Education: The Heart of FPMT

In response to the recent feedback we have received, we are delighted to offer you an immediate update to the recently released FPMT Essential Prayer Book.

This latest version now includes the special practice compiled by Lama Zopa Rinpoche titled The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (including Enlightenment). Rinpoche has emphasized on many occasions that this is a practice that he would like all of his students to do on a daily basis.

In this practice, Rinpoche presents us with the means to attain the ultimate happiness that is enlightenment. It includes a skillfully selected lamrim prayer that sets out the entire path from guru devotion to enlightenment and verses on bodhicitta that spur us to live, as Rinpoche urges, with the greatest meaning, with bodhicitta motivation for all sentient beings.

This update of the FPMT Essential Prayer Book also adds to its lamrim section A Hymn of Experience by Je Tsongkhapa.

If you have purchased the FPMT Essential Prayer Book from the Foundation Store, you will soon receive this updated version as a PDF via email.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche holding up the German translation of The Method, Aryatara Institut, Germany, 2018. Photo by Harald Weichhart.

Limited copies of the standalone hardcopy booklet of The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (including Enlightenment) are still available at the FPMT Foundation Store.

For more on FPMT Essential Prayer Book and to download the PDF:
https://shop.fpmt.org/-FPMT-Essential-Prayer-Book-PDF-_p_1365.html

For FPMT groups and other organizations wishing to download this e-publication for distribution, please refer to FPMT Education Services Licensing Page. 

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering a mandala to a photograph of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on His Holiness’s birthday, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, July 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Chokhor Duchen, one of the four annual holy days of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, takes place this year on July 14. On these holy days, the power of any meritorious action is multiplied by 100 million, as taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Known in English as “Turning the Wheel of Dharma,” Chokhor Duchen commemorates the anniversary of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s first teaching. It is said that for seven weeks after his enlightenment, the Buddha did not teach. Afterward, Indra and Brahma offered a dharmachakra and a conch shell and requested Guru Shakyamuni Buddha to teach. Accepting, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma for the first time at Sarnath in his teaching on the four noble truths.

Specific practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for these special days include:

• Taking the eight Mahayana precepts: students can receive the lineage of these precepts from a specially produced video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche granting them, which was edited from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and Practice Advice at Kopan Monastery, recorded in May 2020.
• Reciting the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels

A longer list of recommended practices can be found at “Practices for Merit Multiplying Days and Eclipses.” (Advice for merit-multiplying days can also be found in French.)

Of course, it is also good to do any of the other meritorious activities often advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on these great holy days. (Find here practice materials in French, German, Italian, and Spanish).

In accordance with the advice of Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, Lama Zopa Rinpoche observes all the auspicious dates in the Buddhist calendar by Indian Standard time, instead of any other local time.

A flower offering at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, June 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Chokhor Duchen is also the day on which FPMT celebrates International Sangha Day! International Sangha Day provides an opportunity for monastic and lay communities to come together in recognition of their interdependence and celebrate the ways in which they mutually rely on each other’s practice of the Dharma. For lay students, it’s a great time to learn about the International Mahayana Institute, which is the international community of monks and nuns in the FPMT organization, and the Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund. You can also watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche praise the amazing commitment of Sangha to live in the path in “The Sangha Are the Real Heroes Because They Are Defeating the Delusions.” Find additional inspiration, encouragement, and advice from Rinpoche for Sangha collected online.

On merit-multiplying days, the Puja Fund sponsors pujas and practices on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. These pujas are usually offered by up to 10,000 Sangha from Sera Lachi, Ganden Lachi, Drepung Lachi, Gyume Tantric College, Gyuto Tantric College, and Kopan Monastery and Nunnery. This year the Sangha will be reciting the entire Kangyur and Prajnaparamita Sutra, and will be offering one thousand sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyalma and Medicine Buddha pujas among other pujas and prayers. In addition, offerings of gold, robes, saffron, and umbrellas will be made to the holy statues of Jowo Buddha in Tibet and Buddha at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, and to Boudhanath and Swayambunath Stupas in Nepal. Sangha will also be printing sutras, making tsa-tsas, and doing animal liberations. Offerings will also be made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to 10,000 Sangha. Please note: Some of these pujas may be offered by less Sangha to ensure the safety of all and in accordance with any local restrictions due to the pandemic.

Let’s rejoice in all of the meritorious practices, offerings, and activities happening within the international FPMT mandala on this auspicious merit-multiplying day!

Swayambunath Stupa, Nepal, June 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Special thanks to the Liberation Prison Project for preparing this year’s Tibetan calendar. A limited view of the calendar is always available on “Dharma Practice Dates” as a courtesy to FPMT students around the world.

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

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

On July 6 the world celebrates His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 86th birthday. We’ve collected several resources for students to use in their celebration of His Holiness and in their ongoing Buddhist study.

Great Festival Celebrating His Holiness

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has given extensive advice on prayers and practices to do for His Holiness’s birthday, remarking that by doing these prayers and practices, students also benefit their own Dharma practice. You can find Rinpoche’s collected advice in the booklet How to Do the Great Festival of His Holiness’ Birthday in the Best Possible Way.

Long Life Prayers

The PDF booklet Prayers for the Long Life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibet contains prayers for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and for Tibet.

Praises and Requests

“Praises and Requests to His Holiness the Dalai Lama” is a collection of praises of, comments about, and requests for His Holiness by Lama Zopa Rinpoche found in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Online Advice Book.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche watching His Holiness the Dalai Lama teach online, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, January 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Online Teachings by His Holiness

During the COVID pandemic, His Holiness has been offering live online teachings. In February, at the request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the FPMT organization, His Holiness gave a teaching on Changkya Rölpai Dorjé’s Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View (tagur ama ngodzin). You can watch this teaching, find the root text and other resources, as well as read Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s introduction, conclusion, and dedication to the teaching on FPMT.org. 

In addition, His Holiness’s website has links to recordings of other recent online teachings, live web streams, schedule, summaries of events, and more.

Prayers and Writings by His Holiness

The All-Pervasive Sphere of Great Bliss, Free of Elaboration: Requesting Activities of Palden Lhamo is a short prayer to the protector Palden Lhamo written by His Holiness in 1973 and is primarily aimed at invoking the goddess for the sake of Tibet and its people. This new English translation of the prayer was done by Gelong Tenzin Namjong at the request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

When His Holiness was nineteen years old, he composed a Chenrezig guru yoga sadhana titled The Source of All Attainments: The Yoga of the Inseparability of the Guru and Avalokiteshvara. The practice includes visualizations to inspire the development of compassion and wisdom, and is explained by Lama Yeshe in Becoming the Compassion Buddha.

The FPMT Foundation Store offers a number of books from His Holiness.

Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara) Materials

His Holiness is generally considered to be a manifestation of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara), the buddha of compassion. We offer these Chenrezig practice materials:

• Everflowing Nectar of Bodhichitta: Annihilating the Demon of the Self-Cherishing Mind, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
• Spontaneously Accomplishing Desired Aims: An Abbreviated Way to Perform the Meditation-Recitation of Eleven-Faced Chenrezig, by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama
• The Welfare of Living Beings That Pervades Space: The Meditation-Recitation of the Great Compassionate One, by Thangtong Gyalpo
• Prayer to the Six-Syllable Great Compassionate One by Tsultrim Zangpo
• Arya Avalokiteshvara Simhanada: Exalted Lion’s Roar Chenrezig Who Dispels All Diseases

FPMT International Office wishes His Holiness a very auspicious 86th birthday and sincerely requests His Holiness to live for a very long time and to continue bringing his universal message of compassion to the world.

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

We are pleased to announce a new publication: FPMT Essential Prayer Book. In it, you will find prayers and practices common in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that are recommended for FPMT by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. It also features Rinpoche’s quintessential advice on the benefits and practice of some of those prayers. This makes the FPMT Essential Prayer Book a must-have for all FPMT centers and study groups. And for the individual student, it is an invaluable—and inspiring—resource for devotional practice on a daily basis, and during retreat.

The new publication, which is more than 300 pages long, includes practices composed, compiled, or arranged by Rinpoche as well as other prayers and practices frequently included by Rinpoche at his teachings and events. The 2021 prayer book presents an extensive update of the 2011 collection, Essential Buddhist Prayers, Vol. 1, which has been discontinued.

Highlights of this prayer book:

• Cultivating the Mindfulness of Bodhicitta in Daily Activities, where Lama Zopa Rinpoche shows us how to take the essence of our precious human life by transforming our everyday activities—such as sitting down, standing up, washing, and dressing—into causes for enlightenment by undertaking them with the bodhicitta motivation to benefit all sentient beings.
• Miscellaneous mantras, including Mantras to Make Charity of the Contaminants of the Body as well as mantras for washing, for blessing meat, to avert the pollution that comes from consuming offerings, and to prevent being stained by faults when stepping on holy objects and shadows of holy objects.
• Deity practices, including those of Shakyamuni Buddha, Thousand-armed Chenrezig, the Praises to Twenty-One Taras, and Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga as well as common deity mantras.
• The Eight Prayers, a collection of prayers that are commonly recited in Gelug monastic communities for the recently deceased. (King of Prayers is included in this collection.)
  
• Extensive long life prayers and name mantras of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the long life puja offered to him at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The FPMT Essential Prayer Book is only available in the PDF version. Most of the prayers and mantras found in the prayer book are available as downloadable audio. 

For FPMT groups and other organizations wishing to download this e-publication for distribution, please refer to FPMT Education Services Licensing Page.  

For more on FPMT Essential Prayer Book and to download the PDF:
https://shop.fpmt.org/-FPMT-Essential-Prayer-Book-PDF-_p_1365.html

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Students can now find the audio recordings of several important prayers and mantras shared by Lama Zopa Rinpoche during his ongoing Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 video series, which Rinpoche has been recording from Kopan Monastery in Nepal.

The following are all available as MP3 downloads bundled with supporting digital materials from the Foundation Store:

Swift Fulfillment of Wishes in Dependence of the Great Jetsun Tsongkhapa

In March 2020, Lama Zopa Rinpoche did an observation and the prayer Swift Fulfillment of Wishes in Dependence on the Great Jetsun Tsongkhapa, composed by Serkong Rinpoche Ngawang Tsultrim Donden, came out to be a powerful prayer to pacify epidemic disease. Listen to Lama Zopa Rinpoche recite this prayer in the MP3 download Swift Fulfillment of Wishes in Dependence of the Great Jetsun Tsongkhapa.

The Array of Sukhavati Pure Land—A Concise Mahayana Sutra

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives the oral transmission of a prayer that came from Buddha Amitabha, The Array of Sukhavati Pure Land: A Concise Mahayana Sutra, in the MP3 download The Array of Sukhavati Pure Land: A Concise Mahayana Sutra. According to the root text, “In this eon, all Dharma practices that are sealed with this prayer of dedication are greatly meritorious. If those who write, recite, keep, or disseminate it, read or recite it three times, they will not experience sickness or (untimely) death. May all of their wishes be fulfilled, and may they meet with those who are propitious and endowed with the fortunate karma to be reborn in Sukhavati Pure Land.”

The Five Powerful Mantras for Liberating Sentient Beings from the Lower Realms

The Five Powerful Mantras for Liberating Sentient Beings from the Lower Realms MP3 download contains Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s oral transmission of the five powerful mantras: the Kunrig Mantra, the Stainless Pinnacle Essence Mantra, the Lotus Pinnacle of Amoghapasha Mantra, the Namgyalma mantras (long and short), and the Buddha Mitrugpa Mantra. These powerful mantras, mentioned in Giving Breath to the Wretched by Kusali Dharmavajra, can be recited to benefit individuals who are dying or have died. Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches that they liberate not only those who are dying, but also those already dead, even those in the lower realms.

The Flowing Water of the Ganga—A Practice of Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Buddhas

Listen to Lama Zopa Rinpoche give the oral transmission of Ngulchu Dharmabhadra’s The Flowing Water of the Ganga: A Thorough Praise of the Thirty-Five Sugatas in the MP3 download The Flowing Water of the Ganga—A Practice of Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Buddhas. This prayer is a versified homage to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas, which has been expanded by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to include the recitation of the names of the Medicine Buddhas, as well as the confession prayer from the Bodhisattva’s Confession of Moral Downfalls (also known as the Confession of a Bodhisattva’s Downfalls to the Thirty-Five Buddhas).

The Four Dharmakaya Relic Heart Mantras

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches, “The Four Dharmakaya Relic Mantras are a sacred relic. They are the highest relics of Buddha, relics of the dharmakaya. Other relics, the ones that we normally see, such as relics of the robes or parts of Buddha’s holy body, are secondary relics. These four mantras are the highest relic.” Listen to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s oral transmission of these mantras in The Four Dharmakaya Relic Heart Mantras MP3 download.

Vajra Armor Protection Wheel Short Practice by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Vajra Armor Protection Wheel Short Practice

The Vajra Armor Protection Wheel Short Practice MP3 download contains the oral transmission of the Vajra Armor Protection Wheel – Short Practice granted by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. This practice is associated with Vajrapani, according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, “This is one of the most powerful mantras to cure cancer. It is also commonly used for any disease, black magic, and spirit harm. If you recite it many times every day, you can become a great healer helping other people. You can give others the water blessed with this mantra to drink and, in this way, heal them.”

Students can listen to these MP3 downloads while commuting, walking, resting, or as part of their practice.

These MP3 downloads, freely offered by the Foundation Store, also include supplemental materials in PDF and ebook formats.

For more downloadable audio recordings, visit the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Audio-Downloads_c_401.html

Practice advice from our teachers, Dharma study-from-home opportunities, and more can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khadro-la doing a bhumi puja on the ground where a 66-foot-tall Padmasambhava statue will be built, Maratika, Nepal, April 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) is an essential daily practice created by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to help students start their day, and all their activities, with a perfect Dharma intention and bodhichitta motivation. It is sometimes referred to as simply The Method. Now students can listen to the audio recording of this practice in The Method with Additional Practices, an MP3 download bundled with supporting digital materials from the Foundation Store.

In the recording, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives the oral transmission of The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment), the additional practices, and commentary. The twelve audio tracks that comprise The Method with Additional Practices have been extracted from videos made during the 2016 Light of the Path retreat.

This concise practice is composed of an inspiring lamrim prayer by Dorje Chang Lozang Jinpa, two key thought transformation verses, and special verses from Shantideva’s Engaging in a Bodhisattva’s Deeds about how to live your life for others. The additional practices include the recitation of Blessing the Speech According to the Instructions of Great Yogi Khyungpo and additional mantra recitations for further blessings and purification.

“My wish is that all of you do this most important practice for generating a Dharma motivation, and especially a bodhichitta motivation, when you open your eyes in the morning. As soon as you wake up, whether your sleep has been positive or negative, you begin this practice,” Rinpoche advises in his commentary on this practice.

The Method with Additional Practices by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

This MP3 download, freely offered by the Foundation Store, is seventy-five minutes long and come bundled with a PDF copy of “A Guide to Sanskrit Transliteration and Pronunciation” compiled by FPMT Translation Services; “Oral Transmission of The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices,” which is a transcript of the teaching and oral transmission included in the MP3; and a copy of the practice text itself in PDF and ebook formats.

Students can listen to this MP3 album while commuting, walking, resting, or as part of their practice. By listening to the audio recordings, students can practice mantra pronunciation and recitation, and learn the practice more deeply.

Find the audio recording The Method with Additional Practices – MP3 Download in the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/The-Method-with-Additional-Practices–MP3-Download_p_3372.html

You can also find The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices and its commentary as well as more downloadable audio recordings in the Foundation Store.

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Boudhanath, Nepal, February 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang. Every month on the full moon and on the four Buddha Days, including Saka Dawa, the Puja Fund sponsors offerings to the holy Boudhanath and Swayambhunath stupas in Nepal.

We are fast approaching the auspicious merit-multiplying day of Saka Dawa Duchen—the fifteenth day of the fourth month in the Tibetan lunar calendar—which commemorates Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana.

Saka Dawa Duchen, which is on May 26 this year, is one of the four great holy days of the Tibetan calendar. Each of these holy days celebrates an anniversary of Shakyamuni Buddha’s display of extraordinary powerful deeds for sentient beings’ sake. On these four days, the karmic results of actions are multiplied by 100 million, as taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic. For Saka Dawa Duchen, the karmic results are multiplied by 300 million times, as it commemorates Shakyamuni Buddha’s three major life events.

Specific practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for these special days:

• Taking the eight Mahayana precepts: Students can receive the lineage of these precepts from a specially produced video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche granting them, which was edited from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and Practice Advice at Kopan Monastery, recorded in May 2020.
• Reciting the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels

Other recommended practices include:

• Reciting sutras, such as Vajra Cutter Sutra, Sutra of Golden Light, and Sanghata Sutra
• Reciting other prayers, such as Chanting the Names of Manjushri and King of Prayers
• Performing the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha puja
• Undertaking Nyung nes
• Performing self-initiation, for those who fulfilled the necessary prerequisites
• Performing Lama Chopa, and at either the beginning of the practice or during the lamrim section, you can meditate on emptiness
• Reciting the names of the Thirty-Five Buddhas, with prostrations
• Reciting Vajrasattva mantras
• Reciting OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ with bodhichitta
• Meditating on emptiness and dependent arising
• Meditating on bodhichitta
• Practicing tonglen
• Rejoicing
• Liberating animals
• Joining in activities as your local FPMT Center

Students can find online Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for merit multiplying days, including the fifteenth day of Saka Dawa. (Advice for merit multiplying days can also be found in French. ) If you choose to recite the Sutra of Golden Light on these or other days, please remember to report your recitations in the Sutra of Golden Light reporting page.

Of course, any other meritorious activities often advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche are also good to do on these great holy days. (Find practice materials in French, German, Italian, and Spanish.)

In accordance to the advice of Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, Lama Zopa Rinpoche observes all the auspicious dates in the Buddhist calendar by Indian Standard time, instead of any other local time.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during a visit to Boudha Stupa, Nepal, March 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

On merit-multiplying days, the Puja Fund sponsors pujas and practices on behalf of the entire FPMT. These pujas are usually offered by up to 10,000 Sangha from Sera Lachi; Ganden Lachi; Drepung Lachi; Gyume Tantric College; Gyuto Tantric College and Kopan Monastery and Nunnery. This year we will be arranging recitation of Prajnaparamita, three different recitations of 100,000 Praises to Tara, one thousand sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyalma, Medicine Buddha puja, and sponsoring 100 million mani retreat.

In addition, offerings of gold, robes, saffron, and umbrellas will be made to the Jowo Buddha in Lhasa, Tibet; the Buddha in the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India; and Boudhanath and Swayambunath Stupas in Nepal. Offering are also made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to 10,000 Sangha.

Please rejoice in these amazing offerings and practices that will be happening on Saka Dawa!

Special thanks to the Liberation Prison Project for preparing a Tibetan calendar with information on holy days and other important dates for avoiding or engaging in various activities.

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the Light of the Path Retreat, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, 2017. Photo by Kalleen Mortensen.

The FPMT Retreat Prayer Book has become a valued resource for students attending longer teaching events and retreats with Lama Zopa Rinpoche as well as for those doing personal retreats, pilgrimage, and daily practice. The prayer book, which was first prepared in 2008 for the Light of the Path Retreat, contains daily practices, lamrim prayers, Lama Chopa Jorcho, Praises to the Twenty-One Taras, protector prayers, long life and dedication prayers, Six-Session Guru Yoga, and more.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who was closely involved in the development of the prayer book, continues to guide updates to it. The 416-page 2020 edition incorporates all the updates made to the 2016 edition, which was the most recent previous edition. There are many types of updates that have been made to the prayer book. For example, updates to the 2016 edition include prayers updated with new translations, clarifications to practice instructions, and the addition of new prayers, such as the inclusion of “A Long Life Prayer for Lama Zopa Rinpoche Spontaneously Composed by Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme.”

The 2020 edition of the FPMT Retreat Prayer Book is being made available only as a digital PDF, with the hope that this will allow students and facilitators greater ease in accessing the text. Also, working in digital formats allows FPMT Education Services to more easily make updates indicated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and hastens the distribution of updated editions to students.

The 2020 edition is being made available for donation only. (Students may choose to make a $0 donation.) Those who have ordered the prayer book in the past can download the new edition from the FPMT Foundation Store. If you already have the 2016 edition, these errata sheets (A5, spread) can be used to update your text. 

Download the FPMT Retreat Prayer Book from the FPMT Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/FPMT-Retreat-Prayer-Book-PDF_p_3038.html

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and monks doing Yamantaka self-initiation during the Fifteen Days of Miracles at Kopan Monastery, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The Fifteen Days of Miracles—from the first day of the Tibetan new year (Losar, February 12) until the fifteenth—commemorate the special time when Guru Shakyamuni Buddha showed miraculous powers in order to subdue six tirthikas, or non-Buddhist teachers, who lacked faith in him, and to inspire more faith in his followers. It culminates on the full moon, the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, which is the actual day of Chotrul Duchen (February 27).

The Fifteen Days of Miracles are a time for pilgrimage and intensive Dharma practice. During this period, many Tibetan monasteries, including Kopan Monastery in Nepal, normally hold a Great Prayer Festival—Monlam Chenmo—for several days or even weeks, during which the sangha recite prayers from morning until evening. This year due to pandemic lockdowns, Kopan Monastery will not be holding the annual prayer festival. The monks and nuns of Kopan will instead be doing group retreat as advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

All fifteen days are merit multiplying days, when the merit of virtuous actions performed on these days is multiplied by 100 million, according to the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Advice Specifically for Losar

For FPMT, Losar is a special time as it commemorates the anniversary of FPMT founder Lama Thubten Yeshe’s parinirvana at dawn of Losar in 1984. Lama Zopa Rinpoche asks centers to offer students the opportunity to offer extensive Lama Chopa with tsog in honor of this anniversary. Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that one generates incredible merit by offering tsog on that occasion every year. This Losar marks thirty-seven years since the passing of Lama Yeshe.

Rinpoche also recommends that centers host annual events to introduce new students to Lama Yeshe. These events might include students who knew Lama Yeshe sharing their favorite stories, watching videos of Lama teaching, or reading stories about Lama. During the pandemic, centers will be following public health guidelines for their local areas and these events may be held online. (Rinpoche offers additional advice for special days throughout the year in the Affiliates Area.)

This year’s Losar offers the opportunity to celebrate the birthday of Tenzin Ösel Hita, the recognized reincarnation of Lama Yeshe. Ösel was born on February 12, 1985. 

Advice for the Fifteen Days of Miracles

Students can find Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for merit multiplying days, including the Fifteen Days of Miracles, collected online. (Advice for merit multiplying days can also be found in French.)

If the members of your community decide to recite the Sutra of Golden Light on these special days, we invite them to report their recitations on the Sutra of Golden Light reporting page.

Please keep in mind: According to Kyabje Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, observation of auspicious days should be according to the date in India, not the date in one’s home country. Therefore, when Lama Zopa Rinpoche is not in India, Rinpoche celebrates merit multiplying days and other auspicious dates according to the time in India.

On merit multiplying days, the FPMT Puja Fund normally sponsors extensive pujas, but due to the current restrictions in South India, many of the monasteries are not able to gather in large groups and offer the pujas. During the fifteen days the 650 monks at Gyurme Tantric College will recite the Prajnapramita, and 600 monks at Gyuto Tantric College will offer Namgyäl Tong Chö and Zangcho. There will be smaller pujas offered at Sera Lachi, Gaden Lachi, and Drepung Lachi in the various khangtsens. These prayers are dedicated to all FPMT centers, projects, and services; all students, volunteers, and those who offer service in FPMT; and to all beings in general. Offerings are also made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to sangha in FPMT international sangha communities. In addition, robes are offered to the Buddha statue in Bodhgaya, new parasols and whitewash are offered to Boudha and Swayambu stupas, and sutra printing is done. Lunch and money are offered to 400 nuns and 370 monks at Kopan Nunnery and Monastery.

Special thanks to the Liberation Prison Project for preparing this year’s Tibetan calendar. A limited view of the calendar is always available on “Dharma Practice Dates” as a courtesy to FPMT students around the world.

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Sunrise at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

“The solution is purification every day. Practice as much as possible purification,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said during a teaching on purification.

To support this advice from Rinpoche, FPMT Education Services has created a page where students can find links to many purification practices and resources, including prostrations to the Thirty-Five Buddhas, Dorje Khadro (Vajradaka), Mitrugpa, Samayavajra (Damtsig Dorje), and Vajrasattva. Students can also find the following practices for long life on this page: Amitayus, Namgyalma, and White Tara.

“There are many different buddhas’ names to purify different negative karmas. There are many different mantras that are so powerful, not only Vajrasattva. But the Thirty-Five Buddhas are so powerful,” Rinpoche said. “By reciting [their names] one time, by practicing well the Thirty-Five Buddhas, it purifies the tsham me nga, the very heavy five heavy negative karmas without break: killed father or mother or an arhat, harmed a buddha, [caused] disunity among the sangha. So, that means there is no question about the ten nonvirtuous actions collected in this life and past lives. Then no question. Even the very heavy negative karmas without break, the five, the five heavy negative karmas, even them, they get completely purified, those collected in this life and past lives. Wow, wow, wow.”

Find the Purification page online:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/purification/

FPMT Education has also created a Mantras page, with many mantras and resources:
https://fpmt.org/education/teachings/texts/mantras/

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Light offerings at dusk on Lama Tsongkhapa Day at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, in his video teachings on thought transformation, has spoken repeatedly about how we must learn to transform the problems and hardships we encounter in our life into the path to enlightenment. Moreover, we need these problems to deepen our practice and advance on the path. This is an aspect of thought transformation, or lojong, practice.

FPMT Education Services has created many resource pages to support students in their daily Dharma practice, including the recently create page on thought transformation practice. This page includes links and resources on: 

• The Seven-Point Thought Transformation
• Eight Verses of Thought Transformation
• Everflowing Nectar of Bodhichitta
• The Door to Satisfaction
• Transforming Problems into Happiness
• Living in the Path Online Program
• Discovering Buddhism Module Eleven: Transforming Problems

Other resource pages where students can find links to advice, practices, and other resources include a new page on purification practices, as well as established pages for lamrim resources, sutras, and mantras. Students can also access free downloads of common prayers and practices.

For resources from FPMT Education Services on thought transformation practice, please visit:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/thought-transformation-lojong-practices/

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Young monks making light offerings on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Tsongkhapa Day, or Ganden Ngamchoe, is a celebration of the anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana. It is celebrated on the 25th day of the 10th month of the Tibetan calendar. This year, Lama Tsongkhapa Day falls on December 10.*

There are many practices your center can organize to celebrate and create merit on this special day! You can read a teaching from Lama Zopa Rinpoche about how to carry out these practices.

The main practice, recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, is Lama Chopa. If you are unable to arrange Lama Chopa, Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga is also recommended.

In addition, for last year’s celebration of the 600th anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave instructions for prayers and practices to do for a Lama Tsongkhapa Celebration Day at FPMT centers, projects, and services.

Here are some prayers and practices recommended by Rinpoche for students to recite as they are able. (These prayers and practices are also part of the recommendations for Lama Tsongkhapa Celebration Day.)

English

• 1000 Offerings to Lama Tsong Khapa
• Extensive Offering Practice
• The Glorious One of the Three Worlds (Päl dän sa sum ma)
• A Hymn of Experience
• Destiny Fulfilled
• Prayer for the Flourishing of Tsongkhapa’s Teachings
• Lama Tsongkhapa’s Secret Biography
• Dependent Arising: A Praise to the Buddha

French

French materials, including “Prière pour le développement de Lama Tsongkhapa” and “Hymne au Bouddha Shakyamouni pour son enseignement sur la production dépendante,” are available through Les Éditions Mahayana.

Tibetan

• The Thousand Offerings to Lama Tsongkhapa
• Päl dän sa sum ma (The Glorious One of the Three Worlds)
• Lama Tsongkhapa’s Secret Biography

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Kopan monks doing Lama Chopa puja on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

* According to Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, observation of auspicious days should be according to the date in India, not the date in one’s home country. Therefore, when Lama Zopa Rinpoche is not in India, Rinpoche celebrates auspicious dates according to the time in India.

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.