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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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You can see from your own life experiences how the environment can affect you. When you’re among peaceful, generous, happy people, you’re inclined to feel happy and peaceful yourself. When you’re among angry, aggressive people, you tend to become like them. The human mind is like a mirror. Therefore, it is very important to be conscious of your surroundings and how they affect your mind.
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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Transforming Suffering into Pure Joy
The Venerable Ribur Rinpoche, in San Jose, California at the Medicine Buddha’s Healing Center since September last year, talked about his life to a group of students at Vajrapani Institute in Boulder Creek on October 4, 1996. The talk was translated by Fabrizio Pallotti.
Rinpoche was confined in Lhasa, Tibet from 1959 until 1976. During those years, he experienced relentless interrogation and torture during 35 of the infamous struggle sessions. “The things they used to do to us are something you would never witness in your life. If I told you what happened on a daily basis, you would find it hard to believe,” Rinpoche said.
“Although these experiences were very painful,” he told students at Tushita Meditation Center in Dharamsala in 1991, “They were also very beneficial, because I was using up all my negative karma from previous lives. So then I prayed that the suffering be as intense as possible. As a result, my experiences in confinement were transformed into nothing but pure joy.”
At the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, Rinpoche was given a job with the Religious Affairs Office in Tibet, working with the Panchen Lama to recover what they could of the holy objects that had been dismantled and shipped to China. “I managed to bring back to Tibet 600 huge boxes containing thousands of statues and pieces of statues.” The most precious of these was the statue from the Ramoche that had been brought to Tibet during the reign of Songsten Gampo.
During his remaining years in Tibet, and since his exile in Dharamsala in 1987, Ribur Rinpoche, a great scholar and prolific author, has written biographies of great lamas, and an extensive history of Tibet, which includes his autobiography. He is working closely with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on a biography of the Great Thirteenth, the previous Dalai Lama.
Rinpoche lives at His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s monastery, Namgyel, in Dharamsala, India.
So this old monk you see is called Ribur Tulku. My name comes from my monastery, Ribur Gompa, Ribur Shedrup Ling, which is in a region of Tibet called Kham. It was a very, very old gompa, established more than 700 years ago by a great Sakya lama, Drongong Chogyel Pagpa. It is talked about in the lineage and stories contained in the Heruka practice.
Ribur Gompa was one of the three or four great monastic universities established in this vast area of Eastern Tibet before the coming of Lama Tsong Khapa in Kham. Even so, the philosophical system and debate were already well developed there.
When Lama Tsong Khapa came and spread the teachings in this world, one of his main disciples was a monk from Kham, the bodhisattva Sherab Tsampo. He received a lot of teachings from Lama Tsong Khapa and went back to Kham and established a big monastery in Cham, the Chamdo Monastery. He went for a rains retreat at Ribur Gompa, which was Sakya at the time, and taught lam-rim for one and a half months. Within that time, sort of naturally, the whole monastery embraced Lama Tsong Khapa’s teaching.
When the bodhisattva Sherab Tsampo went back to his monastery, he left one of his disciples at Ribur Gompa as the main teacher. This monk, Kunga Osel, is said to be my first recognizable reincarnation.
Until he was very old, Kunga Osel spent many years teaching the monks and then at a certain point he just left the monastery and went into retreat in the mountains. The retreat place is still there. He spent twelve years in strict seclusion, and passed away there in retreat. From Kunga Osel, the first reincarnation, up to the fifth, all were the principal teachers at Ribur monastery.
The fifth reincarnation, my predecessor, was extremely knowledgeable, a great scholar at Sera Me. After going through his studies in the monastery, he enrolled in the Upper Tantric College and eventually became the main debate and philosophy instructor of a very famous lama.
So probably my predecessor wasn’t like me. He was really someone very special. The way people talk about him – I have to say, Was he really like me or not? I can’t tell, I don’t know. Even when he was recognized, it was done by a very famous lama, Lodrup Dorje Chang, who was known not only for his philosophical and practical knowledge, but also for his clairvoyance and power to manifest magical emanations. He wrote a poem, a praise to this young reincarnation, saying, “You will come down from the pure land of Vajrayogini to benefit sentient beings in this world.” So that’s why I say probably my predecessor was really someone exceptional. He lived to a very old age. When he passed away, for a while my reincarnation wasn’t found, but then at a certain point I was found.
I was born in Kham, in Makham, in 1923. In that particular area, the majority of families weren’t big or affluent, but the family into which I was born was the most influential there. At the age of five I was recognized by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of Ribur Tulku. The oldest monk of Ribur Gompa came and we had an enthronement ceremony. I still remember sitting there, wearing the robes of my predecessor; they were so big! Of course I couldn’t really wear those robes so they just put them on me. I remember I was given offering scarves and drank tea while they were reciting the prayer of the Sixteen Arhats.
After that I started to wear a yellow robe, a chuba. For some years I stayed at home with my parents. I started to study writing and so forth around the age of seven.
My father was very good in business. He had only two children, me and my sister, so he started to think, Well, this is my only son and if he is recognized as a tulku and I send him to the monastery, who will take care of the business? He didn’t want me to go to the monastery and become a monk. So I stayed home until I was twelve, just studying literature and writing. No matter how many times the monastery pleaded to let me go, he kept me there. Actually, this has been useful in the later part of my life. Now that I live very close to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he uses me to write histories and biographies; I spend most of my time writing.
When I was twelve, all of a sudden my father died, for apparently no reason. Then my mother was able to send me to the monastery. What happened, as the story goes, is that the protector of the monastery, Four-faced Mahakala, the Brahmin form, hadn’t been pleased at all about my being kept at home.
I had the formal enthronement in the monastery, and you know how the Tibetan tradition is, they really exaggerate all that protocol: people coming and meeting and seeing, and khatas and so forth! I’ve been through all that!
I spent two years in the monastery, studying with two main teachers, memorizing scriptures of sutra and tantra and a particular lam-rim text I was close to, written by a great scholar of that part of Tibet.
When I was fourteen, I went to Lhasa. At that time, 1935, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama had passed away and the regent was Reting Rinpoche. I had to make a pilgrimage around the stupa of my predecessors, making so many offerings, doing this and that, and meeting the regent. I had to go through much of this; that’s called a pilgrimage.
That was the time of the great lama Pabongka Dorje Chang, who was the most outstanding unsurpassable lama of that time. It was him and nobody else. I’m not saying there weren’t any lamas except Pabongka – there were Kyabje Kansar Rinpoche, Tatra Rinpoche, and many other great lamas – but he became the principal teacher, the one who was giving continuous teachings. It was also the time of the young Ling Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche, but they hadn’t yet manifested very extensive deeds.
Probably due to past life connections, when I was a kid in Kham, I really had a strong wish to meet Pabongka. Eventually I did, when I went to Lhasa, and for the first time I climbed up the hill to meet him at Tashi Chöling Monastery.
We went by horse, and I took with me some offerings I had brought from Kham. He was residing in the upper part of the monastery, which is like the penthouse. I arrived there and did everything very nicely: making all the offerings and everything that has to be done in a very auspicious way, one by one. Then I went up in his room, which was very small, just the extent of his bed-throne, where the lamas normally sit. Next to the bed there was a small throne all decorated with silver on which he had placed a very small statue of his lama, Dakpo Lama Rinpoche Jampel Lhundrup Gyatso, made of gold, all surrounded by amazing offerings, very neat, very well done.
I made three prostrations, and immediately it looked like he was very pleased, very happy, with lots of affection coming from him. “Finally! We’ve heard so much about this Ribur Tulku, Ribur Tulku, here and there. Finally, I’m able to meet him!” And then he said, “Okay, sit.” He started to give me tea and everything, one by one, the ritual that goes on between lamas. He was very knowledgeable about my monastery. “Oh, you have this monastery, the Ribur Gompa. It’s on the top of a mountain, the protector is Four-Faced Mahakala.”
Right at that moment, one monk who had gone through the training at the monastery and just become a geshe brought up to Lama Dorje Chang a pot of noodle soup he had made to offer him. Pabongka immediately wanted to share it with me, and said, “Oh, this is really auspicious. It means that you’ll definitely become a geshe. Receiving tukpa from a geshe like that means you’ll definitely become a geshe, you’ll definitely be able to finish your studies.”
He was so pleased with me, he had so much affection. Then all of a sudden he called his attendant, a bald man, and said, “Bring the calendar, bring the calendar, I want to look at the calendar!” And he started to look at the calendar. “You’re going to become a novice monk, right? So let’s check the auspicious day.” I hadn’t asked him anything. “This is an auspicious day, okay? We’ll do it this day, I’m going to give you a getsul ordination, okay?” I was so happy just thinking about how much affection he had shown me. And exactly on the day he told me, I went up and I became a getsul. We were only three. The other two monks were staying on a permanent basis at the retreat center of Pabongka.
I went to Sera to study, and because my predecessor was considered very high, I was taken on a tour all around the holy places there, making offerings, the various shrines above the monastery, accompanied with sounds and music. Because you are a lama, you have a particular relationship with the monastery, and you have to come with a procession – it’s not like nowadays – with the horses all dressed up with brocade and ornaments on their heads and ears and saddles. I had to be involved in all that rigmarole: that was the tradition in Tibet.
It’s not easy to enter a monastery like Sera, being a lama. It’s very expensive! Many times you have to offer everything – food, tea and this and that – and there were seven or eight thousand monks at the time. Very expensive! Anyway, all the expenses were covered by my family. In the end I was placed in the room of my predecessor in the branch of the monastery called Tsawa, in the top room.
I had this teacher called Tsawa Lama, who was very knowledgeable in philosophy and in the teachings. He was actually the predecessor of Tenzin Rinpoche, my present attendant. I was in the middle upper class in the lama situation at the monastery. I wasn’t the top and wasn’t the bottom. I studied a lot. After three years of intensive study, I had to give my first public examination, in front of the assembly of Sera. This is the tradition. And it went quite okay.
Then after five years, when I was nineteen, I had to give the examination of the Perfection of Wisdom, and again it was so expensive! Any time I had to give an examination I had to undertake the expenses of offering food and tea, and I had to make a little offering to each monk. There were so many monks! Thousands and thousands!
After nine years I had to give another big examination, and after another year another one. This is the way of going through examinations in Tibet. You go through classes in which you study great texts, like The Perfection of Wisdom and The Middle Way. In The Middle Way you have many levels, and at every level you have to give an examination, if you are a lama, anyway. It was quite difficult. During the examination you face maybe seven, eight thousand monks altogether at once – alone. I gave the first part of my examination on the subject of generating bodhicitta.
Actually, it went quite well. You see, we don’t do written examinations as you do. We actually debate. I had to debate philosophy with members of the top classes of the various monasteries of Sera Je in front of all the monks. My companion was chosen from among the best philosophers. He was a monk from Amdo, who was so much better than me in philosophy and in debate, and on top of that he was a real, pure monk, someone really content, an example. He knew what I could handle in debate, and he chose my opponents so I could face them without difficulty. He was very good to me. So my exam went quite well.
My opponent for the second exam, the more difficult one, was from Amdo again, a big monk with a beard. My classmates thought, Okay, last year’s opponent was much better than this year’s but he has a very good attitude. Now this year you should take care because although he’s not very knowledgeable in philosophy, he’s a nasty one! The way Tibetans debate in philosophy is really very complicated. It’s a combination of physical performance with actions that you do in combination with what you say, questions and answers. It is full of tricks. Mine went very well.
In 1948, when I was twenty-five, I became a geshe. The year after I would have become a geshe lharampa, but I was heavily pressured from my house and my monastery in Kham to go there as soon as possible and teach. For the geshe lharampa you have to meet all the monks four times for several months in a row. I did it only twice and then I left; I went to Kham.
During all those years at Sera, whenever I could, I went to take as many teachings as possible from Pabongka. The first teaching I received was The Three Principal Aspects of the Path, and the first initiation I received was the Great Compassionate Thousand-armed Chenrezig.
At a certain point I had heard that Pabongka was giving the initiation into the full set of the seventeen forms of Four-faced Mahakala at his retreat place. I sent a message up requesting if I could attend the initiation. I was only fourteen at the time, so he called me up and said, “Have you received a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation yet?” And I said, No, I hadn’t. So then Lama Pabongka Dorje Change remained silent for several moments, contemplating. Then he said, “Well, this is something special. This a protector of your predecessor and a protector of your gompa. I think you don’t need a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation; you can come and take this initiation.” I was so happy, and I went there and received the full set of Four-Face Mahakala.
Again, Pabongka came to Sera Me to give the commentary on the eight great lam-rim texts, like the three lam-rims by Lama Tsong Khapa – small, intermediate and great expositions of the stages of the path – and all the lam-rims written by the Fifth Dalai Lama and the First Dalai Lama. He went through a full four months of teachings on the lam-rim, as well as all the biographies of the lamas who had written them, which I attended.
At the end he gave lots of blessings and initiations, like the White Umbrella Deity and Medicine Buddha, and lots of initiations, like Guhyasamaja, Heruka and Yamantaka that are normally given three at a time, in a set, one after another, and a special form of Amitabha, and the Highest Yoga Tantra of Vajrapani, called the Great Wheel. I took them all.
Trijang Rinpoche came to take the Vajrapani Great Wheel initiation. So then Pabongka went on with the initiation of Heruka, the Body Mandala, with the full teachings, and Vajrayogini, with the full teachings.
When I was young in the monastery, I went through the general studies like everybody else. I was very lucky, though, because my gen-la, my close teacher, was a good one. On top of that, I had this incredible exposure to Pabongka Rinpoche as my direct lama, so my general frame of mind was quite good, it developed quite well. My close teacher was extremely kind, probably the most kind. You see, generally speaking, for the young incarnations the teacher is extremely important; the way the relationship develops, the way they train. My teacher was so kind, he would just tell me, “Okay, don’t worry, we’ll go through the text slowly slowly, at ease, and whenever Lama Dorje Chang is teaching, we’re going to attend.” This is something quite uncommon. When you’re a child, a young lama like that doesn’t go around taking teachings from the high lamas unless you’ve completed certain studies. So I was able to take all these teachings and to continue my studies thanks to his kindness.
Luckily, he was very good in philosophy, very well-versed, but not only that, he was a great practitioner, a Kadampa-style lama. He used to tell me stories about the old Kadampas, all the stories concerning guru devotion and so forth, to inspire me. So I was raised within the framework of this intense Dharma practice, with an atmosphere of strong affection from my teacher, who was himself a great meditator, a great Kadampa practitioner, and taking and receiving teachings and inspiration from Lama Dorje Chang a lot.
It looked like my mind was going to develop quite well. I used to study during the day, and for long periods of time, I didn’t sleep at night. It was so nice just to stay up and look at the texts and stop every once and a while to meditate on them; and then when the early morning arrived, to rejoice, thinking that everyone else has been asleep and you’ve been up and meditating and studying Dharma. You feel you really used your time in the best, most useful way, and you feel like sleep is a waste of time. You would develop the habit. I used to rejoice a lot for that.
And when His Holiness the Dalai Lama, at four years of age, was brought to Lhasa in 1939, I was so lucky. I was there, I could see him, I went to receive him. During that time I thought my mind was quite good.
I wouldn’t seek teachings from any other teachers besides Lama Dorje Chang, Pabongka. I’m really quite stubborn. Then came a moment when Pabongka was due to leave for the southeastern part of Tibet for a long teaching tour in Lokha. I went to see him and I received some initiations and blessings that I needed. And before we parted I told him that I’d had in mind to go to Lokha to receive teachings from him, but that for some reason it wasn’t possible, and asked if he could please grant all his blessings so my mind would become Dharma and the Dharma become the path and the path would be without obstacles forever. He said, “Yes, I’m going on this tour, but don’t worry, you should receive teachings from Trijang Rinpoche.” So, you see, Lama Dorje Chang already knew he was going to pass away, that I wasn’t going to see him again, and it was his wish that I begin to receive teachings from Trijang Rinpoche. I hadn’t done that yet.
Lama Dorje Chang arrived in Lokha at the monastery of Dakpo Rinpoche, Dakpo Shedro Ling, which is, I think, in Gyatsa. He gave lam-rim teachings for a long time, and all of a sudden he passed away. We all were terribly devastated by the news, myself and all those lamas, like Pari Rinpoche and Latsu Rinpoche and so forth. Finally I went to see Trijang Rinpoche and explained to him that lama Dorje Chang had told me, before leaving, to receive teachings from him. So from that moment onward I began my relationship with the late Trijang Rinpoche.
After my geshe examination in 1948 I went to see Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and expressed to him my wish to dedicate all my thoughts for at least one year just to lam-rim practice; and he was very, very pleased. He immediately gave me the instructions on how to meditate on the lam-rim, what subjects I should emphasize and so on, and I left for Takten Ritrö, the retreat place of Kyabje Pabongka, on a mountain behind Sera called Parongka. I went straight into the cave where he had achieved realization of the two stages. You see, at the time my only thought was of spending my life, no matter how short it would be, in a cave and meditating. I didn’t have any other thought crossing my mind.
Then after one year, since I had finished my geshe degree, my people from Kham really wanted me to go there to teach, so I went. From the moment I arrived in Kham, my mind became worse and worse.
It was the tradition that when a lama arrives in his place after study, he arrives in pomp and circumstance with all the music and people playing instruments and so forth, and everyone bringing many offerings. Yes, they asked me to give Yamantaka initiation in one place, Mahakala initiation in another, and so forth. And after every initiation I would be made more and more important, with more and more things coming, and there was nothing else for the mind to do but get worse and worse and worse. So that’s really not good. Everybody coming in and asking this and that and with an attitude of refuge, and myself thinking that maybe I’m better and better. This is really bad; there’s nothing that damages you like that.
Then the Chinese invasion began, at the beginning of the ’50s. Slowly, slowly they came into Kham, and I had lots of delegations of Chinese coming and talking to me to do this and that. I had the clear impression that they wanted to pull me to their side. So what I did was I had a meditation hut built in the forest, and I just ran away and did my retreats. Actually they went quite well.
I began with the preliminary practices in retreat, in solitude. I went through all of them quite smoothly. I was very happy. I did the mandala, prostrations, Vajrasattva, Dorje Khadro, all those preliminaries. I had done Yamantaka, the Solitary Hero retreat, so then I began with the Thirteen Deities Yamantaka, and after that I did one deity after another. I did all those retreats, lot of them.
When His Holiness the Dalai Lama was invited to China for his first tour, he traveled through Chamdo, another region of Tibet, and Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, who was accompanying him, came to Kham, so I invited him to stay three days with me. He stayed in my room for three days, and I had a chance to ask him for teachings. He gave me teachings and initiations.
I had time to discuss with him what would be better for me to do in the wake of the Chinese invasion. Would it be better for me to stay in Kham or go to Lhasa? Trijang Rinpoche told me that if I stayed in Kham I would stick out, because nobody else was like me, like a lama; but if I went to Lhasa, I would mix in with many others and not be so obvious, so that would be better. Therefore, in 1955 I left for Lhasa.
At that time I began to take teachings from Ling Rinpoche as well, and Ketsang Rinpoche, the root lama of Ling Rinpoche and many other lamas. One year later, in 1956, I left for my first pilgrimage to India. Between teachings I did retreats, so I was able to get back the good thinking.
In 1959 we had this big eruption of circumstances, when everything degenerated with the Chinese. I was in jail for several months, not for a long time. Anyway, I didn’t really experience the slightest difficulty during those adverse conditions. And this was due to the kindness of Lama Dorje Chang. From him I had somehow learned some mental training, and in those difficult times, my mind was immediately able to recognize the nature of cyclic existence, the nature of afflictive emotions, and the nature of karma and so forth. So my mind was really at ease.
I was placed in this prison, I don’t remember the name now, and it was full. There were at least two hundred important politicians and nobles there also, and all of them were really in great pain because they didn’t know how to think. Generally, those people didn’t practice Dharma. They were connected with the government and so forth, but they use to have a good time all the time, a really good time. You used to see them picnicking outside the Potala Palace, or coming through Lhasa. They had very rich houses and so forth; they were used to living the affluent life.
So at that time, they were really devastated, they didn’t know what to do or what to think or what was going on. But people like me didn’t have the slightest doubt about the nature of cyclic existence, so being in prison wasn’t really a big deal.
For some reason I knew the Chinese translator in prison, so I was able to get out very quickly. Later on, I was put in charge of the religious organization of Tibet, under the Chinese, naturally, and given a very, very small salary for that. Around eleven or twelve dollars a month. It wasn’t enough, but people used to help me. Anyway, I didn’t experience much difficulty.
The difficult time arrived around the beginning of the ’60s, when there was a reprisal, and the situation really deteriorate. The Chinese started to tear down all the monasteries; there was a moment when they began to do really professional destruction. I heard and I witnessed them pulling down all these images, the great holy places, like the Jowo Chenpo and the Ramo Chenpo, these big, very famous statues in Lhasa in the two temples, the Jokhang and the Ramoche, which are supposed to have come from the time of Buddha Shakyamuni. Monks were being put in prison and forced to marry and forced into labor camps or to work in fields and so forth. All this caused a great deal of pain in my mind, witnessing all of this. That was really the worst period. Sera, Drepung and Ganden monasteries were completely torn apart, virtually razed to the ground, and that was very painful.
The Chinese probably razed around six thousand monasteries and holy places, and we lost around 100,000 ordained people. If you keep hearing things and seeing things, then sooner or later your mind becomes unhappy. Whatever hardships I experienced myself – I was beaten, forced to do so many things – that really didn’t matter because you know whatever you experience yourself is your own difficulty to get through, is your own karma ripening, and it’s just your business. The point is, you accumulate karma, which brings forth those results, and you are bound to face them, so if you know this when you are experiencing difficulties, you are actually happy that those things are happening because you are able to recognize that in this way you’re getting rid of a big load. And nobody else loaded this big load upon you but yourself. So I was even able to think, Yes, the more that comes to me to experience, the more I’ll be happy to receive it and to get rid of whatever load I have from the past. So from that point of view, really, there wasn’t the slightest problem.
Also, knowing that His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the two tutors, Trijang Rinpoche and Ling Rinpoche, were able to escape and arrive safely in India was a huge source of happiness. I was very satisfied that they were safe, so whatever happened, it didn’t matter.
The real suffering, the real pain, was seeing and witnessing this destruction of the holy images and places, so full of history, so important. The places of Lama Tsong Khapa, the statues, so blessed over centuries and centuries. But there was nothing to do and I just thought, Okay, it really doesn’t matter, I just hope I die soon. But you see, there wasn’t the karma; I’m still alive.
So my state of mind was like this. One day I was looking at the sky, and I saw this big vulture flying west towards India. I looked at him and thought, How lucky is this vulture, he’s free to fly towards India. Tonight he’ll probably be resting in one of the forests behind Kalimpong, which borders Tibet, and tomorrow he can fly in India. I was in that state. So many times I found myself thinking in that way. I was just hoping that something would happen that I could die, in one way or another. I thought that many times, but it never happened, obviously.
We Tibetans were going through a really bad time. The Chinese officers were really nasty. The things they used to do to us are something you would never witness in your life. If I told you what happened on a daily basis, you would find it hard to believe, in terms of nastiness from the officers, not from the general Chinese population.
I was thinking every day of dying, that probably the next day I would be dead. During that period I just concentrated on keeping my vows as purely as possible, so I’ve done without interruption more than 2,000 self-initiations of the Body Mandala of Heruka. And so much tong-len, taking on the suffering of others and giving away one’s happiness. So I thought even if I die tomorrow, it really doesn’t matter, at least my vows and everything are pure.
After the Cultural Revolution stopped, around 1976, the Chinese thought they could use me a little bit for some of their work, so I was employed for various things and I started to get a little money.
At a certain point I had a strong urge to preserve whatever was possible from all this destruction, at least those things from our history, especially the holy places of Lama Tsong Khapa, all the statues and so forth. So I wrote down the histories of all these places and the statues. I didn’t care about becoming famous myself, I just didn’t want everything to be completely lost. I did deep research on the Jokhang temple and the Ramoche temple, the two places in Lhasa with the two very important statues of Buddha Shakyamuni in the sambhogakaya aspect that the two queens of Songsten Gampo brought with them from China and Nepal. I did a great deal of research and I wrote down so much.
There was a place in Ganden Monastery where there used to be a huge stupa containing Lama Tsong Khapa’s holy body, which of course was completely destroyed. In the same place, I put together another stupa, the same as before, with as much gold as I could and a statue of Lama Tsong Khapa in it.
His Holiness the Panchen Lama was there, and I had this incredible connection with him. I was working in the Religious Affairs Office of Tibet, in charge, along with him, of recovering whatever possible of what had been taken to China.
I was very concerned about the Jowo Chenpo and the Ramo Chenpo. It would take a long time to tell you how I went to China, how I got there, how I searched for these things among thousands and thousands of places filled up with broken statues and so forth. The point is, I managed to bring back to Tibet 600 huge boxes containing thousands of statues and pieces of statues. And finally I was able to re-establish the two statues in Lhasa.
Also I made one big statue of Lama Pabongka. I was able to recover the bones and ashes of his holy body from some of the old nuns who were left there in the retreat place of Pabongka. They gave them to me. There was a big statue of Pabongka made of silver in the monastery, and just the head was made of brass. The silver was gone, of course, but I was able to recover the head, which was left somewhere half broken, and I put it together. This was already 1981.
I didn’t know what was going on in India with the exile community, but I knew there were so many things missing, and I was really sad. I wanted to compose one very accurate history, an historical account of the 99 Ganden Throne holders, from Lama Tsong Khapa and all his successors up to the ninety-ninth. And also the life story of the great lamas, like Ketsang Dorje Chang. I spent a great deal of time writing. I didn’t know if these biographies had been put together or not.
I was able to somehow communicate with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and at a certain point I asked him, “Maybe I’ll come over.” And he said, “Yes, come over,” and so I went.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama told me that we’d been going through so many hardships, especially people like me who had been left there and witnessed all the destruction. He said they’d heard all the things that were going on, and it would be highly beneficial if I could write a life history of myself, right from the beginning up to now, so I did. I put together two books, altogether around 800 pages, that were published in Dharamsala by the publishing house of the Tibetan exile community.
I’ve written the most important things with a great deal of detail; for example, about Ganden; how Ganden was established from the beginning, and under what circumstances; how Ganden was during the reign of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, its organization and everything else, and how its destruction began around 1959; and how in 1969 it was completely destroyed, and under what circumstances, and so forth. I wrote all this down with many details.
And the story of the Ramo Chenpo, how the statue was brought to Tibet the first time, the history of the statue itself, its powers and so forth, and how the temple was taken over, destroyed, the statue taken out of the temple, opened up, completely emptied out, taken to China, how it remained in the corner of a factory storehouse for seven years and was brought back to Beijing and stored in a different place for another ten years. Seventeen years of history of the statue in China.
If we had time to go through and translate these two books, you would come to know many facts about Tibet, about the mind of renunciation, and a little about myself. So much you’d see about the dissatisfaction of cyclic existence; about the fact that there is no stable place; once you’re up you go down, once you’re down you go up; and so forth, like real facts; the history connected with Tibet, the Dharma, myself. Also for that it’s beneficial.
I always carry with me a very small stupa containing whatever bones and holy hair of Lama Tsong Khapa were left, and a little of Pabongka as well. I have the container here with me. I brought it from Tibet. When I think of all my possessions, of everything precious I have in my life, this is it.
So now my biography account is finished.
The Precious Conch Shell
Some time in 1995, an old Tibetan man showed up at Rinpoche’s room in Dharamsala, saying something about a precious conch shell, which someone he knew had smuggled out of Tibet. This conch is believed to have been a gift of the King of the Nagas to Shakyamuni Buddha.
Buddha prophesied that in the future, a monk in the Land of Snows – in fact, Lama Tsong Khapa – would spread the Dharma in the ten directions, and while doing this he blew this conch. Buddha instructed Maudgalyayana, one of his closest disciples who was famous for his psychic powers, to take the conch and bury it in the snow mountains.
After his long retreat, when Lama Tsong Khapa went to the mountain where Ganden was to be established, he found the conch buried there. It was here that he established his first monastery, Ganden.
Ribur Rinpoche recognized the conch when the man brought it to him the next day. Before taking it to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he kept it in his room for a few days. Its sound is very powerful, he said; he blew it several times.
When His Holiness received the conch, he was so pleased that he raised the conch above his head and stood for some time in meditation while holding it.
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- More than Auspicious
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- Fulfilling a Long-held Promise
- Reminiscences of Geshe Sopa
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- His Holiness the Dalai Lama at FPMT Center Events March-May 2013 Photo Gallery
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- ‘One Day in Service to His Holiness Is a Life Well Spent’: His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Melbourne 2013
- Identifying the Object of Negation
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- The Exemplary Life and Death of Geshe Yeshe Tobden
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- A Spiritual Journey to Tsum
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- Alison Kaye Harr
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- ‘I Realized That My Life Couldn’t Be the Same Again’
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- Le décès de Khensour Rinpoché Lama Lhoundroup Rigsel
- The Passing of Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup Rigsel
- UWE Gathering in France: Inspiration, Information, Transformation!
- Preserving the Foundations: Merry Colony and FPMT Education
- Compassion in Education: An Interview with Pam Cayton
- Benefits of Generating a Good Heart
- Collaborators in Preservation: Key Education Services Contributors Reflect on the Future of FPMT Education and Their Work with Merry Colony
- What Differentiates Buddhism from Christianity
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- Of Yaks and Dogs
- Feeding Fish at Nalanda Monastery
- The Karma of Success
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- Big Love Excerpt
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- Editor’s Choice – Media Reviews
- The Passing of Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup Photo Gallery
- April
- ‘Subduing the Mind, Actualizing the Path’ Resource Area
- Big Ears, Small Mouths: The Life of a Retreat Caretaker
- Random Reflections on Retreating
- Realizing the Dharmakaya
- Report from Bodhgaya: On the Ground at Kalachackra 2012
- Subduing the Mind, Actualizing the Path
- You Can, You Must
- Big Ears, Small Mouths
- Don’t Wake Up with a Mind Like That
- Random Reflections on Retreating
- Retreat in Everyday Life
- Universal Mandala School
- Animal Liberation Sanctuary Update
- The Misleading Mind – Searching for Happily Ever After
- Sitting Easy
- An Interview with Åge Delbanco
- Tulku Gyatso Remembered
- Thangka Exhibition at Maitreya Instituut Amsterdam
- The Beginning of Tushita
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- Editor’s Choice – Media Reviews
- Half the Woman: Losing Weight for Rinpoche
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- October
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- Khadro-la on Using Stupas to Minimize Harm from the Elements
- 16 Actitudes at Centro Yamantaka in Colombia
- Children and Teens Programs Take Root and Grow at Losang Dragpa Centre in Malaysia
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- Publishing the FPMT Lineage: An Interview with Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Director Nicholas Ribush
- Key to the Cave
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- Stay Low and Go, Go, Go: Fire Safety Training at Kopan Monastery and Nunnery
- Rinpoche’s Decision
- Insight into Emptiness
- Editor’s Choice – Media Reviews
- January
- Mandala for 2011
- January
- The Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition: Looking to Mongolia
- Tibet, Tibet, I Have to Go to Tibet!
- Youth in Refuge
- Lama Yeshe in London, 1975 (Video Recording)
- Hippie Era: Looking for Meaning in Our Lives
- Tsog Adventure
- Transformative Mindfulness and the 16 Guidelines in Canada and North America
- 16 Guidelines at Akshay Charitable School, Bodhgaya, India
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- 16 To Live By Update
- Educación Universal Update
- Outings and Expeditions with Ready Set Happy
- Three Ways to Help Animals
- Meet Sera Je, the Dog!
- NHS Videos for Carers
- Cittamani Hospice Service’s Annual Memorial
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- Engaged Buddhism: Compassion in Action
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- The Dissatisfied Mind of Desire
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- ¡No pares! ¡Ve ahora!
- Leading with the Mind of a Servant
- Practices to Control Earthquakes and the Four Elements
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- Hurray!
- Anger Always Hurts Me
- La rabia siempre me hiere
- Move, Breathe and Be Kind
- Working with Addiction
- Гнев всегда причиняет вред Мне
- הכעס תמיד פוגע בי
- Ian Green: Buddha’s Builder
- Big Love Excerpt
- Thinking Like a Thief
- Robert Page’s Art for Liberation Prison Project
- Ethics on My Mind
- Surrendering to Monkeys: Letting Go of the Self
- The Kindness of Lama Yeshe and My Mother
- What Goes Around, Comes Around
- Editor’s Choice
- October
- An Idea to Begin to Repay the Kindness
- Remembering the Kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Courageous People of Tibet
- Remembering the Kindness
- Dalai Lama on The Spirit of Things
- Harry O’Brien Introduces His Holiness to Australian Football
- His Holiness in Melbourne, Australia 2011
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama 2011 Chenrezig Gompa Talk
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Vajrayana Institute’s Happiness & Its Causes Conference
- Luka Bloom Shares “As I Waved Goodbye” with His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- REJOICE! FPMT Offerings to His Holiness in Australia
- Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup
- A Message from Kopan Monastery
- A note on Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup’s passing
- Discovering Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup’s Relics
- Madre, padre, maestro, amigo: La bondad incomparable del querido Khensur Rimpoché Lama Lhundrup Rigsel de Kopan
- Người Mẹ, người Cha, người Thầy, người Bạn: Lòng Nhân Từ Vô Song của Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup Rigsel Cao Quý
- Interview with Lama Lhundrup
- Lama Lhundrup Videos
- A Thank You Puja at Kopan Monastery
- Caring For Lama Lhundrup
- Un père, une mère, un enseignant, un ami : L’incomparable bonté du vénéré Khènsour Rinpoché Lama Lhoundroup Rigsèl de Kopan
- Lama Lhundrup: An Old, Dear Friend
- Memories of Lama Lhundrup
- My Love Affair With Kopan Monastery
- An Aspect of Lama Lhunrup Seen at Kopan
- The Qualities of Lama Lhundrup
- The Kindness of Lama Lhundrup
- Thus I Have Heard: An Offering to the Participants of the First FPMT Translation Conference
- Creating Compassionate Cultures
- Ants Spread Dharma
- New Goats for Animal Liberation Sanctuary
- It Doesn’t Need to Be Either/Or
- Vegan Pumpkin “Cheesecake”
- Teachers Discuss the Future of Buddhism in the West: The 2011 Garrison Institute Conference
- The European Buddhist Union and Engaged Buddhism
- Socially Responsible Investing
- Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelegzentrum Makes a Plan for World Environment Day
- Meher Baba Clearly Told Me in a Dream
- Gelek Sherpa Photo Gallery
- Sarah’s Journey
- A Pilgrim’s progress
- Big Love Excerpt
- FPMT News Around the World Photo Gallery
- Editor’s Choice
- January
- Mandala for 2010
- January
- Back Over the Mountains
- Compassionate Action for Dogs and Donkeys in Dharamsala
- Confidence to Change the World
- Dharma at the Dollar Store
- Editor’s Choice
- ever mind
- FPMT News Around the World
- How to Meditate
- Snapshots of Buddhism in the West
- The Practice of Motherhood
- The Unspeakable – Spiritual Dryness
- April
- 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.In the lam-rim, there’s some advice on how to get up early in the morning without being overwhelmed by sleep. Before getting into bed the night before, wash your feet while thinking of light. Try it; it works.