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His Holiness the Dalai Lama during a press conference at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia, Italy, June 12, 2014. Photo by Olivier Adam.
During His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) this week, filmmakers have created beautiful videos documenting the event. The short videos, available on the Dalai Lama Italy YouTube channel, show an up-close view of His Holiness during his stay at the center and a behind-the-scenes look at the event preparations.
His Holiness arrived at ILTK on Tuesday, June 10, and is giving a teaching there on compassion and the importance of philosophical study in spiritual practice on Saka Dawa, June 13. His Holiness then teaches in nearby Livorno on the “Wisdom of Compassion” on June 14-15.
Press conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, June 12, 2014. Photo by Olivier Adam.
The video “Backstage-Day 3” shows the preparations that went into creating the press conference with His Holiness on Thursday, June 12. (You can also watch the video of the entire press conference on YouTube.)
The short video on Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, which was founded in 1977 and is the oldest FPMT center in Europe, offers an informal tour of the stunning center and its picturesque surroundings in the Tuscany region of Italy. Organizers have also posted photos from the events at ILTK on Flickr.
Perhaps more than anything else, these videos illustrate the amazing amount of work, love and joy that go hand-in-hand with hosting an event with His Holiness. For that, we can rejoice in what is being offered and experienced by all who come into contact with the events and teachings.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with event staff and volunteers at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia, Italy, June 2014. Photo by Olivier Adam.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Geshe Konchog Kyab, resident geshe at Tubten Kunga Center. Photo courtesy of Tubten Kunga Center.
Mike Mordis, secretary of Tubten Kunga Center (TKC) in Deerfield Beach, Florida, US, reflected on some of the major events that have occurred at the center in 2014:
This year has been fast moving and packed with great activity at Tubten Kunga Center in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
In February, Ven. Robina Courtin blessed us with two full weeks of profound Dharma teachings. Ven. Robina had not been back to TKC for nearly a decade, and it was an absolute treat to meet and learn from her again.
March 2014 concluded with Ven. Amy Miller’s dynamic teaching’s focused on self-help for mental afflictions like addiction, depression, and coping using the Buddhist teachings.
TKC is very excited to host Yangsi Rinpoche for the first time in June 2014 for a two-hour teaching.
Director Maggie Bustamante, after almost 12 years of compassionate, skillful service to TKC will step down, and a new director will begin around August.
TKC resident teacher Geshe Konchog Kyab was in India visiting his family, monastery, and teachers until early May. Plans to resume teachings on Je Tsongkhapa’s three volumes of commentaries on lam-rim are scheduled. Additionally, new FPMT-based programs will kick in for late 2014.
TKC has taken on a shopkeeper and plans to greatly expand its selection of statues, Dharma crafts, and books for our members and friends.
Elaine Blumenkranz. Photo courtesy of Tubten Kunga Center.
TKC recently lost our beloved membership director, Elaine Blumenkranz (1936-2014), who battled serious health issues over the past three years. Elaine Blumenkranz came to Tubten Kunga Center in Deerfield Beach more than a decade ago. Elaine not only attended teachings, but also became the membership director and de facto ”mother” to Geshe-la. Some of the most profoundly moving cards, letters, emails and calls received by January, one of Elaine’s two daughters, in her last months, were from center members extolling Elaine’s spirit and grace and their gratitude for her presence in their lives.
Mandala brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering His Holiness the Dalai Lama a khata, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia, Italy, June 10, 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) on Tuesday, June 10. During his six-day visit, His Holiness will teach on compassion at ILTK on Saka Dawa, June 13. His Holiness will also be consecrating a restored Chenrezig statue. Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived at ILTK the day before His Holiness and welcomed His Holiness when he arrived at the FPMT center in Pomaia, Italy.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Arya Cayton, 2014. Photo courtesy of Arya Cayton.
The early students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche not only helped establish the international FPMT mandala, but many also started families and raised their children with Dharma. Three now-adult children of long-time students shared with Mandala their thoughts about taking a turn and getting involved with FPMT centers as part of the July-September 2014 issue of Mandala. Arya and Jhana Cayton are children of Karuna and Pam Cayton, who lived at and helped manage Kopan Monastery between the years 1978-1988. They also founded, in 1982, the Himalayan Yogic Institute, now the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Centre (HBMC) in Kathmandu, Nepal. Felicity Noël Keeley is the daughter of Jacie Keeley, who served as Lama Yeshe’s secretary and director of the Central Office (which became FPMT International Office). While it wasn’t always easy for them while growing up, these second-generation FPMT students all say they have come to see how being part of the FPMT community has shaped them for the better.
Arya Cayton writes:
“When I was a kid, I used to get embarrassed by all of the Buddhist things in our house, like the thangkas that filled our living room walls instead of landscape and still life paintings, or the water bowls that friends assumed were for fish. I always had faith in the Dharma, but I didn’t really begin to explore it, from my own side, until the end of high school. I never realized how fortunate I was to have grown up with Buddhism until I went back to Nepal in 2009 for the first time since I was a baby and did the November course at Kopan Monastery.
“While at Kopan, I began thinking a lot about how much Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche have influenced my life.” …
From Mandala July-September 2014
Lama Zopa Rinpoche on Vulture’s Peak, Rajgir, India, March 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
While in India during the Days of Miracles, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave an oral transmission of the Vajra Cutter Sutra on Vulture’s Peak. After the transmission, he led the group of students who had come with him to Vulture’s Peak from Root Institute in a meditation on emptiness.
The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive has posted an audio recording and transcription of the meditation led by Rinpoche. At the beginning of the meditation Rinpoche shared a quotation from the Seventh Dalai Lama:
Every single base of samsara and nirvana,
Although illusion made by one’s own conception,
Is held as ultimate so therefore deceives,
Do not fixate as ultimate, see as empty.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche walking up to Vulture’s Peak, India, March 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Ven. Sarah Thresher tells the story of the transmission and meditation in “Picnic at Vulture’s Peak” in the new print edition of Mandala.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama will bless the land for the future Lhungtok Choekhorling monastic complex in mid-June 2014, Pomaia, Italy. Photo courtesy of Lhungtok Choekhorling.
Ven. Massimo Stordi, coordinator for Lhungtok Choekhorling Monastic Project, a nunnery and monastery in the hills of Pomaia, Italy, shared this exciting news about His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s upcoming visit:
Lhungtok Choekhorling Buddhist Nunnery and Monastery eagerly awaits and prepares for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s June 13 visit. His Holiness has agreed to bless an as-yet-undeveloped hillside, located just under 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Pomaia, Pisa, Italy.
The Lhungtok Choekhorling project is working toward the creation of an ideal environment conducive to study, meditation and a lifestyle based on the Vinaya, the monastic discipline. The name of this monastic project was conferred by His Holiness and translates as “a place where the Dharma is transmitted and realized.”
The future monastery will be built at this site on the bare rock, similar to many monasteries in Tibet. In January 2007 at Sera Monastery in South India, Lama Zopa Rinpoche himself suggested building the new complex in the Tibetan style.
On the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the project has requested His Holiness to give the oral transmission of Ganden Lha Gyäma and also, if there is time, of the prayer Spreading the Teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa.
His Holiness will give teachings in the nearby city of Livorno, Italy on June 14 and 15. He will teach on Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend, confer a Chenrezig empowerment, and hold a public conference on the theme of ”Compassionate Ethics.” These three events will take place at Livorno’s Modigliani Forum.
For more on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to Italy, www.dalailama.it.
Mandala brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
A new Namthose statue arrives at Rinchen Jangsem Ling, Triang, Malaysia, April 2014. Photo courtesy of Rinchen Jangsem Ling.
Selina Foong, director of Rinchen Jangsem Ling (RJL) in Triang, Malaysia, shared news about the latest holy object to arrive at the center:
Wonderful things are happening at RJL after our Sanghata Sutra retreat on the Day of Miracles weekend! Our collective karma finally ripened in mid-April, and we are now rejoicing at the arrival of holy Namthose after almost two years of carving in Vietnam and an arduous journey by sea and road.
Namthose is gently set into his new home at Rinchen Jangsem Ling, Triang, Malaysia, April 2014. Photo courtesy of Rinchen Jangsem Ling.
It was all quite an exercise in logistics, as the statue weighed 12 tons and, due to the height of Namthose’s parasol, was unable to fit into a standard container. Three trucks, one crane, and hours of delicate handling finally enabled the lotus base to be lifted into position first, while Namthose was invited into a tented pavilion to be gilded. When Namthose was placed on the lotus throne several days later, our sculptor, Tho, who we had flown in from Vietnam, then got to work by applying the final touch-ups. The result is simply beautiful!
Tho commented that this Namthose is by far the most complicated statue he has ever worked on. He also mentioned that the marble used to carve Namthose was of extremely good quality and very even in texture. Such qualities only become evident upon carving, and there is no way to know this when the stone is first procured. Tho also mentioned that the marble he used to carve RJL’s Kwan Yin statue had been of similar high quality. Indeed, this is a reflection of RJL’s wonderful karma, and a great cause for rejoicing.
There were many sponsors of holy Namthose, and we are grateful to them all.
Final touches are made to the Namthose statue while his throne is installed, Rinchen Jangsem Ling, Triang, Malaysia, April 2014. Photo courtesy of Rinchen Jangsem Ling.
Mandala brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
COVER: Lama Zopa Rinpoche giving the oral transmission of the Vajra Cutter Sutra on Vulture’s Peak, Rajgir, India, March 2014. Photo by Andy Melnic.
Mandala July-September 2014 is published. And with the new issue, we offer more than a dozen new online articles that supplement and expand on our stories in print, which include Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s amazing, non-stop virtuous activities in Bodhgaya during the Days of Miracles and FPMT’s inspiring child-focused activities.
Highlights from our online edition for July-September 2014:
- “The Eight Auspicious Signs: Translated and with Commentary” by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- “Challenging Orthodoxy in Tibetan Buddhism” by Patrick Lambelet, FPMT registered teacher
- “Renewed Faith, Inspiration, Devotion and Understanding: Khadro-la Visits New Zealand” by Ven. Nangsel, director of Mahamudra Centre
- “Confessions of a Mahamudra Junkie” by Sarah Shifferd
- An excerpt from Krissy Pozatek’s book Brave Parenting, published by Wisdom Publications
- Plus much more.
If you’d like to receive the print edition of Mandala, with exclusive stories and photos, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports Mandala as well as FPMT International Office’s education and communications work.
Mandala brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche making tukpa for Tenzin Ösel Hita with Vens. Tsering and Sangpo, Kachoe Dechen Ling, California, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“The initial reason why people come to a Dharma center is not for the food but for the teachings and meditations; they are a little bored with the lives they have and are looking for something new. However, the conditions at the center, and especially the food, are a very important support for the teachings and meditations. Sometimes in the past, for example, when I would teach on impermanence, the hells and the eight worldly dharmas people would get scared and leave; but if the food was good, they would stay. That’s one way to keep them!
“So I’ve been thinking for many days to come to the kitchen and explain a short meditation to the cooks. There is a short morning motivation I have put together with a direct meditation on the graduated path to the peerless happiness of full enlightenment followed by some verses explaining how precious and kind sentient beings are. …”
– Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from “How to Use Cooking in the Path,” advice given at Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala, India, June 2013.
Learn more about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his beneficial activities by visiting Rinpoche’s homepage, where you will find links to Rinpoche’s schedule, new advice, recent video, photos and more.
It is a dreamy autumn day. A light rain is soaking into the thirsty soil of my garden to the delight of plants and weeds and birds and possums and our local, sweet little antechinus which looks like a mouse. The dry summer which seemed to last forever has, like everything else, suffered the fate of impermanence. For the first time this year, I have to hang the washing indoors. The occasional patches of sunlight make a half-hearted effort to dry it out. I had planned to work in the garden but my back, another example of impermanence, will let me bend over, but not let me straighten up. I give up on gardening for a few days. Now I can set my mind any way I choose provided I do not use my back. What to choose?
It looked like a mouse, but it was an antechinus that ran across my kitchen bench this morning. They tend to sneak inside when I leave a door open. The antechinus is a little marsupial, common where I live. My home is a great environment as far as they are concerned. Warm, lots of food, especially highly desired dog food. Lots of water, and a dog trained to not catch them. At this time of the year, the females are also looking for a warm place to nest. The locals have a soft spot for them, but not the holiday makers.
In a holiday town like mine, many visitors think the antechinuses are mice. Mice are vermin and have to be killed. They set their baits and lethal traps not knowing they are killing off a native animal. Without being taught, it is difficult to discriminate between mice and antechinuses. Discrimination is a form of wisdom. Without this wisdom, antechinuses become mice, and thus, vermin.
Wisdom has several aspects, and discrimination is one of them. Each of these are born from Prajñaparamita, the mother of wisdom. All her children have different qualities designed to oppose different forms of ignorance. The main ones are:
1. Mirror-like Wisdom, the child that watches and which sees everything, just as a mirror reflects everything near it, there is no anger in this child, just watchfulness.
2. Wisdom of Equality, the calm child, the child that feels his or her pleasure and pain and but does not build them into dramatic stories of needing the pleasure or being horrified by the pain. This child has no pride. She knows what it was like before the calm set in.
3. Wisdom of Discrimination loves maths. This child can easily separate one object from another. All objects are simply that so this child has no space for grasping and clinging.
4. Wisdom of Accomplishment is the child that shows us how to get things done. Jealousy is not an issue, it only interferes with the task. So this child shows no jealousy.
5. And finally there is the child that is rarely seen but always present, Wisdom of Dharmadhatu, the essence of the wisdom of our own consciousness, the wisdom that becomes the boundless essence of a buddha.
So what has this to do with my antechinus? Obviously the wisdom of discrimination will help me differentiate it from a mouse, but the other wisdoms are also ready to help. Mirror-like Wisdom points out that I do not need to label the creature as good or bad and so there is no need to be angry with it. Wisdom of Equality teaches me that any alarm that may arise comes from me and not from the cute little animal. My pride becomes dashed by this awareness. Wisdom of Accomplishment points out that I can see this little creature as a teacher, not separate from my Dharma path. And within the help of Wisdom of Dharmadhatu I can see both “I” and it are impermanent and we do not inherently exist. It teaches me to see through the eyes of Buddha.
Now I need to be practical and find a non-lethal trap for this little antechinus because it does, like mice, leave its droppings everywhere and I do not want myself or my visitors to become ill. Then when it is caught, I can release it gently back into the bush and hope that it finds a new habitat there. May this precious teacher find the happiness that does not change.
Ven. Chönyi Taylor is a registered Foundational Buddhism FPMT teacher and an elder for the Discovering Buddhism at Home Course. She is the author of Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Working with Addictive Patterns (Snow Lion, 2010) and has been published in Mandala, Buddhadharma, Dharma Vision and Sangha Magazine. She is a founding member and member of the training committee of the Australian Association of Buddhist Counsellors and Psychotherapists and an Honorary Lecturer in the Discipline of Psychiatry at Sydney University.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Light of the Path organizers, staff and volunteers, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
The Light of the Path, a two-week retreat in North Carolina, US, led by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was by all accounts a huge success. The root text for Light of the Path is Lama Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. Rinpoche’s teachings were webcast live and now are available as recorded video. Participants were invigorated by Rinpoche’s enthusiasm and animated teachings. And the more than 200 participants from 20 countries created lasting personal connections with each other, engendering Lama Yeshe’s idea of “family feeling” and growing and strengthening the international FPMT mandala.
In addition, the teachings from the 2009 and 2010 Light of the Path retreats have been organized into the Living in the Path online education program. Module 01 “Motivation for Life,” Module 05 “Introduction to Atisha’s Text,” and Instruction 01 “Diamond Cutter Meditation” are freely available to all interested students. Also available are all of the materials from the three years of retreat, including the root text, audio and video of teachings and meditations, and recordings of Lama Chöpa tunes. This amazing resource makes the benefit of the retreat available to all.
Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Cristiano Cambresy.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.
His Eminence Ling Rinpoche with Ven. Elisabeth Drukier seated to his left, Centre Kalachakra, Paris, France, April 7, 2014. Photo courtesy of Centre Kalachakra.
Long-time student Ven. Elisabeth Drukier, director of Centre Kalachakra in Paris, France, joyfully shared this news about an April visit from His Eminence the Seventh Ling Rinpoche. Rinpoche is the principal organizer of the Jangchup Lamrim with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and experienced a tragic car crash in November 2012.
Ling Rinpoche was on his way to the United States for surgery when he stopped in Paris at the request of Dakpo Rinpoche. Our resident geshe, Geshe Dakpa Tsoundou, invited him to the center and on April 7 Ling Rinpoche came to give some advice.
“I already came in 2005 and I am so happy to be here this evening to meet you,” Rinpoche began. “I like to emphasize how important it is to study. It has to be with the motivation to transform our mind, to practice what we study. The center isn’t only a place where you can heal transitory problems, you have to eradicate desire and attachment.
“Western people are attracted to tantric initiations, but you should be careful. Check the [teacher] and if you’re capable to do the practice. Tantra is based on sutra and shouldn’t be practiced to gain powers and fame.”
At the end, Rinpoche said he would pray for us to have harmonious lives and then offered students the opportunity to receive a blessing from him.
Mandala brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.