Projects

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during long life puja at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, April 29, 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Senior monks and nuns of Kopan Monastery and Nunnery in Nepal recently requested Lama Zopa Rinpoche to accept a special long life puja, out of concern for Rinpoche’s health and in support of other pujas that are being organized. The special long life puja was offered the morning of Monday, April 29. Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la) attended the puja and made offerings to Rinpoche.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khadro-la having lunch after puja, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, April 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Kopan Monastery and Nunnery have taken on the responsibility to offer pujas throughout the year for Rinpoche’s good health and long life. Each month they are saving a few goats from slaughter and also fish. Some of the pujas, like Tugchuma, will be done daily for the rest of the year.

Ongoing improvements are made year round to Sera Je Monastery Kitchen through the Sera Je Food Fund. A new wood burning steam boiler was purchased for the Sera Je Kitchen to cut down on the usage of LPG gas cylinders. A new rice cooking vessel was also recently purchased.

You can donate any amount to these ongoing efforts.

DONATE

A look at a typical daily offering of breakfast provided by the Sera Je Food Fund to the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery.

You can also view a typical day’s menu including breakfast and lunch.

Please take a moment to rejoice in this incredible offering of which you can be a part by donating any amount to the Sera Je Food Fund today.

Daily breakfast: Tibetan bread and Tibetan tea.

Tibetan bread and tea.Tibetan bread is 10-12 inches in diameter and half an inch thick.

Fresh breads ready for breakfast.

Young monks enjoying breakfast before class.

DONATE

A look at a typical week’s worth of lunches provided by the Sera Je Food Fund to all the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery.

You can also view a typical day’s menu including breakfast and lunch.

Please take a moment to rejoice in this incredible offering of which you can be a part by donating any amount to the Sera Je Food Fund today.

Monday, Thursday, Saturday: Rice, dahl, banana.

Tuesday: Rice or bread with dahl.

Wednesday, Friday, Sunday: Bread, dahl, banana.

Hot chili is available for anyone who likes their food spicy.

Lunch is served with filtered water.

DONATE

Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Ladakh, India. April 2013: The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund was very happy to be able to offer US$15,720 for food offered in 2013 to 35 students studying at Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Ladakh, India.

Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in the Himalayan Kingdom of Ladakh in a small village called Saboo. The campus is spread over 20 hectares of deserted land which eventually will be turned into an oasis of learning.

Students of Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics enjoying food offering. The main aim of this organization 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 Jey Monastery in South India. In 2007 Geshe Lharampa Tsewang Dorje was invited to take full responsibility for this project.

Geshe Tsewang Dorje eagerly accepted and began to gather resources needed to start the construction of hostels for girls and boys, a library, and the primary classroom building. Classes are now in session.

Students of Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Ladakh, India.In 2010 Geshe Tsewang Dorje appointed a group to search out 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.

There are now 35 children (ages 6-14 years old, both boys and girls) staying in the hostel and attending the school from different parts of Ladakh and the border of Tibet. The Ngari Institute is taking care of all their daily needs, offering free room, board, covering their tuition fees, books and clothing allowances, and access to medical care. The students are following the standard government educational curriculum during the day and learn about Tibetan Buddhism and culture during after-school hours.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche was very happy to support this extremely beneficial project and to be able to offer the entire cost of the food fund for the 35 students and staff, three meals a day for the whole year. In addition, the money is also covering the cost of the students’ shelter, clothing, basic education, and training in nutrition and hygiene.

To rejoice and to learn more about the Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics

2010 Meeting of Geluk Committee in Nepal.April 2013: The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund is very happy to be able to offer US$11,500 towards 2013 Special debate held in Nepal in August 2013.

This year the special debate will be held at Kopan Monastery for fifteen days. There will be 450 monks attending from ten different Gelug 2010 Meeting of Geluk Committee in Nepal.monasteries in Nepal. These are the top debating students from each monastery. In addition this is the first time ever that nuns are participating in the special debate and there will be 90 nuns participating from two Gelug nunneries in Nepal, one of  them being Kopan’s own Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery.

This is the fifth year the special debate has been held in Nepal for the Gelug monasteries. Each year a different monastery hosts the actual debate.

For more information on the annual winter debate, its history, the texts debated and the overall incredible importance of the debate please read more here.

Please rejoice that we can make this offering and thank you to all the kind donors of the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund. The support given by FPMT’s Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund ensures that the Mahayana teachings are preserved for the benefit of all sentient beings and is critical to FPMT’s mission of transmitting and preserving the Mahayana Buddhist teachings worldwide. 

Kitchen helpers working hard. Please visit Sera Je Food Fund Office’s Facebook page for a photo gallery of a typical day in the Sera Je Kitchen, which is sponsored by the Sera Je Food Food.

You can also read Geshe Thubten Sherab’s account of a typical day at Sera Je Monastery here.

DONATE

Buckets of vegetables and tofu.

Monks returning to their own quarters.

Some of the Tashi Chime Gatsal Nuns undertaking 100 Million Mani Retreats.April 2013: Lama Zopa Rinpoche just received this message from the Tashi Chime Gatsal Nuns who are currently doing their 2^nd 100 million mani retreat:

The Tashi Chime Gatsal Nuns wanted to send their heartfelt thanks to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and donors who are supporting them and caring for them like their own lovely children.

The nuns wanted to say that they would have no other food or support if Lama Zopa Rinpoche had not requested them to offer the 100 Million Mani Retreats each year and support them during the retreats.

Some of the Tashi Chime Gatsal Nuns undertaking 100 million mani retreats.The Geshe who is guiding them during the retreats and offering lam-rim teachings said this is 100%  true. I have been with them now for two years and I know their condition and how much these retreats have supported them. We have now also been able to build a kitchen for them and it is almost complete. On  behalf of the nuns and myself, again, thank you so much for helping the Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery.

You can learn more about the 100 million mani retreats offered by the Tashi Chime Gatsal Nuns every year.

April 16, 2013: Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund are very happy to offer US$100,000 toward new classrooms being built at Sera Je Monastery, India. (Photos, right, from April 2013.)

The Sera Je Monastery Secretary, Geshe Thupten Monlam, explains that the classroom will initially be used for debate classes so the monks won’t be disturbed by rain and or too  much sun.

The classrooms will also primarily be used to teach subjects such as science and other fields of knowledge within the monastic curriculum. This is a direct request from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and is a long term objective of Sera Je Monastery to be in line with the vision and recommendations of His Holiness The Dalai Lama in integrating this kind of study into the monastic education

The classroom building facility is planned to be complete in time for the upcoming visit of His Holiness The Dalai Lama in July 2013. 

It is a high priority of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s and of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund to offer support directly and indirectly towards 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 etc.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche helps in whatever way he can to support the next generation of teachers who will continue to hold the lineages and pass on the Dharma.

Next Generation Dharma Teachers

Lama Zopa Rinopche with Tenzin Osel at Kopan Monastery Dec 2012.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche taking transmission from Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche, with Ven. Tsenla and Ven. Yeshe Khadro offering tsog. Bodhgaya, January 2012.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Tenzin Phuntsok Rinpoche Kopan Monastery 2012.

Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche, Bodh Gaya Jan 2012.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Zong Rinpoche.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Serkong Dorje Chang in Kopan Monastery 2012.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Domo Rinpoche in India Dec 2012.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with His Eminence Ling Rinpoche, Bodh Gaya Jan 2012.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with young Ribur Rinpoche, India 2012.

Charok Lama with young tulkus of Kopan Monastery Feb 2006.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with young Sengye Rinpoche.

A look at a typical week’s worth of dinners provided by the Sera Je Food Fund to all the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery.

You can also view a typical day’s menu including breakfast and lunch.

Please take a moment to rejoice in this incredible offering of which you can be a part by donating any amount to the Sera Je Food Fund today.

Monday: Rice with vegetables.
Tuesday: Noodle soup.
Wednesday: Rice with tofu and vegetable.
Thursday: Noodle soup.
Friday: Vegetable biriyani with soup.
Saturday: Vegetable buns and soup. Sunday: Fried rice with soup.

DONATE

Have you ever wondered how to offer food to the 2,600 monks studying at Sera Je Monastery?

By donating any amount to the Sera Je Food Fund, you contribute to the daily offering of three healthy vegetarian meals prepared for and offered to all of the monks of Sera Je Monastery.

Please take a moment to rejoice in this incredible offering of which you can be a part by donating any amount to the Sera Je Food Fund today.

DONATE

What Does a Meal for 2,600 Look Like?

Buckets of soup to be offered to the monks. Making giant pots of vegetarian dahl. Photo by Losan Piatti. Monks cutting the vegetables. Photo by Losan Piatti. The monks recite prayers together and dedicate to all the donors of the Ser Je Food Fund before the food is offered. Photo by Losan Piatti. Making bread dough.Monks enjoying cutting the vegetables together.