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Volunteer training course class taught by Alexandra Mejia at Centro Nagarjuna Madrid, Spain, February 2019. Photo courtesy of Alexandra Mejia.
La Asociacion Potala Hospice (Potala Hospice Association) is one of FPMT’s hospice services offering service to the community during the COVID pandemic. Community Service is one of FPMT’s Five Pillars of Service. Alexandra Mejia, coordinator, shares the story.
La Asociacion Potala Hospice began its journey in December 2000, one month after a group of students had the opportunity to meet Lama Zopa Rinpoche on Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. Rinpoche told me it would be good to organize a group of people at Nagarjuna C.E.T. Madrid, an FPMT center, who were interested in the subject of death so we could accompany and support people who are dying. Rinpoche advises me to learn everything I could from the work done by Ven. Thubten Pende (Ken Hawter), founder of Karuna Hospice Service, an FPMT project in Queensland, Australia. This is how, under the inspiration and advice of our precious Lama Zopa Rinpoche, we began to meet once a week. In May 2003, we became a registered nonprofit organization in Spain. Our organization’s name was given to us by our dear Rinpoche.
La Asociacion Potala Hospice board members Jose Enrique Parra, Leticia Bonon, Alexandra Mejia, Andreu Stany, Iago Carbonell, and Isabel Picaso meeting on Zoom, April 2021. Photo by Alexandra Mejia.
In 2007, we signed a collaboration agreement with Hestia Hospital in Madrid to accompany patients in the palliative care unit. Since then, hundreds of people have become La Asociacion Potala Hospice volunteers and have completed one of the training courses we periodically offer. Our organization continues to grow. We formed a volunteer group in Valencia in November 2019 and a group in Barcelona in December 2020.
Our organization’s main function has been face-to-face volunteering. The volunteer plays an important role in hospitals, and their work is well-recognized, accepted, and appreciated among hospital staff. Illness from disease creates a situation that favors the emergence of questions in the human mind. The tedious hours spent hospitalized, the beginning of gradual and irrecoverable losses, the difficult encounter with fragility and dependence on others, the feelings of powerlessness that follow, and the senselessness of suffering raise questions connected with our spiritual dimension. Our physical needs to eat, sleep, drink, and breathe are normally satisfied by objects, but a person’s spiritual needs can only be satisfied by another human being. Our need for affection, contact, respect, reconciliation, and hope can never be satisfied by a machine, drug, or concept. Volunteers, through their presence and support, help the sick find hope.
Zoom volunteer training class on how to offer telephone support during COVID, May 2020. Photo by Iago Carbonell.
Our volunteers are people who, through their own motivation of solidarity, sought out training to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to accompany the patient at the end of life. When COVID broke out, our volunteers were engaged in this work in Madrid, Valencia, and Barcelona, and we had plans to begin collaborating with new institutions. However, due to COVID, volunteering is not allowed in the hospitals in Spain.
We reinvented our activities so we can continue with our main objective, which is to accompany people in their suffering through illnesses and death. In 2020, we maintained cohesion among our volunteers by training them to offer telephone support for people affected by COVID. We met weekly by Zoom during the months of April, May, and June. We wanted to maintain communication between ourselves and support each other, while also continuing to train ourselves through participation in workshops on the subject of death, dying, and accompaniment.
While hospitals are still closed to volunteers, we continue to help the community by offering workshops on death via Zoom to the FPMT Hispana community. We also increased our social media presence, launching a Facebook page and Instagram account to share helpful content.
To learn more about La Asociacion Potala Hospice, visit their website:
https://www.potalahospiceluzclara.org/en-au
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 with Naresh Mathur. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
We are saddened to share the news that Naresh Sahai Mathur passed away at the age of 67, in New Delhi, India, on April 25, 2021, of COVID-19. Naresh was an early student of FPMT founders Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and a long-time FPMT volunteer. Kabir Saxena, also a long-time FPMT student who currently serves as the spiritual program coordinator at Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre in New Delhi, wrote a personal remembrance of Naresh to share with the international FPMT community.
By Kabir Saxena
With the recent untimely passing away of Naresh Mathur—another victim of the second murderous wave of COVID-19—the Indian Buddhist sangha, his friends worldwide, as well as the Tibetan community, have lost an invaluable supporter, legal advisor, and much beloved friend.
Naresh was born in Old Delhi in 1954, close to where some twenty-five years later the pioneers of Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre would be living. It’s a testimony to his great intellectual and spiritual thirst that he was willing and able to seek beyond his quality education in sociology and law at two of Delhi’s esteemed establishments and find himself at the doors of both Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre and Tibet House in Delhi.
While the practice of law provided his bread and butter, it was Buddhist studies that quickly established their prominence in Naresh’s heart and mind. Early on he had the great good fortune to receive personal, one-on-one teachings on lamrim and Madhyamaka from the renowned Geshe Palden Drakpa, who became a lifelong friend of the family and a recipient of Naresh’s generous medical help. It was, I believe, this deep experience of the teachings with Geshe-la that made Naresh a lifelong proponent of the sublime Nalanda parampara (tradition), with its emphasis on the guru-disciple relationship, logical inquiry, and debate. It was to these teachings that Naresh returned again and again; even in the last decade of his life, he was an important part of the core group of students at Geshe Dorji Damdul’s Tibet House Nalanda Masters Course.
Naresh was a lover of knowledge, a philosopher in the true sense of the word, and all his life he combined that with his work as a lawyer in the High and Supreme Courts in Delhi.
Naresh Mathur
When I first met him in 1980, he was a bright and extremely handsome young man, much impressed by his contact with Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Naresh went on to be a director of Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre, an organizer of the Dharma Celebrations with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Delhi, and the creator of Root Institute for Wisdom Culture’s Trust Deed in 1984 in Bodhgaya. He remained a trustee until a few months before his death.
His dedication to the cause of bringing the Dharma back to Indian people was profound and lasting. He participated in the teachings His Holiness gave to small groups of Indian students in the early 1980s and despite his heavy workload would, almost thirty years later, travel to Bodhgaya for the weekends to give teachings in Hindi to local students.
Naresh unstintingly helped the Tibetan cause with his legal talents and the list of his efforts on their behalf would be too long to include here. As an example, it was largely due to his legal actions that the Tibetan Colony of Majnu Ka Tila in Delhi was saved from destruction. Tenzin Geyche Tethong, former secretary to His Holiness, recalled how he had known Naresh since 1980 and how he greatly admired his interest in and knowledge of Buddhism, and also appreciated Naresh’s contribution to the Dalai Lama Trust of which he was a trustee.
In addition to his connection with Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and FPMT, Naresh had a close connection with Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche and his Deer Park Institute in Bir, as well as with Samdhong Rinpoche, whose Gandhian vision, critique of modernity, and Dharma advice were like nectar for Naresh.
Naresh was a lover of the meditative dhrupad style of Indian classical music, and we also spent many happy moments listening to Bob Dylan together. He could also be quite mischievous, and we would especially enjoy making silent and secret fun of speakers at conferences whom we considered not up to the mark.
He was a practitioner, especially of the Madhyamaka and the Kalachakra, and was increasingly drawn to extended practice in the last year of his life, according to his wife, Antonella. Throughout his life he had inspired and encouraged a younger generation of students by his example.
For me, and I am sure for many others, including his dear circle of Italian and international friends, Naresh was like family. His deep soulful eyes were those of the eternal seeker and lover; they grabbed you. My father, to whom Naresh was very loving and generous, used to say that going by Naresh’s piercing gaze, he was always in a state of otherworldly intoxication!
In his last year, during long walks together in the woods near his home in south Delhi, Naresh would always steer the conversation to the Dharma, the importance of a grounding in lamrim, and his great love and obsession: the presentation of emptiness in the Gelug tradition. Despite his allegiance to many lamas of different schools of Tibetan Buddhism, he always seemed to be happily and no doubt karmically tethered to the pole of Lama Tsongkhapa’s works and Geshe Palden Dragpa’s teachings.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Naresh Mathur. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
After his passing, His Holiness the Dalai Lama made the encouraging pronouncement that Naresh was his disciple, that we should not worry, and that he would take a good rebirth and would remember this life of his. The passing of this kind-hearted and generous man, still somewhat unreal and unbelievable to some of us, leaves a big void in many lives. Naresh is survived by his wife, Antonella, a gifted healer; daughter, Mudita, a talented graphic designer; and son, Atisha, a profound, upcoming teacher of the Dharma, especially of Buddhist logic, the subject matter his dear departed father so admired and communicated so readily to those fortunate enough to cross his path.
The FPMT India community organized a moving online prayer meeting and memorial for Naresh Mathur on May 5, 2021, with Naresh’s family and many long-time students around the world joining in. You can watch the two-hour recording of the Zoom call:
https://www.facebook.com/1652241455007411/videos/457118005515720/?__so__=channel_tab&__rv__=all_videos_card
For more on practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at time of death and other resources to support yourself and loved ones at time of death, please visit fpmt.org/death/.
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.
Geshe Palden Sangpo, Sandy Carlson, Paul Krebbs, David Strevel, Joey Gooch, and Elise Strevel with the Little Free Pantry at Kadampa Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, US, January 2021. Photo collage by Sandy Carlson.
Kadampa Center, an FPMT center in Raleigh, North Carolina, US, created a Little Free Pantry to offer food and other items to people in need. Community Service is one of FPMT’s Five Pillars of Service. Sandy Carlson, Kadampa Center board of directors president and volunteer, shares the story.
“Give what you can, take what you need”—this is the mantra of the Little Free Pantry. Nestled between two bushy evergreen trees, the bright red box at Kadampa Center invites any passerby to open its door and find what they need, whether it’s food, toiletries, or paper goods.
Little Free Pantry at Kadampa Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, US, March 2021. Photo by Sandy Carlson.
The Little Free Pantry is a movement of neighbors helping neighbors. It’s about people reaching out to others, town by town, throughout the world. Following the idea of Street Libraries, Little Free Pantries offers items to meet basic human needs, accessible to everyone all the time, no questions asked.
The current pandemic, with the economic stresses that accompany it, inspired members of the Kadampa Center community to create our own Little Free Pantry. Filled with cans, jars, and boxes of food, it not only helps our neighbors, but also allows our members to practice loving kindness, compassion, and generosity.
Already, after only a few months, we have seen evidence that we are fulfilling a need for the food and toiletries that pass through our new Little Free Pantry, even though we are not physically open for classes.
The pantry arose through the help of many people who brainstormed the best location (keeping in mind discretion, visibility, and awareness of the exposure to sun and weather), provided carpentry work (remodeling a used kitchen cabinet from Habitat for Humanity), and painted and placed the pantry when it was ready.
One of our FPMT resident teachers, Geshe Palden Sangpo, performed a beautiful blessing, and he has started painting mantras in the pantry. Geshe Sangpo also donated the very first items of food.
Watch the four-minute video “Geshe Sangpo Blessing Little Free Pantry” on the Media Kadampa Center YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/slP9rKi3-C8
We so appreciate all our members who helped bring this awesome project to life: Elise and David Strevel, Diane Meyer, Paul Krebbs, Joey Gooch, and Sandy Carlson. We also send much love and appreciation for those in our community who continue to keep our Little Free Pantry full of items for anyone in need. This truly is compassion in action.
To learn more about Kadampa Center, visit their website:
https://kadampa-center.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.
The FPMT Inc. board of directors are pleased to be able to share with you an update on what is being done in the organization, especially regarding the steps taken in the area of safeguarding, that is, protecting all those at FPMT centers, projects and services from abuse. The recommendations of two safeguarding organizations, Faith Trust Institute (FTI) and Thirtyone:eight, have been implemented, and a significant amount of work accomplished in the last year.
As you will see, the safety from all kinds of abuse of all those who interact with FPMT centers, services and projects in any way is being taken very seriously. On all levels, efforts have been made, and continue to be made, to ensure that safety.
The first two points below are related to actions mentioned in our February update, taken following the Dagri Rinpoche investigation, for which we commissioned FTI.
Therapy Support: In our last update we explained that we had reached out to each of the five victims who shared their testimony with FTI during the Dagri Rinpoche investigation to offer financial support for therapy, even when their experience did not occur in an FPMT center: this funding is all now provided to those who wished to receive it.
Processing Other Complaints: As mentioned in the February update, additional complaints related to other FPMT teachers and FPMT affiliate staff were submitted to FTI during the course of their investigation of Dagri Rinpoche. The FPMT Inc. board established a subcommittee to review these complaints, working closely with any affiliates concerned. We have now concluded a review of these complaints. A summary of the steps taken and conclusions reached are outlined below with the intention to be as open and transparent as possible about these complaints, while also respecting the need for confidentiality. Therefore, in the interests of the individuals and affiliates concerned, the specifics of situations that have come to the FPMT safeguarding subcommittee, comprised of board members and IOF staff, will not be made public. We ask for your understanding of this approach, as it is very challenging to give details and at the same time uphold the requirement to protect confidentiality of those involved.
- A complaint was received from a third party individual outlining an allegation that a lay teacher and a lay teacher assistant each had an intimate relationship with an individual who was their student, while that student was engaged in a study course in the center. This complaint was shared with the center concerned, which established a committee to review and investigate the details of the allegations. The investigation process included interviewing the alleged victim, who submitted a written testimony that no relationship had taken place during the time that the student was studying in the center. The committee concluded that there had been no breach of the FPMT Ethical Policy. FPMT Inc. also updated our guideline regarding ethics and protecting from abuse with further guidance about relationships, in order to provide greater clarity on this topic.
- An anonymous complainant alleged harassment, retaliation, and the creation of a hostile work environment by a former staff member in an FPMT center. Neither the complainant nor the staff member concerned work at the center any longer. To prevent similar situations in the future, the center reported to us that they have done an extensive review of their policies and procedures for staff management, and for managing complaints and protecting from abuse, and continues to make updates and improvements to those policies and procedures. These include improving staff communication policies and establishing committees for ethics and human resources, to ensure that clearly defined reporting protocols and safeguarding procedures are now in place.
- An anonymous complaint was received about a former staff member in an FPMT center having had inappropriate images on a computer. The center was already familiar with the issue as this claim had already been made several years earlier to the center. At that time, the center had the computer reviewed by an independent IT analyst; no evidence to support the allegation was found. Upon receiving notice of the same complaint – this time through FPMT Inc. – the center, exercising an abundance of caution, sent the computer to a company specializing in criminal technology investigations; they found no evidence to support the allegation.
- An anonymous complaint was received related to inappropriate habits of speech of an FPMT registered teacher. As the complaint did not specify a location, the details of the complaint were reviewed by the Teacher Services Committee, which then issued a formal warning to that teacher, and the committee will continue to monitor reports from their teaching program.
- An anonymous complaint was received outlining dissatisfaction about how a complaint was processed and managed by an FPMT center and International Office, including a recommendation to improve our complaints procedure to allow a formal process to raise complaints in a way that feels fair, confidential, and safe at local, national and international level. This recommendation was reviewed and assessed for incorporating into the new Protecting from Abuse Policy and complaints procedures.
Then, in response to recommendations we received from FTI and Thirtyone:eight during our safeguarding audits, the following steps have been taken in order to help enable those in leadership positions in the FPMT organization maintain safe and healthy environments in their center, project, or service. It is our sincere hope and belief, that with the support of all involved in our community, these steps will be of help to us all.
Protecting from Abuse Policy: A Protecting from Abuse Policy was developed and has been put out as a new FPMT policy, with a training course designed to unpack and support the policy. We are also reviewing whether additional new guidelines related to complaints about FPMT teachers may be needed in order to supplement the Protecting from Abuse policy. Our aim in providing these new resources, in addition to the current ethical policy and guidelines, is to help provide learning, tools, and strategies to better ensure protection from abuse in FPMT affiliates, and to help ensure that any complaints can be appropriately reported, processed, and resolved.
Protecting from Abuse Training: Alongside the new policy, a new online Protecting from Abuse training course was developed and launched. This training is mandatory for all in leadership positions within the FPMT organization, including registered teachers, and has been reviewed by Thirtyone:eight and other stakeholders within the FPMT organization. It includes guidance regarding sexual abuse, healthy boundaries, power imbalance, and crisis intervention. The training course is currently being provided in English, while being translated into several languages, including Tibetan. Additionally, FPMT Foundation and Teacher Development Service Seminars will refer to and make use of the new Protecting from Abuse policy and training.
FPMT Inc. Policies: We implemented a number of new policies specifically for FPMT Inc., including updating our complaints procedure and confidentiality policy. We implemented additional internal steps to ensure that clear pathways are described for making and processing complaints, as distinct from requests received for spiritual advice.
Education Materials: Guru Devotion: We have received various requests to have additional guidance and materials available about Guru Devotion, and have implemented steps to develop further guidance in this area.
FPMT Inc. Board of Directors: The FPMT Inc. board worked extensively on the Dagri Rinpoche investigation and the adjudication of the findings from the report. This was a difficult and challenging process. The board made efforts to conclude the initial work to the stage where the final report from FTI was received and adjudicated, and that those initial conclusions were all accepted. Due to various reasons, some board members resigned at that time. We thank them sincerely for all their effort and for the invaluable contribution they made under such challenging circumstances. New board members have accepted to join the board, as was recently announced. Our intention is to have a mixture of ordained and lay individuals, a gender balance, and a good range of professional skills and FPMT organizational experience.
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 leads to our public information about Ethics and Protecting from Abuse in the FPMT organization, and includes links to our policies, including the FPMT Ethical Policy.
We are sincerely grateful to all those who have contributed to the process of making these changes and improvements, directly or indirectly through their feedback or input. We want to express our deep thanks for the support of all involved in our community for the implementation of these important new policies.
Rinpoche beginning to write the Prajnaparamita in gold (after a break of 10 years).
Welcome to the May FPMT International Office e-News! This month we bring you news about:
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice and Thanks
- Support and Merit-Making During Saka Dawa
- New Free Book From Our Lamas
- Academy Focused on Buddhist Mind Science
…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.
Rinpoche offering incense puja at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, May 2021. Rinpoche is offering these pujas to help all those suffering due to COVID-19, particularly all those in India, Nepal (including in Kopan Monastery and Nunnery), and throughout the world.
As we shared last week, there has been a COVID-19 outbreak at Kopan Monastery and Nunnery in Nepal. The latest information from Kopan is that unfortunately more people at Kopan Monastery have tested positive for COVID. Currently, there are four Kopan monks in the hospital in Kathmandu with COVID-19.
One of those monks is Geshe Thubten Sherab, the FPMT resident teacher at Thubten Norbu Ling Tibetan Buddhist Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, US, who is in Nepal. Geshe Sherab was taken to the hospital in order to have oxygen available to help with his COVID-related breathing difficulties. Geshe Sherab talked with Ven. Roger Kunsang earlier today and Geshe Sherab says he is not needing oxygen at this time and is doing better. Many FPMT centers and regional and national offices—including Thubten Norbu Ling and FPMT Australia—are organizing prayers for Geshe Sherab and Kopan Sangha.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is continuing in isolation at Kopan Monastery. Rinpoche is still in good health and has been continuing to offer incense and other pujas to help the situation with COVID-19 in India, Nepal (including at Kopan), and the rest of the world.
The Kopan community would like students to know that they are committed to keeping each other as safe as possible and are so appreciative of everyone’s good wishes and prayers. As we mentioned in our previous blog on this situation, Kopan is requesting that the monastery not be contacted at this time unless there is an emergency.
Thanks to so many of the FPMT family who are continuing to keep all at Kopan Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, as well everyone affected by the pandemic, in their prayers.
You can find Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for this critical time on our Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic page.
Watch videos from the series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and find links to videos in transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
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 receiving COVID-19 test at Kopan Monastery, April 27, 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
As COVID-19 continues to spread around the world, Kopan Monastery is now experiencing its first outbreak. Many individuals at Kopan Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, both in Nepal, have now tested positive. Infected and non-infected individuals have been separated for accommodation, meals, and study and this will continue for ten days. Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Roger Kunsang are well and staying in isolation in Rinpoche’s apartment. We have just received news that Rinpoche and all of his attendants have been tested and are all negative.
Kopan has requested that contact to the monastery should be limited to emergency only at this time. Ani Fran (Ven. Fran Mohoupt) has set up automatic replies to some of the website links in order to deal with the normal puja and prayer requests.
Please keep all at Kopan Monastery, Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, as well as everyone around the world affected by this virus in your prayers and dedications. You can find Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for this critical time on our Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic page.
Watch videos from the series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and find links to videos in transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
Practice advice from our teachers, Dharma study-from-home opportunities, and more can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Here’s a short excerpt of the story that looks at how centers moved their Dharma programs online last year:
“For center directors, it quickly became clear that many things that had been done in the center’s gompa could be moved online.
“Paula [de Wijs, director of Maitreya Instituut in the Netherlands] writes, ‘For years we had discussed doing more on the internet or through YouTube but had never really managed to put these ideas into practice. The expertise and equipment were not available and there was no real need to acquire either of them. Although many of us had used Zoom or other virtual meeting sites to attend meetings with people internationally, we had never considered holding teachings and meditations through such a medium. Suddenly this possibility became a necessity and we were able to continue the meditations and teachings without a break. That was a great relief on that score, since making the teachings of the Buddha accessible to people is our raison d’être: it is why we exist.’
“Center staff around the world studied and mastered Zoom and began to stream most of their regular teachings online. ‘I was amazed and impressed by how quickly this happened!’ Drolkar McCallum, who is the FPMT regional coordinator for North America, commented in April [2020].
“With the shift to online, some centers were seeing larger audience for their teachings. For example, Land of Joy in the UK, hosted an online retreat with Paula Chichester that had 130 participants.
“Mauricio Roa, who serves as the regional coordinator for Latin America, reported, ‘Centers who were used to having only a few members at classes, teachings, retreats, etc., multiplied their number of participants with their online offerings.’ Mauricio shared an example of a class given by Ven. Robina Courtin, teaching from the United States, offered through Centro Shiwa Lha in Brazil, which had 600 participants. Centers also started hosting retreats online. Some centers created different options for attending retreats, allowing different levels of participation. This flexibility also made it possible for more people to attend. And because of all the shut downs, some students reported that they found they were able to go deeper with their practices at home.“
Read the complete story in “Centers, Projects, and Services during the Pandemic: Turning a Difficult Situation into a Positive Result.”
Read more from Mandala 2021.
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 Monica Hung, Aptos, California, US, 2016. Photo courtesy of Monica Hung.
Tse Chen Ling, the FPMT center in San Francisco, California, US, has expanded their offerings with a new class. Ven. Carol Corradi, center director, and Monica Hung, interpreter and teacher, share the story.
In March 2020, our center embarked in a new direction with “What Is Buddhism,” a class offered in Mandarin with staff member Monica Hung. The class met an hour each week until the COVID-19 epidemic forced closure of the center. Soon after, the class regrouped and moved to an online format via Zoom.
Most of the students in the class are originally from China and grew up with no experience of Tibetan Buddhism. Their understanding of Buddhism in general is a cultural one, mostly of temples and a tradition of making offerings without any practice or doctrinal aspects.
The “What Is Buddhism” class was born out of a Chinese New Year event sponsored by our center in 2020. We celebrated Chinese New Year with an Open House at the center with some traditional sweets and a chance for visitors to offer incense. Visitors could also sponsor special light offerings for family, friends, and loved ones who had passed away. Besides fostering a more cordial connection with the neighborhood, individual conversations lead to some questions about Tibetan Buddhism. Those conversations sparked the idea for this class.
Monica shared that she presents a broad overview of Tibetan culture and history. This helps students understand the background of Tibetan Buddhism. She also provides a basic introduction to Buddhist terminology. The class is conducted in a discussion-like style. The casual environment encourages students to feel free to ask any kind of question about Tibetan Buddhism. Some examples are “As a Buddhist do I need to become a vegetarian?” and “Can lamas marry?”
Each class opens with the group reading the Heart Sutra together and then doing about three minutes of meditation on the breath.
One of the students recently asked about the meaning of the Heart Sutra. This became an opportunity for Monica to play His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching on the Heart Sutra, which originally aired online in January 2021. The class watched the video together. Monica paused it periodically to explain some of the more advanced terminology for them. This has become part of the regular class with Monica and the students watching His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s online teaching, discussing, and slowly moving through the complete teaching over several classes.
Monica plans to begin introducing the students to the lamrim teachings in the spring of 2021. Our center is looking at ways to publicize the class locally, hoping to make the class more widely available to our Chinese-speaking neighbors.
To learn more about Tse Chen Ling, visit their website:
https://www.tsechenling.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.
Monks from Sera Je Monastic University and University of Pisa Professor Bruno Neri are part of a collaborative research effort on meditation, which is connected to the work of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa’s Mind Science Academy, Sera Je Monastery, India, 2019. Photo courtesy of Mind Science Academy.
When His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) in 2014 he advised the FPMT center located in Pomaia, Italy, to create an academy focused on Buddhist mind science. Established in 1977, ILTK already had many successful Buddhist education programs. What His Holiness had in mind, however, involved the creation of a center of study where Buddhist knowledge was integrated with secular academic programs, thereby making ancient Buddhist wisdom available more broadly.
This vision has led to ILTK’s Mind Science Academy project. Our FPMT Education and Preservation Fund has been very happy to be able to support this important work and has contributed US$140,900 to the project to date. Filippo Scianna, the former director of ILTK who is currently overseeing the project, recently updated FPMT International Office on its progress.
In his report, Filippo shared four key points that inform the project. First, there is a lot of interest in the intersection of Buddhist mind science and Western science. This has been demonstrated by high levels of attendance for programs on this topic. Also, students appreciate and value academic accreditation, which is central to the Mind Science Academy plan. In addition, dialogues with university scholars lead to continued debate, research, and mutual enrichment. Finally, project organizers observe that when they establish relationships with the academic world they create paths to Buddhist philosophical study for people who might not otherwise be interested.
As part of the Mind Science Academy project, ILTK is collaborating with several universities in Italy. Since early 2016, ILTK has been working with the University of Pisa to create a Master’s program in neuroscience, mindfulness, and contemplative practice. Several cohorts have completed the program. Unfortunately, for 2020, the program had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. But in 2021, they have arranged for courses to be online and have seen more registrations than anticipated. ILTK staff are involved as teachers for the program. Many of the approximately 200 students who have done the program have shown an interested in more serious Buddhist study.
Also in 2021, a new specialized course has been created on the application of meditation practices in organizational contexts. The course, also offered through the University of Pisa, has a high level of registration for it. The project plans to have a summer school through the University of Pisa as well, which will be organized by ILTK. The summer school is attracting a lot of interest, including from students across several continents, and hopefully the pandemic will not prevent it from happening.
A Sera Je monk wearing equipment to monitor brain activity with Prof. Bruno Neri, part of a Sera Je Monastic University, India, and University of Pisa, Italy, partnership, 2019. Photo courtesy of the Mind Science Academy.
The Mind Science Academy project has also established relationships with the University of Florence and the University of Bologna. With the University of Florence, they have plans to do a course in the spring of 2022 that will include a Buddhist philosophical exploration of emotional functioning with practical applications for psychologists and health workers. At the University of Bologna, a collaboration is being developed that will include as a focus the use of meditation as a therapeutic support in hospitals and universities.
At ILTK itself, a new course has started that relates closely to the work of the Mind Science Academy. The three-year course covers the study of logic and debate, and how these methods of discerning truth relate to pedagogy and knowledge. More than a hundred people have enrolled in it.
Also, ILTK is organizing a conference for June 2021 entitled “Reality Is Not as It Appears.” Geshe Namdak, the resident geshe at Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London, UK, will attend as will several university professors. New research on meditation conducted by the University of Pisa in collaboration with Sera Je Monastic University in India will also be presented at the conference.
Filippo writes that collaborating with the universities overall has been a good experience and has already given many people in the academic world access to Buddhist principles and teachings. He also sees potential for other FPMT centers to develop programs involving universities in their local areas and wants to share the information he’s learned as part of working on this project. We’ll be exploring this in more detail in future Mandala stories.
For more information on the Mind Science Academy and Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, please visit their website (www.ILTK.org).
Learn more about the FPMT Education and Preservation Fund.
Read archive Mandala stories on the Mind Science Academy: “Building A Bridge: The Academy of Mind Science and Valid Cognition at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa” and “Ancient Indian Wisdom for the Modern World.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, November 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
2020 presented new and profound challenges around the world and the FPMT organization was no exception. FPMT International Office, also known as Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s office, adapted to the new pandemic reality and continued our work to help fulfill the wishes of FPMT’s founders Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. We assisted efforts to actualize Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast vision for the organization and supported 114 centers and forty-seven study groups in thirty-nine countries. We kept thousands of students connected to Rinpoche, the global FPMT community, and opportunities to learn and practice Dharma.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche—who usually tours the globe each year, visiting FPMT centers, projects, and services—has remained at Kopan Monastery in Nepal since March 2020. Rinpoche continuously engages in beneficial activates and that remains unchanged. But instead of giving teachings in front of large groups of students, Rinpoche offered ninety recorded video teachings from his room at Kopan during 2020 and also took part in an incredible number of pujas to help protect from and mitigate the harm of the novel coronavirus, as well as many other auspicious and beneficial activities.
We offer an account of our work this year in the FPMT International Office Annual Review 2020: Transforming Challenges into the Path. In it, you will find an overview of Rinpoche’s activities in 2020 and highlights of International Office’s work on behalf of Rinpoche and all in the FPMT organization. These highlights include updates on new Dharma materials, translations, and programs; news on activities supporting FPMT centers, projects, and services; and reports on the charitable projects overseen by the office, which offered more than US$3.7 million in 2020. We also share updates from FPMT Inc. CEO Ven. Roger Kunsang and the FPMT Inc. Board of Directors.
The Annual Review also shares new advice from Rinpoche. Given the great difficulties of our time, Rinpoche’s advice is priceless and so relevant. For too long we have focused our energy on trying to fix the outside world to ease our discomfort and suffering, Rinpoche explains. But if we don’t give priority to working on changing and developing our inner world through learning and practicing Dharma, we will not see any beneficial results—our efforts will go nowhere and our suffering will not end.
May we take a moment as an international community of Dharma practitioners to rejoice in all the ways we are transforming our current problems and obstacles into the path to enlightenment. May the merits we accumulate from rejoicing be dedicated so that we become most helpful to all beings and continue our work to fulfill the wishes of our Spiritual Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
We invite you to read FPMT Annual Review 2020: Transforming Challenges into the Path, now available in an online format. Please note, the FPMT Annual Review 2020 is available only online:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/annual-review/annual-review-2020
FPMT International Office is Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s office and works daily to achieve its mission of “preserving and spreading Mahayana Buddhism worldwide by creating opportunities to listen, reflect, meditate, practice, and actualize the unmistaken teachings of the Buddha, and based on that experience, spread the Dharma to sentient beings.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the Boudhanath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal, March 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
We hope you enjoy our April FPMT International Office e-News. This month we bring you:
- Our 2020 Annual Review: Transforming Challenges into the Path
- Details of the second long life puja this year for Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Five Powerful Mantras Now Available in Audio
- New Protecting from Abuse Training Course
…and more!
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