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In addition to news and stories from around the world, and opportunities and resources for your practice, we also share timely and essential advice from Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, including practices to generate peace in the world and the importance of death education for all of us.
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Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
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FPMT European Meeting at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy. Photo courtesy of ILTK.
On March 14, 2026, a deeply meaningful and joyful occasion unfolded at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Pomaia, Italy. The center hosted the FPMT European Regional Meeting and celebrated the blessing of the new Stupa of Enlightenment’s throne, dedicated to Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche. New Associate Editor Fabiana Lotito was in attendance and shares the story.
Morning: FPMT European Regional Meeting
The weekend began in the gompa, where the Institute’s resident geshes warmly welcomed representatives from FPMT centers and monasteries across Europe. Geshe Tenzin Tenphel and Geshe Jampa Gelek invited everyone to begin the meeting by developing a pure motivation.
Geshe Tenzin Tenphel, in particular, recalled the importance of serving in a Dharma center or monastery as a continuous opportunity to practice the Dharma and benefit numberless sentient beings. In the course of daily work, disagreements may arise, but by working with one’s own mind, these difficulties can be diminished, and harmonious relationships can grow. With a positive mind, the quality of the work and the environment improve, benefiting the visitors and students who, feeling welcome, are happy to return.
Geshe Tenzin Tenphel and Geshe Jampa Gelek at the FPMT European Meeting at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy. Photo courtesy of ILTK.
Geshe Jampa Gelek then reminded participants of the profound responsibility that comes with serving within the FPMT. He emphasized that it is thanks to the tireless work of FPMT — founded by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche — that the Dharma has flourished in the Western world. Those serving today carry the responsibility of continuing this precious work: benefiting others through our centers, monasteries, and projects, especially at a time when the Dharma is so deeply needed, and supporting one another in this shared effort.
The meeting, facilitated by Steph Hill, European Regional Coordinator, and Lisette Reek, SPC at Maitreya Instituut, was attended in person by 30 representatives from 10 centers and monasteries across Europe, with an additional 7 participants joining online — plus Peeyush Agarwal, FPMT Executive Director; Ven. Roger Kunsang, Senior Advisor, and Paula de Wys, member of the FPMT Inc. Board of Directors, welcomed participants and shared very positive news for the entire FPMT community to rejoice in together.
Afternoon: Blessing the Throne of The New Stupa of Enlightenment
In the afternoon, a very special puja was offered in the courtyard of the Institute. The Yaksha ritual – males and females – to consecrate the throne and fill it with all the precious substances. The ceremony was led by Geshe Tenzin Tenphel and Geshe Jampa Gelek and held with the strong prayers of the Sangha, the Institute’s director Valerio Tallarico, trustees, volunteers, and the representatives from FPMT European Centers. Their collective presence made this occasion all the more meaningful and joyful — as the Institute’s director highlighted in his speech.
Blessing of the throne of the new Stupa of Enlightenment, dedicated to Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy. Photo by Fabiana Lotito.
The entire community came together around the stupa dedicated to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s swift return, placed in his most beloved spot — directly in front of Lama Yeshe’s Stupa — where he would usually circumambulate during his visits to the Institute.
As the geshes began the puja, a strong wind arose, sweeping through the grounds and giving many present the profound sense that Rinpoche himself was near — surrounding and supporting the wider FPMT family in this auspicious moment.
During the puja, Geshe Tenzin Tenphel and Geshe Jampa Gelek filled the throne with precious substances: holy relics, cereals, sacred images, dried flowers, medicinal herbs, incense, crystals, precious stones, relics of holy beings, coins, and much more — all lovingly gathered by the communities of the Institute and the other FPMT European Centers. These precious substances increase the merit generated through the building of the stupa, multiplied by the countless molecules that form this holy monument.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the Immeasurable Benefits of Stupas
Wherever a stupa is built will become a powerful place for healing and a cause for the success of whatever visitors to that place are seeking. —Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa Rinpoche often highlighted the unbelievable benefits of the stupa. He taught that the main purpose of building stupas is to make the lives of all beings, young and old, meaningful. In the book, Benefits and Practices Related to Statues and Stupas, he explains: “Every day, when sentient beings see stupas and statues, this plants the seed of enlightenment…. It purifies their negative karma … It is so unbelievably powerful!” [Read more: Even Dreaming of a Stupa Plants the Seed of Enlightenment].
The Journey So Far
This sacred project began in 2025, when a representative group of the Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa received the blessing for the stupa directly from His Holiness the Dalai Lama during a visit to Dharamsala. His Holiness also offered holy relics for the stupa. Shortly thereafter, in November 2025, at the Institute, the work started with Geshe Tenzin Tenphel and Geshe Jampa Gelek offering Sa Chog rituals to require the permission to build the stupa, consecrate the land and remove any obstacles.
Geshe Tenzin Tenphel and Geshe Jampa Gelek with Stupa Onlus’ Volunteers Sherab and Rinchen, filling the stupa’s throne at ILTK.
The construction began with excavation, and since then, the dedication of the community has been extraordinary: volunteers have rolled tens of thousands of mantras and carefully prepared the fillings for nine treasure vases; monks from Nalanda Monastery in France have offered tsa-tsa statues for placement within the stupa; and the volunteers of Stupa Onlus have constructed the initial platform, which symbolizes the ten virtues of body, speech, and mind.
The project, overseen by Geshe Tenzin Tenphel and Geshe Jampa Gelek, has been managed by Stupa Onlus, which built the first stupa at the Institute of Lama Thubten Yeshe in 1985–1986 and has now built 8,250 new stupas and restored 73 in Ladakh.
Looking Ahead
Each step in the construction of the stupa is a powerful practice, generating merit and purifying karma for all involved. Auspicious milestones continue on June 5, with the consecration of the steps of the stupa and on July 29, with the consecration of the vases. The community is working with great joy and dedication toward a deeply meaningful completion date: December 3, 2026 — Lama Tsongkhapa Day, the 50th anniversary of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, and Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 80th birthday. On that most auspicious day, the full consecration of the stupa will take place.
A Renewed Commitment
Inspired by a unique weekend of prayers, shared experiences between centers, and the energy of the stupa, representatives from across Europe concluded the regional meeting strengthened in their shared purpose — to preserve what has been so preciously created by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Together, they renewed their commitment to continually benefit others through the FPMT European centers, finding new ways to make the Dharma accessible in our contemporary world so that more and more people may study, develop wisdom, and cultivate compassion. A responsibility that, in these turbulent times, feels more important than ever.
Written by FPMT International Office Associate Editor Fabiana Lotito. We welcome the submission of news stories from those within the FPMT community. This can be a story about something you have personally completed or accomplished, about someone else who has done so, or about the FPMT center, project, or service of which you are a part. Ideal submissions will give readers reasons to rejoice, share ideas, and create connections between those in the international community. Have something to share? Please let us know!
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Maitreya School boys in the school yard. Photo by Donna Brown.
By Donna Lynn Brown
Last year, I wrote an article describing how Maitreya Universal Education School, operated by Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India, is implementing child-focused, trauma-informed methods. That process is proceeding well. Its main leaders, volunteers Kabir and Duffer, staff member Neelashi, and Principal Sanjeev Kumar, continue to train teachers, upgrade curricula, and oversee improvements in interactions with children, lesson plans, and the use of hands-on activities that boost academic learning and integration of the 16 Guidelines. I spoke with Kabir and Duffer in February, and they emphasized the positive effects of these methods, particularly on the younger children. Children in the primary grades—lower and upper kindergarten through Grade Three—make up about half the school, which now has a total of 285 students, mostly from very poor families.
Morning prayers at assembly at Maitreya School. Photo by Donna Brown.
“Whenever I see the primary kids, I feel good,” says Kabir, the longtime Dharma teacher and educator who oversees spiritual aspects of the school. “They are really making progress. That’s because their teachers are more skilled and confident thanks to the training they are receiving from Neelashi and Duffer. And the children feel safe … Everything is working.”
Duffer, an American teacher and librarian in her third year of volunteering at the school, agrees. “The primary students are doing especially well. Kindergarten kids get universal education lessons every day by hearing stories suited to their age. Then, in ‘circle time,’ which we’ve implemented in the last couple of years, they talk about the stories and how they would feel if they were the crocodile or the goat, whatever the story is about. Primary students do all sorts of things in ‘circle time’: check-in, relationship-building games, short plays, creative time, discussion, settling down when they goof off or get rambunctious … They also do simple meditations. Being here for several months at a time, I can see their social and emotional skills developing, and also their curiosity and interest in learning. The 16 Guidelines are gaining equal importance to the academic curriculum and are having a major impact. So are the improved ways of teaching: Hindi reading and writing through stories like Jataka Tales; math using hands-on activities and games; Waldorf activities; arts and crafts where the kids really break free. As well, primary classes now all have single-teacher classrooms, instead of teachers moving around. This helps the kids, who’ve often experienced trauma, to trust their teachers. It gives them a safer environment. So they are now more comfortable around their teachers and more comfortable with learning. They’ve begun to find learning joyful too. It’s wonderful to see!”
Wall of the Maitreya School art room. Photo by Donna Brown.
Some of the improvements discussed in last year’s article are evident. The classrooms are more inspiring: colorfully decorated with pictures, math games, and other work by students. Kabir and Ven. Anshu supplement classroom teachers in teaching meditation, 16 Guidelines, and Buddhist topics. The new library, now staffed by a local woman, is well-stocked and well-used. It even contains books made by the children themselves. Regular library usage is helping to improve students’ Hindi reading and writing, which used to be below standard. And better reading and writing in Hindi helps them learn English. Students’ English is now coming along, partly due to the library and partly to curriculum improvements, new games and activities, and some helpful volunteers.
Another factor now helps the children learn: breakfast. Donors have started funding a morning snack of peanuts, bananas, and/or hard-boiled eggs. That has a visible impact, reports Duffer. “When the kids are hungry, we notice: they get restless or unresponsive. The food makes a difference to their learning. We are SO grateful to the donors.”
Improvement is now continuous. Kabir, Duffer, Neelashi, and Nidi, another highly qualified Indian teacher, work steadily on curriculum improvements and training the teachers in more effective and child-centered methods. The teachers also have new salary incentives that encourage them to improve their lesson planning, incorporate 16 Guidelines in more activities, and engage in team projects that benefit the children. The impact is most visible on the younger children, but the older ones are doing well too. All in all, Maitreya School continues to reflect the love and inspiration of Rinpoche.
Written by Donna Lynn Brown. Donna is a former Associate Editor of Mandala magazine. She first encountered Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT at a November course at Kopan Monastery in 1996. Donna completed a Ph.D in which she researched and wrote about FPMT’s social engagement and its intersection with traditional Buddhist teachings.
You can read about the Maitreya School’s recent utilization of a grant offered by the FPMT Social Services Fund.
We welcome the submission of news stories from those within the FPMT community. This can be a story about something you have personally completed or accomplished, about someone else who has done so, or about the FPMT center, project, or service of which you are a part. Ideal submissions will give readers reasons to rejoice, share ideas, and create connections between those in the international community. Have something to share? Please let us know!
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
The lamas arriving at Maroochydore Airport at the beginning of their Australian tour, September 1974. Others in the photo include Paul Bourke, Ven. Yeshe Khadro, Ven. Ann McNeil, Pete Northend, Lindsay & Elli Pratt, & Tom & Kathy Vichta. Photo retouched and courtesy of LYWA.
What begins as a box of old photographs can quietly become something much more — a living record of how the Dharma took root, spread, and touched countless lives.
When Chenrezig Institute began preparing for its 50th Anniversary celebrations in September 2024, Ven. Pende Hawter saw an opportunity. Tucked away in boxes and shelves in the library were decades of photographs — some more than 50 years old — documenting the full sweep of the Institute’s history. He began the patient work of scanning, editing, and cataloguing them, with the simple wish to make them accessible and easy to share.
Four years on, he is still at it — and the project has grown far beyond what he first imagined. What he originally expected would amount to around 2,000 photos has become a collection of more than 15,000, and the number keeps growing. Each image requires careful attention: checking for spots, blemishes, stains, and color, and a single photo can take 30 minutes or more to edit. Ven. Pende describes himself as very much still in the learning phase — though the fruits of that learning are already beautiful to see. You can glimpse a sample of the collection here.
After some research, he settled on Adobe Lightroom Creative Cloud as his tool of choice — a cloud-based platform that makes cataloguing and editing manageable even for a collection of this scale.
In his own words:
“Now that most of the photos are catalogued, I am slowly increasing my skills on the editing side, and it is enjoyable seeing old photos in not-so-good condition being freshened up and brought back to life.”
This work matters deeply — not just as an archiving project, but as an act of gratitude and responsibility toward those who came before us. From the very beginning, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche carried an extraordinary vision: to bring the Dharma to the West and make it accessible to generations of students who had never encountered it before. The early years of FPMT centers around the world were filled with remarkable effort, creativity, and devotion — students giving their time, energy, and heart to build something that had never existed before in their countries. Much of that history lives in photographs, quietly sitting in boxes, waiting to be found.
To let those images fade or be lost would be to lose something precious — not just images, but living proof of what is possible when people come together in the spirit of the Dharma. It is now to the present generation of students and practitioners to honor that inheritance and carry it forward. Preserving these records is itself an act of gratitude — a way to rejoice in the merit of those who built what we now enjoy and to ensure that future students will know where they come from.
Ven. Pende hopes that this project at Chenrezig Institute might encourage other FPMT centers to review what they have stored away and begin their own preservation journey. “This is such a valuable asset to the center, which can be accessed and built on long into the future. If any of the centers need advice about how to go about this, I am happy to help!”
If your FPMT center has a library of old photos waiting to be brought back to life, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Ven. Pende directly — he is genuinely happy to share what he has learned and support you in getting started.
A precious photo resource is also available to all: The LYWA Image Gallery offers an extensive collection of archival images of Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and their students, organized by year beginning in 1967 through 2014. Browse through the albums or search for particular content then watch a slideshow or download the image for your personal use. You might like to start with browsing the Hidden Gems gallery or portraits of Lama and Rinpoche.
Please explore all of the resources we have compiled related to FPMT history. We are currently collecting stories from students and centers that help document the incredibly rich history of the FPMT organization.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Chenrezig Institute was founded in 1974 on Eudlo land — 160 acres donated by devoted students of Lama Yeshe: Nick Ribush, Yeshe Khadro, and Tom and Kathy Vichta. With the approval of Trijang Rinpoche, who confirmed that the land was most auspicious, it became the first FPMT center and Tibetan Buddhist center in Australia.
This inspiring story has now been brought to the screen with the documentary The Origin of Tibetan Buddhism in Australia, made by independent filmmaker Małgorzata Ola Dobrowolska — known as Malgo.
For Malgo, the film was a way of giving back what she had received during her four years at the Institute. Originally from Poland, she arrived in Australia in 2019 to travel and make documentary films. When she landed at Chenrezig Institute, what was meant to be a few-month stay became a four-year journey that deeply transformed both her life and her work.
“As a filmmaker, I have always been guided by a strong inner conviction that lasting world peace can only arise through profound spiritual transformation,” Malgo reflects. “Shortly after arriving at Chenrezig Institute, I felt a clear inner calling to create a documentary about the origins of the center. The project gradually became not only a documentary but also a personal journey of connecting more deeply with the meaning of Dharma in the modern world.”
The documentary features stories from community members involved with the Institute from its very beginning, archival images of founders Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and a portrait of their vision for the Institute. Alongside this historical material, Malgo weaves in her own more recent footage, skilfully capturing the many qualities that make Chenrezig Institute what it is today.
Please watch the trailer of the film:
Screenings That Bring the Community Together
On February 1, 2026, the documentary premiered at Chenrezig Institute to an audience of over 70 people, creating a warm and joyful atmosphere. A second screening followed at Buddha House in Adelaide on February 7, 2026, welcoming more than 50 participants.
The response at both premieres was heartfelt and enthusiastic. The documentary offered a sense of continuity across generations of students and created meaningful points of connection for newer members of the community. Many expressed gratitude for the opportunity to reconnect with the Institute’s history, while others said the film helped them better understand FPMT’s roots and feel more connected to the broader community. As one attendee put it: “It was very moving to see the documentary in the heart of the place it is based on.”
These screenings have naturally become more than film events — they have turned into spaces for community connection, reflection, and shared appreciation of the center’s history and lineage.
“I am grateful that what began as a personal calling has grown into something that can serve the community,” Malgo shares. “It is my hope that similar events may continue to support connection, reflection, and rejoicing within the wider FPMT network.”
To learn more about the film and to arrange a screening at your center, please visit the film’s website.
The Community Support Fund proudly offered a grant toward the completion of this project.
About the Filmmaker
Małgorzata Ola Dobrowolska (Malgo) is an independent documentary filmmaker from Warsaw, Poland, whose work is rooted in her own spiritual journey. Her award-winning feature-length documentary Bhikkhuni – Buddhism, Sri Lanka, Revolution explores the revival of women’s ordination in Theravada Buddhism. She holds a Master’s degree in Intercultural Psychology and a postgraduate degree in Multimedia.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Thubten Gyatso at Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery, Bendigo, Australia, 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
As the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) reached its 50th anniversary in December 2025, we are celebrating this important milestone by sharing the inspiring stories of the students and centers who helped FPMT grow around the world.
Through their dedication, our beloved founders, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, established centers, projects, services, and study groups across many countries. What began with a small group of students has grown naturally and organically far beyond the West and continues to benefit living beings everywhere.
“We should recognize our Western Sangha as a resource for the establishment of the Dharma in the West,” shared Lama Yeshe in 1983, the year before showing the aspect of passing, during a CPMT meeting in Italy.
Founded in 1981 by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Nalanda Monastery became the first Western Buddhist monastery of FPMT, following the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
One of the most treasured voices in this living history belongs to Ven. Thubten Gyatso (born 1943, Dr. Adrian Feldmann), who was the very first monk to arrive at Nalanda—and its first director, serving from 1981 to 1985. He trained and worked as a medical doctor, and since 1975 he has been a Buddhist monk. He has also written an autobiography about his early Buddhist and ordained years, published as A Leaf in the Wind.
In this video filmed during Nalanda’s 40th Anniversary in a series of talks called “Honoring our Former Generations,” Ven. Gyatso shares a remarkable journey: from his medical school years in Melbourne in the 1960s, through a restless spiritual search that led him across Asia, to his ordination at Kopan Monastery in November 1975. He then joined the community of monks and nuns at Kopan for the next three to four years. Later, Lama Zopa Rinpoche requested that he serve as the SPC in Melbourne, where he worked for more than a year.
Please watch Ven. Gyatso’s inspiring story:
At the end of 1980, unexpected news changed his life plans. While he was doing prostrations under the bodhi tree, someone delivered a letter from Lama Yeshe saying, “I want you to go to France and set up a new monastery. Come and see me in Dharamsala.” He later met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche in a small room in Dharamsala, where Lama told him plainly: “Elizabeth has bought this place in France, and I want it to be a monastery for my monks and nuns—you go there and set it up.” (You can watch Ven. Elisabeth Drukier’s interview here).
It was in that same meeting that Lama Yeshe gave the monastery its name: Nalanda—chosen in the spirit of the great ancient center of Dharma study whose ruins Ven. Gyatso had visited just weeks earlier and which had inspired him to vow to help establish monastic communities in the West.
Ven. Gyatso arrived to find a stripped, empty three-story building, about 200 years old, with no furniture and no fittings—and on his very first night, a thunderstorm of spectacular intensity. Undeterred, he spent the following weeks scrubbing every floor and wall by hand, building the dining room table and benches himself, and planting gardens. For the first few weeks, he worked alone, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monks and nuns began to arrive gradually—first Mike King from Manjushri Institute in England, then others—and the community slowly and joyfully took shape.
Ven. Gyatso’s account is a beautiful testimony to what determination and wholehearted willingness to serve can achieve. From a lone monk closing shutters in a thunderstorm to a flourishing monastic community embodying the vision of our Lamas—this is the story of how Nalanda began and such a fine example of the type of courage demonstrated by the early students of FPMT.
Please also read an interview with Ven. Gyatso from 2009 ,after he completed a three-year retreat at De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre on Kangaroo Island off the South Australian coast.
Dr. Adrian Feldmann (Ven Thubten Gyatso) treating a young monk at the People’s Clinic, Kopan Monastery, 1979. Photo courtesy of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
This and other inspiring moments in the history of Nalanda Monastery has been preserved in video interviews, creating a virtual time capsule that captures the monastery’s story and its beginnings in the 1970s under the guidance of our Lamas. These recordings honor the contributions of the founding generation and make their legacy available to all who come after them. The interviews feature a message from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and memories from Ven. Roger Kunsang, Ven. Gyaltsen, Ven. Tendar, Henri Charpentier, Stephan (Pende) Wormland, Ven. Elisabeth Drukier, Ven. Thubten Gyatso, Geshe Losang Jamphel, Ven. Steve Carlier and John Feuille with a special bonus recording of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teaching offered to celebrate Nalanda.
Join us in celebrating this remarkable journey. Share your story using the hashtag #50YearsFPMT and help inspire the next generation. Your memories and experiences are part of this living history. We would love to hear from you.
Please explore all of the resources we have compiled related to FPMT history. We look forward to all of your creative ideas on how to bring this year-long celebration to your own local activities and personal practices! Please use the hashtag #50YearsFPMT in your social media posts so we can all be connected in this way.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Medicine Buddha puja during the Healing and Reconciliation event at Abhayagiriya Temple led by Kopan geshes, with disabled Army personnel and families in attendance. Photo by Capucine Redon.
Lama Namgyal Rinpoche and five Kopan geshes were welcomed to Sri Lanka for the first extended tour by Tibetan Buddhist monks in the country to fully consecrate Sri Lanka’s first Medicine Buddha statue. The tour was organized by the Tara Lanka Study Group, led by Ven. Tenzin Lekdron and carries profound historical and interfaith significance.
After three years of dedicated effort, the Tara Lanka Study Group has completed a 5-foot/ 1.5-meter Medicine Buddha prototype statue. It was formally offered and installed in the heart of Colombo in October 2025. This marks an important step towards fulfilling Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wish to build a five-story (approximately 50 feet/ 15 meters) Medicine Buddha statue in Sri Lanka.
Consecration of the prototype of Medecine Budha Statu at Gangaramaya temple on October 29, 2025. Photo by Capucine Redon.
This was the first time an image of the Medicine Buddha had been enshrined for public worship and ritual at a major temple in Sri Lanka. This is a remarkable moment that advances Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vision of reconciliation between the Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist traditions.
The Kopan geshes arrived in the capital, Colombo, on October 26. The following day, they gathered with the Tara Lanka community. During this meeting, Lama Namgyal Rinpoche offered a clear and accessible introduction to Mahayana Buddhism. Students’ questions were encouraged and translated into Sinhala by Hirushan Fernando.
On October 28, one of the four major events of the tour took place at Kelaniya Temple, where the Naga Puja was performed. It was led by Lama Namgyal Rinpoche together with the geshes. At this temple, which is believed to have been visited by the Buddha himself, a small group of students received the rare and precious opportunity to take the Bodhisattva vows. Tara Lanka students Hirushan Fernando and Dilini Wijesekara, representing the local community, made this request to Lama Namgyal Rinpoche, who kindly agreed.
Naga puja at Kelaniya temple of Colombo, October 28, 2025. Photo by Capucine Redon.
On October 29, at Gangarama Temple, Lama Namgyal Rinpoche, with the geshes, consecrated the Medicine Buddha prototype statue in a private ceremony performed exactly according to Tibetan tradition.
On October 30, the Kopan monks travelled to Anuradhapura to meet the Atamasthana Adhipathi, who holds the highest authority over the eight sacred Buddhist sites in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
October 31 marked the Healing and Reconciliation event at Abhayagiriya Temple for disabled former army personnel. The event was attended by 300 participants, including wounded soldiers and widows. The Kopan geshes conducted a Medicine Buddha puja while participants meditated in silence and reflection. Lunch was offered by the army to all participants. This act of shared devotion stood as a powerful symbol of mutual respect, unity, and healing.
On November 1 at Abhayagiriya Temple, a prominent Theravada site, the Kopan geshes led a Guru Bumtsog puja attended by nearly 100 people. The atmosphere was palpably sincere.
In the days following the ceremonies, the monks journeyed across the island. On November 2, they visited the Ruwanwelisaya and Jethavana temples. The following day, they returned to Abhayagiriya to see 400 hectares of Mahayana archaeological ruins and then travelled to Kandy. There, the geshes visited the Sacred Tooth Relic, which left a deep impression on them. They were honored to be granted a rare audience with the Most Venerable Mahanayaka Thero of the Asgiriya Chapter. This marked a historic event that will be remembered in the Buddhist annals of Sri Lanka.
Rare audience with the head of Asgiriya Chapter which is the most powerful religious title in Sri Lanka.
The Ambassador of Nepal formally acknowledged the geshes and their contribution to the people of Sri Lanka by hosting an official reception at the Nepalese Embassy. The event honored the first official group of Tibetan Buddhist monks from Nepal to undertake an extended tour of Sri Lanka and marked the gifting of the Medicine Buddha statue.
On November 5th, the geshes returned to Kopan Monastery. Throughout the journey, they were welcomed everywhere with genuine warmth. Their presence, prayers, and humility touched all those they encountered.
The entire project was led through the dedicated effort and devotion of Ven. Lekdron, who shared: “The wheel of Mahayana is turning in Sri Lanka. Tara Lanka has done 10 years of purification practices and created the foundation for change.”
With grateful thanks to Ven. Tenzin Lekdron for sharing news of this inspiring development! We welcome the submission of news stories from those within the FPMT community. This can be a story about something you have personally completed or accomplished, about someone else who has done so, or about the FPMT center, project, or service of which you are a part. Ideal submissions will give readers reasons to rejoice, share ideas, and create connections between those in the international community. Have something to share? Please let us know!
Please learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization to have hundreds of thousands of holy objects around the world: fpmt.org/fpmt/vast-vision/#hobjects
Lama Tsongkhapa with his two main disciples.
During the Fifteen Days of Miracles, many Tibetan monasteries hold a Great Prayer Festival, which originates from Lama Tsongkhapa. Kopan Monastery has continued to host the Great Prayer Festival on behalf of the FPMT annually since 1998. The Monlam is regarded as one of the “four great activities” of Lama Tsongkhapa’s life.
According to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wish, Nalanda Monastery in France will host its third annual Gelug Monlam from February 28 to March 4. All of these sessions will be available online, which is a wonderful opportunity for all interested to participate!
During the first Gelug Monlam festival at Nalanda in 2024, the monastery filmed interviews with special guests and geshes. Please watch this short video to learn more about the history and significance of this event’s arrival in the West. You can also watch five episodes of “The Seed of Gelug Monlam in the West,” which are more extensive interviews filmed during this period. In the first episode, Ven. Roger Kunsang discusses Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes for this event to take place at Nalanda. Two months after the first Gelug Monlam at Nalanda, Ven. Roger had an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and reported, “His Holiness was very moved to hear about the first Monlamd putting his hands together in the mudra of prayer above his head when I explained, and recited some prayers for some time silently.”
Watch Ven. Roger’s moving interview:
Please read all the details about the very special guests participating in the event, the schedule, registration, and how you can join and support this powerful Gelug Monlam festival.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Welcome to this month’s e-newsletter!
We at FPMT International Office wish all of our dear friends and supporters a most happy and healthy Tibetan New Year of the Fire Horse! We have entered an incredibly powerful period through March 3, 2026.
In this month’s e-newsletter, in addition to advice from our lamas; and news on FPMT activities, opportunities, resources, and changes around the world; you will find practice advice and resources for making the most of these Fifteen Days of Miracles. You will also be invited to read a new Update from the FPMT Inc. Board of Directors discussing their progress on developing the Strategic Plan, appointing a new Executive Director, recruiting new Board members, and their 5-day face-to-face Board meeting in December 2025 at Kopan Monastery.
Please continue to read this month’s e-news in its entirety!
Have the e-News translated into your native language by using our convenient translation facility located on the right-hand side of the page.
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Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe, Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1975. Photo by Nick Ribush, restoration by David Zinn, courtesy of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Losar Tashi Delek!
Happy Tibetan New Year to all our dear friends!
With love from everyone at FPMT International Office
The Great Prayer Festival during the Fifteen Days of Miracles—from the first day of the Tibetan new year, Losar, (February 18, 2026) until the fifteenth, Chotrul Duchen (March 3, 2026)—commemorates the special time when Guru Shakyamuni Buddha showed miraculous powers to subdue six tirthikas, or non-Buddhist teachers, who lacked faith in him, and to inspire more faith in his followers. It culminates on the full moon, the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar. Please read all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for this meritorious period, opportunities to join the worldwide community in praying strongly for Rinpoche’s swift return, as well as advice for observing the anniversary of Lama Yeshe’s passing away on Losar, 1984.
One precious opportunity that is available for all to join is once again being organized by Root Institute. Powerful prayers will be recited for the return of Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the seat of enlightenment under the bodhi tree at the Mahabodhi Stupa, Bodhgaya.
Everyone is encouraged to join these prayers by downloading the free prayer book, From the Seat of Enlightenment. Root Institute will be livestreaming the event every day, and all are welcome to join and follow along. Still, please know that joining in, at any time you are able, is so incredibly powerful during these next fourteen days. Updates and news will also be posted on Root Institute’s Facebook page. The prayers are part of Root Institutes’ Festival of Lights and Merits, with extensive offerings of lights, flowers, and various pujas and practices available for sponsorship. This year, they are also hosting a 100,000 water bowl offering retreat at the stupa.
Please explore all of the resources and opportunities available to make the very most of these powerful fifteen days of miracles, and please join us in rejoicing in all the meritorious activities happening within the FPMT organization and around the world on this auspicious merit-multiplying period!
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2017, with Geshe Sherab, Gen Don Handrick and Rowena Mayer, former director of Thubten Norbu Ling. Photo courtesy of Thubten Norbu Ling.
For the majority of Thubten Norbu Ling’s twenty-five year history in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, Geshe Thubten Sherab has served as joint-resident teacher. After a world teaching tour, Geshe Sherab will enter three year retreat at the beginning of 2027. Here we share a short biography of Geshe Sherab, and some words of thanks and praise from the team at Thubten Norbu Ling:
Geshe Thubten Sherab was born in 1967 in a small village in the Manang province of western Nepal. His parents, hoping to bring merit to their family and all sentient beings, encouraged him to become a monk. He was welcomed to Kopan Monastery by Lama Yeshe, where his formal training began.
From 1987 to 2000, Geshe Sherab studied Buddhist philosophy at Sera Je Monastery, eventually earning his Geshe degree. During this time, he was deeply influenced by his teachers, including Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who taught him as much through their daily example as through formal instruction.
After completing his studies and spending a year studying tantra at Gyume Tantric College, Geshe Sherab came to the United States. He spent two and a half years supporting FPMT International Office and teaching in Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Geshe-la returned to Kopan Monastery to serve as headmaster and acting abbot, but came back to Santa Fe in 2014 as our resident teacher, where he’s been teaching the community ever since. For a good part of Thubten Norbu Ling’s 25-year history in Santa Fe, Geshe Sherab has been a pillar of our community and alongside Gen Don Handrick, a source of Dharma and inspiration in Santa Fe and around the world. Geshe-la’s teachings have touched thousands of lives, not because of eloquent words, but because of who Geshe-la is. There’s his ever-present smile, his humor, the way he treats everyone—students, animals, even insects—with an open heart and ever-present compassion.
Geshe Sherab with Thubten Norbu Ling SPC, Ven. Losang Dondrub, during Geshe-la’s farewell at Thubten Norbu Ling. Photo courtesy of TNL.
Don Handrick shares,“I will miss Geshe-la’s presence in the community and our occasional lunches together, but I am so happy that he finally has the chance to do the long retreat that he has wanted to do for so many years. I wish him all the best for his time in retreat, as well as for the teaching tour to FPMT centers that will precede that. Thank you, Geshe-la, for all your contributions to the Dharma at TNL and around the world. And thank you very much for your precious friendship over more than twenty years that I value so much!”
Yes, Geshe la’s teachings and philosophical depth has changed how we understand and practice Buddhism. But what truly inspired us was watching him live it. Geshe la’s unwavering compassion, wisdom and ethical discipline aren’t a practice – they are who Geshe la is. Anyone fortunate enough to know Geshe-la, carries his example with them. We try, every day, to live the way he showed us how.
Now, the next chapter in Geshe Sherab’s Dharma journey is beginning. Geshe-la has embarked on a world teaching tour to share the Dharma with students across the globe, after which he’ll fulfill a long-held dream of entering extended retreat at the beginning of 2027.
While we are deeply sad to lose Geshe-la’s kindness, and presence, we’re also genuinely thrilled for him. If you would like to learn how to support Geshe Thubten Sherab’s three year retreat, Thubten Norbu Ling has more information.
With grateful thanks to Thubten Norbu Ling for providing us with this moving tribute to Geshe Sherab.
Please watch this sweet video of Geshe Sherab and his brother Geshe Palden sharing stories from their time growing up in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. They both entered the monastic system as children and spent their formative years studying, debating, and practicing within these communities:
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Ven. Elisabeth Drukier addressing the CPMT Summit group about the early years of FPMT, April 7, 2025. Photo by Capucine T. Dekyong.
As FPMT has reached 50 years as an organization, we are taking the opportunity to celebrate the stories and contributions of all who have helped Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche establish centers, projects, services, and study groups around the world, reaching far beyond the Western scope.
In 2021 Nalanda Monastery, located near Lavaur, France, celebrated its 40 years of existence from humble beginnings as an old farmhouse in 1981 to a leading Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the West, home to around 30 monks, as well as a growing lay community dedicated to the study and practice of the Dharma. As part of this celebration, and to preserve their rich history, Nalanda organized special talks and Q&As via Zoom of all former directors and others who played an important role in Nalanda’s history. These talks offer such an intimate look into the very special history of the FPMT organization, told from those who were there and helped establish centers at the very beginning.
International Mahayana Institute Sangha, Nalanda Monastery, Lavaur, France, 1983. Foreground left side: Francesco Prevosti.
Photo (L to R): Dieter Kratzer, Murray Wright, Adrian Feldmann/Gyatso, Jean-Marie, Jimi Neale, David Marks, Geshe Tegchok, Pierro Siriani (rear), Steve Carlier, Martin Willson, Thuben Sherab Sherpa (rear), Lama Thubten Yeshe, Elisabeth Drukier, Joseph Fontaine, Merry Colony (middle), Martine Darrou (rear), Father Bastiani (a local priest, in blue), Sangye Khadro (middle), Thubten Chodron, Anne-Marie, Beppe Molinari, Celia Smith. Photo courtesy Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Today we are sharing the story of Ven. Elisabeth Drukier. Ven. Elisabeth is the director of Kalachakra Centre, Paris, and an early student of the Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche who came to Kopan Monastery in 1974 and stayed for the next five years, ordaining in 1976. Ven. Elisabeth was instrumental in establishing Institut Vajra Yogini, Nalanda Monastery, and Kalachakra Centre.
Please watch Ven. Elisabeth share her story:
At the CPMT Summit at Kopan Monastery in 2025, Ven. Elisabeth also shared stories about Kopan and Kathmandu in the early days of the FPMT organization. “Lama Yeshe had a talent for picking up people and giving them responsibilities. You didn’t know really you were capable of doing what he asked, but he knew. He knew.”
Are you an early student of FPMT who was there at the beginning? Do you have a story to share about how you met Lama Yeshe or Lama Zopa Rinpoche or the impact they have had on your life? Have you personally achieved or actualized a request, advice, practice accomplishment, or project given to you by Lama Yeshe or Lama Zopa Rinpoche? We want to hear from you!
Please explore all of the resources we have compiled related to FPMT history. We look forward to all of your creative ideas on how to bring this year-long celebration to your own local activities and personal practices! Please use the hashtag #50YearsFPMT in your social media posts so we can all be connected in this way.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.