Last year Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited the Lugsung Samdupling Home for the Aged and Disabled in Bylakuppe, India, and spent time with the residents there.

Last year, the Social Services Fund offered several grants to elderly homes in India occupied by Tibetan refugees. Without such facilities, many elderly, first-wave Tibetan refugees, who often are without families of their own, have little prospect of accommodation or support. By offering assistance in this way, FPMT can help repay the kindness and bravery of the Tibetan people.

Built in 1968, the current accommodation must be demolished and new accommodation built

One residential home that needs a lot of support is the Lugsung Samdupling Home for the Aged and Disabled in Bylakuppe, India. The home is building ten essential new rooms for residents that will feature excellent ventilation and security.

The existing building was constructed in 1968 and is on the verge of collapse. The foundation and walls cannot withstand renovation and thus will be demolished and a new permanent building constructed in its place. The new accommodation will be designed in blocks, allowing residents to enjoy increased privacy.

The Social Services Fund is very pleased to offer a grant for five of the ten new rooms, the remaining five being covered by another sponsor.

We will continue to support elderly Tibetan refugees in whatever way we are able. For example, we have already begun to assess where holy objects can be built so that residents of homes such as the Lugsung Samdupling Home for the Aged and Disabled can benefit from their blessings.

FPMT is committed to assisting Tibetan communities in need. You can read about recent support given to a Tibetan settlement for refugees in South India, including a grant toward a new community center and food for an elderly home.

Shakyamuni Buddha with offerings, Kachoe Dechen Ling, California, USA. Photo by Chris Majors.

Each year on Saka Dawa—the celebration of Lord Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and parinirvana—Buddhist practitioners around the world engage in many auspicious and merit-making activities such as personally devoting oneself to the path; sponsoring beneficial pujas, practices, and prayers; and making extensive offerings to our teachers, holy objects, and auspicious charitable activities. This year, Saka Dawa takes place on June 9. 

We would like to invite you to participate and rejoice in this holy day of incredible virtuous activity. 

Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Bhutan, May 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Long Life Prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Each year Ven. Roger Kunsang, on behalf of the FPMT organization, checks with one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus or Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) to determine what practices should be done to help create the conditions for Lama Zopa Rinpoche to have good health for the coming year. Khadro-la has recently advised that the Vajra Cutter Sutra and the Dependent Arising: A Praise of the Buddha (Tendrel Topa) need to be recited, together with the completion of a number of pujas. 

Additionally, Khadro-la personally composed a moving long life prayer for Rinpoche, now available in several languages. 

Saka Dawa is an excellent opportunity to offer recitations of these prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Sangha at Kopan Monastery offering puja

Activities of the FPMT Pua Fund

Every year on Saka Dawa the Puja Fund offers US$10,000 toward an extensive array of pujas and practices. This is a very auspicious way for FPMT to support the Sangha at various monasteries and nunneries in Nepal and India. Providing prayer services such as these allow the ordained Sangha to benefit others while also helping to support themselves.

Pujas Offered by Over 15,650 Ordained Sangha

• Recitation of the Prajnaparamita (three versions) are read by the 650 monks of Gyurme Tantric College.
• Recitation of the 100,000 Praises to 21 Taras are offered by 400 nuns of Kopan Nunnery.
• Druk Chu Ma, Namgyal Tong Cho, and Zangcho are offered by 6,000 monks of Sera Je and Sera Mey Monasteries.
• Druk Chu Ma, Medicine Buddha Puja, and Zangcho are offered by 3,400 monks of Gaden Jangtse and Shartse Monasteries.
• Druk Chu Ma, Namgyäl Tsechog and Zangcho are offered by 4,200 monks of Drepung Gomang, Loseling, and Deyang Monasteries.
• Namgyal Tong Cho and Zangcho are offered by 600 monks of Gyuto Tantric Colleges.
• Druk Ch Ma, Medicine Buddha Puja, and Zangcho are offered by the 370 monks of Kopan Monastery.
• Tea, bread, and money offerings are given to all 15,650 participating Sangha in the above pujas. 
• Sangha at Chenrezig Institute, Australia, are sponsored to fill stupas, and lunch is offered to all who participate. 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, June 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Offerings to Gurus and Sangha

Offerings are made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus:

• His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• His Holiness the Sakya Trizin
• Jhado Rinpoche
• Khongla Rato Rinpoche

Offerings are made to over 15,650 Sangha:

• Sera Je and Sera Mey Monasteries
• Gaden Jangtse and Shartse Monasteries
• Drepung Gomang, Loseling, and Deyang Monasteries
• Gyurme and Gyuto Tantric College
• Kopan Monastery and Kopan Nunnery

Offerings are made to Sangha at International Mahayana Institute (IMI) communities:

• Nalanda Monastery, France
• Thubten Shedrup Ling, Australia
• Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy
• Chenrezig Institute, Australia

Offerings Made to Holy Objects in Nepal, India, and Tibet

• Bouddhanath and Swayambunath Stupas: Offering white wash and four giant saffron flower petals and new umbrellas to the stupas’ pinnacles
• Buddha inside the Bodhgaya Mahabodhi temple: Offering a new set of robes of the most precious material
• Jowo Buddha in Lhasa’s Jokhang: Offering gold to the holy face of the Jowo Buddha

Prayers and Practices for FPMT Students

Thirty-five Confessional Buddhas thangka.

On Buddha Multiplying Days, such as Saka Dawa, karmic results are multiplied by one hundred million, as cited by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Lama Zopa Rinoche advises that any beneficial practices can be done. In particular, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has recommended: 

• Recitation of the names of the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas
• Vajrasattva mantras

Practices specifically recommended by Rinpoche for Buddha Multiplying Days include:

• Taking the eight Mahayana precepts
• Doing nyung nä retreats
• Performing the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha puja
• Reciting the Sutra for Remembering the Three Jewels

Of course, any other meritorious activities often advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche are also good to do on these days, such as recitation of the Sanghata Sutra, the Sutra of Golden Light, etc., with extensive dedications. These texts are available on our sutras page.

In addition, you might consider including children in your Buddha Multiplying Day celebrations and reading Eight Plays for Children. This book of charming and easily produced plays for children contains tales of wisdom and kindness from Buddha’s past lives as animals as well as his life as Prince Siddhartha.

The ceremony for taking the eight Mahayana precepts can be found in the “Morning Prayers” section of Essential Buddhist Prayers, Vol. 1 or in the text The Direct and Unmistaken Method. We have a beautiful color cover glossy booklet for nyung nä, complete with instructions for how to do the practice.

Rejoice!

All are welcome to participate in all of this beneficial activity by imagining all of these practices and offerings happening around the world and then mentally offering everything oneself and/or rejoicing. Students can also make a financial contribution to the many prayers, practices, and offerings sponsored by the FPMT Puja Fund. 

The Puja Fund was established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to provide resources for continuous pujas dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors and those serving the organization in any way.

Learn more about the Puja Fund or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Chief Representative Chophel Thupten.

The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) is an organization based in India with the stated goals of “rehabilitating Tibetan refugees and restoring freedom and happiness in Tibet.” The CTA attends to the welfare of the Tibetan exile community in India, who number around 100,000. It runs schools, health services, cultural activities and economic development projects for the Tibetan community as well as assists with legal issues which might arise for Tibetans in exile. More than 1,000 refugees still arrive each year from China, usually via Nepal.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, recently offered a grant to the CTA office in Bangalore (known as the CTA South Zone). Chief Representative Chophel Thupten explained that it is quite difficult to fundraise for administrative and upkeep needs of the office, but the needs are vast. Rinpoche was very happy to help in this way and offered half of the amount needed for upcoming expenses.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund enables Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others to flourish. All the offerings from the fund are used toward the creation of holy objects around the world; sponsoring young tulkus, high lamas and Sangha in India, Nepal, Tibet and the West;  supporting FPMT centers, projects and services; sponsoring Dharma retreats and events; funding animal liberations, and much more. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses the suffering of animals and how to help them with Dr. Howard Ralph and Tania Duratovic.

In March of this year, Tree of Compassion brought veterinarian Dr. Howard Ralph to the Animal Liberation Sanctuary in Nepal to perform critical surgeries on animals who would otherwise suffer and die without them. 

The visit also gave Dr. Howard the opportunity to assist with other animals at the sanctuary, give lectures for veterinary students in Kathmandu and help a local animal shelter with some difficult cases. 

Every year around the world, millions of animals die or suffer needlessly. In countries such as Nepal, the care and management of animals is particularly poor. Nepal is still home to a number of festivals in which animals are violently and brutally ritually slaughtered each year. The Animal Liberation Sanctuary benefits animals by sparing them from impending death and suffering but they are also are exposed to Dharma teachings, regularly hear mantras, and are led around holy objects to create merit for their next life and purify their minds.  This work also allows those who support the work the chance to create merit and purify life-obstacles.

Dr. Ralph examines Nyingjey the goat after surgery with Animal Sanctuary coordinator Tania Duratovic and manager Pema.

You can watch a short video about one goat named Osel’s surgery. Osel’s fractured leg was fixed with surgery which hopefully means he won’t lose his leg.

Last week, Dr. Howard Ralph was presented with an Alumni Award for Services to Humanity from the Sydney University Veterinary Science department. This recognition is very deserved for a man who gives his time and expertise so tirelessly to animals in need. 

Please rejoice in the ongoing compassionate work of the Animal Liberation Sanctuary for many animals in Nepal who would simply die or live lives of terrible suffering if not for the sanctuary’s kind care. 

All are welcome to contribute to the work of the Animal Liberation Sanctuary. 

The Animal Liberation Fund supports weekly animal liberations and extensive dedications offered by Sangha at the residences of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. When funds allow, additional animal liberations conducted in Singapore and Hong Kong are supported, as well as efforts to save the lives of animals at the Animal Liberation Sanctuary in Nepal, MAITRI Charitable Trust in India and elsewhere. You are welcome to offer any amount toward this ongoing work. 
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Nyung nä participants in front of the altar at IVY, France.

Seven dedicated individuals are in the process of finishing 108 nyung nä retreats at Institute Vajra Yogini (IVY), France. One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization is to sponsor others to complete 1,000 nyung nä retreats. Upon hearing of this incredible vision of Rinpoche’s, IVY immediately started hosting 108 nyung nä retreats a year.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Practice and Retreat Fund, is very pleased to be able to sponsor ten people with food and accommodation each time there is a 108 nyung nä retreat at IVY. Support is also provided by IVY and kind private donors. 

At the mid-way point of this round of nyung näs, IVY reported: “If we add up everybody so far we count that eighty-five different participants in total have participated in one or more nyung näs from mid-November to the beginning of March and 664 individual nyung näs have already been accumulated. On average, we have between seven to twenty people participating in each single session of the nyung näs.”

About this retreat practice Rinpoche commented, “Nyung näs take such a short time, but bring strong purification. So many eons can be purified in this life; it makes it so easy to have attainments.” 

The nyung na merit field.

Nyung nä practice is an intensive two-day purification retreat that includes fasting, precepts, prostrations, prayers, mantra recitation, and offerings. Nyung nä is a practice based on the deity, 1,000 armed Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, and is extremely powerful for healing illness, purifying negative karma, and opening the heart to compassion.

Incredibly, this is the seventh round of 108 nyung näs to be completed at IVY with the compassionate and dedicated guidance of retreat leader Ven. Charles Trebaol. 

Ven. Charles has had a strong and beneficial impact on those who have engaged in the nyung nä retreat at IVY.  It is difficult to comprehend the service Ven. Charles is offering to the IVY community, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and all sentient beings by leading these difficult retreats every year with such commitment. 

Retreatant Ven. Tenzin Sangpo said:

“In my eyes, Ven. Charles is the embodiment of love and compassion. I feel sometime that we in the west are are always looking for a spiritual masters very far from us in exotic places while, actually, we have one, here, under our noses.” 

Another participant, Valentino Giacomin shared this experience with Ven. Charles:

“One day, during the prostration session, I turned to see if there were any tissues on a shelf for my cold. An action of a few seconds. There were not. I continued my prostrations. After a minute, someone touches my shoulder. I turn. Ven. Charles is there with the tissues I was looking for! Regularly I forget something while in my “prostration zone” (glasses, pens, etc.) and promptly Ven. Charles returns my “lost things.” I do not know how he can perceive everything and be so careful despite the commitments he has and the responsibility to guide the (difficult) retreat which is almost nine hours a day.” 

Jean-Yves Barralis, acting director of IVY had the following to say about the retreats:

“As the acting director, I must say that each time I am amazed at how people who come for one or two sessions are so thankful about doing this practice. How they feel so welcomed by the long-term retreatants who take care of them by explaining the practice, giving advice, and offering love….

An inspiring interview with Ven. Charles about his years in retreat, “The Hermit of the Pyrenees,” was published in Mandala magazine, March 1998. 

The Practice and Retreat Fund provides grants and sponsorships for students engaged in retreats such as 108 nyung nä retreats, 100 million mani retreats, recitations of sutras and long term retreat. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the large light offering to Guru Rinpoche statue in Chailsa, Nepal.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche often explains the benefits of offering to holy objects and encourages extensive offerings around the world. “We are not aware of the limitless skies of benefits we achieve from the practice of offering, what we can achieve and enjoy from life to life,” Rinpoche explains in Extensive Offering Practice to Accumulate the Most Extensive Merit. “Even while you are in samsara, you enjoy good rebirths, wealth, and every happiness. Even just the samsaric perfections are amazing, without adding all those incredible realizations that allow us to offer deep benefit to sentient beings, liberating them from oceans of samsaric suffering and its cause, delusion and karma.”

We’d like to invite you to rejoice in just some of the extensive light offerings which Lama Zopa Rinpoche sponsors through the FPMT Puja Fund. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche making offerings to the Hayagriva statue on the altar at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia.

Bodhgaya, India: Recently while in Bodhgaya, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was pleased with the extensive light offerings arranged on the roof of the apartment he occupies when there. The electricity for the offerings has now been sponsored for the entire year so they can remain on at all times. 

Chailsa, Nepal: The cost of butter for one year was recently sponsored to a light offering in front of a very special Guru Rinpoche statue in Chailsa, Nepal. 

Mongolia: The electricity for lotus light offerings is offered to all the holy objects on the altar at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia. The lights are offered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Among the holy objects on this altar is an incredible Most Secret Hayagriva statue.

Garsha, India: All the butter is offered to keep alight a brass butter lamp in front of a holy self-emanating image of Chenrezig in a cave in Garsha, India.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s residences in USA: Extensive light offerings are made daily by the Sangha at Rinpoche’s residences in California and Washington State. Additionally, many other daily practices are offered at Rinpoche’s residences including animal liberation practice, flower and water bowl offerings, and protector practices.

Please rejoice in these offerings and also feel very free to use them in your own practice by mentally offering these light offerings. 

The Puja Fund was established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to provide resources for pujas and offerings dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors and those serving the organization in any way. You can learn more about the Puja Fund, or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity. 

An Incredible Accomplishment: An Endowment Supporting the Monks of Sera Je Monastery Long into the Future

The monks of Sera Je Monastery.

For the last ten years FPMT International Office has been building an endowment large enough to support the long-term health of the Sera Je Food Fund, whereby the interest from the endowment would cover the annual costs associated with offering three nutritious meals daily for all the monks of Sera Je Monastery, for as long as the endowment remains.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the new abbot of Sera Je Monastery, Ven. Choesang Rinpoche.

Amazingly, due to the kindness of so many generous donors, we have now reached our targeted amount for the endowment fund. This is a monumental achievement and we could not have done it without all of the kind, generous, and ongoing support that has been offered to the Sera Je Food Fund for the last twenty-six years. Thank you!

This is an incredible accomplishment for the entire FPMT organization. Lama Zopa Rinpoche started the Sera Je Food Fund in 1991 on the occasion of Tenzin Ösel Rinpoche entering Sera Je Monastery. Rinpoche wanted to make an offering to the whole monastery, not just one time, but continuously.  At the time it seemed like such an ambitious plan to offer meals to every monk studying at Sera Je Monastery every day of every year. In 2017 this amounts to an incredible 700,000 meals per year, 2,900 meals per day.

Thanks to the support of so many people, this fund operated without interruption for twenty-six years. In the beginning we were only able to offer a small amount of money to each monk for their midday meal. Then we started to provide a cooked meal that was served to every monk. Later we added dinner, and then breakfast. We built a kitchen and catered to the thousands of monks every day with special attention given to maintaining a hygienic environment for meal preparation, and a balanced offering of nutritious food.

When Rinpoche first mentioned his wish to start this project, we had no idea how we were going to make it happen. Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Roger Kunsang were the main fundraisers for so many years. Then slowly FPMT International Office took on the entire responsibility so Rinpoche didn’t have to personally raise the funds. In addition, a few centers were key in helping with fundraising and tens of thousands of supporters over the years have also been inspired to donate. Each year we covered the annual costs and eventually were able to create an endowment fund so the project could continue to run on the interest accrued each year.

Sangha participating in the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Sera Je Monastery. January, 2017.

At the beginning of this year, the abbot and monks of Sera Je Monastery offered a long life puja to Lama Zopa Rinpoche to thank Rinpoche and the FPMT organization for this incredible offering made over a quarter of a century. At that time we discussed with the monastery that the endowment and the ongoing management of the food fund now be managed entirely by Sera Je Monastery.

FPMT has always had a close connection with Sera Je Monastery. Most of our resident geshes come from this highly respected monastery and we are very happy to make such a substantial offering. It’s also wonderful that the monastery is now able to manage this next chapter.  

His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and many geshes who were serving as resident teachers in FPMT centers at the 2007 Geshe Conference organized by FPMT.

We are working to ensure that this transition is smooth and that the endowment and ongoing interest raised will be exclusively used for the food fund. The official handover of the project began in May 2017 and the endowment will be transferred over a period of a few years.  Therefore the Sera Je Food Fund is no longer an FPMT charitable project. 

Please rejoice in this incredible offering, the benefits of which will continue long into the future. Every person who has contributed to the Sera Je Food Fund — whether with donations, time, or prayers — all of this incredible merit of offering to the Sangha will continue to grow and benefit.  

The Next Chapter in Supporting Sangha 

The monks of Idgaa Choizinling College are offered lunch every day through the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund.

Supporting monks and nuns has always been one of the highest priorities for Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the FPMT organization because the preservation of the Buddhadharma is dependent on the existence of Sangha.

We invite you to please join us in developing the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund which is offering support to monasteries, nunneries, and individual monks and nuns for food, accommodation, health care, education and practice.  

Since 2009 we have offered support to the nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal.

This fund is not limited to any one institution and able to benefit many nunneries, monasteries and Sangha in need.

From our hearts we sincerely thank you for helping to actualize this incredible offering. May the food fund and endowment continue to grow and benefit the Sangha at Sera Je Monastery for as long as space endures and as long as sentient beings remain.

“Offering even one cent to the Sangha community brings uncountable benefit and merit. As long as the Sangha community exists your merit exist. It will not be exhausted.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

You can learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries.

Beautiful hand-painted houses for the prayer wheels. Photo by Laura Miller.

Last year, the Holy Objects Fund offered a substantial grant to the Mani Chungyur, Stupa, and Water Park, a project being built in Namche Bazaar, Nepal, located in the Sagarmatha National Park and Buffer Zone (SNPBZ). The grant is being used for five prayer wheels which will be turned by flowing water, thus blessing all of the water used throughout the entire park. This project is also a restoration of original prayer wheels and artwork and will become a tourist attraction that is beneficial for the visitors. 

Mandala Publication’s managing editor Laura Miller recently visited the park and reports that all appeared to be finished except for the actual prayer wheel installation. She also commented, “It was beautiful and amazing to see. The fresh water rushing down the hill, through the houses for the prayer wheels and the fountain shooting a spray of water up.” 

The park is attending to practical as well as spiritual needs of the community. The water from the water park runs under a small bridge to a laundry area. In this way, locals can bring their washing to be cleaned in the blessed water! 

The water from the water park runs under a small bridge to the laundry area. Photo by Laura Miller.

Five restored prayer wheels are being installed in the new park. Photo by Laura Miller.

The prayer wheels will be turned by flowing water. Photo by Laura Miller.

Please rejoice in the progress of the new Mani Chungyur, Stupa, and Water Park which will bring so much benefit to residents of Namche Bazaar and tourists alike due to the incredible power of the prayer wheels. 

If you would like to contribute to the building of holy objects around the world, you are welcome to offer any amount to the Holy Objects Fund which contributes to the creation of stupas, prayer wheels and statues.  

Some of the nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery (also known as Bigu Nuns).

In 2014 a grant was offered to Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery for new accommodation needed for the resident nuns. The nunnery recently sent an update that three rows of rooms are nearly finished and some nuns have already begun moving in. They are anticipating the entire project to be finished by the year’s end. 

The nuns are very pleased with their new accommodations and offered, “Our sincere prayers and dedication to the long life of our gurus and good health of all friends, benefactors, donors, and well wishers.”

The new accommodations for the nuns.

Since 2009 sponsorship has been offered to the nuns to complete one and now two 100 million mani retreats (100 million recitations of the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM). In addition to the 100 million mani retreats, funds are offered to cover the cost of food to all the nuns for this period as well as the cost of a very qualified geshe to stay during the retreat in order to give lamrim teachings. With the help of donors, we will offer this again in 2017. 

Rinpoche has said about 100 million mani retreats: “The benefits of reciting the Compassion Buddha mantra are infinite, like the limitless sky. Even if you don’t have much intellectual understanding of Dharma, even if the only thing you know is OM MANI PADME HUM, still the happiest life is one lived with an attitude free of the eight worldly concerns. If you live your life with the pure attitude free of attachment clinging to this life and simply spend your life chanting OM MANI PADME HUM—this six-syllable mantra that is the essence of all Dharma—that’s the purest Dharma. Whoever attends a mani retreat is unbelievably fortunate. This retreat also blesses the country where it is held and brings so much peace, happiness and prosperity. Without bodhichitta, you cannot cause all the happiness for all sentient beings. You cannot do perfect work for all sentient beings, and you cannot achieve the complete qualities of the realizations and cessation, even for yourself. “

Please rejoice in the progress of these new rooms for the sincere nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery. 

You can learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in front of Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery, Chailsa, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In March 2017, Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited the village of Chailsa, in Solu Khumbu, Nepal. Among various activities there, he visited Sagarmatha Secondary School. More than two years ago, FPMT took on the commitment of sponsoring this school, which has about 120 students, with its Social Service Fund. Kopan Monastery oversees the management of the school.

Chailsa is in Solu Khumbu, north-eastern Nepal, the district where Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born and where many Himayalan Buddhists live. Chailsa is in the southern part of the district near Salleri, the district headquarters. The area is remote but still reachable by jeep—a day-long drive from Kathmandu over difficult roads.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how to do water bowl offerings to the children of Sagarmatha school. Chailsa, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche blessed the school and was welcomed by the children with a traditional dance. He gave a talk to them, giving them an explanation of how to do water bowls. He also sponsored a picnic for the children and their teachers. The school provided prizes for the children’s exams, which Rinpoche handed out. Rinpoche and Kopan are working to identify the needs of the schoolchildren so they can ensure that the necessary donations are organized.

Schoolchildren offering Lama Zopa Rinpoche a traditional dance. Chailsa, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In the village, Rinpoche gave a lung and some commentary for the Vajrayogini three-year retreat privately to some students, one who is planning to soon do the retreat. He also gave a short commentary to the local gompa keeper of the torma gyatsa practice. Finally, he offered an Amitabha long life initiation with teachings.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering an Amitabha long life initiation, Chailsa, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche also visited Thubten Shedrup Ling. This monastery, located in Chailsa, is under the care of Kopan Monastery, which took it over in 2004. It has only a few dozen residents, and with the help of Kopan, it has been partially rebuilt. It offers an opportunity for young people to receive a monastic education, to live in their vows in a monastic environment, and study and practice the teachings of the Buddha.

Rinpoche is also trying to locate land in Chailsa on which to keep goats and other animals whose lives have been saved.

On the trip, Rinpoche also went to Thubten Chöling, a large monastery built by the late Trulshik Rinpoche in the 1960s in Junbesi, which is near Salleri and on the Jiri-Everest trekking trail.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the monks and nuns of Thupten Chöling Monastery doing prayers in front of the Holy Body of Trulshik Rinpoche. Solu Khumbu, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

One of the greatest living masters of the Nyingma and rime traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, Trulshik Rinpoche, who passed away in 2011, was one of Rinpoche’s gurus. While at Thubten Chöling, Rinpoche offered to sponsor a portion of the costs of a stupa being constructed there. He paid his respects to Trulshik Rinpoche’s holy body (which is in a mandala house above the altar), made prayers, and made offerings to each of the approximately 400 Sangha present. Rinpoche’s assistant, Ven.Roger, requested the Sangha to do an extensive Medicine Buddha puja for Rinpoche’s health and long life, following the advice of Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme).

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.

Extensive Long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, April 23, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

An extensive White Tara long life puja was offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery on behalf of the entire FPMT organization on April 23, 2017. 

White Tara long life statue offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche by Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi and Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the long life puja. April 23, 2017. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Earlier this year, Ven. Roger Kunsang received advice from Khadro Rangjung Neljorma Khandro Nangsel Dronme (Khadro-la)  on what pujas and practices are needed for Rinpoche’s health and long life. Khadro-la advised for there to be an extensive White Tara long life puja which was completed at Kopan. A beautiful White Tara long life statue was also offered to Rinpoche during the ceremony by Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi and Ven. Roger Kunsang. Prior to the puja Kopan monks completed a seven day White Tara retreat as part of the puja and offering. Extensive offerings were made to Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the puja on behalf of all the FPMT centers, projects, and services as well as all students.

Khadro-la also advised practices that can be done by students of Lama Zopa Rinpoche to help create the conditions for Rinpoche to have good health for the coming year.

The prayers advised are the Vajra Cutter Sutra, and the Dependent Arising: A Praise of the Buddha (Tendrel Topa).

All are welcome and encouraged to join in the recitation of these prayers during the rest of this Tibetan year, and keep track of your recitations.  At the end of the Tibetan year FPMT International Office will request students to report on the number of prayers recited, and then all of the accumulated recitations will be offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Please use the following dedication (ideally in addition to the usual FPMT dedication prayers):
For Lama Zopa Rinpoche to always have perfect health and to always be free of obstacles; and for all Rinpoche’s Dharma projects around the world to be highly successful, including all FPMT centers, projects, and services.

All are welcome to contribute to the expenses associated with the long life puja and statue offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Long Life Puja Fund. 

57 monks are offered lunch daily at Idgaa Choizinling through the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund.

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund offers sponsorship for daily lunch for the 57 monks studying at Idgaa Choizinling Dratsang in Mongolia. Recently US$9,000 was offered to cover all of 2017. 

Idgaa Choizinling was established in 2003 through FPMT Mongolia due to the kindness of many benefactors. Idgaa is strongly connected to Sera Je Monastery in India and serves as a focal point of Buddhist learning in Mongolia. Since its inception, FPMT has been offering food to the monks studying there. 

In a letter to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the monks expressed their gratitude, “Your very generous support of meals provides a most important condition for us to be well nourished, to be free to engage in practices, to listen to our Dharma teachers, and to contemplate and meditate on the Dharma.” 

Young monks at Idgaa Choizinling enjoying daily lunch together.

“If you offer with the recognition that they are the guru’s pores,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said in 2011 in reference to the Sera Je Food Fund which offers three vegetarian meals every day to the monks of Sera Je Monastery, “then that is an unbelievable way to collect merit. When you offer to many Sangha who have the same guru, then you are making offerings to that many pores of the guru. This is the easiest way to collect skies of merit by offering. By offering even just one candy or flowers or even one grain of rice to a statue of Buddha or even a visualized Buddha, you collect skies of merit. It is much more powerful than offering to the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) as well as all the statues, stupas and scriptures existing in all directions, so there is no question if really offering to the same guru’s disciple. These benefits should be understood so that when you make offerings to the guru’s pores that you think correctly. This is the best business.”

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund supports ordained monks and nuns as well as monasteries and nunneries by providing sponsorship for food, accommodations, educational needs, and health care for Sangha. 

Please rejoice in this offering of daily food to these earnest monks who study and practice so sincerely to keep Buddhism alive in Mongolia. 

You can learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries.