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FPMT Community: Stories & News
Occasionally Osel Hita shares his thoughts and experiences on his Facebook page. In this update, he discusses the evolution of our specials and updates us on the condition of his mother, Maria.
And where are we as individuals? Is this a turning point in history?
I’m just glad to be alive, even though I don’t fully understand the big picture. Just being here and having the capacity to decide over my actions, is enough to learn and improve.
Whatever is going to happen, will happen.
So let us learn to be better people while we are at it, and if the world has to implode, at least we tried!
My mother, Maria, is already walking and enjoying her new life after 24 years with a kidney tumor. When they took it out, it weighed around 1 kilo (750 grams). It is crazy! The tumor had veins the size of a thumb!
Now she is so much better, it is quite a difference. She is already gaining weight, has a lot of energy, and is much happier than before. We are all so glad she finally decided to go through with the operation.
And she definitely felt the energies coming from all over the world. It went very smoothly, thank you all so very much!
Well take care family, and talk soon!
onelove
FPMT News Around the World
Saka Dawa light offerings in Bodhgaya, India, organized by Root Institute. Photo courtesy of Root Institute.
FPMT centers, projects and services around the world celebrated Saka Dawa, the day commemorating Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and parinirvana, yesterday. We rejoice in all of the events and activities that took place!
Here are highlights from a very few celebrations of Saka Dawa:
At the Mahabodhi Stupa in Bodhgaya, India, the Festival of Lights and Merit (FLAM) offered 100,000 lights June 3-5. FLAM is a project of Root Institute and makes light offerings and prayers during the four great Buddhist festivals. In addition to the 100,000 rainbow-colored electric lights that are carefully hung among the trees and walls of the entire Mahabodhi Stupa grounds, offering and dedication prayers are made on the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, increasing the power of the offerings even further.
Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore reported on Facebook that on Saka Dawa they liberated “about 800,000 lives (about 7 tons of la-la [clams] and cockles).”
Saka Dawa food offerings at Sera Je Monastery in India. Photo courtesy of FPMT Sera Je India.
FPMT Sera Je India shared photos on Facebook of Saka Dawa food offerings at Sera Je Monastery in India. [In other rejoicing news: This month, FPMT’s Sera Je Food Fund received US$115,000, which covers the next six months’ worth of meals for all 2,600 monks currently studying at Sera Je.]
On Saka Dawa, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) consecrated their new Geshe Jampa Gyatso stupa. Geshe Jampa Gyatso taught 27 years at ILTK. Jhado Rinpoche presided over the cemerony. You can see more photos from the creation of the stupa on ILTK’s Facebook page.
Consecration of Geshe Jampa Gyatso stupa, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, June 2012. Photo by Sirianni.
FPMT International Office celebrated Saka Dawa online by inviting students and supporters of Lama Zopa Rinpoche around the world to contribute to the Work a Day for Rinpoche fund, which supports the continuing realization of Rinpoche’s vast compassionate vision. Response thus far has been fantastic.
With 159 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
FPMT News Around the World
An image of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on a bus advertisement in Taiwan, May 2012
The smiling face of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is traveling around Taiwan on the sides of 30 buses. Seeking to raise the profile of Tibetan Buddhism and His Holiness in Taiwan, advertisements have been placed on buses wishing His Holiness a happy 77th birthday and requesting he remain in the world. The bus ads also invite people to a series of events celebrating His Holiness’ birthday throughout the country.
The ads and events are being organized by an association of Tibetan Buddhist groups in Taiwan. FPMT Taiwan is part of this group and sponsored five of the buses and will have volunteers at the birthday events.
The face of His Holiness the Dalia Lama on a bus in Taiwan, May 2012
Ven. Thubten Osel, director of Jinsiu Farlin, writes, “I think this is such a good idea to have His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s photos going around the entire country and letting whoever lays eyes on the buses plant some good imprints for their future lives.”
There are three FPMT centers in Taiwan, a country of 23 million people. The centers have active and well attended programs, each led by their own resident teacher. Jinsiu Farlin is located in Taipei on the north end of the island. Shakyanuni Center is in Taichung City, in central Taiwan. Heruka Center is in Kaoshiung in southern Taiwan.
His Holiness’ birthday is celebrated on July 6.The advertisements are running from May 10-July 10.
With 159 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
FPMT News Around the World
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Tushita Meditation Centre, May 15, 2012. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala has been abuzz with activity. FPMT’s spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s two-week visit earlier this month brought with it many blessing for Sangha and students. On May 15, he gathered the 100 students there for the course together to share with them a piece of the torma (ritual cake) from Khadro-la’s retreat.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Tushita Meditation Centre, May 15, 2012. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Two days earlier, Lobsang Sangay, the Kalon Tripa (Prime Minister of Tibet), visited Rinpoche at Tushita with Kalon Pema Chinnjor (the Minister for Religion and Culture). They met privately, and then Rinpoche led the Kalon Tripa on a tour of the center. Ling Rinpoche also paid Lama Zopa Rinpoche a visit at Tushita on May 10. Ling Rinpoche received a tour of Tushita as well and took time to address students.
Tushita celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The center offers a full range of courses for both beginner and experienced Dharma students. In 2011, more than 9,000 people from all over the world attended their residential courses, retreats and drop-in sessions, with many more visiting for personal retreat and special events. Tushita will be featured in the next issue of Mandala, which comes out soon.
You can see many more photos from Rinpoche’s visit to Tushita, find links to recent teachings and learn about other happenings at the center on Tushita’s Facebook page.
With 159 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
FPMT News Around the World
Men-Tsee-Khang, Dharamsala, India. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
Are you curious about Tibetan medicine and astrology? Men-Tsee-Kang, the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute, was established in Tibet by the 13th Dalai Lama in 1916 and reestablished in 1961 by the 14th Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. The institute is, in part, dedicated to promoting and practicing gSowa-rigpa, the Tibetan system of medicine, astronomy and astrology. The institute’s website is a rich source of information on these topics.
Now the FPMT Foundation Store is happy to announce a new relationship with Men-Tsee-Kang. The Foundation Store just received in its warehouse three new items produced by the institute. Sorig Loong Lotion and Sorig Loong Massage Oil are herbal healthcare products from Men-Tsee-Kang intended to help pacify loong disorders. Loong, or lung, is sometimes called the meditator’s disease. Ven. Nyingje, an experienced meditator and FPMT register teacher, writes in a Mandala article on lung that it can be thought of as a strained nervous system.
The Foundation Store also offers Men-Tsee-Kang’s Sorig Tibetan Incense. As part of Men-Tsee-Kang’s mission, they are committed to creating all their products in an environmentally sensitive manner.
In addition to offering herbal products, the institute has a college, where students study Tibetan medicine and astrology in a five-year program. Through a network of clinics, Men-Tsee-Kang also provides free or subsidized healthcare to Tibetan refugees, the poor and needy, monks and nuns, and those over age seventy.
With 159 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
FPMT News Around the World
Osel Hita speaks at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, April 2012. Photo by Sirianni.
“The first step for harmonious communities is to be aware of your own actions and thoughts,” Osel Hita told a group of students in April 2012.
A 50-minute recording of the talk is now available online. This was the first time Osel had spoken to a group of Western Dharma students in over a decade. Gomo Tulku also joined the discussion, which took place at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy.
In 2010, Osel Hita and Gomo Tulku along with Ling Rinpoche and Cherok Lama participated in a roundtable discussion with Mandala about being recognized as reincarnated “lamas” and the future of Buddhism. The young FPMT notables offered fresh and original views on how Buddhism fits into the 21st-century world.
“Religion is moved by the people,” Osel told Mandala. “It is connection between the unknown and known universes within and outside of us. Like many other religions, Buddhism is one more way of understanding and growing closer to our true essence.”
Gomo Tulku, perhaps even more than his compatriots, is pushing into new territories, pursuing a long-held interest in becoming a musician. He has just released his second music video today, called “Let Me Down.”
You can learn about new recordings and teachings along with the latest FPMT news by reading the FPMT International Office News, a monthly e-newsletter. Subscribe online to have it delivered directly to your email inbox.
With 159 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
FMPT News Around the World
Kadampa stupa construction at Kadampa Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, May 2012
Kadampa Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, is making impressive strides with its project to build a new Kadampa stupa. The center reports, “For two months, we had been designing and building all the remaining concrete parts for the stupa ‒ an ‘upper cylinder’ to complete the vase section, a lid for the cylinder, and a harmika. These have all been built to sizes and shapes that we have been taught by Jampel Lama, who of course is with us every day in person, and by his comrades who are back in Nepal.”
Jampel watches as the assembled upper cylinder, lid and harmika are moved by forklift.
With the aid of a forklift, center members moved the concrete pieces weighing well over 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) each, making sure they all fit together.
With the completion of the last concrete parts, the stupa is ready for the blessing and filling ceremony. At the blessing ceremony, the cylinder will be filled with mantras and precious substances, and then the lid and harmika will be lifted into place and the ceremony completed.
Jampel, who supervised the construction and decoration of the stupa at Kurukulla Center, will be adding more decorations to the harmika. You can see some of the decorations (above) that have already been completed on the throne section.
The stupa is situated in view of both passing drivers and those traveling by train on nearby tracks as advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
With 159 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
FPMT News Around the World
Lama Yeshe meditating in the botanical gardens, Berkeley, California, 1974. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
It’s no surprise that meditation continues to draw the media’s attention. More and more, its positive effects on the mind and body are being documented by scientists and its techniques are being taught in clinical settings. A 2007 national survey in the United States found that “9.4 percent of respondents (representing more than 20 million people) had used meditation in the past 12 months – compared with 7.6 percent of respondents (representing more than 15 million people) in a similar survey conducted in 2002.” In fact, U.S. National Institute of Health has a dedicated webpage on meditation’s health benefits, which include helping with anxiety, pain, depression, stress, insomnia and coping with chronic illness. All signs indicate this interest will only continue to grow. The inaugural International Symposia for Contemplative Studies recently brought together more than 700 neuroscientists, educators, and contemplative scholars from around the world to share cutting-edge research on the nature and workings of the human mind. We can sincerely rejoice in the benefits that people throughout the world may experience from this increased interest in and use of meditative techniques.
But for students of Mahayana Buddhism, a meditation practice has benefits beyond improved health (which is still important). Developing the ability to calm the mind facilitates one’s ability to progress towards enlightenment, when one can be of most benefit. Fortunately, FPMT offers many resources online to support the development of this kind of meditation practice. Discovering Buddhism’s Module 2 “How to Meditate” is available free of charge on the Online Learning Center as well as instruction on shiné or calm abiding meditation. In addition, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive offers many teachings from Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and other qualified teachers on meditation. These resources are freely available to you to deepen your Mahayana meditation practice and to share with others who might want to take the altruistic path of Dharma.
With 160 centers, projects, and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
FPMT News Around the World
Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling Director Massimo Corona reports the recent uncovering of a VHS tape from a decade ago, featuring the former CEO of FPMT Mongolia Ueli Minder and Thubten Gyatso (Dr. Adrian Feldmann). The rough but fascinating video documents some of FPMT’s early contributions to the restoration of Buddhism in Mongolia. The 13-minute video, now available on FPMT Mongolia’s YouTube channel, includes footage of the renovation of a historic monastery located near Ulaanbaatar where Drolma Ling Nunnery, the first residential Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in Mongolia, was established. Also making a brief appearance in the video is Ven. Bakula Rinpoche, who greatly contributed to the return of Buddhism in Mongolia.
The history of Buddhism in Mongolia is rich, going back to the third century B.C.E. But with the rise of communism in the 1920s and Mongolia’s close alignment with the Soviet Union, Mongolian Buddhists suffered heavy oppression, witnessing the extensive destruction of monasteries and temples and the purging of an extraordinary number of monks and lamas in the late 1930s. The relighting of the lamp of Buddhism in Mongolia signifies the strength and determination of Mongolians to reclaim this nearly lost aspect of their cultural heritage.
Be sure to check out more of Mandala’s recent coverage of Mongolia.
With 160 centers, projects, and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
FPMT News Around the World
His Holiness the Sakya Trizin with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, April 2012. Photo courtesy of Sakya Drolma Phodrang.
During April, FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche, along with Dhakpa Rinpoche and Dagri Rinpoche, were in Dehradun, India, receiving initiations from His Holiness the Sakya Trizin. Many others from the Sakya tradition, including Sangha from the Sakya Monastery and Nunnery, also took part in the ongoing Wangya Norbu Tangwa (Garlands of Jewels of Hundreds of Initiations) transmission. This is the fifth year the Sakya Trizin has been giving this very long series of initiations.
Dhakpa Rinpoche (far left) and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Dehradun, India, April 2012. Photo courtesy of Sakya Drolma Phodrang.
Several years ago, Lama Zopa Rinpoche requested to receive this transmission as the lineage of some of the initiations had already died out in the Gelug tradition. Rinpoche and FPMT’s Preserving the Lineage Fund have been the main sponsors of the initiation series and long life puja for His Holiness the Sakya Trizin. The Preserving the Lineage Fund supports the transmission of rare Mahayana teachings through initiations and oral transmissions, thereby allowing future lamas and students the benefits of receiving the Buddhadharma through an unbroken lineage.
With 160 centers, projects, and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Dagri Rinpoche, Dehradun, India, April 2012. Photo courtesy of Sakya Drolma Phodrang.
FPMT News Around the World
Maitreya statue at Maitreya School grand opening, Bodhgaya, India, April 2012
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of FPMT, offered 26 life-size statues of Maitreya Buddha to FPMT centers, services and projects. In just one month, many centers have already received their Maitreya statue. Mandala is celebrating this with the Maitreya Statue Photo Gallery, featuring photos of Maitreya statues situated in FPMT centers, projects and services around the world!
Last week, we shared news of the new statue at Thubten Shedrub Ling in Australia. This week, we are featuring the Maitreya statue that is at the new Maitreya School, a project of Root Institute for Wisdom Culture in Bodhgaya. The Maitreya watched over the proceedings as the school held its grand opening in April. Maitreya School will provide education to children of poor families following the government curricula while also incorporating key Buddhist principles in the context of Indian culture.
With 160 centers, projects, and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.
FPMT News Around the World
Have you ever wanted to improve your visualization practice? Instead of struggling to retrieve a fuzzy image, have you wished for Buddha’s face to pop clearly into mind as soon as you closed your eyes? Jon Landaw, a long-time FPMT teacher, recently led his Discovering Buddhism students through an exercise of drawing Buddha’s face to help them improve their visualizations. His students reported good results, saying they could bring Buddha’s image to mind more easily.
Landaw explains that he supplied students with artist Andy Weber’s gridded drawing of Buddha’s face, blank copies of the grid and some pencils. Then put on a recording of Lama Yeshe chanting mani and let them get to work.
“A couple of the students contented themselves with merely tracing the Buddha’s face, but the rest actually drew it ‘free hand,’ as it were,” Landaw writes. “They were very happily occupied for more than an hour, at the end of which time I led a brief visualization practice. Then on the following week, when I ask them whether they noticed any change in their meditation practice and their ability to bring Buddha’s image to their mind, I got an overwhelming positive response.”
“Even though I didn’t have the opportunity of joining the class while they were doing their work,” Landaw writes, “the mere activity of looking closely at all their work left a strong impression on my mind. So when I led the closing meditation, Buddha’s face appeared before my mind’s eye much more vividly than it has in ages.”
You can watch video of Andy Weber drawing Buddha’s face online, where you can also download copies of the gridded face and the empty grid. If you’re interested in the Discovering Buddhism course and it’s not offered in your area, you can take it online at the FPMT Online Learning Center.
With 160 centers, projects, and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.