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FPMT News Around the World
Loving Kindness Peaceful Youth (LKPY), an international project of FPMT, received some much deserved recognition in a thoughtful piece on school violence written by Russell Evans and published on Shambala Sun’s blog Sunspace. Evans, a school teacher in a rural and conservative part of the United States, wanted to offer his students some tools to help them handle the stress they encounter in school. He discovered LKPY’s secular curriculum of mindfulness practices and introduced his class to LKPY’s Be Kind Day, where students brainstorm ideas about what it means to practice kindness and then engaged in those activities.
“Be Kind Day was one of the most wonderful days I ever had in the classroom. Students began laughing, others cried, and everybody left school feeling blessed,” writes Evans. “When I began this journey, I made the assumption that I could actually teach and model kindness. I now know that this is only partly true. Yes, by using the Be Kind Day curriculum and drawing on my own practice, I could make some helpful suggestions and hold the space. What really happened though is that my students already possessed abundant kindness and were just waiting for the opportunity to practice it.”
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.
News from Kopan Monastery and Its Projects. From Mandala April-June 2012.
Each issue, Mandala receives amazing photos for our FPMT News Around the World section – far more photos than we can squeeze into our print magazine. We’ve collected some of these photos into an online photo gallery for your viewing pleasure. Please enjoy this little photo journey to FPMT centers around the world.
Occasionally Osel Hita shares his thoughts and experiences on his Facebook page. In this update, he discusses the meaning of happiness.
The following, from Osel, was included in FPMT’s Annual Review, February 2011:
2011 was a great year for me. I was able to travel so much and had the opportunity to become involved in many FPMT activities.
I was thrilled to be able to meet many old friends and to make so many new friendships too.
From my home in Ibiza, Spain, I traveled to California for an FPMT Board meeting in March.
In April together with Gomo Tulku I traveled to Australia to visit Lama Zopa Rinpoche who was in the initial stages of recovering from his stroke.
In July I traveled to Kopan with Karuna Cayton. I very much wanted to visit Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup whose health was declining.
It turned out to be a great visit. Lama Zopa Rinpoche requested me to speak to the assembly of nuns at the nunnery and then to all the monks at the monastery. I was very happy with the visit and connected very well with the monks and nuns.
In August I was able to direct the filming of a documentary on Universal Wisdom Education (UWE) along with Matteo Passigato and other crew members. The filming took place at Vajrayogini Institute in France during the first international gathering of UWE which was attended by individuals and families from all over the world. The documentary is currently in the stage of “director’s final cut.”
In November I traveled with my partner Mai, and brother Kunkyen to India. We stayed in my former home Osel Labrang at Sera Monastery.
I was invited to address the Kopan monks at Sera and was able to spend time with my teacher, Geshe Genden Chomphel, and thoroughly enjoyed the visit. From Sera we traveled onto Bodhgaya to attend the Kalachakra initiation given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in January 2012.
In between my travels, I have been developing a number of business concepts I hope will contribute to FPMT’s long-term sustainability.
So many people welcomed and helped me everywhere I went and I really thank everyone especially those I didn’t get to thank personally. I am looking forward to being much more in touch with everyone who has been helping me over the years, and I am so happy to be available to help wherever I can in the future.
Big love,
Osel
Osel gave this message at the January 2012 South Asian Regiona Meeting. Pictured below is Osel with other participants of this meeting.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is such an inspiration and someday he will have private time for himself. Up until now he has dedicated all of his time to others, we have to give him space so he can rest. Given his situation now, I think it is important to be aware of that.
Things evolve slowly, slowly. We’re all trying to reach as many people as possible through different ways, not just through this organization, but other ways also. One of my jobs is to reach people who are not Buddhist, people who will never pick up a book, people who never even think of meditating, for example. As things evolve we have to also adapt to those changes which don’t have to necessarily be bad. In the long run it can be positive too, we all learn from our mistakes in the long run.
There are many different levels of helping others that FPMT is working on. Like in the collective memory each individual works for themselves, each of us has to do our own thing, whether or not we are doing it for someone else we have to do it for ourselves. We are all connected, the real guru is inside ourselves, no one can give you the truth. You have to find your own truth and that’s your guru. The same way just like when Lama Yeshe passed away and people are still attached to that image of Lama Yeshe that will never exist again, things change and we have to adapt. We have to help ourselves in the end, only we can do that, in the end it depends only on ourselves. The regional thing [the establishment of FPMT regional offices] is to come together so we can all help each other grow and make the organization last as long as possible so we can expand and do what we have to do in order to reach people so they can help themselves.
On December 8, 2011 Khenrinpoche Geshe Chonyi was officially appointed abbot of Kopan Monastery and Kopan Nunnery by the private office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Please stay tuned for the next print issue of Mandala, April-June 2012, for full coverage of this significant appointment.
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