FPMT Community: Stories & News

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) in Bhutan, May 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Every year Ven. Roger Kunsang, on behalf of the FPMT organization, checks with one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus or Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) to determine what practices should be done to help create the conditions for Lama Zopa Rinpoche to have good health for the coming year. Khadro-la  has recently advised that some prayers need to be recited, together with the completion of a number of pujas. 

The prayers Khadro-la advised are the Vajra Cutter Sutra and the Dependent Arising: A Praise of the Buddha (Tendrel Topa).

We are requesting everyone to join in and keep track of their recitations of these prayers during the rest of this Tibetan year! At the end of the Tibetan year (i.e., just before Losar 2018) we will ask everyone to send us the number of prayers recited and will offer the total number of accumulated recitations to Rinpoche. It would be very beneficial if all FPMT centers, projects, services, and study groups can arrange regular recitations of these prayers.

Please use the following dedication (ideally, in addition to the usual FPMT dedication prayers):

For Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche to always have perfect health and to always be free of obstacles; and for all Rinpoche’s Dharma projects around the world to be highly successful, including all FPMT centers, projects, and services.

Offering tsog at the long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the last day of the Kopan November course. The five dakinis are also shown. Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The pujas advised by Khadro-la will be offered in a number of monasteries every month until the end of this Tibetan year. Any contributions to help cover the costs of the pujas will be greatly appreciated. Donations can be made to the FPMT Puja Fund.

In addition, there will be an extensive long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, on April 23, 2017. Everyone is welcome to attend!

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.

Ian and Judy Green with Victorian members of parliament Jacinta Allan, Jaala Pulford, and Maree Edwards, Myers Flat, Victoria, Australia, March 2017. Photo courtesy of Bendigo Weekly.

On March 24, 2017, the Victoria state government in Australia announced that the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, an FPMT project that once completed will be the largest stupa in the Western world, would received a AUS$2.5 million matching grant. The grant will help the project complete the top portion of the stupa—the bumpa roof and walls, harmika, thirteen-ring tower, parasol, and finial—as well as water and sewer treatment facilities to service the stupa itself and sister FPMT centers in the surrounding area, including Atisha Centre and Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery.

In its announcement, the Victoria government recognized the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion is already “an impressive landmark” with 25,000 visitors annually with projections of 90,000 annually within ten years. In addition to bringing many economic benefits to the region, the government “acknowledges The Great Stupa’s role in promoting social cohesion by encouraging awareness and support of cultural diversity.”

“The announcement of this funding was the culmination of three years’ work with Regional Development Victoria and City of Greater Bendigo,” said chairman of the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion Ian Green. “These funds will be a game-changer in developing the Great Stupa to realize its full potential to benefit so many beings. It is also very gratifying to see the recognition that government now has for the significant contribution of the Great Stupa.”

Ian Green addressing Great Stupa visitors and Victorian members of parliament, Myers Flat, Victoria, Australia, March 2017. Photo courtesy of Bendigo Weekly.

The Victoria government will match up to AUS$2.5 million to support the completion and infrastructure of The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion. Your financial support and prayers are always welcome. Read more about The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion on FPMT.org.

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 in Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.

Ven. Lobsang Konchok feeds a koala, Australia, 2017. Photo courtesy of Buddha House.

Student Carole Migalka of Buddha House, near Adelaide, Australia, shared a brief profile of resident artist Ven. Lobsang Konchok:

During Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s visit to Buddha House in May 2015, Rinpoche spoke of a Tibetan artist, Ven. Lobsang Konchok, residing in Brisbane, Australia, who would be suitable for painting Buddha House’s Sixteen Arhat statues, newly acquired from Nalanda Monastery in France. Ven. Lobsang Konchok agreed to do the work and is being hosted in the Adelaide Hills by some of Rinpoche’s students. In the past year he has been embraced by local Tibetan families, shopkeepers, neighbors, and animals alike.

Ven. Lobsang Konchok was born in Kham in eastern Tibet. When he was a child, his family gave sanctuary to a master thangka painter in the top story of their house due to the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Ven. Lobsang began to train in traditional thangka painting. In 1989 when his teacher and other monks were allowed to return to their monasteries, Ven. Lobsang entered Gansa Monastery-Tashi Ganden Chopeling at age fifteen.

Ven. Lobsang Konchok stands in front of the statues and altar he decorated. Photo courtesy of Buddha House.

In 1990, Ven. Lobsang and his cousin escaped from Tibet to India, trekking across the Himalayas, through Nepal, and arrived in India three months and two days later. In India, Ven. Lobsang took gelong ordination from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, completed his monastic studies, and continued his rigorous religious art training, studying thangka painting under His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s personal thangka painter in Dharamsala, at Norbulingka Institute, and at Drepung Monastery .

Ven. Lobsang Konchok installing Sixteen Arhat statues in completed altar. Photo courtesy of Buddha House.

In addition to the stunning art work on both the statues and the altar cabinetry, Ven. Lobsang has made new signs for Buddha House; adorned the Medicine Buddha thangka with brocade; crafted a donation box out of recycled timber; built a life-size yak for a Tibetan float in the Australia Day parade; tamed the resident koala; made a bird feeder encircled with mantras; and is spotted walking the property misting the millipedes and bull-ants with a specially prepared mani pill spray.

Ven. Lobsang Konchok creates life-size yak for Australia Day parade. Photo courtesy of Buddha House.

“I’m very happy here in Bridgewater,” Ven. Lobsang shared. “While painting the Sixteen Arhat statues and rolling the mantras, I had the good result of obtaining permanent residency in Australia after four years of trying. The family I live with is very kind; it’s nice and quiet, nice view and many parrots and koalas. Now when I’m painting thangkas and listening to teachings, I feel it’s like a pure land!”

Watch Ven. Lobsang Konchok chant to and give water to a koala:
https://vimeo.com/208234582

Ven. Lobsang Konchok is available for thangka painting and other art projects on request. For more details contact info@buddhahouse.org.

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 in Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work. 

These butter sculpture tormas (ritual cakes) offered during Monlam at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, take one month to make, are nine feet (three meters) tall, and will remain for one year. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

During March 9-13, Kopan Monastery hosted its annual Monlam, a prayer festival first founded by Lama Tsongkhapa in 15th-century Tibet that has survived the Tibetan diaspora. Kopan hosts the annual event for all of the Gelug monasteries and nunneries in Nepal.

Public display of large Eight Taras thangka during Monlam, painted by Peter Iseli, Kopan Monstery, Nepal, March 12, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Throughout the festival, sangha and lay students are invited to spend the day engaged in prayers and pujas, view and receive blessings from holy objects, and attend monastic debates. On the Day of Miracles, the final day in a series of fifteen holy days, thousands of people attend the Monlam festivities. This year, Jangtse Chöje Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche presided over the ceremonies. He also gave public a teaching and an oral transmission on March 14.

Jangtse Chöje Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche presides over Monlam, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 12, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Ven. Legtsok answers debate questions during Monlam, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 14, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Songsten High School band, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 12, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

A special torma is burned on the last day of Monlam, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 13, 2017. Photo by Laura Miller.

Many important teachers and lamas were in attendance, including Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, the abbot of Kopan Monastery; Cherok Lama; Phuntsok Rinpoche; and Kundol Rinpoche. Other Kopan monks currently studying at Sera Je Monastery in South India were also able to participate.

Watch the activities of Kopan’s Monlam on Facebook (via Kopan Apso, March 12):
https://www.facebook.com/choekuapso

https://www.facebook.com/choekuapso/videos/1345290738847684/

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 in Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi and Thubten Rigsel Rinpoche during the enthronement ceremony for Thubten Rigsel Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab

We invite you to read our March FPMT International Office e-News. This month you’ll find:

• How to Prepare for the 2017 Light of the Path Retreat
• Updates to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Schedule
• Rejoicing in Friends Old and New
• New from FPMT Education Services

… and more, including many photos!

The participants of the Vajrapani founders’ retreat, Vajrapani Institute, Boulder Creek, CA, US, January 2016

Long-time student and Vajrapani Institute co-founder Elaine Jackson shares some early Vajrapani Institute history and reports on the January 2016 Vajrapani Institute’s founders’ retreat:

It was 1977. Two hundred or more baby Dharma students gathered in Yucca Valley, California for a month-long meditation retreat with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The Lamas were so inspiring that a rousing talk by Ven. Thubten Pende at the end of the retreat prompted two students, Janet and Ross Brooke, to ask their land partners if they would like to donate part of their California “Omland” for a retreat center. That was the beginning of Vajrapani Institute for Wisdom Culture, our retreat center in the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz mountains.

Lama Yeshe gave his blessing to this undeveloped mountainous land at a small gathering in the middle of a ring of redwoods, saying something like, “If you build a pond, the fish will come.” It was raw land and fish did eventually come. We lived in tipis and “carpet houses,” stick frames walled with carpets retrieved from dumpsters behind big carpet warehouses in San Jose.

Janet Brooke and James Kent, Vajrapani Institute, Boulder Creek, CA, US, January 2016

Many of us thought we’d build this center in a year or two, but it took two years just to change the zoning so we could apply for a building permit. We persevered and today, by the effort of many, many students, Vajrapani is a thriving retreat center serving hundreds of Dharma students every year.

Vajrapani’s pioneers, Lama’s “bushy people,” met in January 2016 to record its history—at least what we could remember of it. Shasta Wallace and Wanda Sisnroy, invited, organized, and prepared the food. Judy Weitzner facilitated the roundtable discussions with Don Broderson monitoring the recording and Tsering filming the video. It was a delightful event—like having a slumber party with all your old friends!

Jacie Keeley and John McKay came the greatest distances, flying in from Florida and Minnesota. We initially sat in chronological order, based on when we first came to the land. James Kent, Tom Post, and Janet Brooke were first as those who donated the land. Others in attendance were Elaine Jackson, Chuck Thomas, John McKay, Tom Waggoner, Jacie Keeley, Shasta Wallace, Bev Gwyn, Richard Prinz, Thubten Pende, Sharon Gross, Barbara Vautier, Lennie Kronisch, George Galt, Valerie Thomas, Steve Pearl, Wanda Sisnroy, Keith Emmons, Judy Weitzner, and Don Broderson. Lara Brooke and her daughter, Arya, as second and third generation “bushy people,” also attended some of the sessions. Ven. John Jackson, a kingpin in construction of the center, was missed as he was in Washington State engaging in retreat. Åge Delbanco, now 91 years old, was also unable to attend, but we are hopeful that their stories will be recorded soon.

Lennie Kronisch, Don Broderson, Barbara Vautier, and Steve Pearl, Vajrapani Institute, Boulder Creek, CA, US, January 2016

Most of us came to Vajrapani via Asia, meeting Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery. Many mentioned reading Be Here Now by Ram Dass as a catalyst for leaving this country in search of truth. All the stories were miraculous and just downright “cosmic”! Many times Anila Ann McNeil’s name surfaced as someone who was influential in pointing the way. Mommy Max and Zina Rachevsky played a big part too, as Judy Weitzner and others relayed their hilarious experiences—notably riding in Mommy Max’s Hudson. Steve Pearl’s story of riding horseback across Afghanistan was amazing. Everyone described how Lama hooked them with his compassion, his wisdom, and his wonderful sense of humor. Oh, the tricks Lama played— displaying siddhis and “playing dead”—to kick his students to the next rung up the Dharma ladder! Jacie Keeley wowed us with stories of her time with Lama.

We laughed and we cried hearing about those who are no longer with us: Anila Ann McNil, John Schwartz, Diney Woodsorrel, Ashley Walker, Ross Brook, and others.

Jacie Keeley was with Lama in Italy just before Lama made his last trip to California in 1984. She told us that she knew this would be the last time the Italians saw Lama. She made us weep when she said, “Of all the places Lama could go, Lama intentionally chose Vajrapani as his final stop.” 

Jacie Keeley, Tom Waggoner, Chuck Thomas, Don Broderson, Elaine Jackson, Janet Brooke, Vajrapani Institute, Boulder Creek, CA, US, January 2016

Tom Waggoner and Shasta Wallace relayed their story of being with Lama as he manifested leaving his body. Lama Zopa Rinpoche announced, “Lama’s meditation is finished.” Even now, more than thirty years later, my heart cracks open at the memory.

We all expressed such huge gratitude for meeting Lama, for living our lives in ways that we felt would make Lama happy, and for the endearing and enduring Dharma connection we all have. We do have this amazing, beautiful, as Lama used to say, “pamily peeling ” [family feeling], and it exists all over the world—wherever Lama’s holy feet touched this earth. For this, we all rejoice!

Read more about the founding of Vajrapani Institue in “A Venture in Real Estate” from Mandala August-September 2007 and in “Reaching Out: A History of and Contemporary Look at the Centers, Projects and Services of FPMT” from Mandala July-September 2009.

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.

The cover of FPMT Annual Review 2016: Working to Benefit Sentient Beings as Infinite as the Sky

International Office has just released FPMT Annual Review 2016: Working to Benefit Sentient Beings as Infinite as the Sky, a collection of warm-hearted messages, beautiful photos, and informative reports reflecting International Office’s activities in 2016. 

FPMT Annual Review 2016 includes letters from FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche, CEO Ven. Roger Kunsang, and the FPMT board of directors, which focus on expressing thanks, and rejoice in and highlight International Office’s mission and work. 

“I have really seen that many people in the FPMT [organization] have become increasingly compassionate, which also benefits other sentient beings more and more,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche writes in his 2016 annual review letter. “So that is one benefit. The second thing is that we’re providing more and more Dharma education so that students can understand and learn the base—the two truths and the path of method and wisdom—and the result, dharmakaya and rupakaya, Buddha’s holy mind and holy body. By receiving more and more education in topics such as the four noble truths and so forth, this is what you achieve. Without such education there is no way to be free from samsara.”

FPMT Annual Review 2016 includes an overview of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s bustling year of Dharma activities, including Rinpoche’s travels, teachings, retreats, and special meetings and events. Additionally, all of International Office’s departments offer detailed reports on their 2016 accomplishments, projects, and finances.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 2016 activities are summarized in FPMT Annual Review 2016

We invite you to read FPMT Annual Review 2016: Working to Benefit Sentient Beings as Infinite as the Sky, now available online in eZine and PDF formats
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/annual-review/

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.”

Cover of “Una rivoluzione spirituale: La storia dell’Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa di Pomaia”

In December 2016, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) published A Spiritual Revolution: The History of the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute of Pomaia (in Italian, Una rivoluzione spirituale: La storia dell’Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa di Pomaia). The 120-page hardcover coffee table book features the story of ILTK’s 1976 founding and dozens of photos. Author Massimo Corona shared with Mandala some early memories of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa’s founding in celebration of the new book:

When I met Lama Yeshe at Kopan in Nepal I was twenty-four years old. It was April 1971—forty-six years ago. I had without a doubt met my root guru. His words were, using an expression he himself coined, like “an atomic bomb entering [my] heart.”

The energy of the early days is unmatched. I remember working through the night to prepare the old rooms at ILTK for Lama Yeshe’s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s first meditation course. In those first three years as a director I learned a bit also about plumbing and plastering, although not always very successfully. In fact, I think around ’83 or ’84, a pipe in the Lamas’ residence broke and the house was completely flooded.

Lama Yeshe, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia, Italy, 1983. Photo by Merry Colony, courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

A Spiritual Revolution captures the evolution of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa after that first meeting in Nepal. Now that I’m back in Pomaia after spending many years in the United States and Mongolia, I’m amazed to see the progress the center has made. Every weekend there are at least one hundred people attending courses. During the week there are the Masters Program and the Basic Program, both being hosted for a third time. Between the residential and online participants, there are more than 400 people studying the Dharma this way. (As for myself, I’m not doing much, besides rejoicing!)

A Spiritual Revolution: The History of the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute of Pomaia is available by donation only. For people outside of Italy, please email Massimo Corona (max@synergicinc.com) directly to arrange orders.

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.

Enjoying a bowl of food provided by Ven. Gyalten Lekden on the roof of House 999, Sera Je Monastery, India, January 2017. Photo courtesy of Ven. Gyalten Lekden.

Ven. Gyalten Lekden

Ven. Gyalten Lekden, an International Mahayana Institute (IMI) monk who studies at Sera Je in South India, reports on some of his most beloved housemates. Cats. And more cats. The cats are strays that Ven. Lekden has taken to feeding and watching over, in keeping with Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast visions, which include caring for animals.

Usually between four and eight cats spend part of each day playing and lounging on the roof of House 999, where Ven. Lekden lives. Since they turn up their noses at local brands, he buys them imported cat food, and every day feeds the “clowder” (the official name for a group of cats) a few bowls of dry food, along with some eggs mixed into milk. He adds, smiling, “I spend more money on cat food than on my own food! But I feel happy doing it.” While setting out the food, he recites mantras and rubs bellies, meeting the kitties’ needs both in the moment and, hopefully, for the long term.

Cat napping on the robes of an unidentified monk, Sera Je Monastery, India, January 2017. Photo courtesy of Ven. Gyalten Lekden.

It started with just one, as these things do. Tom the Unnamed Tomcat arrived, and when it was cold Tom used to doze on Ven. Lekden’s lap while he recited or studied. When Tom got badly injured in a fight, Ven. Lekden cleaned his wounds and saved his life. Tom was later joined by a small female, Mama. After she had kittens, Ven. Lekden tried to save the weakest one, who Mama had abandoned, feeding her and naming her Tamdrin (Hayagriva), but she died after a few days. “She wouldn’t have lasted one night if I hadn’t taken her in,” says Ven. Lekden, “so hopefully she got some imprints and benefit. I gave her a fierce name so she could have a fierce spirit.”

Little Tamdrin wearing a coat made for her by Ven. Lekden, Sera Je Monastery, India, January 2017. Photo courtesy of Ven. Gyalten Lekden.

Soon other kittens started coming around. Says Ven. Lekden, “In addition to Mama and Tom we then had Mary Jane and her brother Sneaky Pete. My teacher, Geshe Chenga Tsering, who runs the house, advised I start feeding them on the roof. I moved their bowls up there, and when I got back from class one day he showed me a small lean-to he had built to keep them out the rain. I then made a small bed to put inside. Shortly thereafter, Mama had more kittens. These four are now my main customers. The boy is Big Red. The girls are Squeak, Pipsqueak, and Einstein. Tom still comes most days too. He just wanders around making noise until someone gives him attention or food.”

The “clowder” enjoying a meal at the feet of Ven. Lekden, Sera Je Monastery, India, January 2017. Photo courtesy of Ven. Gyalten Lekden.

The monks all like the cats, but the cats are wary of anyone but him, their main benefactor, says Ven. Lekden. Do they protect the house?  “Not really,” he laughs. “Mice aren’t a problem here, and the rats are too big for the cats. I can’t see them going after the black cobras either. These guys are not very formidable foes … I don’t take care of them because they are useful. They’re hungry, and I have the means to help them, so I do.”

Watch Ven. Lekden on YouTube as he feeds and converses with the cats—and listen to them explain their side of the story too!
https://youtu.be/iqqTuiJiISo

Benefiting animals is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/vast-vision/#animals

For more about FPMT’s activities to benefit animals see:
https://fpmt.org/tag/animals/

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 during the long life puja offered by the Kopan nuns in Sarnath, India, January 18, 2017. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Warm good wishes for Losar (Tibetan New Year) from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and all at Rinpoche’s FPMT International Office!

Our Losar greetings are part of our February FPMT International Office e-News, in which you’ll also find:

• An Overview of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Schedule
• Invitations to our Annual Review 2016; and to Rejoice in our Year of Charitable Giving
• A Feature on His Holiness’ 34th Kalachakra Initiation
• Why it’s a Special Time to Become a Friend of FPMT

… 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.

Geshe Pema Tsering

On February 11, 2017, Geshe Pema Tsering, who served as resident teacher at Buddha House in Adelaide, Australia, for nine years entered into clear light meditation after passing away. Mandala received this tribute to Geshe-la from Buddha House director Gabe Edwards on February 16, while Geshe-la was in his fifth day of clear light meditation:

It is with great sadness that we heard of the passing of most precious Geshe Pema Tsering, who was our resident teacher here at Buddha House from September 2001 to December 2010. He returned to Sera Je Monastery in December 2013 and remained there until his passing.

Geshe-la was born in 1939 in Dhargye Village in Kham province, Tibet, the only child of farming parents. He became ordained as a monk in Dhargye Monastery at the age of seven and at seventeen went to Sera Monastery in Lhasa where he met his spiritual teacher, Kyabje Khensur Kangyur Lobsang Thubten Rinpoche, who was also Buddha House’s former resident teacher, and continued his studies with the aim of getting his Geshe degree. He escaped to India at twenty years old following His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s departure from Tibet. Despite the hardships of traversing the snow covered mountains of the Himalayas, Geshe-la said his mind remained happy and buoyed by the positive spirit of his companions.

After ten years in a refugee camp in Buxa Duar, India, Geshe-la traveled to Karnataka in South India and for three years cleared the jungle and assisted in the re-establishment of Sera Je Monastery. He was thirty-three years old when he resumed his geshe studies under Khensur Rinpoche and Geshe Torche. In 1980 he achieve the highest level Geshe Lharampa degree.

Geshe-la had many students in Adelaide and India, and despite his high qualifications, he was widely known for his exceptional humility, kindness, and compassion.

Geshe Pema Tsering with friend and colleague the late Geshe Tsulga

As expressed by student Wendy Cook: “Geshe Pema Tsering passed away four days ago. Although he is considered clinically dead, he is, however, still in meditation, as his most subtle consciousness continues to reside in his body at his heart. The great yogis of Tibet who have committed their lives to deep practice and inquiry manifest this at the time of death. It is considered a very powerful time as one resides in the clear light with great wisdom and motivated by compassion for all beings. Geshe-la is in his final meditation at Sera Je Monastery in South India where the monks are engaged in practice, meditation, and chanting around the clock to support him in his transition. When his consciousness leaves the body, there will be signs, and then the monks will cremate Geshe-la’s body. This is how a great master of Tibet passes. Extraordinary. Without these precious lineage holders, the treasure of Tibetan Buddhism would not have been reestablished in India and then brought to the West.”

Ruth Gamble, scholar and translator for Geshe Pema Tsering while at Buddha House, so eloquently and poignantly expressed: “Gen-la always talked about impermanence. His mother died when he was young. In 1959 an artillery shell hit the room next to him killing his friend. Minutes later, he walked out of his home, and weeks later, he walked out of his country. He lost teachers and friends in refugee camps, and almost lost his thumb clearing the jungle in South India building a new monastery.

Geshe Pema Tsering with Ruth Gamble

“But even in the midst of all this, he maintained a startlingly sharp sense of humor, fun, and wonder. His hero was a senior monk who told him that ‘the only things a monk needs are a sack and a rope, so it’s easy to get rid of his body when he dies.’ He thought this was a hilarious line. I guess his dark humor explains why he also found former prime minister John Howard and former president George W. Bush amusing: he seemed to think they were personally responsible for keeping the streets clean and the toilets flushing, so they can’t be all bad. He was fascinated by garbage trucks, sewerage works, and construction sites. They seemed to him, a farmer’s son who helped carve a monastery out of a jungle, as an ingenious magic show. He also loved soccer, but rather than barracking for a team, he barracked for a particular score: 3-3. That way, he said, no one felt sad about losing, but there were lots of goals.

“None of this (especially finding John Howard funny) is why he is my hero, though. He’s my hero because I saw him change his state of mind again and again. Rather than let anger, frustration, and jealousy—or even physical pain—shape his mind, he could transform his thoughts in an instant (or sometimes two). His anger would evaporate, his frustration would turn to patience, and his habitual compassion would reassert itself. The good thing about impermanence, he would say, is that it allows change.”

A complete obituary for Geshe Pema Tsering will be included as part of the July-December 2017 issue of Mandala.

His Holiness talks with students from Maitreya School after their recitation, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Bill Kane.

Mandala has just published “His Holiness the Dalai Lama Gives His 34th Kalachakra Initiation,” an online feature—with plenty of great photos—about the Kalachakra initiation held recently in Bodhgaya, India, and FPMT’s involvement in it. This was the 34th such initiation His Holiness has granted and the fifth one in Bodhgaya, and more than 220,000 people attended, including students from FPMT centers around the globe. FPMT’s Root Institute for Wisdom Culture, set amidst beautiful grounds overflowing with statues and stupas, was filled with guests including Lama Zopa Rinpoche; Tenzin Ösel Hita; Yangsi Rinpoche; Cherok Lama; Tenzin Phuntsok Rinpoche; Tenzin Rigsel, the three-year-old reincarnation of the late Khen Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup; and other lamas and geshes, as well as many FPMT Sangha. Even actor Richard Gere was among the guests. A special team was put in place by Root Institute to coordinate FPMT’s involvement.

Kalachakra sand mandala, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Cynthia Karena

One particularly exciting moment for FPMT: students from FPMT’s Maitreya School in Bodhgaya were given the opportunity to recite the Heart Sutra in Sanskrit to His Holiness. 

Ven. Tenzin Paldron, director of Root Institute, explained: “Dee Chandrashekhar, FPMT India’s national coordinator, had developed a tune for the Heart Sutra in Sanskrit and a couple of years ago Lama Zopa Rinpoche asked her to come and teach it to the Maitreya School children. She came last summer, and the children learned it. With their teacher they reviewed it on a regular basis, to the point where they felt confident. They were ready. Twelve girls and one boy sat in front of His Holiness and the whole audience and recited the Heart Sutra. They also offered a handmade placard with wishes for a happy 34th Kalachakra puja. It was historic; I don’t think children have recited the Heart Sutra in Sanskrit for His Holiness before. And they are very devoted when they recite—they do it with their full heart. His Holiness was deeply moved; he called it ‘wonderful’ and ‘inspiring.’ And he offered one hundred thousand rupees (US$1,500) to be used to take all 190 of the Maitreya School children on a picnic. The children were so happy!”

Hi Holiness examines the placard offering best wishes from the children of Maitreya School, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Bill Kane.

Read “His Holiness the Dalai Lama Gives His 34th Kalachakra Initiation,” Mandala‘s newest online feature:
https://fpmt.org/mandala/in-depth-stories/his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-gives-his-34th-kalachakra-initiation/

Mandala is offered as a benefit to supporters of the Friends of FPMT program, which provides funding for the educational, charitable, and online work of FPMT.