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Root Institute for Wisdom Culture, Bodhgaya, Bihar, India. Photo courtesy of Root Institute for Wisdom Culture.
There are FPMT centers, projects, and services across seven states of India. Deepthy Shekhar, FPMT India national coordinator, shares an update and reasons to rejoice.
Hello everybody! On behalf of the FPMT community in India, it is our wish to provide opportunities and support for practice, learning, and comfort while the world is struggling and in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Unfortunately, public classes in all FPMT centers in India are canceled as India is in a state of lockdown. Our kind teachers are offering their support so that we can continue with our Dharma studies, prayers, and practices. These sessions are available on Zoom, Facebook Live, and YouTube Live.
For students needing to stay at home, the following aids are there from our centers.
Our Online Courses and Practices
Ven. Tenzin Drolma, FPMT resident teacher at Tushita Meditation Centre, in Dharamsala, has already run a very successful two-week free online program, “The Buddhist Path of Training the Mind,” from March 24-April 3, 2020. Tushita offered two sessions each day to accommodate participants in different time zones around the world. The daily sessions combined teachings and meditations with a very popular Q&A so it was very interactive. We had 1,400 people from sixty-six countries sign up and three to four hundred people attended the sessions daily via Zoom.
Ven. Tenzin Drolma has also been leading a two-week online program called “Going Deeper: The Buddhist Path of Training the Mind,” from April 6-17 while in quarantine in Tushita. You are welcome to visit the Tushita Meditation Centre website for more details and to register for the free program.
The venerable IMI Sangha who are currently in Maritika, Nepal, led prayers recommended by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la) at daily 9 A.M. IST prayer sessions called “Virtual Group Practice in Response to COVID-19” from March 27-April 10. These sessions, livestreamed on YouTube, were led by FPMT registered teacher Ven. Tenzin Namjong and the Sangha members there every day. These daily practices were on request by Choe Khor Sum Ling, the FPMT center in Bangalore. Visit the Choe Khor Sum Ling YouTube channel to watch recordings of the livestreams.
Visit these YouTube channels to view recent talks and teachings from our FPMT centers in India: Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre, Tushita Meditation Centre, Choe Khor Sum Ling, and Root Institute for Wisdom Culture.
Tushita Meditation Centre’s website freely offers audio recordings of previous teachings and courses to students who want to immerse themselves in their studies. Choe Khor Sum Ling provides free recordings of teachings and talks by venerable teachers from Sera Jey Monastic University.
Our FPMT India Facebook page has live links and teaching updates from the FPMT centers in India.
In the Community
The FPMT project, Maitri Charitable Trust in Bodhgaya has been working tirelessly, providing essential medical support to local villagers and leprosy patients in and around the center.
Here is a note from their director, Adriana Ferranti, about the realities that they are facing every day:
“MAITRI’s hospitals and the animal shelter have been working regularly, with all grounds staff on duty. They are from the nearest villages and come whether on foot or by bicycle while dodging the patrols. It is more complicated for the staff coming from twenty kilometers (twelve miles) away, and they can manage only when the rules in force have slackened.
“Provisions are a bit of a challenge but ultimately we function almost normally thanks to our usual suppliers and Bihari ingenuity. Unfortunately the out-patient department, mobile clinics, and field activities have stopped.
The supply of rations has ground to a halt with the exception of a few patients from the surrounding villages who reach us on foot. We are very concerned about the milk powder that is vital for the malnourished babies under our treatment. We distribute vitamin C to the staff daily. Everybody has their own mask, which they seem to use only when they leave the center.”
The outbreak of a pandemic is a great reminder of impermanence and the interconnectedness of all beings. It is a great time to retreat into a space of study, contemplation, and meditation on the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. We extend peace and loving-kindness during these uncertain times and offer comfort through these resources.
For more information about FPMT activities in India, visit the FPMT India national office website:
http://fpmtindia.in/
Additional resources, including video teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic”:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.