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Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Nagarjuna’s Wisdom Center, Bilbao, Spain, May 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
FPMT center Centro La Sabiduría de Nagarjuna (Nagarjuna’s Wisdom Center) in Bilbao, Spain, began as an FPMT study group in December 2012 with four members. They affiliated and became an FPMT center in April 2016. Koke Muro, center director, shares the story about the center’s newest big project—Lama Tsongkhapa Retreat Place.
Everything started in 2008, when I had an interview with Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup at Kopan Monastery, the FPMT monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal. I had just met the Dharma a few months earlier in Bodhgaya, Bihar State, India, and asked Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup what to do to learn more. Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup told me to do retreat in my city center once a year. I replied that there wasn’t a center in my city, and Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup told me, “You can open one.”
Bea Rentería and Koke Muro offering Rinpoche a letter, asking if there was the karma for a retreat center, Light of the Path Retreat, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, August 2016. Photo courtesy of Nagarjuna Wisdom Center.
Many things have happened since then.
In 2012, I started Nagarjuna’s Wisdom Study Group, and with the support of a nice group of people and Ven. Nerea Basurto, the study group became Nagarjuna’s Wisdom Center. In 2016, a small group of people from Bilbao, Spain, saw the need for a retreat place closer to Bilbao, which is on Spain’s north coast. We wrote a letter to Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, asking if there was karma for a project like that in Spain’s Basque Country, and delivered the letter to Rinpoche at the Light of the Path retreat.
Rinpoche replied, “If the study group does the extensive Medicine Buddha puja composed by the Fifth Dalai Lama every month or every week then the project comes out very good. Otherwise, it is of little benefit.” We have been doing the Medicine Buddha Puja every week and the extensive Medicine Buddha puja every month since then.
Inspired by the FPMT center Land of Joy in Northumberland, UK, we decided to invite as many people as possible to help collect merit for the project. In October 2018, our center offered Rinpoche one million completed recitations of the Medicine Buddha mantra.
In April 2019, we were extremely lucky to receive a name for their project from Rinpoche—”Lama Tsongkhapa Retreat Place.” In May 2019, Rinpoche stopped in Bilbao for the afternoon on his way to the FPMT center Institut Vajra Yogini in Lavaur, France. Rinpoche very kindly gave a teaching to Nagarjuna’s Wisdom Center board members and management committee on Yellow Dzambhala. He recommended our center do the Yellow Dzambhala practice for any project we may have in mind.
Dzambhala statues at Nagarjuna’s Wisdom Center, Bilbao, Spain, September 2019. Photo by Paloma Fernandez.
In June 2019, one million completed recitations of the long Vajrasattva mantra were offered to Rinpoche on behalf of the retreat center project. That same year a suitable place appeared. Rinpoche said it would be best if we could invite Tan Hup Cheng, center director of Amitabha Buddhist Centre, the FPMT center in Singapore, to assess the feng shui of the land. Tan Hup Cheng came in August 2019 and gave advice on the feng shui of the property.
After completing the Vajrasattva mantra accumulation we decided to start the Yellow Dzambhala practice with the water offering practice. Sixty Yellow Dzambhala statues were sent from Kopan Monastery. Geshe Tenzin Zopa, FPMT touring geshe, happened to be in Bilbao when the statues arrived and consecrated them. The statues were then offered to anyone who committed to doing a minimum of one mala a week of the Yellow Dzambhala mantra.
One year later, in October 2020, one million completed recitations of the Yellow Dzambhala mantra were offered to Rinpoche. He showed the aspect of being very pleased, sending our team a nice message and this lovely smile.
Drawing by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, October 2020.
Now we are collecting 10 million recitations of a success mantra, also advised by Rinpoche, which is called Holy Name Mantra That Fulfills Wishes and is found in The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices. (Rinpoche advised we recite the mantra and then we set the goal of 10 million mantras.)
DE ZHIN SHEG PA SA DZIN GYÄL PO LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO
To Tathagata Earth-Holder King, I prostrate.
TAYATHĀ / OṂ DHARE DHARE / DHARAṆI BÄNDHE SWĀHĀ
We feel unbelievably fortunate to have so many people supporting this project under the amazing guidance of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. We will continue working to create a Western Kopan in the north of Spain for everyone to enjoy the Dharma, engage in retreat, study, and achieve lamrim realizations.
To learn more about Centro La Sabiduría de Nagarjuna (Nagarjuna’s Wisdom Center), visit their website:
https://nagarjunabilbao.com/
To contribute to the goal of 10 million recitations of the success mantra, contact:
retiros.lamatsongkhapa@gmail.com
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Painting tsa-tas during Losar, Ganden Tendar Ling Center, Moscow, Russia, March 2020. Photo by Artur Balbakov.
Ganden Tendar Ling Center, the FPMT center in Moscow, Russia, has been teaching the tsa-tsa making practice since November 2019 and has introduced the tsa-tsa making practice to the two FPMT study centers in Russia, Aryadeva Study Group and Lama Tsongkhapa Study Group. Tatiana Ilina, Ganden Tendar Ling Center volunteer and tsa-tsa workshop coordinator, shares the story.
The story of the tsa-tsa workshop in Moscow began in September 2019, when Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended an animal blessing event in the city at the request of the Save Tibet Foundation in Moscow. Ganden Tendar Ling Center volunteers were asked to organize an altar, and to do this they had to make as many tsa-tsas as possible.
Tsa-tsas painted by Liubov Kriakina at Aryadeva Study Group, St. Petersburg, Russia, November 2020. Photo by Liubov Kriakina.
I had learned the tsa-tsa making practice at the Root Institute for Wisdom Culture, the FPMT center in Bodhgaya, Bihar, India, from Ven. Tenzin Dekyong. I took up the task of organizing the making of the tsa-tsas for the animal blessing event.
We used funds we had raised to purchase several tsa-tsa molds from Nalanda Monastery, the FPMT monastery in the South of France. A small group of volunteers from Moscow and Yekaterinburg managed to make about four hundred tsa-tsas in a short amount of time.
Tatiana Ilina and Nima Panyukova leading a tsa-tsa making workshop at Ganden Tendar Ling Center, Moscow, Russia, November 2019. Photo courtesy of Ganden Tendar Ling Center.
It turned out that a lot of people wanted to learn the tsa-tsas making practice. As we already had the molds, in November 2019, another volunteer, Nima Panyukova and I began to conduct a monthly training on the tsa-tsa making practice for anyone who wanted to learn. Despite the pandemic, about twenty group practices were conducted—attended by more than eighty people—and more than 1,000 tsa-tsas were made. All of the completed tsa-tsas are transferred to the Moscow Stupa of Enlightenment for distribution to stupa visitors.
Nima Panyukova, a tsa-tsa workshop coordinator at Ganden Tendar Ling Center, Moscow, Russia, January 2020. Photo by Tatiana Ilina.
In August 2020, we went to St. Petersburg, and held a training on the tsa-tsa making practice at Aryadeva Study Group. Local volunteer Liubov Kriakina, a professional art restorer was very inspired by the tsa-tsa making practice. Liubov now leads a tsa-tsa making practice in St. Petersburg and teaches people how to paint the tsa-tsas.
Moscow volunteers donated two silicone tsa-tsa molds to the Lama Tsongkhapa Study Group in Yekaterinburg. Ven. Tenzin Yangi and study group coordinator Sergey Kuvaev now lead a tsa-tsa making practice in Yekaterinburg.
In December 2020, we presented a tsa-tsa to Telo Tulku Rinpoche, honorary representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Russia, Mongolia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.
Telo Tulku Rinpoche highly praised the quality of the tsa-tsa. He expressed his wish that we teach the practice of making tsa-tsas from plaster to as many people as possible and in various Russian cities. This will contribute to the revival of Buddhist art in Russia.
We are planning a trip to Kalmykia to share our experience making tsa-tsas from plaster in accordance with Telo Tulku Rinpoche’s wish.
Luibov Kriakina leading a one-day Green Tara tsa-tsa painting practice at Aryadeva Study Group, St. Petersburg, Russia, January 2021. Photo by Budyma Tsoktoeva.
To learn more about Ganden Tendar Ling Center, visit their website:
https://fpmt.ru/
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with a wonderful art book, Murals of Tibet, recently offered to him, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, February 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
The February FPMT International Office e-News is out now! This month we bring you news about:
- New Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- The Recent Teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- Rejoicing about Vast Offerings to the Sangha
- The Foundation Store Offering Items for Free
and more…..!
Have the e-News translated into your native language by using our convenient translation facility located on the right-hand side of the page.
The FPMT International Office e-News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.
Lama Yeshe with children and families at Istituto Lama Tsongkhapa, Italy, 1983. Photos by Ueli Minder, courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
For FPMT students, Losar, the Days of Miracles, and Chotrul Duchen have an important significance as it commemorates the anniversary of the parinirvana of Lama Thubten Yeshe, who co-founded FPMT with Lama Zopa Rinpoche. As part of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice on how to best use this sacred time of year, in addition to doing pujas and recitations, Rinpoche recommends taking time to share stories and remembrances of Lama Yeshe.
During the 100 Million Mani retreat at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy in 2017, there were two sessions during which long-time FPMT students shared their stories of Lama Yeshe. These touching memories included stories from the early days at Kopan Monastery on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal, and Lawudo Gompa, high up in the Himalayas, as well as from the time Lama Yeshe spent in Italy, France, and Spain. Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Tenzin Osel Hita, the reincarnation of Lama Yeshe, also make appearances in these stories.
We are happy to share two videos of these informal sessions. Please enjoy these touching accounts of Lama Yeshe’s kindness and wisdom as told by Massimo Corona, Ven. Elisabeth Drukier, Ven. Charles, Paula de Wys, Piero Cerri, and Ven. Zia Bassam.
Watch stories about Lama Yeshe from senior FPMT students (Massimo Corona, Ven. Elisabeth Drukier, and Ven. Charles):
https://youtu.be/al0YNTbWkUc
Watch stories about Lama Yeshe from senior FPMT students (Paula de Wys, Piero Cerri, and Ven. Zia Bassam):
https://youtu.be/PPddKA1zAFQ
These videos are also available in Spanish:
https://youtu.be/Q3xJ9DXjrlQ
https://youtu.be/YaV8WNsskb0
You can also watch them in Italian:
https://youtu.be/OYzrrfO4lPE
https://youtu.be/MXahdgQ8q6I
Read more about Losar, the Fifteen Days of Miracles, and what practices to do during this auspicious period.
For more stories about Lama Yeshe and hundreds of photos of Lama Yeshe with early students, see Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe, published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Through timely advice, news stories, and updates, FPMT.org and Mandala Publications share the wisdom culture inspired and guided by the teachings of FPMT founders Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche shopping for flower offerings, Nepal, January 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Losar Tashi Delek!
Happy Tibetan new year to all our dear friends!
With love from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and everyone at FPMT International Office.
Read more about Losar, the Fifteen Days of Miracles, and what practices to do during this auspicious period, which begins on February 12 this year!
The Liberation Tibetan Calendar 2021: Year of the Gold Ox 2148 is now available. Many thanks to the Liberation Prison Project for continuing to produce this calendar, which also supports the work of the project. A limited view of the calendar is always available on “Dharma Practice Dates” as a courtesy to FPMT students around the world.
We Invite New Friends for the New Year
Friends of FPMT supporters have complimentary access to our online study programs like Discovering Buddhism, Heart Advice for Death & Dying, and Basic Program, downloadable materials from FPMT Education Services, ebooks from Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the 2021 Liberation Calendar, and more.
We’re hoping to welcome at least 108 new Friends during these fifteen merit-multiplying Buddha Days. Learn more about the Friends program and giving levels.
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Osel with his son, Norbu. Photo courtesy of Osel’s Facebook page.
On behalf of the entire FPMT organization, FPMT International Office wishes Tenzin Ösel Hita a very happy birthday and a long, healthy life. May his beneficial activities, including his Global Tree Initiative, flourish and may his wishes manifest without delay!
Tenzin Ösel Hita, the recognized reincarnation of FPMT founder Lama Yeshe, turns 36 on February 12, 2021.
The Big Love Fund provides financial resources that enable Ösel to continue his endeavors on behalf of FPMT.
Find out more about Osel and his projects on his website:
https://one-big-love.com/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche thanking His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the conclusion of his online teaching from his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India, February 8, 2021. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Jamphel, courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama offered a teaching on Monday, February 8, 2021, at the request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the FPMT organization on Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View (tagur ama ngodzin). The text, by the eighteenth-century Tibetan Buddhist master Changkya Rölpai Dorjé, is on dependent arising and emptiness.
“First of all, the view referred to here is dependent arising. I often mention that while our view is dependent arising, our conduct is not to harm others. Both these ideas have a bearing on peace in the world,” His Holiness said, as reported in a detailed summary of His Holiness’s teaching and question and answer session on DalaiLama.com.
Students can watch a recording of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching “Recognizing My Mother – An Experiential Song on the View” on DalaiLama.com:
https://www.dalailama.com/videos/recognizing-my-mother-an-experiential-song-on-the-view
His Holiness went through the complete text of Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View, offering commentary. Then, His Holiness took the opportunity to conduct a ceremony for generating the awakening mind of bodhichitta, since, as His Holiness explained, it is almost the Tibetan new year (Losar).
As the teaching was given on behalf of the FPMT organization, fifty fortunate individuals were able to participate as a virtual audience on Zoom. This meant that His Holiness was able to see these FPMT representatives on the screens in front of him. The audience included Lama Zopa Rinpoche, as well as a few senior students and long-time helpers of the organization, plus winners of a draw that was organized among resident geshes and teachers, registered teachers, regional and national coordinators, affiliate directors, and International Office staff members. A few of the big study communities within FPMT were also able to delegate a person to ask His Holiness a question.
Jackie Yip, a member of the virtual audience, asking His Holiness the Dalai Lama a question during his online teaching from his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India, February 8, 2021. Photo by Ven Tenzin Jamphel, courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
During the question and answer session, His Holiness replied to inquiries about how to help people who are dying, what children should do to counter the social isolation they may be experiencing due to the pandemic, and how to reconcile teachings on sudden enlightenment with a more gradual approach, as well as other topics.
“In answering questions from members of the audience around the world, His Holiness clarified that one of his commitments is to bring peace to the world and within that to encourage inter-religious harmony. Some people believe that everyone is the creation of a God, who they regard as full of love. However, the main message of all religions, he said, is to help others. Even within Buddhist tradition there are proponents of different philosophical points of view, but the main message is not to do harm, but help others wherever you can,” reports DalaiLama.com.
Screenshot of some of the virtual audience of the teaching with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on February 8, 2021
At the conclusion of the teaching Lama Zopa Rinpoche expressed his gratitude to His Holiness on behalf of the FPMT organization for this teaching and others over many years. He made a formal dedication and offered a mandala.
In response, His Holiness declared, “Zopa Rinpoche and I have known each other a long time. We are trusted friends. You and your teacher Lama Thubten Yeshe founded many centers around the world to help others. Rinpoche, you have done your best, thank you. Please be determined to keep up your efforts. What you have achieved cannot be overlooked. Thank you and Tashi Delek.”
Alexis Benelhadj coordinating the video conferencing for the Zoom participants of the live webcast from Institut Vajra Yogini in France, February 8, 2020. Photo courtesy of the Facebook page of Institut Vajra Yogini.
After the teaching, FPMT students around the world posted images from the teaching on social media and rejoiced in the opportunity to receive a teaching on emptiness from His Holiness.
FPMT International Office, on behalf of the entire FPMT organization, offers deep and heartfelt gratitude to His Holiness the Dalai Lama for giving the teaching and to the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for the live webcast. We also offer thanks to Geshe Thupten Jinpa, who kindly prepared the updated English translation of the text for this teaching event; Wisdom Publications’ David Kittlestrom, who provided editorial support; International Office staff who helped coordinate the teaching and text; FPMT media team members Alexis Benelhadj, Alfredo Pineiro, and Harald Weichhart; and all the translators who allowed this precious teaching to reach more students around the world.
Download the PDF of the English translation of Changkya Rölpai Dorjé’s Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View (tagur ama ngodzin):
https://fpmt.box.com/s/o651pwy54z15mwwqpy0n4sx1qbigs2vw
Find translations of the text in German, Italian, and Vietnamese, plus explanatory notes of the text by Geshe Kelsang Wongmo on the FPMT “Prayers and Practices Free Downloads” page:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/#ar
Find translations of the text in Tibetan, Chinese, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Hindi, German and French on DalaiLama.com.
For more live teachings and video recordings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, visit:
https://www.dalailama.com/
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama delivering his opening remarks for the online Conversation on the Crisis of Climate Feedback Loops from his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India, January 10, 2021. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Jamphel, courtesy of DalaiLama.com.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama will offer a teaching at the request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT on Changkya Rölpai Dorjé’s Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View (tagur ama ngodzin) followed by a question and answer session.
The live online event will be on Monday, February 8 from 9 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. India Standard Time (UTC +5:30). (Please note: For students in the Americas, the teaching will be during the night of Sunday, February 7. To find the time in your local area, see Time Zone Converter.)
Watch LIVE His Holiness the Dalai Lama teaching on “Recognizing My Mother, An Experiential Song of the View” with English translation on the FPMT YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/rOA9JCY7pYI
Download the PDF of the English translation of Changkya Rölpai Dorjé’s Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View (tagur ama ngodzin):
https://fpmt.box.com/s/o651pwy54z15mwwqpy0n4sx1qbigs2vw
Find translations of the text in German, Italian, and Vietnamese, plus explanatory notes of the text by Geshe Kelsang Wongmo on the FPMT “Prayers and Practices Free Downloads” page:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/#ar
For translation of the text into additional languages and links to live translation of the teaching, please go to DalaiLama.com/live:
https://www.dalailama.com/live
The live webcast of the teaching will be in Tibetan with translation in English, Chinese, Hindi, French, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mongolian, Korean, German, Portuguese, and Italian. You will be able to find links to these translations on the official websites and Facebook pages of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. People are requested to please follow their local social distancing rules while viewing the live webcast.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama answering a question from a student from the British School in New Delhi during their conversation on Well-being and Resilience at his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India on January 22, 2021. Photo by Ven Tenzin Jamphel, courtesy of DalaiLama.com.
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Pasang Dolkar screen sharing materials with her student as she teaches, December 2020. Photo courtesy of LRZTP.
Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program (LRZTP), an FPMT project in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India, has been adapting to the COVID pandemic after having to postpone the commencement of their next two-year Tibetan language and interpreters training course, LRZTP 9. Julia Wilson, coordinator, shares the story.
LRZTP senior teacher Thupten la conducting class online from home, December 2020. Photo courtesy of LRZTP.
The LRZTP is well-known for its rigorous two-year Tibetan language and interpreters training course, which has produced many gifted Dharma interpreters-translators for FPMT Dharma centers since its conception over twenty years ago. In addition to the two-year intensive training program, LRZTP also runs short Tibetan language courses and offers private online Tibetan language lessons. Now, in March 2021, LRZTP is launching a fully online Tibetan language study program: Foundations in Tibetan Language.
LRZTP is helping the FPMT by continuing to offer intensive language and interpretation/translator training for future FPMT center interpreters. The other Tibetan language learning opportunities at LRZTP help the FPMT and the Dharma in that studying in one of the other programs is often a bridge to making a greater commitment to learning the language and the Dharma. Students without the goal of becoming Dharma interpreters often study the language with goals that range from being able to recite their prayers in Tibetan, being able to communicate directly with their center’s resident geshe and so forth, to being able to study Dharma texts and receive teachings directly in Tibetan.
Our last two-year course, LRZTP 8, luckily was finished just as India went into lockdown in March 2020, and all students luckily were able to graduate without issue. The next course, LRZTP 9, was originally scheduled to commence in October 2020, but had to be postponed due to the continuing pandemic situation. If the world becomes safe again for international travel, etc., then it may be feasible that the next long course could commence as early as autumn 2021—fingers crossed!
Ven. Samdup Lungtok is also teaching Tibetan online from home, December 2020. Photo courtesy of LRZTP.
On the bright side of things, the pandemic situation has given us an opportunity to focus on further developing our online Tibetan language individual tutoring service as well as launch a fully online Tibetan language study program.
LRZTP Tibetan language tutor Dhamchoe Kyi with online students, December 2020. Photo courtesy of LRZTP.
To help facilitate the transition to teaching online for LRZTP language tutors who had been part of the onsite program, from September through December the program’s main teacher, Geshe Tenzin Wangdak, conducted several online training workshops for them with a focus on methods to teach Tibetan as a foreign language online. He also included some training for those tutors who have Dharma backgrounds in methods for teaching the Dharma in Tibetan to non-native speakers. Presently, we have about thirteen native speaker Tibetan language tutors available online for one-on-one tutoring.
Foundations in Tibetan Language, LRZTP’s new online study program, commences following the Tibetan new year in March 2021. The comprehensive program—introductory level through to advanced levels, including Dharma terminology—will be taught over the course of four years. Each level of the program is progressively taught within five eight-week modules. Class will be held over Zoom twice weekly (1 ½ hour sessions) on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Geshe Wangdak will be the main teacher for the program.
Registration is open for all modules of Level I. Modules may be taken as part of the comprehensive program of study or as individual short language courses. Level I module dates: 1) March 10-May 8, 2021, 2) May 12-July 10, 2021, 3) July 21-September 18, 2021, 4) September 29-November 27, 2021, and 5) January 5-March 5, 2022.
LRZTP is still accepting applications and continuing the registration process for LRZTP 9 with an understanding that the commencement dates are to be confirmed.
Decky Youdon with one of her students during an online session, December 2020. Photo courtesy of LRZTP.
For more information about the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India, visit their website:
http://www.lrztp.org
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Here is a further update on the steps we’re taking to help enable the FPMT organization to offer the safest environment possible, with robust protection from harm and abuse, and with clear and appropriate processes in place to report and resolve any complaint.
This is a very important area which we always seek to improve. The current steps are responding to and enriched by the learning provided and recommendations made as part of the investigation process into misconduct on the part of Dagri Rinpoche by the two safeguarding organizations commissioned by FPMT Inc., Thirtyone:eight and FaithTrust Institute.
- A new online Protection from Abuse training presentation is in the late development stage. This will be mandatory for all in leadership positions within the FPMT organization, including registered teachers, and is currently being reviewed by Thirtyone:eight. It includes guidance regarding sexual abuse, healthy boundaries, power imbalance, and crisis intervention. Once finalised, the training will be translated into key languages, including Tibetan.
- Alongside the new training presentation, we will be providing new Protecting from Abuse policy, which the training presentation is designed to unpack and support. This policy will include input and recommendation received during our safeguarding audits.
- We are also in the process of reviewing what should become new policy and guidelines related to FPMT registered teacher behaviour, including how complaints against teachers should be processed.
Our aim in providing these new resources, in addition to current ethical policy and guidelines, is to help provide learning, tools and strategies to better ensure protection from harm and abuse in FPMT-affiliated centers, projects, and services, and to make sure that any complaints can be appropriately reported, processed and resolved.
- FPMT Foundation Service Seminars will refer to and make use of the new Protecting from Harm and Abuse policy and training.
- We are working on how to more clearly communicate that any spiritual advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche is given purely from the perspective of personal spiritual practice and to ensure that clear pathways are separately outlined for processing any complaints or allegations independently from any spiritual advice.
- We have already shared the FaithTrust Institute’s Summary Report with the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and have invited their input and recommendations.
- We have reached out to each of the victims who shared their testimony with FaithTrust Institute during the Dagri Rinpoche investigation, to offer financial support for therapy and have fulfilled some requests received so far and are awaiting some additional responses.
- FaithTrust Institute’s investigation also provided an opportunity for concerns to be expressed about other members of the FPMT community. The FPMT Inc. board is sharing details of the complaints regarding two FPMT teachers and one director with the boards of the relevant affiliates for investigation. The FPMT Inc. board will review the result of their local investigations, and act on them as appropriate. Another complaint received by FaithTrust Institute is related to inappropriate habits of speech of an FPMT registered teacher. As the complaint didn’t specify a location, we reviewed the information provided and have issued a formal warning to that teacher and will continue to monitor reports from their teaching program.
We sincerely wish that all of us involved in the FPMT organization will continue to contribute to the necessary reflections and changes that will help us to better prevent harm and abuse, and to process complaints appropriately and fairly: particularly after taking the training and reviewing the new policy and guidelines in the coming months.
To find out more about current FPMT policies and guidelines instituted to uphold a safe, respectful environment in local FPMT centers, projects, or services, please visit Safeguarding in FPMT Entities. This is part of our information about Problem Solving in the FPMT Organization, and includes the FPMT Ethical Policy, which was implemented in 2000, and which restricts sexual relationships between teachers and students, and harassment of any kind. On that same page is a further important guideline, about guru devotion in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama giving a teaching, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Neal Patrick.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama will offer a teaching at the request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT on Changkya Rölpai Dorjé’s Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View (tagur ama ngodzin) followed by a question and answer session.
The live online event will be on Monday, February 8 from 9 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. India Standard Time (UTC +5:30). (Please note: For students in the Americas, the teaching will be during the night of Sunday, February 7. To find the time in your local area, see Time Zone Converter.)
Students may download a PDF of Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View, which includes the Tibetan text with an updated English translation. Geshe Thupten Jinpa kindly prepared the updated English translation for this teaching event with editing support from Wisdom Publication’s David Kittlestrom.
Watch LIVE His Holiness the Dalai Lama teaching on “Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View” on the FPMT YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/rOA9JCY7pYI
Download the PDF of the English translation of Changkya Rölpai Dorjé’s Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View (tagur ama ngodzin):
https://fpmt.box.com/s/o651pwy54z15mwwqpy0n4sx1qbigs2vw
Find translations of the text in German, Italian, and Vietnamese, plus explanatory notes of the text by Geshe Kelsang Wongmo on the FPMT “Prayers and Practices Free Downloads” page:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/#ar
For translation of the text into additional languages and links to live translation of the teaching, please go to DalaiLama.com/live:
https://www.dalailama.com/live
The live webcast of the teaching will be in Tibetan with translation in English, Chinese, Hindi, French, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mongolian, Korean, German, Portuguese, and Italian. You will be able to find links to these translations on the official websites and Facebook pages of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. People are requested to please follow their local social distancing rules while viewing the live webcast.
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Kasih Hospice Foundation Interfaith Dialogue. Graphic by Dr. Chew Cheng Hoon, Executive Committee board member.
Kasih Hospice Foundation, an FPMT project in Selangor, Malaysia, provides medical, psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual support to people with life threatening diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, and end-stage organ failure, and their families free of cost. Catherine Ooi, general manager, shares the story about the December 5, 2020, Kasih Hospice Foundation Interfaith Dialogue.
Kasih Hospice Foundation, a community hospice based in Klang Valley, Malaysia, held its second Interfaith Dialogue digitally on the platform Zoom. The hospice invited four interfaith speakers and subject matter experts from the Islamic, Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu faiths to speak on “Discovering Faith Perspectives on End-of-Life Care.”
The two-and-a-half-hour session provided a succinct view of what comprises “a good death” from each religion’s perspective. It also helped clarify theological rationales for certain rules or established practices, and how certain framing or understandings of them might be more helpful than others. It ended with the experts’ personal views on end-of-life care and death.
The first part of our Interfaith Dialogue consisted of talks by our four invited speakers. The respective speakers were the Honorable Geshe Tenzin Zopa, touring teacher from the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), who joined us from Australia; Professor Dr. Kamal Abu-Shamsieh, director of Interreligious Chaplaincy at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California; Reverend Father Dr. Clarence Devadass of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, director of the Catholic Research Centre, Malaysia; and Mr. Thurai Chantheran, head of Interfaith at the Malaysian Organization for Hindu Knowledge, Science, History, and Art (MOKSHA.)
Interfaith Dialogue, Kasih Hospice Foundation, Selangor, Malaysia, December 2020. Photo courtesy of Kasih Hospice Foundation.
More than 2,000 participants from seven countries attended Kasih’s Interfaith Dialogue live over Zoom as well five social media platforms. A simultaneous live translation into Mandarin was enabled via a partnership with the Taitung Foundation Inc., which attracted some 500 viewers to the livestream on its Facebook channel.
In the second part of our Interfaith Dialogue, we invited Dr. Richard Lim, national advisor of Palliative Care to the Ministry of Health, Government of Malaysia, to give the public his perspective on psychosocial and spiritual care in end-of-life care as well as palliative care, and the place spirituality plays within it. We concluded with a one-hour question and answer session.
Watch “Interfaith Dialogue 2020” on the Kaish Hospice Care YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/QmGUSySeDXY
Kasih Hospice Foundation prioritizes psychosocial and spiritual education as well as medical caregiving as a core competency in making sure families have the skills, knowledge, and—equally important—confidence and reassurance to care for their loved ones at home. As a multicultural, multi-religious country, with diverse medical teams, patient families, staff, and volunteers hailing from every ethnic group and nationality, we believe in the importance and urgency of Interfaith Dialogues that serve to elevate and encourage the principles of universal compassion.
To learn more about Kasih Hospice Foundation, visit their website:
https://kasihhospice.org/index.html
Subscribe to the Kasih Hospice Foundation tri-annual newsletter:
https://mailchi.mp/b92970f8e511/khf-newsletter-02-2020
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.