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Caption: Group participating in the Asia Regional Consultations at Kopan Monastery. Photo by Kira Dane.
The first of the four regional consultations planned in 2024 to pave the way for the CPMT 2025 meeting took place at Kopan Monastery on April 14-15. Thirty onsite and a dozen online participants joined, representing almost all the centers, projects and services from South Asia and East and South-East Asia, and including eight monks and nuns from Kopan.
Selina Foong, regional coordinator for East and South-East Asia reports.
After seemingly endless regional meetings on Zoom, it felt so right that the first time we met in person again after four long years was at Kopan Monastery… the place where it all began for many of us, and from where ripples of the holy Dharma continue to spread in all directions.
It was a healthy turnout for our regional meeting on April 14 and 15, with all the FPMT East & South-East Asian FPMT centers represented by their respective center directors, Spiritual Program Coordinators, and other key personnel. Those unable to travel to Kopan were equally enthusiastic, joining via Zoom and actively participating in discussions as if they were sitting right next to us in the Kopan Library!
We were thrilled to be joined as well by representatives from South Asia FPMT centers in India and Nepal, including geshes and geshemas from Kopan, during the opening and closing plenary sessions of the meeting, in which Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi and Ven. Roger Kunsang also participated. Together with our meeting facilitators (FPMT board members Karuna Cayton and Dale Davis, and Center Services director Francois Lecointre), this made for a large dynamic group with great camaraderie and family feeling.
The meeting theme was “Advancing our Gurus’ Vision of a World Guided by Compassion & Wisdom” so in between the plenary sessions, we divided into our respective regional groups – ESEA, India. and Nepal – to discuss the way forward for our beloved FPMT organization, progressing on from the FPMT global online survey conducted in early 2024. Rich and fruitful discussions focused on the four main topics: Education, Community Services and Interfaith, Modern Technologies and Communications, and Leadership. Each group was then given the opportunity to present their summaries at the closing plenary session, followed by a delightful buffet lunch in Boudha.
This consultation of the Asian FPMT affiliates from East & South-East Asia, India and Nepal, was the first to be held by FPMT Inc. and International Office, and will be followed by similar consultations in other regions throughout the year which will pave the way for CPMT, due to be held in Kopan Monastery in April 2025. We look forward to it very much. May the unmistaken reincarnation of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche swiftly return!
The second of the four regional consultations planned in 2024 to pave the way for the CPMT 2025 took place in Jamyang London on April 26-28. Forty onsite participants joined, representing centers, projects, and services from a dozen of European countries. We’ll share more detail on this successful event soon. Next regional consultations are planned in Land of Medicine Buddha for affiliates from North and Latin America, September 6-8; and in Atisha Centre for affiliates from Australia and New-Zealand, October 25-28.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.