Charitable Activities

Approximately 700,000 meals were offered to the monks of Sera Je Monastery through the Sera Je Food Fund in 2016.

In 2016, FPMT Charitable Projects provided grants totaling US$3,512,326 toward various beneficial activities, including offering food to ordained Sangha and children; providing Buddhist philosophy scholarships; sponsoring beneficial pujas and practices; monthly offerings to the main teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition and sponsoring annual debates; offering grants to social services such as elder care homes, schools, hospitals, and monastic institutions; providing comprehensive Dharma programs; translating Dharma texts; sponsoring the creation of holy objects, such as statues, stupas, prayer wheels, and large thangkas; and saving animals from death and giving them Dharma imprints.

Elderly residents of a home in Dharamsala sponsored by the Social Services Fund

Of particular note in 2016 was the US$356,727 disbursed from the Social Services Fund. Supporting those in need—such as children, the elderly, the poor, and sick—is the main priority of this fund. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has also indicated that in addition to offering much needed material resources, we should also help by offering Dharma talks and when possible holy objects, which helps change karma for the better and bring real lasting benefit.

This 13-foot Guru Rinpoche statue had to be airlifted to Lawudo, Nepal, and was sponsored by the Holy Objects Fund in 2016.

Another area we are so happy to have supported in 2016 is the creation of holy objects. The Holy Objects Fund contributes to the construction of holy objects for world peace, which is a high priority among Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization. This year, US$879,972 was offered toward these projects, including the Maitreya Projects in Kushinagar and Bodhgaya; seven large prayer wheels, including five water-turned prayer wheels in Nepal, one in a Tibetan settlement in India, and one in New Zealand; thirteen Guru Rinpoche statues for Lawudo Retreat Center in Nepal; and seven statues that will be placed inside a larger statue in India.

We’d like to invite you to rejoice in all the grants that FPMT Charitable Projects was able to offer this year. You can read more about this in this year’s FPMT International Office annual review. Tremendous thanks for the kindness and generosity of many who give to the various funds and initiatives this past year, enabling our compassionate work to continue. 

You can learn more about the FPMT Charitable Projects, follow news and updates, or make a donation of any amount to help this work continue.

Monks of Sera Me Monastery offering Medicine Buddha puja

On Chotrul Duchen (the Day of Miracles), which is the fifteenth day of the Tibetan New Year (Losar) and falls on March 12 this year, the Puja Fund will sponsor offerings to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and Sangha around the world; make offerings of robes and gold to holy objects in India, Nepal, and Tibet; and sponsor extensive prayers and pujas offered by up 15,650 Sangha. One of the many pujas happening on Chotrul Duchen is the recitation of the Prajñaparamita.

The Puja Fund makes offerings on the four Buddha Multiplying Days, when karmic results are multiplied by one hundred million, as cited by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from the Vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained that the karma of group practice is more powerful than individual practice. “The karma of one ordained Sangha reciting a sutra in a temple or room alone, compared to reciting a sutra with all the assembly of Sangha present, the latter one—reciting a sutra with all the Sangha—is much more powerful…. The more people there are supporting the practice, the more powerful it becomes…. When the karma is more powerful, the result comes more quickly.”

These auspicious activities cost approximately US$8,000 on Buddha Multiplying Days, including Chotrul Duchen on March 12. All are welcome to join in the merit of these prayers, practices, and offerings by rejoicing or contributing any amount to the Puja Fund.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has given advice about what practices can be done on Buddha Multiplying Days such as Chotrul Duchen.  

The Puja Fund was established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to provide resources for continuous pujas dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors, and those serving the organization in any way. You can learn more about the Puja Fund and FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity online.

Tenzin Osel Hita requesting Lama Zopa Rinpoche to live for a very long time. Photo by Paolo Regis Photography.

On January 18th, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was offered a long life puja with the dance of the five dakinis by nuns and sponsors at Yulo Koepa, (Tara Pure Land) in Sarnath, a project of Kopan Nunnery. The main purpose of Yulo Koepa Nunnery is to facilitate Tara practice. Praises to the Twenty-one Taras is recited twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week in the gompa of the nunnery with each nun taking a turn.  Every morning Four Mandala Offerings to Chittamani Tara is performed.  During the day the nuns attend language classes and study philosophy. In this way the nuns stay ahead of their studies and can participate in the annual exams at the nunnery. After a two year period the nuns return to their mother nunnery and a new group of nuns take their place. 

The nuns of Yulo Koepa Nunnery with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and some of the very kind benefactors. Photo by Paolo Regis Photography.

Recently, due to the kindness of many benefactors, a new accommodation building was constructed for the nuns. The nunnery requested that when it was completed Lama Zopa Rinpoche would visit and bless the building. They also requested for Rinpoche to accept their offering of a long life puja during this visit. Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi attended to preside over the puja. Tenzin Ösel Hita and a number of benefactors of the new building were in attendance. Ösel gave a moving speech requesting Rinpoche to live for a very long time. 

Offerings being made to Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the long life puja. Photo by Paolo Regis Photography.

A delicious lunch was enjoyed by everyone after the puja. Later that evening Rinpoche granted ordination to a new nun from Bangladesh. 

The new accommodation for the nuns can be seen in the background here.

Please rejoice in this long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The purpose of the long life puja is for students to purify the mistakes that occur in relation to their teacher, and to create the causes and conditions to continue to receive benefit from that teacher for a very long time. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). 

You can learn more about Yulo Koepa, (Tara Pure Land). 

Thousands of monks from the great monasteries, including eighteen Kopan monks, are currently participating in the annual Winter Jang Debate at Drepung Monastery, India.

Monks from various Gelug monasteries are currently participating in an extensive twenty-two day debate on Buddhist logic at Drepung Monastery, India, known as the Winter Jang Debate. There are two sessions daily: prayers for world peace, and debate.

This annual debate dates back to the time of Lama Tsongkhapa and was continued each year until 1959. In 1981 the present and former abbots of the three great monasteries met to revive this debate. However, due to costs the monasteries were only able to sponsor about 200 monks to attend. Seeing the incredible importance of this tradition of bringing together the best scholars to hone their understanding of the Buddha’s highest teachings, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, became the primary sponsor for this debate. Now thousands of monks participate. 

Eighteen monks from Kopan House, Tsawa Khangtsen, are participating in this year’s Winter Jang Debate at Drepung Monastery.

Eighteen monks from Kopan House, Tsawa Khangtsen, are among the thousands of participants attending this year. We offer all of the monks participating our best wishes for a transformative and fruitful event. 

Tremendous thanks to the many donors who support the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund and enable FPMT to sponsor this powerful annual debate. This is something incredible in which to rejoice. You are welcome to participate in this offering at any time.

You can learn more about the beneficial activities of the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund or the many Charitable Projects of FPMT.

Jangtse Chöje Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Bodhgaya on January 2, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

A long life puja was offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on behalf of Sera Je Monastery on the Maitreya Project land in Bodhgaya on January 2, 2017. The puja was to thank Rinpoche for twenty-six years of support offered through the Sera Je Food Fund, which provides three vegetarian meals every day to the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery.

During the puja, the head of monastic discipline, who had been at Sera Je Monastery since before the Sera Je Food Fund was established, spontaneously praised Rinpoche for about thirty minutes, noting all the ways Rinpoche had helped the monastery. He explained what it was like at the monastery before food was regularly offered and how the monks have benefited after the fund’s creation. He said Rinpoche has cared for all the thousands of monks for the last twenty-six years like a mother does for her child.

Sangha participating in the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Thousands of monks attended the puja as well as Jangtse Chöje; the new abbot of Sera Je Monastery; the past abbot of Sera Je Monastery; the past abbot of Namgyal Monastery, Jhado Rinpoche; and the past abbot of Gyurme Monastery, Khensur Geshe Tashi Tsering. 

The abbot of Sera Je Monastery making offerings to Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The Sera Je Food Fund has provided millions of meals since 1991. It currently offers approximately 700,000 meals per year, 2,900 meals per day. There are, on average, 1,600 monks benefiting from the food fund.

Please rejoice in the offering of this puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life and in Sera Je Food Fund’s twenty-six years of food offerings to the monks of Sera Je Monastery. 

You can learn more about the Sera Je Food Fund, read an overview of the food offered daily, or support this project with a donation of any amount.

From the facilitator training retreat, Land of Joy, UK, July 2016. Photo courtesy of FDCW.

Seven months ago, the International Merit Box Project awarded twenty-one grants to a variety of Dharma projects, made possible solely from the collected offerings of Merit Box practitioners around the world.

One of these grants funded a retreat to train the first group of facilitators for the a.r.t. of Fulfillment, a new education program created by the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW).

According to FDCW, the a.r.t. of Fulfillment program “is a systematic inquiry into how you can lead a more fulfilling and meaningful life in the 21st century.” The international team of educators that designed the a.r.t. of Fulfillment program drew upon their expertise in a number of modern Western disciplines—including psychology, philosophy, and experiential learning—in addition to the wisdom tradition of Buddhism. It is designed both for a general audience and for those who have been involved in previous Universal Education courses.

The a.r.t. of Fulfillment program map. Image courtesy of FDCW.

The flagship July 2016 training was held as a week-long retreat at Land of Joy in the UK, and consisted of a selected group of FPMT-registered teachers. Those at the retreat were offered the course first as participants before then training in facilitation methods. It is thought that experiencing the program from the perspectives of both student and instructor can better inform how to teach it.

In addition to learning how to facilitate a.r.t. of Fulfillment courses, one of the broader training outcomes of the retreat was to expose participants to modern teaching methods that they could use in any class setting. “[The training was designed] to develop and experience new teaching skills, using modern, experiential methodologies,” says Grace Gyatso, director of the FDCW. Such skills could make for more effective learning for students taking traditional Buddhist courses in FPMT communities.

From the facilitator training retreat, Land of Joy, UK, July 2016. Photo courtesy of FDCW.

Because of this training, which was supported by the generosity of Merit Box practitioners, there are now eleven certified a.r.t. of Fulfillment facilitators living in seven different countries. With facilitators spread out around the world, the program can potentially be offered on at least three different continents.

So far, there are a number of a.r.t. programs scheduled in the UK in 2017. Ven. Tenzin Chokyi and Don Handrick are scheduled to the lead the first of these programs in the United States at Vajrapani Institute in California from June 30–July 9.

You can view the full calendar of scheduled a.r.t. of Fulfillment courses:
http://compassionandwisdom.org/news-and-events/calendar/listings/range.listevents/-?catids=88&year=2017&month=01&day=17

This is just one of the twenty-one Merit Box grants awarded to Dharma projects last year:
https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/projects/fpmt/merit-box/International-Merit-Box-Project-Distribution-2016.pdf

Collection season for 2017 Merit Box grants is happening now through March 31. If you have a Merit Box and want to send in your offerings, contact https://fpmt.org/fpmt/iofstaff/donor-services/. Get a free Merit Box today:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Merit-Box-_p_619.html

Students enjoying midday meal provided by the Social Services Fund

The Central School for Tibetans, Cauvery Valley Project (CVP), located in Bylakuppe, South India, was established in 1971 to serve the children of refugees living at Dickey Larsoe Tibetan Settlement. Twenty-four staff help educate 217 elementary, middle, and secondary students. 

Morning assembly and group prayer

The Social Services Fund has been sponsoring midday meals for the children of CVP for the last few years. In a letter of thanks from the school, the Parent’s Representative Committee wrote, “The diet that the children are enjoying these days is very nutritious…. We have never forgotten your kind help and support and to the school and the children. We always have felt that without your kind financial support and good will, our situation would have been very different.” 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche also sponsored the complete renovation of the school’s kitchen in 2013. 

Students performing cultural dance together

The school has not only established an impressive academic program with an emphasis on preserving the student’s Tibetan cultural heritage, but also offers extracurricular activities such as sports, arts, and crafts. The principal reports that, “Overall, the school has exalted status in the community and among the local settlers.” 

Please rejoice in the offering of meals to these school children! Helping the children of Tibetan refugees receive quality education is a high priority for FPMT, and through this offering of food, the school can use precious and scarce resources for continuing to develop and implement quality academic programs for the students. 

If you would like to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants such as this can continue, you can read more about the charitable projects this fund supports or donate any amount to the fund itself. 

Light offerings at Boudhanath Stupa at night, with Khen Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Sherab.

One of the regular activities of the FPMT Puja Fund is offering white wash, four giant saffron flower petals and the best quality cloth (shambu) to the umbrellas at the pinnacles of Bouddhanath and Swayambunath stupas in Nepal on the full moon and also on Buddha Days when merit is multiplied 100 million times.

Highest quality shambu for the top of Boudhanath Stupa.

Due to damage from the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the Puja Fund has been unable to make these regular offerings. Please rejoice that the Boudhanath Stupa has undergone extensive restoration and repairs since the earthquake. In November a grand blessing occurred, where lamas of the four traditions came to re-consecrate the stupa. After the ceremony FPMT was able to continue with these most precious offerings. Lama Zopa Rinpoche wanted to be sure that this first offering since the earthquake was made with the highest possible quality materials and Kopan Monastery very kindly sourced the shambu. 

Stupas, one of the most ancient icons in Buddhist art, are powerful symbols of the mind’s limitless potential. In other words, they represent the mind of enlightenment. The Boudhanath Stupa is one of the largest stupa in the world and dominates the Kathmandu skyline. 

From the Sutra of the Mudra of Developing the Power of Devotion:

     The minute you see a holy object you create infinite merits,
     So no question, if you actually make prostrations,
     Offerings and so forth, you create far greater merit. 

We are very happy to be able to continue this offering to Boudhanath and Swayambunath stupas. Offering these to holy objects on behalf of all FPMT centers, projects and services, is one way of creating an incredible amount of merit and in this way helps the FPMT organization achieve its goals which stretch far into the future for the benefit of all.

If you would like to be part of this monthly offering, please consider offering any amount to the Puja Fund. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche translated, “Padmasambhava’s Instruction on Offerings to Stupas” which details the benefits of prostrating to, circumambulating, making offerings, and offering service to stupas. 

The Puja Fund was established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to provide resources for pujas and offerings dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors and those serving the organization in any way. You can learn more about the Puja Fund, or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the Root Institute next to the large prayer wheel. Photo by Bill Kane.

In May 2015 Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised Mahamudra Centre in New Zealand to build a large prayer wheel similar in design and size as the one constructed at Root Institute in Bodhgaya. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Holy Object Fund, offered US$30,000 toward the construction of this new prayer wheel. The Mahamudra team estimates completing this project in approximately one year. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained that he would  like to sponsor the building of 100,000 prayer wheels for world peace. Wherever a large prayer wheel is built, it becomes a great blessing for that country.

A prayer wheel is a cylindrical wheel on a spindle made from metal. Inside the prayer wheel are many million or billions of the mantras, printed on paper or microfilm. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has commented that the presence of a prayer wheel creates peace and harmony in the area. You can read more from Rinpoche about the benefits of making prayer wheels. 

“Even for the person who turns this precious wheel, any sentient being who sees, hears, remembers, or touches him or her completes the merits, purifies defilements, and achieves enlightenment.” — The Tantra of the Circle of Six Thousand

The inconceivable merit of building a prayer wheel is not limited to those who physically build it. Those who support the project financially, materially, or through prayer also receive the merit of its creation. 

If you would like to contribute to the building of holy objects around the world, you are welcome to offer any amount to the Holy Objects Fund which contributes to the creation of stupas, prayer wheels and statues. 

Residents and staff of the Jampaling Elder’s Home in Dharamsala.

Jampaling Elder’s Home, situated in Dharamshala, is about 15 minutes walking distance from the main temple of His Holiness the Dalai Lama with many prayer wheels lining the way. The resident Tibetan elders are able to attend all the teachings of His Holiness at the main temple. This home was set up to look after the elders who are scattered in different Tibetan settlements without appropriate facilities and also for destitute ex-army members without any family. It also houses elderly who are unable to earn a living due to old age and who have no one to rely on. This facility provides food, shelter and medical services to residents.

This facility can support 156 residents but currently has 131 with more joining over the winter months. Among the residents are fourteen elderly nuns and sixteen elderly monks. Thirteen local staff are utilized including a nurse, cooks, caretakers, a maintenance person, and the director.

Residents include fourteen elderly nuns and sixteen elderly monks.

The Social Services Fund was very pleased to sponsor a new recreation room for the residents. The previous recreation room was located on the third floor of the building which was extremely difficult for the elderly residents to access. The home’s management explained, “The purpose of constructing the hall is to improve the facility and to create a friendly environment where the elders can engage in various recreational activities during their leisure time, and most importantly to watch His Holiness the Dalai Lama teaching on the television and to keep up on Tibet related news.”

Additional needs for the residential home are to hire an additional caretaker, make repairs to the facility, accommodate special dietary needs, and provide pocket money for residents. The Social Services Fund is very pleased to be able to support Jampaling Elder’s Home with these improvements and needs. Without such homes, many elderly first-wave Tibetan refugees have very little prospect of accommodation or support. In addition to financial support, Lama Zopa Rinpoche asked that FPMT support their Dharma studies as well. Access to geshes and Dharma teachers is particularly important and we will support the home in this way as well. 

Offering support in this way is one way that FPMT can help repay the kindness of the Tibetan people. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained that because of the Tibetan people, the “sun of Tibetan Buddhism has now risen in the West.”

FPMT Charitable Projects is honored to support the eldest and most destitute Tibetan refugees. You can show your support by making a donation to the Social Services Fund. 

Approximately 1,600 monks benefit from the Sere Je Food Fund every year.

As 2016 comes to a close, we’d like to invite you to rejoice in another year of offering food to all of the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery through the Sera Je Food Fund. 

Since 1991 the Sera Je Food Fund has offered millions of meals. We currently offer approximately 700,000 meals per year, 2,900 meals per day. 

You can watch a short video about the Sera Je Food Fund as an overview of this incredible project:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=copRgB9eaSo

In the Tibetan tradition, it is customary for monastics to support themselves. In addition to providing for their own housing, individual monks are responsible for purchasing and preparing all of their meals. As many of the monks are refugees from Tibet or from refugee families living in India, they have very little money for quality food and, consequently, were often malnourished and ill. Before the Sera Je Food Fund, most monks at the monastery never had adequate nutrition. Now, for the first time, they are well-nourished, and this makes a dramatic difference in the energy they are able to devote to their studies. Additionally, group preparation of meals and use of a communal kitchen allows more time for the monks to apply themselves to their studies without the added worry of cleaning up and preparing individual meals, monitoring their individual health for adequate protein and nutrition, etc. 

Monks of Sera Je Monastery enjoying a meal provided by the Sera Je Food Fund. Photo by Losan Piatti.

Please rejoice in this incredible service which has been offered since 1991. 

On behalf of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FPMT International Office would like to offer our heartfelt gratitude to all of the kind benefactors who have been contributing to this project over the years and supporting Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Vision.

You can learn more about the Sera Je Food Fund or support this project with a donation of any amount. 

Participants in the 2016 Gelug exam.

On Friday, December 23 Tibetan Buddhists of the Gelug tradition celebrate Lama Tsongkhapa Day, or Ganden Ngamchoe, a celebration of the anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana.

Lama Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) was a Tibetan Buddhist master whose studies and meditations in all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism resulted in the founding of the Gelugpa lineage. 

The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund was established by FPMT in 1997 at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The purpose of the fund is invest in the preservation of the Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism by supporting the teachers of tomorrow. 

The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund has three main activities:

• Supporting the most senior teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition
• Supporting the annual Gelug exam
• Supporting the annual winter debate in India and Nepal

The great lamas of the Tsongkhapa tradition preserve the teachings and practices that have been passed from teacher to disciple in an unbroken line beginning with Lama Tsongkhapa himself. This fund is able to offer a small monthly stipend (ranging from $10 – $30 a month) to 150 of the main teachers of the eight great monasteries of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition.

Statue of Lama Tsongkhapa at Kopan Monastery. Photo by Tom Truty.

Each year the foremost scholars from Sera, Ganden, Drepung, Gyume, Gyuto, Tashi Lhunpo and Rato monasteries come together for the annual Gelug exam and the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund is able to cover basic expenses, such as food and travel, for the 600+ monks who take this exam.

The annual winter debate dates back to the time of Lama Tsongkhapa and was continued each year until 1959. In 1981 the present and former Abbots of the three great monasteries met to revive the annual winter debate, however due to costs the monasteries were only able to sponsor about 200 monks to attend the annual winter debate. Seeing the incredible importance of the winter debate, where the best scholars gather to hone their understanding of the Buddha’s highest teachings, FPMT undertook the responsibility to cover all the costs for the monks of Sera Je Monastery to attend the debate each year.

The annual support offered by the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund is currently estimated at $USD65,000 and support is welcome from anyone interested in investing in the Gelug teachers of tomorrow.  

Since its inception, the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, an extension of the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund, has supported up to 150 senior teachers each year of the main monasteries, plus hundreds of monks attending the traditional winter debate and annual Gelugpa exam. 

There are many practices students can do to create merit on December 23, Lama Tsongkhapa Day. FPMT Education Services has put together a resource page to which all are welcome to refer.