Kopan monks making light offerings on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, December 10, 2020, Kopan Monastery. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Ganden Ngamchoe, literally “Ganden Offering of the Twenty-Fifth Day,” is also known as Lama Tsongkhapa Day. It is a celebration of the anniversary of the parinirvana of Lama Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), the founder of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. This auspicious and holy day is celebrated on the twenty-fifth day of the tenth month of the Tibetan calendar, which is December 18 this year.

Thangka of Lama Tsongkhapa.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche encourages FPMT students to engage in a variety of practices on Ganden Ngamchoe to celebrate and create merit, including making light offerings. Rinpoche has advised, “Light offering is very important, in particular, by making light offerings you are able to dispel the darkness of ignorance and develop Dharma wisdom. Any light offering can dispel darkness, it doesn’t have to be just a butter lamp. You can offer electric lights and even the sun.”

Many FPMT centers are offering celebrations on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, both on site and online. For students unable to attend a celebration at an FPMT center or join an online celebration, the main practice recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche is Lama Chopa with extensive light offerings if possible. If one is unable to arrange Lama Chopa, Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga is also recommended. In addition, recitation of any or all of the Lama Tsongkhapa-related prayers and texts is encouraged.

Rinpoche has also given detailed advice about practices to do at FPMT centers, projects, and services. Please see the page “Practices for Ganden Ngamchoe, Lama Tsongkhapa Day” for details on these practices. Here are some of the prayers and practices recommended by Rinpoche for a celebration of Lama Tsongkhapa Day, which can also be done by students as they are able:

English

• 1000 Offerings to Lama Tsongkhapa
• 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

Tibetan

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

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. You can also find more practice materials related to Lama Tsongkhapa, including practices in Spanish and other languages, in the Foundation Store.

*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.

You can read more about Lama Tsongkhapa Day and find a full catalogue of FPMT prayers, practices, and advice materials on FPMT.org.

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 great yogi Thangtong Gyalpo, a thangka in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s house, Aptos, California, US.

As many communities worldwide are entering flu season, we wanted to share some practice materials specific to supporting and protecting our health. Here are some available for download through the Foundation Store:

• The Dharani of the Goddess Parnashavari: Parnashavari, or Loma Gyonma in Tibetan, is a goddess of the kriya tantra class whose practice protects from contagious diseases. The deity is relied on to help dispel epidemics. The recitation of this dharani-mantra, together with the short praise and dedication, is simple way to engage in Parnashavari’s practice, for the benefit of oneself and others.
• Loma Gyonma Mantra (audio): This audio features Geshe Gelek Chodha, resident teacher at Kadampa Center, reciting Loma Gyonma (Parnashavari) mantra.
• Loma Gyonma Meditation: The meditation of the Yellow Leaf-Wearing Female Solitary Ascetic (Parnashavari), helps pacify diseases.
• The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: The Blessed Prayer Known as “Liberating Sakya from Disease”: Lama Zopa Rinpoche commented on this practice, “One time in Tibet, an epidemic disease happened in Sakya and so many people died. Then the Bonpos and tantric practitioners, ngagpas, did many pujas but nothing helped. So then, I guess, he made prayers to stop all this epidemic disease in Sakya. Then everything completely stopped after he did this prayer. So this prayer is also good for this epidemic disease [Covid-19] now to stop it. It is good to recite it to stop it in the world.”
• Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo’s Prayers (audio): This album by Lama Zopa Rinpoche features the oral transmission of several of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo’s prayers. Thangtong Gyalpo (1385 – 1464) was not just a great yogi, but a skilled engineer and artist, famous for helping the people of Tibet in very practical ways. He is said to have built 58 iron bridges, 60 wooden bridges, 118 ferry crossings, 120 assembly halls and temples, 111 stupas, and many hundreds of large and small statues, as well as creating innumerable paintings.
• Vajrapani Hayagriva Garuda: The practice of the Three-fold Wrathful One for protection.
• The Arya Wisdom Mantra of Six Syllables: From the text: “The Destroyer Qualified Gone-Beyond One said to the Venerable Ananda: The wisdom mantra of six syllables protects, completely saves, completely protects, and completely guards from being stricken by diseases of the brain, diseases of the eyes, diseases of the ears, diseases of the teeth, diseases of the nose, diseases of the tongue, diseases of the heart, diseases of the stomach, diseases of the back, diseases of the ribs, diseases of the urinary system, diseases of the calves, diseases of the feet, diseases of the limbs, diseases of the secondary limbs, indigestion, swelling, obstructions of the womb; sicknesses that arise from wind, that arise from bile, that arise from phlegm, and those that arise from a combination of these; extremely serious contagious diseases; contagious diseases of one day, two days, three days, and four days; momentary contagious diseases; contagious diseases of the day, and contagious diseases of the night.”
• We also would like to direct students to Medicine Buddha practices and other resources related to healing.

The practices listed above are not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment from a doctor or health care professional. Always contact your health care professional regarding any medical advice. 

FPMT.org brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.

We are happy to share that the popular free book, Lamrim Year, published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, now has a companion website! The free Lamrim Year Companion website is designed to help you access Lamrim Year’s daily meditations wherever you are, from your computer or mobile device. You can sign up today: lamrimyear.com

Lamrim Year is an essential guide for meditators who want to develop their mind in the graduated path to enlightenment (lamrim). This unique study program provides a 365-day outline of the graduated path in a clear, practical format that is suitable for both individual and group practice. The daily quotes and text have been selected from four decades of teachings by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and offer a taste of their teaching style and scope.

When you sign up, the site will help keep track of your progress and bring you to your next day’s meditation each time you return to the site. 

The Lamrim Year Companion site:

• tracks your progress as you go through each lamrim topic
• supports additional study on each lamrim topic by emailing teachings, resource links, and inspiring quotes and images
• provides a digital notepad to record personal notes and insights on each day
• connects you to the full scope of related Lamrim Year resources on the LYWA website

At the end of each section in the lamrim outline you will receive an email with teachings and resources related to the topic you are studying, along with inspiring quotes and images, to help support you in your practice.

Learn more about Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive on their website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php

FPMT.org brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khadro-la doing puja on Lhabab Duchen at Swayambunath, Nepal, October 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lhabab Duchen, one of the four great holy days of the Buddhist calendar, takes place this year on November 15.

Lhabab Duchen celebrates Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s return to Earth from the God Realm of the Thirty-Three after teaching Dharma for several months to the gods, including his mother, Mayadevi, who had died a week after Buddha’s birth and been reborn there. As a merit multiplying day, the karmic results of actions done on this day are multiplied 100 million times. This amazing result is taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Practices for Merit Multiplying Days

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 video series, recorded in May 2020 at Kopan Monastery.
• Reciting the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels

A longer list of recommended practices can be found at “Practices for Merit Multiplying Days and Eclipses.” Find advice for merit-multiplying days in French and practice materials for merit-multiplying days in other languages.

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.

Offerings on Lhabab Duchen

Every merit multiplying day, the Puja Fund sponsors a large number of pujas and practices performed by thousands of sangha. During this Lhabab Duchen, the Puja Fund will offer on behalf of the entire FPMT organization and all students, benefactors, and beings:

• Recitation of the Prajnaparamita Sutra by Gyudmed Tantric College.
• Medicine Buddha puja, Namgyalma long life puja and one thousand offerings to Namgyalma, Druk Chu Ma, and Zangcho by thousands of Sangha at Sera Je, Sera Mey, Gaden Jangtse, Gaden Shartse, Drepung Gomang and Loseling monasteries, and Gyuto Tantric College. 
• Offerings to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to the 10,000 Sangha offering these pujas, as well as those in International Mahayana Institute Sangha communities.
• Offerings of robes to the Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, and saffron and umbrellas to the Boudhanath and Swayambunath stupas in Nepal.

Please join us in rejoicing in all of the meritorious activities happening within the FPMT organization and around the world on this auspicious merit-multiplying day!

Special thanks to the Liberation Prison Project for preparing a Tibetan calendar with information on holy days and other important dates.

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 unveiling the new Liberation Cloth, which has a specified number of mantras that have the power to purify negative karma at the time of death, to students at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, August 13, 2022. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teaching on The Four Causes of Unknowing and the Four Dharmakaya Relic Heart Mantras, given on April 9, 2020, Rinpoche recommended that all FPMT centers, projects, services and study groups have cloths covered with beneficial mantras available to help students, friends, and family at the time of death. In the teaching (page nine of the transcript), Rinpoche discusses the intended use of these cloths, which were not yet created. Thanks to generous help actualizing this project by Ven. Tenzin Drachom, we are now delighted to announce that these Liberation Cloths are now available! 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche displaying the small version of the Liberation Cloth, Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, August 13, 2022. Photo courtesy of ABC FB page.

Printed on the cloth are mantras most useful for the time of death: the short Chenrezig mantra, Heart Mantra of Secret Relic, Lotus Pinnacle of Amoghapāśha Mantra, long and short Namgyalma mantras, mantra of the Sutra of Great Liberation. Rinpoche regularly advises, citing root texts, that covering the body with these mantras purifies negative karma, prevents rebirth in the lower realms and causes the sentient being to be reborn in the upper realms, to meet the Dharma, and to achieve enlightenment.

The cloth should be placed with the mantras face down on the body or away from it and can either be kept on the body during cremation or burial, or removed to be used again. Some use the Liberation Cloth for sick people but it is mainly for the dying and dead. If it is used for the sick, one must make sure it is not slept on, and kept on top of the body.

We invite you to watch this video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche showing the Liberation Cloth while at Kopan Monastery in July 2022 and explaining the benefits of each of the mantras printed on it.

Additionally, at the beginning of Rinpoche’s Thought Transformation Teaching #131: The Purpose of Living Life as a Couple, given on August 13, 2022 at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, Rinpoche discusses the new cloths and the intended uses for the various sizes as well as more details about the various mantras used in the design.  

We invite you to rejoice at the availability of these new Liberation Cloths which will be so useful in assisting those we hold dear at the critical time of death. 

How to Order

• America Region: Order from Land of Medicine Buddha
  
• Pacific Region: Order from Chenrezig Institute
• Singapore: Order from Amitabha Buddhist Centre (for local pickups only)

Information on how to order from other regions is forthcoming and we will keep you informed as new outlets become available. 

Many centers, projects, and services have ordered Liberation Cloths. They should have received them by now so if you ever need a cloth for a dear one at the critical time of death, do check with your local, center, project, or service to see what they have available. 

Additional Resources for Death & Dying

Many of these resources are newly available or recently revised and we highly encourage you to take full advantage of all of this invaluable advice and accessible materials which are so useful for helping others at the time of death, as well as preparing for one’s own death. 

• Helping Yourself and Others Die Happily: Instructions and Practices for the Time of Death
  Lama Zopa Rinpoche asked that the practices found in this booklet be compiled to make it easy for us students to prepare for our own death, and also easy for us to help other people who are dying or dead.
• Liberation Tools to Help the Dying and Deceased
  This resource, previously known as the Liberation Box, is a collection of tools to help the dying and deceased has been assembled according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice. It contains powerful methods for ensuring a fortunate rebirth for those who are in the process of dying or have just died.
• Practicing the Five Powers Near the Time of Death
  As Rinpoche says in Dying Happily with the Five Powers, practicing “the five powers to be applied during life” serves as a preparation for our death. But as the time of our death approaches, we should specifically engage in the practice of “the five powers for near the time of death,” which are what Rinpoche explains in this booklet.
• The Array of Sukhavati Pure Land: A Concise Mahayana Sutra – MP3 Download
  This album contains Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s oral transmission (*lung) of The Array of Sukhavati Pure Land: A Concise Mahayana Sutra, a prayer that came from Buddha Amitabha.
• Holy Objects to Place on the Body at the Time of Death
  Contains four sets of holy objects to be placed on the body of the person or animal that is in the process of dying. Cut out one set and place it face down on the dying or deceased person’s chest. Leave it there until the body needs to be moved or washed. 
• Death & Dying: Practices and Resources homepage
  This robust resource page has numerous essential practices related to the topic of death and dying, additional teachings and advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and community service resources.

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

Dog at a large animal blessing event organized by FPMT center Ganden Tendar Ling, Moscow, September 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Did you know that October 4 is World Animal Day?

The annual tradition was established in 1931, making this year’s celebration the ninety-second official World Animal Day. According to the World Animal Day organizing website, the mission is to “raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe.” The UK-based Naturewatch Foundation has been the annual sponsor and organizer since 2003, and shares that World Animal Day has grown to be celebrated in a wide variety of ways by governments, charities, groups, and individuals, with events now taking place in about 100 countries. 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has expressed that humans are especially called to care for all species of beings, “Where there is a mind, there are feelings such as pain, pleasure, and joy. No sentient being wants pain; instead all want happiness. Since we all share these feelings at some basic level, we as rational human beings have an obligation to contribute in whatever way we can to the happiness of other species and try our best to relieve their fears and sufferings.”

The bodhisattva attitude is to serve others—always having the wish to be useful to sentient beings for their happiness, Lama Zopa Rinpoche continuously reminds us. If we want happiness for ourselves, we should be good human beings, and to be good human beings, we must commit to helping all sentient beings, particularly the most vulnerable among us. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing a cat during his visit to Singapore, July 2022. Photo by Lim Hock Leng.

Animal Liberation Resources Available

There are many ways we can help animals, including rescuing them from untimely death, caring for their health, and helping plant imprints that purify their karma, create merit and become the causes that can ripen their future enlightenment. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained the benefits of the practice of animal liberation, “By doing prayers and chanting powerful mantras for the animals, they receive a higher rebirth and liberation. This practice purifies immediately the oceans of samsaric suffering.”

FPMT Education Services has published a number of prayer and practice resources that are available to engage in animal liberation practice at home, including ebooks and PDFs, a printable liberation bug catcher tool designed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and audio recordings. We invite you to explore these materials below in celebration of World Animal Day:

• Liberating Animals ebook
• Recitations for Animals audio album
• Charity to Ants PDF
• Animal Liberation Tools
• Liberating Animals from the Danger of Death PDF
• Advice page for benefiting animals

Animal Blessings, Liberations, and Rescue

The FPMT Animal Liberation Fund has supported ongoing animal liberations throughout the FPMT organization for many years, including weekly liberations and blessings performed by Sangha at the residences of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The Animal Liberation Fund and has also offered substantial support to projects that rescue and benefit animals like Kopan Monastery’s Animal Liberation Sanctuary, and others. You can read about some of the grants offered this year in support of animal care and rescue from untimely death. 

Rinpoche has also strongly encouraged using the Namgyalma mantra to bless animals and beings living in the water around the world. This is now being done regularly in oceans and lakes in the United States, Singapore, Nepal, and other countries. 

Kopan monk feeding a goat that was rescued from slaughter. Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2021. Photo by Geshe Thubten Chonyi.

Every day around the world millions of animals are killed and mistreated needlessly. As Rinpoche has reminded us, animals cannot speak out against their mistreatment, they cannot protest in the street against their conditions. Animals cannot create much merit on their own, but there are many ways we can help them. However you choose to celebrate World Animal Day on October 4, please rejoice in all the compassionate activities undertaken for the welfare of the sentient beings who, like us, want happiness and do not want suffering. 

All are welcome to contribute to the Animal Liberation Fund to help ensure that our work sponsoring animal liberations around the world continues. 

The FPMT Masters Program (MP) is FPMT’s most advanced education program. Six years of full-time study—combining a comprehensive curriculum with practice, training, service, and month-long retreats—are completed with the integrating experience of a three-month review, essay assignments, and a year-long lamrim retreat.

This program profoundly deepens students’ Dharma knowledge and understanding. It is the actualization of Lama Yeshe’s unique vision for FPMT education; its implementation is greatly enhanced by Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s detailed advice.

FPMT Masters Programs are being offered at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in the Tuscany region of Italy, and at Nalanda Monastery in the South of France. To guarantee their high standard and encourage students to attend onsite, these MPs are now supported by an FPMT Scholarship scheme. Scholarship conditions include a commitment to serve in FPMT centers upon MP completion. 

Entrance to Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy.

MP graduates are confident and capable to become teachers at all levels and enrich all programs and courses offered in FPMT centers.

Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa has decades of experience in developing and implementing the FPMT Basic and Masters Programs. Its inspiring ambiance is further enhanced by the Institute’s beautiful location in the Tuscan countryside. This will be ILTK’s fourth FPMT Masters Program, starting February 2023; it will be offered in English, Italian, and Spanish; residential and online.

Retreat land at Nalanda Monastery, France.

Nalanda Monastery invites lay and ordained students to join their second FPMT Masters Program in February 2024. Their wonderful monastic environment is an excellent support for this in-depth study; the recently acquired retreat land right next to the monastery grounds provides all conditions for retreats that MP students need while their study progresses. Nalanda’s Masters Program will be offered in English and in French, residential and online.

“With student numbers declining and the pandemic decimating residential attendance, to provide what we consider the conditions for a quality MP has become a struggle,” explains Olga Planken, In-Depth Program Coordinator for FPMT Education Services. “To preserve and re-establish the quality of the FPMT Masters Program, we have decided to assist with the hiring of qualified Teaching Assistants and with attracting committed residential students into the program.

“In addition to a high academic standard, the MP needs to provide active student engagement, various training elements, integrated meditation and instruction on how to guide meditation, a variety of retreat experiences, and guidance on how to lead retreats. This is the kind of learning experience that we intend to offer and that we envision will inspire program-long commitment of students, Teaching Assistants, and tutors; and will spark graduates’ interest to serve in centers and in next MPs.

“The FPMT Masters Program scholarship scheme with salary support helps realize these objectives by including student and center requirements that aim at securing this high standard of Dharma education.”

For information about the scholarships, the criteria for eligibility, and the application process, please contact the FPMT Masters Program Scholarship Committee.

You can learn more about the FPMT Masters Programs being offered at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in the Tuscany region of Italy, and at Nalanda Monastery in the South of France.

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

We are pleased to share news about a book that is a unique collaboration between the monks of Sera Jey Monastery Translation Department and Sera IMI House. Just released by Wisdom Publications, Freedom though Correct Knowing; Khedrup Jé’s Interpretation of Dharmakīrti’s Seven Treatise on Valid Cognition is a translation and contemporary explanation of pivotal sections of Khedrup Jé’s most extensive treatise on Buddhist logic and epistemology. Ven. Tenzin Legtsok, who assisted with editing and translation of this book, as well as shaping the final form, shares some background information on how this project came to be. 

In his foreword to the book,  Freedom though Correct Knowing; Khedrup Jé’s Interpretation of Dharmakīrti’s Seven Treatise on Valid Cognition, His Holiness the Dalai Lama traces the historical development of this branch of Buddhist thought from ancient India up to the current work with the observation that:

While one may engage in the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni by means of faith, the ideal way to truly appreciate and embrace the doctrine of the Buddha is through inquiry and critical reasoning. The Buddha himself has said:

Oh, monks and scholars, just as you test gold
By burning, cutting, and rubbing,
So too examine my speech well;
Do not accept it merely out of respect.

The collaboration that has given rise to this work began fourteen years ago when Geshe Tenzin Namdak was asked to start a program at Sera Jey Monastery to educate monks with basic English in English Dharma vocabulary and the skills to do written and oral translations from Tibetan. This project gradually grew into the Sera Je Monastic University Translation Department which now also includes training in translation from Tibetan to Chinese. In subsequent years myself, Tenzin Namjong, and Lobsang Tsondru also served as regular teachers in the program and other monks of Sera IMI House helped with editing and supplementing the translations made for this book. It is a valuable precedent set by the great scholars who labored to translate the Buddhist canon from Sanskrit to Tibetan that interpretations were always made as a collaboration between native speakers of both the source and the target language. We have tried to follow their lead.

Geshe Tenzin Namdak with students from the Sera Jey Monastery Translation Department at Sera IMI House, 2017.

When His Holiness learned of the Translation Department during a visit to Sera Monastery in 2013, He suggested that we translate Khedrup Jé’s Clearing Mental Darkness: An Ornament of Dharmakīrti’s “Seven Treatises on Valid Cognition” (Tshad ma sde bdun gyi rgyan yid kyi mun sel). Seeing that it would be extremely difficult for most English readers to follow parts of this work involving detailed debates between the author and opposing views, Geshe Namdak first identified sections that clearly set out Khedrup Jé’s own positions and some central debates. Next, Geshe Namdak and myself worked for several years with groups of Tibetan speaking monastic translator students making draft translations. Once this was done it became clear that we needed native English speakers to convert the work of different groups of translators into text having uniform style and vocabulary. Also, we deemed that this work would be even more useful to a wider range of readers by supplementing Khedrup Jé’s presentation with explanations of many basic concepts and terms that he assumes readers are conversant with since they are covered in the early years of the Tibetan Buddhist philosophy programs. To develop this content, we requested the assistance of other IMI House monks, especially Venerables Tenzin Namjong, Tenzin Gache, and Dan Frey. With all this content gathered together, Geshe Namdak and myself primarily took responsibility for shaping the book into its final form having smooth progression from topic to topic, a rich glossary, and helpful appendices.

Currently Geshe Namdak is the resident teacher at Jamyang Center in London teaching several extensive  FPMT programs simultaneously including the newly developed Exploring Buddhism. Myself and Tenzin Namjong teach regularly at Choe KhorSum Ling Centre in Bangalore, for Ocean of Compassion Center online, and are engaged in translation and editing work for FPMT Education Services. Tenzin Gache recently published a translation of Kyabje Choden Rinpoche’s instructions on calm abiding and Mahamudra entitled, Mastering Meditation, and is working on a forthcoming translation of instructions on six-session guru yoga. Dan Frey is newly working with Wisdom Publications to help develop their online platform. There are now four junior monks at IMI House engaged in the early years of the Geshe Studies Program and several other Western monks at Sera at various stages of their studies. We hope that more men and women from Western and other countries will also undertake studies and practice at Sera and other traditional Tibetan Buddhist institutions to continue this work while the opportunity still exists.

It is only through the inspiration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama that we dared to embark on such an undertaking, through the guidance of Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Sera IMI House since its inception, and through the inexpressible kindness of our teachers and peers at Sera Jey that this work has been possible. May it bring much benefit.

“Freedom through Correct Knowing presents the core part of Khedrup Jé’s Clearing Mental Darkness, which is famed for its clear and comprehensive analysis of key issues of importance for Buddhist epistemology. Through this book the reader can join Khedrup Jé’s brilliant mind as he engages with important questions of logic and epistemology via a dialogical format that powerfully guides the reader.”
—Thupten Jinpa, founder, Institute of Tibetan Classics; founder, Compassion Institute; translator of major Tibetan works in The Library of Tibetan Classics and author of Tsongkhapa: A Buddha in the Land of Snows

“Serious students of Buddhist philosophy will delight in this translation of Khedrup Jé’s text on valid cognition, carefully and generously supplemented by commentary that draws on other classic Tibetan treatises. The chapter on the four truths is the crowning jewel, providing an elaborate account of how we enter into and free ourselves from cycling in samsara. The six appendices kindly offer a complementary map of important topics touched on but not explained in the root text. This is a beautiful handbook for those desiring a detailed map of the path to awakening and the role different types of mind play in this.”
—Bhiksuni Thubten Chodron, abbess of Sravasti Abbey and author of Buddhism for Beginners

“In the present so-called post-truth era, where misinformation abounds, it is crucial to be able to differentiate between fact and fiction and between valid and invalid ways of knowing something. Freedom through Correct Knowing provides the Buddhist analytical tools needed for this task, as interpreted by two of the greatest Tibetan Gelugpa scholars, Khedrup Jé and his commentator Purbu Chok. To open up the meaning of the technical language of the text, the editors have interspersed clear explanations and have added generous appendices with background material. The translators and editors are to be congratulated on this beautifully written, welcome contribution to our understanding of how the mind works.”
—Dr. Alexander Berzin, founder, studybuddhism.com, a project of the Berzin Archives

To order a hardcopy edition of Freedom though Correct Knowing; Khedrup Jé’s Interpretation of Dharmakīrti’s Seven Treatise on Valid Cognition from Wisdom Publications: https://wisdomexperience.org/product/freedom-through-correct-knowing/

For an ebook version from the FPMT Foundation Store: https://shop.fpmt.org/Freedom-Through-Correct-Knowing-eBook-_p_3739.html

View of Swayambunath, Nepal, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Chokhor Duchen, one of the four annual holy days of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, takes place this year on August 1. 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.

Practice Advice

Specific practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for merit-multiplying 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
• Reciting the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels

In addition, Rinpoche recommends doing Shakyamuni Buddha Puja. A beautiful and deeply inspirational puja, the text was recently reformatted with hyperlinks for smooth navigation so that individuals can easily do the core practice and any additional ones as their time allows. (This puja was performed with Khandro Kunga Bhuma on Vesak Day 2022 at Losang Dragpa Centre in Malaysia with its resident teacher, Geshe Jampa Tsondu, as chant master. You can watch this online, starting at 6:10 in the video.)

A longer list of recommended practices can be found on “Practices for Merit Multiplying Days and Eclipses.” You can also find advice for merit-multiplying days in French and practice materials for merit-multiplying days in other language.

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. 

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.

Celebrate International Sangha Day

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. Donations may also be offered to the International Mahayana Institute, which supports the worldwide FPMT Sangha community.

You can 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.” You can find additional inspiration, encouragement, and advice for Sangha collected online.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with senior teachers and staff from Kopan Monastery and Nunnery, Nepal, November 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Offerings on Chokhor Duchen

Every merit multiplying day, the Puja Fund sponsors a large number of pujas and practices performed by thousands of Sangha. During this Chohkor Duchen, the Puja Fund will offer the following on behalf of the entire FPMT organization and all students, benefactors, and beings:

• Recitation of the Kangyur by Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery
• Recitation of the Prajnaparamita Sutra by Gyudmed Tantric College
• One Thousand Offerings to Namgyalma and Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupa by Sera Lachi Monastery and Gyuto Tantric College
• Medicine Buddha puja and Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupa by Gaden Lachi Monastery
• Namgyalma long life ritual and Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupa by Drepung Lachi Monastery
• Offerings to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to over 10,000 Sangha, including those in International Mahayana Institute Sangha communities
• Offerings of robes to the Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, and saffron and umbrellas to the Boudhanath and Swayambunath stupas in Nepal
• Printing sutras, making stupas and Buddha tsa-tsas, and liberating animals

Please consider joining in these pujas and offerings by supporting the Puja Fund.

Sangha at Kopan Monastery during a long life puja, Nepal, May 2022. Photo by Ven,. Lobsang Sherab.

Let’s rejoice in all of the meritorious activities happening in the FPMT and around the world on this auspicious merit-multiplying day!

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.

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 greeting audience members after the first day of Saka Dawa teachings, Dharamsala, India, June 13, 2022. Photo by Tenzin Choejor, courtesy of DalaiLama.com.

On July 6, 2022, the world celebrates His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 87th 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.

Online Teachings by His Holiness

Over the last two years, His Holiness has been offering regular live online teachings. DalaiLama.com has links to video recordings of online teachings, live web streams, scheduled events, summaries of events, and more.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche watching His Holiness teach on Saka Dawa, Kopan Monastery, June 14, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Prayers and Teachings by His Holiness

On the occasion of His Holiness’ birthday, we are delighted to bring you two new translations of His Holiness’ works. 

• The All-Encompassing Yoga Mind Meditation is a meditation practice on the two types of bodhicitta. His Holiness himself does this practice everyday and urges his Dharma friends to likewise do and put effort into it.  

Known as “the generation of the all-encompassing yoga mind,” the meditation involves generating conventional bodhicitta—the aspiration to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings—with the visualization a moon disc at one’s heart; and ultimate bodhicitta—the wisdom realizing emptiness—with the visualization of a five-pronged white vajra standing on that moon disc.  

Ven. Michael Lozang Yeshe translated this meditation practice from an oral teaching given by His Holiness in June 2021. 

• Staircase to Potala Pure Land Guru Yoga—A Practice of Avalokiteśvara  is a short Chenrezig guru yoga, which references the compassion buddha’s pure land, composed by His Holiness for our ease of practice. Centering on the inseparability of Chenrezig and our own guru, it includes the seven-limb prayer and OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ recitation, and concludes with a request for blessing for us to actualize Chenrezig ourselves in order to benefit all sentient beings.  

Other compositions by His Holiness:

• The Source of All Attainments: The Yoga of the Inseparability of the Guru and Avalokiteshvara—An extensive Chenrezig guru yoga practice
• The All-Pervasive Sphere of Great Bliss, Free of Elaboration: Requesting Activities of Palden Lhamo 

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

Additional Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara) Practice Materials

His Holiness is generally regarded as a manifestation of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara), the buddha of compassion.

Request to the Supreme Compassionate One is a newly revised request prayer to Chenrezig that Lama Zopa Rinpoche finds inspiring and effective. “[This is] a very good prayer, in which you are expressing your mistakes,” Rinpoche explains. “You are trying to practice Dharma with your body, speech, and mind, but when you check, in reality, nothing has become Dharma. Nothing has become pure Dharma because your motivation has always been the eight worldly concerns.” This practice can help you purify heavy negative karma. It also helps you generate compassion for others and be guided by Chenrezig.

To further explore the practice of Chenrezig, visit our website for more information and materials.

FPMT International Office wishes His Holiness a very auspicious 87th 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.

Khandro Kunga Bhuma and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In 2016, Khandro Kunga Bhuma spontaneously composed a long life prayer for Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Khandro-la is consulted every year for advice on practices to clear obstacles for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s good health and long life. That year she advised that all students in all the FPMT centers, projects, and services come together and offer a special long life puja with 100,000 tsog offerings. 

This advice resulted in a beautiful long life puja held March 13, 2016, at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore, which was attended by about 750 students with hundreds, if not thousands, of additional students participating from afar. While Khandro-la was not physically present, the day before the event she composed a long life prayer for Rinpoche, which was offered during the long life puja. 

Recite the Long Life Prayer

The Long Life Prayer for Lama Zopa Rinpoche by Khandro Kunga Bhuma is now available as a PDF in the following language in the Foundation Store:

• A Long Life Prayer for Lama Zopa Rinpoche PDF (English with Tibetan and Tibetan Phonetics)
• Oración para la larga vida de Kyabje Lama Zopa Rimpoché PDF 
• Una preghiera per la lunga vita di Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche PDF 
• Langlebensgebet für Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche PDF 
• A Long Life Prayer for Lama Zopa Rinpoche PDF (Chinese) 
• A Long Life Prayer for Lama Zopa Rinpoche PDF (Tibetan)

Chant the Long Life Prayer

Khandro Kunga Bhuma during long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Two Bhutanese musicians, Pema Samdrup and Pema Lhamo, composed a tune for chanting this special long life prayer. In 2018, audio and video recordings were made of Vens. Thubten Dechen and Gyalten Wangmo during the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa Retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Benidgo, Australia, to help facilitate students learning the tune. 

The Foundation Store offers a downloadable MP3 audio file that includes recordings of the long life prayer chanted by Pema Samdrup and Pema Lhamo, and also Vens. Dechen and Gyalten:

• A Long Life Prayer for Lama Zopa Rinpoche – MP3 Download

These recordings can be played at big retreats during break times or while students are waiting in the gompa. It is also good for students to learn the tunes and use them when offering the prayer.

Find resources to support your practice of refuge, including video teachings from Rinpoche as well as FPMT Education’s practice materials and programs.

The FPMT Foundation Store continues to add new practice materials for FPMT students worldwide. Find all the new arrivals—including new audio downloads, translations, ebooks, and more—by visiting shop.fpmt.org.

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.

Offering room overlooking Boudha Stupa, Nepal, March 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

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 is one of the four great holy days of the Tibetan calendar, each of which celebrates an anniversary of Shakyamuni Buddha’s display of extraordinary powerful deeds for sentient beings’ sake. On these four days, karmic results are multiplied by 100 million, as taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Falling on June 14, 2022 for us this year, it is a day when 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 this special day 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 video series, recorded in May 2020 at Kopan Monastery.
• Reciting the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels

In addition, Rinpoche recommends doing Shakyamuni Buddha Puja. A beautiful and deeply inspirational puja, its extensive seven-limb practice includes an homage to the Buddha that recollects his heroic and compassionate deeds as a bodhisattva in his previous lives. The puja text was recently reformatted, with hyperlinks for smooth navigation, so that individuals can easily do the core practice and any additional ones as their time allows. (This puja was recently performed with Khandro Kunga Bhuma on Vesak Day at Losang Dragpa Centre in Malaysia, with its resident teacher, Geshe Jampa Tsondu, as chant master. You can watch this online, starting at 6:10 in the video.)

A longer list of recommended practices can be found at “Practices for Merit Multiplying Days and Eclipses.” You can also find advice for merit-multiplying days in French and practice materials for merit-multiplying days in other language.

Boudha Stupa at night, Nepal, April 2022. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

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.

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.

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.