Projects

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

Recently when Lama Zopa Rinpoche was visiting Sera Je Monastery, he was requested to help with a new elevator at Sera Lachi.  Sera Lachi is made up of Sera Je and Sera Mey Monasteries in southern India. 6,000 monks study between the two monasteries. 

The Sera Lachi monks. Photo courtesy of the Sera Lachi Facebook page.

Entrance to the new elevator at Sera Lachi.

The elevator will be used to bring His Holiness the Dalai Lama up to his rooms at Sera, which are located on the top floor. As His Holiness is now eighty years old, climbing all of those stairs has become difficult, and the monks wanted to have an elevator to easily bring His Holiness to his rooms and also to facilitate elderly monks getting to different levels of the building to access offices, rooms, etc. 

Rinpoche was very happy to make an offering of US$69,000 toward the cost of the elevator through a grant issued from the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund. 

“Proper devotion to the guru, or virtuous friend, is the root of all success, from success in this life up to enlightenment, just as the trunk, branches, leaves and fruit of a tree depend upon its root,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches in The Heart of the Path. 

The new elevator installed at Sera Lachi.

“Or we can think that guru devotion is like the fuel in a car or a plane, without which the vehicle cannot take us where we want to go. Without guru devotion, nothing happens – no realizations, no liberation, no enlightenment – just as without the root of a tree there can be no trunk, branches, leaves, or fruit. Everything, up to enlightenment, depends on guru devotion.

“Guru devotion is the root not only of ultimate success, achieving full enlightenment and bringing sentient beings to the ultimate happiness of liberation and enlightenment, but also of temporary success and happiness. This practice is the foundation of the development of the whole path to enlightenment, as well as the foundation of all happiness. Since everything comes from the practice of guru devotion, it is called the root of the path. …”

You can read more of Rinpoche’s teachings on guru devotion in “Why Do We Need a Guru?,” the first chapter of the book The Heart of the Path: Seeing the Guru as Buddha by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

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.

Enlightenment Stupa at Land of Calm Abiding, California, April 2014. Photo courtesy of Land of Calm Abiding.

Land of Calm Abiding, a 485-acre (196-hectare) wilderness ranch in Big Sur, California, is dedicated to supporting long-term solitary retreats.

The property was gifted by Mary Alice Baldwin in 1995. Located miles from any human settlement and surrounded by thousands of acres of wild public lands on the central coast of California, this off-the-grid location provides extremely unique conditions for engaging in meaningful retreat. 

Due to the kindness of a benefactor, the Practice and Retreat Fund was recently able to offer a US$28,500 grant to this retreat center to help with operational and maintenance needs. 

One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT is to support the Dharma practice of students and foster realizations among practitioners. Please rejoice that this grant was offered to Land of Calm Abiding so that it can continue serving as retreat land for those ready to practice deeply in this way. 

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. Grants are also given to develop retreat centers.

The monks and lay students of Idgaa Choizinling College are offered lunch every day through the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund with help from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

For the last few years Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been offering the food for the monks studying at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia.

Recently US$5,564 was offered to cover the costs of offering lunch to all of the thirty-five monks and young boys studying at the college for the next 13 months. The community is made up of two monks who have taken gelong vows, ten monks who have taken getsul vows, two monks who have taken rabjung vows, and twenty-one lay students awaiting ordination. 

Offering food to those studying at Idgaa Choizinling College contributes to the goal of helping to re-ignite and preserve Buddhism study in Mongolia.

US$503 is needed every month to make this offering and there is a current gap in what is raised each month for this. Lama Zopa Rinpoche kindly covers the US$428 needed each month, as the sponsorship of lunch to this community is important to the goal of re-igniting and preserving Buddhism in Mongolia. 

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was recently established to support to ordained Sangha (monks and nuns) as well as monasteries and nunneries. The fund is an essential component in helping to fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization. This year we are very happy to be able to support Rinpoche and to take on this offering and hope that as the fund grows more support can be offered to more Sangha in need around the world.

The main mission for this fund is to provide support for food, accommodations, education and health care for Sangha and will also provide the necessary resources for Sangha who wish to engage in retreats.

By supporting this fund you enable more support to monks and nuns in need around the world. Thank you for all who make this possible.

You can learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monks and nuns. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche reciting the Sutra of Golden Light at Mahabodhi Stupa, Bodhgaya, India, March 2014. Photo by Andy Melnic.

One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT is for students to recite the Sutra of Golden Light for world peace. Specifically, Rinpoche has said, “The most beneficial thing to have peace and to stop the wars is reciting the Sutra of Golden Light.”

FPMT Education Services has created a resource page to help students learn more about and start reciting the Sutra of Golden Light. You can receive the oral transmission from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, download the sutra in 12 languages, report completed recitations, share your experiences, and ask questions about the text itself.

In 2014, Lama Zopa Rinpoche told the following story to help illustrate the power of this particular sutra: 

“If you have any problems or danger in your life, even just hearing or listening to the name of the Golden Light Sutra can give protection and pacify those problems. I want to tell you a story, one time when I was in Malaysia at the invitation of a rich family, I was eating lunch and just as I put the first spoonful of rice in my mouth I got toothache. So I thought of the Golden Light Sutra and how remembering it was supposed to stop the pain. I didn’t think very strongly about the Golden Light Sutra and I didn’t take very strong refuge in it, I just thought about it in passing and the pain went away.

“So I would suggest that if you have any kind of health problems such as cancer and especially diseases that cannot be cured by medicine, like black magic or spirit harm, sicknesses that doctors cannot do anything about, one very good solution is to read the Golden Light Sutra. Especially for world peace, it is unbelievably powerful to read this sutra in countries where there is a lot of fighting and killing.”

Institut Vajra Yogini decided to take on the commitment of reciting the Sutra of Golden Light as a group daily once they heard Lama Zopa Rinpoche explain the benefits of this sutra. 

There are so many ways to engage with this powerful sutra which will help fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes for the FPMT organization and the world. 

There are many sutras available to you which can help with many particular karmas or difficulties. 

You can learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization. 

Since 1991, the Sera Je Food Fund has been offering three meals a day to every monk studying at Sera Je Monastery. Some monks do not need to rely on this service due to various reasons such as having personal benefactors who sponsor their food directly, but the food offering is available to every single monk who would like to receive it. 

Three meals are offered every day to any monk studying at Sera Je Monastery.

Recently, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FPMT CEO Ven. Roger Kunsang, and Charitable Projects Coordinator Ven. Holly Ansett spent a month at Sera Je Monastery with the Sera Je Food Fund team and attended a number of meetings with Ven. Ngawang Sangye who has been working for the food fund since 2007 while completing his geshe studies degree in 2016. He does an incredible job helping to manage this massive operation with the help of Vens Kalden and Rabten. They work with FPMT International Office on budget and cost analysis, which can become quite complicated when shopping and cooking for up to 2,500. 

In these recent meeting, the team discussed improvements that could be made to the program, advice and recommendations from a dietitian who was consulted last year, how to utilize seasonal produce, and the general food preferences of the monks. Recently, the entire menu was redesigned based on feedback from the monks and discussion with the kitchen management. The food fund will continually assess and make adjustments and improvements to operations, procedures, and services offered to help ensure that this project is bringing the most benefit to those it serves.The Sera Je Food Fund not only covers the cost of all food, it is also responsible for the entire kitchen operation, paying cooks, utilities, and equipment upkeep. 

8,700 pounds of flour and 6,500 pounds of rice are offered every month through the Sera Je Food Fund Kitchen.

Every day each khangtsen (monastic house made up of monks from the same regions) informs the Sera Je Food Fund Kitchen how many monks will be joining for meals so the cooks can always prepare the right amount of food. There is almost no waste from the kitchen because any leftovers are offered to monks who engage in evening debate or classes allowing the monks to enjoy a second dinner if they are studying or debating late. Any food bought by the kitchen that is not used is sold back to the market making the waste for the kitchen extremely low. This is quite impressive when considering the volume of food being prepared and cooked.  An incredible 8,700 pounds of flour and 6,500 pounds of rice are used every month in addition to large quantities of other foods such as vegetables, fruits, spices, grains, tea, milk, and other ingredients. 

Typically, about 50 monks are assigned to kitchen duties every day.  They help ensure that the ingredients are top quality, that the kitchen is always hygienic and efficient, and that the food is tasty for the monks. Lunch is often eaten as a group in the Sera Je gompa when there are pujas or practices happening. 

The monks gather in the gompa for lunch when there are prayers and pujas organized around lunch time.

Twenty-five years ago Lama Zopa Rinpoche initiated the Sera Je Food Fund as a way to offer daily benefit to all of the monks studying at Sera Je, enabling them to focus on their studies without having to worry about meals or the burden of food expenses and preparation. Since that time Ven. Roger has worked with support from Ven. Holly to help actualize this vision through continual work with the monastery and the benefactors who make this fund possible. 

Please take some time to rejoice in this incredible daily offering and the kindness of all the extremely generous donors who contribute to the success of this program. From the prep cooks, to the dishwashers, to those who do the shopping, to those who help manage the operation, to the accountants, to the food vendors, the Sera Je Food Fund is a massive collective effort on the part of many.

You are welcome to join in on this offering by donating any amount, or by following the news and updates of this beneficial daily offering of food to hundreds of monks. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche as a young student. Rinpoche attended Rolwaling Sangag Choling as a child.

Thanks to the kindness of a generous benefactor who provided a grant, the Social Services Fund was able to recently offer US$173,599 to Rolwaling Sangag Choling Monastery for the rebuilding of their gompa.  Rolwaling Monastery is the main monastery in Rolwaling, located in Nepal along the Tibetan border, and is a precious site of cultural and religious heritage for the area. This monastery is particularly precious to FPMT as Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended this monastery between the ages of 7-12. Supporting this monastery is one way to help repay the monastery’s kindness for looking after and offering education to  Rinpoche as a child. There are currently fifteen young monks studying at this monastery. 

Rolwaling Sangag Choling is a community-centered monastery and its history spans about nine generations. It is the only monastery in the entire community of Sherpa Buddhists. The current gompa is approximately 150 years old and is richly painted with many holy statues and scripture. This gompa is the sole place in the area where daily prayers, offerings, pujas, retreats, Buddhist teachings, death and dying services, and community events for lay students and ordained Sangha (which can serve up to 300 people at once) are offered. The gompa was already not in good condition (having not been renovated since 1957) but the 2015 earthquake nearly destroyed what was there. For many in the local community, this gompa is more important than their own homes. It was reported that when assistance was offered to locals to help rebuild their houses following the earthquake, many locals became very emotional, saying things like, “Please help us save the gompa, we don’t mind staying in open spaces or living in caves, but we can’t see our gompa in ruins.” Restoring the gompa is extremely important to this community. 

The Rolwaling gompa, which had not been restored since 1957, was severely damaged due to the 2015 earthquake.

The Buddhist relics and imagery will be preserved in the rebuilding of the gompa.

During the reconstruction, all the relics and historically important materials will be reused so that the gompa can receive this important update without losing its original identity. 

Kopan monk Geshe Jinpa is from Rolwaling and will be responsible for making sure the renovations are done well and will be responsible for overseeing the financial side of this project. 

Please rejoice in this offering made possible by this generous grant. The rebuilding of this gompa helps preserve the local culture and reestablish the monastery as a place for Buddhist practice and community. Additionally, as this monastery helped to care for and educate Lama Zopa Rinpoche as a child, this grant helps repay the kindness of our precious spiritual director. 

The Social Services Fund also offered a grant to the monastery school to help with a youth hostel and repairs following the earthquake. 

If you would like to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants such as this can continue, you can read more about the charitable projects this fund supports, or donate any amount to the fund itself. 

A monk from the Sera Je Food Fund Kitchen helps with flour needed for bread for 30,000.

Over 30,000 people, including monks from surrounding monasteries, packed into Tashi Lhunpo Monastery for the last of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Jangchup Lamrim teachings in South India in late December 2015. 

The Sera Je Food Fund Kitchen prepared rice and bread to accompany the lunch offered by the teaching event, for every single participant. To accomplish this astounding offering, 150 monks woke up at 2 a.m. at Sera Je Monastry every morning to begin cooking. They then had to transport all of the bread and rice for 5.5 miles to Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in a sanitary way, every single day. Remarkably, they managed to serve the bread and rice steaming hot at lunch time. It is almost inconceivable to consider how they did this! 

Volunteer monks help kneed the dough required for massive amounts of bread.

All of the bread had to be cooked on the grill before transporting it to Tashi Lhunpo Monastery.

Bread for 30,000 getting carefully packed for transport to Tashi Lhunpo Monastery.

The bread is carefully packed and ready to be transported.

Rice for 30,000!

Giant pots were needed to prepare so much rice.

The rice is carefully loaded into a truck for transport.

This is just one way the Sera Je Food Fund Kitchen is utilized as a way to benefit ordained Sangha and students of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Huge thanks to all of the monks who volunteer their time to make this possible, and to Ngawang Sangye and the Sera Je Food Fund team who made this offering of time and effort so joyfully, as evidenced by the photos above. Please rejoice in this tremendous effort!

You can learn more about the Sera Je Food Fund: fpmt.org/projects/fpmt/seraje

Students and staff of Ngari Institute, located in the Himalayan Kingdom of Ladakh in a small village called Saboo.

For the fourth year, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Social Services Fund, has offered food every day of the year to the school children and staff of Ngari Institute in Ladakh, India. This year, 46 school children, 16 teachers and eight young monks will benefit from this offering. The cost is US$20,526.39. 

Supporting those in need (such as children, the elderly, poor, and sick) is one of the main priorities of Social Services Fund and Lama Zopa Rinpoche has also indicated that in addition to offering for material needs, we must help in the ultimate way as well by offering Dharma education or creating holy objects as this creates the cause to change the karma and bring real lasting benefit. 

The students of Ngari Institute receive a modern education as well as training in Dharma and their own Tibetan culture.

Ngari Institute is located  in the Himalayan Kingdom of Ladakh in a small village called Saboo. The campus is spread over 20 hectares of deserted land. The main aim of this school is to empower and enrich the poor and needy remote-area students by imparting a combined learning of both modern scientific knowledge and ancient Buddhist wisdom. It was founded by the Ladakh alumni of Sera Je Monastery in South India. In 2007 Geshe Tsewang Dorje was invited to take full responsibility for this project.

Children, teachers, and young monks are offered food through the Social Services Fund.

In 2010 Geshe Tsewang Dorje appointed a group to find children who would otherwise miss educational opportunities, especially orphans and extremely poor children in the remote area, which runs between Tibet and Ladakh. These children will now be able to receive a modern education as well as learn about Tibetan Buddhism and their own culture.

Children who would otherwise miss educational opportunities are offered a modern and traditional Tibetan culture education at Ngari Institute.

The Institute sent this very thoughtful thank you message in response to this year’s donation, “Thank you very much for all the continued support for food for Ngari Institute in 2016. We would like to particularly thank Lama Zopa Rinpoche and all the FPMT supporters. Our director, Geshe Tsewang, has gone to holy Buddhist places to offer long life prayers for our supporters and for their own wishes to be fulfilled, particularly His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and all the great masters and regular supporters.”

Thanks to all who donate to the Social Services Fund enabling the offering of important grants such as this. If you would like to contribute to the offering of grants such as this, you are welcome to donate any amount you can. 

The Social Services Fund has sponsored the food for Ngari Institute for the fourth year in a row and hopes to be able to continue long into the future. If you are inspired by grants such as this, you are welcome to contribute to the Social Service Fund and help ensure that work like this can continue. 

Robes offered to the Buddha statue in Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya, India, through the Puja Fund. July, 2015. Photo by Andy Melnic.

Every month, on the full moon, the Puja Fund sponsors offerings to Buddha statues in Tibet and Bodhgaya. An offering of robes, made of the most precious material chosen by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, to the Buddha Statue in Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya, India; and gold is offered to the Jowo Buddha Statue in Tibet. 

Mahabodhi Temple and grounds at night, Bodhgaya, India, January 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Bodhgaya is where Shakyamuni Buddha reached enlightenment and according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, is “where a thousand buddhas will descend, place their holy feet, display holy deeds, and achieve enlightenment. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha is the fourth of the thousand buddhas. The rest of the buddhas will descend here and will also display the twelve deeds, and the holy deed, achieving enlightenment. There is a place in Bodhgaya called the Vajra Seat. This ground is blessed. Before becoming enlightened, Buddha blessed this ground so it would not be destroyed or cracked, but would stay firm. It is said that there are no earthquakes in Bodhgaya because it is blessed by Buddha, and also that this will be the last place to exist when the world ends.”

You can watch a video of robes being offered to the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya on a full moon.

Also said to have been blessed by Shakyamuni Buddha himself (making it approximately 2,500 years old), the Jowo Buddha statue is one of the most sacred statues in all of Tibet. Originally crafted in India, the Jowo was brought to China, and then brought to Tibet by the daughter  of the Chinese emperor, Princess Wenchen Kongjo, upon her marriage to Songsten Gampo. The Jowo Buddha statue resides in the central chapel of the Jokhang, among the most holy temples in Lhasa.

The Jowo Buddha statue in Lhasa, Tibet.

About the power of statues of Buddha, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said, “The benefit we get each time we see a statue of Buddha, a picture of Buddha or a stupa is like the limitless sky. It causes us to achieve all the realizations from guru devotion up to enlightenment and to achieve all the numberless qualities of the Buddha’s holy body, speech and mind.”

Every full moon students around the world can take a few moments to participate in these offerings by rejoicing and mentally offering the precious robes and gold to these two most holy Buddha statues. Thanks to all the donors who make this possible as well as those who are directly involved by engaging in the practice on site or facilitating the offerings. 

All are welcome to donate to the Puja Fund and directly support these most precious offerings. 

Lifelike statue of Lama Yeshe, FPMT’s founder, residing now at Vajrapani Institute, CA, USA.

Since 2011, Vajrapani Institute has been working with others to create a lifelike statue of FPMT’s precious founder, Lama Yeshe. In 2013, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered US$10,000 toward the completion of his statue. 

In November of 2015, after an unusual array of obstacles and difficulties, the finished fiberglass statue arrived at Vajrapani Institute from Thailand, just in time for a visit by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Director Fabienne Pradelle explains, “When we opened the crate [after picking it up from the airport], Lama’s head appeared peaking up from the packing foam. Elaine Jackson burst into tears. We unpacked it and placed it in the Geshe House.” About the appearance of the statue, which depicts Lama Yeshe in a young aspect, Lama Zopa Rinpoche commented, “It is extremely good. He has become very young! In Mongolia there were statues made in China, very young looking, of Buddha Shakyamuni. The geshe said that it was very auspicious, looking young like this, so I think the young [appearance] is very auspicious.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche meets the new statue of Lama Yeshe at Vajrapani Insitute, November 2015.

Two years previously, when Fabienne was checking the progress of the statue with Rinpoche, Rinpoche told her that the statue should go in Vajrapani Institute’s new gompa (yet to be built) surrounded by 999 smaller replicas to make a total of 1,000 Lama Yeshe statues. This will form the main altar of their new gompa. The smaller statues will be made from a mold which comes from a 3D scan of the main statue. With the 3D scan, they will be able to reduce the size of the statue to whatever height they determine. From that mold, they can also create smaller replicas (either in fiberglass or possibly bronze) to offer to benefactors.

Members of the Vajrapani community with the new statue of Lama Yeshe.

About building statues of one’s guru, Lama Zopa Rinpoche commented, “When you build a guru statue, you get the merit of having built numberless Buddha statues. Whether you build small or big you get unbelievable merit, the same merit as numberless statues of Buddha.” While Rinpoche offered to cover the cost of half of the smaller statues, he suggested that students should also join in the incredible merit of the statue creation by helping sponsor the other half. That is 500 opportunities to create the merit of building numberless Buddha statues! Vajrapani isn’t actively fundraising for this project yet, as they have to first build a prayer wheel, then a gompa, then an altar, in addition to other tasks before they will create the statues. But when the time approaches, all are welcome to join in and help fulfill this incredibly auspicious request from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. 

Vajrapani Institute wishes to thank Ven. Jamyang Wamgo who initiated the project and Elea Mideke who helped see this project through to completion and traveled to Thailand twice to work with the local artists. 

The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund enables Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others to flourish. You can learn more about other beneficial activities this fund supports. 

His Holiness at Tashi Lhunpo, Karnataka, India, January 1, 2016. Photo by Bill Kane.

In December, the Preserving the Lineage Fund sponsored the offering of lunch to 17,000 people during His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s anticipated three day teaching event at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery which preceded His Holiness’s Jangchup Lamrim teachings, also held at Tashi Lhunpo.

Due to a schedule change, His Holiness taught for one day rather than three for this teaching event. Fortunately, His Holiness has accepted an invitation to continue teaching at Tashi Lhunpo in the very near future. The funds already offered for the two days of food that were not used will be applied towards offering food to all who attend during His Holiness’s next visit. 

Tashi Lunpo Monastery, Karnataka, India. Photo by Bill Kane.

This was such an incredible opportunity to make offerings to so many people attending His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings, the majority who were ordained Sangha.

You can learn more about the Preserving the Lineage Fund as well as the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund to learn more about how FPMT Charitable Projects support monks and nuns around the world. 

(Left to right) Kontsak Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi during a Guru Rinpoche puja at Kopan Nunnary, Nepal, December 2015. Photo by Bill Kane.

This year on Losar, in addition to the wide array of pujas and offerings, the Puja Fund also sponsored 100,000 tsog offerings by the Kopan monks and nuns and dedicated to the long life of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and to purify our karma for Rinpoche to show any aspect of illness.

In this way, the Puja Fund has joined in with all FPMT centers, projects and services to help create the karma for Rinpoche’s long and healthy life. All of the tsog offerings completed will be offered to Rinpoche during the upcoming long life puja in Singapore.

The Puja Fund sponsors prayers and practices, offered by up to 15,650 ordained Sangha members, on every Buddha Day, such as Losar, when merit is multiplied by 100 million times.

The official long life puja on behalf of the entire FPMT will be offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore on Sunday, March 13 as part of Rinpoche’s teaching event there. The puja will start at 9 a.m. Singapore time (GMT+8).

All are welcome to contribute to this long life puja by donating any amount to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Long Life Puja Fund.