Participants in the 2025 Nyung Nä retreat at IVY during a prostration session. Photo courtesy of Institut Vajra Yogini.

Across the FPMT mandala, students are creating the causes and conditions for Dharma practice to flourish — from long-term intensive solitary and group retreats to the construction and preservation of retreat centers where students can dedicate themselves to the path.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave extensive advice on the practices, retreats, and initiatives that support students’ progress toward realizations. The FPMT Practice and Retreat Fund helps put this advice into action by supporting the opportunities that make such practice possible: maintaining retreat facilities, providing financial assistance to practitioners, and sustaining important lineage traditions. In 2026, the Practice and Retreat Fund offered US$44,138.41 through seven grants supporting retreat centers and practice-related projects across the FPMT mandala. In this roundup, we share some of the practices and projects supported by the Fund — from fifteen years of 108 Nyung Nä retreats at Institut Vajra Yogini and the continuation of the Most Secret Hayagriva retreat commitment at Nalanda Monastery, to new retreat capacity at Land of Joy in the UK and the ongoing development of retreat facilities in Europe and the US. We also rejoice in the many powerful practices taking place throughout the wider FPMT mandala, including the 100 Million Mani Retreats in Mongolia and Nepal, the 2026 Global Mani Retreat, and the Guru Rinpoche Bum Tsog in Australia.

“Among the virtues, rejoicing is the best, because it is the easiest one to practice. It simply involves our mind thinking, and the merit we accumulate is infinite.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Institute Vajra Yogini | Nalanda Monastery | Milarepa Center | Land of Joy | Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land | Center of White Mahakala Study Group | FPMT Mongolia | Langri Tangpa Centre |  Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery

Rejoicing in 15 Years of 108 Nyung Nä Retreats in France

One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT was to support practitioners who make the extraordinary commitment to complete 1,000 Nyung Nä retreats in their lifetime. Nyung Nä is a two-day intensive practice associated with Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. It involves taking the 24-hour Mahayana precepts, with complete fasting and silence on the second day, together with meditation, prostrations, and mantra recitation. Lama Zopa Rinpoche highly praised Nyung Nä as a powerful method for transforming the mind. 

Since 2011, Institute Vajra Yogini (IVY) in France has played an important role in helping bring Rinpoche’s vision to life by organizing an annual series of 108 Nyung Nä retreats. From November 2025 through June 2026, IVY completed its fifteenth consecutive series – a remarkable milestone and a cause for great rejoicing. Over these fifteen years, the retreats have provided a sustained opportunity for practitioners to engage in this powerful practice, supported by experienced teachers, resident Sangha, volunteers, and the wider FPMT community. The retreats have been guided for many years by Ven. Charles, who has personally completed thousands of Nyung Nä practices and has inspired generations of students through his compassionate guidance. Lama Zopa Rinpoche himself affectionately referred to him as “Bodhisattva Charles.” After leading the retreats at IVY for fifteen years, Ven. Charles has now begun a year of solitary retreat, and we rejoice in his dedication and wish him every success in his practice.

During the 2025\26 series, 128 people completed at least one full two-day retreat, while others—including local participants and volunteers—joined individual sessions. Although no one completed all 108 retreats this year, IVY continued to make the practice accessible beyond those able to participate full-time. Morning sessions were offered online every day, along with a complete two-day retreat online each month, allowing students around the world to join from home.

The Practice and Retreat Fund offered US$10,638.41 toward the 2025\26 series, continuing the support that Lama Zopa Rinpoche himself provided for many years by sponsoring food and accommodation for practitioners undertaking the retreats. IVY also provided financial assistance to some part-time participants. IVY is now preparing for its sixteenth consecutive series of 108 Nyung Nä retreats, running from November 16, 2026, through June 20, 2027. The new series will be guided by experienced monastic and lay practitioners, including Ven. Amy, Ven. Losang (Rita), and Brigitte Lucas, with the retreats offered in French and English and accessible to participants in other languages. We rejoice in IVY’s extraordinary fifteen-year commitment to this practice, in all the teachers and practitioners who have sustained the retreats, and in the volunteers and sponsors who have helped make them possible. 

Rejoicing in the Most Secret Hayagriva Retreat in France

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khandro Tsering Kunga Bum-ma (Khadro la) and Kopan senior monks offering all day Most Secret Hayagriva Tsog Kong (extensive tsog offering) in Lama Gyupa Gompa at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, January 2021.

Hayagriva is the wrathful manifestation of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. The practice of Most Secret Hayagriva is considered extremely powerful for bringing help and support and for swiftly pacifying obstacles. Both Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche had a special connection with Most Secret Hayagriva. As Ven. Roger Kunsang explained, the retreat was a practice and commitment that Lama Yeshe gave to Lama Zopa Rinpoche to undertake every year for the protection and success of the entire FPMT organization. Today, this commitment has been taken up by FPMT as a whole. The practice belongs to an unbroken lineage extending back to the time of the Buddha and was practiced by realized beings including Nagarjuna, Padmasambhava, the Great 5th Dalai Lama, Lama Yeshe, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In 2026, we especially rejoice that two FPMT centers are carrying forward this important practice tradition. Nalanda Monastery in France hosted its annual Most Secret Hayagriva Retreat for the second time, from August 12—29, 2026. Ven. Tritul Jampa Kalden Rinpoche (Gomde Rinpoche) from Sera Je, one of the few specialists in this rare and powerful practice, was invited to lead the retreat, with Ven. Geshe Tsultrim from Kopan Monastery serving as chant leader. Twenty-one retreatants participated with great devotion and dedication. As Ven. Thubten Sherab shared, the retreat offered an important chance for practitioners to engage deeply in this practice for the benefit of FPMT and its activities.

The Practice and Retreat Fund contributed US$5,000 toward the 2026 Most Secret Hayagriva Retreat at Nalanda Monastery. The tradition will continue in 2027 at Chokyi Gyaltsen Center in Penang, Malaysia, where His Eminence Kyabje Jhado Rinpoche will preside over the Most Secret Hayagriva Retreat from March 31—April 14. Registration is now open. We rejoice in Nalanda Monastery and Chokyi Gyaltsen Center for continuing this precious tradition, in the teachers and retreatants who dedicate themselves to the practice, and in all those whose support makes these opportunities possible.

Milarepa Center, USA: Maintaining a Home for Dharma Practice

Milarepa Centre through the seasons

Milarepa Center is a Buddhist retreat center situated on 276 acres (112 hectares) of wooded mountainside and rolling fields overlooking the Connecticut River Valley in Barnet, Vermont (US). Founded in 1981 by students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the Center is named after the great eleventh-century Tibetan yogi Milarepa, famed for attaining enlightenment in a single lifetime. From its early years – marked by austere conditions but great devotion – Milarepa Center has been blessed by a continuous stream of Tibetan and Western Lamas, beginning with Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s first teaching at the Center in 1981. Over 1,000 people have completed retreats and received teachings here, making it a place deeply imbued with natural beauty and realized presence.

Milarepa Center has received two grants for 2026, both awarded through the Practice and Retreats Fund. The first grant of US$5,000 supports essential 2026 maintenance projects, helping preserve the physical infrastructure that holds retreat and study. The planned maintenance work includes repairing the roofs on the retreat cabins, re‑insulating the main building, replacing rotting siding and roof flashing that has been damaged, and carrying out exterior painting of the buildings. Rising material and labor costs make this support especially meaningful, ensuring a safe and stable environment for future practitioners. The second grant adds US$2,000 to the Milarepa’s Retreat Scholarship Fund, which assists ordained sangha and lay practitioners for whom retreat costs would otherwise be a barrier. Scholarships are awarded based on genuine need through an application process, with recipients contributing what they can so funds may benefit as many practitioners as possible. This past year, scholarship support enabled an ordained sangha member to complete a full three‑month retreat at Milarepa Center. To support Milarepa Center and its ongoing activities, you are welcome to visit its donations page for more details.

Land of Joy, UK: Expanding Opportunities for Solitary Retreat

Land of Joy’s retreat huts

Land of Joy is grateful to share that the Practice and Retreat Fund has offered a matching grant of US$16,500 toward the project Building Retreat Huts Together, supporting the construction of two new solitary retreat huts and significantly strengthening long‑term retreat capacity in the UK. Planning consent has been granted by Northumberland County Council, contractors are secured, and utilities and groundwork were scheduled to begin in June 2026. Each hut will be a simple, warm, self‑contained space designed specifically for retreat use, following Land of Joy’s proven and well‑loved model. This expansion responds to growing demand for solitary retreat, increases availability during high‑demand periods, provides additional capacity for sangha, improves scheduling flexibility across existing huts, and aligns closely with FPMT’s long‑term retreat vision for the UK and Europe.

Founded in 2010 under the spiritual guidance of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, with the first retreat held in May 2015, Land of Joy is located in the quiet and spacious setting of Northumberland National Park, offering ideal environment for deep practice. The Land of Joy is a volunteer‑run residential retreat center offering a full program of retreats throughout the year, from introductory courses to longer tantric retreats. The center currently has three solitary retreat huts that are in constant use and often booked many months in advance, highlighting both their life‑changing impact and the urgent need for more such spaces. The two new huts, nestled slightly more seclusively in a birch glade at the edge of the woodland, will quietly support practitioners over many years, creating authentic opportunities for sustained retreat practice and helping ensure that when the wish and conditions for retreat arise, the space can be there to meet it. To support Land of Joy’s fundraising campaign, you are welcome to visit the Building Retreat Huts Together page for more details.

Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land, France:  Preserving a Rare Hermitage for Future Generations

Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land

We are pleased to share that the Practice and Retreat Fund has offered a grant of US$2,500 in support of the documentary film project An Hermitage in the Southern Alps, created for Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land in France. The film will form the foundation of a future fundraising campaign aimed at ensuring the long‑term continuity of this rare European hermitage dedicated exclusively to solitary retreat. It will present the land, history, and functioning of the centre, share testimonies from practitioners who have completed long retreats there, and outline future developments envisioned for the site. The documentary will be shared through the centre’s website and, as widely as possible, within FPMT networks. Thakpa Kachoe was born from a deep connection with the lineage of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, whom Sylvaine Litaud and Daniel Mestre first met in 1977 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Lama Zopa Rinpoche later advised them to create a retreat centre dedicated to solitary practitioners—a need that remains acute in Europe. Rinpoche personally approved the land and named it Thakpa Kachoe, the name of Vajrayogini’s pure land. Since 2010, Sylvaine and Daniel have lived on the land year‑round, gradually building the hermitage through the generosity of donors while personally supporting retreatants by managing logistics, maintenance, and even cultivating a permaculture garden. More than ten practitioners have already completed retreats at Thakpa Kachoe, including two three‑year retreats. Located on the edge of the Mercantour National Park, overlooking the Gorges de Daluis, Thakpa Kachoe offers spaces of silence, isolation, and natural beauty—an authentic hermitage environment where body and mind can deeply settle. The documentary project responds directly to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s instruction to “prepare for the future”.  Thakpa Kachoe relies entirely on donor support to sustain its mission of offering rare conditions for solitary Dharma retreat, with its current priority focused on creating suitable accommodation for the volunteers who make this work possible. To support Thakpa Kachoe’s activities, you are welcome to visit its donations page for more details.

Center of White Mahakala Study Group, Romania:  Building the Foundations for Retreat

The current state of the Gompa and staircase at the Centre of White Mahakala

We are grateful to share that the Center of White Mahakala in Romania has received a grant of US$2,500 from the Practice and Retreat Fund for 2026 in support of Building the Interior Staircase of the Retreat Cabin at their retreat center in Tranisu. This year’s grant will be used to build a permanent interior staircase connecting the ground floor to the attic floor of the retreat cabin. The Center of White Mahakala is currently in the final phase of constructing its Retreat Cabin. The exterior of the main building and the entire ground floor were completed last year, and during 2026 the focus is on completing the remaining interior infrastructure. This project is part of a long-term vision inspired by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to create holy objects and retreat facilities in places where such circumstances are rare. The overall project includes both a stupa, which was completed last year, and a retreat center located on the outskirts of the Apuseni Mountains in the peaceful village of Tranisu, approximately 50 miles (80 km) from Cluj-Napoca, where the center’s city activities are based. This year’s grant supports a vital step toward making the retreat center fully operational and able to serve practitioners seeking opportunities for Buddhist practice, retreat, and spiritual development. To support the Center of White Mahakala’s retreat cabin project, you are welcome to visit the Building the Interior Staircase of the Retreat Cabin page for more details.

Rejoicing in Powerful Collective Retreats Around the World

An auspicious double rainbow during the 100 Million Mani Retreat in Mongolia, August 2026.

As we’ve seen throughout this roundup, this year has given us many reasons to rejoice in the many practitioners and communities throughout the wider FPMT mandala who continue to dedicate their lives to study, retreat, purification, accumulation, and the development of compassion and bodhicitta.

Additionally, we rejoice in the successful completion of the 100 Million Mani Retreat in Mongolia, which brought together practitioners in the collective practice of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, and recitation of the Mani mantra. The retreat has deep roots in Mongolia, where Mani retreats were practiced for centuries before being interrupted during the Soviet-backed suppression of Buddhism. The tradition was revived in its present form in 2013, when FPMT Mongolia held its first 100 Million Mani Retreat following Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice.

This year, FPMT Mongolia completed its fourteenth consecutive annual Mani Retreat, held from August 20 to September 17, with an average of 150-250 practitioners participating each day. The retreat fulfills a particularly strong wish of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who expressed his aspiration that it be held every year and continue for generations.

The extensive Chenrezig practice and collective recitation were dedicated to purifying negative karma, accumulating merit, and developing wisdom and compassion. We rejoice in everyone who participated and in the FPMT Mongolia team and volunteers who continue to make this virtuous annual tradition possible.

Mani mantra counting online form for participants of the Global Mani Retreat.

We also rejoice that the 2026 FPMT Global Mani Retreat is bringing practitioners together online, extending the opportunity to participate in this practice across countries and continents. Everyone can still participate through November 1, Lhabab Duchen, which commemorates Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s return to Earth from the God Realm of the Thirty-Three, where he had taught Dharma for several months to the gods, including his mother, Mayadevi, who had died a week after Buddha’s birth and been reborn there. Lhabab Duchen is also one of the four major Buddhist holy days, when the karmic results of actions are said to be multiplied by 100 million, as taught in the Vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic. Check their schedule for the next live session and visit their Facebook page for the latest updates.

Sangha at the Guru Rinpoche Bum Tsog held at Langri Tangpa Centre in Brisbane.

In Australia, we rejoice in the recent Guru Rinpoche Bum Tsog held at Langri Tangpa Centre in Brisbane. The center was honoured to be chosen by FPMT in Australia to host this year’s national event, with Geshe Tenzin Zopa leading the puja. 

On September 5-6, 2026, practitioners from FPMT centers around Australia gathered to engage in the practice. The core of the two-day event was the recitation of 100,000 tsog offering prayers and mantras to Guru Rinpoche, accompanied by many musical instruments. Extensive offerings of lights, flowers, incense, food, drinks, and other tsog items were also made, together with hundreds of tsa-tsas prepared and blessed for the occasion.

The Guru Rinpoche Bum Tsog is an FPMT in Australia national event organized every two years and offered for Australian centers in a spirit of generosity. Accommodation and travel for all Sangha attending were sponsored, while morning and afternoon teas and lunches were freely offered to all participants. With 100,000 flowers, food, incense, drinks, and other offerings, the event created an overflowing abundance of joyful goodness, kindness, and blessings.

Young nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery (Bigu nuns).

We also rejoice in the wonderful 100 Million Mani Retreat tradition of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, where the nuns have completed the equivalent of 27.5 100 Million Mani Retreats over the years, accumulating an incredible 2.75 billion recitations of the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM for the benefit of all beings.

Located in the heart of Bigu, a rural municipality in northeastern Nepal, the nunnery has maintained this precious tradition for many years. Since 2010, FPMT, through the Supporting the Ordained Sangha Fund, has supported the Bigu nuns by sponsoring food, gas, firewood, transportation, medical expenses, and offerings to the Sangha upon completion of the retreats.

May the nuns’ incredible dedication and virtuous actions inspire us all on our own paths toward compassion and enlightenment.

The Most Important Thing in the World

If you feel uplifted by any of the initiatives described here, please check the global retreat schedule at FPMT centers worldwide and download Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Heart Advice for Retreat.

Describing the significance of one of his Vast Visions for the FPMT organization, supporting practice and realizations, Lama Zopa Rinpoche said,  “Anybody who dedicates their life to achieving lamrim realizations with the goal to liberate numberless beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and to bring to enlightenment, this is what I regard as the most important thing in the world.”

We rejoice in every practitioner who engages in these practices, every teacher and Sangha member who guides and supports them, every center and volunteer who creates the conditions for retreat, and every donor whose generosity helps make these opportunities possible.

 All are welcome to contribute to the Practice and Retreat Fund, which provides grants and sponsorships to students engaged in retreats such as 108 Nyung Nä retreats, 100 Million Mani Retreats, and other long-term retreats, and helps develop and support retreat centers.