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Charitable Activities
H.E. Jhado Rinpoche with some of the participants of the 2023 Nyung Na at IVY.
Institut Vajra Yogini (IVY) in France has hosted its twelfth series of 108 Nyung Na retreats from November 2022 to June 2023. One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization was to sponsor people who make a serious commitment in this life to complete 1,000 Nyung Na retreats, and IVY kindly began to host the retreats every year to help fulfill this vision. For the last ten years, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been sponsoring the food and accommodation for a number of people, each year, who undertake the 108 Nyung Na retreats, and in 2023, US$11,522 was offered toward the retreat. We are very happy to continue to offer support each year toward the retreats, in alignment with Rinpoche’s wishes.
The Nyung Na retreat is a two-day intensive practice that includes taking the 24-hour Mahayana precepts every day, with the addition of complete fasting and silence every second day. There are three sessions of about three hours each day, including meditation, prostrations, and mantra recitation. It is a powerfully effective, experiential practice that can be done by anyone with respect and faith for the practice. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has highly praised Nyung Na retreat as a supreme method for transforming the mind.
Four people completed the full round of 108 Nyung Na retreats this year and around 50 people joined to do one or a few two-day retreats. Like last year, Ven. Charles, the retreat leader, offered the morning sessions online every day as well as one complete two-day Nyung Na retreat online once a month, so more students could participate from home. An incredible 600 Nyung Na retreats have been completed at Institut Vajra Yogini over this period by those practicing on site and at home online, although the exact count is difficult to know with the inclusion of the online retreatants. Please take a moment to rejoice!
There were the times when there were only six participants and sometimes around twenty people joined the retreat. The long-term participants enjoy doing this practice in a bigger group as Nyung Na retreats can be more powerful when more people participate, says Nicolas, the director of Institut Vajra Yogini.
Compared to the previous retreats held during the pandemic, it has been much easier to manage the retreat as the Institute did not need to organize COVID tests and follow the safety protocols. This was time-consuming previously, especially due to the high turnover of short-term participants, according to Nicolas.
This spring was especially difficult for the long-term participants, who used to receive personal advice and guidance from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. They did their practice in the midst of great loss and grief when Rinpoche showed the aspect of passing away.
It was a moment of joy when His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche, the former abbot of Namgyal and Gyuto monasteries, visited the Institute on May 4-7, 2023, and over four days conferred the Thousand-Arm Chenrezig initiation and offered a commentary on Nyung Na practice.
To continue fulfilling Rinpoche’s Vast Visions, Institut Vajra Yogini has already begun planning for the thirteenth series of 108 Nyung Na retreats, which will begin mid-November 2023 to mid-June 2024. The retreats are led in French but can be followed simultaneously in English and other languages.
Please join us in rejoicing in twelve consecutive years of Nyung Na retreats at Institut Vajra Yogini.
If you would like to support Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wish to support these important retreats, you are welcome to offer any amount to the Practice and Retreats Fund
If you are interested in joining the Nyung Na retreat, please contact Institut Vajra Yogini’s Center Director.
Puja being offered at Kopan Monastery, April, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab
Chokhor Duchen (commemorating Shakyamuni Buddha’s first turning of the wheel of Dharma) occurs on July 21, 2023. Based on the wishes and advice of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, on that day, we are making a monetary offering to over ten thousand sangha, while they are engaged in offering pujas and prayers for the entire FPMT organization.
The pujas we have arranged on Chokhor Duchen are:
- Recitation of the Kangyur (108 volumes of the sutras taught by Shakyamuni Buddha) by Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery.
- Recitation of the Prajnaparamita Sutra by Gyudmed Tantric College.
As Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained:
Even memorizing four lines of the teachings of the perfection of wisdom has unbelievable, mind-blowing benefits. The Buddha explained that the benefits are equal to the number of worlds equaling the number of sand grains of the river Ganges. Just memorizing four lines – one stanza – of the teachings on the perfection of wisdom collects far greater merit than if you were to fill that many worlds with precious jewels, gold, diamonds, and silver and make offerings of these to the Buddha. Even though the offering is unbelievably mind-blowing, extensive, it is very small if you compare it to the benefits of memorizing just four lines of the teachings on the perfection of wisdom.
The Buddha said, “Wherever this Prajnaparamita teaching is, I am there.” The Buddha said to Kunga (Ananda) one should not degenerate or allow even a little bit of the teaching of the Prajnaparamita to be destroyed. The Buddha asked Kunga to look after and protect the teachings of the Prajnaparamita. Sponsoring the recitation of the Prajnaparamita is also a service to the teachings of the Buddha – to preserve and spread them. It is a very important service to the Buddha – this is what Buddha cherished so much, the teachings on the Prajnaparamita.
Monks offering puja at Sera Lachi Monastery.
In addition to these two incredible sutra recitations there will be:
- One Thousand Offerings to Namgyalma and Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupa by Sera Lachi Monastery and Gyuto Tantric College
- Medicine Buddha puja and Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupa by Gaden Lachi Monastery
- Namgyalma long life ritual and Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupa by Drepung Lachi Monastery
- Offerings will be made to the ten thousand sangha who are undertaking these pujas, to all the IMI sangha communities, and to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus.
- The stupas of Boudhanath and Swambyunath in Nepal will be freshly painted, and the umbrellas at the pinnacle of each stupa will be replaced with the best quality cloth.
- A new set of robes will be offered to the Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya.
- Sangha will also be printing various sutras, making stupas and Buddha tsa-tsas, and liberating animals.
All these practices are dedicated to the swift return of our most precious Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, for the success of the whole FPMT organization, and to all the kind donors.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave this advice during a FPMT Board Meeting in September 1990:
There is nothing compared to making offerings to the sangha in these monasteries, because all these sangha are disciples of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other gurus. Offering tea to one disciple is better than making offering to all the Buddhas.
“Since these pujas are to be performed for as long as the monasteries exist, somebody can, if they want to participate, put in one dollar in the fund. The fund is then used to benefit all the monasteries and nunneries engaged in the pujas, including Kopan Monastery and Nunnery. I thought that setting up these things might help to create good karma for success.
Thank you to all who make this possible and especially the Sangha who undertake these prayers and practices on behalf of us all. To join in the offerings taking place on July 21.
“The merit that is created from all these pujas is also your merit. So, you can dedicate all these merits to having realizations and to achieve enlightenment.” —Lama Zopa Rinpoche
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, or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity.
Nuns offering Cittamani Tara Puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s swift return, Kopan Monastery, April 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
On Saka Dawa*, June 4, there will be two different recitations of the 100,000 Praises to the Twenty-One Taras, recited by over 4,000 sangha, at Sera Je and Sera Mey monasteries and Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery. This is the thirty-third consecutive year that 100,000 Praises to the Twenty-One Taras have been offered and arranged.
In addition, we have arranged on Saka Dawa:
- The recitation of the entire Prajnaparamita Sutra, Medicine Buddha puja, One Thousand Offerings to Buddha Namgyalma, and other pujas and practices offered in many monasteries in India and Nepal.
- Offerings will be made to the ten thousand sangha who are undertaking these pujas, and to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus.
- The stupas of Boudhanath and Swambyunath in Nepal will be freshly painted, and the umbrellas at the pinnacle of each stupa will be replaced with the best quality cloth.
- A new set of robes will be offered to the Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya.
- Sangha will also be printing various sutras, making stupas and Buddha tsa-tsas, and liberating animals.
All are dedicated to the swift return of our most precious Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, for the success of the whole FPMT organization, and to all the kind donors.
So far, these offerings and pujas have not been publicized much, but I would like to make it known so that other people can participate in making these extensive offerings. The offering to all these monasteries happens continuously, every year, every month. My idea is for these offerings and pujas to continue forever or for as long as the monasteries exist. Please if you make offerings, please think in this way, and dedicate and you can also remember on the actual day that the pujas are happening, rejoice, and dedicate. This is the best business, the best way to create the most extensive merit. —Lama Zopa Rinpoche
From our heart we are committed to continuing to fulfill this request. Many times Rinpoche reminded us how important these pujas are for the overall success of the whole FPMT organization so it will be most beneficial to all beings.
We would like to invite anyone who wishes to, to join in these collective prayers and offerings being made to the holy objects and sangha on such an auspicious day.
The merit that is created from all these pujas is also your merit. So, you can dedicate all these merits to having realizations and to achieve enlightenment. —Lama Zopa Rinpoche
*All the prayers are happening on Saka Dawa, any merit created on that day is multiplied 300 million times, as it commemorates Shakyamuni Buddha’s three major life events.
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, or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Bodhgaya, 2022. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
On May 24, 2023, FPMT has the incredibly precious opportunity to offer a long life puja to His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Namgyal Monastery, Mcleod Ganj, India. All are welcome to attend in person or also join online. The puja starts at 08.00 a.m. (Indian standard time). If you are joining in person, please leave enough time to get your pass.
The Kopan monks and nuns have been working so hard to perfect the actual puja, as they will be offering the chanting and it will be based on Lama Chopa Long life puja. We will share the text with you soon so that everyone can be familiar and able to join the prayers.
The 1,000 statues of Shakyamuni Buddha which will be offered to His Holiness are well underway being created, as well as the two life-sized Namgyalma and Padmasambhava statues. These statues are being filled, gold gilded, and the faces are being painted in preparation for the offering. During the actual puja we will have more than 400 of the 1,000 statues to offer, and the remaining statues will be offered to His Holiness as soon as they are completed.
Thank you so much to everyone who has offered toward the statues and puja so far. There is still an opportunity to participate by offering statues and other offerings in the puja.
This puja is extremely poignant at this time, For many years Lama Zopa Rinpoche had made the request to offer a long life puja to His Holiness the Dalai Lama— who in actuality is Chenrezig Buddha—on behalf of FPMT. Now we have the opportunity to fulfill this request and unbelievably moved to offer this puja on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s behalf. Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi will be offering all the symbolic long-life items during the puja, and Khen Rinpoche and Venerable Roger Kunsang will offer the mandala and body, speech, and mind to His Holiness. The puja also falls on the forty-second day of Rinpoche having showed the aspect of passing.
We very much hope that everyone can attend this heartfelt long life offering to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in person or online, to join this puja on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s behalf and in order to fulfill one of Rinpoche’s recent heart wishes.
You can follow important news about His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the official website of His Holiness:
https://www.dalailama.com/news
Lama Zopa Rinpoche meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodhgaya, India, January, 2023. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
We have incredibly joyous news to share! On May 24, 2023 Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been given the opportunity to offer a long life puja, on behalf of the entire FPMT organization, to His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Namgyal Monastery, Dharamsala, India.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is planning to offer one thousand statues of Shakyamuni Buddha, and these beautiful statues are in the process of being made, gilded in gold, filled with mantras, painted, and consecrated in Nepal. As it takes time to make one thousand Buddha statues, Rinpoche will be initially offering a few hundred statues in the actual long life puja. The remaining statues will be offered over the next few months as they are completed.
In addition, two beautiful life-size Padmasambhava and Namgyalma statues will be offered and presented to His Holiness during the long life puja.
The model of the 1,000 statues of Shakyamuni Buddha that will be offered to His Holiness.
All are invited to make an offering towards, or sponsor, one of these statues (US$300 each), which will then be offered directly to His Holiness. Any contribution towards the statues means participating in the entire offering to His Holiness. Right now, during the 15 Days of Miracles (February 21 – March 7) is also an extra special time to make offerings, when merit is multiplied 100 million times each day. Offerings are being accepted for the long life puja for His Holiness as well.
In 2019, Lama Zopa Rinpoche also offered, on behalf of FPMT, one thousand buddha statues to His Holiness. In recent teachings the statues were often seen in the livestreams, lined up behind His Holiness. These statues are not only an auspicious offering, but they are also very useful as His Holiness often gives the statues as gifts to people who visit him.
“By offering to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, you are making offerings to all the buddhas and numberless bodhisattvas. This generates limitless skies of merit—every day and every second.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche
May this offering create the cause for His Holiness the Dalai Lama to remain in this world for as long sentient beings remain.
You can learn more about Offering One Thousand Buddhas to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and join the offering. We also invite you to read more about the Long Life Puja Fund which funds long life pujas for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
You can follow important and inspiring news about His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the official website of His Holiness:
https://www.dalailama.com/news
Gyudmed Monastery monks in puja.
Beginning on Losar (February 21) and during the Fifteen Days of Miracles (through March 7), when the merit is multiplied 100 million times each day, The FPMT Puja Fund has arranged for an array of pujas and activities, as well as offerings to ten thousand Sangha who are so kindly undertaking these practices.
The main puja that will be offered during this incredibly auspicious time is the recitation of the three different Prajnaparamita Sutras (100,000 verses, 25,000 verses and 8,000 verses). This is an all day puja that will be undertaken by the monks of Gyudmed Monastery and dedicated to all the FPMT centers, projects, and services; all students, volunteers, and all beings.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained that in the beginning of the Madhyamakavatara text says that The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras (Prajnaparamita) is called “mother” because all the numberless past, present, and future buddhas have been born from this perfection of wisdom. Also, the numberless bodhisattvas and numberless arhats are born from this wisdom. This wisdom is what liberates numberless sentient beings from all the oceans of samsaric suffering. It is the real Dharma, the real refuge that liberates us from the oceans of samsaric suffering, whose continuation has no beginning.
This Prajnaparamita teaching is so unbelievably precious. The Buddha said, “Wherever this Prajnaparamita teaching is, I am there.” The Buddha said to Kunga (Ananda) that even if other teachings are destroyed that is okay, but one should not degenerate or allow even a little bit of the teaching of the Prajnaparamita to be destroyed. The Buddha asked Kunga to look after and protect the teachings of the Prajnaparamita.
Rinpoche also reminds us that by hearing this sutra, writing it down, reading it aloud, or memorizing it, you create unfathomable merit and from life to life and you crush the oceans of samsaric suffering and all the delusions. That is how profound this sutra is, it enables you to reach enlightenment.
There will be many other pujas sponsored by the FPMT Puja Fund during this time as well, such as:
- One Thousand Sets of Offerings to Buddha Namgyalma, Namgyalma long life ritual, Medicine Buddha Puja and Sixty-four Offerings to Kalarupa.
- Offerings to over ten thousand Sangha (including those residing in IMI Sangha communities), and to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus.
- A new set of robes are offered to the precious Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya.
- New parasols are offered to the top of the Boudha and Swayambhu stupas, as well as offering new paint to the both stupas.
- There will be the printing of holy texts such as The Golden Light Sutra , Arya Sanghata Sutra, Vajra Cutter Sutra, Amitayus Long Life Sutra and Sutra of Great Liberation.
- Up to 1,500 animals will be liberated and the making of many tsa tsas, including Kadampa stupas which will also be filled and consecrated.
Please take a moment to rejoice in all these incredible practices and offerings that have been arranged. You can also participate in any of these pujas and offerings by contributing any amount.
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, or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama meeting Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India. November 2, 2022. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund was established by FPMT in 1997, at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Named after the great 14th-century founder of the Gelug tradition, the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund’s purpose is to invest in the preservation of the Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism by supporting the teachers of tomorrow. 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.
Below are the activities supported through a total of US$153,291 in grants offered in 2022. Please join us in rejoicing!
Gelug Exam participants.
Supporting Our Lineage Teachers & the Annual Gelug Exam
The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund has been covering the food and travel expenses of sangha participating in the annual Gelug Exam held at Sera Je Monastery, India. This great event draws the brightest scholars from the eight major Gelug monasteries each year, many of whom are already teaching or will go on to serve as teachers in the future. In 2022, 192 monks from eight monasteries participated in the Gelug Exam.
The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund also helps cover the basic needs of 137 main teachers of the tradition by providing small monthly stipends, freeing up their time to focus on their service in teaching students and deepening their own practice.
A total of US$22,891 was offered this year to sponsor the Annual Gelug Exam and provide monthly stipends to teachers.
Monks during the Winter Debate at Sera Je Monastery.
Grants for Winter Debate & Memorization Exams
The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund also covered the travel expenses of sangha from Sera Je Monastery to attend the annual Winter Debate program at Gaden Monastery in Mundgod, India. Funds from a grant covered the travel costs of over 700 monks who attended, along with a few administrators and teachers who accompanied them from Sera Je.
A Special Memorization Exam is held at Sera Je Monastery each year, and the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund offered new robes and a cash offering to the monks who accomplished memorizing the following classic texts:
- 62 monks memorized Commentary of Clear Meaning by Haribhadra
- 49 monks memorized Essence of Eloquence by Lama Tsongkhapa
- 33 monks memorized Bodhisattvacaryavatara (Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) by Shantideva
- 7 monks memorized the first chapter of General Meaning of Abhisamayalamkara Chapter One by Jetsun Chokyi Gyaltsen
- 3 monks memorized Six Collections of Reasoning by Arya Nagarjuna
- 2 monks memorized General Meaning of the Middle Way by Jetsun Chokyi Gyaltsen
- 2 monks memorized Five Treatises of Maitreya
US$27,900 was awarded in 2022 to Sera Je Monastery to support these beneficial activities.
New geshema ceremony at Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery Nepal, December 15, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Specialized Studies for Geshes and Geshemas
Each year a grant of US$87,500 is also provided to support specialized studies for 35 geshe lharampas and geshemas, allowing them to focus deeply on one of the five main monastic treatises in the subjects of Pramana, Prajnaparamita, Madhyamaka, Abhidharma, and Vinaya. This project is based on the advice by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and was initiated by the Geluk International Foundation in 2020. Full funding has been received through the kind support of the U.S.-based Kaya Mandala Foundation, and the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund agreed to support the administering of grants until the geshes and geshemas complete their specialized studies. The recipients of the grant funds come from the six major monasteries in India and various nunneries.
“Taking responsibility for supporting these practitioners is extremely worthwhile because they are preserving and spreading the entire teaching of the Buddha.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Funding Educational Research for Future Tibetan Medical Doctors
For the third consecutive year, the fund provided grants to Men-Tsee-Khang, the Tibetan Medical & Astro-science Institute in India, for the educational research of six doctors training in the traditional Tibetan medical tantras. Each doctor engaged in research to deepen their knowledge on specific topics, while they treated patients. Topics of research were centered in the three primary constitutional energies of loong, tripa, and baeken, and some focused on corresponding ailments related to imbalances of these constitutions in the body, such as asthma and hypothyroidism. In 2022, US$15,000 in grant funds were awarded through the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund.
Supporting this educational research and training for future doctors of Tibetan medicine serves to benefit Tibetan communities with new qualified doctors and preserves this precious medical science and cultural tradition.
Lama Tsongkhapa with his two main disciples.
May the Lama Tsongkhapa Tradition Flourish
We invite a moment of rejoicing in all these inspiring activities that preserve the living lineage of Lama Tsongkhapa and the Buddha’s teachings, and serve to develop our current and next generations of Dharma teachers, practitioners, and scholars.
For the Dharma king Tsongkhapa’s
Way of Dharma to flourish,
May all signs of obstacles be pacified
And all conducive conditions be complete.
Due to the two types of merits
Of the three times of myself and others,
May the teachings of the victorious one, Lozang Dragpa,
Shine resplendent forever.
If you would like to support the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, which preserves the unbroken Tsongkhapa lineage, and cultivates the foremost scholars of tomorrow. The fund provides support to the abbots and senior teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition, supports the annual Gelugpa exam and monks and nuns to attend the annual winter debate among many other activities.
Students of Visva-Bharati University, Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies, West Bengal, India, proudly displaying translation of the Heart Sutra.
In 2022, US$121,634 in grants from the FPMT Education and Preservation Fund were provided to activities promoting the dialogue between Buddhist teachings and modern education and sciences, as well as translations of Dharma texts from Tibetan into Hindi and Bengali. We invite you to read some of the activities supported this year below and rejoice!
Translation Grants
US$3,400 in grants were provided for translation projects of Dharma texts from Tibetan into Bengali and Hindu. The project was conceived of by Professor Sanjib Kumar Das, from the Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies at Visva-Bharati University of West Bengal, India. West Bengal was the birthplace of great masters such as Shantideva, Lama Atisha, and Shantarakshita, and the intention for the translation projects was to aid in the revival of Mahayana Buddhism in the region. One translation was of the Sixteen Mahasthaviras and the Seven Successors of the Buddha from Tibetan into Bengali. The others are Bengali and Hindi translations of the Tibetan versions of Siddhānta Ratnāvalī and Prajnaparamitahr̥dayasūtra (Heart Sutra). The books were completed by teams of university translators and advisors.
Mind Science Academy Grants
The Mind Science Academy was created by Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) in Pomaia, Italy, after a 2014 request by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Holiness wished for the Institute to create a program that helps bridge the Buddhist Mind sciences into modern secular education. US$45,665 in grants were awarded to the academy to help support their activities in 2022. Among the programs the Mind Science Academy hosted this year included the European Summer Research Institute, a retreat that sought to “promote, connect, and build the community of contemplative science in Europe” by bringing together 116 scientists, educators, researchers and other professionals from around the world for a contemplative program at ILTK.
Mind Science Academy event posting for their August European Summer Research Institute retreat.
The Academy also collaborated with the University of Pisa to hold a week-long “Summer Camp” called Consciousness and Cognition, which was open to university students, scholars and those working in the field of psychology, psychotherapy and psychiatry. In July, an experiential program for meditation on emptiness was led by Ven. Sonam Wangchuk for experienced and novice meditators as well as university students. The 19-day retreat sought to bridge the Madhyamaka tradition and Western science for participants.
Foundation for the Development of Compassion & Wisdom Grants
Earlier this year, the Foundation for the Development of Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) became the FPMT organization’s official hub of the Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom pillar of service. The increased role for FDCW is to help more directly support local FPMT centers, projects and services with building their secular education programs based on universal human values such as kindness, humility, compassion, courage, and empathy.
The Education and Preservation Fund awarded FDCW a grant of US$69,135 this year to help with the Foundation’s operating costs. Some of the highlights of FDCW offerings this year included a six-part Compassion and Wisdom in Action webinar series. Using Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Live with Compassion quote as the basis for the series, various speakers led discussions on bringing compassion into life activities such as work, meditation, death, facing problems, and joy. Other programs included the Big Love Summit 2022, and providing support and resources for FDCW-certified course facilitators.
Announcement for the final webinar in the Compassion & Wisdom in Action Series. Photo courtesy of FDCW website.
In addition to these activities, FDCW’s director, Victoria Coleman, shared with us some of the Foundation’s resources available to all:
“FDCW has a broad range of resources to pull from. There are 100+ videos on topics like Reclaiming Joy, Kindful Communication, Self-compassion, Getting a Grip on Mind and much more. We are exploring new avenues like video clubs, values cafes, and discussion groups. There are 30 guided meditations on topics like compassion, universal love, courage, perceptions, joy, forgiveness, working with emotions. Some FPMT centers are offering weekly discussion groups using a new FDCW resource called Conversations That Matter. Check out FDCW’s blog for feedback on Conversations That Matter and how it’s impacting communities. FDCW is also focused on how to awaken kindness in children, teaching them about values so that they are equipped to handle the challenges of the modern world with a brave heart and wise mind.”
We rejoice in all these inspiring activities, the work of all those involved, and in the kind generosity of supporters to the Education and Preservation Fund, which provided the much-needed resources for these projects.
Learn more about the Education and Preservation Fund, and all of our FPMT Charitable Projects that are working to build a more compassionate world.
The 42-foot stupa at Rabagayling Tibetan Settlement in Hunsur, India, October 2022. Photo by Ven. Lhundrup Tsundu.
The Rabgayling Tibetan Settlement in Hunsur, South India is home to the Rabgayling Old Aged Home, a care facility serving approximately twenty residents. FPMT Charitable Projects, through the Social Services Fund, has been supporting this home since 2015, providing grants for annual operation costs, the construction of living accommodations, medical assistance, and a community hall for the elders.
In addition to this critical support for the basic needs of the residents and facilities, Lama Zopa Rinpoche sponsored the construction of a magnificent forty-two foot stupa close to the elderly home at the settlement, which was recently completed. The stupa will provide the elders and all other residents of the Tibetan settlement an easy opportunity to create merit and purify negative karma.
Padmasambhava taught in Instructions on Offerings to Stupas:
“Since all the three-time buddhas and bodhisattvas have actually absorbed into the holy object of the mind and are abiding in it, any request or prayer done to this great stupa will spontaneously and effortlessly succeed, for it is like a precious wish-granting jewel. The benefits received by any transmigratory being with a pure special attitude who does prostration or circumambulation or makes offerings are incalculable and cannot be expressed even by all the past, present, and future buddhas.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche presiding over the consecration ceremony for the stupa at the Rabgayling Tibetan Settlement, joined by the abbott and monks of Gyudmed Monastery, Hunsur, India, October 16, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lhundrup Tsundu.
On October 16, 2022, during his visit to South India, Lama Zopa Rinpoche presided over the consecration and opening ceremonies for the stupa, which included the planting of a juniper tree in front of the stupa. Alongside Rinpoche was the abbot and monks of nearby Gyudmed Tantric Monastery, who oversaw the building and planning of the stupa throughout its construction.
In addition to the consecration, Rinpoche offered blessings to the elder residents of the Rabgayling Old Age Home; a teaching on the benefits of seeing and circumambulating stupas and other holy objects, and the benefits of reciting mantras; plus the oral transmission of some mantras.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the consecration for the stupa at the Rabgayling Tibetan Settlement, Hunsur, India, October 16, 2022. Photo by Ven. Lhundrup Tsundu.
Vast Vision for Building Stupas
One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization includes the construction of 100,000 stupas around the world, including in countries where there aren’t yet any holy objects present. Rinpoche explains, “Since there is unbelievable benefit, such as liberating sentient beings, then I thought we should aim to build 100,000 stupas (minimum size, one story, up to the distance from the earth to the moon) in different parts of the world and for the organization to do this as a whole.”
While this vision will take generations to fully accomplish, many stupas have been completed to date. To support this amazing endeavor, one of FPMT’s Charitable Projects is the Holy Object Fund which provides grants for holy objects such as this one at the Rabgayling Tibetan Settlement, and the impressive Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, which stands 164 feet (50 meters) high, in Bendigo, Australia.
We invite you to please rejoice in the actualization of this beautiful new stupa which took three years to complete and came through the generous legacy offering of an FPMT nun, and the great benefit the stupa will bring to many beings. We would like to especially thank Geshe Tsundu, who oversaw the whole building of the stupa and beautiful decorations, as well as the abbott and monks of Gyudmed Tantric Monastery, who helped to fill the stupa and participated in the consecration. Please enjoy this short video of the actual stupa consecration with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the abbott, and monks of Gyudmed Tantric Monastery.
To help support to the creation of stupas around the world, we invite contributions of any amount to the Stupa Fund. We also invite you to read more about all of our FPMT Charitable Projects.
FPMT.org brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 150 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friends of FPMT member, which supports our work.
Monks of Zigar Monastery, Darjeeling, India.
Providing support to sangha living in vows is one of the highest priorities for the FPMT organization and the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund offers food, accommodation, health care and education to sangha living in nunneries and monasteries around the world. “Taking responsibility for supporting these practitioners is extremely worthwhile,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained, “because they are preserving and spreading the entire teaching of the Buddha.”
An amazing US$673,471 was offered for the support of sangha in 2022 and a further US$27,000 has been pledged and will be offered soon. We invite you to rejoice in these grants that FPMT has been able to make this year.
Young nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, Nepal.
Since 2009 we have been sponsoring the nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery, a Kagyu nunnery in Nepal, to complete 100 million mani retreats (100 million recitations of the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM) each year. In addition to sponsoring the 100 million mani retreats, offerings are made to cover the cost of food for all during this period as well. Medical expenses were also offered for the nuns this year. US$19,269 was offered for these costs.
Over Lhabab Duchen (November 14-20) Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited the nunnery, joining Drukpa Rinpoche in blessing the newly opened gompa. Rinpoche also bestowed a two-day ordination to forty-five new nuns and offered Vajrayogini and Amitayus long life initiations.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering ordination to forty-five new nuns at Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery in Bigu, Nepal. November 18, 2022.
Monks of Shalu Monastery enjoying an offered meal.
For the last five years we have offered annual grants to Shalu Monastery, Himachal Pradesh, India, to cover the costs of food for the 50+ monks who study there. This year, US$16,930 was offered. In a letter of thanks and request for help, the monastery president, Ven. Tenpal, expressed, “How helpful this support has been in meeting the monastery’s daily necessities and solving our essential problem, especially during the past two years during the pandemic crisis which hampered global economics. Due to this, local visits to the temple have dropped significantly and the little bit of income we received was hampered.” We are extremely happy to be able to offer this essential support for the monastery. Offering support in this way is one of the core aims of the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund.
The monks of Gyudmed Monastery enjoying an offered lunch.
Earlier this year we announced that we had started offering sponsorship for a new food fund at Gyudmed Monastery which will provide support for quality meals to 575 monks studying at this extremely important monastery. The monastery has also created an endowment fund to cover annual costs from the interest of this fund. We are so pleased to have granted US$618,173 this year to the fund bringing the total offered to date to US$1,118,172. Rinpoche has been personally offering much of this money, as well as working hard to raise the rest. Rinpoche feels strongly that there is incredible benefit to establishing this food fund and long-term endowment that will support the monastery long in to the future.
Since 2019 we have been offering support to the sixty-two monks of Zigar Thupten Shedrupling Institute, a Kagyu monastery located in Darjeeling, India. This year, we have pledged and hope to be able to send the US$27,000 the costs of the monks’ food for two years.
Monks of Thame Dechen Chokhorling Monastery, Thame, Nepal.
Since 2018 we have been offering three meals per day to the twenty-two monks of Thame Dechen Chokhorling Monastery. Thame is in Solu Khumbu, high in the Mount Everest region of Nepal which is a special place for FPMT as Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born there and it is located near Lawudo which was the home of Rinpoche’s previous incarnation. This year the cost of the food for the monks was US$9,660.
Some of the young monks of Idgaa Choizinling Monastery, Mongolia.
We have been offering food to the sixty monks of Idgaa Choizinling Monastery, Mongolia, since its inception in 2003. Idgaa Choizinling also has a branch in Sera Je Monastery, India, and serves as a focal point of Buddhist learning in Mongolia. This year we offered US$9,840 for lunch and dinner for the monks.
In addition to these grants, FPMT offers support to sangha through the International Mahayana Institute, which supports the non-Himalayan sangha of FPMT through the Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund; the Practice and Retreat Fund, which provides grants and sponsorships to individuals engaged in retreats such as 108 nyung ne retreats and 100 million mani retreats; the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, which helps to preserve the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism by offering monthly stipends and annual offerings to all the main teachers of the main Gelugpa monasteries, the past and current abbotts, and also the top scholars.
Thank you to all the donors of this fund, who make these offerings possible. If you would also like to contribute to supporting sangha in meaningful and essential ways please consider donating here: https://fpmt.org/support/supporting-ordained-sangha
If you would like to support monastics, please learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries around the world.
Kopan monks and nuns offering puja at Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
On the merit-multiplying day of Lhabab Duchen (which falls on November 15 this year), ten thousand ordained Sangha will be engaging in powerful practices for the benefit of all beings, such as reciting the Prajnaparamita, Medicine Buddha puja, One Thousand Offerings to Namgyalma, and many more. During the pujas, with great respect, a monetary offering will be made to the ten thousand Sangha engaged in the practices.
You are most welcome to be part of this vast offering to the Sangha, and to be held within their extensive dedications, by contributing any amount: https://fpmt.org/support/
Any donation made will be for the offerings to the Sangha undertaking these precious practices on Lhabab Duchen, when the merit is multiplied 100 million times, and for future pujas and offerings arranged by the Puja Fund.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
The merit generated from these practices is for everyone and Lama Zopa Rinpoche often reminds us that this is an incredible opportunity for all of us to rejoice in, dedicate, and remember all the pujas and offerings that are being undertaken throughout the day on November 15.
The prayers, pujas, and offerings happening on Lhabab Duchen:
- The monks of Gyudmed Tantric College will be reciting the Prajnaparamita (three versions).
- The monks of Sera Lachi, Ganden Lachi, Drepung Lachi and Gyuto Tantric College will be offering Medicine Buddha puja, One Thousand Offerings to Namgyalma and Namgyalma Long Life puja, Sixty-four Offerings to Kalarupa, and King of Prayers.
- The Sangha of Kopan Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery will be offering Medicine Buddha puja, Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupa, and King of Prayers.
- Offerings will be made to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus, such as Jhado Rinpoche, H.E Ling Rinpoche and many others.
- An incredibly vast offering will be made to the ten thousand Sangha who are engaged in these pujas, as well as all Sangha residing in the IMI monastic communities around the world.
- New robes will be offered to the Buddha statue in Bodhgaya; and saffron paint, umbrellas, and banners will be offered to Boudhanath and Swayambhunath stupas, with strong prayers.
Thank you to all who make these offerings possible and to the Sangha undertaking the pujas and practice.
May all these prayers being offered throughout the day be actualized for the benefit of all beings.
You can learn more about the beneficial prayers, practices, and pujas sponsored by the Puja Fund, or about FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity.
Jangtse Choje Rinpoche presiding over the Monlam prayer festival at Kopan Monastery, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Since 1998, the Gelug Monlam—known as the Great Prayer Festival—has been held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in the tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa, who founded the festival in 1409. The Monlam is regarded as one the “four great activities” of Lama Tsongkhapa’s life. It is held on the first Tibetan month of the year, during Chotrul Duchen, or the “Fifteen Days of Miracles.”
We reached out to Geshe Losang Sherab, who has served as the umze, or chant leader, for the Gelug Monlam at Kopan since 2001, to help share how this tradition, now over six centuries old, is preserved and carried on at Kopan today.
From Lhasa to Kopan – A Brief History of the Great Prayer Festival
Chotrul Duchen is one of the four major anniversaries celebrating the extraordinary deeds of Shakyamuni Buddha. According to the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic, karmic potential on these special Buddha Days are increased by a 100 million. Chotrul Duchen marks the time when Shakyamuni Buddha, while in Sravasti, India, displayed a series of miraculous acts in response to a public challenge by six ascetics, as a means to instill faith and inspiration.
The first Great Prayer Festival to celebrate Chotrul Duchen was led by Lama Tsongkhapa at the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, Tibet, during the Tibetan New Year of 1409. The Monlam tradition would become very popular and eventually adopted by all the major schools of Tibet.
Geshe Losang Sherab explains, “Lama Tsongkhapa started the festival to remember the kindness of the Buddha and also to create an environment for the people, both lay and Sangha, to create merit. Thousands of monks from all major monasteries around Lhasa such as Sera, Ganden, and Drepung took part every year. So many sponsors would come from all parts of Tibet to make offerings to the Sangha. It was a great opportunity for the both the Sangha, the sponsors, and all who took part in it to accumulate a great number of merits.”
The Gelug Monlam would continue to be held at the Jokhang in Lhasa until 1498, when it was stopped due to political strife at the time. The second Dalai Lama, Gendun Gyatso, revived the Monlam in 1517 while serving as abbot of Drepung Monastery. It was celebrated at the Jokhang Temple continuously until the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese army in 1959.
Geshe Losang Sherab continues, “After 1959, the three great monasteries held Monlam in Buxa, and after the three great monasteries were re-established in south India, they celebrated it in their own monasteries. I think the reason was the distance between the monasteries, which made it difficult, costly, and time consuming to assemble together as in Tibet”
The Gelug Monlam began to be held in Nepal in 1992. Kopan Monastery’s location, up in the hills outside of Kathmandu, was seen to be less ideal than other monasteries at the time, so Kopan never hosted the festival during its first years in Nepal.
According to Geshe Losang Sherab, it was around 1998 that new challenges arose for preserving the continuity of the Gelug Monlam. After His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s request for the discontinuation of the practice of Shugden, some monasteries were still continuing to do the practice. Under the circumstances, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup offered to hold the Monlam at Kopan. A few other monasteries joined, and a new Gelug Monlam committee also formed around this time. The committee requested Lama Zopa Rinpoche to lead the Gelug Monlam that year.
Geshe Losang Sherab remarks about the 1998 prayer festival:
“With blessings of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the Monlam that year at Kopan went very well, with many locals attending despite the distance they had to travel, and with donations from locals, generous benefactors from other countries, FPMT’s Lama Tsong Khapa Teachers Fund, and some FPMT centers. From that year, almost every year the Monlams were held at Kopan. Some of the other monasteries that didn’t give up the worship of Shugden at first gave it up and joined Monlam at Kopan. After that, many great lamas such as the 100th Ganden Tripa Geshe Lobsang Nyima Rinpoche, (then Jangtse Choje Rijong Rinpoche), Denma Locho Rinpoche, the present Ganden Tri Rinpoche and presently Jangtse Choje Gosok Rinpoche presides over the Monlam.”
How the Gelug Monlam Tradition is Carried Forward Today
Chant Master of Gelug Monlam at Kopan Monastery, Geshe Losang Sherab.
Geshe Losang Sherab has been the head chant master for the Gelug Monlam for twenty-one years. He describes the position:
“Being the umze of the Monlam I have the responsibility of the leading the chanting and to make sure that it’s done in as authentic a way as possible. I prepare a group of monks who are called Kesang (“good voice”) and Donsang (“having memorized many texts”) and teach them the tunes, and also make them memorize the texts they haven’t memorized. I also do at least six to seven days of training with all Kopan monks and a full rehearsal before the actual Monlam.”
The progression and practice of the Monlam is very elaborate and specifically organized. We asked Geshe Losang Sherab to help describe a picture of the tradition. He kindly offered a detailed account below:
“The prayers that are recited during Monlam are common in all Gelug monasteries, but the tune that is used during the actual Monlam is always from Drepung Monastery, as it was done since the time of the second Dalai Lama.”
Geshe Losang Sherab explained that it was the second Dalai Lama who “restored the great Monlam in Lhasa and established rules and regulations, including the set of prayers that are recited during the Monlam.”
The rest of the prayers, apart from the main Monlam activities, are chanted in the Sera Je Monastery tradition – the monastery that Kopan is most closely connected with.
“During the first session in the morning, many prayers are recited, mainly the homage to Buddha, confession to Thirty-five Buddhas, Ornament for Clear Realization (Abisamayalankara ) by Venerable Maitreya, Introduction to the Middle Path (Madhyamakavatara) by Chandrakirti and Manjushri Nama Samgiti, etc. Tea and bread is served during this session.
“During the second session, monks and nuns from all the monasteries and nunneries would debate on logic to the geshes from Kopan who are appointed to answer the debate.
“During the third session, the head lama of Monlam is invited with procession of gyaling [horns], victory banners and yellow parasol. The chant master chants Migtsema prayers until the lama sits on the throne. Then all Sangha sit on the floor offering three prostrations to the lama. The lama would lead the Heart Sutra followed by the prayers to lineage lamas. After that, the chant master makes three prostrations and chants the mandala offering, after which the lama would teach on the Jakata Tales. After it’s completed, the lama would do dedications, and then he’s invited to his quarters in the same way he was invited to the teaching venue.
“After that, there’s a session during which tea and lunch is served. During this session, Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga, lamrim Lines of Experience, Triple Ground of Glory, prayers to sixteen Arhats, eight powerful prayers, mantras such as the Namgyalma long mantra, and Medicine Buddha mantras are recited.
“Then after half an hour break, the fourth session begins. During this the monks and nuns from all the monasteries and nunneries debate on the paramitas and on view of the Middle Way to the appointed answers from Kopan.
“Then the actual Monlam begins after the Head Lama is invited with a procession of gyaling [horns], victory banners, and parasol. The lama makes three prostrations to the altar and then sits on the throne. After this all the Sangha sit down. The chant master leads prayers standing on his seat, beginning with the Likdrima (praise to Tara), Kapsumpa (praise to the Buddha by Lama Tsongkhapa), Losang Gyalkunma (supplication to the lineage gurus), prayers of Maitreya, and the Prayers at the Beginning, Middle and End by Lama Tsongkhapa. During the last two prayers, the chant master would walk with huge steps during each verse which is called Cham (“dance”), and offer a khata [scarf] to the lama. The chant master then walks backwards and sits on the seat.
“After that, the assistant chant master and his three companions stand up and start the bath offering prayers and offering the five objects of desire, the seven royal possessions, etc., then an extensive mandala offering followed by prostrations, reciting the confession to Thirty-five Buddhas, and sits down. Then the head lama starts the torma offering to the landlord, after which the chant master stands up and leads the prayer of secret biography of Lama Tsongkhapa. During this, the chant master performs the Cham dance with huge steps at the end of every verse. Then the Foundation of All Good Qualities is chanted. While chanting, the chant master goes back to his seat, walking backwards with huge steps and sits down on his seat. After this, the head lama recites the dedication prayers.
“At the end of the session, the chant master, the assistant chant master and his three companions stand up, wearing the yellow hat and recite the auspicious prayers. Then the lama is invited to his quarters. During the fifth session, extensive White Umbrella prayers and prayers to Lion-face Dakini, and Twenty-one Tara praises are recited. Dinner is served during this session.
“During every prayer session, the Gegu (“master of discipline”) reads the dedication forms with the names of sponsors. During every prayer session, the Heart Sutra and the Hundred-syllable mantra are recited, and at the end of every prayer session, the torma offering to Palden Lhamo and other protectors are recited. The program ends with debate on Vinaya and Abhidharma in the evening.
“On the fourth day of Monlam, which falls on the full moon day, the beautiful butter sculpture made by Kopan monks is displayed outside for the people to get blessed. On the last day of Monlam, Maitreya Buddha statue is invited with a huge procession. And in the afternoon [of the last day], Kopan Lama Gyupas offer the Torgyak which they have prepared and consecrated for three days. Then a dinner session is held and during which the secretary of the Monlam reads out the account of income and expenses of Monlam, and then the Monlam of that year concludes auspiciously.”
Please join us in rejoicing in the preservation of this incredible tradition at Kopan Monastery! The Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund is a sponsor of the Gelug Monlam which is essential for preserving the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition.
Since its inception, the Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund, an extension of the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund, has supported the preservation of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism.
With tremendous thanks to Geshe Losang Sherab for his time and information about this rich tradition.