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Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Kopan monks doing Guru Puja on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
As students of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, we may be familiar with the practice of Guru Puja, also known as Lama Chöpa. But how well do we understand its significance?
Now a new, multimedia online series from Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (LYWA), called Guru Puja is the Heart Practice, offers detailed instruction on this key practice, which was composed by Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen (1570-1662).
The six-part series contains a wealth of teachings and instructions on Guru Puja, based on teachings given by FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the first Light of the Path retreat in the United States and augmented with similar teachings given by Rinpoche at retreats around the world.
Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen. Photo © 2018 Himalayan Art Resources Inc. Photographed Image Copyright © 2004 Rubin Museum of Art.
Generations of great masters and yogi-practitioners have taken Guru Puja as the very heart of their practice. And Lama Zopa Rinpoche emphasizes to his students that they do the same.
LYWA recently published the first installment in this series, entitled “The Importance of Practicing Guru Puja,” which introduces the Guru Puja, explains why tantra is such a quick path to enlightenment, presents Rinpoche’s commentary to Pabongka Rinpoche’s heartfelt advice on the importance of practicing Guru Puja, and explains why all our meditation should be integrated into the lamrim.
Guru Puja is the Heart Practice multimedia series was edited by Ven. Sarah Thresher. The teachings are supplemented by images as well as audio and video recordings, along with links to related materials. Future installments will introduce chanting and the lineage of chanting used for Guru Puja within FPMT.
The series includes the following parts, which will be released in the coming months:
- Part One: The Importance of Practicing Guru Puja
- Part Two: An Introduction to the Chanting through to the Prostrations
- Part Three: The Offering Section
- Part Four: Renewing the Bodhisattva Vows to Mantra Recitation
- Part Five: The Tsog Offering
- Part Six: The Lamrim Prayer to the Verses of Auspiciousness
For more on Guru Puja is the Heart Practice series:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/lywa-multimedia-guru-puja-heart-practice
Learn more about Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive on their website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php
FPMT.org 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.
Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, December 2017. Photo courtesy of Tan Hup Cheng.
Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) in Singapore is creating a gold crown for the 3.3-meter (10.8-feet) high Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue that occupies ABC’s main altar. The crown is the newest addition to a project that has been ongoing for more than eighteen years.
Here, ABC director Tan Hup Cheng shares a personal account of the creative endeavor:
Lama Zopa Rinpoche chose the Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue for our main altar way back in 1995. He advised us that we must construct this statue. He further advised that we seek the services of Denise and Peter Griffin, both students of his, to build it. After a long and difficult journey, due to their many other commitments, we successfully secured Denise and Peter’s services.
Work on the statue’s parts began in 2013, with inputs from Rinpoche. After much hard work, the statue parts were completed and shipped to Singapore for assembly in August 2015. Finally, in March 2016 the statue was completed, in time for Rinpoche’s visit to ABC.
ABC’s Executive Committee had discussed the making of the crown for the Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue, and with great devotion and lots of faith, we decided to build the crown in pure 24-carat gold. An estimate of the amount of gold required was about 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds).
In order to raise the amount of solid gold required, we sent an email to 4,000 members of ABC’s fan club. We described the unbelievable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and inconceivable merit, to offer a gold crown to Chenrezig.
We asked people to buy pure Swiss 999.99 finesse gold bars in denominations of 1 gram (0.4 ounces), 5 gram (1.8 ounces), 10 gram (0.4 ounces), 20 gram (0.7 ounces), 50 gram (1.8 ounces), 100 gram (3.5 ounces), or whatever amount of 24-carat gold they could afford. We told them that their gold bars would be melted down to form part of the large 4 kilograms (8.8 pound) gold crown. So for a small investment of 1 gram of gold, we explained that they would receive the same amount of merit as offering 4 kilograms of gold.
The email went viral, and people began flooding the ABC office with offerings of Swiss gold bars. After two months we had collected 4.2 kg (9.3 pounds) of pure gold.
Close-up of the gold crown placed on the Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, December 2017. Photo courtesy of Tan Hup Cheng.
Peter Griffin made the crown using the age-old technique of lost-wax casting. He had to make wax master pieces. He used computer aided programs to design the crown parts, and had the wax master pieces printed in 3D using a special machine. Peter printed a total of 169 wax pieces.
A benefactor in Singapore who owned a jewelry foundry offered his gold casting workshop equipment to us so that we could melt and cast the gold. While at Nalanda Monastery in France, Peter invited Joan, who had previously worked as a goldsmith, to come to Singapore to cast the parts into gold. Joan reached Singapore in August 2017, and successfully cast all of the 169 gold parts.
Peter is working with our benefactor jeweler so that all of the gold parts can be soldered together to form a solid three-tier crown. In sum, nine small crowns will be soldered together to form the crown for the Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue.
Thanks to another student of Rinpoche, Piero in Italy, we managed to purchase thousands of pieces of blood red coral and turquoise stones, in various sizes to adorn the gold crown base.
When all has been completed, the gold crown will be securely locked away. We will then offer the gold crown to Rinpoche, to offer to the Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue when Rinpoche visits in October 2019.
We believe that our guru’s pure mind can dedicate the merit created. We also believe that, as Rinpoche told me, the statue can become a cause for Dharma to flourish in this world for 10,000 years; as well as work for the FPMT; and the success of Rinpoche’s vision and wishes to be fulfilled.
To learn more about Amitabha Buddhist Centre visit their website: http://www.fpmtabc.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.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his sister, Anila Ngawang Samten, Nepal, February 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Welcome to the March edition of the monthly FPMT International Office e-News!
This month we bring you:
- Highlights of Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- An Invitation to Read Our 2017Annual Review: Serving the Teachings of the Buddha
- Rejoice in Our Investment in the Entire Organization
- New Materials from Education Services
- New FPMT Study Groups
- Tara Introduced to Australia!
..and more!
The FPMT International Office News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.
FPMT International Office is happy to announce FPMT Annual Review 2017: Serving the Teachings of the Buddha is now available to read as an eZine and a downloadable PDF.
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 164 centers, projects, and services in 39 countries that comprise the international FPMT network. Each year, International Office shares our accomplishments and rejoices in what has been achieved.
“From the bottom of my heart and bones, thank you numberless times for all your service; dedication; practice of holy Dharma with your body, speech, and mind; and for your devotion and good heart,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche says in his letter in this year’s annual review.
“The ultimate aim is to benefit sentient beings, whose minds are obscured and suffering, and for them to achieve happiness in this life and happiness in future lives, then the ultimate happiness of liberation from samsara and of buddhahood, the total cessation of obscurations and completion of realizations,” Rinpoche continues.
“Therefore, sentient beings receive all the peace and happiness up to enlightenment by serving the teachings of Buddha, so that the teachings exist continually and develop, and also by serving the Sangha, who preserve and spread Dharma in this world.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Roger Kunsang in Vienna, Austria, September 2017. Photo by Andrea Husnik.
In addition to Rinpoche’s letter, FPMT Annual Review 2017 includes an update from FPMT CEO Ven. Roger Kunsang, an overview of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s tireless Dharma activities, and highlights from International Office’s departments.
New this year, we’ve made a special online photo album for the annual review, sharing photos from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 2017 travels to India, Nepal, Mongolia, Russia, the United States, Austria, and Italy. Scroll or click through to see Rinpoche throughout the year bringing benefit to all sentient beings and giving us so much in which to rejoice!
We invite you to read FPMT Annual Review 2017: Serving the Teachings of the Buddha, now available online in eZine and PDF formats:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/annual-review/
See photo highlights from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 2017:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/lama-zopa-rinpoches-2017/
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, Nepal, February 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has recorded a message to thank all who recited the practices requested for his health and long life.
Listen to Rinpoche’s message, and read the edited transcript:
“This is a message from Mickey Mouse, little one, little Mickey Mouse from Lawudo, expressing from the heart a billion, zillion, trillion thanks for alllllllllllllll your prayers: 15,249.5 recitations of the Diamond Cutter Sutra and 19,265 recitations of Dependent Arising: A Praise to Buddha, that is showing us dependent arising, the subtle one, that which shows exactly what emptiness is unified.
Even if you recited OM MANI PADME HUM, or even recited OM AH HUM, or even recited just OM day and night, or weeks, months and years.
So I thank a billion, zillion, trillion times.
This is also a big puja for yourself, for purification and to collect merits. Therefore, to free yourself from samsara and achieve enlightenment for sentient beings, so that means it is for all sentient beings that you have done this. Thank you very much.
If I stay longer, one year or a month or a week or day or an hour, I will try to benefit the fish, or pigs, or dogs—something simple. OK? Thank you very much.”
Listen to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s message, recorded March 4, 2018, in Nepal:
https://fpmt.app.box.com/s/v6ekdwvz1ttedg44tw1ypo2wwlqimdzg
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.
Exterior of Dorje Pamo Monastery, 2016. Photo courtesy of Ven. Chantal Carrerot.
Monastère Dorje Pamo is a new probationary nunnery in the South of France, situated close to FPMT centers Institut Vajra Yogini and Nalanda Monastery.
Monastère Dorje Pamo is modeled on the previous Dorje Pamo, which was founded by Lama Yeshe in the early ’80s and was the first facility for Western FPMT nuns. The original Dorje Pamo was housed in a large building belonging to Institut Vajra Yogini and was supported by a group of up to a dozen young nuns of diverse nationalities.
After a few years, the building was returned to Institut Vajra Yogini and the community of nuns dissolved. Many of the nuns were called upon to help with the management and teaching in various FPMT centers.
FPMT nuns living near the future Monastère Dorje Pamo, France, February 2017. Photo by Véronique Alber Latour.
“In 2016, we were blessed to receive the donation of a large house surrounded by six hectares [15 acres] of land, orchards, meadows, woods, and even a small lake,” shared Ven. Chantal Carrerot, coodinartor of the new Monastère Dorje Pamo. “We finally had a home for our monastery! Naturally, and following the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, we have revived its original name, Monastère Dorje Pamo. The house has the potential to accommodate fifteen or more nuns.”
“Today, the project is gaining momentum,” Ven Chantal continued. “We have worked with an architect to transform the building over several years. The plans have been drawn up and the estimates for renovations have been completed.”
“We are grateful to the kind benefactors who have donated enough funds to start the first round of renovations, which will begin in March 2018. This phase involves renovating the nuns quarters and creating a temple. The first nuns are expected to move in at the end of summer. However, there is still a lot to do and we are still looking for funding to complete the gompa and the library next to it.
“Monastic communities that provide a proper environment where Buddhists nuns can live according to their vows, where they can practice together, where new nuns can be educated, and where all can be taken care of, are very rare in the world, even more so in the Western world. That a few such projects are coming forward at this time in various places in the FPMT is a source of great rejoicing!”
To learn more about Monastère Dorje Pamo, visit their website:
http://monasteredorjepamo.org/en/
Mandala 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 on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Practice in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Thubten Kunga Center, Deerfield Beach, Florida, US, February 2018. Photo by Martha Lucia Gonzalez.
On the afternoon of February 14, a mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida, US. Fourteen students and three teachers were killed. A further fourteen people were wounded.
In the days after the shooting, Thubten Kunga Center, an FPMT center located near the tragedy, held a Medicine Buddha puja and read the “King of Prayers,” which is often recited to benefit those who have recently died.
Practitioners at the center lit a total of eighteen candles: one for each of the victims and one for the young man that carried out the shooting.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche always advises to make strong prayers to Medicine Buddha for anyone who is dying, sick, injured, or who has already died from violence such as that which occurred in Florida or elsewhere.
The short mantra of Medicine Buddha is:
TADYATHĀ / OṂ BHAIṢHAJYE BHAIṢHAJYE / MAHĀBHAIṢHAJYE [BHAIṢHAJYE] /
RĀJA SAMUDGATE SVĀHĀ
Find the long and short Medicine Buddha mantras with their common pronunciations on FPMT.org.
Read The Benefits of Medicine Buddha Mantra and Practice by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Mandala 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 on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche during Root Institute’s 30th anniversary celebration, India, January 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
All good wishes for Losar (Tibetan New Year) to you, from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and all at FPMT International Office.
Our Losar greetings are part of the February FPMT International Office e-News.
In addition to our Losar message, we invite you to enjoy:
- Updates to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Schedule
- How we can keep you updated daily!
- Why it’s time to empty your Merit Box
- News about Foundation Service Seminars in Spanish
and more…..
The FPMT International Office News comes from your FPMT International Office. Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email box.
“Happy Losar” card by Raven Jones, 2018
Currently a prisoner at Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino (ICIO) in the United States, Raven Jones has been sharing his print copies of Mandala with fellow inmates. This small group of Dharma students recently offered two Losar (Tibetan new year) cards to FPMT in celebration of the year of the Earth Dog 2145. One was sent directly to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the other to Mandala. This year, Losar takes place on February 16.
Along with the card to Mandala came a note of gratitude, containing the mantra of Amitabha:
Thank you so very much for all you do!!! So, during this year of the Earth Dog, have a great New Year! Losar Tashi Delek! OM AMI DEWA HRI!
Raven Jones holds the unique distinction of being the only FPMT Masters Program student to complete the six-year study program entirely from prison.
Learn more about the work of the Liberation Prison Project, an FPMT project that supports Dharma students in prison, on FPMT.org.
Read a full interview with Raven Jones in “Liberation through Education,” part of the Mandala October-December 2014 issue.
Mandala brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from nearly 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Tenzin Ösel Hita giving a talk at Aryatara Institute, Germany, February 2017. Photo by Hermann Wittekopf.
The international FPMT family wishes Tenzin Ösel Hita a very happy birthday and a long, healthy life. May his beneficial activities flourish and wishes come instantly into fruition!
Tenzin Ösel Hita, the recognized reincarnation of FPMT founder Lama Yeshe, turns 33 on February 12, 2018.
Tenzin Ösel Hita and family
Ösel’s 32nd year was a full one. In addition to giving talks at eleven European FPMT centers and one Brazilian center, Ösel and his partner Indila Dora welcomed their son, Tenzin Norbu, into the world!
The Big Love Fund provides financial resources that enable Ösel to continue his endeavors on behalf of FPMT.
You can follow news and updates about Ösel on the Tenzin Ösel Hita news feed. Find recordings of talks by Ösel on the Tenzin Ösel Hita Videos page.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing a small kitten before leaving Sera Je Monastery, Bylakuppe, India, November 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche traveled to Sera Je Monastic University in South India in November 2017. Ven. Gyalten Lekden, an International Mahayana Institute (IMI) monk who is in the geshe studies program at Sera Je, shared this report of Rinpoche’s visit:
After a few years’ hiatus, we were blessed to welcome Lama Zopa Rinpoche back to Sera Je in November 2017. Rinpoche had begun a series of oral transmissions some years ago, transmissions of a five-volume collection of texts and practices related to the lineage of Most Secret Hayagriva that serves as the protector of Sera Je Monastery. As is Rinpoche’s inimitable style, he tailored his teachings to meet the needs of the attendees. There was a strong emphasis on mind-training as well as the importance of distinguishing Dharma from non-Dharma through recognizing and working to abandon the eight worldly dharmas. Since the audience was composed primarily of monks, Rinpoche also wove in the benefits of properly holding the monastic vows, and how serving the monastery is just as important as traditional study.
Everyone present was overjoyed and grateful to be able to have Rinpoche pierce through the dark clouds of our habitual misconceptions, and lay bare what is most important for our lives. Then, serving as a constant paradigm for those of us who desperately need the cooling camphor of Rinpoche’s blessed instruction to quell the blazing flames of our self-grasping, self-cherishing minds, Rinpoche announced that he was donating all of the offerings he had received during the teaching to Sera Monastery’s construction of a new sewage draining system and sidewalk on the main road leading into the monastery.
Long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Drati Khangtsen, Sera Je Monastery, Bylakuppe, India, December 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
As always, while at Sera Je, Rinpoche did not ever take a break. He was in constant meetings with various monastery officials, lamas, revered guests, and devotees, demonstrating for us an impeccable model of ceaseless vigilance in working to support and benefit others. Sera Je IMI House requested Rinpoche visit, and they invited me and the other foreign monks, as well as all of the out-of-town guests, to join. During his already busy schedule, he took time to not only grant us the blessing of his holy presence at IMI House, but he also stayed for quite a while and offered excellent and practical advice to those who had gathered.
As this year’s teachings concluded, while hosting the other members of the organizing committee and me for lunch, Rinpoche began to discuss teachings for future years. He is committed to completing the transmission, but he also sees the benefit of offering practical instruction to the monks. He also shared plans on how he wishes to continue combining those two aspects of instruction.
It is important to express a quick word of gratitude to Drati Khangtsen, and its tireless community of monks, without whom these teachings would not ever be possible. They did all the work of cleaning and preparing the temple, serving the tea, and helping prepare and serve meals to all of the guests, and so forth. Although this year’s schedule was quite short, everyone was ecstatic to be able to be satiated by Rinpoche’s nectar-like speech and advice. We anxiously await his return in 2018.
View a gallery of images taken during Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s visit to Sera Je Monastery in November 2017.
More information, photos, and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.
Attendees of the Foundation Service Seminar near Madrid, Spain, December 2017. Photo courtesy of Paloma Fernandez.
In December 2017, a Foundation Service Seminar (FSS) was held near Madrid. Organized and facilitated by Spain national coordinator Paloma Fernandez and senior facilitator and center director François Lecointre, this was the first FSS to be held entirely in Spanish. Paloma shares news from the event:
Last December, we had our first Foundation Service Seminar in Spain, the first time that the seminar has been done in Spanish.
Thirty-eight people came from many different parts of Spain, and one person traveled all the way from London, to participate in the event. People arrived by all means: planes, trains, and buses. Many of them used five vacation days to attend this seminar and dedicate their time to the FPMT and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
François Lecointre, a senior FSS registered facilitator and director of Institut Vajra Yogini, offered his time, his experience, his knowledge, his kindness, and love to all the participants. (And to me, as I was co-facilitating the seminar for the first time!)
We started every day after breakfast. Each day offered different learning activities, which typically ran until 10 p.m. each night. It was a quite intense schedule, but nobody complained. It was a great experience!
A group activity during the Foundation Service Seminar near Madrid, Spain, December 2017. Photo courtesy of Paloma Fernandez.
We all worked with great focus, analyzing different aspects of our service. We had people from nine different centers, one study group, one community project, and one from Universal Education. It was very enriching to have so many different experiences and points of view to share and to learn from.
As well as the dynamic group exercises, we also had a number of beautiful meditations, great presentations, and very stimulating discussions. We also watched very inspiring videos from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, and Tenzin Ösel Hita.
The main highlight for most of us was, as Lama Yeshe used to say, the “family feeling” that was present during all the seminars. It was so great to be able to share five days and nights with the FPMT family and to experience what it means to be the “ambassadors” of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
One question that came from many participants was: “When is the next one?” So I have the feeling that this is the sign that the first FSS in Spain was a great success!
Foundation Service Seminar events are happening this year in Mexico in early February; at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, UK, in August; and at Milarepa Center, USA, in September. For more information on the Foundation Service Seminar and to find out how to register for future events, visit the FPMT Service Seminar webpage.
Mandala brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from nearly 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.