Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the long life puja offered to him on April 19, 2021, at Kopan Monastery. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Please join the entire FPMT community by rejoicing in the recent  long life puja which was offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, on behalf of FPMT centers, projects, services, study groups, and students on April 19.

This was the second of the official annual long life pujas organized in accordance with the advice of Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme).

This was a White Tara Long Life Puja and was preceded by seven days of practices led by Khadro-la and Kopan Lama Gyupas and senior monks and nuns.

The long life puja is an important offering ceremony for purifying mistakes that occur in relation to one’s teacher and to creates the causes and conditions to continue to receive benefit from that teacher for a very long time. For this reason, the FPMT organizes at least one official long life puja for Rinpoche every year. Long life practices also create the cause for one’s own long life.

Ven. Roger Kunsang offering a mandala to Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the April 19 long life puja at Kopan Monastery. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Khadro-la participating in the April 19 long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

We are delighted to share this video (youtu.be/c0qhiGPf1do) of Rinpoche from the long life puja on April 19. In this 46 minute clip, Rinpoche is offering advice to all FPMT students and centers in English and thanking those who participated in the long life puja including everyone offering service to FPMT. During this advice and thanks Rinpoche shares the following in honor of Lama Yeshe at 22:42 in this video:

“Who started the organization is Lama Yeshe, most rare and difficult to mention the holy name. He started the organization in Dharamsala, Tushita. I think we did fulfill Lama Yeshe’s wishes. The whole organization from year to year to year, development was so hard. It came up gradually, like an airplane taking off, very slowly—it developed like that. We did fulfill Lama’s wishes, not only studying lamrim but Masters Program, Basic Program, all of that—so we really did fulfill Lama Yeshe’s wishes as an organization. And also by serving His Holiness the Dalai Lama, this is so good, and this is the quality of the organization.”

Participants during the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on April 19 at Kopan Monastery.

We offer thanks to all who contributed to the Long Life Puja Fund, those who offered prayers at the time of the puja, and those who rejoiced that this puja has happened—all of this collective good energy and intention contributes to creating the cause for Lama Zopa Rinpoche to be among us for a long time.

“To understand why a long life puja is essential, we must understand the value of the Guru. He is our guide in this life, the bardo, and future lives. He is immensely important. It is not a case where if we ask him to live he will, and vice-versa, but that to offer such a ceremony purifies our own broken samayas.”  —Geshe Lama Konchog

You can see more photos of this special White Tara Long Life Puja in the most recent photo gallery of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s activities:
fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/nepal-march-april-2021 

The Long Life Puja Fund always contributes to long life pujas offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. You can also learn about the many Charitable Projects of FPMT and discover the many ways the various funds and projects are benefiting others.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodhgaya, January 2020. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The creation of Holy Objects for World Peace is an important aspect of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast vision for the FPMT organization. Specifically, Rinpoche envisions the creation of many statues of Maitreya Buddha around the world. Currently, there are two separate FPMT projects to build very large Maitreya Buddha statues in India. One based is in Bodhgaya, Bihar, and one based in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh.

Ven. Roger Kunsang’s CEO letter for this year’s Annual Review was a concise overview of a challenging yet beneficial year for FPMT International Office and the whole FPMT organization. In this letter he shared an important update about the Maitreya Project land in Bodhgaya. We are pleased to share this update with you.

Another major highlight for 2020 is that Lama Zopa Rinpoche could finalize the offering of the Maitreya Project land in Bodhgaya to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This is an amazing offering and an incredible achievement for the organization that we can all rejoice in!

The donation of about thirty acres (twelve hectares) of valuable, prime land in Bodhgaya will help fulfill His Holiness’s wish to build an international institute in this most sacred place of Buddhism. His Holiness’s vision is that the institute will share the wisdom of the Nalanda tradition in order to create happiness and peace in the world. The project includes three aspects:

1. To create a learning center for studying philosophy of the mind; emotional health; as well as methodology, etymology dialects, and meditation as embodied by Nalanda masters.
2. To build a replica of the ancient Nalanda University to connect with Buddhists around the world and bring the world into the “ecosystem” of Bodhgaya.
3. To promote the four principal commitments of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, inspired by the Nalanda tradition.

The plan to build a large Maitreya statue at this site has been integrated into the overall vision for His Holiness’s institute. FPMT will continue to sponsor the statue.

Sikyong Lobsang Sangay, the president of the Tibetan government in exile, wrote to me recently, thanking FPMT for the offering of the Maitreya Project land:

“I would like to sincerely express my gratitude to FPMT for offering land to His Holiness the Dalai Lama through the Nalanda Institute of Dalai Lama at Bodhgaya. The institute, as envisioned by His Holiness, will be a secular international institution that will preserve and promote India’s ancient wisdom that flourished at Nalanda University.

“The land offered by FPMT to His Holiness will be specifically used by the institute to provide an opportunity for people from around the world to study His Holiness’s philosophy and vision. The land will host seven core structures, which are the Maitreya statue, a temple, a museum, an international Buddhist library, a meditation center, classrooms, and a state of the art convention hall.”

In January 2020, Rinpoche had an appointment with His Holiness seeking advice on other matters. During the meeting, His Holiness expressed gratitude for the offered land and also for the role Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche have played in establishing the Gelug tradition in the West. His Holiness also praised Rinpoche’s generosity and other qualities as well as the work of the FPMT organization.

What Rinpoche has offered to His Holiness is something that helps to actualize a strong wish of His Holiness. As Rinpoche has taught, fulfilling the wishes of the guru is the most enjoyable thing in life. When Rinpoche told Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) about the donation, she said that offering land to His Holiness for the institute is far more beneficial than building thousands of Maitreya statues. (Of course, we are still going to build Maitreya statues.)

So please rejoice in the merit created by the donation of Maitreya Project land to His Holiness. And also rejoice in the merit generated by all those who have helped with and donated to the Maitreya Project in Bodhgaya over the years. This generosity has created the conditions for Rinpoche’s amazing offering to His Holiness—all of this fulfilling the wishes of our gurus!

You can read Ven. Roger’s full CEO letter in this year’s Annual Review which includes many important and inspiring updates from 2020. 

You can read about the many beneficial grants offered through the various funds of FPMT Charitable Projects in this year’s Annual Review. 

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.  

Monks from Sera Je Monastic University and University of Pisa Professor Bruno Neri are part of a collaborative research effort on meditation, which is connected to the work of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa’s Mind Science Academy, Sera Je Monastery, India, 2019. Photo courtesy of Mind Science Academy.

When His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) in 2014 he advised the FPMT center located in Pomaia, Italy, to create an academy focused on Buddhist mind science. Established in 1977, ILTK already had many successful Buddhist education programs. What His Holiness had in mind, however, involved the creation of a center of study where Buddhist knowledge was integrated with secular academic programs, thereby making ancient Buddhist wisdom available more broadly.

This vision has led to ILTK’s Mind Science Academy project. Our FPMT Education and Preservation Fund has been very happy to be able to support this important work and has contributed US$140,900 to the project to date. Filippo Scianna, the former director of ILTK who is currently overseeing the project, recently updated FPMT International Office on its progress.

In his report, Filippo shared four key points that inform the project. First, there is a lot of interest in the intersection of Buddhist mind science and Western science. This has been demonstrated by high levels of attendance for programs on this topic. Also, students appreciate and value academic accreditation, which is central to the Mind Science Academy plan. In addition, dialogues with university scholars lead to continued debate, research, and mutual enrichment. Finally, project organizers observe that when they establish relationships with the academic world they create paths to Buddhist philosophical study for people who might not otherwise be interested.

As part of the Mind Science Academy project, ILTK is collaborating with several universities in Italy. Since early 2016, ILTK has been working with the University of Pisa to create a Master’s program in neuroscience, mindfulness, and contemplative practice. Several cohorts have completed the program. Unfortunately, for 2020, the program had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. But in 2021, they have arranged for courses to be online and have seen more registrations than anticipated. ILTK staff are involved as teachers for the program. Many of the approximately 200 students who have done the program have shown an interested in more serious Buddhist study.

Also in 2021, a new specialized course has been created on the application of meditation practices in organizational contexts. The course, also offered through the University of Pisa, has a high level of registration for it. The project plans to have a summer school through the University of Pisa as well, which will be organized by ILTK. The summer school is attracting a lot of interest, including from students across several continents, and hopefully the pandemic will not prevent it from happening.

A Sera Je monk wearing equipment to monitor brain activity with Prof. Bruno Neri, part of a Sera Je Monastic University, India, and University of Pisa, Italy, partnership, 2019. Photo courtesy of the Mind Science Academy.

The Mind Science Academy project has also established relationships with the University of Florence and the University of Bologna. With the University of Florence, they have plans to do a course in the spring of 2022 that will include a Buddhist philosophical exploration of emotional functioning with practical applications for psychologists and health workers. At the University of Bologna, a collaboration is being developed that will include as a focus the use of meditation as a therapeutic support in hospitals and universities.

At ILTK itself, a new course has started that relates closely to the work of the Mind Science Academy. The three-year course covers the study of logic and debate, and how these methods of discerning truth relate to pedagogy and knowledge. More than a hundred people have enrolled in it.

Also, ILTK is organizing a conference for June 2021 entitled “Reality Is Not as It Appears.” Geshe Namdak, the resident geshe at Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London, UK, will attend as will several university professors. New research on meditation conducted by the University of Pisa in collaboration with Sera Je Monastic University in India will also be presented at the conference.

Filippo writes that collaborating with the universities overall has been a good experience and has already given many people in the academic world access to Buddhist principles and teachings. He also sees potential for other FPMT centers to develop programs involving universities in their local areas and wants to share the information he’s learned as part of working on this project.  We’ll be exploring this in more detail in future Mandala stories.

For more information on the Mind Science Academy and Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, please visit their website (www.ILTK.org).

Learn more about the FPMT Education and Preservation Fund.

Read archive Mandala stories on the Mind Science Academy: “Building A Bridge: The Academy of Mind Science and Valid Cognition at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa” and “Ancient Indian Wisdom for the Modern World.”

Khadro-la and Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi offering a dharmachakra to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, during a long life puja for Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, December 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Please rejoice that we have the opportunity to offer the second official long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche. This puja will be offered on behalf of FPMT centers, projects, services, study groups, and students at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, on April 19.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khadro-la on the December 25 long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

This is the second of the long life pujas organized in accordance with the advice of Khadro-la, Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Dronme.

This second long life puja will be another White Tara Long Life Puja, which will be preceded by seven days of practices, led by Khadro-la. Khadro-la began these preparations on April 12 at Kopan Monastery with the senior monks and Lama Gyupas. These seven days of practices are done in order to make the long life puja as powerful as possible. Each day sessions of White Tara practice are offered and many recitations of White Tara and Tara mantras are recited to eliminate obstacles to Rinpoche’s long life.

They also are reciting a special mantra that combines the White Tara mantra with Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s name mantra:

Please enjoy this short video of highlights from the first long life puja offered in December 2020: 
https://youtu.be/-juSPvEPU3g

The purpose of the long life puja is for students to purify the mistakes that occur in relation to their teacher, and to create the causes and conditions to continue to receive benefit from that teacher for a very long time.

By maintaining harmony, following Rinpoche’s advice, and offering long life pujas, FPMT students are generating the merit needed for our precious guru will stay in the world with us for a long time. Rinpoche also regularly mentions that offering long life pujas is a cause for one’s own long life.

All are welcome to participate in this auspicious event by offering prayers from your heart on the day of the puja and also the seven days prior, or you are also welcome to offer any amount toward the puja.

The Long Life Puja Fund always contributes to long life pujas offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. You can also learn about the many Charitable Projects of FPMT and discover the many ways the various funds and projects are benefiting others.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Lawudo cave, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The Lawudo Retreat Centre, situated high in the Himalayan mountains of eastern Nepal, holds particular significance for FPMT. Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the reincarnation of the Lawudo Lama, Lama Kunzang Yeshe, who lived and practiced in Lawudo until his passing at age 81.

Lawudo is a greatly blessed place of holy beings and called the Magnificent Cave of Attainments. This refers to a stomach-shaped cave, known to the locals as Lawudo. The Lawudo Lama went to this place and dug out the earth to find the beautifully shaped cave with various auspicious signs. The Lawudo Lama declared that it was a self-created cave given to him by Padmasambhava himself and such a cave was mentioned in a very secret terma (text) of Padmasambhava.

The Lawudo Lama spent thirteen years on one seat inside the cave, without going anywhere, meditating day and night with great energy. He also gave transmissions, commentaries and long-life initiations to his disciples from Khumbu. The Lawudo Lama predicted the exact day of his passing and passed away in meditation inside the cave.

The Lawudo cave still has the relics stupa inside and the purkhang (cremation stupa of the Lawudo Lama) is a ten minute walk from the cave.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the Lawudo gompa, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In this life, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has done several retreats in the cave and often refers to his time there as a very special experience. His book, The Door To Satisfaction, was conceptualized while he was in Lawudo to oversee the building of the gompa. His plan was to build a monastery where Sherpa boys could get a traditional monastic education. However, this plan changed when it became clear that it was untenable to ferry large groups of young monks between Kopan and Lawudo. So now it is a precious hermitage for those who want to do retreat and stay in isolation.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with his sister, Ani Ngawang Samten, at Lawudo Retreat Centre, 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his brother Sangay and Sangay’s wife, Nyima. March 2021, Kathmanu, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Rinpoche’s older sister Ani Ngawang Samten, has overseen all of the development at Lawudo and has taken care of the students, teachers and retreaters who have visited Lawudo since the early days of FPMT. Back then, she carried stones and helped build the gompa at Lawudo. For four decades, she has cooked the food and made sure that visitors have what they need. Ven. Roger Kunsang, CEO of FPMT Inc. and Rinpoche’s assistant, has called her the “mother” of Lawudo. Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s brother, Sangay Sherpa, is the current director and has been working hard in maintaining and also developing Lawudo Retreat Centre.

Sangay reported in a recent update, “In my last visit to Lawudo I rebuilt the  previous Lawudo Lama Kunzang Yeshe’s, memorial stupa, which was totally damaged by the earthquake. Also, I have widened the space of the Lawudo cave. I built a concrete support wall behind the main monastery. All the ground work has been finished but the concrete work (stone work, iron, beam pillar work) are still remaining.” 

From the most recent Lawudo newsletter (with thanks to Frances Howland):

On October 16, 2020 the 86 year-old Tengboche Rinpoche passed away in Namche Bazaar. Many Sherpas from Kathmandu traveled to Khumbu for the 49 days of rituals and shortly afterward news of some people dying of respiratory illness in Khumbu appeared. Medics arrived by helicopter on October 23 to take swab samples of contact traced locals after a 65-year-old man, who was helicoptered to Kathmandu, tested positive and subsequently died. Following this, the Khumbu rural municipality decided to shut down the Everest region for outsiders.

However, since October the number of cases in Nepal has dramatically reduced. The first tranche of vaccines has just arrived, and health and other frontline workers have begun to be vaccinated.

During these past quiet months the cave has been re-decorated, a new entrance gate has been installed, and two big greenhouses are under construction, which will enable the Lawudo family to grow vegetables all year round. This will be especially useful as a food supplement in the winter.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with his brother, Sangay Sherpa, at Lawudo, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Recently through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered substantial support for the work that Sangay is undertaking for the buildings and renovations at Lawudo, as well as for the repairs for the stupa. 

Rinpoche still has incredible plans for Lawudo such as building a seven foot Kalachakra statue that will be housed in a small temple that people can circumambulate. Rinpoche also wants to build a Zandog Palri, which is a three-dimensional building based on the Pure Land of Guru Rinpoche. These projects are slowly being worked on and we will update as they progress.

Thank you to Sangay Sherpa and Ani. Ngawang Samten, who have tirelessly worked at Lawudo Retreat Centre. Thanks are also offered to all who support Lawudo Retreat Centre in many ways, past, present, and future.

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 and extensive offerings 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 blessings, and many other worthy projects. 

You can learn more about Lawudo Gompa and its history:
http://www.lawudo.com/ 

Screenshot of Lama Zopa Rinpoche speaking during the online Big Love Festival, 2020.

In 1983 Lama Yeshe began formulating the idea of Universal Education: “The world needs a new system of education because the old one is too dated for the intelligent people of today and produces a great deal of conflict and dissatisfaction in the present generation. We have to get rid of people’s old concepts and give them a new imagination; a new, broad way of looking at themselves and the world. That’s what I mean by ‘universal.’” 

The Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) was established under these principles as a global charity based in London in 2005. Since then FDCW has provided secular training, programs, and resources across many sectors of society—schools, universities, hospices, workplaces, healthcare, youth groups, and community centers. Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FDCW’s Honorary President, continues to support Lama Yeshe’s vision.

You can watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche discussing “What is Universal Education” during the 2020 Big Love Festival:
https://youtu.be/XaAN7Qq9mTs

Courses have reached thousands of people across the world through a growing network of facilitators in more than twenty countries.

The Education and Preservation Fund offered a grant to FDCW toward the operating costs for the year. We were delighted to support their work and invest in the legacy of Lama Yeshe’s wish for Universal Education, which is also one of the Five Pillars of Service within the FPMT organization: (Dharma, Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom, Social and/or community service, Interfaith activities, Revenue generation activities). 

Here are some highlights of what FDCW was able to accomplish with the help of this grant in 2020:

• All courses and programs were converted to online delivery as well as in-person delivery.
• Training was offered to facilitators on how to deliver effectively online.
• Twenty online courses and trainings were delivered plus a 16 Guidelines course that was offered online to twenty young women in Nepal.
• 16 Guidelines for Life book is available now as an e-book in Spanish and English from the FDCW website.
• Free online sessions called “Coming Together” provided community support during the pandemic.
• Seven online Forums for our Facilitators were delivered for peer to peer learning and continued professional development.
• Twenty-seven facilitators were trained to deliver the new Unlocking Your Potential course.
• The Big Love Festival was held online this year due to COVID-19 restrictions. All the recordings of talks now available for free via our website (https://www.compassionandwisdom.org/sharing-the-love).

Plans for 2021 include:

• Development commenced on a new series of courses to train people in Universal Education values and facilitation skills in areas including neuroscience, group facilitation skills, and course adaptation. The first course is Discovering the Wisdom of Neuroscience, which launched in February 2021 with fifty participants worldwide (see poster) for people with a general interest in neuroscience and those who want to develop their experience and knowledge in this area to better support others.
• Offering free resources and webinars on the FDCW website.
• Exploring new ways of delivering courses online and working on a new online learning platform to make our courses truly universally and globally accessible. 
• Building a global community based on Universal Education and universal ethical values and enabling local connections and groups to emerge. To achieve this, FDCW is working on an interactive map of FDCW facilitators and Universal Education ambassadors; developing a range of free resources to support local UE groups; and planning the next online summit for November 2021, building on the success of the Big Love Festival.

Big Love Festival 2020

Victoria Coleman, Executive Director of FDCW, shares the story of the Big Love Festival, November 2020:

When we at FDCW first began discussing the idea of a global online summit during summer 2020, I had serious doubts. It seemed such a huge stretch for our tiny team, but I felt inspired by Lama Yeshe, the founder of Universal Education. He always thought big! And so the idea for the Big Love Festival was born.

Lama Yeshe first spoke about Universal Education nearly forty years ago, and our vision for the festival was to celebrate what had been achieved since then. We wanted to include speakers who knew Lama Yeshe and also those who had been inspired to breathe Universal Education into life.

As soon as we reached out, we were encouraged by the initial response and support we received and soon the confirmed list of speakers began to grow. Our honorary president Lama Zopa Rinpoche agreed to offer the opening talk on “What is Universal Education?” and Tenzin Ösel Hita, Professor Jan Willis, and Ven. Robina Courtin kindly accepted our invitation to speak.

Just a few weeks before the start of the festival, we received a message of support from our patron, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who said, “I offer my good wishes to you all on the occasion of the Big Love Festival celebrating forty years of effort in the area of Universal Education by the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom.” We felt elated to be able to share his encouraging words. It felt like a rocket boost of positive energy.

When the festival arrived, I was immediately blown away by the number of people who joined the sessions both live on Zoom and via our Facebook livestream. The most popular sessions reached over a thousand live viewers worldwide! The broad range of topics presented by the speakers truly captured Lama Yeshe’s big and bold vision for Universal Education.

I felt very moved by the heart, quality, and courage that all speakers brought to their talks. I found it so inspiring. As one participant said, “The warmth and energy of the sessions was palpable.” Although each presenter approached Universal Education from their own perspective and experience, common threads shone through—sincerity, the desire to share, vulnerability, and mental clarity. It truly felt like Big Love.

Looking back, the Big Love Festival radiated positive energy that seemed to build in resonance as the week unfolded. We would like to thank all the speakers and the facilitators who moderated the sessions. Without their support the Big Love Festival would not have been possible. A very special note of thanks goes to all the translators who approached us when they heard about the festival and made it possible to offer translations into French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Chinese for many of the talks. 

We are committed to making this an annual event and have already started planning the 2021.

For a full list of Big Love Festival speakers as well as recordings of all thirteen talks, visit:
www.compassionandwisdom.org/sharing-the-love

The Education and Preservation Fund supports Dharma study and contributes to the development of Buddhist education programs and the preservation of the Dharma through the publication of Dharma practice materials and translations. 

Community prayers and recitation of Amitabha mantra at Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement, under tents without a community hall.

Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement, Kollegal, is in one of the most remote and underdeveloped Tibetan settlements in Southern India.

There are 46 Tibetan settlements in India, Nepal, and Bhutan, home to most of the 100,451 Tibetan refugees. These Tibetan settlements originate from the wish of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to set up settlements where Tibetan refugees could live as an exclusive community in order to preserve the unique Tibetan culture including language and the religious practices.

Dhondenling Tibetan settlement is located in the majestic Biligiri Rangam hills in Karnataka; it was established in 1974 with over 3,500 people.

The current population of the settlement is now 4,500. The settlement is scattered in 22 village clusters. There are eight small monasteries, a school, and a small care-home for elders (FPMT Charitable Projects has been supporting the elderly home for the past three years by providing 70% of the annual budget.) The elderly home has a capacity for thirty-two residents. There is also a hospital and a traditional Tibetan medicine clinic. These establishments cater to the religious, educational, and health-care of the residents of the settlement. The residents have formed a cooperative society to cater to the agrarian needs of the members. The principal livelihood occupation is agriculture raising mainly corn, with millet, potato, and garlic as optional crops.

Most Tibetan settlements in India, Nepal, and Bhutan have a multi-purpose community hall, as a central gathering place for all within the settlement to hold special religious and cultural functions. However, Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement, being one of the poorest settlements, did not have a community hall and any gatherings held for the 4,500 residents would happen outside under tents or tarps.

Community prayers continue at Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement despite the lack of proper accommodation for participants.

The community gatherings that happen throughout the year consist of:

• Public prayers for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and other religious heads, and world peace
• Annual OM MANI PADME HUM recitation retreat and 100,000 Praises to Tara that require public attendance for over 45 days
• Celebration of religious and social festivals
• Dharma teaching discourses for the residents in general and the younger generation in particular 
• Cultural programs and events by students to encourage children to participate in extracurricular activities
• Parent-Teacher interactive sessions to exchange ideas and development of partnership perspective concerning child upbringing and education

These gatherings and activities are vital for preserving the Tibetan cultural heritage and lineages and for providing community support for those living in the settlement.

Seeing the incredible need for this multi-purpose community hall in Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement, and recognizing how important it is to preserve the unique Tibetan cultural heritage, in 2020 we applied for and received a grant for the purpose of building this community hall.

Site of the new community hall for Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement.

We were very happy to be a part of offering this support and US$158,741 was given to Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement for the building. In April 2020 they started the building process, buying necessary supplies for the foundations but quite soon due to COVID-19 restrictions which were strictly enforced by the government in South India, including in Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement, all building work was stopped in May. The lockdown was lifted after a few months, but there were still building restrictions and also restrictions in regards to outside people entering the Tibetan Settlement.

There was particular concern due to the fact that many people in the Tibetan Settlement live in very poor conditions and in close proximity. It was decided not to continue the building work of the community hall until the end of year (December 2020) due to precautions and to ensure not having too many outside laborers entering the Tibetan Settlement. All the building supplies that had been bought were carefully secured and protected during this time.

Work begins on this important community hall for 4,500 Tibetans.

From December 2020 to February 2021, the building work again commenced on the community hall. The work is going slower than expected, but is progressing.

We are extremely grateful to all who support the Social Services Fund, so that we can offer support such as this to Dhondeling Tibetan Settlement multi-purpose community hall for religious and cultural preservation and for the benefit of the 4,500 residents. Thank you.

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure beneficial grants like this can continue. 

Some of the young monks of Samtenling School.

Samtenling School is part of Samtenling Monastery and provides the young monks of the monastery a modern, progressive, secular education in Boudhanath, Nepal. Out of 140 monks, 120 are age 6-26. The school provides education from kindergarten through eighth grade. Most of the monks are from Nepal and are primarily Sherpa and Tamang, but Tibetan monks also attend the monastery and school.

The school has been operating without classrooms or even a debate courtyard since it started. Education and activities have been held under tin sheets without windows, walls, and doors. Due to the climate, classes regularly have to be cancelled. During Summer, it is extremely hot under the tin roof and in Winter, it is extremely cold, with only one wall providing protection from the elements.

Samtenling monks performing ground blessing during the building process for success.

Seeing the incredible need for this small school to be able to provide basic needs for education for these young students, in 2020 FPMT’s Social Services applied for a grant from Unione Buddhista Italiana (U.B.I.), to build the school. In October we shared an update on the project, rejoicing that they had received permissions to start the building.

Work begins on the new classrooms.

In November 2020, many of the COVID19 restrictions were officially lifted in Kathmandu Valley and Samtenling School also received the final permissions from the building department to begin the school construction. As soon as the building was able to begin we issued grants in the amount of US$66,432. We will continue to administer the grants based on updates of the building work and work progress. The construction of the school is now well underway and the foundations have been poured.

Foundations are poured and construction begins on the new Samtenling classrooms.

Please rejoice that we are part of providing the students of this monastery with a much needed school building so that they can study and practice to the best of their ability. We look forward to sharing continued progress as this project reaches completion. 

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to schools can continue. 

Building the 35-foot stupa at Rabagayling Tibetan Settlement, Hunsur, India.

Since 2015, FPMT Charitable Projects has been supporting Rabgayling Old Aged Home in Hunsur, India, which is part of the Rabagayling Tibetan Settlement and serves 20 elderly residents. Over several years, funds have been offered for daily food for the residents, for the annual operating costs of the elderly home, the building of accommodation for the residents, medical needs, and a community hall. Most recently, a 42-foot stupa has been sponsored near the elderly home on the settlement.

Writing mantras on the life tree of the stupa in pure gold.

This stupa is being built for the all the people in the Tibetan settlement, but in particular for the elders, as it is close to the elderly home and they can circumambulate it without much difficulty. This is an easy way for the elders to collect merit and purify negative karma by going around the hold object.

“Circumambulating holy objects [such as stupas] purifies negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths that are obstacles to happiness—temporary and ultimate happiness—and especially to actualizing all the realizations on the path to enlightenment. And it creates the cause to achieve the path to enlightenment—to actualize the teachings that you have heard and read in your heart.”
                                                                                                                                                                                        — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

This stupa is dedicated to an FPMT nun who passed away. This nun left her assets to FPMT and Lama Zopa Rinpoche wanted to use her offerings in the most beneficial way for her and therefore suggested to build this 42-foot stupa. For as long as the stupa is there, it will continually benefit her, even in her future lives, and all of the elders can use the stupa and it will benefit them. All the funds for the stupa have come from her offerings. Please rejoice!

Auspicious items being blessed for filling the stupa.

“Building stupas helps develop so much peace and happiness for numberless sentient beings. As a result, wars, disease, and desire will all be pacified. Instead of feeling hopeless, people will gain courage. This is about peace – for the beings who see it, for the whole country, for the entire world, for all sentient beings.”   — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

We are very grateful to Geshe Ngawang Sangye, Ngagramba Lhundrup Tsundu, and the monks of Gyudmed Monastery, who have been arranging all of the mantras for filling this very large stupa.

Wealth vases for the stupa.

An original grant of US$99,591 was offered for this project, but recently the project ran over budget due to price increases of materials and supplies, so another grant of US$7,155 has also been offered to bring this project to completion. Due to the COVID-19 lockdown the stupa building had a delayed start. The projected date of completion is now October 2021.

Please rejoice in the progress of this stupa, the huge blessing to the entire area and all those who circumambulate it, as well as the merit generated by anyone who visits or supports this holy object which is part of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization. 

“My wish is for FPMT to build many holy objects everywhere, as many as possible. Making it so easy for sentient beings to purify their heavy negative karma and making it so easy for sentient beings to create extensive merit. Which makes it so easy to achieve the realizations of the path and so easy to achieve liberation and enlightenment.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

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.  

2020 participants in the Gelug Examination.

Every year the best scholars from the main Gelug monasteries come together for the annual Gelug Examination. Since 1997 the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund has offered annual grants for daily food, travel expenses, and teacher stipends for all the main teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition.

This year was unlike others due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was held under the guidelines of both medical experts and regional government. This year 517 monks participated and the actual examinations were scattered in three different locations. The monthly stipends were offered to the 141 current abbots, past abbots, and main teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition. This small offering of money supports these teachers’ basic needs and 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.

In 2020 we were very happy to offer US$19,766 toward the teachers’ monthly offerings and costs toward the Gelug examination expenses.

“Taking responsibility for supporting these practitioners is extremely worthwhile because they are preserving and spreading the entire teaching of the Buddha.” –Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Monks during the 2020 Gelug Examination.

Rinpoche recently commented about the benefits of debate (which is one of the main components of the Gekug examination): “Debate is a very special way to develop wisdom and explore different subjects. It is like an inner science of the two truths: absolute truth and conventional truth.”

The geshes and monks participating in these exams are some of the top scholars coming from the monasteries at this time and will become many of the future teachers, benefiting so many. We are honored to be a part of this process and make these offerings. Thank you to all who make it possible.

Since its inception, the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, an extension of the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund, has supported senior teachers each year of the main Gelug monasteries, plus hundreds of monks attending the traditional winter debate and annual Gelug exam. 

Some of the monks in front of Maratika Monastery.

Maratika Monastery, Eastern Nepal, is located above Maratika Cave which is the sacred cave associated with Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) and longevity. This holy site is where Guru Rinpoche, with the wisdom-mother Mandarava, achieved immortal life through the practice of Amitayus. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has a close connection with the Maratika Lama, Khenpo Karma Wangchuk, who takes care of the area. The Maratika Lama is the son of Lama Ngawang Chophel, who was a close disciple of the Lawudo Lama Kunsang Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s previous incarnation, and the child of the Maratika Lama is the recognized tulku of Trulshik Rinpoche. The previous Trulshik Rinpoche passed away in 2011, and was revered as one of the most learned and respected living masters of the Nyingma tradition and is one of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachers and one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus. 

The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund was very happy to offer US$166,394.66 thanks to a kind grant from Unione Buddhista Italiana, towards the expansion of the monks’ accommodation including three additional floors and a roof, which will not only allow adequate housing for the fifty-four current monks of the monastery, but also will enable fifty-four new monks to join the monastery as well.

“Offering to Sangha is the most powerful purification. It purifies defilements and negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths. It is the most powerful purification. This is the quickest way to achieve realizations, the quickest way to be free from the oceans of samsaric sufferings, and the quickest way to achieve buddhahood, the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Monks of Maratika Monastery studying.

The current main building, which houses accommodation and classrooms for the monks, was less than half completed when the funds ran out four years ago, and now, since the COVID-19 lockdown, the financial situation has become worse.

The monks are living in very basic conditions, packed into small dorm rooms and even sleeping on the floor. Around the premises, one can observe evidence of unfinished electrical and construction work. Food is very simple too, the monks mainly eat rice and dhal for lunch and plain noodles for dinner. The young monks happily volunteer to cook for themselves.

Young monks studying at Maratika Monastery.

Despite the hardships, the monks are joyful, harmonious, and content. From a young age, in addition to learning Tibetan, Nepali, and the monastic rituals, the monks study Buddhist  philosophy and memorize texts.

“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

Please rejoice in the construction of this new addition which will benefit the current monks of Maratika Monastery, new monks that will now be able to join the monastery due to increased accommodation, and everyone in the area who will benefit from the presence of sincere Sangha studying and practicing Buddha’s teachings. 

Please learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries around the world. 

The monks of Sera Je Monastery, India. Photo taken prior to COVID-19 pandemic.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted so many people around the world including ordained Sangha living in monastic communities (monasteries and nunneries) who have been faced with many new challenging realities due to the pandemic.  

One way that monks and nuns are able to supplement their food, medical needs, or provide for other basic care items for themselves, under normal circumstances, is through offerings received during pujas. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, large groups of monastics are currently not able to gather for pujas in many monasteries and nunneries. One very kind benefactor and student of Lama Zopa Rinpoche was deeply concerned that due to reduced pujas, the monks and nuns may have been negatively impacted from the loss of these offerings and was moved to make a vast offering to over 20,000 Sangha, as well as to the abbots and abbesses, in twenty-four Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug monasteries and nunneries in India and Nepal. The offering was made on Lhabab Duchen (November 7, 2020), a merit multiplying day, when karmic results of actions are multiplied 100 million times.

The nuns of Kopan Nunnery, Nepal. Photo taken prior to COVID-19 pandemic.

Please take a moment to rejoice in this offering and also in the kindness of the benefactor. FPMT was so honored to be able to facilitate and arrange these offerings (as the logistics of sending twenty-four international wire transfers can be complicated). Lama Zopa Rinpoche also composed a one page dedication to be read out in each monastery and nunnery when the offerings were made.

In addition to the abbotts and abbesses of each monastery and nunnery, offerings were made to the 3,500 monks of Sera Je Monastery; 1,600 monks of Sera Mey Monastery; 1,350 monks of Ganden Shartse Monastery; 1,800 monks of Ganden Jangtse Monastery; 520 monks of Gyumed Tantric College; 2,500 monks and nuns of Namdroling Monastery and Tshogyal Shedrup Ling Nunnery; 140 monks of Rato Monastery; 370 monks of Kopan Monastery; 400 nuns of Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery; 80 nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery; 1,830 monks of Drepung Gomang Monastery; 250 monks of Namgyal Tantric College; 413 monks of Tashi Lhunbo Monastery; 270 nuns of Jangchub Choeling Nunnery; 650 monks of Tawang Monastery; 40 monks of the Nyingma Monastery in Mundgod; 40 monks of Shang Gaden Choekhor Ling Monastery; 45 monks of Gaden Tharpacholing Monastery Kalimpong; 410 monks of Tergar Monastery; 265 nuns from Tsoknyi Nunnery; 143 monks and nuns from Singdak Rinpoche Retreat Center; 87 monks from Zigar Drukpa Kargyud Monastery in Tsopema; 75 monks and Nuns from  Zigar Drukpa Kargyud in Darjeeling; 60 monks and nuns from Mu Monastery, Rachen Nunnery in Tusm, and Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery in Chailsa; 500 monks of Gyuto Monastery; and 2,500 monks of Drepung Loselling Monastery. 

Some of the monks of Thame Monastery, Nepal. Photo taken prior to COVID-19 pandemic.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently explained that the “value of Sangha is more than the whole sky filled with wish-granting jewels.” This is because living in morality is the most important way to achieve liberation from samsara and enlightenment, and benefit sentient beings by freeing them from the lower realms and bringing them to enlightenment. Supporting Sangha is investing in the benefit of all sentient beings.

Some of the young nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal. Photo taken prior to COVID-19.

“Any practice that the Sangha do in the monastery [or nunnery], they do for all the six-realm sentient beings, to benefit them,” Rinpoche has explained. “Every sadhana or practice starts with the motivation for ‘mother sentient beings,”’ which means all the six-realm sentient beings. Every dollar offered, even just one dollar, even the smallest amount of money offered, has all these benefits. And the benefits go to all sentient beings: every mosquito, every fish, every pitiful chicken that is taken by a truck to be killed, every sentient being in numberless universes receives these benefits.”

It is due to the kindness of so many that we can make these incredible offerings to Sangha. Thank you for everyone who makes it possible.

Please learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries around the world.