receive our newsletters
join Friends of FPMT
Thangton Gyalpo Prayerathon, August 2020. Graphic by International Mahayana Institute.
In Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice to Protect Yourself and Others from the Coronavirus, Rinpoche instructs students on practices to counter the virus, including Thangtong Gyalpo’s prayer The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: The Blessed Prayer Known as “Liberating Sakya from Disease.“* The International Mahayana Institute (IMI), FPMT’s community of monks and nuns, is organizing a weekly online Thangtong Gyalpo Prayerathon to recite this prayer, hosted by FPMT center Chenrezig Institute in Eudlo, Queensland, Australia. IMI director Ven. Losang Tendar explains about this special opportunity.
I would like to thank all of you who have contributed to the success of the big Heart Sutrathon on International Sangha Day. We received a lot of positive responses and were able to offer our teachers His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche more than 6,200 recitations of the Heart Sutra.
The great yogi Thangtong Gyalpo, a thangka in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s house, Aptos, California, US, 2020.
Ven. Joan Nicell—who is the Foundational Program Coordinator for FPMT International Office and who lives at Kopan Monastery, where she is currently creating the transcripts for Rinpoche’s thought transformation teachings—told Rinpoche about the Heart Sutrathon. Rinpoche took the opportunity to suggest that we do something similar once a week, reciting The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: The Blessed Prayer Known as “Liberating Sakya from Disease“ until the COVID-19 pandemic declines. Rinpoche suggested Saturday. His main point was that we recite Thangtong Gyalpo’s prayer with OM MANI PADME HUM recitation for a period of twenty-four hours once per week.
The IMI sangha immediately implemented this suggestion, organizing the first full day of prayers on Saturday August 1, 2020.
Everyone—including Dharma centers and individuals—is welcome to join the Thangtong Gyalpo Prayerathon by watching the weekly livestream on the Chenrezig Institute YouTube channel and following along with their own copy of the text. (Download The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: The Blessed Prayer Known as “Liberating Sakya from Disease” in English, French, Italian, or Spanish.)
Thank you in advance for visiting and reciting these prayers and mantras with us on this and many Saturdays to come! I am grateful to everyone who is helping to make this activity a success, especially our guru Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the Chenrezig Institute multimedia team.
*The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: The Blessed Prayer Known as “Liberating Sakya from Disease”comes from the great yogi Thangtong Gyalpo (1385–1464) and is for protecting and healing from diseases and epidemics. Lama Zopa Rinpoche advises that while doing this prayer, students should look at an image of Thangtong Gyalpo. Students can also choose to receive the oral transmission of the prayer from Rinpoche online.
To learn more about the International Mahayana Institute visit the website:
http://imisangha.org
To learn more about Chenrezig Institute visit their website:
https://www.chenrezig.com.au/
For more detailed advice on the practices recommended by Rinpoche and links to Rinpoche’s current thought transformation video teachings, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
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.