Education: The Heart of FPMT

In the complimentary Living in the Path module “The Eight Mahayana Precepts,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche shows us the importance of taking and keeping these special one-day vows based on the Mahayana motivation of bodhichitta. If you have not previously received the lineage of the eight Mahayana precepts from a teacher, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has given special permission to take the lineage from him via the video “Actual Ceremony for Taking the Precepts,” which is part of the course materials.

“Taking the eight Mahayana precepts is another way to make life meaningful, to take its essence all day and night, by taking vows,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche has taught. “It is so simple. It is just for one day. Just for one day. It makes it so easy. It’s not for a lifetime.”

In this short introductory video to the module, Ven. Paloma Alba explains the reason for taking the eight Mahayana precepts and the benefits of keeping them. 

Watch “Taking the Eight Mahayana Precepts—An Introduction” on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/wDSbB3DHnsA

Ven. Paloma Alba (Tenzin Chokyi) did her first Buddhist course on the island of Ibiza in the Balearic Islands in 1982 and ordained in 1986. Since then she has offered service in a variety of FPMT centers in Spain, where she has also taught extensively. She is currently tutor for the FPMT Basic Program at Centro Nagarjuna Valencia in Valencia, Spain. Ven. Paloma is an FPMT registered teacher.

Living in the Path is an online lamrim course taught by Lama Zopa Rinpoche available through the FPMT Online Learning Center:
https://onlinelearning.fpmt.org/course/index.php?categoryid=5

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 giving an oral transmission of the Vajra Cutter Sutra on Vulture’s Peak, India, March 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Did you know there is a Vajra Cutter Sutra resource page on FPMT.org? The page features translations of the Vajra Cutter Sutra (also known as Diamond Cutter Sutra or Diamond Sutra) into ten languages; links to audio CDs, MP3 downloads, and online courses; and a special dedication prayer written by Mipham Rinpoche that is recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The page even features an amulet-sized version of the sutra in Tibetan, suitable to be worn on the body.

In the Vajra Cutter Sutra, Buddha and a gathering of monks and bodhisattvas are in Shravasti in North India. Subhūti, one of the disciples, asks Buddha, “Bhagavān, how should one who has correctly entered the bodhisattva’s vehicle abide, how practice, how control the mind?” The sutra captures Buddha’s answer, touching extensively on the “wisdom gone beyond” and concluding with the famous verse: “As a star, a visual aberration, a lamp, an illusion, dew, a bubble, a dream, lightning, and a cloud—view all the compounded like that.”

“The Vajra Cutter Sutra is unbelievable,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches. “It is one of the most profitable practices, because the root of all sufferings, yours and others, is the ignorance holding ‘I’ as truly existent—even though it is empty of that; and the ignorance holding the aggregates as truly existent, even though they are empty of that. The only antidote to cut that, to get rid of that and through which to achieve liberation, the total cessation of the suffering causes—delusions and karma—is the wisdom realizing emptiness. This is the subject of the Vajra Cutter Sutra, emptiness. So, each time you read it, it leaves such a positive imprint. Without taking much time, without much difficulty, it is easy to actualize wisdom.”

Find the Vajra Cutter Sutra resource page and other sutras on FPMT.org:
https://fpmt.org/education/teachings/sutras/vajra-cutter-sutra/
https://fpmt.org/education/teachings/sutras/

Find the Vajra Cutter Sutra in various formats in the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/search.asp?keyword=vajra+cutter+sutra&search=

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.

In 2009, a design competition was held to find a poster that perfectly captured Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s “Live with Compassion” quote. Rinpoche personally selected the design from Amitabha Buddhist Centre’s Kennedy Koh as the winner. After a few small modifications, the image was made available to students around the world.

Recently, Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited FPMT International Office and saw the poster hanging on the lobby wall. Rinpoche pointed to the compassion poster and mentioned that International Office should promote it all over the world.

Available through the Foundation Store, the Live with Compassion poster is best printed at a maximum height of 24 inches (60 cm). One idea is for students to print the image on bookmarks or t-shirts. Students should keep in mind that such items become holy objects and should be treated with respect according to tradition.

Find the Living with Compassion poster on the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Live-with-Compassion-Poster–PDF_p_3074.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 A Brief Meditation-Recitation on Guru Medicine Buddha, written and arranged by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, on the Foundation Store as a PDF. Rinpoche encouraged FPMT to make the text “immediately, immediately” available for the benefit of students around the world. Anyone can practice the text, with slight modifications for students without initiations.

A Brief Meditation-Recitation on Guru Medicine Buddha begins with requests to the Medicine Buddhas composed by Rinpoche and follows with recitation of their holy names; recitation of either—or all of—the long, middle-length, or short Medicine Buddha mantra; and recitation of the mantra of Tathagata Stainless Excellent Gold and other dharani-mantras, extracted from the Fifth Dalai Lama’s The Wish-Granting Sovereign: A Ceremony for Worshiping the Seven Sugatas. The practice concludes with prayers, requests, and dedications also authored by Rinpoche.

Rinpoche has consistently taught that Medicine Buddha practice is beneficial for anyone who is dying, sick, injured, or who has already died, and for success in general.

Find A Brief Meditation-Recitation on Guru Medicine Buddha on the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/A-Brief-Meditation-Recitation-on-Guru-Medicine-Buddha-PDF_p_3121.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 Atisha’s Protection Stupa

Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently encouraged all students to keep copies of Lama Atisha’s Protection Stupa in their homes and offices to protect them from heavy mental pollution:

“My dear students looking for liberation and enlightenment for sentient beings,

“It is extremely important to have an image of this stupa with mantras because its benefits of giving protection come from Lama Atisha of Nalanda, where there were 300 great scholars and holy beings.

“The purpose of keeping an image of this stupa in your house or in your room is to protect you from the mental pollution, not yet discovered in the West, from those who, in particular, have broken samaya with their guru, belittled their guru, given rise to heresy or anger towards their guru, or who, after making a Dharma connection through receiving a lung, commentary, initiation, or vows, gave up their guru. These create so much mental pollution, which is the heaviest negative karma.

“If you meet, talk to, or receive teachings from that person, or bring other people to a place where that person has been, your mind gets polluted. You lose your spiritual achievements, your mind becomes more negative, it becomes more difficult for you to achieve realizations, and you get reborn in the lower realms. It is very dangerous.

“Also, the places where that person has been become polluted. The previous Kyabje Zong Rinpoche told us, during the First Dharma Celebration, that even the tap water in a place where that person has been becomes polluted. If you drink it, you get polluted, you lose any spiritual progression you have made, your mind degenerates, and you go to the lower realms.

“The external pollution from a car doesn’t cause you to be reborn in the lower realms, but this pollution does.

“You can also wear the image of this stupa as a protection amulet so that wherever you go, you are protected from this pollution.

“This is very important. It would be good for every FPMT center, service, and project to have this image in its gompa, office, or other public rooms, and on every level of its buildings.

“If you are new to Buddhism and don’t understand this, it doesn’t matter; just keep it in your room for the benefit of other people.”

Lama Atisha’s Protection Stupa is available as a PDF download and as pre-folded amulets through the Foundation Store. Proceeds from the sale of the download go to FPMT’s Stupa Fund, which supports Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast vision of constructing 100,000 stupas around the world for world peace.
https://shop.fpmt.org/Lama-Atisha-Protection-Mantra–Downloadable-PDF_p_1432.html

Read more about the history of the image and its benefits in Mandala‘s January-June 2017 article “Lama Atisha’s Protection Stupa to Keep Away Heavy Mental Pollution”:
https://fpmt.org/mandala/archives/mandala-for-2017/january/lama-atishas-protection-stupa-to-keep-away-heavy-mental-pollution/

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.

Medicine Buddha statue at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, June 2015. Photo by Chris Majors.

It is difficult to accept the inevitability of our own deaths or the deaths of our loved ones. And although avoiding death is not possible, it is possible to prepare for death and equip ourselves with tools to help those around us engage with their own deaths in the most beneficial way. 

Essential Advice for Students

Lama Zopa Rinpoche had repeatedly taught that Medicine Buddha practice, such as the Medicine Buddha Puja, the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, is the main spiritual activity to engage in before, during, and after death. FPMT now makes available Medicine Buddha ritual sets to help students better practice according to Rinpoche’s advice.

Rinpoche has recommended as an additional essential practice to recite Eight Prayers to Benefit the Dead, which is usually recited by Gelug monasteries to benefit those who have recently died.

Essential Advice for Centers

All FPMT centers, projects, and services are encouraged to have a least one student who has done the Heart Advice for Death and Dying course and knows how to use the Liberation Box, a collection of tools for the time of death.

Heart Advice for Death and Dying

This package is a collection of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s essential advice and commentaries for the time of death and for finding the deepest fulfillment in life. Teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche include, “The Nine-Point Meditation on Death,” “The Process of Dying,” “Preparing for Death,” “Practicing the Five Powers,” “Caring for the Dying and the Dead,” “Essential Activities at the Death Time,” and “Mantras to Benefit the Dying and Dead.” This collection also includes an MP3 CD of eleven hours of teachings on death by Ven. Sangye Khadro. In addition to the book and CD, this material is also available as a structured study program.

Heart Advice for Death and Dying is available as a hardcopy book, ebook, and FPMT Online Learning Center program, and as hardcopy and digital programs for hosting centers.

Liberation Box

This collection of tools for the time of death has been assembled according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice and contains powerful methods for ensuring a fortunate rebirth for those who have died or are in the process of dying. It is available as a hardcopy collection in English, French, or Spanish; or in an English-language digital edition.

Liberation Box, hardcopy collection with optional books

Heart Practices for Death and Dying

This condensed resource book, available in hardcopy and digital formats, provides the heart practices to do at the time of death, including the Medicine Buddha puja and the traditional eight prayers done in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. This collection also contains the most powerful mantras to say for those who are dying or who have died, teachings on their precise benefits, as well as a sheet of mantras to place on the body of one who has died. It contains precious texts to benefit the minds of those who are dying by relieving pain and purifying negative karma.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with ‘How to Enjoy Death,’ Osel Labrang, Sera Monastery, India, December 2015

Rinpoche’s Latest Book on Death and Dying

How to Enjoy Death

A unique new collection, How to Enjoy Death: Preparing to Meet Life’s Final Challenge Without Fear, brings together all the extensive commentary from Lama Zopa Rinpoche as well as a number of essential prayers, practices, and other materials that Lama Zopa Rinpoche has compiled over the years, skillfully edited by Ven. Robina Courtin.

“We Buddhists all know about death and impermanence, but when death comes into our lives we often panic and don’t know what to do to help,” said Ven. Robina. “Rinpoche lays out all the instructions so clearly, one step at a time, for how to help our loved ones: what to do in the months and weeks before death, what to do in the hours before death, at the time the breath stops, and in the three days as well as the forty-nine days after death, including transforming our loved one’s ashes into a holy object.”

All of the practices one needs to be prepared to face death are included, making this an essential reference for Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, caregivers, hospice workers, and chaplains.

Resource Page

The FPMT Death and Dying: Heart Practices and Advice webpage is kept up to date with all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s latest advice and materials concerning death and dying.

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.

Practice books, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ivan Siarbolin.

Holy objects and Dharma materials represent and contain the teachings of the Buddha and thus protect against lower rebirth and reveal the path to enlightenment. Therefore, they should be treated with respect. Below is advice taken from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings about how to treat holy objects and Dharma materials in various contexts.

Showing Respect to Dharma Images and Texts

Dharma images, which include images of holy beings, deities, and other holy objects—such as temples, stupas, and prayer wheels, which all represent the Three Rare Sublime Ones—and Dharma texts, which contain the teachings of the Buddha, and include phones, tablets, laptops, and hard drives containing Dharma, should not be stepped over or put in places where students’ feet or buttocks will point at them. They should not be put on the floor or on a bed without a cloth underneath. They should be covered or protected for transporting and kept in a high, clean place separate from more mundane materials. Other objects, including statues, stupas, ritual implements, malas, reading glasses, and so forth, should not be placed on top of Dharma books and devices containing Dharma materials. Avoid licking the fingers to turn the pages of Dharma texts.

Morgan Finnell’s “smile” slogan tattoo, Vermont, United States, July 2018. Photo courtesy of Carina Rumrill.

Tattoos

It is best not to get tattoos of holy beings, deities, holy objects, mantras, sacred syllables, or Dharma words or quotations in Tibetan or any other language because it is easy to lay on top of them, take them into the restroom, and get them dirty.

Instead, if a student wants to get an inspiring tattoo, then it is better to get a tattoo of a meaningful slogan or saying that people can read and understand, as this will have more impact and the tattooed student won’t create the negative karma of being disrespectful to the Dharma. These slogans and sayings should not be Dharma quotes or teachings taken from sutras, tantras, or commentaries.

If a student already has a Dharma-related tattoo, the student should not cover up the tattoo with another tattoo, which is considered disrespectful. Students should simply do their best to treat the tattoo with respect.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche signing a poster for Geshe Tenzin Tenphel, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia, Italy, October 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

T-Shirts, Bags, Mugs, and Other Souvenirs

It is best to avoid printing holy beings, deities, holy objects, mantras, sacred syllables, or Dharma words or quotations in Tibetan or any other languages on t-shirts because students lie down on them, wear them into the restroom, wash them with dirty underwear, and do not regard these as representations of the Buddha or Dharma. It is also best to avoid having bags with similar designs on them as students often put them on the floor. Similarly, it is best to avoid having mugs with similar designs as people put them in their mouths and store them with mundane objects.

If a student treats a t-shirt with respect and doesn’t lie down on it or wash it with other clothes, Lama Zopa Rinpoche says it is OK to have a holy image or word, such “Buddha,” on a t-shirt.

Students can print slogans on t-shirts and souvenirs that make people think about Dharma but should avoid using Dharma images and words. Instead, students could consider having images of non-religious objects, for example, a smiley face.

In general, logos are OK. However, if the center logo contains a vajra, for example, that is considered a tantric implement and a holy object. The eight auspicious signs should also be treated with respect as Dharma and should not be embroidered on cushions to sit on, for example, or painted on the ground for when a lama arrives at a center.

The names, signatures, and hand writing of Lama Yeshe and other gurus are considered Dharma and should be treated with respect.

Distributing Holy Objects

Holy objects, such as prayer wheels, Dharma books, statues, images of gurus and deities, mantra rolls to go inside prayer wheels, double dorje brocade for thrones, stupas, and dorje and bell sets, should never be produced and distributed with a mind believing they are being “sold.” However, it is OK for one to collect money to cover the costs of materials and the time spent creating and distributing these holy objects.

Promotional Materials

It is OK to have holy images on posters and brochures as their purpose is to attract people to Dharma teachings. Moreover, these materials are usually placed up high and are not posted in the restroom or placed on the floor. When using Dharma images in promotional materials, it is best to not crop the image in such a way that the head or body of the holy being or deity is cut off.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche arriving to teach, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Special Considerations for Khatas and Prayer Flags

Khatas, because they often have Dharma words, mantras, and the eight auspicious symbols woven into them, and prayer flags, should be treated with the same respect as other holy objects. It is best not to put khatas featuring Dharma words, mantras, etc. on the table in front of the teacher as this is where tea cups, clocks, and texts are placed. Using khatas without Dharma images and words on them is ideal.

Disposing of Holy Objects

Lama Zopa Rinpoche quotes Lama Tsongkhapa as saying that disposing of holy objects can easily become “giving up the Dharma” and disrespectful if one isn’t very careful with one’s thinking.

If it is necessary to dispose of printed Dharma materials, they should be burned rather than thrown in the trash or recycled. When burning Dharma texts, visualize that the letters transform into an A and the A absorbs into one’s heart. Imagine burning blank paper. As the paper burns, recite OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ or the Heart Sutra, while meditating on emptiness. 

Green Tara tsa-tsa, Nalanda Monastery, Rouzegas, Labastide-Saint-Georges, France, March 2018. Photo by Harald Weichhart.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche recommends that images of holy beings, deities, and holy objects, even on khatas and prayer flags, not be burned. Ideally, if undamaged, they should be put in a stupa. If damaged, they should never go into stupas as doing so affects the minds of people who circumambulate them. Instead, put them high up in a tree inside a well-sealed structure, something like a bird house, so that the images are protected from the weather and do not end up on the ground.

Undamaged CDs, video cassettes, DVDs, etc. containing Dharma images and texts can placed in stupas. Do not put damaged or broken holy objects, such as tsa-tsas, inside stupas or statues. Instead, repair the holy objects, or, put unrepairable holy objects into tsa-tsa houses. Ensure that the objects are stored in such a way that they do not get dirty.

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.

The Medicine Buddha Ritual Set for Pujas, available from the Foundation Store

The Medicine Buddha Ritual Set for Pujas allows students to better fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice regarding how to perform Medicine Buddha pujas, taught as being powerful rituals for success and to benefit the dying, sick, and dead.

The set, which is also available in a modified digital format, includes one printed copy of the Medicine Buddha Sutra in Tibetan from the Buddhist Digital Resource Center, pecha style; one printed copy of the Medicine Buddha mandala, a visual representation of Medicine Buddha’s purified environment; and a wrapping cloth representing the Five Dhyani Buddhas, designed by Kopan Monastery. (To encourage practice of the puja, the Medicine Buddha puja text itself—Medicine Buddha: The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel—is an optional add-on.)

The Medicine Buddha Sutra, or Sutra of the Extensive Qualities of the Previous Vaidurya Light Prayers of the Bhagavan Medicine Guru, recounts the twelve aspirational prayers made by Medicine Buddha in his past lives that came to fruition through the force of his enlightenment. The sutra also recounts the great benefits of Medicine Buddha practice, such as those of reciting and hearing his name.

“The Medicine Buddha encompasses all the buddhas,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches in “Benefits of Medicine Buddha Mantra and Practice,” available on FPMT.org. “This means that when we practice the seven-limb prayer and make offerings with the seven limbs, we receive the same merit as we would if we had made offerings to all the buddhas. Similarly, when we recite the mantra of Medicine Buddha, we collect unbelievable merit just as when we offer the seven-limb practice to Medicine Buddha.”

Find news and advice related to Medicine Buddha on FPMT.org:
https://fpmt.org/tag/medicine-buddha/

Find other Dharma items to support your Medicine Buddha practice through the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/search.asp?keyword=Medicine+Buddha&search=

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, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, June 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently offered some new advice about lunar and solar eclipses, which are considered auspicious days for practice and provide opportunities for accumulating increased merit.

In addition to Lama Zopa Rinpoche reminding students that the merit generated on lunar eclipses is multiplied by 700,000 and by 100 million on solar eclipses, Rinpoche taught that the multiplying effect of eclipses occurs whether the eclipse is partial or full. Also, Rinpoche advised that the merit multiplying effect does not last the whole calendar day and that merit making activities should be carried out during the time of the eclipse itself.

Whether or not an eclipse is occurring and its exact timing depends on where a student is on Earth. Websites like timeanddate.com can help students determine if and when there is an opportunity to practice during an eclipse.

Upcoming potential lunar eclipses: July 27, August 26

Upcoming potential solar eclipses: August 11

On these multiplying days, any beneficial practices can be done. In particular, Rinpoche recommends:

• Recitation of the names of the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas
• Recitation of Vajrasattva mantras

Any other meritorious activities advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche are also good to do on these days, such as recitation of the Vajra Cutter Sutra, the Sutra of Golden Light, and the Sanghata Sutra, with extensive dedications. These texts are available on the “Sutras” page on FPMT.org.

July 27 is possibly a lunar eclipse in your part of the world! All are encouraged to use a website like timeanddate.com to determine if and when one might participate in generating 700,000 times the merit than what would be accumulated on a non-multiplying day.

You can read more about practices specifically recommended by Rinpoche for lunar and solar eclipses, and other merit multiplying days:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/advice/sakadawa/

Check “Dharma Practice Dates” for information on auspicious days for practice:
https://fpmt.org/media/resources/dharma-dates/

Acquire your own copy of the Liberation Prison Project calendar through the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/2018-Liberation-Tibetan-Calendar-HARDCOPY_p_3017.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.

Practice books, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ivan Siarbolin.

“The Buddha taught in Pali and Sanskrit. Later, the pandits, those great holy beings, translated them into the Tibetan language. Tibetan holds the meaning. … It is a perfect translation and gives great understanding. Those great translators were holy beings; they were bodhisattvas.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche, 2014, Kopan Monastery, Nepal

As the Dharma takes root in the West, the FPMT organization needs to follow in the footsteps of these bodhisattvas and provide clear and accurate translations of the classic Tibetan texts in modern world languages. The FPMT Translation Fund supports this work. Translations have already been completed in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Mongolian.

FPMT Translation Fund sponsorships have helped translate Dharma texts and commentaries that have been crucial for successful study in FPMT in-depth education programs and for students and centers to be able to follow practice advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. These translations include prestigious works such as Lama Tsongkhapa’s Middle Length Lamrim into English and German and his Lamrim Chenmo into Chinese; Gyaltsab Je’s Ornament of the Essence, with Maitreya’s root verses and the Indian commentary by Haribhadra, into English; and sutras such as the Sanghata Sutra and the Sutra of Golden Light into many modern languages.

Benefactors and supporters are always needed for new projects. Several commentaries critical to the development of FPMT’s Masters Program and Basic Program—now offered in several languages—are in progress of being commissioned; and the translation of the 29-chapter edition of the Sutra of Golden Light into English is also in the advanced stages of planning.

If you would like to help make the Dharma accessible to practitioners and students around the world, we welcome and appreciate donations of any amount. Thank you so much for your support!

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.

Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa’s Basic Program teachers, staff, graduates, and near graduates offered a thanksgiving puja, Pomaia, Italy, June 2018

On June 10, 2018, several students from Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa’s 2015-2018 Basic Program met to offer a thanksgiving puja to mark the conclusion of their program. From among the thirty-five students who participated in the three-month review and passed the final exam, thirteen have already graduated, while another twenty have plans in place to fulfill their completion requirement of a month-long lamrim retreat this year. The vast majority of students participated in the program online, an impressive achievement considering how difficult it can be for students to complete multi-year online programs!  

The ceremony was an opportunity to present offerings and give thanks to Geshe Tenphel and Geshe Gelek, the teachers of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa’s third Basic Program; to institute staff; and to all those who maintain the excellent quality of the FPMT in-depth education programs.

“Dear Geshe-las, we thank you for your immense generosity and loving kindness that you have shown us in these years with your advice and teachings,” shared all the students collectively. “Thank you for sending us the pure word of the Buddha. And thank you for your patience, availability, smiles, and laughter. May all your holy wishes be fulfilled immediately and may your lives be long and stable!”

Basic Program graduate Paolo Carta reading thank-you notes from students, Pomaia, Italy, June 2018

Graduate Carlo Lo Conte expresses his gratitude, Pomaia, Italy, June 2018

Graduate Carlo Lo Conte receives his Basic Program Completion Card, Pomaia, Italy, June 2018

“Dear friends, sisters, and brothers of Dharma, it is with immense joy that I want to thank you for the journey that has brought us together so far,” said student Carlo Lo Conte during his expression of gratitude. “A journey that has taught us how the reality conceived from our minds’ sides is illusory, about how it actually works; that has taught us how much our afflictions distort the vision of existence by projecting us into misery and suffering; that has taught us how the causes of suffering can be transformed into causes of happiness if we could only get out of the narrow cage in which we are locked up and project ourselves into a broader mental state where we can meet other beings, their sufferings, and their expectations of happiness ….”

“Dear Geshe-la, one of my first memories of the Basic Program is your reassurance: ‘Do not worry. Listen to me. Eventually, you will understand these texts,’” recalled residential student Ven. Dechen. “At that time, for some of us, nothing seemed further from the truth … You took care of everyone and filled the room with warmth and love … You are the perfect teacher of Bodhicharyavatara; you brought this teaching of Shantideva to life, offering the perfect medicine for ourselves and for others. When we were seized by our confusion and thought we did not understand anything, you continued, patiently planting the seeds for our future understanding. Sometimes when you raised the mirror of Dharma and you showed us our minds, it was not nice, but you were able to accompany us with love and compassion, firmly leading us forward. We are all better people thanks to you.”

Students Andrea Fuser, Elena Vangi, Silvia Persico, Nicola Dagnino, and Luca Morelli offer tsog, Pomaia, Italy, June 2018

“Dear Geshe-la, I’m so sorry I can not be at the closing puja of the Basic Program!” wrote residential student Paul Sala in an email. “It was such a great pleasure for me to listen to your teachings. … You often manifested an ‘extremely radiant facial appearance’ and I was so happy to respond to your smile. Naturally, it was not just the smile. I have often noticed how much attention and care you had for us students, addressing our concerns to be able to grasp its essence, and making sure we could really transform our minds.”

Geshe Tenphel, Pomaia, Italy, June 2018

Immacolata Cabras offering a Dharma wheel to Geshe Tenphel, Pomaia, Italy, June 2018

On behalf of the Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa education coordinator, the Istituto itself, and FPMT Education Services, thanks were offered as well to all the students, who have worked so hard in recent years. To quote Lama Zopa Rinpoche: “Studying Dharma means less ignorance, more wisdom. It means more light in your life, in your mind, no darkness. It means that you have more freedom in your life to achieve liberation from samsara, great enlightenment. The more you understand Dharma, the more you can benefit others, give more light to others, get them to have a deeper and clearer understanding of Dharma.”

Registration is open for the fourth round of the residential and online Basic Program at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, taking place September 2018 through June 2022. Completing individual subjects is also possible. For more information and to register, please visit Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa’s Basic Program 2018-2022.

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, Ladakh, India, July 2014. Photo by Olivier Adam.

On July 6 the world will celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 83rd birthday. Enjoy these many resources available to help celebrate, praise, and learn from His Holiness!

Long Life Prayers

• Prayers for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibet includes all the prayers for His Holiness and Tibet that are found within Essential Buddhist Prayers, such as “Prayers for the Long Life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” the “Prayer that Spontaneously Fulfills all Wishes,” “Remembering the Kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan People,” and a “Prayer for Tibet.”
• “Long Life Prayers for His Holiness Dalai Lama” was composed by the late tutors to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, His Holiness Ling Rinpoche and His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche. Translated by Gelongma Khechog Palmo in Rumtek, Sikkim.

• “Remembering the Kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan People” was composed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche especially for the success of His Holiness’s wishes, and in particular for the Tibetan people, and for there to be perfect peace and happiness in the world and for all sentient beings to achieve enlightenment.
  

Praises and Requests

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

Writings

• The Foundation Store offers a number of books by His Holiness, including his most recent book co-authored with Ven. Thubten Chodron, The Foundation of Buddhist Practice, published by Wisdom Publications.
  
• When His Holiness was nineteen years old, he composed a Chenrezig guru yoga sadhana titled The Inseparability of the Spiritual Master and Avalokiteshvara. The practice includes visualizations that inspire the development of compassion and wisdom and is included in Becoming the Compassion Buddha by Lama Yeshe.

FPMT Education Services wishes His Holiness a very auspicious 83rd birthday and sincerely requests His Holiness to live for a very long time to continue bringing his universal message of compassion to the world.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama explaining a text on the first day of his teachings at the Kalachakra Maidan in Bodhgaya, Bihar, India on January 5, 2018. Photo by Lobsang Tsering, courtesy DalaiLama.com.

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