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Due to the coronavirus pandemic, FPMT International Office paused the publication of several stories we had received from FPMT Centers, Projects, and Services in order to focus on sharing the video teachings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and other stories relevant to the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite the continuation of the COVID-19 crisis, we want to recognize these stories and share them with readers, so we’ve collected them into an abbreviated digest.
We thank all the FPMT centers, projects, and services for all the amazing work they have been doing and continue to do.
Geshe Tenzin Zopa with Kathleen Everett and Jemma Galova, Women’s Healthy Relationships Group at Broome Recovery Centre, Broome, Western Australia, March 2019. Photo by Sandy Faber.
Geshe Tenzin Zopa Welcomed to Broome, Western Australia
Geshe Tenzin Zopa, an FPMT touring teacher, visited the Gyalwa Ensapa Broome Buddhist Study Group, an FPMT study group located in a coastal town in northern Western Australia in March 2019. The week spent together left lasting impressions on everyone involved. Geshe Tenzin Zopa engaged with a variety local of First Nation, health, and community groups, forming connections with people and discussing various topics from a Buddhist psychology perspective.
Broome’s population of 14,500 is a mixture of Indigenous Aboriginal First Nations people along with (due to a history of pearl-hunting in the area) Japanese, Malay, and Indonesian intermixed families, as well as more recent western European arrivals. Geshe Tenzin Zopa’s talks resonated strongly with the many community members who heard him speak.
Sandy Faber, Gyalwa Ensapa Broome Buddhist Study Group coordinator’s shared all of the details of the visit in the recently publihsed online story “Geshe Tenzin Zopa Welcomed to Broome, Western Australia.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ganden Buddhist Meditation Centre students and volunteers, Riga, Latvia, June 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Ganden Buddhist Meditation Centre Welcomed Lama Zopa Rinpoche to Latvia
Latvians stay up all night celebrating midsummer (summer solstice), a tradition maintained even during the Soviet times. Last June, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s visit to Ganden Buddhist Meditation Centre, the FPMT center in Riga, Latvia, coincided with midsummer celebrations. The teachings organized by the center were attended by 150 students, who gathered from all over Europe to hear Rinpoche teaching. Students described the visit as “magical” and the teachings as “magnificent.”
Read more about Rinpoche’s visit to Latvia in “Ganden Buddhist Meditation Centre Welcomed Lama Zopa Rinpoche to Latvia.”
Geshe Gelek at Kadampa Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, US, August 2019. Photo by David Strevel.
Kadampa Center Celebrated Geshe Gelek Chodha
In August 2019, Kadampa Center celebrated their resident teacher Geshe Gelek’s twentieth anniversary at the center. Decorations, delicious Indian food, and Nepalese folk music transformed the center for a joyous afternoon event. In addition to heart-filled speeches and gifts offered to Geshe Gelek by the Tibetan community and Kadampa Center students, center director Robbie Watkins announced the “secret gift” to Geshe-la: the Kadampa Center mortgage had been paid off!
Read the complete story “Kadampa Center Celebrated Geshe Gelek Chodha.”
Heruka Five-Deity Retreat, Myers Flat, Victoria, Australia, October 2019. Photo by Andy Melnic.
Atisha Centre Held a Heruka Five-Deity Retreat Led by Ven. Tenzin Tsapel
Atisha Centre, the FPMT center in Myers Flat, Victoria, Australia, and nearby FPMT monastery Thubten Shedrup Ling held a Heruka Five-Deity retreat from September 21 to October 27, 2019. The retreat was led by Australian FPMT registered teacher Ven. Tenzin Tsapel. The hosting of this retreat fulfilled the holy wishes of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who offered the initiation during the 2018 retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion.
“More than twenty people attended the retreat and not a single session was missed by anyone. The retreat was exceptional and very enjoyable, and everyone appeared to be very happy during and afterwards,” the center reported.
Read more about the retreat in the story, “Atisha Centre Held a Heruka Five-Deity Retreat Led by Ven. Tenzin Tsapel.”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Dr. Renuka Singh, Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre’s 22nd Dharma Celebration at St. Columba’s School, New Delhi, India, November 2019. Photo courtesy of Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama Joined Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre to Celebrate Forty Years
Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre‘s 40th anniversary and 22nd Dharma Celebration was held on November 20, 2019, at St. Columba’s School, New Delhi. His Holiness the Dalai Lama graced the momentous occasion and gave a teaching on “Overcoming Anger and Anxiety” to an audience of 6,740 guests.
“Very large numbers of people lined up for the teaching. I had never seen so many in any of the Dharma Celebrations organized since 1981,” observed Ven. Kabir Saxena, Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre spiritual program coordinator.
“It was particularly satisfying for all of us to be able to fulfill His Holiness’s wish to provide everybody with a copy of Eight Verses for Training the Mind in English and Hindi to benefit one’s mental hygiene,” said Renuka Singh center director.
Read Renuka Singh’s inspired and detailed story “His Holiness the Dalai Lama Joined Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre to Celebrate Forty Years.”
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications 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.