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FPMT Community: Stories & News
Rose at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia, Italy, November 2017. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Paloma Fernandez, FPMT Europe Regional Coordinator, shares updates from Europe.
At this challenging time all over the world, with most of the centers, projects, and services, in Europe closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the centers saw that this is a very important moment for people to have access to the Dharma, now more than ever.
As an answer to that need, most of the European centers have launched different programs online, together with other initiatives. For many centers that meant that they needed to quickly learn about online platforms and how to launch their programs in this new format.
With the support with so many people, the FPMT centers all around Europe are supporting their students and the community in so many ways. All are helping their students to do the practices advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and to connect with Rinpoche’s video teachings.
AUSTRIA
Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelugzentrum, Vienna, is offering a rich online program in German, including Discovering Buddhism, and a Tara sadhana practice using WhatsApp, pujas, and daily meditations.
DENMARK
The Center for Wisdom and Compassion, Copenhagen, has made necessary adjustments so they can offer teachings tailored to support students. The center is offering meditations, and a new series of classes with FPMT registered teachers, such as “Using Fear to Develop Resilience,” and “Courage in Challenging Times.”
FINLAND
Tara Liberation Study Group, Helsinki, made a video with the Praises to 21 Taras in Finnish so people can do the practice by chanting along with the video that includes the text.
FRANCE
Institut Vajra Yogini, Marzens, is offering an online session every afternoon as well as Discovering Buddhism and Basic Program online. Kalachakra Center, Paris, is also offering a rich program in French through Zoom, including several Tara puja sessions each week and the practices advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
GERMANY
Aryatara Institut, Munich, is offering an online program including Monday Meditation, Discovering Buddhism, Basic Program, and a Tara Retreat.
THE NETHERLANDS
Maitreya Instituut is offering online teachings and meditations on Zoom. The center board wrote to all the center’s students/members to wish them strength, and are sending out cards.
ISRAEL (part of FPMT Europe)
Shantideva Study Group, Herzelia, is offering a diverse online program, and are doing a monthly animal liberation practice.
ITALY
The FPMT Italy National Office has organized a national online program with free activities offered daily in Italian.
Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia, is also offering online courses including the Basic Program, while Centro Tara Cittamani, Padova and Centro Tara Bianca, Genova are also organizing initiatives in Italian.
ROMANIA
White Tara Study Group is offering Discovering Buddhism on Zoom and Meditation 101 on Facebook.
SPAIN
FPMT Spain’s website now has information about free activities happening daily in Spanish.
Volunteers from Potala Hospice, the FPMT hospice service in Malorca, are offering emotional support through the telephone and over email to patients admitted to a hospital in a state of isolation, grieving people who have lost a loved one to coronavirus disease, and anyone in isolation or who has a family member in this situation and they are worried about loneliness.
SWEDEN
Yeshe Norbu Mind Training Center, Stockholm, now has an “Online Mind Training Center” with events including Discovering Buddhism, drop-in lunchtime meditations, drop-in evening meditations, a book circle, Tara practice, and more.
SWITZERLAND
Gendun Drupa Center, Martigny, is offering weekly meditations online.
Longku Center, Bern, is offering meditations online using Zoom, and a two-month online course about disturbing emotions.
UNITED KINGDOM
The FPMT UK National Office has worked with the UK centers to create a single online calendar while the centers are closed.
Jamyang Buddhist Centre, London, initiated a Morning Prayer Group.
Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) is offering online meetings and courses for the global community. Everyone is welcome to join Universal Education (UE) Coming Together community meetings on Zoom. FDCW is also offering Building Inner Strength: 16 Guidelines Level 1 as an online course, and an eight-hour five-session 16 Guidelines for Children and Teens Online Course for Parents and Carers.
Find links to these centers in the Europe and Middle East sections of the FPMT online directory:
https://fpmt.org/centers/#europe
https://fpmt.org/centers/#middleeast
Additional resources, including video teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic”:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Cherry Blossoms in Tokyo, Japan, April 2020. Photo courtesy of Do Ngak Sung Juk Study Group.
Selina Foong, FPMT South East Asia regional coordinator, shares an update from the FPMT centers, projects, and services in Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, and Taiwan.
There are movement control and lockdown procedures in place to varying degrees throughout our East and Southeast Asian region. At the time of writing, April 13, 2020, most of the FPMT centers in the seven countries here have closed in compliance with their respective government regulations.
A notable exception is Jinsiu Farlin, the FPMT center in Taipei, Taiwan. The center remains open, albeit with some restrictions, as Taiwan has been exemplary in keeping the coronavirus situation under control. While the center is avoiding hosting activities, which tend to draw large crowds, regular teachings and monthly pujas are continuing as usual.
An additional group session is held every Saturday afternoon to focus on the practices recommended by Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche for pacifying the disease. Sessions typically attract fifteen to twenty participants, all of whom are required to wear face masks, sanitize their hands, and have their temperatures taken before entry is permitted. All sessions are also streamed online for those who prefer to stay at home.
Cherry Blossoms in Tokyo, Japan, April 2020. Photo courtesy of Do Ngak Sung Juk Study Group.
Online Dharma
For the centers that are closed, good use is being made of online and other platforms to maintain contact and offer encouragement, prayers, and teachings. As Tan Hup Cheng, center director of Amitabha Buddhist Centre, the FPMT center in Singapore says, “We are all well and trying to keep the Dharma alive.”
Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling, the FPMT center in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for instance, runs a very active Facebook page. Their recent post about advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for coronavirus was shared 1,400 times and reached 88,000 people!
Their Facebook video uploads have also been well received. An ongoing series of thirty-minute video teachings on “How to deal skillfully with anger” by resident teacher Ven. Thubten Gyalmo is very popular. The thirteen videos already published have received 24,000 views to date. Even Mongolia’s TV9 channel took notice and has agreed to broadcast these videos free of charge whenever their program schedule permits. Another very effective medium of communication in Mongolia is national radio, which continues to air Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings twice a month.
Other online activities include recitations of the Golden Light Sutra and Sanghata Sutra. Do Ngak Sung Juk, the FPMT study group based in Tokyo, Japan, with members throughout the country, continues with this virtual practice just as they have done for the past twelve years. The study group conducts readings on the first and third Wednesdays of every month and are joined by participants from all corners of the globe. Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling also plans to launch recitations of these sutras online in April in order to dedicate strongly for world peace and the total elimination of COVID-19.
Several centers are turning to Zoom and Skype to conduct teachings, pujas, and meetings.
Geshe Jampa Tsundu, the resident geshe at Losang Dragpa Centre, the FPMT center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has resumed his regular teachings via Zoom. Geshe Jampa Tsundu also recently performed the Medicine Buddha Jangwa ceremony in an empty Losang Dragpa Centre gompa for the occasion of Cheng Beng (Tomb-Sweeping Day), which was streamed online to many participants.
Ven. Pemba Sherpa, is continuing to lead discussion sessions with Do Ngak Sung Juk via Skype video conferencing on the second Sunday of each month from his base as resident teacher at Cham Tse Ling (Mahayana Buddhist Association), the FPMT center in Hong Kong, where all activities have stopped since the end of 2019. Ven. Thubten Dechen is translating the weekly Jinsiu Farlin teachings as well as Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s current teachings from Kopan to a growing group of Chinese-speaking students throughout the world.
Amitabha Buddhist Centre conducted a Guru Puja on April 2 via Zoom for their first time. However, now that Singapore is in lockdown and Amitabha Buddhist Centre is closed, there are no further activities at the center for the time being. Even Vesak Day celebrations in May have been cancelled.
There is similar news from Chokyi Gyaltsen Centre, the FPMT center in Penang, Malaysia, and Potowa Centre, the FPMT center in Jakarta, Indonesia. Both centers are closed. Geshe Deyang, the resident geshe at Chokyi Gyaltsen Centre is performing prayers and pujas from his base at the center for the benefit of all. The center’s students continue to study and contemplate his teachings given to date from their own homes. As for Potowa Centre, their members are also staying home but continuing with various translation works and research on Borobudur.
Online Messaging Services
In addition to Zoom and Skype, some centers have found WhatsApp group chats to be useful in order to disseminate information quickly and effectively. Losang Dragpa Centre uses this platform to share practical information as well as Dharma news, including links to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s latest teachings and advice, in order to offer regular encouragement and support.
All in all, the centers and groups in our region are unanimously reporting that students are making good use of the resources kindly provided by FPMT and are practicing according to Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a sense that while these are indeed difficult times we can all do our part to bring about positive change. As Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling center director Ianzhina Bartanova says, “During this challenging time, Dharma is our top priority.”
Find links to these centers in the Asia section of the FPMT online directory:
https://fpmt.org/centers/#asia
Additional resources, including video teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic”:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Quarantine meditations: learn to meditate and take advantage of staying home, Centro Yamantaka, Bogotá, Colombia, March 2020. Photo from Centro Yamantaka Facebook page.
FPMT Latin America regional coordinator Mauricio Roa and FPMT North America regional coordinator Drolkar McCallum share how the centers in their regions are adjusting while their locations are closed and people are advised or required to stay at home.
Brazil
Ven. Tenzin Namdrol, Centro Shiwa Lha center director, reports that practices are now done online once a week: Tara Verde (Green Tara), Medicine Buddha, Golden Light Sutra recitation, and a guided meditation. The practices Lama Zopa Rinpoche has advised for the coronavirus pandemic are done every Friday. Centro Shiwa Lha has a new page on the center’s website for practices advised by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Rinpoche, and also has a collection of online study, practice, and Dharma entertainment materials: all in Portuguese.
Ven. Tenzin Namdrol was invited to appear in a video alongside other religious leaders to tell people how to stay home and remain healthy and calm. This video was shown on the TV morning news.
Mexico
Gilda Urbina, FPMT Mexico national coordinator, shared that FPMT centers and study groups began to close their locations in late March. They are unsure of when they can open again; it depends on how the epidemic advances in Mexico. For the moment the government “suggests” people stay at home but it is not yet compulsory.
They are making use of the Zoom platform, offering online classes with Geshe Lobsang Dawa, an FPMT registered teacher on Mindfulness and Bodhichitta twice a week. They are also offering online classes on Lamrim Chenmo: The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment by Lama Tsongkhapa and Liberation in the Palm of your Hand by Pabongka Rinpoche once a week.
The FPMT centers and study groups in Mexico have the option of using Zoom according to their needs. They are also making use of the freely offered FPMT Online Learning Center course Living in the Path, and the translations of practices into Spanish, which they received from FPMT Spain.
Colombia
Amparo Mejía, Centro Yamantaka center director shared that the center, located in Bogotá, closed its location in late March. Everyone in the country must remain in their homes until April 13, but this could be extended for weeks or months. Geshe Lobsang Kunkhen, resident geshe at Centro Yamantaka, is doing a personal retreat and is not giving teachings. The center is making use of the internet, offering Introduction to Meditation classes, weekly study and Dharma discussion groups, a weekend meditation practice, and a weekly Tara practice. The center is also planning new activities using online programs.
North America
Drolkar McCallum reports that the centers in Canada and the United States quickly began shutting down one by one in March. Center staff studied and mastered Zoom and began to stream most of their regular teachings online. “I was amazed and impressed by how quickly this happened!” Drokar commented.
Group prayers sessions began springing up during the last week of March. People were self-isolating and felt the need for group support so they could fulfill the advice given to us all by the immeasurably kind and precious guru Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
In North America several centers are offering prayer groups and pujas on Zoom and Facebook Live. Check the FPMT North America website for details. There is also an abundance of online teachings.
Additional resources, including new videos from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), 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 reading Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s newly released Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, April 2020. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
We hope you enjoy our April FPMT International Office e-News, out now!
This month we bring you news about:
- Why Lama Zopa Rinpoche is teaching regularly (on video) at this time
- Our Annual Review 2019: Coming Together to Practice Dharma
- How FPMT centers are continuing to serve during the pandemic
*New* – when you hover your cursor over images in the e-News, now you will see the message “click to view full sized image.”
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.
Root Institute for Wisdom Culture, Bodhgaya, Bihar, India. Photo courtesy of Root Institute for Wisdom Culture.
There are FPMT centers, projects, and services across seven states of India. Deepthy Shekhar, FPMT India national coordinator, shares an update and reasons to rejoice.
Hello everybody! On behalf of the FPMT community in India, it is our wish to provide opportunities and support for practice, learning, and comfort while the world is struggling and in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Unfortunately, public classes in all FPMT centers in India are canceled as India is in a state of lockdown. Our kind teachers are offering their support so that we can continue with our Dharma studies, prayers, and practices. These sessions are available on Zoom, Facebook Live, and YouTube Live.
For students needing to stay at home, the following aids are there from our centers.
Our Online Courses and Practices
Ven. Tenzin Drolma, FPMT resident teacher at Tushita Meditation Centre, in Dharamsala, has already run a very successful two-week free online program, “The Buddhist Path of Training the Mind,” from March 24-April 3, 2020. Tushita offered two sessions each day to accommodate participants in different time zones around the world. The daily sessions combined teachings and meditations with a very popular Q&A so it was very interactive. We had 1,400 people from sixty-six countries sign up and three to four hundred people attended the sessions daily via Zoom.
Ven. Tenzin Drolma has also been leading a two-week online program called “Going Deeper: The Buddhist Path of Training the Mind,” from April 6-17 while in quarantine in Tushita. You are welcome to visit the Tushita Meditation Centre website for more details and to register for the free program.
The venerable IMI Sangha who are currently in Maritika, Nepal, led prayers recommended by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la) at daily 9 A.M. IST prayer sessions called “Virtual Group Practice in Response to COVID-19” from March 27-April 10. These sessions, livestreamed on YouTube, were led by FPMT registered teacher Ven. Tenzin Namjong and the Sangha members there every day. These daily practices were on request by Choe Khor Sum Ling, the FPMT center in Bangalore. Visit the Choe Khor Sum Ling YouTube channel to watch recordings of the livestreams.
Visit these YouTube channels to view recent talks and teachings from our FPMT centers in India: Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre, Tushita Meditation Centre, Choe Khor Sum Ling, and Root Institute for Wisdom Culture.
Tushita Meditation Centre’s website freely offers audio recordings of previous teachings and courses to students who want to immerse themselves in their studies. Choe Khor Sum Ling provides free recordings of teachings and talks by venerable teachers from Sera Jey Monastic University.
Our FPMT India Facebook page has live links and teaching updates from the FPMT centers in India.
In the Community
The FPMT project, Maitri Charitable Trust in Bodhgaya has been working tirelessly, providing essential medical support to local villagers and leprosy patients in and around the center.
Here is a note from their director, Adriana Ferranti, about the realities that they are facing every day:
“MAITRI’s hospitals and the animal shelter have been working regularly, with all grounds staff on duty. They are from the nearest villages and come whether on foot or by bicycle while dodging the patrols. It is more complicated for the staff coming from twenty kilometers (twelve miles) away, and they can manage only when the rules in force have slackened.
“Provisions are a bit of a challenge but ultimately we function almost normally thanks to our usual suppliers and Bihari ingenuity. Unfortunately the out-patient department, mobile clinics, and field activities have stopped.
The supply of rations has ground to a halt with the exception of a few patients from the surrounding villages who reach us on foot. We are very concerned about the milk powder that is vital for the malnourished babies under our treatment. We distribute vitamin C to the staff daily. Everybody has their own mask, which they seem to use only when they leave the center.”
The outbreak of a pandemic is a great reminder of impermanence and the interconnectedness of all beings. It is a great time to retreat into a space of study, contemplation, and meditation on the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. We extend peace and loving-kindness during these uncertain times and offer comfort through these resources.
For more information about FPMT activities in India, visit the FPMT India national office website:
http://fpmtindia.in/
Additional resources, including video teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic”:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Graphic by Michaela Kirchem.
As social distancing and self-isolation measures are happening around the world, Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW), an international FPMT project, is offering a range of online resources to help meet the new challenges that we all now face. Victoria Coleman, executive director, describes the new resources.
Free Online Community Sessions: Universal Education Coming Together
In March 2020, our senior trainers Marian O’Dwyer, Martha Cabral, and Wendy Ridley began offering weekly online sessions called “Universal Education (UE) Coming Together.” These sessions proved so popular that we decided to offer them in April too. Other FDCW facilitators such as Elaine Jackson and Hilary McMichael have volunteered to lead sessions.
Each sixty-minute session includes a guided meditation on a universal value such as courage, resilience, or kindness and provides a safe space for participants to share and support each other in a heartfelt way. Around twenty people have been taking part in each interactive session.
Sessions are free and drop-in, and are open to everyone. They are available every Thursday in April at various times in either English or Spanish.
For more information about these free online sessions visit the FDCW calendar:
https://www.compassionandwisdom.org/calendar
Online Course: Building Inner Strength: 16 Guidelines Level 1
For the first time, FDCW is offering this twelve-hour Building Inner Strength: 16 Guidelines Level 1 course live online. Exploring values such as compassion, humility, aspiration, and courage, this course offers very practical tools and specific techniques for transforming how we think, act, relate to others, and lead a meaningful life.
The course is facilitated by Marian O’Dwyer who is our Senior Trainer and Program Developer. She facilitates all levels of FDCW’s 16 Guidelines for Life program and has thirty years of experience teaching mindfulness-based practices. If you are interested in becoming an accredited 16 Guidelines for Life facilitator then completing Level 1 is the first step.
To register for Building Inner Strength: 16 Guidelines Level 1 visit the FDCW website:
https://www.compassionandwisdom.org/course-booking
Graphic by Michaela Kirchem.
Online Course: 16 Guidelines for Children and Teens
FDCW is offering a new course for parents and those who work with children and teenagers. It was developed by 16 Guidelines for Life accredited facilitator, teacher, and neuro-psycho educator Cecilia (“Ceci”) Buzón. Ceci founded her own school in Argentina and has worked with children for twenty years.
The course offers a wide range of age-appropriate activities to explore mindfulness and encourage children to name and integrate values like courage, kindness, compassion, and patience into their daily lives.
Seventeen people attended the facilitator training with Ceci in March. Participants shared their thoughts with us. Kitty D’Costa, UK, said, “It was inspiring, uplifting, revealing, experiential, and imaginative.” Pilar Maldonado Alcubierre, Mexico, commented, “I gained a lot of ideas I can use when working with children and teens such as mindfulness techniques and how to apply 16 Guidelines for Life to activities and games.” Silvie Walraven, Netherlands, shared, “The training was engaging and full of practical ideas for activities. The breakout groups worked very well. It creates a sense of community even though we’re physically far apart.”
FDCW has adapted this new twelve-hour in-person course into an eight-hour online course because so many people are at home with their children right now and need activities for them. Ceci will offer this course beginning on April 14.
For more information about 16 Guidelines for Children and Teens visit the FDCW website:
https://www.compassionandwisdom.org/course-booking
To learn more about the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom, visit their website:
https://www.compassionandwisdom.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.
In these difficult times, it is especially important to remember the powerful practice of rejoicing. “Among the virtues, rejoicing is the best, because it is the easiest one to practice. It simply involves our mind thinking, and the merit we accumulate is infinite,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains in the teaching “Rejoicing Is the Best” (published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive in May 2016).
International Office, also called Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s office, helps fulfill the vision of FPMT’s founders Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, assists with the actualization of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast vision for the FPMT organization, and supports 165 centers, projects, and services in 40 countries that comprise the international FPMT network.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche during visit to bless all the beings in the Caspian Sea, Russia, October 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
“Billions of thanks for your kindness, for working for, volunteering at, and supporting in various ways FPMT centers, projects, and services,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche writes in this year’s annual review.
“The main benefit of the centers is to offer Dharma teachings, teaching compassion; teaching from where suffering comes and from where happiness comes; teaching about karma, about how to stop negative karma and how to practice virtuous actions, which cause all the happiness up to enlightenment: the happiness of this life, the happiness of future lives, the ultimate happiness of liberation from samsara, and then the peerless happiness of enlightenment, which is everlasting happiness, with total cessation of the obscurations and completion of the realizations (sang gye).
“Achieving enlightenment is especially to liberate all the sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering forever and lead them to peerless happiness, with cessation of the gross and subtle defilements and completion of the realizations. This is most important. This is what sentient beings need; this is their most important need.”
In addition to advice from Rinpoche, the FPMT Annual Review 2019 includes updates from FPMT Inc. CEO Ven. Roger Kunsang and Board of Directors Chair Andrew Haynes. We also share an overview of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s tireless Dharma activities and highlights of International Office’s work on behalf of Rinpoche and all in the FPMT organization.
May we take a moment as an international community of Dharma practitioners to rejoice in all the ways we have come together to practice Dharma and fulfill the wishes of our Spiritual Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. May the merits we accumulate from rejoicing be dedicated so that we become most helpful to all beings.
We invite you to read FPMT Annual Review 2019: Coming Together to Practice Dharma, now available online in eZine and PDF formats. (Please note, the FPMT Annual Review 2019 is available in digital format only.)
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/annual-review/#archive
See photo highlights from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 2019:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/#2019
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.”
Spain
FPMT Spain launched a calendar of online activities based on Rinpoche’s advice which was shared with all members of centers and study groups in Spain. Over 650 people joined for one morning meditation!
United Kingdom
FPMT UK has organized the prayers recommended by Rinpoche for all centers and study groups, and has set up a page on the FPMTUK website where online prayers and practices, meditation classes, and pujas can be viewed by all. Approximately 300 people joined the first online classes.
“Thanks for your online meditations, it helps during these times, as I live alone and I am quite isolated.” — JustGiving Anonymous Donor
Australia
FPMT Australia is in the process of collecting information from Australian centers who are already able to livestream classes and will share this with all centers and study groups to help those who aren’t yet using livestream. The aim is to also provide better live-streaming alternatives for those already doing this.
As individuals and communities the world over are attempting to establish new normal practices during this time, we look forward to sharing what other regions and countries of the FPMT mandala are doing to support students.
For detailed advice on the practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
Additional resources, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Geshe Tenzin Loden (Institut Vajra Yogini, France), Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Domo Geshe Rinpoche, and Geshe Tenzin Tenphel (Istituto Lama Tsong Khapa, Italy), South India, February 2020. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Welcome to the March FPMT International Office e-News!
This month we bring you news about:
- New Page with Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic
- Prayers and Practices for the Benefit of All
- New Issue of Mandala magazine!
- LRZTP 8 Concludes, LRZTP 9 is Prepared
…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 Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
In these challenging and anxious times, FPMT International Office offers our prayers and best wishes to all who are navigating uncertainty and change during the coronavirus pandemic.
We have created a page of resources and advice related to this crisis in order to make it as easy as possible for you to find recommended practices, prayers, online study and practice resources, and news about Lama Zopa Rinpoche and from around the FPMT organization.
This page will be updated as new advice and news become available and should be consulted as an up-to-date resource for Dharma practice during the time of this pandemic.
Find advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Dharma study materials, and other updates on “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic” page on FPMT.org:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Joan, Lorena, Paco, Kamlo, Noelia, Rafa, Gernán, Kris, Paloma, Charo, Francoise, Lydia, Jessi, Kiko, Jose, and Luan on the top row, and Javi, Ven. Namdrol, Conchi, Charo, Javi, Fernando, Kelsang, and Pablo on the bottom row, Foundation Service Seminar, Lliria, Spain, November 2019. Photo by FSS graduate.
The Foundation Service Seminar (FSS) is the “FPMT immersion retreat.” It provides essential information and nourishment for all serving, or wishing to serve, in the FPMT organization. The FSS Retreat is key to deeply understanding the FPMT organization and the attitude we seek to cultivate as we offer service in the organization. This experiential retreat helps us actualize the advice that service is practice, practice is service, and how to always enjoy and rejoice when offering service.
Twenty-two FPMT students graduated from the FSS held in Spain, while thirty one students graduated from the FSS held at Nalanda Monastery, the FPMT monastery in Lavaur, France.
Spain
Francisco (“Kiko”) LLopis, FPMT Spain National coordinator, shared the following:
We had the fortune of hosting an FSS from October 29 to November 3 in Lliria, near Valencia. Twenty FPMT students from Spain and two FPMT students from abroad joined the seminar.
Under the guidance of FSS registered facilitators Paloma Fernandez and François Lecointre, we had fun together and deepened our experience of offering service to others in the organization. We dealt with fundamental aspects of offering service such as understanding the FPMT organization, the link between service and practice, good motivation and attitude, kind and effective communication, conflict resolution, burn-out prevention, rejoicing, and more. These topics were always addressed with a very practical and experiential approach.
Germán and Kelsan in the background and Juan, Joan, Paco, and Jessi in the foreground during a Foundation Service Seminar session, Lliria, Spain, November 2019. Photo by FSS graduate.
Graduates offered remarks such as:
- “It has opened my views regarding FPMT and gave more meaning to my service in FPMT for so many years.”
- “Life changing … has deepened my practice and confidence in my spiritual community.”
- “Positive, constructive, and inspiring.”
Of the many useful resources offered during the FSS, we would like to highlight the Inner Job Description, a great tool for developing mindfulness about our thoughts, speech, and actions. It is available for all to use, via a paper format or a free app, in English, Chinese, French, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.
Foundation Service Seminar graduates and facilitators, Nalanda Monastery, Lavaur, France, January 2020. Photo by Harold Weichart.
France
This FSS was facilitated by Annelies van der Heijden and François Lecointre in January 2020.
Graduates offered remarks such as:
- “I connected with the wider vision of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Now I feel more enthusiastic to help with different projects.”
- “Practice is service, and service is practice. I collected many ideas to implement in our center.”
- “FSS is very practical, providing material to deal with basic problems at the center. Now that I have learned about immersion aversion I better understand why people act in different ways … and I know there is support for that.”
Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on FSS
While meeting with FSS facilitators in October 2017, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered the advice that follows (which you can also listen to as an audio recording):
“The hard work at the center—one should know and relate to Milarepa or Naropa’s life story, the great practitioners, one must remember and relate to that. What made them enlightened so fast? What? It was following the guru’s advice exactly without arising heresy or anger, by following it perfectly. As a result, becoming enlightened in a brief lifetime of this degenerate time, and receiving realizations. So similarly, however hard it is working for the center, you must relate to that and see the unbelievable benefit, benefit like limitless sky! So then it becomes the most enjoyable work in the life, the happiest thing to do in the life.”
Thubten Kunga Center, the FPMT center in Deerfield Beach, Florida, US, will be hosting a Foundation Service Seminar August 15-19, 2020. Institut Vajra Yogini, an FPMT center in Lavaur, France, will be hosting a Foundation Service Seminar August 17 -22, 2020. For more information on the Foundation Service Seminar and to find out how to register for future events, visit FPMT Service Seminars.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation, and community service.
As last reported in December 2019, FPMT Inc. has contracted with FaithTrust Institute (FTI) to undertake a fact-finding assessment with a review and report on findings in response to allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of Dagri Rinpoche at FPMT centers. FPMT Inc. takes this matter very seriously. Harm and abuse by a spiritual teacher is antithetical to our community. Further, FPMT Inc. will not tolerate any retaliation against anyone who comes forward.
Anyone who may have experienced or witnessed harm from Dagri Rinpoche in his role as a spiritual teacher at FPMT centers is invited to contact FTI via email at confidential@faithtrustinstitute.org. FTI will continue to receive information for the assessment through March 16, 2020. After that time, they will be working to summarize the findings and complete the assessment report for the FPMT Inc. Board of Directors. The confidential report will be delivered to the Board of Directors towards the end of March 2020. After that time the Board of Directors with the help of FTI will release a summary report on the findings and recommendations for next steps to the community. We strive to be transparent as we respond to these allegations.
During the months of January and February 2020, the staff and Board of Directors of FPMT Inc. has undergone a training program around boundaries and responding to misconduct in spiritual communities. Further, the Board of Directors will be receiving additional training as they prepare to receive the report.
The Board of Directors at its last meeting also received the Summary Review of the Safeguarding Audit that was commissioned from Thirtyone:eight. There will be more information in the coming months about the next steps associated with the Thirtyone:eight audit.
If you want to contact the FPMT Inc. Board of Directors, please email Andrew Haynes: chairofboard@fpmt.org. If you have questions about the assessment process or want to speak with FaithTrust Institute, please contact Emily Cohen via the confidential mailbox listed above or call +1-206-634-1903.
Links to past updates can be found here.