabha pure land, lama zopa rinpoche, pamtingpa center
2
Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his commentary on Lama Chopa (Guru Puja) practice at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, the FPMT center in Singapore.
Rinpoche’s teachings begin on Friday, September 6, and run through Saturday, September 21. All non-restricted teachings by Rinpoche will be webcast live.
The planned schedule of teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in local time (GMT+8) is as follows:
- Friday, September 6, 7:30 p.m.–10 p.m.
- Saturday, September 7, 4 p.m.–6 p.m., 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
- Sunday, September 8, 4 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, September 11, 7:30 p.m.–10 p.m.
- Friday, September 13, 7:30 p.m.–10 p.m.
- Saturday, September 14, 4 p.m.–6 p.m., 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
- Sunday, September 15, 4 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, September 18, 7:30 p.m.–10 p.m.
- Saturday, September 21, 4 p.m.–6 p.m., 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
Following Rinpoche’s Lama Chopa commentary, Amitabha Buddhist Centre will be offering to Rinpoche the Sixteen Arhat Long Life Prayers on Sunday, September 22, 9:30 a.m.–12 p.m.
Useful links:
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach LIVE:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 2018 commentary on Lama Chopa taught at Amitabha Buddhist Centre:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-2018/
More information on the teaching event at Amitabha Buddhist Centre:
http://www.fpmtabc.org/2019/event/lzrvisit.php
Learn more about Lama Chopa practice and find FPMT Education Services materials:
https://fpmt.org/edu-news/it-is-all-there-in-lama-chopa/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
5
Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught in and traveled to a few FPMT centers in Spain in late April and early May. Kiko Llopis, FPMT Hispana national coordinator, shared this report on Rinpoche’s visit.
As he had promised in his previous visit to Spain in October 2018, Rinpoche returned to Madrid in April to confer the great initiation of the White Umbrella Deity (Dukkar). Rinpoche blessed us with his teachings, transmissions, and the longed-for initiation.
The event with Rinpoche was attended by more than 550 students. Nearly a hundred volunteers from the ten FPMT centers in Spain participated in organizing the event with enthusiasm and devotion. An added blessing during the teachings was the presence of Tenzin Ösel Hita—the recognized reincarnation of Lama Yeshe. Lama Yeshe co-founded the FPMT organization, together with Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
In addition to the benefit of his teachings, Rinpoche once again demonstrated his subtle but palpable quality of creating the conditions that manifest the best in the people around him—whether they are Buddhists or not, whether they know him or not. His love and compassion for all beings is a universal language that reaches everyone.
One example of this was the response of the staff at the General Union of Workers (UGT in Spanish) building, where the teaching event was held. UGT is one of the biggest unions in Spain. It has a Marxist origin and, by principle, is far from any religious affiliation. However, what began as a kind of curiosity for the colorful paraphernalia that accompanied the lectures of Rinpoche, who they saw as this “nice old man,” ended with a request from the UGT Head of the Administration for Rinpoche to bless her family. Plus, the maintenance staff ask about meditation, and the security staff gave us the facilities to hold a fire puja inside the building.
During his stay in Madrid, Rinpoche spent time in interviews with students and people with serious health problems. He also invited the ordained Sangha and members of the organization for dinner.
There was also a wonderful afternoon stroll through the Retiro Park, which is one of the largest parks in Madrid, located near the city center. Rinpoche wanted to find a painter who sold paintings in the park. Rinpoche himself had given the painter several sacred images on his last visit, “not to sell them, but to exhibit them so people could benefit from seeing the images.” Rinpoche also blessed two large lakes in the Retiro, and all the aquatic inhabitants in the lakes, thus giving another example of how to make the most of a walk in the park.
In addition to coming to Madrid, Rinpoche also visited three other FPMT centers in Spain. Rinpoche calls O.Sel.Ling Centro de Retiros, the FPMT retreat center located in the southern province of Granada, “Oseling pure land.” Rinpoche did extensive practices there and blessed the new gompa and sacred objects together with Geshe Lamsang, the FPMT resident teacher at Centro Nagarjuna Valencia. We are very excited because Rinpoche said it would be beneficial to return to O.Sel.Ling to give a retreat on the Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattva.
At the FPMT center Nagarjuna C.E.T. Granada, Rinpoche gave teachings and dined with some members of the center.
At Centro La Sabiduría de Nagarjuna, the FPMT center in Bilbao in northern Spain, Rinpoche gave an unscheduled commentary on the Dzambhala practice for the success of any project to be of the greatest benefit, especially the center’s hoped for new Lama Tsongkhapa retreat place, which he was dedicating to be of the greatest benefit.
Our precious guru left behind a ray of joy, gratitude, and enthusiasm in Spain, and we dedicate each day for him to visit us again very soon.
See more photographs from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s visit to Spain:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/spain-april-may-2019/
Find complete videos of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent teachings, including teachings from the April 2019 teachings in Madrid and the May-June 2019 Vajrayogini retreat at Institut Vajra Yogini in France:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
- Tagged: Centro La Sabiduría de Nagarjuna, fpmt hispana, lama zopa rinpoche, nagarjuna c.e.t. granada, nagarjuna c.e.t. madrid, o.sel.ling, spain
24
At the conclusion of the Vajrayogini retreat at Institut Vajra Yogini in France, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was offered a long life puja, where long-time American student Merry Colony recited the following praise for Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
In this time of over degeneration,
When our kind mothers are blindly rushing about their lives,
Wanting only happiness while creating causes only to suffer,
Due to the inconceivable kindness of the Guru,
We have found ourselves here,
In the pure realm of Vajra Yogini,
And for thirty-five glorious days we have experienced the fully ripened result of our impossible-to-find and truly miraculous perfect human rebirths.
Having been called to create virtue each day by the sound of the blessed gong, which merely by hearing purifies the five uninterrupted negative karmas,
We have passed each day beneath the sweet smelling honeysuckle flowers accompanied by the soft cooing of doves,
And have joyously gathered, hundreds of your children disciples, like swans coming to a lake,
To drink the nectar of the Guru’s holy speech.
When the Guru’s holy body enters the vajra tent, before even a word is spoken, we are given our first teaching:
Make the efforts of our parents worthwhile and use this body to create merit.
For how can we give in to laziness when we are witness to you, our refuge savior,
Manifesting paralysis yet still prostrating with such supreme effort before the throne each day?
Such a kindness can be found nowhere else in this world.
Once seated upon the vajra throne your display of skillful means is without compare:
The wrathful roar that clears away the thick fog of our ignorance,
The circuitous stories that sharpen our attention,
The vajra laughter that awakens our blissful awareness.
Where else in all the three realms can one find such a teacher?
In a single moment you show the simultaneous aspects of,
Gentle virtue beggar and powerful Mahayana Vajrayana guru,
Precious one who subdues, wrathful one who conquers.
To such greatness all humans and gods bow their heads.
Your melodic chanting and explanation of the four line Vajra Cutter
Implores us to see that like a drop of dew this life will soon be gone,
To examine the profound meaning of rabrib, the defective view that keeps us imprisoned,
To loosen our grip on what we mistakenly believe to be real by seeing everything as illusion.
Withholding nothing, you illuminate the heart of the path: the profound meaning of the Guru, one taste with great bliss dharmakaya.
Using your own life story as an example, you clarify the true meaning of Dharma practice: giving up this life!
Quoting from Kyabje Khunu Lama Rinpoche, you strengthen our refuge in bodhichitta, the unbetraying friend in samsara.
With diamond-like precision, you elucidate the very huge difference between correctly meditating on emptiness and incorrectly meditating on nihilism.
While we may not have yet realized renunciation, bodhichitta, or emptiness,
There is one thing we do know without mistake or doubt:
When the kind and holy lord Guru is teaching,
There is nowhere else we ever, ever want to be.
Until enlightenment, may we always be among your foremost disciples fulfilling your every wish.
Now, together here, due to the Guru’s unfathomable kindness,
We have taken the Most Secret Hayagriva for long life, Heruka Five Deity, and Vajrayogini initiations,
We have engaged in the heart practice of Lama Chopa daily,
And have begun practicing the yogas of sleep, waking, and tasting nectar.
We have strengthened our familiarization with taking ordinary death, intermediate state, and rebirth into the path to achieve the three kayas,
And collectively we have accumulated more than ten million mantras of the Kechara Yogini.
May all of this merit, together with the three time merits of all sentient beings and buddhas, who do not exist, who are empty,
Be the cause for the most holy kind Guru Buddha Deity to have an infinitely long and stable life.
May you quickly return to this best of FPMT centers and
Continue to teach the Vajrayogini commentary as well as the three-year retreat instructions.
From our side we will practice as taught and dedicate every merit created to the fruition of full enlightenment so that we can most quickly, fully benefit all beings.
By the power of the Three Rare Sublime Ones,
By the power of the buddhas’ and bodhisattvas’ blessings,
By the power of this pure prayer,
And the auspicious convergence of our karma and the Guru’s unbearably great compassion,
Precious Refuge Savior heed our prayer:
Please, please live long.
Please, please live very long.
Please, please live infinitely long.
Colophon: Written and read by your devoted disciple Merry Colony, Yeshe Dechen, at the conclusion of the Vajrayogini retreat at Institut Vajra Yogini, France, June 13, 2019.
Find complete videos of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent teachings, including teachings from the May-June 2019 Vajrayogini retreat at Institut Vajra Yogini in France:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
- Tagged: lama zopa rinpoche, lama zopa rinpoche long life puja, long life puja, merry colony, praise for lama zopa rinpoche
14
The five-week Vajrayogini retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, hosted by Institut Vajra Vogini in the south of France, draws to a close on Saturday, June 15. FPMT students from around the world are attending the retreat. (Read a report from the first two weeks here.) Gordon McDougall, a long-time student of Rinpoche and frequent editor of Rinpoche’s books, is at Institut Vajra Yogini and shares this report:
Now we are into the final week of the five-week Vajrayogini retreat, it’s hard to know what to say about such a powerful event. Certainly the joy when it was announced that Lama Zopa would stay until the end of the retreat and give an Amitayus initiation was universal, but retreats are very personal affairs, meaning different things to each retreatant. There does seem to have been a fair mixture of ecstasy and agony, lots of colds, and even a few hospitalizations, but the overall atmosphere has been one of great joy and harmony.
So, how to sum it up? Perhaps it can be concentrated into four words:
amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing
Amazing is the place itself. Forty years of love and blessings have turned Institut Vajra Yogini into a wonderful space. The glorious chateau, the awe-inspiring stupa, the lovely walks through the wood to the ridge overlooking the quintessential French countryside—the superlatives can go on.
Amazing too is the event provided by the staff of Vajra Yogini. Over forty volunteers made our job of meditating so much easier (but still not easy). It’s impossible to exaggerate the loving care they have taken with every tiny detail of the retreat. At every turn there is a reminder of how they have anticipated a retreatant’s needs and wishes, from qi gong sessions to tablet recharging areas to a nurse’s station to continuous free tea and coffee to the shuttle service for people living outside—even an exercise bike! And Rinpoche agrees, saying that Institut Vajra Yogini is the “best example of service in FPMT,” so good “even the birds are talking about it!”
The retreat itself has been amazing. Not just because Rinpoche has taught almost every night and not just for delicious French pastry that was our usual midnight tsog, but the session-by-session business of doing a retreat. The leader, Ven. Chantal Carrerot, was superb. Taking time off from creating the nearby Monastère Dorje Pamo, she was the perfect mixture of gentle and firm. Few were able to resist her quiet suggestions we all remain in silence, said so sweetly and so insistently. The technology of enlightenment also just gets better and better, with new downloads of prayers and images, if not daily, then quite often. And again, it’s little things like seeing the livestream of Rinpoche arriving and leaving projected on to the large screen in the teaching tent, rather than just hearing him giggle but invisible beyond a forest to retreatants. And of course, Rinpoche. He seems to be getting more entertaining each year (the “Solu Khumbo comedian” he calls himself), able to flip us from tears of compassion over the suffering of conveyor belt pigs to tears of laughter at some wonderfully observed absurdity of samsara. His message hasn’t changed, and it is one we all need so much.
Amazing indeed were the fellow vajra brothers and sisters who shared the retreat—from the old guard who were there at the very beginning of FPMT, such as Ven. Karin Valham (who has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people in her more than three decades of teaching at Kopan Monastery in Nepal), to many newer students. And they come from all over the world, a greater diversity of countries than I’ve seen at any Rinpoche event. There was a big contingency from Australasia and North America as well as the usual Europeans, but also many Chinese from South East Asia, Taiwan, and Mainland China, and places such as Mexico, Mongolia, Russia, Latvia, and … the list goes on. Such a diverse group of people on one hand and so united in our love and devotion to Rinpoche on the other. It is truly inspiring to chat over a tea and discover the countless ways we are all working for Rinpoche and, because of that, for all beings.
Rinpoche told us at the beginning to not worry about counting mantras for the retreat because he wanted to give us a commentary on Vajrayogini. So far, he has not gone beyond the preliminaries, concentrating on lamrim, lamrim, and lamrim. However, there are those among us who feel he must finish the commentary and therefore must return to Institut Vajra Yogini to continue it next year, and the year after, and the year after. … And we’ll be there for another amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing retreat.
Watch recorded video of Rinpoche’s teachings from the Vajrayogini retreat here:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/vajrayogini-retreat-2019/
FPMT Education Services has created a lamrim resource page where students may find advice and materials to support their practice:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/lam-rim/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition(FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
27
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is currently in the middle of teaching at the five-week Vajrayogini Retreat at Institut Vajra Vogini in the south of France. FPMT students from around the world—many of them students of Rinpoche for more than thirty years—are attending the retreat, which began on May 10. More than 450 people attended the first two weeks of the retreat, including about fifty ordained Sangha. More than 250 students are staying for the entire retreat.
Gordon McDougall, a UK student of Rinpoche and frequent editor of Rinpoche’s books, is attending the retreat and shares this report:
Greetings from Vajrayogini’s pure land, as Lama Zopa Rinpoche so aptly named Institut Vajra Yogini (IVY) at the beginning of the five-week Vajrayogini retreat. I remember when Violette (one of the retreat’s key organizers) first told me Rinpoche had accepted to lead this retreat, it seemed that it would be something very special, and it is proving to be that.
What could have been an organizational nightmare has been made to look blissfully easy by the IVY team, which includes seventy volunteers. The chateau and grounds (and the beautiful French countryside around) are at their best, and the huge teaching tent feels surprisingly spacious. There is the usual array of audio-video equipment for the interpreters, video recording, and live webcast, and a big screen for Ven. Joan Nicell’s simultaneous transcriptions of Rinpoche’s teachings. And there are many flowers, offerings, and thangkas. If you’ve been to a big Rinpoche teaching event, you’ll probably be able to picture it well.
What I notice here, though, is the meticulous eye for detail, from the seating arrangements to the surprising small tables we each have. (When Ven. Chantal Carrerot, the retreat leader, mentioned that the table tops lift and the legs extend, she had to break for a few minutes while we all had great fun playing with them.)
It was wonderful to see the care the team took with the students as they arrived. Because there had been a general strike in France right before the retreat began, people had been stuck in strange cities or forced to find other ways of getting here and many arrived without their baggage, which was floating around France somewhere. In short, chaos, but it hasn’t seemed like that from this side. The team worked so hard to ensure everybody settled in without hassle.
As usual, the first couple of days were a frenzy of reunions. The energy was so high, with people who have been Dharma siblings for decades meeting each other again. I found it quite daunting to face so many people at once and so much hugging and greeting, but, at the same time, it is a fantastic feeling to be back among the FPMT family. And it really does feel like a family. I have known some—many—of the people smiling at me as we go around the big Kadampa stupa for thirty years. They are still at it, still devoted to our amazing holy guru. We worked out there is probably over 10,000 years Dharma experience here. All we have to do now is get enlightened.
Owen Cole, a long-time FPMT student from Hayagriya Buddhist Centre in Perth, Australia, shares his experience of the first part of the retreat:
The retreat has every thing going for it. During the Heruka and Vajrayogini initiations, Lama Zopa Rinpoche pushed students to the limit with two separate nights of only three hours sleep, though we did get a generous break the next day. The students have responded with enthusiasm and discipline by attending sessions and observing course discipline, such as the silence periods.
The program follows the one favored by Rinpoche in retreats around the world with Guru Puja/Jorcho and additional prayers chanted first thing. This is followed by the sadhana or a teaching by Rinpoche or a talk by a Western Sangha member. We do protector prayers at night. Though everything is subject to change and often does.
IVY director Françios Lecointre and his amazing team are an inspiration for how they have organized the retreat, which has stretched the center’s facilities to capacity. Ever room in the old chateau is jam packed full of people with the overflow housed at nearby Nalanda Monastery, Dorje Palmo Nunnery, and other facilities near the quintessentially French town of Lavaur.
The IVY staff and volunteers have gone out of their way to make the minds of participants happy, offering sun lounges to relieve the pressure on campers, umbrellas when it started raining, and extra blankets for those feeling the cold; taking great care of those who had to be hospitalized; and providing beautiful food in copious quantities. The volunteers are working to the point of exhaustion to help retreatants and keep things running smoothly. And they are patiently doing everything with a smile, which creates a wonderful sense of cooperative community.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche acknowledged their efforts in a teaching by saying their work had already achieved the same result of many lifetimes of retreat, adding that they had purified so many eons of negative karma as they were helping people look after their minds.
You can find links to live webcast of Rinpoche’s teachings here:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/
Watch recorded video of the non-restricted teachings from the retreat here:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/vajrayogini-retreat-2019/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition(FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
11
Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently arrived at Institut Vajra Yogini (IVY) after giving teachings in Spain. A large gathering of students held khatas, glowing LED lights, and banners depicting the eight auspicious symbols as they awaited his night-time arrival at the FPMT center in southern France.
On Saturday, May 11, Rinpoche began teaching at a five-week Vajrayogini retreat, hosted by IVY. More than 400 students from around the world are attending the first ten days of the retreat. More than 250 students will be attending the entire retreat. Preliminary and non-restricted teachings by Rinpoche at the retreat will be webcast live.
For details and links to watch Rinpoche teach live:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/
On May 9, Rinpoche visited nearby Nalanda Monastery, where Rinpoche was offered lunch and was greeted by the resident monks and other students. Rinpoche gave an oral transmission and teaching during his visit there.
Watch the video of Rinpoche’s arrival at IVY:
https://youtu.be/dA6ioxd2vm4
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent teachings from Madrid, Spain, on FPMT.org:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/madrid_2019/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition(FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
15
Every year, Ven. Roger Kunsang checks whether any practices need to be done to contribute to FPMT Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s health and long life.
This year, Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khandro Namsel Dronme) advised that a Sixteen Arhat Long Life Puja, with additional recitations of Tendrel Topa, would be beneficial.
On Saturday, April 6, the recommended long life puja was offered at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Khadro-la attended the puja as did Dagri Rinpoche and Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, Kopan’s abbot who returned from Singapore to lead the puja. In addition to the Kopan community, many students from FPMT centers worldwide were also in attendance.
Khadro-la, Khen Rinpoche, and Ven. Roger jointly offered Rinpoche a Vajrayogini statue in request for Rinpoche’s long life on behalf of the FPMT organization.
Watch a fifteen-minute video created by Kopan Monastery School of the April 6, 2019, long life puja:
https://www.facebook.com/KopanMonasterySchool/videos/2016747651749647/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
1
Root Institute director Ven. Paldron shares news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent visit to Bodhgaya, India:
FPMT Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived in Bodhgaya, India, just before His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings started on December 22, 2018. Our hearts almost stopped beating at Root Institute when Rinpoche and the entourage missed their connecting flight in Delhi. We were delighted when we heard that they were confirmed on the following flight. A few years back, Rinpoche, after missing a connecting flight, decided to spend time elsewhere instead of visiting Root. So we rejoiced that this time we had created the karma for Rinpoche to visit and stay with us!
The children of Maitreya School, a social service project of Root Institute, were very fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to recite the Heart Sutra twice in front of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and a very august audience, including rinpoches, tulkus, and high lamas. His Holiness was happy to see the children once again and was touched by their heart-felt recitation. The students were able to offer His Holiness khatas. Rinpoche was also very pleased to see the children reciting the sutra.
Rinpoche very kindly requested Root to host a Hayagriva puja on December 30 to which many high lamas, including Ganden Tri Rinpoche, Jhado Rinpoche, Kelsang Rinpoche, Khadro-la [Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme], and many young tulkus (reincarnate lamas), geshes and Sangha attended. During Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s stay at Root Institute, Rinpoche also met individually with many of his gurus and made offerings to them, as well as met with young tulkus and other lamas.
Rinpoche also participated in the long life puja for His Holiness on December 31, organized by Namgyel Monastery and other Tibetan organizations at the Kalachakra grounds. Rinpoche was able to offer to His Holiness a beautiful Dharmachakra on behalf of the FPMT organization. Later that day, Rinpoche very kindly attended the Lama Chopa tsog puja in Root Institute’s big gompa with protector prayers and purification practices to close out 2018 and to usher in the New Year. Rinpoche did further extensive protector prayers at the start of the New Year to remove all obstacles ,often going late into the night and the early morning.
On the last day of the India FPMT national meeting, January 3, Rinpoche graced us with his presence, offering teachings and blessings in the small gompa. Rinpoche emphasized the importance of centers and the work they do and the necessity of working harmoniously and compassionately.
Rinpoche invited several high lamas to lunch, including Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche, who spent New Year’s afternoon with us answering questions, His Eminence Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, and other high lamas. On one such occasion Ling Rinpoche made an impromptu visit to the Shakyamuni Buddha Community Health Care Clinic and blessed the staff, medicines, and the clinic. We were very grateful. We were also delighted that Dagri Rinpoche taught at Root early in the year giving us a Lama Tsongkhapa and Medicine Buddha jenangs and teachings on the Heart Sutra. Lama Zopa Rinpoche invited Dagri Rinpoche to lunch on several occasions, and it was wonderful to see their joyous faces together.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche made regular visits to the Mahabodhi Stupa during the evenings—doing circumambulations, reciting prayers, making extensive offerings and dedications, and also giving short teachings. Rinpoche’s offerings would include eight to ten trays of flower offerings (or about 80 small plates of flowers). Rinpoche also offered twelve monk’s begging bowls full of fresh fruit, robes, and khatas to the Buddha statue in the main temple.
Rinpoche kindly gave two public teachings aimed particularly at the Indian staff (although everyone was invited) about the necessity of a good heart and living a life in service to others and rejoicing in the opportunity to be working at a Dharma center.
In front of the Nagarjuna statue at Root on Sunday, January 13, Rinpoche gave an extensive, inspiring, and very precious teaching on emptiness and dependent arising and how by clinging to the notion of an inherently existent I—ignorance—we continually create the root of samsara and our own suffering. As long as we do this, Rinpoche reminded, we are a slave to the I and to samsara and can never experience freedom or liberation. Therefore, it is important for us to be mindful of this erroneous notion of I that we are clinging to every moment of our life reminding ourselves that this I is empty, not truly existent and seeing the unfolding of events in our life as a dream.
Rinpoche repeated this theme during a magnificent Heruka Lama Chopa offering on January 16 in the big gompa, which lasted over four hours! During this marathon session Rinpoche did protector prayers, purification practices interspersed with teaching reminders about our motivation, guru devotion, and emptiness.
A special and big thank you to our wonderful and extraordinary team of volunteers and staff for their dedicated, compassionate, creative, and inspiring service to meet all the needs of the center during this incredibly busy and blessed time period.
We are incredibly grateful to all that Rinpoche has given to all sentient beings at Root so far. We pray for Rinpoche’s long, healthy stable life and that we continue to receive Rinpoche’s teachings, blessings, and advise so that we too can become quickly enlightened for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Read more about His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s recent teachings in Bodhgaya, in a new online feature story by Cynthia Karena:
https://fpmt.org/mandala/in-depth-stories/his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-teaches-in-bodhgaya/
Learn more about Root Institute by visiting their website:
https://www.rootinstitute.ngo/
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
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*powered by Google TranslateTranslation of pages on fpmt.org is performed by Google Translate, a third party service which FPMT has no control over. The service provides automated computer translations that are only an approximation of the websites' original content. The translations should not be considered exact and only used as a rough guide.I want to say without hesitation that the purpose of our life is happiness.