Projects

21 helicopters were required to bring food packages to 196 families in Solu Khumbu region of Nepal. Photo by Charok Lama.

Nyima Tashi, who is directing this initiative on behalf of Charok Lama Sherpa and Lama Zopa Rinpoche via the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund, arranged for 200 tents to be sent to Thame in Solu Khumbu region by Goma Air. Goma Air very generously sponsored this flight as all helicopters, including private helicopters, are controlled by the government and currently not available. Please rejoice that five Kopan monks were able to deliver these tents!

21 helicopters were needed to deliver the much-needed food supplies to families. Photo by Charok Lama.

Each food package delivered to 196 families includes: 30 kg (66 pounds) rice, 5 kg (11 pounds) dahl, 5 kg (11 pounds) sugar, milk powder, 2 liters oil, 1 kg (2 pounds) tea, 2.5 kg (5.5 pounds) tsampa, 5 kg (11 pounds) flour. Photo by Charok Lama.

The second phase of the mission to bring relief to Solu Khumbu villagers took place when food packages arrived by 21 helicopters after delays due to bad weather. Food was provided to the following villages in the Upper Solu Khumbu area: Phurte, Samsing, Theso, Thamo, Mende, Thamtyong, Samde, Thomde, Pare, Humgo, Thame, Thame Gompa, Themeteng, Ytazang, Taranga, and Chyanyakpa.

As Ven. Roger mentioned in a recent update, each food package includes 30 kg (66 pounds) of rice, 5 kg (11 pounds) dhal, 5 kg (11 pounds) sugar, milk powder, 2 liters oil. 1 kg (2 pounds) tea, 2.5 kg (5.5 pounds) tsampa, 5 kg (11 pounds) flour. Food for 196 households to survive for one month was distributed. 

FPMT, through the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund, is offering US$30,595; Charok Lama is offering US$10,000 and Himalayan People’s Project is offering US$5,000, for a total amount of US$45,595.

A thank you message from Charok Lama:

May 8, 2015: Thank you for everyone who helped us get all the accessories up here, it took about 21 helicopter trips to get everything up here and we will be distributing the next bundle tomorrow. A big thanks from all the people up here to all the supporters and benefactors around the world.

You are one
Others are countless.

Charok Lama and other volunteers helping pack the packages of food to be delivered to Solu Khumbu villagers.

You can learn more about the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund, and keep up on Updates from Nepal After the Earthquake. 

FPMT is helping Losang Namgyal Rinpoche get basic needs to Tamang people.

The Nepal Earthquake Support Fund has been contributing to the efforts of Losang Namgyal Rinpoche’s Nepal Earthquake Disaster Relief Fund. US$10,000 has been offered to these efforts. 

Losang Namgyal Rinpoche’s organization is helping save the lives of some of the Tamang people (who are the largest ethnic group in Nepal and mostly Buddhist) effected by the earthquake by providing aid packages of medical supplies (accompanied by medical volunteers), food and shelters (when available).

Each food package includes enough rice, dal, cooking oil and salt to feed one family for one week along with shelter and medical supplies for those who need them. These packages have reached approximately 1,600 families so far.

Packages containing essential aid are offered to Tamang families who need these supplies desperately.

Each truck of supplies costs approximately $3000 – $15,000 ($7 – $20 per family), depending on whether shelter and medical materials are included.

After receiving requests, a scout goes to the area to asses the need and type of aid required, ensuring there is someone in the community who can distribute everything effectively and fairly.

While providing food is only a short-term solution, without this aid people will starve. 

Families are desperate to receive even the most basic needs for survival. To date, Losang Namgyal Rinpoche has provided packages for 1,600 Tamang families in need.

Namgyal Rinpoche estimates that continuing to supply food until the Tamang people receive other aid or can harvest their own will cost at least another $30,000. 

FPMT is very happy to be able to support Namgyal Rinpoche with these efforts. You can read more details of how FPMT is assisting with short-term and long-term aid to Nepal. 

You can learn more about the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund, and keep up on Updates from Nepal After the Earthquake. 

https://fpmt.org/support/socialservices/
https://fpmt.org/nepal-earthquake/

Basic need supplies are offered to the worst hit areas by Kopan monks and nuns, May 2015

Ven. Roger Kunsang released this recent update:

First, I would like to extend a very big THANK YOU to everyone for moving on this emergency relief effort so quickly by offering to the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund, which we set up through FPMT International Office. It has already meant a lot to so many villages. This has made a HUGE difference. When you are freezing cold, have no home, are out in the open, in the mountains with hardly any food and water left – even for these very hearty people – it is too much.

Villagers are doing their best to survive under extremely difficult circumstances, May 2105. Photo by Cherok Lama.

Young girl stands next to a collapsed home in Thame, Solu Khumbu district, Nepal, April 28, 2015. Photo by Jimmy Grant.

There are dead people around you: people you once knew, some close relatives, your mother, etc. Then having to deal with the ground still shaking from time to time and not knowing if it will get stronger or just pass. There was always the rumor that another big earthquake was coming, which freaked people out even more. They couldn’t be convinced that this can’t be predicted. And then, no one knows what’s happening about anything.

Even as we were leaving from the Kathmandu Airport, Rinpoche met a friend who worked there. The man explained to Rinpoche that his whole village had been destroyed. His family and home – gone. He said his family has nothing; no food, no shelter, and it is very cold. The look on his face, the tone of his voice … it is difficult not to cry at yet again another heavy story and desperate plea for help coming Rinpoche’s way. Rinpoche said immediately he would help! No hesitation.

Today, the Kopan Relief Team is in this man’s village, doing what they can. This time there are Kopan nuns helping also. It is reported over 10,000 people a day are leaving Kathmandu Valley for their villages. They say they have to go back to help their elders as in most villages iIt is only the elderly and the young who remain. Those who can work are in Kathmandu or the Middle East. Working people have to go back to take care of the elderly and the children.

Emergency relief supplies arriving in Thame, Solu Khumbu district, Nepal, May 1, 2015. Photo courtesy of Tara Melwani on Facebook.

They say it will take another 10 to 20 years to earn enough money to rebuild as none have any hope the government will help them. And of course, there is no such thing as insurance, so all is lost. One stone in the mountains averages 2,000 Nepalese rupees (about 19 US dollars) or could go as high as 3,000 to 4,000 rupees. Very expensive! All the houses are built with local stone that is hand-chipped into shape.

A collapsed house in Thame, Solu Khumbu district, Nepal, April 28, 2015. Photo by Jimmy Grant.

Talking to some of these people really breaks your heart. They had very little before, and now, a lot less. So on a mundane level, you are really helping immensely. Thank you!

Regarding the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund this is the short- and long-term strategy of how we can help.

Short-term efforts involve getting basic needs to as many people as possible.

Short-Term and Immediate Need

We have the short-term and immediate urgent needs of the people in mind. This is food, water, medicine, and shelter. We are trying to support the efforts of the local people to look after themselves as the aid coming in from overseas isn’t reaching  them in the short-term.

Kopan Monastery monks help distribute drinking water, Kathmandu, Nepal, April 2015. Photo via Facbook, Kopan Monastery School.

They have to depend on their own efforts. So we are supporting Kopan monks and nuns going out every day with basic necessities for the worst hit areas. We are also supporting Losang Namgyal Rinpoche (one of the Kopan monks) who is the head lama of the Tamang people. (Tamang is the largest ethnic group in Nepal, farmers scattered across the hills throughout Nepal.) Losang Namgyal Rinpoche is organizing and improvising in many ways to get the essentials to these villages that have been damaged badly.

Emergency aid for Thame waiting to be flown to Lukla and then helicoptered to Thame, Nepal, May 1, 2015. Photo courtesy of Tara Melwani on Facebook.

It is really hard getting this done, so we are supporting his efforts by giving some funds to buy essentials.  Then, there is the area where Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born, Thame, and some very small communities in the same area. The budget for this is estimated at US$46,000. This could change depending on helicopter costs associated with getting the food up there. 

FPMT is helping Losang Namgyal Rinpoche get basic needs to villagers.

Long-Term Needs and Rebuilding

And then there are the long-term needs of rebuilding homes and nunneries/monasteries. This will be where most of the funds the will go as the damage is extensive, but we can only commit to those who we are immediately responsible for: Kopan Nunnery and Monastery, Tsum Nunnery and Monastery, Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Centre, Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery in Chailsa, and Lawudo Retreat Centre.

Damage to the house where Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born in Thame. Photo by Cherok Lama.

The Chenrezig Gompa at Kopan Monastery was badly damaged. Photo by Ng Yi Zhen.

This is the plan so far as best as we can know. It could change as we hear more. These are the areas that we have been able to immediately help:

• Thame: Providing shelter and food as emergency relief, US$30,595.
• Helping the Tamang people across the affected regions with Losang Namgyal Rinpoche, US$10,000
• Kopan Monastery Emergency Relief Team: assisting the monastery provide relief (tents, food, clothing) to local and rural areas affected by the earthquake, US$5,000

All the above aid has come from the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund. Rinpoche has received many requests for help, but we have not accepted long-term requests outside of the above. We are trying to fulfill all requests for the short-term needs as they are a matter of life or death.

Delivering food and essentials can be quite difficult as everyone is in need and people come from everywhere when they hear of food and supplies are being offered.

Cherok Lama is also helping and he is in Thame area now, directly giving aid and helping organize relief efforts.

Thame Emergency Relief

We are also providing emergency relief to the people of Thame and surrounding villages. With the majority of homes destroyed or unsafe in Thame and the surrounding areas, people are sleeping in the open air, getting wet and cold. The immediate concern was to supply shelter to those who need it and food to ensure people’s safety in the short-term before helping them rebuild their community in the long- term. Other villages in the area are not in such dire need with respect to housing, as most homes are still standing and safe, but they will also struggle with food due to the normal supplies being affected and food not arriving as usual.

Food will therefore be provided to the following villages in the Upper Solu Khumbu area: Phurte, Samsing, Theso, Thamo, Mende, Thamtyong, Samde, Thomde, Pare, Humgo, Thame, Thame Gompa, Thameteng, Ytazang, Taranga and Chyanyakpa.

Each food package includes: 30 kg (66 pounds) rice, 5 kg (11 pounds) dahl, 5 kg (11 pounds) sugar, milk powder, 2 liters oil, 1 kg (2 pounds) tea, 2.5 kg (5.5 pounds) tsampa, 5 kg (11 pounds) flour.

FPMT, through the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund is offering US$30,595; Cherok Lama: US$10,000; and Himalayan Peoples Project: US$5,000, for a total amount of US$45,595.

Delivering food and the essentials is quite difficult as everyone is in need and people come from everywhere when they hear of food and supplies are being handed out. So managing that is hard as people go crazy sometimes due to hunger and cold.

Many are in need of medical attention in addition to basic necessities for survival.

Thank you again, EVERYONE!

If you would like to contribute to these efforts, you may offer to the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund. 

The precious Jowo Buddha statue is offered gold every month on the full moon.

Every month, the Puja Fund offers gold to the most precious Jowo Buddha statue in Lhasa, Tibet. US$3,000 was just sent to cover this offering for the next year. The gold is offered on the full moon and all are welcome to join in by mentally offering or rejoicing in this incredible commitment that Lama Zopa Rinpoche started a number of years ago. 

The Jowo Buddha statue is one of the most sacred statues in all of Tibet.

Said to have been blessed by Shakyamuni Buddha himself, the Jowo Buddha statue is one of the most sacred statues in all of Tibet. The Jowo Buddha statue resides in the central chapel of the Jokhang, among the most holy temples in Lhasa.

Every time we see holy objects it purifies so much negative karma, so many defilements. This is because of the power of the holy object. Holy objects have so much power. It’s like an atomic bomb—even though it is small it can bring so much harm and cause so much destruction. That example is negative but what I am saying is that the material has power, like electricity. The material of an atomic bomb has the power to harm and destroy the world. The material of holy objects—statues, scriptures and stupas—has the power to affect our mind, to leave a positive imprint.

—Lama Zopa Rinpoche, “Why Holy Objects Are Precious and Wish-Fulfilling

You can learn more about the Puja Fund, learn more about FPMT Charitable Projects, or get involved in this monthly offering of gold to the Jowo Buddha statue by mentally participating, rejoicing, or contributing any amount to the Puja Fund. 

An emergency relief team was established at Kopan Monastery immediately following the earthquake.

In light of the recent tragic earthquake in Nepal, Ven. Roger Kunsang has asked FPMT International Office to set up a fund so that FPMT can provide assistance. Donations to the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund will be used to provide for the immediate and long-term needs of Kopan Monastery and Nunnery and other local FPMT centers resulting from the devastation caused by the Nepal earthquake.

Looking down from Kopan Monastery after earthquake, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Sangpo Sherpa.

These needs include food and shelter for more than 800 monks and nuns as well as structural repairs and renovations to buildings at the Monastery and Nunnery that are no longer safe to occupy as a result of the earthquake.

Tents around the stupa at Kopan Monastery following the earthquake.

In addition, Nepal Earthquake Support Fund will be used to offer immediate relief and support to other areas in the Himalayan region such as the village of Thame (Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthplace) where there has been an incredible amount of destruction. If sufficient funds are raised, grants may also be provided to other carefully vetted organizations providing earthquake relief efforts.

We will be providing updates on exactly how all donations from this fund are used. Already Lama Zopa Rinpoche has offered $3,500 for immediate relief in Thame for tents and food.

Thank you for your support to this fund. The damage and need is great and contributions like yours will help tremendously. 

DONATE

You can learn more about the prayers and practices that are recommended in response to this earthquake and for the many who have lost their lives. 

IVY students have completed 580 nyung näs since November 2014.

One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization is to sponsor others to complete 1,000 nyung nä retreats. Institute Vajra Yogini (IVY), France, upon hearing this incredible vision of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, immediately started hosting 108 nyung näs retreats a year. Now halfway into the fourth set of 108 retreats there is so much to rejoice in. Currently six people are committed to completing the whole 108 nyung näs. Nine people have so far done eight nyung näs or more. 66 people have done at least one nyung näs. 81 different participants in total have participated in one or more nyung näs and an incredible 580 individual nyung näs have already been accumulated.

On average, there are between 7 to 15 people participating in each single session of the nyung näs.

The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund is sponsoring a number of the people to do the 108 nyung näs and recently sent over US$8,000 toward the sponsorship of food and lodging for individuals undertaking this practice.  The students are dedicating the merits of their practice to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life, good health, and for the immediate fulfillment of all of Rinpoche’s wishes.

This practice is a trillion, billion times greater than becoming an Olympic champion. Doing so many nyung näs you become an unbelievable champion. This is what makes numberless buddhas and bodhisattvas most happy and brings sentient beings to enlightenment as quickly as possible.

—Lama Zopa Rinpoche, May 2007

In 2008 Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote a letter to a student who had just completed 200 nyung näs and was continuing on to complete 1,000. Please enjoy an excerpt from that letter:

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Washington, USA, July 2014. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Thank you for doing so many nyung näs….

What you have accomplished is really unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable! I wish I could do this some time, I think I have to meditate more on impermanence and death and on the lower realms and karma.

If you can finish these 1,000 it will be unbelievable, unbelievable. Shine [calm abiding] is just one small aspect of the path, but the nyung näs are a cause to achieve the path to enlightenment and to achieve all the qualities of Buddha, also so many eons of negative karma gets purified, 40,000 eons of negative karma are purified by just doing one nyung näs, then depending on how much compassion you generate and of course if you generate bodhichitta, then you can purify much more than that.

What you have done, the nyung näs, wow!! That is just amazing! A miracle, unbelievable, most unbelievable gift to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to numberless buddhas and bodhisattvas, you can’t imagine how many hundreds of thousands of millions of many eons of negative karma that have gone by doing this, so many, many eons of negative karma have gone.

I hope you don’t feel you are missing the negative karma. I hope that you don’t fall asleep at night time and miss all those negative karmas. Sooner or later you will become a bodhisattva. So just like when someone wins soccer, when all the people jump up, clapping their hands, many tens of thousands of people clapping their hands, so in the same way all the buddhas and bodhisattvas are clapping their hands, from the ten directions, even from the pure lands.

This is your best offering, best service to sentient beings; this is how you collect most extensive merit. Doing all those practices, prostrations it is unbelievable purification, by reciting the names of the 35 Buddhas, Chenrezig meditation, recitation, by making offerings to Chenrezig, you collect the same amount of merit as having made offerings to all the buddhas, and then by taking the 8 Mahayana precepts on top … wow!!! Amazing, gorgeous!

Please download a free PDF, Praise and Prayer to Noble Avalokiteshvara in celebration of these amazing accomplishments by so many dedicated students who wish to support Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Vision.

Tremendous thanks to Francois and Violette and all at Institute Vajra Yogini for all they are doing to make the 108 nyung näs Vast Vision a reality, and also for supporting all the nyung näs participants, which is creating more bodhichitta in the world.

You can learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Vision for the FPMT organization, or about other beneficial activities of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund.

The dedicated nyung näs participants of IVY.

Beautiful Buddha in Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya. The Puja Fund offers best quality robes to this statue every month. Photo by Thubten Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing robes before they are offered to Buddha statue in Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya.

Every month the Puja Fund sponsors a new set of robes to be offered to the precious Buddha statue inside the Mahabodhi Stupa in Bodhgaya, India.

In 2014 Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited the market in Bodhgaya and personally chose the best quality cloth for the robes.

The offering is kindly done by Root Institute with prayers including:

In order to purify my mind,
I offer an exquisite precious garment,
Multicolored like Indra’s variegated bow,
That when touched becomes the cause of bliss
May I be adorned with the holy garment of patience.

OM VAJRA VASTRAYE AH HUM SVAHA

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has taught extensively on the benefits of offering to statues of Buddha. “If someone offers a small flower or rice to a Buddha statue, a stupa, or scripture then the benefit extends from then up to enlightenment. Amazing, amazing,” Rinpoche has said. “It is said in the sutra Piled Flowers, on top of that benefit, you achieve ultimate happiness, liberation from the causes of delusion and karma, and on top of that full enlightenment, all the realizations and omniscient mind. After this, then you liberate numberless hell beings, pretas, animals, humans, suras and asuras from the ocean of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment. When all beings are brought to enlightenment, only then are all the results of offering achieved.”

Please enjoy this video that was filmed by Bill Kane during the robes offering in March 2015. In this video the robes that are sponsored are being respectfully offered to this precious statue while Sangha and students from Root Institute are offering the appropriate prayers.

You are welcome to offer any amount, at any time, to this precious offering of robes occurring every month.

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In addition to offering robes every month to the Buddha statue in Bodhgaya, The Puja Fund also offers gold to the Jowo Buddha in Tibet and offer saffron flower petals, white wash, and material for umbrellas to Bouddhanath and Swayambunath stupas in Nepal.

Recently Ven. Roger Kunsang accompanied Lama Zopa Rinpoche when Rinpoche met with Geshe Gelong, a Sera Je Monastery monk, in southern India. Ven. Roger made notes of the conversation, in which Geshe Gelong expressed the importance of the Sera Je Food Fund from his personal experience.

There are 2,500 monks benefiting from the Sera Je Food Fund (3,300 for breakfast) and the annual cost is US$280,000.

Geshe Gelong was living and studying at Sera Je Monastery prior to the establishment of the Sera Je Food Fund. He easily recalls stories of the hardships faced by the Sangha members living at Sera Je Monastery before FPMT started offering three healthy vegetarian meals every day. This offering is due to the kindness of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the generous donations of his students and benefactors.

“Monks would have to pay for their own meals before the Sera Je Food Fund started because the monastery couldn’t afford to offer them free food. Many monks arrived at Sera Je having fled from Tibet so they had no, or very little money. They arrived unable to pay for food, some were not eating for up to a week at a time,” recalls Geshe Gelong. A lack of food inevitably led to malnutrition and high rates of TB (tuberculosis) in the monastic community. “I would drive so many monks who had TB, due to poor nutrition, to the local hospitals acting as translator for the many who didn’t speak Hindi. It was a very, very difficult life for many. With the monastery unable to offer free food and the monks unable to pay for it, many had to give up their education and leave, some having to disrobe and risk returning to Tibet. I would like to thank Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the care and opportunity the Sera Je Food Fund has brought to the monastery and the monks.”

There are 2,500 monks benefiting from the Sera Je Food Fund (3,300 for breakfast) and the annual cost is US$280,000.

“Previously thin and malnourished monks are now a healthy size with rates of TB now much lower,” Geshe Gelong explained. “Healthier bodies and minds mean the monks are now able to focus on their studies and practices and are much happier and healthier thanks to the three daily provided by the Sera Je Food Fund.”

Buckets of soup about to be offered to the 2,500 monks of Sera Je Monastery.

A heartfelt thanks goes out to all of the past, present and future donors who make this offering possible. You are welcome to offer any amount to this fund. Here is how your offering will be used:

• US$10: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to one monk for one month
• US$120: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to one monk for one year
• US$780: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all 2,500 monks for one day
• US$5,460: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all 2,500 monks for one week
• US$280,000: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all the 2,500 monks for one year

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You can learn more about the Sera Je Food Fund, or see details of a typical breakfast, lunch, and dinner offered to the monks.

This  blog post was kindly translated into Vietnamese.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche showing respect to a Hayagriva statue on the altar at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia.

The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund sponsors the electricity for lotus light offerings 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 Hayagriva statue (pictured on the right).

The annual 100 Million Mani Retreat, which is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions, is also held in the Idgaa Choizinling gompa.

Please rejoice in this daily offering of light to these incredible holy objects in Mongolia. Anyone is welcome to think of this continuous light offering and offer it in their daily practice. You are also welcome to offer any amount to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund to contribute to the costs of this daily offering.

Light Offering Prayer

The Idgaa Choizinling gompa, which houses the 100 Million Mani Retreats sponsored by the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund.

Composed by Lama Atisha

May the light of the lamp be equal to the great three thousand worlds and their environments,
May the wick of the lamp be equal to the king of mountains – Mount Meru.
May the butter be equal to the infinite ocean.
May there be billions of trillions of lamps in the presence of each and every buddha.
May the light illuminate the darkness of ignorance of all sentient beings
From the peak of samsara down to the most torturous hell,
Whereby they can see directly and clearly all the ten directions’
Buddhas and bodhisattvas and their pure lands.
OM VAJRA ALOKE AH HUM E MA HO
I offer these beautifully exalted clear and luminous lights
To the thousand buddhas of the fortunate eon,
To all the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the infinite pure lands and of the ten directions,
To all the gurus, meditation deities, dakas, dakinis, dharma protectors,
and the assembly of deities of all mandalas.

From “Extensive Offering Practice,” by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Available through the FPMT Foundation Store

You can learn more about the many beneficial activities of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund or other Charitable Projects of FPMT.

Every day at Kachoe Dechen Ling in California, USA, four ordained Sangha members currently dedicate their time to making extensive offerings and doing practices requested by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to benefit the entire FPMT organization, benefactors, students, and all beings.

The extensive offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling consist of hundreds of saffron-filled water bowls that are offered daily, thousands of light offerings as well as an extensive flower garden. Photo by Chris Majors.

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. Even while we are in samsara, we will enjoy good rebirths, wealth, and every happiness. Even just the samsaric perfections are amazing, without adding all those incredible realizations that allow us to off er deep benefit to sentient beings, liberating them from oceans of samsaric suffering and its cause, delusion and karma.

—Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Extensive Offering Practice

All of these practices and offerings are dedicated to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s students, and all beings who are sick or are experiencing life obstacles. Photographer Chris Majors recently took a series of photos which wonderfully capture this daily activity. It is incredible that these offerings and practices are happening every single day. Please remember these beautiful offerings in your own practice. This is an incredibly easy way to create merit.

Every month Medicine Buddha and large Padmasambhava tsa-tsas are made and dedicated to the success and removal of all obstacles for all FPMT centers, projects, and services. Photo by Chris Majors.

An extensive and beautiful garden in maintained at Kachoe Dechen Ling. Photo by Chris Majors.

Sangha make three Kadampa stupas daily with prayers and filled with mantras for every person who has passed away, as well as 13 Mitukpa and three long life deity tsa-tsas dedicated to anyone who is sick or is experiencing obstacles. Photo by Chris Majors.

There is no difference between offering to a statue of Buddha or a visualized Buddha. Even if there is no statue, but you think of Buddha and make offerings, it has incredible inexhaustible benefits. Why? Because Buddha has inconceivable qualities; he completed the two types of merit and ceased all the mistakes of the mind.

—Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Extensive Offering Practice

You can enjoy an entire gallery of the extensive offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling and Buddha Amitabha Pure Land in Washington state. You are also welcome to offering any amount to these daily practices and offerings.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama meeting with senior monks on his arrival at Gaden Monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka, India on December 22, 2014. Photo by Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL.

At a meeting held in South India in December 2014, His Holiness the Dalai Lama stressed the extreme importance of establishing the Geluk International Foundation and offices for the long term preservation of the Gelug tradition. Lama Zopa Rinpoche immediately responded to this advice from His Holiness and pledged to offer US$100,000, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, toward the construction of the building needed for this project. This offering was sent out in February. Specifically, this donation will be used for:

• Office of Gaden Tri Thog Khang – the headquarters of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism
• Office of Gaden Tri Thog Khang – secretary and other staff quarters
• Office of Geluk International Foundation
• Training and research center
• First floor – assembly hall
• Second floor – photang for the Gaden Tri Rinpoche

Please rejoice in this incredible offering. May it create the causes for Buddha’s teachings to be accessible to all, far and wide, through the preservation of the lineage of Lama Tsongkhapa.

You can learn more about the beneficial activities sponsored by the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund or about the many Charitable Projects of FPMT.

Every year during Losar (Tibetan New Year and the 15 days of miracles) the Puja Fund sponsors these pujas and offerings all over the world, dedicated to the success of the entire FPMT organization. This is something amazing to rejoice in. 

Sera Je Monastery monks performing pujas sponsored by the Puja Fund.

Pujas Offered by Over 15,650 Sangha

• Recitation of the Prajnaparamita (three versions) offered by the 650 monks of Gyurme Tantric College
• Druk Chu Ma (64 offerings to Kalarupa to eliminate obstacles), Namgyäl Tong Chö (One thousand sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyälma) and Zangcho (King of Prayers) offered by the 6,000 monks of Sera Je and Sera Mey Monastery
•  Druk Chu Ma, Medicine Buddha Puja and Zangcho offered by the 3,400 monks of Gaden Jangtse and Shartse Monastery
• Druk Chu Ma, Namgyäl Tsechog (puja offered to Buddha Namgyälma) and Zangcho offered by the 4,200 monks of Drepung Gomang, Loseling and Deyang Monastery 
•  Namgyäl Tong Chö and Zangcho offered by the 600 monks of Gyuto Tantric College

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 Jokang: Offering gold to the holy face of the Jowo Buddha

Offerings to Gurus and Sangha

• Offerings are made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus including His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
• Small money offering to 15,650 Sangha of Sera Je, Sera Mey, Gaden Jangtse, Gaden Shartse, Drepung Gomang, Loseling, Deyang, Gyuto Tantric College, Gyurme Tantric College  and Kopan Monastery and Nunnery
• Small money offerings are made to all the Sangha at IMI international Sangha communities (Nalanda Monastery, France;  Thubten Shedrup Ling, Australia;  Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy;  and Chenrezig Institute, Australia)
• A full set of robes is offered to all FPMT geshes and resident teachers

Descriptions of Pujas Offered

• Druk Chu Ma: 64 offerings to Kalarupa to eliminate obstacles to one’s activities or projects that are bringing benefit to others
• Namgyäl Tong Chö: One thousand sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyälma
• Namgyäl Tsechog: Is performed to Buddha Namgyälma is performed to remove all obstacles to one’s life and to have a long life. This puja is specifically dedicated to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to all beings who are benefiting others and practicing virtue
• Medicine Buddha Puja: To bring success to all one’s activities, for long life, and for when someone has passed away

Please rejoice in all of this virtuous activity. You are welcome to participate by mentally offering and dedicating all of these activities, or by donating any amount toward their completion.

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You can learn more about the ongoing activities of the Puja Fund or about the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.