Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition
The FPMT is an organization devoted to preserving and spreading Mahayana Buddhism worldwide by creating opportunities to listen, reflect, meditate, practice and actualize the unmistaken teachings of the Buddha and based on that experience spreading the Dharma to sentient beings. We provide integrated education through which people’s minds and hearts can be transformed into their highest potential for the benefit of others, inspired by an attitude of universal responsibility and service. We are committed to creating harmonious environments and helping all beings develop their full potential of infinite wisdom and compassion. Our organization is based on the Buddhist tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa of Tibet as taught to us by our founders Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.
Die Stiftung zur Erhaltung der Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) ist eine Organisation, die sich weltweit für die Erhaltung und Verbreitung des Mahayana-Buddhismus einsetzt, indem sie Möglichkeiten schafft, den makellosen Lehren des Buddha zuzuhören, über sie zur reflektieren und zu meditieren und auf der Grundlage dieser Erfahrung das Dharma unter den Lebewesen zu verbreiten.
Wir bieten integrierte Schulungswege an, durch denen der Geist und das Herz der Menschen in ihr höchstes Potential verwandelt werden zum Wohl der anderen – inspiriert durch eine Haltung der universellen Verantwortung und dem Wunsch zu dienen. Wir haben uns verpflichtet, harmonische Umgebungen zu schaffen und allen Wesen zu helfen, ihr volles Potenzial unendlicher Weisheit und grenzenlosen Mitgefühls zu verwirklichen.
Unsere Organisation basiert auf der buddhistischen Tradition von Lama Tsongkhapa von Tibet, so wie sie uns von unseren Gründern Lama Thubten Yeshe und Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche gelehrt wird.
La Fundación para la preservación de la tradición Mahayana (FPMT) es una organización que se dedica a preservar y difundir el budismo Mahayana en todo el mundo, creando oportunidades para escuchar, reflexionar, meditar, practicar y actualizar las enseñanzas inconfundibles de Buda y en base a esa experiencia difundir el Dharma a los seres.
Proporcionamos una educación integrada a través de la cual las mentes y los corazones de las personas se pueden transformar en su mayor potencial para el beneficio de los demás, inspirados por una actitud de responsabilidad y servicio universales. Estamos comprometidos a crear ambientes armoniosos y ayudar a todos los seres a desarrollar todo su potencial de infinita sabiduría y compasión.
Nuestra organización se basa en la tradición budista de Lama Tsongkhapa del Tíbet como nos lo enseñaron nuestros fundadores Lama Thubten Yeshe y Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
A continuación puede ver una lista de los centros y sus páginas web en su lengua preferida.
L’organisation de la FPMT a pour vocation la préservation et la diffusion du bouddhisme du mahayana dans le monde entier. Elle offre l’opportunité d’écouter, de réfléchir, de méditer, de pratiquer et de réaliser les enseignements excellents du Bouddha, pour ensuite transmettre le Dharma à tous les êtres. Nous proposons une formation intégrée grâce à laquelle le cœur et l’esprit de chacun peuvent accomplir leur potentiel le plus élevé pour le bien d’autrui, inspirés par le sens du service et une responsabilité universelle. Nous nous engageons à créer un environnement harmonieux et à aider tous les êtres à épanouir leur potentiel illimité de compassion et de sagesse. Notre organisation s’appuie sur la tradition guéloukpa de Lama Tsongkhapa du Tibet, telle qu’elle a été enseignée par nos fondateurs Lama Thoubtèn Yéshé et Lama Zopa Rinpoché.
L’FPMT è un organizzazione il cui scopo è preservare e diffondere il Buddhismo Mahayana nel mondo, creando occasioni di ascolto, riflessione, meditazione e pratica dei perfetti insegnamenti del Buddha, al fine di attualizzare e diffondere il Dharma fra tutti gli esseri senzienti.
Offriamo un’educazione integrata, che può trasformare la mente e i cuori delle persone nel loro massimo potenziale, per il beneficio di tutti gli esseri, ispirati da un’attitudine di responsabilità universale e di servizio.
Il nostro obiettivo è quello di creare contesti armoniosi e aiutare tutti gli esseri a sviluppare in modo completo le proprie potenzialità di infinita saggezza e compassione.
La nostra organizzazione si basa sulla tradizione buddhista di Lama Tsongkhapa del Tibet, così come ci è stata insegnata dai nostri fondatori Lama Thubten Yeshe e Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Di seguito potete trovare un elenco dei centri e dei loro siti nella lingua da voi prescelta.
“护持大乘法脉基金会”( 英文简称：FPMT。全名：Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) 是一个致力于护持和弘扬大乘佛法的国际佛教组织。我们提供听闻，思维，禅修，修行和实证佛陀无误教法的机会，以便让一切众生都能够享受佛法的指引和滋润。
護持大乘法脈基金會”（ 英文簡稱：FPMT。全名：Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition ）是一個致力於護持和弘揚大乘佛法的國際佛教組織。我們提供聽聞，思維，禪修，修行和實證佛陀無誤教法的機會，以便讓一切眾生都能夠享受佛法的指引和滋潤。
We should train ourselves not to become engrossed in any of the thoughts continuously arising in our mind. Our consciousness is like a vast ocean with plenty of space for thoughts and emotions to swim about and we should not allow our attention to be distracted by any of them.
The Foundation Store is FPMT’s online shop and features a vast selection of Buddhist study and practice materials written or recommended by our lineage gurus. These items include homestudy programs, prayers and practices in PDF or eBook format, materials for children, and other resources to support practitioners.
Items displayed in the shop are made available for Dharma practice and educational purposes, and never for the purpose of profiting from their sale. Please read FPMT Foundation Store Policy Regarding Dharma Items for more information.
FPMT Annual Review 2022: Rejoicing in a Year of Offering the Methods for Peace and Happiness
Welcome! As you will read in the many summaries included in our FPMT Annual Review 2022, we continued to offer access to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s ongoing teachings and advice; kept the international community connected and informed about news and opportunities; offered guidance and structure to FPMT centers, projects, and services; facilitated charitable giving to many beneficial initiatives dedicated to helping others; and disseminated the Dharma to all who wish to receive it. Please join us in this overview of some of our more notable accomplishments as an office and organization this past year.
Advice From Our Spiritual Director
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s profound wisdom has guided the FPMT organization since its inception and his ongoing topical teachings provide the relevant advice we all need to practice Dharma in this modern world. Rinpoche’s message in this year’s annual review focuses on the importance of practicing patience, the method for keeping enemies away and obtaining peace for oneself and others.
Read Rinpoche's Advice
My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling ones,
WE MUST PRACTICE PATIENCE
Practice patience in order to protect our merits
First I want to say that patience is the most important practice to protect one’s merits. Most sentient beings do not know Dharma; they are very far away from Dharma. Then, among the sentient beings who have met Dharma, even if they try to practice it, anger often arises.
Even if they collect merits, because their minds easily come under the control of anger, sooner or later the merits will be destroyed, blown up, by anger. So you must really make effort to protect and not burn all your merits by giving rise to anger.
Without protecting your merits, there is no happiness and you don’t succeed in fulfilling your wishes. You remain continuously in samsara and in the lower realms. Unless you enjoy that, unless what you want is suffering and what you don’t want is happiness, there is only total loss.
Practice patience right now!
I also want to say that it is better to practice patience right now, while you still have an outer enemy who is angry with you or harming you, because that person can die anytime and you can die anytime. Since this is an unbelievably precious opportunity, it is best to practice patience with this person right away, not only so that you yourself can experience all temporary and ultimate happinesses, but also in order to ripen and enlighten all sentient beings.
I want to emphasize this: since just this one time you and the other person have been born human beings, this is an extremely rare opportunity to practice patience.
Therefore, do it right now. Do it right now!
In the morning, make a plan: I am going to practice patience
Every morning when you generate bodhicitta, thinking, “May my life become Dharma and may everything I do become a cause of enlightenment,” at the same time you must make sure to also think, “In this life and today, I’m going to practice patience.” You must motivate like this, otherwise, because your mind is so powerfully habituated with anger, you will miss the precious opportunity to practice patience.
You have to make a plan, a strong decision, so think, “I am going to practice patience.” You have to prepare yourself, just like soldiers in an army prepare themselves before fighting because the important thing for them is to shoot their enemy. You have to be ready, you have to prepare, you have to plan everything well beforehand.
When we understand karma, there is no way we will harm sentient beings
When an action has all four parts complete—the base, motivation, action, and goal—you create karma that has four suffering results.
The first, the ripened-aspect result, is rebirth in the lower realms. Then, when due to a good karma you get reborn as a human being once again, you experience the other three suffering results: the possessed result, experiencing the result similar to the cause, and creating the result similar to the cause.
The second, the possessed result is to have much suffering and danger in your life.
The third, experiencing the result similar to the cause is that others cause you the same suffering that you caused them in a previous life. Therefore, if someone harms you, it is the result of your negative karma of having harmed others in the past.
On the other hand, if in this life somebody helps you, it is the result of having benefitted and helped others in the past. This is experiencing the result similar to the cause. Whether you get helped or harmed by others, it always comes from your own mind.
Therefore, it is most important to always practice awareness of karma in your life. That will help you not get angry, and it will also help you practice patience with others, because you won’t see any reason to get angry with them.
And fourth, the other result you experience in the human realm is creating the result similar to the cause. Because of your habituation from the past with the negative karma of harming others, it happens again and again. In other words, you do the same thing again—you harm others as you did in the past.
Due to this habituation with past negative karma, you continue to create the same negative karma on and on. You do this as long as you don’t purify and change your mind from creating heavy negative karma into creating good karma, that is, into helping and benefiting others, instead of causing them harm.
There are five paths: the path of merit, the path of preparation, the right-seeing path, the path of meditation, and the path of no more learning. When you achieve the patience level of the path of preparation, it is definite that you won’t be reborn again in the lower realms, which is the result of past negative karma. But until you achieve that, creating the result similar to the cause goes on and on, making your samsara endless.
That is the most terrifying thing about karma—it makes your samsara without end. If you practice awareness of this, there is no way for you to harm sentient beings back, because you have been doing this from beginningless samsara and due to it have experienced oceans of suffering.
The person who harms you is your holy guru
Now I will explain how to practice patience. The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation says:
Even if someone whom I have benefited
And in whom I have great expectations
Gives me extremely unreasonable harm,
I will practice looking at them as my holy guru.
When you benefit someone, you have great expectations that they will not harm you and will only help you. But even if that person harms you extremely badly by doing something that you are not worthy of or by doing something unreasonable, you should practice looking at them as your holy guru, not just “as your guru.”
By practicing patience with someone who gets angry with you, who harms you with their body, speech, and mind, who blames you for something that you didn’t do, who beats you, or who even kills you, you are able to complete the paramita of patience.
By training your mind in patience, gradually you have no more anger. Once you have no anger within you, you have no outer enemies in the world. This is because once your real enemy, the anger inside you, is destroyed, it is as if you destroyed the numberless enemies outside.
On the other hand, without destroying your inner enemy, no matter how much you try to destroy your outer enemies through harming them, they only increase.
As Shantideva says in the Bodhicharyavatara (v. 5.13):
Although there is not enough leather
To cover the whole earth.
If you have a small piece of leather underneath your shoes,
It is like all the earth is covered with leather.
The person who harms you is unbelievably kind
We can think of the unbelievable, most unbelievable, most unbelievable, most unbelievable kindness of the enemy in rising anger towards you and harming you, as that gives you the opportunity to practice patience. That person is incredibly positive, incredibly healing; they are enlightening you. It is unbelievable.
By thinking of them as positive, that they are unbelievably kind, you put the label “positive” and “so good” on them, and then you only see them as most positive and good. By doing that, you don’t see them as bad or as harming you, so anger doesn’t arise. If you don’t label them as “bad,” “harmful,” or “enemy,” you don’t see them in that way, as His Holiness often says when going through the benefits of bodhicitta.
On the other hand, if out of self-cherishing, you label the person as “harming me,” as “bad,” then you see bad, and then you get angry. In dependence upon the label “bad” or “harming me,” you get angry, and then you create negative karma by harming them back.
The person who harms you is unbelievably precious
The next thing is that when other sentient beings call you their enemy, get angry with you, and harm you, if, from your side, you practice patience, anger doesn’t arise. Then you don’t see them as your enemy, and instead you see them as most precious and kind.
By practicing the paramita of patience with them, you overcome your delusions, both gross and subtle, and achieve enlightenment, buddhahood. So that person is giving you enlightenment. If you practice patience, that person gives you enlightenment, the total cessation of obscurations and the completion of realizations.
Then when you achieve enlightenment, you can liberate the numberless sentient beings from the lower realms, the hell, hungry ghost, and animal realms.
Not only that, you can liberate the numberless sentient beings from samsara, which is only in the nature of suffering.
Not only that, you can liberate the numberless sentient beings from the lower nirvana, which is liberation from samsara.
Not only that, you can bring the numberless sentient beings to the peerless happiness of full enlightenment, the total cessation of obscurations and the completion of realizations.
So you can see now how that person is—wow, wow, wow!—most unbelievably precious, most unbelievably precious, most unbelievably precious, most unbelievably precious, most unbelievably precious: five times! They are most unbelievably precious and kind, wow, wow, wow, five times!
Skies filled with diamonds, and even skies filled with wish-granting jewels, can’t compare to how precious they are.
The person who harms you is more valuable than skies of wish-granting jewels
It is said in a text that the Buddha’s relics make their way to the ocean and after a long time become wish-granting jewels. When those who have unbelievable merits, such as bodhisattvas and wheel-turning kings, find one, they clean it and put it on top of a banner on the fifteenth day of the month. Then, they make prayers and whatever material things they want or need in this life get materialized, such as however many jet airplanes or ships they want.
But even if these things are numberless and fill the whole sky, it is nothing. From them you don’t get even the benefit that you can save sentient beings from the lower realms. Just by having those material things, and even by having numberless wish-granting jewels, you don’t get the benefit of you yourself becoming free from the lower realms—you don’t get even that very first benefit. And don’t get all those other benefits from just having the material things that come from wish-granting jewels filling the whole sky.
Therefore, it is nothing.
Even if you have skies of wish-granting jewels, it is nothing compared to the value the person you call “enemy” has when you see them as being most precious and most kind. Even the words “most precious” and “most kind” cannot describe the kindness you receive from that so-called enemy.
When you practice patience you have no outer enemies
If you try to cover the whole earth with leather, you won’t be able to find enough leather to do that. But if you have a small bit of leather on the soles of your shoes, wherever you go, thorns won’t go through them, so it is like the whole earth is covered with leather. Like “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” practicing patience keeps enemies away. In other words, if you practice patience, because anger is no longer there, there are no outer enemies harming you at all. This is very clear.
Nowadays His Holiness often mentions this verse from Bodhicharyavatara (v. 3.34) when talking about the benefits of bodhicitta:
Today in the presence of all the refuges, [the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha],
I invite all the transmigratory beings to be my guests
In happiness up to the gone-to-bliss state.
Devas, non-devas, and so forth, be happy!
“Transmigratory beings” are the beings who are running on the path of samsara, even though they wish to enjoy happiness and, especially, to abide in the supreme happiness that is buddhahood—the total cessation of all the obscurations, both gross and subtle, and the completion of all realizations. To make them happy, you invite all sentient beings to be your guests and to be satisfied in happiness by your bringing them to enlightenment.
Nowadays His Holiness often recites this verse wishing everyone to be happy. His Holiness says he doesn’t see any sentient being harming him. This is the attitude of a bodhisattva, one who has bodhicitta.
By destroying your anger you give others peace
You give others unbelievable peace by destroying your enemy, anger. You cause unbelievable peace and happiness to the world and to the numberless sentient beings. Then, from life to life, you bring peace and happiness to the numberless sentient beings in the six realms. In addition, you bring them to enlightenment.
Dedicate your merits immediately
Many sentient beings, even though they try to practice Dharma, don’t have a complete understanding of the importance of dedication. In other words, they don’t know everything there is to know about how to practice Dharma.
Without dedicating your merits to achieve enlightenment in order to enlighten all sentient beings, no matter how much merit you collect—for however many days, however many weeks, however many months, however many years—they will get destroyed when you don’t control your anger, when you don’t practice patience.
The best thing is, whenever you do a practice and collect merits, immediately dedicate the merits. Whatever merits you collected, whether you made charity to a beggar or offerings to the Guru, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, immediately dedicate the merits.
Otherwise, if you wait until nighttime to dedicate all your merits, it can happen that in the daytime anger arises uncontrollably and destroys all the merits you collected when you made the effort to make your actions become holy Dharma.
My way of dedicating merits
Now I will explain my way of dedicating merits. Of course, “my way” doesn’t mean that it only comes from me. It comes from my gurus’ blessings; not the gurus in the world, but my own gurus, those with whom I have a Dharma connection.
I dedicate like this: “Due to all the past, present, and future merits collected by me, all the three-time merits collected by the numberless sentient beings, and all the three-time merits collected by the numberless buddhas. . .”
Thinking in that way makes your merits unbelievably powerful. If, for example, you collect one dollar from one million people, even though what each person gives is not big, it’s a small thing, just one dollar, but with one million dollars you can accomplish a big project.
Like that, here you don’t dedicate only the merits you collected by doing a particular practice, but you include all the merits you have collected from beginningless rebirths, those you are collecting in the present, and those you will collect in the future, and then you add the three-time merits collected by the numberless sentient beings and the three-time merits collected by numberless buddhas.
Then think, “May I achieve buddhahood and then lead all sentient beings to that buddhahood by myself alone.”
By dedicating merits in this way—all your merits, past, present, and future, then all sentient beings’ three-time merits, and then all the buddhas’ three-time merits—your dedication becomes unbelievably powerful because there are numberless sentient beings and numberless buddhas. Wow, wow, wow! That is my way of dedicating.
Seal the merits with emptiness
Without sealing the merits with emptiness, if anger or heresy arise later on, the merits become weaker. As Kyabje Phabongkha Rinpoche explained, when many rocks are taken away from a mountain by trucks, the mountain is still there but it is weaker. Like that, without sealing the merits with emptiness, they are still there but they are weaker than before you gave rise to anger or heresy.
To seal your merits with emptiness, think: “Due to all the past, present, and future merits collected by me, all the three-time merits collected by numberless sentient beings, and all the three-time merits collected by numberless buddhas, which exist in mere name…”
Here you put all those merits, which exist in mere name, together. When you think precisely about “exist in mere name,” it means nothing exists from its own side, or nothing is there on its base. It is there, but nothing is there on the base, on its base.
Then, “May the I, who exists in mere name, achieve buddhahood, which exists in mere name, and lead all the sentient beings, who exist in mere name, to that buddhahood, which exists in mere name, by myself alone, who exists in mere name.”
While dedicating like that, it is very important to meditate precisely on emptiness according to the words of the dedication.
If you can’t bear suffering, you must get rid of your anger
In Bodhicharyavatara, the great bodhisattva Shantideva taught the most unbelievable technique for getting rid of anger. So please concentrate on this. Bodhicharyavatara (v. 6.73) says:
If I can’t bear even
Just this present suffering,
Why don’t I avert anger,
The cause of hell suffering?
This is incredible logic. It is unbelievable. It means that if you can’t bear, if you can’t stand, this present suffering—for example, just some bad words—and get angry, this becomes the cause of your hell suffering.
Therefore, why not put all your effort into getting rid of anger, the cause of your hell suffering?
That’s all. Thank you very much. Goodbye. I want all of you to become the most famous people in the world for practicing patience. I want you to be the directors of patience in the world and also the directors of patience in the six realms.
This letter was originally given as advice to a center director in 2022 and Lama Zopa Rinpoche wanted it shared with everyone. It was transcribed by Ven. Joan Nicell, and edited by Ven. Robina Courtin for inclusion in this year’s Annual Review.
February-March 2008
MAITREYA PROJECT
As some readers will already know, several articles which were critical of Maitreya Project have recently appeared in the media (although not in Mandala magazine!). Even though they contained errors and were misleading, they were widely distributed and picked up by websites and online blogs. We understand that it is easy for a project of this size and scope to be misunderstood. The Project is happy to have this opportunity to respond in order to set the record straight.
By Linda Gatter
Maitreya Project has been accused of acting irresponsibly for not negotiating directly with landowners in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh (the proposed site for the Maitreya statue), and for supposedly allowing the state government to purchase land from poor farmers without adequate care and compensation. The reports claim the Project is allowing this to happen even though Indian officials have a reputation for corruption. Further, some claim that Maitreya Project is acting from a motivation of arrogance and spiritual materialism. They call for the immediate end of the Project.
These accusations assume that corruption and opportunism will prevail. They assume that if one cares for social justice and human rights it is impossible to work with India’s governments. They also assume that large scale development in areas of poverty will bring benefit only to those who already have money and those who are willing to make a fast buck at the expense of humanity.
These accusations reflect a cynicism that is endemic in the 21st century. And certainly, such cynicism is understandable; it’s based on the aggression and corruption that is reported in the news every day, from every corner of the world. But let’s step back and take another look. If we fall into the trap of assuming that we either cannot or must not work with governments, and that all large-scale monuments are based on arrogance, we seriously limit what we can accomplish. …
Our CEO, Ven. Roger Kunsang, has once again offered a rare glimpse into life on the road with Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Of course, for the last three years, the “road” has looked much different than the past with Rinpoche staying at Kopan Monastery primarily rather than the endless traveling for teachings. Please enjoy this intimate message from Ven. Roger.
Read Venerable Roger's Welcome
Dear Friends,
We are still alive! Another year gone, what have we achieved? Since COVID Rinpoche has spent nearly all of his time at Kopan Monastery, such a big change from always being on the road, a very different lifestyle.
And during that time I can see quite a change here. Rinpoche participating in the monastery and nunnery over these last three years has created change in the monks and nuns in many different ways. For the last 50 years, especially in the last 36 years up to the pandemic, it has been a very hectic lifestyle on the road, nonstop teachings and initiations. In that time Rinpoche spent very little time in Kopan, just stopping off to give the one-month meditation course, then on the road again. Because of this the monks and nuns had little time with Rinpoche. Now it’s very different and Rinpoche has influenced life here very much! The connection has grown very strong: the way pujas are done, the light offerings, beautiful signs both in English and Tibetan reminding us of Dharma including quotes by Shantideva and others. Rinpoche is really at home here … of course, it is his home! I expect Rinpoche in the future will spend more time at Kopan than before, yet still through the internet, reach so many people with his profound experiential style of teachings, striking the heart of the self-cherishing mind.
International Office—Rinpoche’s Office—is going through change. We are searching for ways to be more connected with you and better able to offer service. We are developing new education programs and thinking more about the future in different ways. Please take a little time to enjoy our 2022 Annual Review … and rejoice!
Be cool, be kind.
roger
Message From Our Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors brings to their work a broad range of professional skills, backgrounds, and FPMT organizational experience. Paula de Wys, who serves as the chair of the FPMT Board of Directors, shares this update on the work of the Board in 2022 and what they hope to accomplish in the coming year.
Letter from our Board Chair
The FPMT Inc. Board of Directors meeting with the 104th Gaden Tripa Rinpoche (top left), with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Dale Davis (bottom left), Ven. Roger Kunsang, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, Paula de Wys, and Karuna Cayton. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Although this letter is meant to be a reflection on what the FPMT Inc. Board of Directors has done in 2022 I feel that it is so significant that it is being written at the place where the FPMT began, at Kopan Monastery in Nepal, that I would first like to say a few words about this special place and our meeting here.
The Board has just spent almost a week at our first face-to-face meeting since the three newest members came on two years ago; our previous meetings were held via Zoom which is wonderful in some ways, but meeting in person has many important advantages; especially when it’s at Kopan!
Kopan is located on top of a hill in Kathmandu Valley, a few kilometers from the famous stupa in Boudha and is at the heart of the FPMT—is the heart of the FPMT! It was here around 1970 that Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche began teaching Westerners, where, in 1972, the lamas opened their doors to 25 Tibetan and Sherpa youngsters and their teachers and just a few years later the ‘FPMT’ as an organization was conceived.
To say that much has changed since then would be an understatement. The green rice paddies all around Kopan have disappeared and have been replaced by thousands of houses and shops. The number of monks at Kopan is now around 400 and the Kopan Nunnery (Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery), located nearby on the road to Boudha, houses and educates 360 nuns. The education presently provided in both is from a grade school level through to the higher philosophical and tantric studies. Countless buildings and stupas have been constructed (tastefully and practically) and, most importantly of all, the essence of what our lamas envisioned for Kopan—holding the responsibility of helping to preserve the Mahayana tradition, or the Nalanda tradition as it is known, exemplified by the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama—is a living reality.
People from all over the world come here to learn and meditate and many of the monks and nuns from Kopan go out to FPMT centers internationally to provide teaching and inspiration. The Board felt very fortunate to be here, and to be part of this amazing mandala. Our meeting was informal but effective and in some sessions, we also had the privilege of hearing from some of the great teachers of our time including Ganden Tri Rinpoche, Khandro Kunga Bhuma (Khandro-la), and Lama Zopa Rinpoche; who generously gave of their time and expertise to advise us on some important issues.
As I wrote last year, a priority of the Board is to look toward the future of the FPMT organization; this remains an essential aspect of our work. In the past year, we allocated quite a lot of discussions to looking at the present structure of the organization and obtained advice from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and, of course, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, on possible improvements to the organization. We have also had many discussions on various aspects of safeguarding, like (non)compliance and the necessity of training for both laypeople and ordained sangha (Tibetan and non-Tibetan).
The inception this past year of a legal team to advise us on issues like possible policy amendments is definitely felt as a positive step. Their expertise is essential in the present, complicated world of today.
In looking at these and other issues, the Board is sincerely grateful for the invaluable help of the team at the International Office including, but not limited to, providing accurate financial information and advice in these uncertain times.
Although held at the beginning of the new year, 2023, the Board meeting at Kopan felt like a fitting conclusion to our work in 2022. We hope to continue in this positive vein and be able to fulfill the wishes of our teachers in being of benefit to all sentient beings and bringing an end to all suffering.
Paula de Wys
Chairperson,
FPMT Board of Directors
Who We Are & What We Do
The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) is devoted to preserving and spreading Mahayana Buddhism worldwide by creating opportunities to listen, reflect, meditate, practice, and actualize the unmistaken teachings of the Buddha, and based on that experience, spread the Dharma to sentient beings. Every organization has its own distinctive culture, and in FPMT centers, projects, and services, reflected in policies, charitable giving, and education programs, FPMT “Wisdom Culture” remains at the heart of all our activity.
FPMT, Inc. is a nonprofit Buddhist organization incorporated in the State of California, US. There are 144 centers, projects, study groups, and services around the world that have entered into or are in the process of entering into affiliation agreements with FPMT, Inc. Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Office, or FPMT International Office, is based in Portland, Oregon, US, and provides the necessary framework for all FPMT activity; develops and delivers high quality education programs and materials; maintains several primary channels for communication; manages charitable projects key to FPMT’s mission; coordinates communication between Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the larger organization; and provides support to FPMT centers, projects, and services.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at the fifty-third Kopan lamrim meditation course, Nepal, December 9, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Activities in 2022
Lama Zopa Rinpoche spent 2022 in Nepal, Singapore, and India. We invite you to rejoice in the ways Rinpoche beneficially used every moment of 2022 for sentient beings.
Practices for Rinpoche's Health and Long Life
Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong offered by the Kopan monks for Rinpoche’s long life, March 2, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lhundrup Topgye .
Every year Ven. Roger Kunsang, on behalf of the FPMT organization, consults Khandro Kunga Bhuma to determine what practices should be done to help create the conditions for Lama Zopa Rinpoche to have a long life and good health for the coming year. Khandro-la also advises throughout the year on various prayers or practices which are most beneficial given particular conditions. Following this advice, many meritorious practices were completed by individuals and groups and dedicated to our most precious spiritual director. Here are just a few examples:
2,934,089 Tara mantras, 265,046 Praises to the Twenty-One Taras, 1,184,097 Vajrasattva mantras, 12,230 Recitations of Guru Rinpoche prayers (Sampa Lhundrupma and Barchey Lamsel), thousands of refuge and bodhicitta prayers, and many other practices were completed by FPMT students and centers.
An all-day Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong, was offered by the Kopan Lama Gyupas and senior monks and nuns of Kopan on February 27, March 2, and June 24.
17,417 pounds of cockles were liberated for Rinpoche’s health by Ven. Drachom at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore.
17 goats were liberated in Bodhgaya.
Three separate long life deity thangkas were painted and consecrated in one day in July 2022.
Painting for the three main stupas in Kathmandu was offered in July 2022.
One horse and ten sheep were liberated in Mongolia in July 2022.
Three long life pujas were offered to Rinpoche on behalf of the entire FPMT organization in 2022. Details of those follow in the tab “Long Life Pujas & Celebrations.”
Long Life Pujas & Celebrations
Long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on behalf of the entire FPMT organization, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 21, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
A long life puja is a ceremonial long life offering to the spiritual teacher. This practice is done to request the spiritual teacher to live a long life for the preservation of the Buddhist teachings and the happiness of all living beings. The tradition of offering the long life puja allows individuals to accumulate merit through sincere respect and devotion toward the guru, to create the cause for the guru to live long, and to help Buddha’s teachings proliferate. This year, Rinpoche was offered four long life pujas as well as a joyful birthday celebration in honor of Rinpoche’s life.
A long life puja was offered on behalf of the entire FPMT organization to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, on March 11. The puja was a joyful occasion that included lama and Sherpa dances in the courtyard and a picnic. Kopan Abbot Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, Yangsi Rinpoche, Losang Namgyal Rinpoche, Rigsel Rinpoche, Kopan monks and nuns, and many others were in attendance.
On September 11, a few days before Rinpoche’s departure from Singapore, Amitabha Buddhist Centre offered a beautiful long life puja for Rinpoche in thanks for the precious teachings Rinpoche offered during his three-month stay in Singapore.
On October 14, a long life puja and “Expression of Gratitude” award was offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Sera Je Monastery. This special event was to honor Rinpoche for the many decades of support Rinpoche has shown to the monastery, including the 25+ year accomplishment of the Sera Je Food Fund, which is now a full endowment covering the monastery’s yearly food expenses for over 2,000 Sangha.
On Rinpoche’s birthday, December 3, the Kopan community, joined by monks and nuns, locals, and November Course participants, offered a Sixteen Arhats long-life puja to Rinpoche, and organized a joyous celebration for FPMT’s spiritual director. The events included many performances of song, traditional Tibetan dances, and prayers. FPMT centers, projects, and services around the world also held their own celebrations and offerings for this special occasion.
A long life puja was offered by the entire FPMT organization to Rinpoche on December 21, at Kopan Monastery. This puja was offered in accordance with the advice of Khandro Kunga Bhuma (Khandro-la), and is part of a collection of practices offered for Rinpoche’s health and the well-being of the entire FPMT organization.
Teachings and Advice
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at the fifty-third November Course at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Rinpoche continued to offer teachings this year, ranging in topic from romantic relationships to emptiness. We shared these teachings via livestream, as published videos on YouTube, and we also wrote summaries of these teachings to share with our subscribers and social media followers through our daily blog and provided structured transcripts of Rinpoche’s words.
On February 25, Rinpoche offered timely advice regarding practices to reduce the war in Ukraine and to help stop violence and suffering. Rinpoche also arranged a number of powerful pujas, such as controlling fire pujas, wrathful fire pujas, and Drugchuma (Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupa).
The Western Sangha Are the Real Heroes, is a teaching Rinpoche offered at the beginning of a three-month course on the Vinaya being held at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, March 7.
On April 6 Rinpoche offered a Milarepa initiation and teachings to a small group of senior Kopan monks, senior Khachoe Ghakyil Ling nuns, Western sangha, and some lay students. We shared publicly the teaching that Rinpoche offered prior to the initiation. A full transcript of this teaching is also available.
Rinpoche gave four teachings to students attending the 2022 Vajrasattva retreat at Kopan Monastery: an introductory teaching on March 30 and three subsequent teachings on April 26-28.
Rinpoche offered teachings on refuge to a group of Chinese and Malaysian students via Zoom from Kopan Monastery in June. Anyone with faith is permitted to use these videos to learn all about and take refuge.
Rinpoche began teaching at Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) in Singapore in August. While at ABC, Rinpoche offered numerous teachings on thought transformation and as continuation of teachings offered to Russian students.
On October 17, Rinpoche began teaching in Tibetan on lojong and offered advice to Sera Je Drati Khangtsen after paying a visit to the monastery’s newly renovated main office. The next day, October 18, Rinpoche began offering teachings in Tibetan on The Foundation of all Good Qualities by Lama Tsongkhapa at Sera Je Tsawa Khangtsen.
On December 7, Rinpoche began teaching at the November Course and offered sixteen teachings through December 25, concluding with a jenang (permission to practice) of Vajrasattva. Rinpoche offered course participants a refuge ceremony on December 23.
Rinpoche authored a book in Nepali, titled The Effects of Smoking and Living a Healthy and Happy Life. Kopan Nunnery hosted a public book release, which drew over 600 guests, including dignitaries such as Mr. Gagan K. Thapa from the Nepali Parliament’s House of Representatives. Music was offered by renowned singers Raju Lama and Ani Choying Drolma during the event. This book is a mixture of life advice and also details the harms of smoking tobacco, citing Padmasambhava’s advice, as well as modern science.
Book release of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new book in Nepal called: The Effects of Smoking and Living a Healthy and Happy life. With Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi and Mr. Gagan K. Thapa from the Nepali Parliament’s House of Representatives, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 24, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Offering Prayers & Pujas
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and Kopan sangha offering incense puja on the hill at Kopan Monastery on the third day of Losar, March 5, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Rinpoche fills every moment with service to others and is often found engaged in prayers, pujas, blessings, offerings and other highly beneficial activities according to the needs of the beings, conditions, and environment around him. Here is a glimpse into some of the practices Rinpoche offered in 2022.
While at Kopan, Rinpoche offered sur practice occasionally at night at Kopan Monastery in front of the 1,000 Buddha altar on the roof of Kopan’s main gompa.
In addition to many auspicious activities at Kopan Monastery on Losar, on the third day of Losar, Rinpoche led incense puja with Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi and senior Kopan monks on Kopan Hill, where they made strong prayers for all beings and to remove obstacles and bring success.
Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and Kopan monks offered Palden Lhamo puja to start the new year auspiciously on March 3.
On April 2, Rinpoche attended a long life puja for Khandro-la.
Rinpoche joined Yamantaka sadhana recitation with Kopan Lama Gyupas and Geshe Rinchen for the benefit of all beings and to remove all obstacles in April and also in December after the passing of Rizong Rinpoche.
A Tara puja was offered at the special Tara Temple in Kathmandu in April with Geshe Tenzin Zopa, Geshe Thubten Sherab, and the Kopan monks and nuns.
Palden Lhamo Puja was done with Khandro-la and Kopan Sangha twice in May.
Rinpoche offered Lama Chopa Puja at Kopan Monastery on the occasion of Khyongla Rato Rinpoche passing away on May 24.
On the merit-multiplying day of Saka Dawa, celebrated on June 13 this year, Rinpoche filled every moment with the opportunity to be as beneficial as possible. Rinpoche attended a teaching with His Holiness via Zoom, attended tsog at Namgyal Jyangchub Choeling Monastery, turning two prayer wheels at once, with 3 trillion mantras in each (these prayer wheels are also turned daily). He also blessed water and Vaseline with mantras, for those who are sick and continued writing out the Prajnaparamita sutra late into the night.
Following Rinpoche’s discharge from the hospital in Singapore after a medical procedure in August, Rinpoche joined the ABC community in Singapore for their special celebration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 87th birthday with puja. Prior to the puja Rinpoche shared, “So thank you very much. Due to all your prayers I’m feeling better. The operation was like a short sleep. I fell asleep, then finished! It was very efficient.”
Rinpoche also offered Heruka Five-deity and Heruka Body Mandala initiations while at ABC and led a Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong as well as a Lama Chopa puja for Chokhor Duchen on August 1.
Rinpoche spent time at Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamsala, from October 30 to November 5 where Rinpoche led Lama Chopa tsog with 102 students and visitors in attendance, protector prayers, and prayers to Ksitigarbha.
His Eminence the 102nd Ganden Tripa Rigzong Rinpoche passed away at the age of 95 on December 8, 2022. Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and the Kopan Lama Gyupa offered Yamantaka self-initiation at news of the passing of this great lama, who was one of Rinpoche’s gurus.
A Sixteen Arhats long life puja was offered for Rinpoche at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery on December 15, prior to a celebration honoring eight nuns who completed their Geshema degrees in 2019 and 2022.
This year Lama Tsongkhapa Day fell on December 18. The day started at Kopan Monastery with a 1,000 Offerings to Maitreya Buddha puja offered by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and all of the sangha at Kopan. After a lunch for more than 35 IMI sangha members, Rinpoche led everyone around the Guhyasamaja sand mandala in the Lama Gyupa gompa, explaining the incredible benefits you get just from seeing the mandala. All of the sangha at Kopan then offered a heartfelt and powerful Heruka Lama Chopa with extensive light offerings made outside.
On December 22, Rinpoche led Chod tsog at Boudhanath stupa with Yangsi Rinpoche, a few nuns from Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, and Umze Geshe Sherab from Kopan Monastery.
Among many ongoing practices, Lama Chopa tsog, Wealth Vase puja, and Guhyasamaja self-initiation were offered at Kopan Monastery while Rinpoche was there.
Attending Teachings and Lungs
Lama Zopa Rinpoche receiving oral transmissions from Geshe Thupten Rinchen at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, May 3, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
In addition to offering teachings, Rinpoche was able to receive some very precious teachings and oral transmissions this year.
Rinpoche had requested precious oral transmissions (lungs) from Geshe Thubten Rinchen—a great hidden yogi and the main teacher of Sera Mey and Tashi Lhunpo monasteries—several times for the benefit of the Kopan community. From April 15-May 9, 2022, Geshe Rinchen fulfilled Rinpoche’s request and several hundred Kopan monks and nuns, as well as a few others from various locations, received the lungs which were a transmission of parts of the five great texts that are the curriculum of Sera Je Monastery and some of the other great monasteries.
Beginning on September 22 through October 12, at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, Bylakuppe, India, Rinpoche, along with over 1,000 ordained Sangha, including high lamas, received a number of initiations and commentary from Togden Rinpoche. The teaching event started with the Thirteen-Deity Yamantaka, Guhyasamaja, Heruka, and Heruka Body Mandala initiations. Togden Rinpoche then offered the oral transmission and commentary of The Harbor of the Ocean of Great Bliss, a commentary of the creation and completion stages of Heruka practice in the Ghantapa lineage, that had been given by His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche, one of the tutors to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in 1975. Togden Rinpoche received the teaching at that time directly from H.H. Trijang Rinpoche. Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently sponsored the publication of that commentary in Tibetan. During the same time in late September, Rinpoche also attended teachings given in the afternoon by Jhado Rinpoche at Tashi Lhunpo on The Three Pith Instructions. Rinpoche was very happy to sponsor both of these precious teaching events. This included making offerings every day to the 1,000 Sangha in attendance, offering three meals a day to all, plus offering tea and bread during the teachings. Due to the kindness of two generous benefactors, Rinpoche was able to cover all the costs of sponsorship for these most valuable events.
On October 2, Rinpoche received teachings online from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, on chapter two of Dharmakirti’s Commentary on Valid Cognition, a teaching that was offered by His Holiness at the request of a group of Taiwanese Buddhists.
On December 27, Rinpoche left Nepal for Bodhgaya to attend teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Kalachakra Teaching Ground in Bodhgaya, India. His Holiness began on December 29, offering a two-day teaching on Nagarjuna’s Commentary on Bodhicitta. On December 31, His Holiness conferred a jenang blessing of the Twenty-one Taras. On January 1, a long life puja was offered to His Holiness by the Gelug International Foundation, the organization representing the entire Geluk Tradition, at the Kalachakra Teaching Ground, in the place of the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Important Meetings, Ordinations, & Travels
Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave ordination over two days, with explanation, to 45 new nuns at Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal, November, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lhundrup Topgye.
Rinpoche makes the most use of his time traveling to meet with important individuals, visit holy places, bless projects he is sponsoring, and offer ordination to those who have requested it.
At the beginning of the new year, Rinpoche traveled to Patan, which is now the third largest city in Nepal, located just south of Kathmandu. There Rinpoche and Khandro Kunga Bhuma (Khandro-la) consecrated and offered prayers in front of three of what are known as the “Ashoka Stupas.” While in Kathmandu, Rinpoche and Khandro-la also offered prayers and pujas. Later in January at Kopan Monastery, Rinpoche met with Geshe Jampa Tsundue, resident teacher of Lobsang Dragpa Centre, Malaysia.
Rinpoche met the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission of the Ministry of Education in February. They spoke about many subjects, such as the Mount Everest School at Kopan Monastery, education within monasteries, Dharma education, as well as secular education focusing on compassion and kindness.
Rinpoche attended the inauguration of Maya Daya Clinic, located at the foot of Kopan Hill on March 5 with Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi. Rinpoche offered a statue of Buddha for the front of Karuna Hospital and also designed the beautiful image of Shakyamuni Buddha with mantras that you can see below in the photo. Please read more about this amazing project.
In March, Rinpoche met with Lama Ngawang Chokyab, a Nyingma lama and disciple of Trulshik Rinpoche, at Kopan Monastery. Rinpoche also met with Serkong Dorje Chang at his monastery in Swayambhunath.
Rinpoche ordained new Sangha at Kopan Monastery more than once.
Rinpoche offered a mandala at the inauguration of a new building for the Nepal Buddhist Gelug Association on June 8.
Rinpoche met with Telo Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery on May 9 and with the incarnation of Trulshik Rinpoche on May 16.
In May a group of Russian neuroscientists spent time at Kopan Monastery conducting studies on the monks with respect to meditation and brain waves. Rinpoche met and spoke with them as well.
Rinpoche offered ordination to nuns at Kachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery (Kopan Nunnery), Nepal, more than once.
Rinpoche visited the Karuna Hospital in June and offered advice on death and dying to the staff.
During his trip to South India, Rinpoche met with a number of leaders and high lamas from the great monasteries in the region.
On September 21, Rinpoche met with the current throne-holder of the Gelug lineage, His Eminence the 104th Ganden Tripa Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche. Earlier Rinpoche met with Sera Mey Abbott Khen Rinpoche Geshe Tashi Tsering, the former longtime resident teacher at FPMT-affiliate Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London, England. On September 23, Rinpoche visited with Khenchen Pema Sherab from Namdroling Monastery.
In October, Rinpoche met with the abbott of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, Khen Rinpoche Tehor Zeekgyab Tulku, and on another occasion, Oser Rinpoche. Rinpoche also had visits with the present reincarnations of three of his teachers, Choden Rinpoche, Domo Rinpoche, and Ribur Rinpoche.
On November 2, 2022, Rinpoche, accompanied by Ven. Roger Kunsang, Geshe Ngawang Sangye, Ven. Tendar, and Ven. Topgye; had a private audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in His Holiness’s residence in Dharamsala, India. Ven. Roger commented about the meeting, “From the time His Holiness came into the room, His Holiness showed the aspect of being very pleased with Rinpoche and taking time with the meeting, very happy. Everything was very comfortable and easy. His Holiness was really making clear His Holiness’s appreciation for Rinpoche’s activities for the benefit of sentient beings. This was the mood of the meeting.” During the meeting, His Holiness thanked Rinpoche for bringing Buddha’s teachings to the West, and accepted Rinpoche’s request that FPMT offer His Holiness a long life puja. You can read more details about this auspicious event.
On November 14, Rinpoche arrived at Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery in Bigu, Nepal. Rinpoche led an opening ceremony for their new gompa with Drukpa Rinpoche, offered Amitayus initiation, Vajrayogini initiation, and ordination for forty-five new nuns.
Holy Objects
As Rinpoche has taught extensively, the presence of holy objects in the world makes it so easy for sentient beings to purify their heavy negative karma and create extensive merit. Here are a few of the notable holy objects Rinpoche offered support to in 2022:
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the Gyudmed monks at the planting of a juniper tree for the consecration of the 45 ft stupa built at Rabagayling Tibetan Settlement in Hunsur, India, October 14, 2022. Photo courtesy of Gyudmed Tantric Monastery.
Rinpoche greeted a new 3.5-foot (1-meter) tall Dzambhala statue, which arrived at Kopan in January. Rinpoche personally welcomed the statue with prostrations, a five-colored khata offering, a mandala offering, and tsog. Rinpoche wrote a special letter to Dzambhala with prayers and requests for the organization and all beings, and offered this letter of requests to Dzambhala.
Rinpoche continued to write out the 8,000 verse Prajnaparamita Sutra in pure gold. Under Rinpoche’s guidance several students have been writing out the Prajnaparamita on archival quality rainbow paper, including Ven. Tsering, who is now based at Kopan Monastery and is writing out volumes from the 12,000 verse Prajnaparamita, with Ven. Gelek as well as Jane Seidlitz in United States.
In South India, Rinpoche was joined by the Gyudmed Monastery abbot and monks at Rabgayling Tibetan Settlement, Hunsur, on October 16 to consecrate the beautiful forty-two foot stupa that Rinpoche sponsored for elders in the home at the settlement. Rinpoche offered a teaching to the local population on the benefits of reciting mantras, seeing stupas, and circumambulating holy objects.
Rinpoche made many trips to Swayambhunath and Boudha stupas, offering teachings, prayers, and khatas with others.
Blessing Beings
Lama Zopa Rinpoche blesses a turtle and rabbit, reciting to them the Foundation of All Good Qualities, New Delhi, India, November 6, 2022. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s expansive care for all sentient beings is legendary. Everywhere Rinpoche travels, it is likely he will find an opportunity to bless the most vulnerable among us including the smallest creatures such as ants and insects; land animals such as dogs, goats, and horses; and water creatures abiding in the lakes and rivers. Below are some examples of Rinpoche’s compassionate care for these beings:
Rinpoche offered a teaching on July 8, 2022 from Bedok Jetty, a popular fishing and walking pier, in Singapore. In this intimate video, Rinpoche shares prayers and mantras which are most beneficial for blessing beings in the ocean. Rinpoche stresses that these practices are not only beneficial to the beings abiding in the water, but are also enjoyable for us to offer. We are also so happy to share this new booklet from FPMT Education Services, “Blessing Animals in the Ocean” which is based on the instructions from Rinpoche on this meaningful practice. This practice can be done on sentient beings living in any body of water including oceans, lakes, ponds, rivers, etc. Rinpoche blessed the ocean while in Singapore multiple time in various locations.
In March, while Rinpoche was on the way to Boudha stupa, he passed two goats outside a butcher, which were going to be killed. Rinpoche bought the goats immediately (and they will live their lives at the Animal Liberation Sanctuary). Rinpoche then spent time reciting mantras and blessing the very lucky goats. Rinpoche also liberated 12 goats in Bodhgaya, and these goats now live at Root Institute.
Rinpoche recited mantras and lamrim prayers to the dogs of Osel Labrang at Sera Je Monastery in October; and while in Delhi in November, Rinpoche recited “The Foundation of all Good Qualities” as a blessing for a turtle and a rabbit and then touched the texts to their heads.
Students at Root Institute’s Maitreya School, Bodhgaya, India, holding the shoes Lama Zopa Rinpoche sponsored for them all when he was visiting.
Our Charitable Work
FPMT International Office’s Charitable Projects benefit others in the most extensive ways possible. In 2022, an incredible US$4,251,041 was offered to initiatives including: support to ordained Sangha, investing in the main teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition; providing essential support and health care to the elderly, children, and disadvantaged in India, Nepal, and Mongolia; sponsoring holy objects such as statues, stupas, and prayer wheels; and offering continuous prayers and practices for the success and benefit of the entire FPMT organization and all beings.
Please join us in rejoicing in how the Charitable Projects, on behalf of the entire organization, have been working to actualize compassion in a tangible way. Our ability to offer this support is due to the generosity of so many people. Thank you for your incredible kindness.
Highlights of 2022
Schools
Students of Ngari Institute, Ladakh, India.
The Social Services Fund and Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund offered support to seven different schools in Nepal and India that benefit thousands of students! In 2022, we offered an amazing US$220,947 to these educational institutions. These grants covered the entire operating budgets of the following schools in India and Nepal:
Maitreya School, Bodhgaya, India, which provides free schooling for 233 students.
Ngari Institute, Ladakh, India, provides education for 83 students. The grant given covers all the food for the students and staff for the year.
Sangag Dechholing Gonpa School, Tapeljung, Nepal, offers a free education with Buddhist classes for 105 students.
Sagarmatha Secondary School in Chailsa, Nepal, offers a free education with Buddhist classes for 170 students. The grant covered all the salaries for the teachers for the year, as well uniforms, and all school supplies.
Rolwaling Sangag Choling Monastery School, Nepal, offers a free education with Buddhist classes for 32 students.
Sera Je School, Sera Je Monastery, India, is a free school for all the young monks of Sera Je Monastery. The grant was offered for the ongoing costs of the school.
Samtenling Monastery in Boudhanath, Nepal, provides education for 104 students. We were happy to provide the final grant for the new four-story school building. This enables the students to now have a classroom for the first time.
Sera Je School, Sera Je Monastery, India, is a free school for all the young monks of Sera Je Monastery. A grant was offered for the ongoing costs of the school.
Elders
The Social Services Fund offered support to hundreds of Tibetans living in nine homes for the elderly in India. In 2022, we offered an incredible US$239,415 in grants for the entire or partial operational expenses of each of these elderly home in India and Nepal, each of which are within Tibetan settlements:
An elder from Doeguling Home for Elderly and Disabled, Mundgod, India.
Jampaling Elders’ Home, Dharamsala, India, provides food, shelter, and medical services to 73 residents.
Lugsam Samduling Home for the Aged and Disabled, Bylakuppe, India, looks after 35 residents living in extremely modest conditions.
Dhondenling Old People Home, Kollegal, India that cares for 32 elderly Tibetan residents.
Old Age Home, Kalimpong, India is home to 31 elders.
Old People’s Home Odisha Phuntsokling Settlement, Orissa, India takes care of 15 Tibetan elders.
Rabgayling Old Age Home, Hunsur, India is a modest eldercare home that serves 20 residents.
Doeguling Home for Elderly and Disabled, Mundgod, India, provides care for 63 elderly residents. In addition to covering the shortfall of the budget, an additional grant was given to the corpus fund, which is already contributing to the sustainability of the home.
Chauntra Dhonden Old People’s Home, Bir, India, cares for 24 elders and support was provided for their building infrastructure.
Dhonden Old People’s Home, Chauntra, India, cares for 21 elders. Support was given for the homes renovation and the purchase of an overhead water tank and supplemental nutrition support for the elders.
Tsering Elderly Home, Nepal, is home to 30 elders, and support was offered for supplemental nutrition and medical expenses.
In addition, Lama Zopa Rinpoche personally consecrated the magnificent 42-foot stupa that is close to Rabgayling Old Aged Home in Hunsur, India. This stupa was sponsored and built so the elders can easily generate merit by circumambulating it.
Poor & Vulnerable
Lamp of the Path, Mongolia, offers a soup kitchen to those in need.
Shakyamuni Clinic, Bodhgaya, India, is a medical clinic that offers help to those most in need in Bodhgaya and surrounding areas.
MAITRI Charitable Trust, Bodhgaya, India, helps the sick, especially those with leprosy and tuberculosis by offering mobile clinics and care to mothers and children, and also cares for animals in need.
Lamp of the Path, Mongolia, offers a soup kitchen with free food, free medical support in a health clinic, and educational programs centering around the epidemic of alcoholism.
Patient Care Trust, an NGO operating in India, facilitates access to quality healthcare and organizes free medical camps with partner hospitals. This project is able to provide timely access to affordable quality healthcare for the socially marginalized Tibetan Refugees.
Sera Je Health Care, India, provides medical care for the monks of Sera Je Monastery. This grant enabled the monks to receive oxygen tanks, vaccines, and other medical supplies needed.
Pali and Sanskrit Cultural Exchange Centre. A grant was offered for support of this project.
Sangha
Kagyu nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal.
The Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund offers support to nunneries and monasteries around the world. In 2022, an incredible US$1,442,880 was offered to support the precious Sangha with food, accommodation, education, practice support, and medical expenses. Some highlights of the grants given include:
Gyudmed Tantric Monastery, Mysore, India, for the creation of a new food fund for the 575 monks, which will cover all the future costs of food for the monastery. Rinpoche has been personally offering much of the grants, as well as working hard to raise the rest of the funds needed. Rinpoche feels strongly that there is incredible benefit to establishing this food fund and long-term endowment. To date over US$1,000,000 has been given to the monastery for this purpose.
Shalu Monastery, Himachal Pradesh, India, for the annual costs of food for the 50 monks who study there.
Thame Monastery, Nepal, for the annual costs of food for the 22 monks who study there.
Idgaa Choizinling Monastery, Mongolia, for the annual cost of food for the 60 monks who study there.
Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, a Kagyu nunnery in Nepal, for the sponsorship of the 80 nuns’ food and medical expenses during the time of their 100 million mani retreat. Over Lhabab Duchen (November 14-20) Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited the nunnery and blessed the newly opened gompa. Rinpoche also bestowed a two-day ordination to forty-five new nuns and offered Vajrayogini and Amitayus long life initiations.
From the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, grants were given for monthly stipends and annual offerings to all the main teachers of the main Gelug monasteries, the past and current abbots, as well as sponsorship of the annual winter debate and Geluk Exams.
Grants were given for sponsorship and support to various IMI Sangha through the Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund which supports the non-Himalayan Sangha of FPMT.
Prayers & Practice
Monks of Sera Je Monastery engaged in puja.
The power of prayer is extremely powerful in actualizing the path, overcoming obstacles, healing, and creating merit. The Puja Fund and other funds arrange and sponsor continual prayers for all within the FPMT organization and all beings. In 2022, US$355,946 was offered toward these activities, including offering to thousands of Sangha who undertake the practices. Highlights of the many auspicious actions sponsored include:
Ongoing pujas and prayers, including the recitation of sutras by ten thousand Sangha on the merit multiplying Buddha days, as well 100,000 recitations of the Twenty-one Taras, recitations of the Kangyur, and recitations of Prajnaparamita sutras.
Monthly extensive Medicine Buddha pujas, Most Secret Hayagriva extensive tsog offering, and many other practices.
Pujas were arranged and sponsored for the health and long life of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, as well as for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Many extensive pujas and prayers were performed for those affected by the pandemic; to prevent impending wars or disharmonies; for the animals killed during the Darsain festival and turkeys killed for the Thanksgiving holiday; and prayers, pujas, and sponsorship of tsa-tsa creation was offered for those who died.
Monthly offerings were made to some of the most precious holy objects in India and Nepal, including robes to the Buddha statue in Bodhgaya, India; fresh paint and umbrellas to the Swayambunath and Boudhanath stupas in Nepal; and when possible to the Jowo statue in Tibet.
Continual light and extensive water and light offerings were sponsored, with extensive prayers, around the world.
The Protecting the Environment and Living Beings Fund arranged specific pujas and monthly recitations of precious sutras, such as the Golden Light Sutra; and Guhyasamaja Root Tantra for the protection of the world and disasters caused by the elements.
Through the Practice and Retreat Fund, individuals at Institut Vajra Yogini, France, were sponsored to undertake an incredible seven months retreat of 108 nyung na retreats, now in its eleventh consecutive year.
The Prajnaparamita Project now has three people writing the Prajnaparamita Sutra (8,000 and 12,000 verses) in Tibetan script, with perfect calligraphy and in pure gold. Each person is working on a different volume, and the writing is happening continuously.
Holy Objects
Due to the power of the holy objects, one can purify negativities and create merit simply by making contact with them. The Holy Objects Fund, Stupa Fund, Prayer Wheel Fund, and Prajnaparamita Project, among others, provide the support needed to create holy objects around the world. In 2022, US$78,546 was offered toward many holy objects, including:
Dzambhala statue sponsored at Kopan Monastery, Nepal.
Kalachakra statue (7 ft) and small house for statue in Lawudo Retreat Center, Nepal.
Dzambhala statue (3.5 ft) at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in front of which daily offerings and prayers are being made.
Ganapati statue (7 ft) for Kopan Monastery, Nepal.
The Stupa Fund offered a grant toward the 100,000 Stupa Project at Land of Medicine Buddha, US, as well as sponsorship of thousands of stupas and tsa-tsas being made for those who pass away, as well as other tsa-tsas for those who are sick.
The Prayer Wheel Fund offered a grant toward a prayer wheel (9 ft) that has been built close to the house where Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born in Thame, Solu Khumbu, Nepal.
Bodhichitta Fund
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s endless capacity for benefiting others is demonstrated by all the beneficial projects that he has initiated. Rinpoche generously offers support to a variety of social and charitable activities; to monasteries, nunneries, and Sangha around the world; to FPMT centers, projects, and services; and for prayers, practices, pujas, and much, much more.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Singapore, July 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund enables Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others to flourish, and this year was an incredible year for giving. In 2022, US$1,112,003 was offered through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund. These grants were offered toward many beneficial projects, activities, and individuals including:
A new food fund and long-term endowment for Gyudmed Tantric Monastery, Hunsur, India.
A new debate courtyard at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, India and sponsorship of printed texts.
The building of the Namgyal Jyangchub Choeling Gompa in Boudhanath, Nepal.
The cost of all the electricity for the year at Kopan Monastery and Kopan Nunnery, including all the light offerings.
A retreat house for one of Rinpoche’s gurus and a number of others who are undertaking serious retreats.
A number of Sangha who are offering service to the organization.
The Dharma education of a number of young incarnate lamas who are studying in the great monasteries in India.
Animals
Horses at a sanctuary in Italy that provides a safe place to live and blessings for former race horses which would otherwise be killed.
Taking care of all sentient beings, including insects and animals, is a high priority for Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Rinpoche continually reminds us not only to refrain from harming any being, but to also create the causes for the animals to receive imprints of Dharma by taking them around holy objects and reciting mantras and sutras to them. In 2022, US$20,030 was offered directly to benefit animals. Some highlights include:
Through the Animal Liberation Fund in 2022, approximately 71,020 animals were liberated and blessed at Kachoe Dechen Ling and Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, US.
An annual grant was given toward the operating costs of the Animal Liberation Sanctuary in Nepal, which provides ongoing shelter and care for animals that have been rescued.
Support was given for medical care for Bodhichitta the horse in Italy, who had previously been saved.
Support toward a small animal sanctuary in France.
Saving of many goats in Nepal which otherwise would be going to the butchers for slaughter. Most of the goats were saved personally by Rinpoche and Rinpoche spent significant time reciting mantras to each animal.
Sangha in Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, continued the weekly animal liberation practice Charity to Ants and when possible blessed the beings in different lakes with mantras and blessed water.
Education & Preservation
Students of Visva-Bharati University, Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies, proudly displaying Bengali translation of the Heart Sutra.
Support was given to a geshe studying at Harvard University in the UK.
Offerings for work on developing new educational programs and other educational activities.
Offerings of support to a number of FPMT centers, services and projects to support a wide range of Dharma activities.
View Financial Charts for 2022 Charitable Project Grants
The table and chart outline the direct grants of US$4,251,041¹ during 2022 to FPMT’s Charitable Projects.
¹ The disbursement figures do not include expenses for administration fees and credit card merchant fees and are inclusive of some interfund disbursements, which will be subject to audit adjustments during our annual independent financial review.
² Bodhichitta Fund disbursements includes offerings to various monasteries and projects in India and Nepal of $881,608, donation to FPMT centers and projects of $81,170, offerings and sponsorship of holy objects of $24,320 and sponsorship of Tibetan and Western Sangha, offering practices for the organization and care of our Spiritual Director of $124,905.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with vajra and bell offering puja.
Study & Practice Resources
FPMT Education Services offers a wide range of programs and materials to support introductory to advanced Buddhist study and practice. This includes our FPMT Education Programs, available in FPMT centers and online; our prayers and practice materials, offered in digital formats; and our translations of key Buddhist texts, created by translators and editors around the world.
FPMT Education Services would like to extend huge thanks to all our online elders and assessors, who skillfully respond to comments in our online forums and painstakingly review student assessments and points for reflection. They provide the personal human touch that continues to make these online programs work so well.
Programs
FPMT Basic Program graduation at Nalanda Monastery, France, 2022.
Introductory and Foundational Programs Two new courses were rolled out to address the changing needs of our FPMT family. The Introduction to Mindfulness course presents the practice of mindfulness from our Gelug perspective, offering an unique combination of observation and analytical reflection, supported by mindfulness, in aid of the development of wisdom. The 14-session new course on Introduction to Discovering Buddhism is a concise exploration of the important Buddhist concepts for newcomers to Buddhism and serves as a primer for our standard Discovering Buddhism program. A new webpage on Shared Resources for Discovering Buddhism was launched to provide a platform for hosting relevant information to support the teachers and students of the DB program.
In-Depth Programs
Four centers completed the FPMT Basic Program (BP) this year. After five years of study, students from Nalanda Monastery and Centre Kalachakra in France; Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy; and Dorje Chang Institute in New Zealand held their three-month BP reviews and final exams at the FPMT Online Learning Center, facilitated by FPMT Education Services. All participants passed the exam. Several graduates have already registered as FPMT teachers, while others support their local BP as coordinators and teaching assistants, or plan to continue their studies in the FPMT Masters Program.
For the FPMT Masters Program (MP), a scholarship scheme designed by FPMT Education Services aims at strengthening the residential MP and safeguarding its quality. A total of ten residential students receive a scholarship. In addition, a Teaching Assistant for each of our two MPs will be sponsored.
Online Learning FPMT Basic Program Online (BPOL) added Seventy Topics, taught by Ven. Sangye Khadro at Thubten Norbu Ling, New Mexico, US. As a supplementary BPOL subject this course is available free of charge.
Translations & Materials
FPMT Education materials are essential resources for our students worldwide. In addition to creating new materials, we regularly review and update existing items under the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and to be aligned with the highest academic standards. Being an international organization of Tibetan Buddhism, we also provide translations of materials into various languages, which is essential for the success of our students and the preservation of our lineage.
New Publications in 2022
Publications composed, arranged, or translated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche include:
Offerings to the Boudha Stupa
1000 Offerings to the Victorious One Invincible Savior, Maitreya
Sur Ritual
Name Mantra that Multiplies Virtue by A Hundred Thousand
Benefits of Two Name Mantras
Prayer and Mantra of Marici for Important Work
Recognizing the Clear Light of Sleep Mantra and Commentary
King of Naga Lords
Mantra of Akashagarbha for Success
The Norbu Zangpo Zung
The Exalted Mahayana Sutra Called “Pacifer of Black Court cases
The Exalted Zung Called “Eliminating Obscurations”
The Exalted Zung Called “Thoroughly Pacifying Hatred”
Blessing the Animals in the Ocean
Seven-Line Invocation to Guru Rinpoche
Prayer to Guru Rinpoche Eliminating Obstacles and Accomplishing Wishes
Practices for dispelling obstacles for travel and other activities, recommended and translated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
Dharani Which Accomplishes All Aims
A Ritual to Perform When Undertaking Activities on Inauspicious Days
Dispelling Darkness of the Ten Directions, Chogchu Munsel
New and updated materials on how to benefit the sick and dying from Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
Amitabha Pure Land Prayers
Helping Yourself and Others Die Happily
Practicing the Five Powers Near the Time of Death, Includes Advice for Making Your Possessions Most Beneficial
Medicine Buddha puja: Wish-Fulfilling Jewel
A Very Short Medicine Buddha Practice
Liberation Tools to Help the Dying and Deceased
Additional Practices to Benefit the Dead
Holy Objects to Place on the Body
A collection of prayers to Chenrezig
A Song to Recall the Kindness of Father and Mother Sentient Beings Combined with the Mani Mantra
The Advice of Jangchub O
Request to the Supreme Compassionate One
FPMT Translation Services has taken on translations of several long sutras on the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Out of these, two sutras which will be published in 2023 are:
The All-Expansive Great Liberation Sutra, translated by Ven. Gyalten Lekden
The Kshitigarbha Ten Wheels Mahayana Sutra, translated by Gavin Kilty
Work continues on several other major translation projects, including the translations of all three versions of the Golden Light Sutra and Changkya Rolpai Dorje’s pilgrimage guide to Mt. Wutai.
New Practices by His Holiness the Dalai Lama:
Staircase to Potala Pure Land Guru Yoga—a brief guru yoga practice of Chenrezig composed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The All-Encompassing Yoga Mind—an essential meditation practice on the two types of bodhicitta is one which His Holiness the Dalai Lama does daily, and urges others to do as well.
New Translations in 2022
The Way to Perform an Extremely Abbreviated Command Ritual
The Melody of the Wings of Dancing Bees: A Vajrayogini Tsog Song
Milarepa Verse for Images
Milarepa’s Hymn
Excellent Path to Omniscience: A Daily Practice of Milarepa
The Dharani of Goddess Parnashavari
The Dharani Called ”Possessing the Attributes of All the Buddhas”
Spontaneously Accomplishing Desired Aims: An Abbreviated Way to Perform the Meditation-Recitation of Eleven-Faced Chenrezig
Updates and Revisions
We also reviewed and edited old translations against the original Tibetan source texts, and/or checked and transliterated our collection of mantras in practice booklets.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s composition and translations:
A Daily Meditation on Shakyamuni Buddha
Flower Offering Practice
Flower Offering Name Mantra
Liberating Animals from the Dangers of Death
How to Make My Lives Wish-Fulfilling (Previously called The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness)
Meditation on Kurukulla
Amitayus Long Life Sutra
Updates on some essential practices:
Heruka Five Deities
Yoga of Three Purifications
Nyung Nä – A Method of Practicing the Great Compassionate One According to the Instructions of Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Kunrig Mantra
Special FPMT Dedication Prayers
Shakyamuni Buddha Puja
1000 Offerings to Lama Tsongkhapa
Wisdom Culture Series
The Power of Mantra by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the second book of the Wisdom Culture Series, was released in February 2022. The third instalment of the series, The Swift Path by Panchen Lozang Yeshe, is due to be published in April 2023. The Wisdom Culture series is published by Wisdom Publications in association with the FPMT under the guidance of Lama Zopa Rinpoche to make available key works for the study and cultivation of the Mahayana Buddhist path, especially works of masters within the lineage of Lama Tsongkhapa and the Geluk tradition.
Distribution
The Foundation Store is FPMT’s online shop with a vast collection of Buddhist study and practice materials written or recommended by our lineage gurus.
Items in the Foundation Store are made available for Dharma practice and educational purposes, and never for the purpose of profiting from them. Please read FPMT Foundation Store Policy Regarding Dharma Items for more information.
Distribution of Materials in 2022
Downloads this year included:
27,298 PDF and ebooks (34% more than the year before!)
759 online programs
2,983 audio recordings
1,332 digital cards, posters, and calendars
The Foundation Store continued to distribute PDFs, ebooks, calendars and audio from FPMT translation groups, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, Kopan Monastery, FPMT nunneries, Wisdom Publications, Ediciones Dharma, FDCW, LPP, Nalanda Edizioni, and Happy Monks Publication, among others. A total of 2,762 of their titles were downloaded.
FPMT Education materials are also distributed on third party platforms like Kindle, Apple, Google Music, Spotify, and others.
A total of 2,680 ebooks were ordered through Kindle, Smashwords, and Google Play.
Students ordered 468 FPMT titles through Print-On-Demand.
A total of 546,342 mantras and meditations were streamed.
The Foundation Store processed 15,798 orders from 6,891 customers for a total of 35,492 individual items ordered. This generated a total of US$85,432 in FS donations and an additional $8,595 was offered as donations to charitable projects. Proceeds from Dharma items of US$55,310 was offered to a number of holy objects and Dharma services.
Foundation Service Seminar participants, Tara Institute, Melbourne, Australia, May 2022. Photo courtesy of Tara Institute.
Supporting Centers & Teachers
Working closely with five regional and six national coordinators, Center Services assists FPMT centers, projects, services, and study groups (which are probationary centers, projects, and services), establish and sustain good governance structure to support the preservation of the Mahayana tradition now and into the future. We facilitate communication between Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT centers, projects, and services; coordinate Rinpoche’s teaching schedule; and facilitate the placement of resident geshes and teachers at centers.
The Teacher Services department oversees different matters relating to teachers. This work includes overseeing the registration process for non-Tibetan teachers, updating the FPMT Registered Teacher List and the Tibetan Teacher List, handling grievances and complaints, working on safeguarding issues related specifically to teachers, and looking for ways to improve support for teachers in all fields of their activities.
Snapshot of the Organization
During 2022, many centers, projects, services, and probationary entities (study groups) reflected on their operations and the new hybrid of onsite and online activities which have become the norm. Some found that the local energy and support needed to make the entity viable was no longer available. As a result, one center closed, and two centers stepped back into study group status. Four study groups transitioned into satellite groups of an FPMT center; and two study groups closed. Alongside this, two study groups were able to successfully become FPMT affiliates.
At the end of 2022, there were 110 centers, projects, and services; and 34 study groups, in 36 countries.
There were 50 geshes and 11 registered teachers resident in FPMT centers. The FPMT Registered Teacher List includes 156 Foundational Buddhism Teachers and 88 In-Depth Buddhism teachers. In 2022 we registered 11 new Foundational level teachers.
Highlights from this year include:
Regional and National Meetings: Regional and national meetings took place in person and online. Regional and National Coordinators continued to provide considerable support to affiliates and pending affiliates.
A Foundation Service Seminar Retreat was hosted by Tara Institute, Australia, in May, and was the first one in Australia.
The first Online Foundation Service Seminar was offered in June. Gilda Urbina, FPMT Mexico National Coordinator, and Martha Portillo—both registered Foundation Service Seminar facilitators—recently led in Spanish the first pilot of the new Online Foundation Service Seminar.
The twentieth FPMT International Sangha Day was celebrated on August 1. International Sangha Day provides an opportunity for monastic and lay communities to come together in recognition of their interdependence and celebrate the ways in which they mutually rely on each other’s practice of the Dharma. For lay students, it’s a great time to learn about the International Mahayana Institute, which is the international community of monks and nuns in the FPMT organization.
In 2022, $61,875 in grants were awarded from the Merit Box to support affiliates with their beneficial projects (see our Fundraising Tab under Operations & Finance for more details).
Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the 11th Kopan Meditation Course, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1978. Photo by Murray Wright, courtesy of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Connecting the FPMT Community
International Office communicates with FPMT centers, projects, services, study groups, teachers, students, and supporters around the world on a daily basis. In 2022, digital technology remained of the utmost importance for connecting with this international community.
Our Information Technology (IT) infrastructure makes sure you can reliably access the information and resources you need—from our daily FPMT news blog to our online education programs offered through the Online Learning Center, from digital practice materials in the Foundation Store to donations pages for our Charitable Projects.
Our IT department also ensures that the International Office itself as well as all our staff members worldwide have a reliable, secure, and privacy-conscious digital infrastructure in which to work and offer support to the vision of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and to all our centers, projects, and services.
Keeping In Touch
Through daily blogs, our monthly digital e-newsletter, the CPMT e-group, and various social media accounts we keep in touch with the FPMT global community and foster a sense of connectedness.
Highlights for 2022
Our daily online blog, FPMT News, published 250 stories in 2022. This includes summaries of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings plus additional posts sharing Rinpoche’s news and additional advice. News and updates from FPMT centers, projects, and services; FPMT Education Services; FPMT Charitable Projects; and FPMT Center Services comprised the remainder of FPMT News items.
The daily and weekly email digests of FPMT News reached more than 3,000 subscribers.
Our monthly e-newsletter, the FPMT e-News (International Office News), was sent to over 40,000 email recipients and included updates from FPMT International Office and the broader FPMT organization.
Four new photo albums were added to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Photo Gallery, documenting Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s activities for the year.
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world connected with FPMT through Facebook and Twitter, and with Lama Zopa Rinpoche on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Our CPMT e-group shared information with the many people working in service within the FPMT organization.
Rinpoche Online
We continued to offer timely online access to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings through live video streaming and recorded video and audio.
Highlights for 2022
We offered forty new videos of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, livestreamed from both Kopan Monastery in Nepal and Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore.
Rinpoche’s video teachings were translated into multiple languages. All of the teachings given by Rinpoche in 2022 were translated into Italian and Spanish, and many into French, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, and for the first time ever—Indonesian.
A total of 98,700 hours of video were seen on FPMT’s YouTube channel. Our videos had 553,000 views.
Ven. Joan Nicell transcribed most of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings and the transcripts are available for download.
FPMT International Office continued archiving and organizing digital media into a digital assets management system. This year we archived more than 10,000 images and more than 150 video excerpts.
We continued to offer a podcast featuring all of Rinpoche’s full-length teachings. The podcast doubled its episodes in 2022 and reached a total of 56 episodes and was downloaded 6,789 times. You can find this podcast in most popular podcast apps searching for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche full-length teachings.”
This year we launched the Essential Extracts podcast which contains edited audio taken from various video excerpts of Rinpoche teaching. This podcast has 26 curated episodes and was downloaded 4,773 times with a new episode released every other Monday. You can find this podcast in most popular podcast apps searching for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts.”
Find complete video, transcripts, and MP3 audio from Rinpoche’s teaching events: fpmt.org/rinpochenow/.
Our Website
International Office’s website, FPMT.org, had 1,014,411 unique views in 2022. With the ongoing pandemic, the functionality and usefulness of our website continued to be a top priority.
Highlights for 2022
We converted Mandala’s In-Depth Stories from pages to posts. This allowed us to share these stories with a larger audience, since posts are included in our MailChimp Daily News campaigns. We also created a blog on our website where all of these stories can be viewed as a collection.
We installed the Social Snap plugin that displays a floating sidebar with icons for sharing an article with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, email, or to copy a link.
We created an online obituary submission form so our community could share stories, photos and details regarding a person’s passing and their life story. These submissions now have their own blog on our website.
We set up a new podcast blog. You can now listen to the embedded podcasts on our website. In addition, our readers are made aware of new podcasts as they become available via our Daily News email campaign.
We completed some internal security and administrative improvements for our website for staff, and our Google Universal Analytics account was converted to a new version which has the flexibility to measure many different kinds of data, delivering a strong analytics experience which is built to keep up with a changing ecosystem.
The Foundation Store website templates were reprogrammed to be a full-width design, to match the current fpmt.org design and to allow more room for content. We also used this opportunity to make many improvements to the responsive mobile design.
We set up reCAPTCHA on both fpmt.org and my.fpmt.org in order to be in compliance with our payment processing company. reCAPTCHA uses an advanced risk analysis engine and adaptive challenges to keep malicious software from engaging in abusive activities on your website. Meanwhile, legitimate users will be able to login, make purchases, view pages, or create accounts and fake users will be blocked. The latest version of this technology requires no interaction on the end user’s part. We are now using this technology on all of our registration, login, and donation forms.
Our email campaign templates were updated to insure that our AOL/Yahoo users would continue receiving our communications. The latest version of the AOL/Yahoo email browser would display a blank email if the template doctype wasn’t specifically written in a certain way.
A new theme was installed on the Online Learning Center website. Our website uses the Moodle software, which required a major upgrade. The latest upgrade would no longer support the theme we were using. Therefore, we switched to a paid theme called Lambda. The new theme has many more features including: a homepage slideshow, collapsible side navigation allowing for more room for content, responsive web design, Bootstrap technology, and Font Awesome.
FPMT International Office is responsible for managing and supervising the finances of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, Inc. (FPMT, Inc.) as directed by its Board of Directors. Finances are divided between general funds (unrestricted) and funds designated for specific charitable projects (restricted funds). The FPMT Development department serves the supporters of the FPMT mission and works to ensure that FPMT International Office activities and projects have the financial resources needed for their fruition. In 2022, US$3,055,452 in donations and legacies to FPMT-managed funds came from 2,288 supporters in 73 different countries.
Fundraising
Friends of FPMT
This is the membership program for International Office. We are grateful to have on average over 1,000 active Friends of FPMT supporters each year, who offer crucial resources toward the Foundation’s mission and activities. In turn, our Friends supporters receive complimentary access to much of the materials and programs that we offer and which they are supporting, such as FPMT Education materials and online programs, ebooks, Mandala Publications e-archives, the popular Liberation Tibetan Calendar, and more. During 2022, 1,106 Friends of FPMT supporters offered $270,532 to FPMT International Office.
Work a Day for Rinpoche
An annual campaign inspired by Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s ceaseless compassionate activities and vision, the Work a Day for Rinpoche campaign was held during Saka Dawa. Students and supporters “Work a Day for Rinpoche” through dedicating a day of work earnings, or any amount, to support the projects of Rinpoche’s International Office. For those who want to contribute in other ways, recitation of the Golden Light Sutra, one of Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the organization, is also encouraged and counted towards the ongoing global recitation count. A total of US$23,821 was received in Work a Day for Rinpoche offerings in 2022.
Give Where Most Needed Fund
This is the Foundation’s unrestricted giving fund, an important reserve that can be used to support any activity or project that fulfills the FPMT mission. This can include grants for new projects or covering unforeseen budget shortfalls. US$95,598 in Give Where Most Needed donations were received through the generous support coming from all parts of the world.
International Merit Box Project
2022 was the twentieth year of annual Merit Box Project grants. Each year applications are submitted by local FPMT centers, projects, services or study groups, as well as organizations that are aligned with the FPMT mission. Since the Project’s inception over 20 years ago, 342 grants have provided over $1,216,780 in support for beneficial activities. In 2022, $61,875 in grants were awarded to support 28 Dharma projects and activities.
Income, Expenses & Disbursements
FPMT International Office is responsible for managing and supervising the finances of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, Inc. (FPMT, Inc.) as directed by its Board of Directors¹. Finances are divided between general funds (unrestricted), and funds designated for specific charitable projects (restricted funds).²
In 2022, total unrestricted operating income for International Office was US$1,383,111 and total operating expenses were US$1,205,885 resulting in an operating surplus of US$177,227.³
In 2022, the total restricted income for the Charitable Projects was US$5,114,615 and the total disbursements and expenses for credit card and administration fees were US$4,577,428.
FPMT also processes and manages funds on behalf of others and in 2022 these funds had income of US$2,346,291 and disbursements of US$829,083.
Unrestricted Funds
Unrestricted funds do not have any donor-imposed restrictions, and are used to fulfill the various activities and operations of International Office. The table and charts give a summary of income and expenses for 2022.
* Notes:
Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, Inc. (abbreviated as FPMT, Inc.) is the legal entity of FPMT International Office. The terms FPMT, Inc. and International Office are interchangeable. In practical terms, the International Office functions and serves as Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s office, therefore the guidance of our Spiritual Director is implicit.
Restricted funds include all the charitable projects of FPMT, Inc. as outlined on our website in addition to certain other charitable projects as directed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the Board of Directors.
Operating expenses exclude depreciation and unrealized gains (losses) on investments and exceptional items.
Our Year in Photos
Please explore more highlights from 2022 in this photo gallery of our activities around the world this year. We invite you to rejoice along with us through this beautiful visual presentation. View the gallery.
Big Thanks to All!
All of our 2022 accomplishments are due to the kindness of the FPMT centers, projects, services, teachers, students, volunteers, and benefactors who supported us this year.
We also offer our heartfelt thanks to our generous 2022 volunteers, who gave their time and enthusiasm with sincere devotion:
All of the Sangha offering service at Kachoe Dechen Ling, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Root Institute, Kopan Monastery, and Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling who offer daily prayers, practices, and extensive offerings for the FPMT organization.
The Sangha at Nalanda Monastery and in particular Ven. Tenzin Thekchok; the students and tsa-tsa makers of Ganden Tendar Ling Center (Moscow), Aryadeva Study Group (St. Petersburg), and in Ekaterinburg, Russia, and in particular Tatiana Ilina and Andrey Lomonosov; and the Sangha at Kachoe Dechen Ling and Buddha Amitabha Pure Land who make extensive prayers and tsa-tsas for those who are sick or have passed away.
Regional and National Coordinators present and in the recent past: Ven. Tashi Choedup, Ven. Thubten Khadro, Nicolas Brun, Bengu Fetzer, Selina Foong, Lara Gatto, Frances Howland, Mauricio Roa Mackenzie, Drolkar McCallum, Ven. Barbara Shannon, Deepthy Shekhar, Peter Stickels, and Gilda Urbina.
FPMT Service Seminar Coordinator, Annelies van der Heijden; and Service Seminar registered facilitators: Amy Cayton, Charlotte Elliot, Paloma Fernandez, Francois Lecointre, Drolkar McCallum, Martha Portillo, Gilda Urbina, and Wendy Ridley.
The generous individuals who volunteer their time to us in a variety of ways—Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, Kopan Umdzela Geshe Losang Sherab, Gyumed Geshe Tsundue, Ven. Steve Carlier, Ven. Tenzin Namjong, Ven. Tenzin Gyurme, Ven. Joan Nicell, Ven. Tenzin Dekyong, Ven. Angie Muir, Ven. Anet Engel, Ven. Lobsang Yangchen, Ven. Tenzin Tsultrim, Laura Haughey, Deborah Thornburg, Ong Cheng Cheng, and Doris Low
We also offer much gratitude and many thanks to three key staff members who left our team in 2022:
Laura Miller worked for the office for eleven years as the editor for Mandala magazine and later as the manager for our Communications department;
Samten Gorab worked for the office for fifteen years as assistant manager for the Foundation Store and then as administrative assistant;
Diana Ospina offered service through the Foundation Store for thirteen years.
Dedications at the pujas sponsored by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the great monasteries throughout the year are made especially for purifying obstacles and creating merit for Dharma activity to flourish in FPMT as well as for all students, supporters, and FPMT friends who are ill or have died, and for all those who have worked tirelessly and sacrificed so much to benefit the organization in different ways.
In 2023, may you have perfect happiness and be free from every suffering!
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