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Beautiful Buddha in Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya. The Puja Fund offers best quality robes to this statue every month. Photo by Thubten Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing robes before they are offered to Buddha statue in Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya.
Every month the Puja Fund sponsors a new set of robes to be offered to the precious Buddha statue inside the Mahabodhi Stupa in Bodhgaya, India.
In 2014 Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited the market in Bodhgaya and personally chose the best quality cloth for the robes.
The offering is kindly done by Root Institute with prayers including:
In order to purify my mind,
I offer an exquisite precious garment,
Multicolored like Indra’s variegated bow,
That when touched becomes the cause of bliss
May I be adorned with the holy garment of patience.
OM VAJRA VASTRAYE AH HUM SVAHA
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has taught extensively on the benefits of offering to statues of Buddha. “If someone offers a small flower or rice to a Buddha statue, a stupa, or scripture then the benefit extends from then up to enlightenment. Amazing, amazing,” Rinpoche has said. “It is said in the sutra Piled Flowers, on top of that benefit, you achieve ultimate happiness, liberation from the causes of delusion and karma, and on top of that full enlightenment, all the realizations and omniscient mind. After this, then you liberate numberless hell beings, pretas, animals, humans, suras and asuras from the ocean of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment. When all beings are brought to enlightenment, only then are all the results of offering achieved.”
Please enjoy this video that was filmed by Bill Kane during the robes offering in March 2015. In this video the robes that are sponsored are being respectfully offered to this precious statue while Sangha and students from Root Institute are offering the appropriate prayers.
You are welcome to offer any amount, at any time, to this precious offering of robes occurring every month.
In addition to offering robes every month to the Buddha statue in Bodhgaya, The Puja Fund also offers gold to the Jowo Buddha in Tibet and offer saffron flower petals, white wash, and material for umbrellas to Bouddhanath and Swayambunath stupas in Nepal.
Recently Ven. Roger Kunsang accompanied Lama Zopa Rinpoche when Rinpoche met with Geshe Gelong, a Sera Je Monastery monk, in southern India. Ven. Roger made notes of the conversation, in which Geshe Gelong expressed the importance of the Sera Je Food Fund from his personal experience.
There are 2,500 monks benefiting from the Sera Je Food Fund (3,300 for breakfast) and the annual cost is US$280,000.
Geshe Gelong was living and studying at Sera Je Monastery prior to the establishment of the Sera Je Food Fund. He easily recalls stories of the hardships faced by the Sangha members living at Sera Je Monastery before FPMT started offering three healthy vegetarian meals every day. This offering is due to the kindness of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the generous donations of his students and benefactors.
“Monks would have to pay for their own meals before the Sera Je Food Fund started because the monastery couldn’t afford to offer them free food. Many monks arrived at Sera Je having fled from Tibet so they had no, or very little money. They arrived unable to pay for food, some were not eating for up to a week at a time,” recalls Geshe Gelong. A lack of food inevitably led to malnutrition and high rates of TB (tuberculosis) in the monastic community. “I would drive so many monks who had TB, due to poor nutrition, to the local hospitals acting as translator for the many who didn’t speak Hindi. It was a very, very difficult life for many. With the monastery unable to offer free food and the monks unable to pay for it, many had to give up their education and leave, some having to disrobe and risk returning to Tibet. I would like to thank Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the care and opportunity the Sera Je Food Fund has brought to the monastery and the monks.”
There are 2,500 monks benefiting from the Sera Je Food Fund (3,300 for breakfast) and the annual cost is US$280,000.
“Previously thin and malnourished monks are now a healthy size with rates of TB now much lower,” Geshe Gelong explained. “Healthier bodies and minds mean the monks are now able to focus on their studies and practices and are much happier and healthier thanks to the three daily provided by the Sera Je Food Fund.”
Buckets of soup about to be offered to the 2,500 monks of Sera Je Monastery.
A heartfelt thanks goes out to all of the past, present and future donors who make this offering possible. You are welcome to offer any amount to this fund. Here is how your offering will be used:
- US$10: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to one monk for one month
- US$120: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to one monk for one year
- US$780: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all 2,500 monks for one day
- US$5,460: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all 2,500 monks for one week
- US$280,000: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all the 2,500 monks for one year
You can learn more about the Sera Je Food Fund, or see details of a typical breakfast, lunch, and dinner offered to the monks.
This blog post was kindly translated into Vietnamese.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche showing respect to a Hayagriva statue on the altar at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia.
The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund sponsors the electricity for lotus light offerings to all the holy objects on the altar at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia. The lights are offered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Among the holy objects on this altar is an incredible Hayagriva statue (pictured on the right).
The annual 100 Million Mani Retreat, which is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions, is also held in the Idgaa Choizinling gompa.
Please rejoice in this daily offering of light to these incredible holy objects in Mongolia. Anyone is welcome to think of this continuous light offering and offer it in their daily practice. You are also welcome to offer any amount to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund to contribute to the costs of this daily offering.
Light Offering Prayer
The Idgaa Choizinling gompa, which houses the 100 Million Mani Retreats sponsored by the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund.
Composed by Lama Atisha
May the light of the lamp be equal to the great three thousand worlds and their environments,
May the wick of the lamp be equal to the king of mountains – Mount Meru.
May the butter be equal to the infinite ocean.
May there be billions of trillions of lamps in the presence of each and every buddha.
May the light illuminate the darkness of ignorance of all sentient beings
From the peak of samsara down to the most torturous hell,
Whereby they can see directly and clearly all the ten directions’
Buddhas and bodhisattvas and their pure lands.
OM VAJRA ALOKE AH HUM E MA HO
I offer these beautifully exalted clear and luminous lights
To the thousand buddhas of the fortunate eon,
To all the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the infinite pure lands and of the ten directions,
To all the gurus, meditation deities, dakas, dakinis, dharma protectors,
and the assembly of deities of all mandalas.
From “Extensive Offering Practice,” by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Available through the FPMT Foundation Store
You can learn more about the many beneficial activities of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund or other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
Every day at Kachoe Dechen Ling in California, USA, four ordained Sangha members currently dedicate their time to making extensive offerings and doing practices requested by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to benefit the entire FPMT organization, benefactors, students, and all beings.
The extensive offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling consist of hundreds of saffron-filled water bowls that are offered daily, thousands of light offerings as well as an extensive flower garden. Photo by Chris Majors.
We are not aware of the limitless skies of benefits we achieve from the practice of offering, what we can achieve and enjoy from life to life. Even while we are in samsara, we will enjoy good rebirths, wealth, and every happiness. Even just the samsaric perfections are amazing, without adding all those incredible realizations that allow us to off er deep benefit to sentient beings, liberating them from oceans of samsaric suffering and its cause, delusion and karma.
—Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Extensive Offering Practice
All of these practices and offerings are dedicated to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s students, and all beings who are sick or are experiencing life obstacles. Photographer Chris Majors recently took a series of photos which wonderfully capture this daily activity. It is incredible that these offerings and practices are happening every single day. Please remember these beautiful offerings in your own practice. This is an incredibly easy way to create merit.
Every month Medicine Buddha and large Padmasambhava tsa-tsas are made and dedicated to the success and removal of all obstacles for all FPMT centers, projects, and services. Photo by Chris Majors.
An extensive and beautiful garden in maintained at Kachoe Dechen Ling. Photo by Chris Majors.
Sangha make three Kadampa stupas daily with prayers and filled with mantras for every person who has passed away, as well as 13 Mitukpa and three long life deity tsa-tsas dedicated to anyone who is sick or is experiencing obstacles. Photo by Chris Majors.
There is no difference between offering to a statue of Buddha or a visualized Buddha. Even if there is no statue, but you think of Buddha and make offerings, it has incredible inexhaustible benefits. Why? Because Buddha has inconceivable qualities; he completed the two types of merit and ceased all the mistakes of the mind.
—Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Extensive Offering Practice
You can enjoy an entire gallery of the extensive offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling and Buddha Amitabha Pure Land in Washington state. You are also welcome to offering any amount to these daily practices and offerings.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama meeting with senior monks on his arrival at Gaden Monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka, India on December 22, 2014. Photo by Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL.
At a meeting held in South India in December 2014, His Holiness the Dalai Lama stressed the extreme importance of establishing the Geluk International Foundation and offices for the long term preservation of the Gelug tradition. Lama Zopa Rinpoche immediately responded to this advice from His Holiness and pledged to offer US$100,000, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, toward the construction of the building needed for this project. This offering was sent out in February. Specifically, this donation will be used for:
- Office of Gaden Tri Thog Khang – the headquarters of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism
- Office of Gaden Tri Thog Khang – secretary and other staff quarters
- Office of Geluk International Foundation
- Training and research center
- First floor – assembly hall
- Second floor – photang for the Gaden Tri Rinpoche
Please rejoice in this incredible offering. May it create the causes for Buddha’s teachings to be accessible to all, far and wide, through the preservation of the lineage of Lama Tsongkhapa.
You can learn more about the beneficial activities sponsored by the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund or about the many Charitable Projects of FPMT.
Every year during Losar (Tibetan New Year and the 15 days of miracles) the Puja Fund sponsors these pujas and offerings all over the world, dedicated to the success of the entire FPMT organization. This is something amazing to rejoice in.
Sera Je Monastery monks performing pujas sponsored by the Puja Fund.
Pujas Offered by Over 15,650 Sangha
- Recitation of the Prajnaparamita (three versions) offered by the 650 monks of Gyurme Tantric College
- Druk Chu Ma (64 offerings to Kalarupa to eliminate obstacles), Namgyäl Tong Chö (One thousand sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyälma) and Zangcho (King of Prayers) offered by the 6,000 monks of Sera Je and Sera Mey Monastery
- Druk Chu Ma, Medicine Buddha Puja and Zangcho offered by the 3,400 monks of Gaden Jangtse and Shartse Monastery
- Druk Chu Ma, Namgyäl Tsechog (puja offered to Buddha Namgyälma) and Zangcho offered by the 4,200 monks of Drepung Gomang, Loseling and Deyang Monastery
- Namgyäl Tong Chö and Zangcho offered by the 600 monks of Gyuto Tantric College
Offerings Made to Holy Objects in Nepal, India and Tibet
- Bouddhanath and Swayambunath stupas: Offering white wash and four giant saffron flower petals and new umbrellas to the stupas’ pinnacles
- Buddha inside the Bodhgaya Mahabodhi temple: Offering a new set of robes of the most precious material
- Jowo Buddha in Lhasa’s Jokang: Offering gold to the holy face of the Jowo Buddha
Offerings to Gurus and Sangha
- Offerings are made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus including His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
- Small money offering to 15,650 Sangha of Sera Je, Sera Mey, Gaden Jangtse, Gaden Shartse, Drepung Gomang, Loseling, Deyang, Gyuto Tantric College, Gyurme Tantric College and Kopan Monastery and Nunnery
- Small money offerings are made to all the Sangha at IMI international Sangha communities (Nalanda Monastery, France; Thubten Shedrup Ling, Australia; Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy; and Chenrezig Institute, Australia)
- A full set of robes is offered to all FPMT geshes and resident teachers
Descriptions of Pujas Offered
- Druk Chu Ma: 64 offerings to Kalarupa to eliminate obstacles to one’s activities or projects that are bringing benefit to others
- Namgyäl Tong Chö: One thousand sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyälma
- Namgyäl Tsechog: Is performed to Buddha Namgyälma is performed to remove all obstacles to one’s life and to have a long life. This puja is specifically dedicated to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to all beings who are benefiting others and practicing virtue
- Medicine Buddha Puja: To bring success to all one’s activities, for long life, and for when someone has passed away
Please rejoice in all of this virtuous activity. You are welcome to participate by mentally offering and dedicating all of these activities, or by donating any amount toward their completion.
You can learn more about the ongoing activities of the Puja Fund or about the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
The newly completed 6.5 ft Padmasambhava statue at Osel Ling, Spain.
Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) is perhaps the most universally cherished realized being in all of Tibetan Buddhism. Padmasambhava came to Tibet from India in the 8th century and helped establish a pure lineage which is still practiced today by all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism around the world.
One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT is for many large statues of Padmasambhava to be built around the world. To date, nineteen statues have been built in accordance with Rinpoche’s wishes.
Please rejoice in the completion of the most recent statue, at Osel Ling in Spain. This beautiful statue measures 6.5 ft (2 meters).
Listen, beautiful one having the form of a goddess,
For those sentient beings who have not met me,
Statues of me in the future
Will become the light eliminating the darkness of ignorance.
Whoever builds such statues of me, Which become objects of offering and so forth,
All their future lives will become meaningful
And they will establish the banner of the teachings.
— Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche)
You can learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization, or about the many Charitable Projects of FPMT which contribute to Rinpoche’s vision.
The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund offering food to the top scholars who are participating in the recently held Annual Winter Debate.
The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund is one of FPMT’s longest running charitable projects. Established in 1997 at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, this fund has three main objectives:
- Offering stipends to the 150 most senior teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition
In December 2014, US$20,296 was offered to senior teachers at Sera Je, Sera Mey, Drepung Loseling, Ganden, Gyume, Gyuto, Tashi Lhunpo, and Rato monasteries.
- Supporting the annual Gelugpa Exam
652 students took part in this annual exam. The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund covers the basic expenses for all participants including food.
- Supporting the annual Winter Debate in India and Nepal
The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund is the primary sponsor of this debate where the best Buddhist scholars gather to sharpen their understanding of the Buddha’s highest teachings. The annual Winter Debate in Nepal also includes debates with nuns.
Preserving the Mahayana tradition is the primary objective of the entire FPMT organization and the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund is one substantial way to help continue this work.
Participants in the 2014 Gelugpa Exam.
Tremendous thanks to all the donors who make these offerings possible. You are welcome to offer any amount to the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund to contribute to the support being offered to the current and future teachers of the Mahayana tradition.
You can learn more about the activities of the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund or about the many Charitable Projects of FPMT.
It takes a tremendous amount of food and collective work to offer 8,300 meals every day to the monks of Sera Je Monastery.
Over the past year we have reported details about the incredible amount of food required to offer three nutritious meals daily to all of the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery (3,300 for breakfast, 2,500 for lunch and dinner).
The Sera Je Food Fund thrived in 2014. An incredible 3,029,500 meals were offered . This is due to the kindness of many who contribute to the US$280,000 needed every year to continue this project.
In 2014, interest amounting to 4% of the annual budget was accumulated from fixed term deposits and this interest was put back into the Sera Je Food Fund to help offset 2015 food expenses. Additionally, an annual wealth vase puja was offered and dedicated to the continued success of the project.
In December, 125 monks were not able to attend His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Mundgod, but dry food was left for these monks so they would still have food even though the typical meal service was not offered during his Holiness’s teachings.
Please rejoice in this incredible offering that is provided every single day to the monks of Sera Je Monastery. You are welcome to offer any amount to this beneficial project.
- US$10: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to one monk for one month
- US$120: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to one monk for one year
- US$780: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all 2,500 monks for one day
- US$5,460: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all 2,500 monks for one week
- US$280,000: Provides three vegetarian meals a day to all the 2,500 monks for one year
You can keep up on all the news from the Sera Je Food Fund or learn more about the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
Every month, the Puja Fund offers gold to the most precious Jowo Buddha statue in Lhasa, Tibet. Said to have been blessed by Shakyamuni Buddha himself, the Jowo Buddha statue is one of the most sacred statues in all of Tibet. Originally crafted in India, the Jowo was brought to China, and then brought to Tibet by the daughter of the Chinese emperor, Princess Wenchen Kongjo, upon her marriage to Songsten Gampo. The Jowo Buddha statue resides in the central chapel of the Jokhang, among the most holy temples in Lhasa.
Gold is offered every month to the precious Jowo Buddha statue in Lhasa, Tibet.
If someone offers a small flower or rice to a Buddha statue, a stupa or scripture, then the benefit extends from then up to enlightenment. Amazing, amazing. It is said in the sutra Piled Flowers, on top of that benefit, you achieve ultimate happiness – liberation from the causes of delusion and karma – and on top of that, full enlightenment – all the realizations and omniscient mind. After this, then you liberate numberless hell beings, pretas, animals, humans, suras and asuras from the ocean of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment. When all beings are brought to enlightenment, only then are all the results of offering achieved. So by offering gold, then wow, wow, wow. Can you imagine the result! From only a tiny offering (of a flower or rice) so much benefit is received due to that statue, etc. So really, holy objects are wish-fulfilling gems – so unbelievably precious.
—Lama Zopa Rinpoche, in a letter to a student who offered gold to 1,000 buddha statues at Kopan Monastery in Nepal
Please rejoice in this monthly offering that is so precious. You are welcome to contribute to this by contributing to the Puja Fund at any time.
You can learn more about the extensive pujas, practices and offerings sponsored by the Puja Fund or about any of the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.
Animals being circumambulated around the stupa at Kachoe Dechen Ling, CA, USA.
Benefiting animals in any way possible is a high priority for FPMT and one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the organization. The Animal Liberation Fund helps carry forth this work.
In 2014, approximately 77,100 animals were liberated by Sangha at Rinpoche’s house in USA. Not only were the animals saved from untimely death but they were also taken around an incredible amount of holy objects, mantras were recited and blown on them and they were carefully placed where they could live out the rest of their life. Please rejoice!
Additionally:
- US$2,000 was offered toward a large animal liberation in Hong Kong where over 14,500 animals where liberated
- Sangha at Rinpoche’s house in California engage in weekly blessing for the sentient beings in the Pacific Ocean with large Namgyälma mantra boards
- Weekly blessing and charity to at least 17 ant nests in Washington State, USA are offered
- US$3,000 was offered to MAITRI Charitable Trust in Gaya, India to help feed 45 goats and 25 chickens that had been saved from death.
Please rejoice in the different ways we were able to benefit animals in 2014. This is an incredible service to all sentient beings that FPMT sponsors every year.
Animal liberation practice is an incredible practice for anyone who has illnesses or is experiencing life obstacles. Anyone who donates to the Animal Liberation Fund is contributing directly to the saving of animals and dedications and prayers are made for all donors during the animal liberation practice.
You can learn more about the activities of the Animal Liberation Fund or about the many Charitable Projects of FPMT.
Bouddhanath Stupa, Nepal.
Swayambunath Stupa, Nepal.
Every month, on the full moon, the Puja Fund sponsors offerings of white wash, four giant saffron flower petals and the best quality cloth to the umbrellas at the pinnacles of Bouddhanath and Swayambunath Stupas in Nepal. Please rejoice in this incredible ongoing offering.
“All those who offer whitewash, saffron, and offering cloth will achieve perfect brightness and glory, overpowering all devas, spirits, and human beings with magnificence.”
—Padmasambhava’s Instruction on Offerings to Stupas
Lama Zopa Rinpoche translated Padmasambhava’s Instruction on Offerings to Stupas and the complete text is available as a PDF download.
You are welcome to contribute to this monthly offering or learn more about the monthly activities of the Puja Fund.