Mandala

Lama Zopa Rinpoche returning to Kachoe Dechen Ling after shopping for flower offerings, California, US, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche traveled to Kachoe Dechen Ling, his home in California, following the successful Light of the Path retreat. Within a week of returning, Rinpoche had gone flower shopping twice in order to have many beautiful flowers for offerings. Kachoe Dechen Ling is full of holy objects and extensive offerings, which are overseen by Rinpoche and made and maintained year round by the Sangha that live there. 

Rinpoche has given much advice on making offerings, many of which can be found on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive page “Offering Practices.”

Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

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.

Group water bowl retreat participants Inge Eijkhout, Ven. Tenzin Chodron, Diana Carroll, Jaclyn Yip, Annette van Citters, March 2014. Photo courtesy of Maitreya Instituut.

Long-time student Annette van Citters shares news about the first group water bowl retreat held at Maitreya Instituut Loenen, one of the two thriving FPMT centers in the Netherlands:

Jaclyn Yip, Maitreya Instituut group water bowl retreat, March 2014. Photo courtesy of Maitreya Instituut.

From February 28 through March 9, Maitreya Institute Loenen hosted its first group water bowl retreat. With just five participants, it was clear from the start that we wouldn’t meet our goal of offering 100,000 bowls, but we are very content to have reached 56,586.

In the very last session, we offered 4,138 bowls on 26 tables and 6 windowsills – a wonderful, colorful and inspiring sight! With an abundance of clean and fresh water, our country seems to be the perfect place for this practice. We hope to be able to make this a yearly event.

We give special thanks to Ven. Tenzin Chodron for her guidance, to Yke Krol and Geney Stans for their loving care, and to Koosje for organizing the Dorje Kadro offering. We also thank everyone else who assisted us during our sessions and to Di Carroll and Jaclyn Yip, who made a special effort to join our group.

Mandala brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Spanish-speaking Light of the Path participants, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

FPMT has more than 20 centers and study groups in four Spanish-speaking countries. To meet the needs of these students, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings and advice have been translated into Spanish by FPMT Spanish Translation Services. Video recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings from the recent Light of the Path retreat are available for viewing with Spanish-language translation. In addition, FPMT education and practice materials, including advice from Rinpoche, are available in Spanish through the FPMT Foundation Store, FPMT Hispana, and Ediciones Mahayana. You can find links to Spanish-language books by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, published by Ediciones Dharma, on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. In addition, Spanish translations of many sutras can be found on fpmt.org via the search function.

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.

Khadro-la doing prayers in Chenrezig Institute’s gompa, Eudlo, Australia, April 2014. Photo by Eva Mueller.

Andrea Dudley, a Dharma student at Chenrezig Institute in Eudlo, Australia, and participant of the April “Illuminating the Path of Wisdom and Compassion” retreat with Khadro-la, shares her experience:

Chenrezig Institute was honored to be chosen by extraordinary Buddhist teacher and practitioner Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) as the venue for her only retreat during her recent 2014 Australian tour. At the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khadro-la has been teaching at centers around the world, imparting profound insights into the Buddhist path. Regarded as a wisdom dakini and oracle, Khadro-la’s visit to Chenrezig Institute was a precious opportunity to receive teachings from an inspired and inspiring being. The retreat, held  April 14-21, was an immersion into Dharma entitled “Illuminating the Path of Wisdom and Compassion.”

A symphony of birdsong; a sunny, subtropical morning after days of rain; breezes flowing through the rainforest into the immaculately prepared gompa; the scent of flowers and incense – what a beautiful moment it was as Khadro-la stepped into this scene, preceded by her faithful attendants and interpreter. Her radiance, truth and beauty further illuminated our surroundings – her presence incandescent!

It is no exaggeration to say that Sangha and students were transfixed by the depth of Khadro-la’s teachings. Always humbly reminding us that she was not qualified to instruct on such matters, Khadro-la’s gentle humility pervaded the entire retreat. A living example of Buddha’s words and always speaking with great tenderness, Khadro-la emphasized the importance of placing complete reliance on the guru by choosing to give most precious oral transmissions of The Inseparability of the Spiritual Master and Avalokiteshvara by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Khadro-la’s profound teachings covered aspects of the path dear to her heart, bringing fresh and rare insights into the Dharma for all, whether novice or seasoned practitioner.

Among many, many precious teachings, Khadro-la spoke of the necessity to develop the wisdom that understands reality in order for altruism to increase. She also discussed the aspiration and realization of bodhichitta and emptiness, gave a discourse on the benefits of virtue and the negative effects of non-virtue, and explained why meditation is elemental to Buddhist practice.

Chenrezig Institute is most grateful to Khadro-la, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche for this exceptionally beautiful experience of the Dharma. 

Participants on “Illuminating the Path of Wisdom and Compassion,” Chenrezig Institute, Eudlo, Australia, April 2014. Photo by Eva Mueller.

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 departing from the Light of the Path retreat, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“Even reciting OM MANI PADME HUM one time, the merit is unfathomable, even if every single drop of the Pacific Ocean is counted. The merits of reciting this mantra even just one time cannot be counted. Even if every single dust particle of the earth is counted, the merits of reciting this mantra cannot be counted; even if every single snow flake is counted, the merits of [reciting] this mantra cannot be counted; even if every single drop of rain is counted, the merits of this mantra cannot be counted. It purifies negative karma and the obscurations collected from beginningless rebirths, and it collects extensive merits and causes us to actualize the path to enlightenment. In particular it helps us to develop compassion towards all living beings and to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and its causes by ourselves, and bring them to full enlightenment.”

– Lama Zopa Rinpoche, recently posted to the page “Dharma Practice is Most Important” in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive

Learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and Rinpoche’s vision for a better world. Sign up to receive news and updates.

Participants at the first annual Sanghata Sutra retreat, Rinchen Jangsem Ling, Triang, Malaysia, March 2014. Photo courtesy of Rinchen Jangsem Ling.

Selina Foong, director of Rinchen Jangsem Ling in Triang, Malaysia, reports on the virtuous activities the center engaged in during the Day of Miracles weekend, March 15-16:

There are so many projects in the pipeline at Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat Centre (RJL) that it was really no surprise when Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised us to do various practices in order to clear obstacles and accumulate enough merit in order to actualize them all! Included in the list was to read the Sanghata Sutra at the center itself, which would be “very, very powerful.” The only thing was that many RJL members and supporters do not actually live in Triang, which is approximately two-and-a-half hours’ drive from Kuala Lumpur, the nation’s capital. Good thing then that the Day of Miracles happened to fall on a Sunday this year – giving us the perfect time to put an intensive weekend of Sanghata Sutra reading into action.

In the end, we were overjoyed to not only achieve reading the sutra, but much more than we had ever dared to imagine (and all on a weekend when karmic merits were multiplied by 100 million times!) 

With strong participation and an enthusiastic response, we were able to offer to Rinpoche a total of 58 complete recitations of the Sanghata Sutra; two complete hand-written copies of the Sanghata Sutra; 16 complete recitations of the Golden Light Sutra as recommended by Rinpoche for flight MH370; one Medicine Buddha puja also as recommended by Rinpoche for flight MH370; the liberation of fish procured from the local market; the hanging of prayer flags on our new flagpoles; the consecration of a beautiful gilded Buddha statue under our bodhi tree by Geshe Tsundu, resident teacher of Losang Dragpa Centre; and the sponsorship of the recitation of 100,000 Buddha Names by Tsawa Khangtsen in Sera Je Monsatery. 

A very productive weekend it was! We are all so thrilled with how this inaugural Sanghata Sutra retreat went that we are now keen to make it an annual RJL event during the Losar period!

Geshe Tsundu consecrated gilded Buddha statue with Sanghata Sutra retreat participants, Rinchen Jangsem Ling, Triang Malaysia, March 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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Roy Harvey.

“Life is like last night’s dream. Don’t hold on to it as too solid or inherently existent.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

From Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s Twitter page, posted on May 16, 2014, at Light of the Path retreat. You can watch Rinpoche’s teachings at Light of the Path online.

Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive shares Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s and Lama Yeshe’s pith sayings on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Twitter page. (You can also read them on their Facebook page.)

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Roy Harvey.

The Light of the Path concluded on Sunday, May 18, in North Carolina. If you were unable to attend, you can still watch recordings of teachings.

Rinpoche offered the concluding teaching for this year’s retreat during the evening session on Saturday, May 17, which you can watch here. 

All Light of the Path retreat resources from 2009, 2010 and 2014 are available on the Online Learning Center.

The Living in the Path online program has been created from the Light of the Path retreat teachings of 2009 and 2010. Organized into structured modules you will find this, and other, programs on the FPMT Online Learning Center.

Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Roy Harvey.

More information, photos, schedule 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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Mayra Rocha Sandoval, Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA, May 2014. Photo by Sarah Brooks.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues teaching at the Light of the Path, the two-week lam-rim retreat series hosted by Kadampa Center in Black Mountain, North Carolina, United States. Students attending the retreat, like Mayra Rocha Sandoval (right), have been rejoicing that they have been able to hear Rinpoche’s animated and energetic lam-rim teachings every day. For those not at Light of the Path, teaching sessions continue to be webcast live as well as made available as recorded video. 

Mayra flew from Mexico to attend Light of the Path and holds the honorable distinction of having completed a three-year lam-rim retreat, a rare accomplishment, at Rinpoche’s request. If three years’ devotion to practice weren’t inspiring enough, Mayra completed the retreat at home, in bustling Mexico City. You can read more about her fascinating story in Mandala‘s October-December 2013 interview, now available on fpmt.org/mandala/.

The retreat concludes on Sunday, May 18. Rinpoche travels next to Italy for the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama hosted by Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa. 

For more on the teachings, visit the Living in the Path course resource page, where materials from all three years of Light of the Path events are being made available.

More information, photos, schedule 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.

Jhado Rinpoche arrives at Tushita Meditation Centre, McLeod Ganj, India, May 2014. Photo courtesy of Tushita Meditation Centre.

Tushita Meditation Centre is a bustling FPMT center in Dharamsala – the seat-in-exile of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Tushita staff wrote Mandala, sharing news about a recent visit from Jhado Rinpoche, a highly-respected touring lama:

We were extremely fortunate in being able to spend the weekend in the esteemed company of Jhado Rinpoche. And as if this wasn’t enough, we heard his words in English via the translation skills of the incredible Geshe Kelsang Wangmo!

Jhado Rinpoche teaches with Geshe Kelsang Wangmo serving as translator, Tushita Meditation Centre, May 2014. Photo courtesy of Tushita Meditation Centre.

Jhado Rinpoche taught three sessions over May 10-11, 2014, giving commentary on Six-Session Guru Yoga. With the skill of a true master teacher, Jhado Rinpoche moved progressively deeper into the explanation of the practice session-by-session, and provided opportunity for the gathered attendees to ask questions.

Jhado Rinpoche has also been advising our gompa painters on the mandalas on canvas they are currently working on for the ceiling space above our Lama Tsongkhapa statue. He has visited Tushita a couple of times in the past months for this purpose and also took time on both these teaching days to check on their progress.

Audio of the Six-Session Guru Yoga teaching is available on Tushita’s website. Tushita’s staff apologizes for “less-than-ideal” audio quality in the third session. More photos from the event can be seen on their Facebook page.

Jhado Rinpoche talks with head painter Pema Dawa about progress on the mandalas for Tushita’s gompa, May 2014. Photo courtesy of Tushita Meditation Centre.

Photo by Jogesh Thakar

With no food, clothes, or money, Mira Maddrell set out on pilgrimage along the sacred Narmada River in India, in November 1998. Her journey ended more than three years later in February 2001. She shared her story in Mandala March-May 2003:

All religions have special holy places to which people make long journeys, traditionally on foot. Nowadays people can hop on a plane to go to Jerusalem or Mecca, but the real pilgrimage is a journey into the unknown, in the geographical and social, as well the spiritual sense.

When I decided to go into this remote part of India, I thought there would be the possibility of meeting hostility, robbers, or falling ill with no one to care for me, or even death. People have died on this pilgrimage. But I knew that what I was setting out to do was auspicious – because I wanted to purify myself – and it can be just as dangerous to stay at home.

 … Living with a river for so long you become close to it – like a best friend. You see how it changes every minute. You feel yourself flowing with it and changing, changing, changing. The river kept changing its character – sometimes it was rocky, flowing fast, sometimes very slow and placid, like a lake, sometimes deep or shallow, sometimes silent or singing. My job was to watch the changes, and see how my mind was reacting. So it’s a constant lesson in the impermanence of life. …

Read more …

From Mandala March-May 2003

Mandala brings you news and advice 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 making offerings to ants at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land in north central Washington, US, April 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche works tirelessly to benefit all beings everywhere, including ants. While Rinpoche was at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land in north central Washington, US, Rinpoche spent time making offerings to ants for their benefit. Rinpoche’s practice for benefiting ants is described in Charity to Ants, published by FPMT Education Services.

Ants and offerings made for their benefit, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, April 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and Rinpoche’s vision for a better world. Sign up to receive news and updates.