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For over ten years the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund has sponsored a special annual oral examination of Sera Je Monastery’s top scholars who have shown incredible aptitude for memorization. In 2013, 225 students were awarded new robes and khatas (cost of US$4,307.50) for their accomplishments of memorization.
Memorizing any of these texts is considered an incredible feat, two of the scriptures were memorized by just a few scholars. The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund is very happy to be able to recognize and support these monks in this way.
- 93 students memorized The Essence of Eloquence on the Art of Interpretation (Dang-Nge)
Thangka image of Lama Tsongkhapa with two disciples.
- 95 students memorized The Clear Meaning of the Paramita (Drelpa-Don-Sel)
- 11 students memorized Skab Dangpoi Spyi Don by Jetsun Chokyi Gyaltsen
- 1 student memorized Collection of the Six Treaties on the Middle Way
- 25 students memorized Shantidava’s The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life
You can catch a glimpse of the effort needed to memorize texts like these listed above, as well as the incredible dedication needed for scholars at this level, by reading an account published in Mandala from Ven. Tenzin Gache (Brian Roiter) who became one of the very few Westerners to participate in the rik chung debate held at Sera Je Monastery.
If you would like to contribute to the offerings to these top scholars:
Dagri Rinpoche making offerings to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the long life puja offered to Rinpoche at Land of Medicine Buddha, September 2013.
Following the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Land of Medicine Buddha, CA, USA, on September 29, 2013, Rinpoche offered US$12,106, toward the completion of two stupas being build in California.
US$6,053 was offered to the Stupa to Minimize Harm, a stupa to minimize harm caused by possibly earthquakes on the coast of California, and US$6,053 was offered to a new stupa being built at Land of Medicine Buddha.
If you build stupas or statues to inspire people, without even teaching Dharma, for however many hundreds and billions of years the holy object lasts, it continues to liberate many sentient beings every day, freeing them from the lower realms, causing them to actualize the path liberating them from samsara and bringing them to enlightenment. Even if after you die you are in another universe, in the hell realms or a pure land, wherever you are the stupa or statue that you built is continually benefiting sentient beings. It is incredible how you can continually benefit sentient beings by having built a stupa.
—Lama Zopa Rinpoche
There are many beautiful flowers in Rinpoche’s garden. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is well known for his extensive and beautiful offerings. The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund sponsors Sangha to make thousands of light and water offerings daily in Rinpoche’s residences in the United States. Sangha offer extensive prayers for the entire FPMT organization and all its projects, students and benefactors as well as all sentient beings. Gorgeous flowers adorn Rinpoche’s garden– an offering for all. You can enjoy an entire photo gallery devoted to this. Here we include a few of these photos. Please rejoice in these beautiful and abundant offerings!
Daily offerings are made this the Medicine Buddha altar at Rinpoche’s California residence.
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 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.
—Lama Zopa Rinpoche (from Extensive Offerings, published by FPMT Education Services)
Rinpoche’s garden is full of beautiful flowers, an offering for all. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
You are welcome to donate any amount toward these ongoing extensive offerings.
Central School for Tibetans new kitchen, sponsored by the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund.
In April of 2013, Lama Zoa Rinpoche made a donation, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, of US$30,000 for the complete renovation of a school kitchen at the Central School for Tibetans in Bylakuppe in South India.
In January Rinpoche visited to inaugurate the new kitchen.
Please rejoice in the completion of this new kitchen!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ven.Khedup and behind Maitri Charitable Trust Director Adriana Ferranti and her staff circumambulating the stupas made so that animals can create merit while they receive care.
The Animal Liberation Fund was pleased to offer US$3,000 to MAITRI Charitable Trust, which, through its Animal Care Program, has taken on the responsibility for providing essential care to hundreds of animals in need in Bodhgaya, India, since 1994. This donation was specifically intended to cover the cost of food for 45 goats and 25 chickens that have been saved from death. The annual cost to feed these animals is US$7,117.
The Animal Liberation Fund is extremely happy to support MAITRI Charitable Trust in its incredible efforts caring for animals that would otherwise be killed.
You can learn more about what MAITRI Charitable Trust is doing and support their work directly.
Please rejoice in this work. You are welcome to support the Animal Liberation Fund, which supports weekly animal liberations and offers support to other projects dedicated to liberating animals such as MAITRI Charitable Trust.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche taking transmission from Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche, with Ven. Tsenla and Ven. Yeshe Khadro offering tsog. Bodhgaya, January 2012.
The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund was very happy to sponsor the travel and first year of college tuition for Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche. Lama Zopa Rinpoche very much wanted to make this offering of support to Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche and his studies.
It is a high priority of Lama Zopa Rinpoche to offer support directly and indirectly toward the next generation of Dharma teachers.
This support can be annual offerings toward food expenses or donations toward projects or specific needs, such as contributing to the building of the incarnation’s monastery, labrang (house), geshe degree, education etc.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche tries in whatever way he can to support the next generation of teachers who will continue to hold the lineages and pass on the Dharma.
You can read more about Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche’s inspiring past life.
You are welcome to offer any amount to this fund which supports the next generation of Dharma teachers.
Rinpoche thanking benefactors for their very kind and generous donations to the Sera Je Food Fund, Sera Je Monastery, India, January 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
The Sera Je Food Fund, which was started by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1991, currently offers more than 3 million meals each year to the monks of Sera Je Monastery, allowing the monks there to focus on their studies.
“I just want to explain some things about the Sera Je Food Fund, just for your education and also maybe you can pass some of this on,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised in 2011 while at Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala, India. “[To paraphrase,] Buddha said in the Arya Sanghata Sutra: the result of making charity, even the size of a single strand of hair, is happiness that you will experience for 80,000 eons. You will enjoy great wealth. …
“This quote means if you make charity of anything, even just a tiny amount, the result of this is happiness for an unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable length of time. Just from making charity one time,” Rinpoche continued.
“Regarding the Sera Je Food Fund, this is making offerings to Sangha … wow … wow! Can you imagine the merit of that? Even making small charity the size of a single strand of hair? Can you imagine? In the monastery there are Sangha living in the five vows, but the majority of the Sangha are living in higher vows such as getsül (36 vows) and gelong, a fully ordained bhikkshu (253 vows). Most of the Sangha are gelongs and living in highest number of vows … wow … wow … wow! One creates so much merit by making offerings to Sangha due to the power of the object. …”
For more, you can read Rinpoche’s complete advice, “Benefits of the Sera Je Food Fund.”
Learn more about the Sera Je Food Fund, including its history, and watch videos of the fund’s work by visiting the Sera Je Food Fund website.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.
Monks debating, 2012.
In December 2013, The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund was very pleased to offer US$6,398 toward the 2013 Gelugpa Examination which was held at Gaden Lachi Monastery, Mundgod, India, September 2013.
Over 500 of the top scholars from the main monasteries attended the exam.
The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund offered food expenses and all travel expenses for the top scholars to be present at Gaden Lachi for this annual exam. In addition, two full days of food was offered to all the participants.
US$1,4578.88 was also offered toward the monthly stipends given to the current abbots, past abbots and main teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition including the Gaden Tripa Rinpoche, Gaden Trisur Rinpoche, Shartse and Jangtse Choegyal, Khen Rinpoche, Khensur Rinpoche and Lama Umtse. This small monthly stipend ranges from 1,500 rs – 500 rs (about US$8.20 – US$24) a month and supports these incredibly precious teachers’ basic needs. This allows them to be able to focus more of their time on transmitting Dharma to their students at the monasteries and strengthening their own practices.
The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund was extremely happy to offer a total of US$20,976.88 in December toward the preservation of the Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism and toward supporting this annual exam and cultivating future teachers.
Please rejoice in this offering. You are welcome to offer any amount to the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund in support of its mission:
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and 27 geshes, who serve as resident teachers in FPMT centers, during the 2007 Geshe Conference organized by FPMT.
In 2013 Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, was extremely happy to offer robes to all of the resident geshes and western ordained teachers offering service at FPMT centers around the world.
Tremendous thanks to Kopan Monastery and Claire Isitt for helping to arrange this.
If you were Sangha but you didn’t wear robes, then people would not know [that you were ordained], but with robes on there is no question. That is how the robes have such incredible benefit for the mind. It is planting the seed for enlightenment when people show respect to your wearing of the robes, or to the robes themselves: This is planting the seed of liberation, and is a way of benefiting sentient beings…
—Lama Zopa Rinpoche, conversation with a monk about the benefits of wearing robes
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has requested that this offering be made each year as a small token of thanks for the incredible service offered by these teachers to FPMT through teaching Dharma in the organization’s centers. In 2013 robes were offered to 43 FPMT registered ordained teachers.
Please rejoice in the service offered by these teachers and also in the offering of robes made to them.
You are welcome to contribute any amount to support the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund:
Each month, approximately 250,000 meals are offered to the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery.
In order for the Sera Je Food Fund to offer three meals per day to all 2,500 monks studying at Sera Je Monastery (3,300 monks join for breakfast), the Sera Je Kitchen must acquire, prep, cook, and clean-up after an enormous amount of food.
In one month alone, the Sera Je Kitchen utilized 17,403 pounds of flour and 21,528.14 pounds of rice.
This is 38,931.14 pounds of rice and flour utilized and offered!
Also in one month, 14,300 bananas were offered and 1,523 bundles of green vegetables were offered.
This, of course, is in addition to the other vegetables, fruits, spices, oil, baking powder, tea, milk and butter needed to offer approximately 250,000 meals per month.
This offering of three nutritious meals a day is something amazing to rejoice in!
You are welcome to contribute anytime to the Sera Je Food Fund.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche in front of the first statue of Lama Yeshe commissioned by Vajrapani Institute, November, 2013.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche was very happy to make an offering of US$10,000 toward a new life-sized statue of Lama Yeshe which Vajrapani Institute, Boulder Creek, CA, USA is having built. This will be the second life-sized statue of Lama Yeshe commissioned by Vajrapani Institute.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and director of Vajrapani Institute, Fabienne, discussing the art for the new Lama Yeshe statue.
In February 2011, Vajrapani Institute asked Lama Zopa Rinpoche for advice regarding how to create the causes needed for the retreat center to further flourish and benefit many beings. Rinpoche recommended them to commission another statue of FPMT’s founder, Lama Thubten Yeshe.
Rinpoche also added that Vajrapani’s future new meditation hall should contain one-thousand statues of Lama Yeshe! This statue will act as the prototype for smaller ones to be made available.
The budget for this statue is estimated at US$20,000. Please rejoice that Lama Zopa Rinpoche has offered half of funds needed to complete this beneficial statue.
You may donate any amount to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund which allows Rinpoche’s compassionate charitable activity to flourish:
The Bylakuppe School for Tibetans, Karnataka, India, December 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Sera Monastery is located in the Tibetan settlement Bylakuppe near Mysore, Karnataka in South India. Lama Zopa Rinpoche sponsored the new kitchen at the Bylakuppe School for Tibetans, which was inaugurated on December 19, 2013.
Bylakuppe School for Tibetans students greeting Lama Zopa Rinpoche, India, December 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Plaque commemorating the new kitchen, Bylakuppe, Karnataka, India, December 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.