Celebrating the LRZTP8 graduates, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India, March 2020. Photo by LRZTP.

Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program (LRZTP), an FPMT project in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India, celebrated the graduation of their most recent cohort of students, LRZTP8, in March 2020. Filip Majkowski, former director, shares the story.

LRZTP8 began on March 13, 2018, with a grand opening ceremony. We welcomed new teachers and team members Dr. Filip Majkowski and Alex García, a graduate of LRZTP7, as well as our students who came from Australia, the United States, Taiwan, Vietnam, Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Israel, Mexico, Poland, and Russia. Most already had some knowledge of the Tibetan language but still considered themselves beginners.

The adventure began with classes in vocabulary and grammar, classical Tibetan, listening comprehension, reading comprehension and drilling, and conversation classes with native Tibetan speakers. Later on in the first year, students began learning and practicing the u-me script. They gradually switched from classes taught in English and Tibetan to classes taught only in Tibetan. Once they had learned the most basic principles of Tibetan grammar and everyday vocabulary they began studying Buddhist words and phrases.

In the second year our great teacher Geshe Tenzin Wangdak began his lamrim classes in Tibetan, completing the full text by the end of the ninth module. (The course was composed of a total of ten modules.) The students learned the basics of drubtha (tenets), dudra (authentic knowledge), studied tantra with Geshe Ngawang from the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, and learned The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva and sem chung (mind factors). They also began learning how to translate and interpret Dharma teachings by studying the theory of interpretation in classes taught by Alex García. Students later paired up to practice interpretation and also translated in front of the whole class.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama with LRZTP 8 students and LRZTP teachers, staff, and other participants, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India, December 2019. Photo courtesy of LRZTP.

Unfortunately the grand graduation ceremony we had planned for March 20 had to be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic and local government restrictions that put limits on the movement and gathering of people. Students received their certificates of completion individually on March 18 after successfully passing their final exams.

We would like to celebrate some of the things that happened during these two years. LRZTP had the privilege of organizing two residential Tibetan language courses for beginners taught by Gen Julia Wilson la, who is also the program’s current director, and Gen Thupten la. Participants came from India, Italy, Germany, Singapore, Russia, Mexico, and South Korea. We also had the privilege of participating in the University of Virginia’s Tibetan language summer course as well as their autumn and spring programs. We also offered private online and in-person Tibetan language classes to students from around the world.

LRZTP’s entire staff and students were blessed with a private audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on December 2, 2019, and had the opportunity to host our precious guru, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, at our school in September 2018.

Now that LRZTP8 has come to a close we would like to thank LRZTP staff members Yaron Bahir, Filip Majkowski, Geshe Tenzin Wangdak, Alex García, Martha Urbina, Thubten la, and Rinku Ram. We would also like to thank FPMT International Office, FPMT India, Khyentse Foundation, Tushita Meditation Centre, University of Virginia, Root Institute for Wisdom Culture, Vikramashila Foundation, Tibet House New Delhi, the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Mr. Sandeep Kakkar. Thank you to our wonderful Board of Trustees: Professor Renuka Singh, Mr. Ranjit Walia, and Mrs. Sadhana Kumar. We also wish to give a big thank you to all of our donors.

We are forever grateful to our wonderful teachers Geshe Tenzin Wangdak, Geshe Ngawang, Filip Majkowski, Alex Garcia, Thubten la, Julia Wilson, and all the Tibetan language tutors. We are forever grateful to the wonderful and invaluable former LRZTP teacher Franziska Oertle, author of the textbook The Heart of Tibetan Language used by our students. Finally we wish to thank all of our students, because without the students there wouldn’t be a school. We wish our graduates all of the best and are thankful for the contributions they will make as Tibetan language and Dharma interpreters, translators, teachers, and researchers.

We are looking forward to LRZTP9, the opportunity to meet new people, and the chance to continue serving our most precious gurus and the Buddhadharma.

For more information about the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program in Dharamsala, India visit their website:
http://www.lrztp.org

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