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Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition
The FPMT is an organization devoted to 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 spreading the Dharma to sentient beings. We provide integrated education through which people’s minds and hearts can be transformed into their highest potential for the benefit of others, inspired by an attitude of universal responsibility and service. We are committed to creating harmonious environments and helping all beings develop their full potential of infinite wisdom and compassion. Our organization is based on the Buddhist tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa of Tibet as taught to us by our founders Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.
- Willkommen
Die Stiftung zur Erhaltung der Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) ist eine Organisation, die sich weltweit für die Erhaltung und Verbreitung des Mahayana-Buddhismus einsetzt, indem sie Möglichkeiten schafft, den makellosen Lehren des Buddha zuzuhören, über sie zur reflektieren und zu meditieren und auf der Grundlage dieser Erfahrung das Dharma unter den Lebewesen zu verbreiten.
Wir bieten integrierte Schulungswege an, durch denen der Geist und das Herz der Menschen in ihr höchstes Potential verwandelt werden zum Wohl der anderen – inspiriert durch eine Haltung der universellen Verantwortung und dem Wunsch zu dienen. Wir haben uns verpflichtet, harmonische Umgebungen zu schaffen und allen Wesen zu helfen, ihr volles Potenzial unendlicher Weisheit und grenzenlosen Mitgefühls zu verwirklichen.
Unsere Organisation basiert auf der buddhistischen Tradition von Lama Tsongkhapa von Tibet, so wie sie uns von unseren Gründern Lama Thubten Yeshe und Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche gelehrt wird.
- Bienvenidos
La Fundación para la preservación de la tradición Mahayana (FPMT) es una organización que se dedica a preservar y difundir el budismo Mahayana en todo el mundo, creando oportunidades para escuchar, reflexionar, meditar, practicar y actualizar las enseñanzas inconfundibles de Buda y en base a esa experiencia difundir el Dharma a los seres.
Proporcionamos una educación integrada a través de la cual las mentes y los corazones de las personas se pueden transformar en su mayor potencial para el beneficio de los demás, inspirados por una actitud de responsabilidad y servicio universales. Estamos comprometidos a crear ambientes armoniosos y ayudar a todos los seres a desarrollar todo su potencial de infinita sabiduría y compasión.
Nuestra organización se basa en la tradición budista de Lama Tsongkhapa del Tíbet como nos lo enseñaron nuestros fundadores Lama Thubten Yeshe y Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
A continuación puede ver una lista de los centros y sus páginas web en su lengua preferida.
- Bienvenue
L’organisation de la FPMT a pour vocation la préservation et la diffusion du bouddhisme du mahayana dans le monde entier. Elle offre l’opportunité d’écouter, de réfléchir, de méditer, de pratiquer et de réaliser les enseignements excellents du Bouddha, pour ensuite transmettre le Dharma à tous les êtres. Nous proposons une formation intégrée grâce à laquelle le cœur et l’esprit de chacun peuvent accomplir leur potentiel le plus élevé pour le bien d’autrui, inspirés par le sens du service et une responsabilité universelle. Nous nous engageons à créer un environnement harmonieux et à aider tous les êtres à épanouir leur potentiel illimité de compassion et de sagesse. Notre organisation s’appuie sur la tradition guéloukpa de Lama Tsongkhapa du Tibet, telle qu’elle a été enseignée par nos fondateurs Lama Thoubtèn Yéshé et Lama Zopa Rinpoché.
Visitez le site de notre Editions Mahayana pour les traductions, conseils et nouvelles du Bureau international en français.
Voici une liste de centres et de leurs sites dans votre langue préférée
- Benvenuto
L’FPMT è un organizzazione il cui scopo è preservare e diffondere il Buddhismo Mahayana nel mondo, creando occasioni di ascolto, riflessione, meditazione e pratica dei perfetti insegnamenti del Buddha, al fine di attualizzare e diffondere il Dharma fra tutti gli esseri senzienti.
Offriamo un’educazione integrata, che può trasformare la mente e i cuori delle persone nel loro massimo potenziale, per il beneficio di tutti gli esseri, ispirati da un’attitudine di responsabilità universale e di servizio.
Il nostro obiettivo è quello di creare contesti armoniosi e aiutare tutti gli esseri a sviluppare in modo completo le proprie potenzialità di infinita saggezza e compassione.
La nostra organizzazione si basa sulla tradizione buddhista di Lama Tsongkhapa del Tibet, così come ci è stata insegnata dai nostri fondatori Lama Thubten Yeshe e Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Di seguito potete trovare un elenco dei centri e dei loro siti nella lingua da voi prescelta.
- 欢迎 / 歡迎
简体中文
“护持大乘法脉基金会”( 英文简称:FPMT。全名:Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) 是一个致力于护持和弘扬大乘佛法的国际佛教组织。我们提供听闻,思维,禅修,修行和实证佛陀无误教法的机会,以便让一切众生都能够享受佛法的指引和滋润。
我们全力创造和谐融洽的环境, 为人们提供解行并重的完整佛法教育,以便启发内在的环宇悲心及责任心,并开发内心所蕴藏的巨大潜能 — 无限的智慧与悲心 — 以便利益和服务一切有情。
FPMT的创办人是图腾耶喜喇嘛和喇嘛梭巴仁波切。我们所修习的是由两位上师所教导的,西藏喀巴大师的佛法传承。
繁體中文
護持大乘法脈基金會”( 英文簡稱:FPMT。全名:Found
ation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition ) 是一個致力於護持和弘揚大乘佛法的國際佛教組織。我們提供聽聞, 思維,禪修,修行和實證佛陀無誤教法的機會,以便讓一切眾生都能 夠享受佛法的指引和滋潤。 我們全力創造和諧融洽的環境,
為人們提供解行並重的完整佛法教育,以便啟發內在的環宇悲心及責 任心,並開發內心所蘊藏的巨大潛能 — 無限的智慧與悲心 – – 以便利益和服務一切有情。 FPMT的創辦人是圖騰耶喜喇嘛和喇嘛梭巴仁波切。
我們所修習的是由兩位上師所教導的,西藏喀巴大師的佛法傳承。 察看道场信息:
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When Lord Buddha spoke about suffering, he wasn’t referring simply to superficial problems like illness and injury, but to the fact that the dissatisfied nature of the mind itself is suffering.
Lama Thubten Yeshe
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The Foundation Store is FPMT’s online shop and features a vast selection of Buddhist study and practice materials written or recommended by our lineage gurus. These items include homestudy programs, prayers and practices in PDF or eBook format, materials for children, and other resources to support practitioners.
Items displayed in the shop are made available for Dharma practice and educational purposes, and never for the purpose of profiting from their sale. Please read FPMT Foundation Store Policy Regarding Dharma Items for more information.
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A Lama Comes of Age
September-October 2000
Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche was born to Spanish parents in 1984, eleven months after the death of the founder of the FPMT, Lama Thubten Yeshe, of whom he is the reincarnation. Since he was 7, Lama Osel, as he is affectionately known, has been studying at Sera Je Monastery in south India. Julia Hengst talked to Lama Osel for Mandala.
In November, Lama Osel will give his first inititiation of this life, a highly auspicious event, as Ven. Marcel Bertels points out, “as our kind Lama is re-starting his teaching career. Lama Osel has come of age and is manifesting his great compassion by granting the sublime Dharma.”
What is important to express to young people about the Dharma?
The most important thing is to give them advice. Here in the Tibetan culture, small monks who have a teacher end up being very nice, but those who don’t have any teachers often end up being very naughty. I think advice is the most important thing.
At the beginning you just try to explain to them as best as you can. You cannot just be a machine; actually try to explain the best way you think they will understand. It’s very personal.
In the West we’re really independent and don’t want to listen to advice.
I’m not very experienced with teenagers in the West, but I’m not sure they respect teachers very much. I know that here the teacher is the most important thing for most of them, and they do whatever they tell them to do.
What if your teachers are doing negative things themselves?
Here there are teachers who have problems also, but the students imagine that the teachers are Buddhas, so they don’t find so many problems. Whatever the teacher does is something they are doing for all sentient beings. I think this kind of attitude [of seeing the teacher as Buddha] would be difficult in the West.
I’ve heard one story about the Buddha in one of his past lives. He was the captain of a ship and learned that one of the crew members planned to kill everyone on the ship. When he learned this, the only way he could prevent the deaths of so many people was to kill that man. We think that the Buddha was bad for killing him, but he actually did it for everyone else. It also stopped the killer from having to experience the heavy negative karma for having killed so many people.
Can the Dharma be altered to suit the minds of young people?
You cannot force them to come; it’s their choice. We only have to make it as nice as possible.
A lot of people in the West use drugs. Some of the drugs make you feel your heart is opening and you can feel more relaxed. What’s wrong with that?
It’s harmful to your body, isn’t it? And then you become addicted and you have to use a lot of money, and then you start to steal to get the money. I know one drug addict inSpainwho used to be a millionaire. He’s been taking drugs for 20 years, and now he doesn’t have much money. He’s trying to stop now, but it’s very difficult for him. Aren’t drugs illegal?
It is, but some are so easy to get.
The police don’t do anything?
Sometimes, but they go more for big drug busts. You can do it from a young age, too. I started some drugs when I was 14, and I know others who’ve experimented by the time they’re 11.
Didn’t you get addicted?
A little. I was addicted to cigarettes.
If life is very difficult in our minds, how can we counteract low self-esteem?
Just think about it. I’ve never had that experience; I don’t know what it’s like. Here everyone is happy, always laughing. In the West there are so many things, so many problems. Take for example hair. Everyone has this problem about their hair: Oh, my hair looks like this, I wish I had this type of hair. Or even their clothes; some people say, “I don’t know what clothes to put on, I need new clothes.” Here there are no problems with hair, no problems with clothes. It’s the same with bullies at school – they’re worse in the West.
In the West they have guns.
Yes, I heard about those boys shooting people in the schools. So many children killing each other. It mostly comes from the movies.
Do the movies cause that to happen?
Yes, yes, definitely. It leaves an impression in your mind. I’ve experienced that. Sometimes I see some movies about guns, and once when I saw a plastic gun I really thought it was very nice, very cool.
On some televisions there is a device that allows parents to control what their children watch. Is that good?
Yes, it’s good, but maybe the children will start to hate their parents if they do that. Here in Tibetan society the kids respect their fathers and mothers like God or something. It’s not like that in the West, where they always shout back at their fathers. Tibetans never talk back to their mothers and fathers; it’s like something impossible.
Is the freedom we have in the West to express ourselves good in any way?
If all the children are like that, then if one child tries to be respectful it won’t work. He will just become like the other children. If all of them are good from when the kids are small and the parents don’t do bad things in front of their children, then the children will think, “My father is very good. He never does anything bad.” The father and mother shouldn’t always let the children do anything they want. From a young age they should start giving them advice. Whatever you tell small children they will believe it. I think it’s mostly in the schools where they learn all these bad habits.
Is it helpful for young people to be good examples for each other?
Yes, that’s good. The younger kids always do what the older kids are doing. If the older boys smoke then the younger boys will smoke. If the kids do something good the young ones will do the same. The older ones should try to do good things.
It’s also very important for the parents not to show their negative sides to the children because the children will say, “My father is so bad. He smokes all the time, he gets drunk.”
What if someone’s father smokes cigarettes, for example? They should hide it from the children?
Yes, that’s good. Even if you cannot do it you should try to teach other people not to do it. The father would know that smoking is not good; he would have the experience that it’s not good. He should teach the children not to smoke.
If he smoked in front of the children then the kids could say, “Well, he’s smoking, why can’t I smoke?”
How can we know it’s possible to change our thoughts?
I think in the beginning you don’t try to teach people to change the thoughts. They might think this is all very stupid. You need to go slowly, slowly. You give them examples. You can say, “I’ve had depression before and it was like this, and you can do this.” It’s good for young people to share what they’re experiencing and other young people can give their advice from their own experience.
What is a good way to balance being young and wanting to experience life with the discipline of Dharma practice?
I think it’s good for Westerners to have experience about how everything is. Then afterwards they can see what is best.
For example, most of the older practitioners and monks from the West have experienced everything and they’ve come to the conclusion that it’s useless. That’s when they turn to Buddhism. I think that’s the best way to understand.
We often hear that we need to give up attachments, give up this life, renounce the world.
When they become older, they’ll know. Like Max, the Australian monk – do you know him? He was from a really rich family and his father was a butcher. He had everything he wanted. His father was very, very fat and ate a lot. I think his father got cancer and couldn’t eat regularly for a year after that.
Max had already experienced everything, including fighting in the Six-day War in Israel. That’s how he got a little deaf; someone shot a gun right next to him. Anyway, when his father was dying he was there. His father was crying, “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die,” and he died just like that. Max decided, “I don’t want to live like this. This is so stupid.” Live, live, live, eat, eat, eat, and then die like this.
He inherited his father’s business and sold it, and continued his search for something. He finally found Lama Yeshe. He offered all the money to Lama Yeshe but Lama Yeshe said, “No, no,” he didn’t want it. He became a monk after experiencing all of this. His father showed him a very good example.
Experience is one of the best ways to learn. Wisdom grows over time. Every moment you learn something new; and older people are wiser than young people.
It’s like small children; they put their finger in a candle and burn it, or they put something in their mouth, or they drop the cup and see that it breaks. They’re learning new things. Eventually you can tell whether you are making bad decisions or good decisions.
One of the most important things about respecting the father and mother is to know that whatever they’re telling you to do is for your own good, not for them. If they tell you not to do something it’s for you, not for them.
What if we think it’s against us? If we want to do something and they say no?
Then you have to think about it. If they tell you not to go out after 9, then you need to think, “Why did they say that? Maybe they think it’s dangerous for me.” You need to think about it. If you think they’re just saying it, you’ll get angry. Usually they do it to help you.
What if a young person studies Dharma but the parents don’t?
I’ve heard that before many times. Like the son wants to become a monk or wants to study Buddhism but the parents are Christian and they don’t want him to. A good thing to do is explain to them about Dharma, otherwise wait until you’re older and then you can do this.
But when you’re younger you should listen to your parents. Tibetans say until you’re 20 years old you don’t know how to think. The children here are disciplined until they’re 15, and once they’re 20 they say you know how to think.
You need to think for yourself whether it’s good or bad. It may be better to hide that you’re Buddhist.
There are a lot of problems in the West, aren’t there?
In a way it’s completely wild. I’m lucky where I grew up; people were generally good. If you go into the inner cities of New York or Los Angeles, though, that’s where kids carry around guns and shoot each other. They have to set up metal detectors at middle schools to prevent the kids from bringing in guns.
There was an article in Manadla about this Mexican gangster Arturo; he had a really strong life.
Even though he knew a lot of people he said he felt very lonely and isolated. Do you think it’s good for young people to express their emotions, to share how they’re feeling about these difficult situations?
Yes, it’s good, but with someone they know. If they just tell it to anyone, that person may tell someone else and the person will feel very angry. It’s also good to tell the father and mother.
For a lot of young people it’s like a war against the parents. I always rebelled against what my parents told me to do, and I thought they were preventing me from being happy.
The father and mother may have favorites. That’s not good. They always behave nicely with one kid but the other is always considered bad. We always ask my father who his favorite son is and he says, “All of you.” Or sometimes he says, “You are all equally problematic.”
If we have friends who are doing negative things – lying, stealing, drinking and doing drugs – is it good to still be friends with them?
Yes, yes. The main thing is to give them advice. If you’re friends but then all of a sudden you don’t talk to them, they’ll be very sad. The best thing is to give them advice, but not like telling them what to do. It’s difficult, though, because I have no experience with it.
Lama, are you interested to go back to the West again?
Right now I feel much more drawn to my studies, so when I go outside my studies might get cut. If there’s a text that has a hundred pages and we’ve studied 20 pages, then let’s say I go to America for 10 days, and each day they study two pages, then I’ll be 20 pages behind.
In the future the studies don’t wait for you. But people in the West don’t listen; they don’t pay attention in class, do they?
Not like here; maybe in college they listen more.
Here the disciples have so much respect for the teacher. You cannot imagine how much respect they have. They never space out; they think about how there are so many people who don’t have food, who cannot study this. They feel they must listen and use this incredible opportunity. Some really bad students may not, but the majority listen. Here in Sera they say studying is not for your teacher, it’s for yourself. The teacher is not doing it for himself.
So you think Western education is important?
Yes. It’s important if you are going to live in the West all your life and you want to find work there. In the future when I teach I also need to know about the Western subjects, such as math and science. The ones I like less are physics and biology. I’m pretty good at chemistry. Mathematics I’m pretty good at. When I think about mathematics I don’t like it, but when I sit down to do it, and someone tells me about it, once my mind goes inside, I really enjoy it. When I’m thinking about something else, I don’t. And physics is so difficult to understand! All these forces! I try to understand but I can’t. My mind spaces out because I don’t understand. It’s important for the geshes to know about the Western traditions, though.
I like Western psychology very much, the study of the mind. It’s very similar to the Tibetan philosophy of the mind. I really like the way psychologists talk. In Spain I went to a psychologist one time. The way she walked, she really tried to go deep. She also gave me some paper and told me to draw anything I want. I found that very interesting. They always tell you to draw something to see what you have in your mind. When I become older I think I would like to study some psychology.
Can you use tools like drawing to learn something about the mind?
Definitely. When people are really angry and you tell them to draw something it comes out kind of [Lama enacted drawing in an aggressive way], and when they’re very happy they try to draw something very happy.
Also your dreams: Like when people dream they usually dream about something they feel, or something they’ve experienced, something they want to happen. Once I had one dream in which I was swimming in a river and suddenly I got to somewhere it was very deep. I was drowning and suddenly I saw my dog Om Mani on the beach (she died already), and then I was on the land. I woke up after that.
The next day was Tuesday, which is the holiday around here. All of the monks went to the river here and we were all swimming. I was also swimming and it happened exactly like in the dream. I got to a deep point and I couldn’t swim anymore. My dog, she’s very clever, saw I was drowning and jumped in to help me and I caught her tail. Then I think it made her drown a little, too, but we swam to the shore. It was exactly the same as the dream. I heard of people before having a dream and the same thing happening. Now it’s not allowed anymore to go to the river. A lot of people have died.
When a geshe here, Gen Pema, passed away, he stayed in clear light meditation for 14 days after he died. He’s incredible. When an ex-abbot died, he stayed six days. I think the ex-abbot was lying down, but his body didn’t smell. But Gen Pema was in a meditation position for 14 days with no smell.
When we talk about reincarnation in the West, a lot of people ask “Why do I have to suffer in this life for mistakes somebody in some other life made?” How would you answer that?
If you do something bad it comes back to you, right? One good example is if someone hits you, you feel angry and want to hit them back, right? Like that, in the same way, it will happen to you in the next life.
But, for example, my brother feels like he shouldn’t be punished for something someone else did. He doesn’t feel a connection with any past life so why should he have to suffer from it?
I see. One good way is when you suffer you can feel compassion for other people who are suffering. You can feel compassion for other people who are creating bad karma. That’s one of the best ways.
But also if people don’t believe in reincarnation it’s good to give them some examples. There are stories of people who remember things from their past lives. The story of His Holiness is a good one; or other people. Lama Zopa’s story is also good.
There’s one story I read in this book of Sogyal Rinpoche’s called The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. There was an English guy who, from when he was small, had visions of some place. When he became older he had more visions of it, and finally he saw a photo of the exact same place. The place was in Egypt or Libya, and it looked very similar. He said he had been there in a past life. Eventually they took him there and he knew all the places.
There was one building and they didn’t know what it was for, and he said, “Oh yes, this building was the temple, and this is where they killed people,” and he could explain what they were. He said he was a soldier there about 200 years ago. He could remember everything.
At one location he said there used to be a building that was a soldiers’ barracks. He was traveling with some archaeologists who dug up the spot he pointed out, and they actually found the remains of barracks. It would be impossible for him to know it was there, so it must be from reincarnation.
I read in another book about an Indian boy who was born and said he was the reincarnation of S. Krishna, who was the owner of some school. He insisted on going there and his father took him, and he recognized the school. When he went to the manager’s office he was surprised. He said, “I don’t know who this guy is. I appointed someone else before I died.”
It was actually true. S. Krishna had appointed someone else before he died but he didn’t work out so they kicked him out. He asked, “Where is the poster that had my name?” It turns out the poster was there before he died and they had it taken down. He went to S. Krishna’s family and he recognized the family: his sister, his sister’s husband, and his former wife. He asked where several personal belongings were that he had before, and he even recognized his own photo. In a group picture he said, “That one was me.” Everyone was amazed.
This was not some high teacher; he’s just some normal person who remembered his past life. You don’t have to be some realized being to remember your past life. There are also children who know how to play the piano very well even if they haven’t learned.
And also when you see someone’s photo and you feel something very special about that person: that’s a past life connection. It’s the same with times in history. When I was younger my favorite time in history was Alexander the Great and the Greeks; I really liked that time in history. I also liked the French and English fighting all the time. I studied World War II and really enjoyed that. My favorite times in history are always wars!
Some people think animals don’t really suffer that much.
Of course they suffer. If you cut yourself a little bit like this, it hurts a lot. Just imagine the animals who get killed. It’s the same, you just don’t feel what they’re going through. They are all sentient beings, same as us.
People who like to ride horses say horses are very strong, they don’t mind.
I’m sure it hurts when you pull the reins and it catches in the mouth. I’m sure it hurts. It’s amazing! To put something in their mouth and then pull on it. Probably when people go on the horses the animals are used to it, so it’s not as difficult. But for most animals it’s really difficult for them.
Like in India the oxen, the bullocks; they make a hole through their nose and put a ring through it. It pinches them. They also get whipped. Some of the oxen you can see really bad wounds from whips. They put a huge bar on their necks and have to carry such heavy loads.
An old friend told me when he was in the army some soldiers used to put their cigarettes through the ears of an ox, and the ox would go completely crazy. The older soldiers would pull on the reins to keep them there, and everyone would laugh. The oxen suffer so much in the army. The soldiers do really bad things with them. And in Spain a long time ago, they used the oxen to pull the artillery.
Since you were talking about emptiness and how difficult that is to attain, how should we think about enlightenment?
Enlightenment is very difficult to attain. It’s not something you can do in one life. It takes many lives to get enlightened. You should think, “I got this life, this really incredible human rebirth, and I’ve got to take advantage as best I can.” Don’t think, “Oh, I’ve got my whole life,” and not do anything. You have to do that.
What if someone’s life is very difficult – someone has died, they don’t have any money – and they hear this is a precious human life, but they don’t believe it. What can they do in that situation?
You can give them an example of many other sentient beings who are suffering much more, like ants or animals. Or people who go to war and their whole family dies. So many other people suffer, so it’s not as if their own suffering is the worst.
If you haven’t experienced emptiness, is it still good to discuss?
Most of the people here haven’t experienced emptiness. It’s still good to know about it and to debate. I don’t even know what emptiness is about. I only know the word emptiness. I don’t know anything about it yet.
My attendant is in the second highest class and we talked about it, and he said emptiness is so difficult to understand, like almost impossible. It’s really, really difficult.
Should we feel discouraged that it’s so difficult?
For me, I don’t feel discouraged. Whatever class I’m in, I just understand and focus on that. One day I’ll get to the class on emptiness and I’ll understand it. Maybe I’ll be discouraged then, but now I’m just focusing on what I’m on!
It’s important to study emptiness, but it’s like here we have kindergarten. I haven’t even started kindergarten yet! I start at the end of April. It’s like kindergarten; it’s the lowest class. That’s when you start debate. You start with the most simple things.
At the beginning when you start about the colors, then the first thing is talking about the main colors. There are blue, yellow, white and red. You say these are the four main colors. Then the first debate is you learn is this: Are all colors yellow?
You have to say no. All colors are not yellow. Red is not yellow. That’s how your first start. After that you start going into permanence and impermanence, then you go into cause and result, then more complicated things.
If you start out with colors, it’s interesting that later, when you study emptiness, one way you view emptiness is by analyzing how everything is just colors and shapes. It seems like these preliminary studies lead up to the more profound in sights.
Yes, that’s right. It’s like you learn the first words like “Momma, Poppa,” and slowly you say, “I want food, I’m hungry,” things like that. It goes slowly, and the vocabulary becomes more advanced. It’s the same with Buddhism. They say more simple things first and then it becomes more complicated.
Now I’ve started thinking about something really complicated, something I don’t understand very well. But the more I debate about it, the more I understand. The more I think about it, the more I understand.
Debate helps you understand how to think?
Yes, yes. Debate is very, very important because if you have some doubt you can debate about it and the doubt goes away. Let’s say you have a doubt that all colors are yellow, so in debate you can say, “All colors are yellow,” and everyone says, all colors are not yellow because red is not yellow. That doubt goes away. So it’s like this.
The monks that study well like debate. The ones that don’t like to study or don’t study at all don’t want to debate because they can’t understand anything and they don’t enjoy it. If you understand well, study well and read the texts all the time, you really have an eager mind. Then you learn and you go to debate and enjoy it.
When there is no debate, many monks feel bored and unhappy. Once they’re studying they’re happy. Some boys really like mathematics and are good at it, but others don’t understand it, so they don’t like it.
The most important thing is to read what you’re studying many times. If you read it one time and don’t understand it, then it’s no good. At the beginning I would read a text and if I didn’t get it I’d leave it. But if you read it once, read it again — read it 10 or 15 times and you’ll start to understand it. It’s also very important that good teachers explain it. If you don’t have teachers to explain it it’s very difficult to understand.
If you met someone who’d never heard of enlightenment and they asked you what it is, what would you say?
You can ask Lama Zopa. I haven’t studied that very much.
From your understanding?
Attaining buddhahood is attaining buddhahood!
Well, let’s say right now if I look at the tape recorder, I can see it very clearly. But when I close my eyes and think with my mind, I cannot see it as easily as when I looked with my eyes. With my open eyes I can see the writing and details, but when I close my eyes and think with my mind I can just see a form but I cannot see it as clearly.
What makes me not see it clearly are obscurations. But when you attain buddhahood then the obscurations go away, and whatever you think of, it’s like seeing it as clearly as with your eyes open. You know everything.
What if some Westerner hears that and says [that] to say you can know everything sounds like a big ego trip?
First it’s good to practice simple things, not complicated things. Just talk about simple things like kindness and compassion.
What advantages can you see of living in the West?
I don’t see any advantages of living in the West.
None?
Maybe watching TV?! Sorry!
Even all the freedom we have?
One day we will die; what will you get? Playing, watching TV – we think we’re happy but when we die we won’t get anything from it. You just study, then you work, you work to get money. Problems, problems, problems, money, money, money; having a nice time, getting old and dying, then finished. I feel fortunate that I’ve discovered Buddhism and I have such a good opportunity to practice instead of having a life of study, work, die, finished.
It sounds depressing like that.
Yes. I like watching TV a lot but it’s not allowed here. Sometimes when I go to a city and stay in a hotel, then I get to watch it. At that time I feel TV is something incredible. Whatever is on the TV, even if it’s an advertisement, I like it.
Can you learn anything from watching TV?
Maybe something educational, like National Geographic or Discovery Channel. Movies, though: it’s all just lies. It’s not real. All the shooting – like if there’s 15 guys shooting one guy and they all miss him, then he shoots them all. You don’t get anything by watching that, but still you like to watch it.
With all of the advantages, money and facilities we have in the West, there are no real meaningful advantages with this?
No. Maybe in this life you think you’re happy, but you cannot take money with you when you die. You’re born alone and you have to go alone. There’s no one to go with you when you die.
The teachings say, “Give up attachment to this life in your mind,” but how do you explain that to someone who doesn’t believe in a next life?
The best thing is to say that you can’t take anything with you when you die. You die alone. Like the Egyptian leaders: they put many things in their tombs to take with them when they die.
So what if someone says, “Well, no problem then. My life is short so I’m going to enjoy what I can while I’m here.”
Many people say life is short, they have to take advantage of it. But when you’re older and you start to think about death, then you’ll change your mind.
When you’re young you don’t want to think about death.
They think death is far away but it can happen any second. Like right now I can die. I can have a heart attack and die. Or maybe I can die tomorrow. It can happen anytime.
We’re been having some dance parties for young people at Land of Medicine Buddha in California. I asked Lama Zopa Rinpoche if we should continue having them. You see, when they come, they also turn the prayer wheel and see holy images. Rinpoche said, “Yes, definitely. It must be enjoyable or they won’t come back.” Do you think that mixture of Dharma and entertainment is good?
Yes, it’s important. Let’s say some boy really wants to dance, and he goes and everyone is sitting there meditating. He would say, “This is really pathetic.” He might get up and go.
But if he goes and everyone is there dancing, and he dances too, and suddenly everyone sits to meditate for a while, then maybe he’ll look around and everyone else is doing it, so he gets interested. Here in Sera, though, it’s not like that!
Do you feel more like a Tibetan, or Spanish?
When I am with Tibetans I feel more Tibetan. His Holiness says, “When you are with Tibetans you have to act Tibetan. When you are with Westerners you have to act more Western.”
For example, with Westerners, when you eat you can’t slurp, but here it’s normal to make loud slurping noises when you eat. And in the Western tradition if you ask people if they want more food, they say directly, “Yes.” But in Tibetan traditions when they ask if you want more you have to say, “No, no.” And then they say, “Yes, have more;” and you say, “No, no, no” – and then they put more food on your plate anyway! There was one geshe who went to America. He was having lunch on his first day there. The food was delicious; he really, really liked it. He ate everything very quickly, and someone came and asked him if he wanted more. Of course, following Tibetan tradition, he said, “No” – and the person went away. He was very surprised!
Do you think it’s necessary for Tibetan teachers to live in the West for them to really understand it?
Yes, yes, definitely; experience is important. Like Lama Yeshe. When he was in the West he tried all types of Western things just to know what it was, what the Western mind was. So then he would teach like that, you know?
Have you read any of Lama Yeshe’s books?
Not many. Sometimes when I am reading them I get bored. It’s so complicated.
Do you think it’s strange to be a reincarnation of a lama?
Not for me because from since I was young I have been known as a reincarnation; it’s something completely normal for me.
Does it feel natural to have the responsibility where people will already be devoted to you since you are a reincarnated lama?
It feels like I have to study well. I have to study well so that I can help people. If I don’t study well and am just spacing out then I feel bad.
Are you confident?
I am not confident; I am just hoping.
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- FPMT’s First Holy Object Project
- Holy Objects Are Rare in Prison
- Notable FPMT Holy Objects from Around the World
- The Maitreya Project: Big Love, Universal Love
- Types of Holy Objects
- Why Holy Objects Are Precious and Wish-fulfilling
- Editor’s Thanks
- Nothing to Trust in Appearances
- Who is Maitreya Buddha?
- Story of the Bouddhanath Stupa
- Sacred Sites Around the World
- Holy Objects Resource Guide
- David Zinn’s FPMT Photo Montage
- FPMT News Around the World
- Animal Liberation in Mexico
- Wrestling a Whale with Bodhichitta
- Shamatha in the Indian Buddhist Tradition
- It Really is all About Me (and My Ego)
- Obituaries
- Write for Your Lives
- Power to Hope, Power to Heal
- Editors Choice
- July
- Dying is Better than This Flower
- Like Nectar on Flowers: The Selfless Service of FPMT-Registered Teachers (Geshe Section)
- Like Nectar on Flowers: The Selfless Service of FPMT-Registered Teachers (History Section)
- The Ever-Changing Forms of Buddhism
- An Interview with Khensur Jampa Tegchok
- Meeting Ven. Amy Miller
- FPMT News Around the World
- Still Cooking
- The ‘Roo from Black Saturday
- MAITRI – Where Every Individual Matters
- Welcome to Root Institute!
- Tara Children’s Project
- Editor’s Choice
- FPMT TEACHER TRIVIA ANSWER KEY
- October
- January
- Mandala for 2009
- January
- April
- July
- “The Sink”
- CPMT 2009 Representatives Meet for Six Days at Institut Vajra Yogini, France
- Don’t Just Sit There … Circumambulate!
- FPMT News Around the World
- Geshe Potowa of the 21st Century
- Inner Peace and Happiness during Three-Year Retreat
- No Desire but Plenty of Bliss and Void
- The Passing of the Holy Master Venerable Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen: Sadness, Joy, Inspiration and Blessings.
- October
- A Taste of Liberation
- Building Community: Priorities for FPMT Sangha
- Center History Amendments
- Commentary on the Epithets of the Buddha
- FEATURED MEDIA: Editor’s Choice
- FPMT News Around the World
- Integrating Lam-Rim into Daily Life
- Liberating Horses on Saka Dawa
- Spoggy the Sparrow: A Real Dharma Bird
- The Dharma School Comes Home
- Training for Community Life: An Interview with Sister Jotika
- Uncounted Cost of Samaya
- Mandala for 2008
- February
- Advice from Lama Zopa: A Thousand Benefits
- Aspiration
- Begin Again
- Everything’s Local in the Global Community
- Further Explorations
- Giving Negativity a Body Blow
- Langri Tangpa’s Eight Verses for Training the Mind
- Life in a plaster cast
- Maitreya Project Heart Shrine Relic Tour
- Maitreya Project: Setting the Record Straight
- Making Merit
- Mind Training, The Tibetan Tradition of Mental and Emotional Cultivation: Part II
- Monsoon Meditation
- Society or the Individual
- Tantra Comes from Buddha
- Thanksgiving Report from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- The Tenth Course
- The Works of Geshe Jampa Gyatso at Pomaia
- April
- A Letter from a Student to Lama Zopa
- A Truthful Heart
- A Year in the Life of FPMT
- Art as Dharma
- Berni Kohnen
- Dealing with Feelings
- Emergency Buddhism: Part II
- Essential Life Practices
- Flexible Retreats: How to Retreat from our own Delusions
- Graduation Time!
- Henry Lau
- Lama the Businessman
- Manis by the Millions
- On the Environment and Meditation
- Ready, Set, Go!
- Shifting the Attitude: Embracing Community
- The Evolution of the Virtual Thangka
- The Importance of Lam-rim and the War Against Delusions
- The Tara Institute Healing Meditation Program
- What Is a Root Guru?
- June
- A Nation in the Spotlight
- An Appeal to the World from His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- Beatrice Ribush: Special Tribute from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Choden Rinpoche Touches Hearts of Prisoners, Officers and Staff in Australia
- Compassion for a Killer
- Conversation without End
- Establishing a Firm Foundation: International Mahayana Institute (IMI)
- Lama Yeshe’s American College “Experewence”
- Leading Chinese Intellectuals Speak Out
- Letter from the Publisher
- Life at Sera Je
- Maitri’s Microcosm
- Obituaries
- Prayers from Kopan
- Robert Thurman on the Situation Inside Tibet
- Summer Days at a Kids’ Camp
- Support His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibet
- The Caves of Maratika
- The Dharamsala Experience
- The Perfect Altar
- Where Waves and Water Are One
- Who Am I, Really?
- Why We Love War
- Yangsi Rinpoche on the Need for a Plan
- An Interview with Ven. Professor Samdhong Rinpoche
- August
- 2008 International Sangha Prayers for World Peace
- A Blessing for Marine Life
- About Prayer: A Retreat
- Accentuating the Positive
- And My First Question Is …
- Becoming Maitreya
- Cleaning the Whole Mirror
- FPMT Puja Fund
- Geshe Lobsang Jamyang Reborn
- Long Life Puja for the Dalai Lama: A Student’s Experience
- Mexican Dharma Celebration
- Mouse in the House!
- New Abbot at Nalanda Monasteiy
- Obituaries
- On the Importance of Meditation
- Ordination: Caught Between Two Cultures
- Powerful Ceremonies
- Pujas by the People
- The Abbot: When East Meets West
- The Benefits of Namgyälma Mantra
- The Dharma of Politics: Adventures in Interdependence
- The Monks at Nalanda Monastery in France
- October
- ‘Why Does the Buddha Wear Lipstick?’
- 16 Guidelines for Happy Families
- A Great Adventure for Teens
- A Volunteer’s Experience in Bodhgaya
- Buddha’s Café
- California Mud
- Camp for Teens
- Compassion through Art
- Dharma in My Life
- Dog-tired at a Nyung-nä
- First Encounters
- Glorious Italian Days and Nights
- I’m Really Not There
- It’s Cool to Be Kind
- Kadampa Center’s New Building is Consecrated
- My Root Guru: Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment
- Obituaries
- Peace Begins with You and Me: LKPY Turns One
- Rare and Important Manuscripts Found in Tibet
- Reaching Out to the Young
- Relying on the Guru
- Sitting at School: The Case for Contemplative Education
- The Last Hurrah
- The Reasons for Studying the Four Noble Truths
- Three Turnings of the Wheel of the Dharma
- To Be Truly Free
- Wheel-Turning Day World-Wide Recitation of the King of Glorious Sutras Sublime Golden Light
- Winning Gold
- February
- Mandala for 2007
- February
- A Dharma King Takes Shape: The origins of Buddhist Art
- Contemptible Dreams, Remarkable Rinpoches
- Fur and Feathers and Other Sentient Beings
- How Khedrup Je Became Entrusted with the Tooth-relic
- Lama, the ad-man
- Liberation for our Brother and Sister Animals
- Loving Kindness Photo Contest: First Winner
- More River than Rinpoche
- The case for not eating our friends
- When Tibetans Found Their Voice: Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy from 1200-1600
- April
- “Ask a Lama” Revisited
- 12 Ways to Create Good Karma
- A Last Letter from Lama Yeshe
- A Remarkable Feat by Extraordinary Men: The Western Geshe in Two Acts
- A Room Full of Role Models: The Geshe Conference in Sarnath
- A Young Monk Runs Away: The Humble Beginnings of a Legendary Geshe
- Be Careful What You Wish For …
- Building the Land of Kalachakra
- Ideas to Make Life Better
- Lama the Environmentalist and Art Teacher
- Loving Kindness Photo Contest: Second Winner
- Masters in Our Midst
- Mystic Tibet: An Outer, Inner and Secret Pilgrimage
- Other Titles in Tibetan Buddhism
- Radical Solutions for Transforming Problems into Happiness.
- The Four Subscripts, Continued
- The Master from the New Generation – Geshe Thubten Sherab
- The Rise of the Geshe-ma
- To help oneself – or others? That is the question
- Transforming Desire into Wisdom with Vajrayogini
- Vajrayogini Retreat Explained
- What Does a Geshe Do for a Center?
- What is a Geshe?
- June
- ‘Anyone Can Be a Buddha’
- A Breath of Fresh Air
- A Clear and Knowing Mind
- A Stone Made of Heart
- About Doubt
- Architecture of the Mind
- Clarifying the Status of the “Geshema” Degree
- Garden of Enlightenment
- How to Establish a Daily Meditation Routine
- In Another Person’s Shoes
- Lama Learns to Drive
- Loving Kindness Peaceful Youth: The Beginning
- Loving Kindness Photo Contest: Third Winner
- Molting
- Motherhood as a Path to Realization
- Obituaries
- Subscripts Concluded and Word Order
- The Dharamsala Experience
- The Real Chöd Practice
- The Value of Study
- Vegetarianism: A Healthy Debate
- Venture into the Interior
- Young Tulkus Give Contemporary Advice
- August
- What Exactly Is Merit?
- A Journalist Undone
- A Venture in Real Estate
- An Introduction to Tibetan Prefixes
- Buddhist Monastics Get Together
- Developing Wisdom
- Economics and the Dharma: Coming to Realize That All Profit Is Loss
- Green Tara Rising
- How to Be a Happy Meditator
- Integrating Ngondro into your Daily Meditation
- Kurukulla: A Work in Progress
- Loving Kindness Peaceful Youth
- Obituaries
- Please Recite the Golden Light Sutra for World Peace
- The Baby Minder’s Preliminary and Purification Practice
- The Benefits of Wearing Robes
- The Compassion and Wisdom Knowledge Base
- The Foundation of All Good Qualities
- The Soothing of Madness and Sorrow
- The Way to Meditate: The Importance of Mindfulness
- Tibetan Cooking
- October
- A Water Bowl Marathon
- About Connecting with a Teacher
- Achieving Inner Happiness Through Meditation
- Bhutan’s Velvet Revolution in Reverse
- Dalai Lama Urges Introduction of Bhikshuni Vows into Tibetan Tradition
- Eight Hundred Words on Education
- Getting to Know the Four Schools of Tibetan Buddhism
- Heart Advice of Achos Rinpoche
- Heart to Heart
- How to Garden Without Killing
- How to Let Go
- In Praise of Silence
- Kim’s Lama: Spiritual Quest in Kipling’s Novel
- Lama Yeshe and the Sand Tray
- Nepal Sanctuary for Animals Underway
- Obituaries
- Suffixes and Finding the Root Letter of a Syllable
- Teaching the Language of an Ancient Culture in a Modern World
- The Importance of Human Affection and Love
- The Iron-Bridge Man
- What is Anger?
- Will All the Volunteers Please Stand Up?
- December
- Dalai Lama receives highest honor from the US
- Disappointment and Delight: The eight worldly concerns
- Each Faith Enhances the Other
- Lo-jong Mind training, the Tibetan tradition of mental and emotional cultivation: Part I
- Making friends with money
- Meanings and Meditation
- Nurturing baby bodhisattvas to stop the rot
- Our Relationship to Resources
- Recognizing and supporting the Sangha community
- Thank You and Rejoice!
- February
- Mandala for 2006
- February
- Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Getting to the Cushion: Temporary Ordination at Gampo Abbey
- Keeping It in the Family
- Kindle Now the Dharma’s Light
- Letting Go of Fear and Trembling Takes Courage
- Maitreya Project on track
- Monsters (Un)incorporated
- Obituaries
- On a Wing and a Prayer
- The Dream: One Thousand Maitreya Statues
- Universal Compassion and Wisdom for Peace
- April
- June
- August
- Altruism versus Co-dependency
- Buddhism in Latin America
- Following the Eightfold Path in the exercise yard
- Found in translation: A compassionate heart
- Journey to Sikkim
- Letter from Bodhgaya: Monastic Economics
- Milarepa: The Movie
- MILAREPA: TIBET’S GREAT MYSTIC
- SERVICE BY ANOTHER NAME …
- Stepping into the Abyss: Experiences on Retreat
- October
- Ask a Lama: Celebrating all the traditions
- Confessions of a Buddhist Environmental Activist
- Dealing with Grief
- Eco-Ethics: Engaging in the Practice of Compassion
- ENGAGED REALISM
- How Prayer Can Help: Reciting the Sutra of Golden Light
- Letter from Bodhgaya: Arboreal antidote to an inconvenient truth
- Peace promoter honored
- Reducing your Ecological Footprint
- The Giving Tree: A voice for the singing river
- THE PRACTICE OF GURU PADMASAMBHAVA THAT SAVES FROM EARTH DANGER
- Vipassana: The Mindfulness-Awareness Meditation
- What Does Al Gore Know that Everyone Should Know?
- Whirlwind Down Under: Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Australia and New Zealand
- Blessing the World’s Waterways
- December
- A Summer in Kenya
- An intensive meditation experience for teenagers Five-day retreat at Land of Medicine Buddha, California, December 27 to January 1
- Building a monastery
- Calling all young photographers. Win prizes!
- Materialism of the Gaps
- Mongolia: Dalai Lama urges shared responsibility
- Of Siberian Cranes and Broken Worlds
- Preliminary Practices by the Zillion
- The Spirit of Christmas: SILENT MIND, HOLY MIND
- Using Meditation to Gain Knowledge of Mental Reality
- Where Are All the Western Geshes?
- February
- Mandala for 2005
- February
- “Universal Education” Dharma for the 21st Century
- According to Je Tsongkhapa
- FPMT Masters Program: The Graduates
- Letter from Bodhgaya: Travels with my father
- Life as a Monk
- New FPMT College Planned
- Rock climbing without arms:
- Study Versus Meditation: Do they complement or compete with your practice?
- Tibetan art unfurled
- Tushita: The Place of Joy
- April
- Buddhism in the Family: Dealing with the “Terrible Twos”
- Letter from Bodhgaya How wonderful it would be if…
- Nam-tok: The hallucinatory bubble
- Science and Buddhism: Measuring Success in Meditation
- Science and Buddhism: Studying Compassion
- The Dharma of Sitting
- Tsunami disaster: Children helping children
- Tsunami disaster: Potowa Center helps the victims
- June
- Albert Einstein and the Dalai Lama
- From News Roundup: Making a difference in the courts of law
- Integrating Tibetan and Western Medicine in the Treatment of Anxiety
- Is Nothing Sacred? The Truth about Emptiness
- Personal experiences in healing rLung
- Spirituality and Work: Antonyms or Synonyms?
- The Mathematical Proof of Emptiness
- The Point Is to Practice
- August
- October
- December
- February
- Mandala for 2004
- Mandala for 2003
- March
- A Celebration of the Feminine
- Celebrating the Feminine in Buddhism
- Creating the Work You Love
- Finding Larger Truths for Peace
- Giving Birth to Healthy Life
- Possibilities for Contemporary Buddhist Living
- Romancing a River
- Speaking to Create Harmony
- Taming Your Wild Elephant-like Mind
- The Attendant Who Pledged Her Life
- The Dharmic Politician
- The Face of Buddha in Mongolia
- The Girlfriend with a Lama
- The Inner Activist
- The Working Woman
- Turning Rage to Love
- When Clothes Make the Nun
- When Does a Stem Cell Become a Human Being?
- When Loneliness Is Your Closest Friend
- You Are Not a Buddhist Missionary!
- June
- September
- Advice for Western Practitioners
- Beginnings: History in the making
- Buddhist Psychology? Buddhism is Psychology
- Conversations with a Nun: Opening the Prison Door
- Reflections on the importance of arousing Bodhicitta
- The challenge: Kids and their ‘stuff’
- The living likeness of Lama Thubten Yeshe
- The more things change …
- The Secret of Happiness
- To debate or not to debate: That is the question
- December
- A Cheerful Face on Death
- A grief observed
- Advice on Long Retreats
- An interview with Yangsi Rinpoche
- History in the Making
- How to Prepare for and Not Be Afraid of Death
- Parenting as a Path
- Science and Buddhism Meet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- Trust and Mistrust
- Who are we really, and to whom do we pray?
- March
- Mandala for 2002
- March
- An Engaged Military
- An Extraordinary Modern-Day Milarepa: The Life and Death of Geshe Lama Konchog
- Coming to Terms with “God”
- Dealing with Depression
- Embracing Anger
- Good Life, Good Death
- Ground Zero
- Heaven, Earth, and Mankind Luck
- Holy Wars in Buddhism and Islam: The Myth of Shambhala
- Letting Go of Codependency
- Life Among the Ruins
- Mandala for Universal Peace
- Natural Born Buddhist
- Open Letter to a President
- Revenge is Far From Sweet
- Shalom! A Letter from Jerusalem
- Stanger, Enemy, Friend
- The Case of the Dirty Debutante
- Transforming Problems into Happiness
- Unbearable Compassion
- War and Peace in Tibetan Buddhism
- Why Worry?
- June
- A Healthy Relationship
- A Korean Holiday
- A Teacher’s Responsibility
- A Word from Lama
- Art Sets Kids Free
- Capturing a Living Likeness
- Counsels from My Heart
- First Assemble the Ingredients
- First, assemble the ingredients
- Garuda Rising
- Grappling with the Guru Principle
- Hi-Tech Volunteers
- Just Get On With It!
- Mos and Other Conundrums
- Out of the Mouths of Young Monks
- Relationship with the teacher
- Spiritual Authority, Genuine and Counterfeit
- Students Speak
- The guru as Buddha —or like Buddha?
- The Harmony of Retreat
- The Sounds of Silence
- Thinking Like a Thief
- Trials and Joys of a Disciple
- Wake Up Call
- Working with the Western Mind
- Zen Moments of Truth
- September
- A Garden’s Teaching
- A Jewish-Buddhist Encounter
- A Liberating Corner of a Prison
- Advice for Retreat Practice
- An Ecological Challenge
- Bearing Witness
- Bön and Benedictine
- Dharma in the Workplace
- Do Good Bosses Lead – Or Just Manage?
- Eva’s Good Heart Pillows
- Gethsemani: The Conversation Continues
- Inner City Haven
- Love and Freedom
- Making Peace with Our Inner Family
- Meditation in the Workplace
- Misunderstandings
- Non-Gardening in a Rainforest
- Science to Prove Benefits of Compassion
- Spirit in business
- Spirit in Business: an Oxymoron?
- Start the Day Right
- Stupa: The Mind of a Buddha
- Symbols of the Enlightened Mind
- The Beauty and Benefits of Offering Flowers
- The Calvert Community
- The Simple Art of Meditation
- The Twins: Faith and Doubt
- The Way of the Ani Yunwiwa
- Tibetan Must Preserve Their Culture
- Very Young Practitioners
- Why am I doing this?
- Why Am I Doing This?
- Wise Women Healing
- December
- A Light-filled Day for Lama Tsongkhapa
- A Month in Shangri-la
- Bad Boy Miller
- Comfortable with Uncertainty
- Flexibility
- From Lama Zopa’s Letter to His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- Inner and Outer Disarmament
- Pilgrimage to Tibet
- Please, Ma’am!
- Relics Explained by Lamas
- Relics on Tour
- Safe Sex and Healthy Babies
- Stitching a Culture Back Together
- The Bliss of Practice
- The Case of the Talkative Traveler
- The Future of Tibet
- The Habit of War and Suffering
- The Secret Life of Power Places
- Unlearning Hate
- March
- Mandala for 2001
- March
- June
- A sacred trek round Mount Kailash
- Cutting to the Chase
- Dharma teachers: seven years in the making
- Emptiness on My Mind
- Keanu Reeves on the small screen
- Maha Dalai Lama (Great Dalai Lama)
- Mastering the art of ‘masterful coaching’
- The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation
- The Inner Realizations of the Dalai Lama
- The power in the stories we tell ourselves
- What is Dharma?
- Who are you and where can you be found?
- Who is making this decision anyway?
- September
- A Vehicle for Realization
- Band-aids, baby-sitting or real Buddhadharma?
- Dakinis: healers of our gender scars
- Freedom from the ego mind
- Monasticism in the 21st Century
- Monasticism in the 21st Century
- The 12 Deeds of Shakyamuni Buddha
- The benefits of cherishing others
- The Lies Our Minds Tell Us
- The Master’s Voice
- The puzzle of relationship
- Those who teach, learn
- Training the mind while training the body
- December
- Addicted? Who, Me?
- Behave yourself. You are being watched
- Buddhism in Action
- A Fortunate Life
- A Heart for Dying Children
- A Nurse Finds Right Livelihood
- A Teacher Helps Kids ‘Reach for Peace’
- A Thousand Letters
- Aid for AIDS Victims
- Altruism in a Maid’s Uniform
- An Italian in Wonderland
- Behave Yourself. You are Being Watched.
- Bodhisattva in Training
- Care for the Dying in Singapore
- Computers in the Slums
- Freedom Inside Prison
- From Mozart to Mongolia
- Healing the Scars of Sexual Abuse
- I Would Ride 500 Miles – Or More
- Keeping the Balance
- Looking into the Mirror of Death
- Nun Helps Air Force Cadets to Stay Grounded
- Roshi on the Frontlines
- Senior Wisdom
- Soup Kitchens and Ban the Bomb
- The Bean Counter Who Works for Free
- The Freelance Lama: Thubten Dorje Lakha Lama
- The Healing Power of Meditation
- The Intimacy of Dying
- The Toe Tag of Tenderness
- Walk a Mile in My Shoes
- Word Power: A Journo’s Story
- Computers in the Slums
- Dharma for Modern Life
- Interview – Why Buddhism?
- News Roundup
- Nun helps Air Force cadets to stay grounded
- Sharing the benefits of a Christmas feast
- The Attitude Behind Social Service
- The Dharma of Dancing
- The freelance lama
- The Warm Heart
- Trading the Good Life for a Better One
- Vikramashila, Ancient Seat of Tantric Buddhism
- World Peace
- Mandala for 2000
- January
- How a Person Enters into the Mother’s Womb
- Cecilia Berranger, France
- Colin Crosbie, Australia
- Death of a Son
- Ecie Hursthouse, New Zealand
- Geshe Gelek Chodak
- In Mongolia, “It is now physically very hard but easier mentally.”
- Jacie Keeley, United States
- Janet Brooke, United States
- Journey to Realms Beyond Death
- Lama Ösel’s News
- Letter from Ulaanbaatar
- Maria Torres, Spain
- Mary Grace Lentz, United States
- Monks and Nuns of the FPMT: Ven. Yeshe Gyatso
- Naresh and Antonella Mathur, India
- Panchen Otrul Rinpoche’s Fourth Visit to Mongolia
- Peter Kedge, Canada
- Rocio Arreola, Mexico
- Salim Lee, Australia
- The Passing Scene: January-February 2000
- The Reawakening of Buddhadharma in Mongolia
- Vajra Brothers and Sisters Have a Say: Giving Life to a Statue of the Buddha
- March
- A Day in the Life of an FPMT Lama: Geshe Thubten Chonyi
- Attachment: The Biggest Problem on Earth
- Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche Uses Film for Seeing Reality
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s New Millennium Message
- Journey to Realms Beyond Death
- Lama Osel “Eager for the Study of Buddhism”
- Lama Ösel’s News
- Maitreya Project Hosts Twelve Thousand People for Teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodhgaya
- My First Meeting with Lama Yeshe
- Other Lamas: His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Sakya
- Proceeds of Sale of Videos of Australian Documentary Film to Benefit Milarepa Prison Project
- Tha Passing Scene: March-April 2000
- The Beginnings of Lama Yeshe’s Work in the West
- The Biography of a Buddha
- The Blossoming of Blue Lotuses
- The Sign of a Real Lama
- The Unimaginable Qualities of Lama Yeshe’s Body, Speech and Mind
- Thousands “Genuinely Delighted” to Celebrate the New Millennium at the Bodhgaya Stupa
- Vajra Brothers and Sisters Have a Say: Terry Griffith-Ladner
- May
- How a Doctor-Lama Manifests as the Medicine Buddha
- Mental and Physical Illness Can Be Caused by Spirits
- Practicing the Art of Tibetan Buddhist Healing
- Spirit Influence Is the Result of Karma from the Person’s Previous Lives
- Successful Treatment of AIDS, Cancer and other Diseases by Tibetan Medicine
- The Passing Scene: May-June 2000
- Vajra Brothers and Sisters Have a Say: Carleen Gonder
- Ven. Lobsang Rinchen
- July
- September
- A Lama Comes of Age
- A new generation of Tibetan lamas
- Competition or Compassion?
- Competition or Compassion?
- Countering Violence in Colombia
- Give Peace a Dance
- Keeping cultures alive in exile: Tibetan children go to Israel
- Mandalas as Tools for Peace
- MindTrip
- Peace on this planet is in the hands of young people
- PeaceJam
- Six thousand Oregon Teenagers to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- November
- January
- Older Archives
- Mandala for 1999
- January
- March
- 150 People Experience the Joy of Serving
- Advice from Shantideva: “Please Become a Kind Person”
- Australian and New Zealand Geshes Enjoy Themselves in Laid-back Subtropical Queensland
- Education Fund Supports Talent and Creative Initiative
- FPMT European Geshes Meet in London: A Conference with a Difference
- Geshe Jampel Senge
- Helping to Make Things Better
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama Teaches on Shantideva in Bodhgaya
- Home Truths: March-April 1999
- Lama Osel’s News
- Nalanda: A New Building to House Forty Monks
- New Education Services for FPMT Centers
- Stupa of Universal Compassion: Re-creating a Building Designed in the Fifteenth Century to Last for 1,000 Years
- That is My Home, My Home is Up There
- The Lawudo Lama Returns
- The Passing Scene: March-April 1999
- Useful Meeting
- Ven. Thubten Samphel
- May
- A Buddhist Approach to Mental Illness
- Gelek Rinpoche
- Home Truths: May-June 1999
- How to Deal with “Meditator’s Disease”
- Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva
- Lama Ösel’s News
- Sam-Lo Geshe Kelsang
- The Making of a Buddha
- The Passing Scene: May-June 1999
- The Power of the Human Heart: Transforming Asia’s Biggest Prison
- The Practice of Ksitigarbha to Avert Danger and Purify Obstacles
- Ven. Thubten Khadro
- July
- Accompanying Children to Their Death
- Changing Suffering into Happiness
- Changing Suffering into Happiness: Andrew Vahldieck, USA
- Changing Suffering into Happiness: Elea Redel, France
- Changing Suffering into Happiness: Isabel Amorim, Brazil
- Changing Suffering into Happiness: Skye Banning, Australia
- Home Truths: July-August 1999
- Ven. Marcel Bertels
- September
- A Day in the Life of Western Monks at Sera Je
- Advice from the Virtuous Friend, His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- Chime Lama
- Fifty People Successfully Complete First Five-year Course of Basic Program in the Netherlands
- Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden
- Home Truths: September-October 1999
- How St. Francis Lost Everything and Found his Way
- Journey to Realms beyond Death
- Lama Ösel’s News
- Receiving the Blessings of Chenrezig Himself
- Reclaiming Life on Death Row
- The Passing Scene: September-October 1999
- Vajra Brothers and Sisters Have a Say: September-October 1999
- November
- Believing in Social Justice Principles
- Feng-shui: Tai-chi for the Environment
- Geshe Doga
- Geshe Yeshe Tobden
- Gomang Khensur Kelsang Thapkey Rinpoche
- Helping Others with a Good Motivation is Dharma Practice
- Home Truths: November-December 1999
- In Praise of Dorje Den, Lama Yeshe’s Dog
- Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche Honored by Mexican Indians
- Lama Ösel’s News
- Lama Yeshe Losal
- The Passing Scene: November-December 1999
- Unashamedly Beautiful Housing for Melbourne’s Elderly Homeless
- Ven. Tenzin Jangsem
- Wintringham Wins World Habitat Award
- Mandala for 1998
- January
- “Surprise and joy”
- Bad and Good Depend on the Individual Person’s Interpretation
- Choosing a Life Without Attachment
- Colors of the Dharma:
- Fulfilling a Lifelong Calling to Heal Leprosy
- Fund-Raising Event in Singapore Attended by 5,500
- Geshe Lobsang Dorje
- Home Truths
- Lama Osel’s News
- Letter to Lama Zopa from the Staff of FPMT International Office
- Maitreya Project Gaining Momentum
- New Director of FPMT International Office
- Putting Compassion into Action
- The Keeper of Lawudo
- The Passing Scene
- Tibetan Monk-Scholar Visits Taiwan to Research the Chinese Bhikshuni Tradition
- Transforming Hardships into Realizations
- When We Study Buddhism We Study Ourselves
- March
- A Blissful Festival of Dharma
- Geshe Tenzin Tenphel
- Home Truths: March-April 1998
- Lama Osel’s News
- Monks Walk through Asia for Inner Peace/World Peace
- On Pilgrimage with Ribur Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- The Benefits of the Existence of Statues and of Making Statues
- The Blessings of Chenrezig Himself: the Guarantee of Future Success
- The Hermit of the Pyrenees
- The Passing Scene: March-April 1998
- The Purpose of Religion
- Twenty Thousand People Attend Teachings in Bodhgaya by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- Wutaishan’s Natural Wonder, the Sky-Gazing Great Buddha
- May
- Empowering the Homeless Youth of San Francisco
- Everything Comes from the Mind
- Home Truths: May-June 1998
- Khensur Lobsang Thubten Rinpoche
- Lama Ösel’s News
- Looking into the Future
- Loving Oneself
- The Compassion and Vastness of the Minds of the Lamas
- The Passing Scene: May-June 1998
- Using Your Mind Can Be Fun
- July
- Aaron Morrison, 23, American
- Aida Rius, 19, Spanish
- Angela Furio, 18, Spanish
- Arturo, 22, Mexican
- Christopher Kelley, 24, American
- Felicity Keeley, 11, American
- Fong Huey Yee, 18, Singaporean
- Holly, 12, and Greenfield Nguyen, 14, Vietnamese-American
- Home Truths: July-August 1998
- Jasmilhe Uchitsubo, 16, Japanese
- Jesse Tate Wistreich, 20, English
- Josephine Ross, 15, Australian
- Kalu Davis, 15, Australian
- Kim Tate Wistreich, 11, English
- Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche, 13, Spanish
- Lama Yeshe Talks to His Monks and Nuns
- Lungtog Rinpoche, 13, Chinese
- Marlon Vassallo, 20, Italian
- Melissa Carlisle, 23, Singaporean
- Moana Strom, 15, American
- Sangha Shouldn’t Pay
- Shannon Kincaid, 21, American
- The Passing Scene: July-August 1998
- Tom Andrews, 15, Australian
- Ven. Lozang Chodzin, 25, New Zealander
- Ven. Tenzin Chhime (Ven. Holly Ansett), 23, Australian
- Ven. Thubten Dagme, 20, American
- September
- January
- Mandala for 1997
- January
- A Celebration of Kindness: The Dalai Lama in New Zealand
- A Tibetan Pilgrimage
- A Vision for the Future
- Building Bridges
- Educating Monks and Nuns
- From Here to Enlightenment: Education Sentient Beings
- Geshe Ngawang Dakpa
- Home Truths: January-February 1997
- How to Attract People to the Dharma Centers
- Implementing the Basic Program of Buddhist Studies
- Lama Osel’s News
- Not All Who Wander Are Lost
- Teaching
- The Passing Scene: January-February 1997
- What Tibetans Do with their Dead
- March
- May
- Geshe Tsulga
- Home Truths: May-June 1997
- Kopan Monastery: A New Era for Kathmandu Center
- Kopan Monastery: Coming Home
- Kopan Monastery: Kopan the Mother
- Kopan Monastery: The Wellspring of FPMT
- Kopan Monastery’s New Gompa: Loved, Lived in and Full of Dharma
- Lama Osel’s News
- Mogchok Rinpoche Arrives at Nalanda
- Relating to Your Path
- Remembering Death
- The Passing Scene: May-June 1997
- Training Tibetan Translators
- July
- Anger
- Attachment: The Biggest Problem on Earth
- Climbing a Mountain with Both Hands
- Facing the Disharmony within Ourselves: Making Dharma Centers Work
- Going Beyond Hope and Fear
- Home Truths: July-August 1997
- Khensur Kangurwa Lobsang Thubten Rinpoche
- Lama Ösel’s News
- Many Ways to Work with the Mind
- Mongolian Renaissance
- The Passing Scene: July-August 1997
- Letter from a Meditator
- September
- A Day in the Life of an FPMT Lama
- Death, Intermediate State and Rebirth
- Give Your Ego the Wisdom Eye
- Home Truths: September-October 1997
- How to Benefit the Dying and the Dead
- Journeying Skillfully from Life to Life
- Looking Forward to Death
- Nine Ways to Help the Dying
- The Passing Scene: September-October 1997
- We Die as We Live
- November
- A Day in the Life of an FPMT Lama
- Beauty is in the “I” of the Beholder
- Buddhism Breaks into Prison
- Finding Freedom: Practicing Dharma in Prison
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the “eternal optimist”
- Home Truths: November-December 1997
- Lama Osel’s News
- Lama Zopa on the Road in America
- Letters from Prison: J.W. Johnson
- Letters from Prison: Jimmy Tribble
- Letters from Prison: Milo Rusimovic
- Letters from Prison: Paul Dewey
- Letters from Prison: Timothy Haremza
- Maitreya Project tackles the engineering challenges involved in building a statue to last for 1000 years
- Ode to John Schwartz
- Prisoners
- Searching for a Way to Leave No One Behind: The Transformation of a Mexican Gangster
- Searching for a Way to Leave No One Behind: The Transformation of a Mexican Gangster
- The Passing Scene: November-December 1997
- Thirty people to start seven-yearFPMT Master’s Program
- Writings from Death Row
- January
- Mandala for 1996
- January
- Reversing the Energy of Addiction
- The Passing Scene: January-February 1996
- A New Generation of Young Lamas
- Geshe Losang Tengye
- Home Truths: January-February 1996
- The Great Stupa of Australia
- The Benefits of Building Stupas
- The Magnificent Legacy of Rabten Kunsang
- He Is My Guru and I Am Going With Him
- Reflections on a Guru/Disciple Relationship
- Lama Osel’s News
- March
- May
- July
- September
- “Seeking joy and freedom from sufferingis the birthright of all beings”
- A Longing to Change
- A Monastery to Last until Maitreya Comes
- Buddhist Monks and Nuns: A Community of White Crows
- Chenrezig Nuns: Harmoniously Growing
- Geshe Tashi Tsering
- Home Truths: September-October 1996
- IMI Communities: Nalanda is Reborn
- Italian Monks and Nuns in ‘Precarious Equilibrium’
- Lama Osel’s News
- Ordination, Who? Me?
- Taiwanese Sangha
- The Benefits of Being Monks and Nuns
- The Passing Scene: September-October 1996
- Tibetan Geshe Offers Money to Help Western Sangha
- Western Monks and Nuns: Taking Care of Our Own Reality
- With Vows, You Don’t Do The Ordinary
- November
- A Day in the Life of an FMPT Lama: Geshe Thubten Dawa
- Beyond Extraordinary: His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Australia
- Dalai Lama Gives to Charity the $750,000 Offered to Him
- Geshe Lhundup Sopa
- Home Truths: November-December 1996
- Lama Osel’s News
- The Compassion Buddha is no other than Your Holiness
- The Making of the Universe
- The Passing Scene: November-December 1996
- January
- Mandala for 1995
- Mandala for 1992
- Mandala for 1990
- April
- Bringing it Home … to the land of Abraham Lincoln and Mickey Mouse
- Creating the Causes: Special Advice on the Guru Shakyamuni Puja from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- FPMT, Not Just for the West
- Is Stability the Goal?
- It Takes Time
- Leprosy in Bodhgaya: A Long Way to Go
- Membership Provides Stability
- On Becoming Vegetarian
- To Wear Pain Like an Ornament
- October
- April
- Mandala for 1989
- April
- As a Monk in the World
- Excerpts from an Interview of Piero Cerri
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama Speaks on the 30th Anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising – March 10, 1989
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Message to the WCRP
- Life in a Residential City Center
- My First Retreat
- Putting into Practice
- Remember the Guru’s Kindness
- The Meaning of Vezak Day
- The Tantric Way in Daily Life
- Transforming Motherhood into the Path
- October
- April
- Mandala for 1988
- April
- A Talk about Nalanda
- An Interview with Tenzin Palmo
- Chronicle of a Special Child
- Focus on Full Ordination for Buddhist Women
- It Isn’t “Out There” Anymore
- Lam-Rim: A Teaching by Geshe Jampa Tegchok
- Now Is the Time When Action is Practice
- Our First and Final Meeting with the Panchen Lama Who Passed Away on January 28, 1989
- Reflections from a New Bhikshuni
- The Twelve Links of Dependent Arising
- Universal Education: On Becoming One
- World Conference on Religion and Peace
- October
- April
- Mandala for 1987
- Mandala for 1984
- Wisdom #2 – 1984
- A Prayer for the Quick Return of Kyabje Ling Rinpoche
- A Prayer for the Quick Return of Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche
- Extracts from a Mönlam Diary
- How to Let Go, How to Integrate Emptiness in Everyday Life
- Lama Thubten Yeshe, 1935-1984
- Making a Home for Future Nuns
- Nalanda Monastery
- Bodhichitta: The Perfection of Dharma
- They Can Change Their Minds and They Can Become More Harmonious
- We Should Be Very Harmonious and Try to Help Each Other
- Willing to Do Anything to Help
- Lama Was a Great Yogi
- A Prayer for the Kind Father Guru to Return Quickly
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche: One of the Young Lamas Who Is Special
- Our Heart Jewel, Our Wish-granting Gem
- The Activities That Lama Yeshe Performed Are the Activities of All Holy Beings
- Now Here Is a Real Yogi
- The Difference a Single Person Can Make
- Who Simply Breathed Goodness
- The Wind Moaning Down the Valley Is Your Breath
- Getting away from It All
- Teachers
- Journey to Spiti
- Short in Body but Tall in Knowledge
- Kyabje Yongdzin Ling Dorjechang
- Meetings: Opening Our Hearts to Each Other
- Kyabje Song Rinpoche
- Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche
- Wisdom #2 – 1984
- Mandala for 1983
- Mandala for 1999
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*powered by Google TranslateTranslation of pages on fpmt.org is performed by Google Translate, a third party service which FPMT has no control over. The service provides automated computer translations that are only an approximation of the websites' original content. The translations should not be considered exact and only used as a rough guide.Tibetan Buddhism teaches you to overcome your dissatisfied mind, but to do that you have to make an effort. To put our techniques into your own experience, you have to go slowly, gradually. You can’t just jump right in the deep end. It takes time and we expect you to have trouble at first. But if you take it easy it gets less and less difficult as time goes by.