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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 Service de traduction 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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If you listen to the advice of the Buddha – who has only compassion for sentient beings and no trace of self-centred mind; who is perfect in power, wisdom and compassion; whose holy mind is omniscient – all you get is benefit.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
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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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Mandala Blogs
18
REA Solar crew members completing installation of the solar power system panels on the gompa, Chenrezig Institute, Eudlo, Queensland, Australia, December 2020. Photo by Marc Talloen.
Chenrezig Institute, an FPMT center in Eudlo, Queensland, Australia, has installed a 22 kilowatt (kW) solar power system on the center’s gompa roof to power some of the center’s electricity needs. Marc Talloen, project manager, Interim Executive Committee, shares the story.
In late November and early December 2020, the Chenrezig Institute gompa and its surroundings were buzzing with exciting activities! In a span of a few weeks we installed a solar power system on the gompa’s roof, started the second phase of the inspiring Nalanda Masters Garden, and made significant improvements to Chenrezig Institute’s roads.
Garrey Foulkes, Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim, Colin Crosbie, the truck driver, Kym Bartlet, and Ricciardo Ferrari building a reinforced concrete slab in the Nalanda Masters Garden, Chenrezig Institute, Eudlo, Queensland, Australia, November 2020. Photo by Marc Talloen.
A few months earlier, on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 85th birthday, Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim, our FPMT resident geshe, officially inaugurated and consecrated the magnificent Nalanda Masters Garden. The event took place in the presence of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who joined us on Zoom, bestowing his blessings on the new statues in the garden and the community. The opening of the garden inspired a flurry of building activity!
The garden was initially dedicated to a group of eight Nalanda masters. However, as a result of the excitement at the opening ceremony, that plan has changed. We are now working towards completing a set of statues of all seventeen Nalanda masters, as well as a Kadampa stupa and more.
A team of dedicated volunteers are engaged in the preparations needed for phase two of the Nalanda Masters Garden and have included a fancy sitting area under the Bodhi tree overlooking the statues and gompa. A team of avid gardeners brought the Garden of Enlightenment to its full splendor.
Kym Bartlet, Gordon Noble, and Colin Crosbie finishing the installation of a new and bigger water drain before paving the road, Chenrezig Institute, Eudlo, Queensland, Australia, November 2020. Photo by Marc Talloen.
Partial road improvement projects—including installation of multiple underground cross-road drains and the concreting of an 152 meter (499 feet) erosion prone stretch of Chenrezig Institute’s main entrance road—have been completed. The road re-opened on December 3, just in time for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthday celebrations. We were then ready to cope with abundant rainfall during the December and January rainy season.
The section of Chenrezig Institute’s newly-paved main entrance road, Eudlo, Queensland, Australia, December 2020. Photo by Marc Halloen.
We had been looking into the potential benefits of installing a solar power system on the gompa roof for quite some time. We figured that if we installed a solar power system with a capacity of 22 kW then we should be able to generate enough solar energy during the daytime to cover electricity needs for most of the gompa, entire Sangha living area (about ten people), and the accommodation facilities for about twenty retreatants!
Adding a Tesla Powerwall 2 battery to our solar power system would allow us to store energy generated by the solar power system so that we could buffer the energy supply during times of passing clouds and use solar power during the first hours after sunset. The battery would also serve as a back-up power supply to the gompa during power outages. These outages are not uncommon in this area and can be attributed to random weather events.
Generous donations allowed us to move quickly and begin ample preparations. In November, we started clearing trees and trimming bushes to allow copious sunlight to sprawl over the gompa roof.
In late November, a team from REA Solar, a solar energy company in Queensland, came to partially install the solar power system, including roof racking, Enphase micro-inverters, all of the cabling, a new electrical switch board, and the battery. The Brisbane harbor has slowed down due to COVID, and so we had to wait patiently for customs to clear the new 465 watt solar modules and be delivered.
Magically, on December 2, the REA Solar team came back to install all modules, and then we were able to test and commission our new solar power system that afternoon.
And so very auspiciously, on December 3—Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthday—we achieved our first full day of solar energy generation, producing 134 kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar energy and largely covering that day’s electricity consumption. Of the 114 kWh consumed in that first twenty-four hour period, only 12.70 kWh came from the grid while 101.30 kWh came from the solar power system! An extra 31.90 kWh was exported to the grid.
Tesla phone app used by Chenrezig Institute staff to monitor the center’s electricity consumption and production. Graphs from left to right: 1 – levels of electric power consumed in twenty-four hours from the gompa electric network, 2 – levels of solar energy produced that same day by the gompa solar system, 3 – excess electricity produced by the gompa solar system fed to the battery (below the line) and electricity consumed from the battery when there isn’t enough solar available (above the line), 4 – utility network electricity consumed when no solar or battery energy is available (above the line), or fed back to the utility electric grid when excess solar energy is produced and the battery is already full, 5 – a combined graph showing when solar is available during the day, how it is consumed, and how excess is fed to the grid or stored in the battery, December 2020. Photo by Marc Talloen.
Encouraging results show that in those first three weeks the new solar power system helped us reduce grid electricity consumption by 86.13%. We are confident that we will experience continuous substantial savings, lowering our center’s operational costs for many years to come. By reducing our consumption of fossil fuel-generated energy and minimizing our carbon footprint, Chenrezig Institute is making a great leap into a greener future!
We take this opportunity to thank our generous donors who have helped us realize these projects. Please have a look at the video we have put together, showing the solar power system installation and some of our other recent projects.
Watch the two-minute video “Chenrezig Institute is going solar” on the Chenrezig Institute YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/ebPVD3KCzJM
We have further renovation and upgrading projects planned, including renovating the Lotus House retreat accommodation, adding a new amenity block, an additional solar power energy system, and adding a new 3 phase electricity supply circuit to the Big Love Café so we can supply it with solar energy.
For more information about Chenrezig Institute, visit their website:
https://www.chenrezig.com.au/
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
12
Losang Dragpa Centre 25th Anniversary Celebration. Graphic by Gavyn Teh.
On December 10, 2020, Losang Dragpa Center (LDC), the FPMT center in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary. The center shares the story.
On the auspicious Lama Tsongkhapa Day, LDC broadcast the e-celebration of its twenty-fifth anniversary via Zoom, Facebook, and YouTube, reaching out to teachers, Sangha, members, and friends from near and far. An in-person 25th Anniversary Celebration was initially planned for two years ago, but COVID made it necessary to rely on new technology to go virtual. That turned out to be a blessing as many more people were able to participate.
LDC began with a few members in 1995, in a rented link-house that was the home of co-founder Huei in Ampang. Soon after, a bank loan was obtained to purchase a semi-detached bungalow for center activities. These two Ampang houses served as LDC for its first eight years. LDC eventually moved across town to Jalan Birah and was finally able to acquire its own (current) premises with a beautiful garden located in a quiet residential area in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Looking back at LDC’s activities over the past twenty-five years, we are happy to have been able to abide by Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice and the FPMT’s Five Pillars of Service:
- Dharma: LDC offers Dharma classes for adults at the introductory level and the FPMT Basic Program.
- Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom: The principles of the 16 Guidelines for Life underscore LDC’s “Dharma for Kids” program (five to twelve year-olds) and inspired the teens program (thirteen to sixteen year-olds) called “10 For Good” which is specifically based on the ten virtues.
- Social/Community Service: LDC was the mother of the now separately registered but hugely successful Kasih Hospice. Today, LDC responds to community needs such as Aunty Mee Fah Animal Shelter and food donation to the poor (during the pandemic) through its adult, teen, or children’s projects.
- Interfaith Activities: A Buddhist relic exhibition was organized and the spiritual leaders of Christian and Hindu organizations, along with leaders of other Buddhist traditions, were invited to the event and were also invited to speak at the opening ceremony.
- Revenue generation activities: LDC’s Dharma programs are offered on a free of charge basis but generates revenue through its Dharma Shop and fundraising activities throughout the year, during Vesak/Saka Dawa, the four great holy days of the Buddhist calendar, and Lama Tsongkhapa Day activities, offering the public opportunities to sponsor altar offerings and participate in pujas.
For any Dharma center, achieving twenty-five years of activities requires commitment and heart. We are forever indebted to our precious Guru Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and all our other gurus, seven past and present FPMT resident teachers, and their translators. The contributions and sacrifices made by members, benefactors, volunteers, and executive committee members also cannot be forgotten and are deeply appreciated.
25th Anniversary Celebration on Zoom, Losang Dragpa Centre, December 2020. Photo by Dr. Chew Cheng Hoon, LDC member.
The 25th Anniversary Celebration featured a trip down memory lane of LDC’s history via a five-minute video “LDC’s 25 years Journey.” The high points of the night were the greetings and advice from our Guru Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, as well as words of sharing and wisdom from past resident teacher Geshe Tenzin Zopa and Sangha translators Ven. Michael Losang Yeshe and Ven. Tenzin Sherab. The event also relayed personal greetings from co-founders Huei and Pek Chee Hen who are trustees of LDC, followed by fellow trustees Lee Oi Loon and Selina Foong (who also serves as FPMT Southeast Asia regional coordinator), and two past center directors, Datuk M. Jayabalan and Dr. Lee Hock Bee.
The biggest big surprise of the night was sprung by LDC’s current FPMT resident geshe, Geshe Jampa Tsondu, who has been at the center since 2012. Geshe Jampa Tsondu read his three-minute twenty-fifth anniversary greetings out loud fully in English. This was met with appreciation and applause from members and students!
Watch “(#GoLive) FPMT LDC 25th Anniversary Celebration” on the FPMT LDC YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/9fjpb4r_WFw
LDC maximized the auspiciousness of Lama Tsongkhapa Day by launching the center’s new mobile-friendly website fpmt-ldc.org.
Geshe Jampa Tsondu said in his speech, “Twenty-five years is not long but not short either.” He said we should build on what we have already accomplished and continue to strive in the Dharma and its activities to benefit all.
Ven. Thubten Choying, Kenn Ng, Geshe Jampa Tsondu, and Lua Chiew Fei making offerings before the Yamantaka Pacifying Fire Puja, Losang Dragpa Centre, Selangor, Malaysia, December 2020. Photo by Gavyn Teh.
As a token of appreciation to all, LDC has released a recording of the Migtsema prayer composed into a song by a local artist. The recording features chanting by Geshe Jampa Tsondu and Kenn Ng, LDC’s translator.
Listen to “MIGTSEMA – LDC 25th Anniversary Celebration” on SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/fpmt-ldc/migtsema-ldc-25th-anniversary-celebration
LDC center director Dato’ Dr. Goh Pik Pin, alongside her executive committee, took this opportunity to thank everyone who attended the 25th Anniversary Celebration for their support with hopes for many awesome years to come.
To learn more about Losang Dragpa Centre, visit their new website:
http://fpmt-ldc.org/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
- Tagged: five pillars, geshe jampa tsondu, Geshe Tenzin Zopa, geshe thubten chonyi, khen rinpoche geshe chonyi, losang dragpa centre, michael losang yeshe
4
LTC then-director Maureen McIntyre, Councillor Fiona Cunningham, Helene Holland, Ven. Trin-la, and MP Joe Kelly opened the Street Library in a small ceremony, Langri Tangpa Centre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, November 2020. Photo by Carolyn Mason.
Langri Tanga Centre (LTC), the FPMT center in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, used a US$300 International Merit Box Project grant they received in 2019 to create a “Street Library” on the center’s outside property. The International Merit Box Project was created in 2001 to cultivate generosity as part of a daily practice. The offerings made by students, centers, projects and services are annually disbursed as grants supporting a wide range of Dharma activity. Street Libraries, also known as Little Free Libraries, are part of a worldwide movement to create places for books to be read and shared in local communities.
LTC’s US$300 grant used to pay for the creation of the library box, including mounting and shipping it to the center, as well as materials for the design of the library box itself. Some money was put in by the center, and then an amount equivalent to approximately US$600 was provided in donations of time, money, and resources to create the space for the Street Library, with seating and landscaping around it. Carolyn Mason, a member of the LTC management committee, shares the story.
Street Library, Langri Tangpa Centre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, November 2020. Photo by Carolyn Mason.
The amazing biography Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe, written by Adele Hulse and published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, tells the following story on page 663. It took place in 1978, during the first Council for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition at the then Manjushri Institute in England:
“Stepping outside after one meeting session, Lama Yeshe looked up at the Priory’s soaring Gothic spires and said to Nick Ribush, ‘You know, dear, I think we should buy every Christian church in the world!’ Surprised, ‘Er, yes Lama,‘ was all Nick could offer. Just one more example of Lama thinking big.”
In 2007, the Management Committee of Langri Tangpa Centre together with benefactors did just that—we bought a church in Brisbane. In 2020, we built a mini one with the creation of a Street Library, our Buddhist Book Box, opening it to the public in a small ceremony held on November 4.
The LTC Street Library:
- Spreads the Dharma further into our community through providing free books.
- Contains appropriate Dharma books, books donated by students, old library books, and postcards about LTC.
- Library and seated area are skillful means to bring people to the center.
- Encourages those people curious about Buddhism but not yet ready to come into the center.
- Prior to COVID-19, many new attendees heard about LTC by walking or driving by, so we hope the Street Library will generate more interest for this group.
Street Library, Langri Tangpa Centre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, November 2020. Photo by Carolyn Mason.
Created by our wonderful volunteer artist Helene Holland, it’s the most beautiful exquisitely detailed mini-LTC you ever did see! It has bricks and tiles, and the tip of the roof has a stupa instead of a spire.
Helene spent many hours decorating it with paint and hundreds of hand-made tiles (complete with moss!). The back of the Street Library is decorated with windows that “look” into LTC’s library. The sides of it have the church building’s brick pattern and are decorated with auspicious symbols. Prayer flags are on the front of the Street Library.
Helene is a skilled artist. She has regularly completed workshops with Andy Weber and conducts art classes herself, as well as painting stupas, molding and painting auspicious symbols for the center, and completing repairs on holy objects.
Our Street Library has a solar powered mini-chandelier inside, and the blue-painted interior and row of books draw the eye, especially in the dark. So far over 80 books have been borrowed! We just keep filling it up with books donated to the center.
We are now literally on the (Street Library) map in Australia, becoming the 2,500th Street Library in the country. We dedicate that this becomes a welcoming bridge from our passersby to the Buddhadharma.
To learn more about Langri Tangpa Centre, visit their website:
https://langritangpa.org.au/
If you would like start accumulating offerings with your own Merit Box practice, you can order a free Merit Box for your home or office altar from the FPMT Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Merit-Box-_p_619.html
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
- Tagged: andy weber, carolyn mason, helene holland, international merit box project, langri tangpa centre, merit box, merit box grants
31
A young Kopan monk making light offerings on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
“Of course by purifying negative karma collected since beginningless rebirth and by collecting extensive merits, this allows you to have realizations on the path to enlightenment and for your mind to change,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote to a student who offered 100,000 Vajrasattva mantras to Rinpoche. “There is always hope the mind can change, even to achieve enlightenment, so you can achieve a higher rebirth, ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara and enlightenment.”
“Vajrasattva practice is so important generally, and especially nowadays in the world, when there is not only global warming, but many other problems. There are so many other dangers—of war and sicknesses, cancer, and so many people whom you know are dying. There are so many sicknesses and other conditions for dying.”
“This Vajrasattva practice and other purification practices are the ultimate answer, so everything in the world—what you see, every situation—tells you to practice Vajrasattva. To purify and do Vajrasattva practice is the ultimate answer, to stop the cause to be reborn in the lower realms and the immediate [result] is to have a higher rebirth, to make preparation for death and then to meet the Dharma, to meet the virtuous friend who reveals the path to enlightenment. Then to achieve ultimate happiness, to be free from samsara and to achieve enlightenment for the numberless sentient beings and to free them from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment.”
From “Benefits of Vajrasattva Practice,” posted in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book:
http://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/benefits-vajrasattva-practice
You can find resources to support your Vajrasattva practice and other purification practices on the new Practices for Purification page:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/purification/
Watch the video series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and find links to videos in transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
- Tagged: purification, purification practice, vajrasattva
28
The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, January 2020. Photo by Alyce Crosbie.
In 1981, Lama Thubten Yeshe laid out the original plans for the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, an FPMT project near Bendigo in Victoria, Australia. On Tuesday, December 17, 2019, the community celebrated as the final pieces of the Great Stupa were lifted into place. Alyce Crosbie, marketing and events coordinator, shares that story and others in this update on activities at the stupa during 2020 and the Coronavirus pandemic.
“Raising the top of the stupa is a once-in-a-millennium moment in what we plan to be the 1,000-year life of the Great Stupa,” said Ian Green, director and chairman of the project since its inception. “It must be what it felt like for the builders of the great cathedrals or mosques of the world when the final spire or domes were put in place.”
Two massive cranes lifted the final structures—the sokshing, harmika, thirteen rings, and parasol—into place. The harmika and the thirteen rings alone weigh around 30 metric tons (33 US tons). The last 19 meters (62 feet) are completely decorated with traditional Buddhist artwork done by a team of local artists as well as custom-made works done in Nepal.
“For the past sixteen years, we have been focused on concrete and steel,” Ian Green said. “But the top of the stupa will be fully decorated in the brilliant colors of traditional Buddhist iconography. It gives us a real sense of how spectacular the whole stupa will be when complete.”
The Great Stupa had been standing close to 30 meters (98 feet) high and has now reached its total height of 48 meters (157 feet).
The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, January 2020. Photo by Alyce Crosbie.
The top of the Great Stupa was unveiled in a spectacular ceremony one month later. The mayor of the City of Greater Bendigo, two local members of parliament, and Ian Green were hoisted 60 meters (197 feet) above the ground in a “man cage” from which they lifted a veil off the top of the stupa. The unveiling was part of the Lunar New Year celebrations held at the stupa in January and February, one of our three major annual events.
Behind-the-scenes construction projects have continued during the COVID-19 pandemic. These included renovating and extending the gift shop as well as major earthworks for a sewage and water filtration system to make the site as self-sustainable as possible.
Ian Green reported that the services works projects have been successfully completed even though progress was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, “It has slowed down our work due to delays in provision of important component parts and competition for contractors due to high demand created by government housing incentives. At the same time the pandemic closures at the Great Stupa, which were over five months, did enable some major trenching that would have been difficult to handle if we had our normal number of visitors to the stupa.”
Ian Green said, “A new power house will be the next major project at the stupa. This will include provision for solar power, batteries, and generators.”
There is a twelve-minute video virtual tour around the Peace Park at the Great Stupa, highlighting the interfaith installations in the park as well as the different plant and tree varieties. This video is part of the Bendigo “Bloom” garden series created by Bendigo Tourism to showcase the beautiful parks and gardens in our region.
Watch Alyce lead the “Bendigo Bloom – Peace Park Tour” at the Great Stupa for Universal Compassion:
https://youtu.be/YbB81Zw8f0I
We were preparing for an increase in visitors this year due to the completion of the outside of the building, but like most people we have felt the effects of COVID-19. We were hugely saddened to have to close our doors twice this year. This included canceling ILLUMIN8: Festival of Light and Peace, one of our three major annual events, when we celebrate the Buddha’s life on Saka Dawa with an amazing line-up of cultural performances and activities, light sculptures, food, and family fun.
Our Vegecareian Festival, a major annual event at the Great Stupa celebrating vegetarian cuisine from around the world, was held virtually for the first time. The November 21 livestream included cooking demonstrations, virtual animal blessings, and self-care activities. Thanks to everyone who tuned in on Facebook! For those of you who didn’t get a chance to join in, you can now watch the recording anytime on our YouTube channel. We look forward to seeing you and your pets for Vegecaerian Festival 2021.
A 6 meters (23 feet) high Quan Yin statue, installed during the COVID-19 pandemic, overlooks the entire Peace Park at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, August 2020. Photo by Alyce Crosbie.
To learn more about The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion and the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace visit the website:
https://www.stupa.org.au
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
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The cover photo for Enjoy Life Liberated from the Inner Prison by Lama Zopa Rinpoche; Rinpoche is enjoying the flower offerings at the Jewel, Singapore, 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Enjoy Life Liberated from the Inner Prison is a new book from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who serves as the spiritual director of the Liberation Prison Project, asked Ven. Robina Courtin, who ran the project until 2009, to compile the more than one hundered letters he had written over the years in response to people in prison who’d contacted him. She edited Rinpoche’s spiritual advice into a narrative that covers all points of the path to enlightenment.
About the book: “Direct and uncompromising, Rinpoche makes it crystal clear that being in prison is a perfect opportunity for developing the radical approach, perfected by all great Tibetan practitioners, of transforming despair and hopelessness into happiness and liberation.
“The extent of the heartfelt compassion and love that Rinpoche offers the people who write to him is incredible. He empowers them to never give up on the development of their potential and their ability to help others.
“This advice is not just for prisoners. It is for all of us.”
Here’s a short excerpt from Chapter 1:
Prison Is Not the Real Prison
Living one’s life under the control of ignorance is actually the heaviest prison—and everyone is living in it.
The inner prison
People who are not in prison think that only people like you are in prison, but they have no idea about all the prisons they themselves are in. Ordinary people, those who are not practicing Dharma—including people from the courts, the police, kings, and presidents—are actually living in prison. People who are free to travel around, going wherever they want, doing whatever they like, or billionaires who think they have everything, all the desire objects, are all living in prison. Your external prison, the building you live in, is nothing in comparison with their inner prisons! It is very important to look at other sentient beings in this world and see how much they are suffering. They are the real prisoners. There are so many examples of this, people who are suffering so much, their inner life is so miserable, they are crying and unhappy. Wealthy people, for example, having so many things but still not having found satisfaction, can be more unhappy than people who have very little. Even if they’re billionaires, trillionaires, zillionaires, living in a house made of diamonds, with billons of cars, swimming pools, millions of servants—they are not happy. Some years ago, the most successful person of the year was on the cover of Time magazine—successful in making money, that is. After he became rich he couldn’t even go outside, because he was so scared that people would kidnap him. So he stayed inside his whole life, which means it was exactly like living in prison, mentally living in prison, and mentally suffering even more than a person in prison. So much suffering!
The prison of wrong concepts
In fact, we are all in these inner prisons. We are trapped in the prison of wrong concepts: believing that impermanent phenomena are permanent; believing that samsaric temporal pleasure is happiness; believing that the body, which is only a container of dirty things, is clean. There are so many wrong concepts and views, and these prisons are from time without beginning.
The prison of attachment
We are living in the most harmful prison, the prison of attachment, of desire. Normally we live just for this life’s happiness. We look at samsara as if it’s a beautiful park, but in reality it is suffering. When we live with attachment—doing the things that attachment wants twenty-four hours a day, always working for attachment, always clinging to this life—all our actions become negative karma, the cause of samsara. Attachment traps us like a fly trapped in the hot wax of a burning candle. It overtakes us like a giant tidal wave. The result is so many problems, one after the other. Our heart is filled with misery. There is no peace. There is only confusion and dissatisfaction.
The prison of anger
And when we don’t succeed in getting what our attachment wants, anger arises and we harm other sentient beings, thus destroying the causes of our happiness, our merit and good karma. Our mind is wild, not only now but since beginningless rebirths. We are wild, out of control, like a mad elephant.
The prison of self-cherishing
We live in the prison of self-cherishing, living our life with self-cherishing thought. We feel this self is the most important one, more precious than others, the most precious one among all sentient beings. Perhaps we think that we are the most important one even among all the holy beings, the buddhas and bodhisattvas! When we follow the self- cherishing thought, whatever we do, all the actions of our body, speech, and mind, become an obstacle to achieving happiness and, eventually, enlightenment, and an obstacle to liberating numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and leading them to enlightenment. …
For more on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new book Enjoy Life Liberated from the Inner Prison and to read the complete first chapter:
EnjoyLifeLiberatedFromTheInnerPrison.com
Enjoy Life Liberated from the Inner Prison has been published as a fundraiser for Liberation Prison Project by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive and sponsored by The Bodhichitta Trust. For the past twenty-five years the Liberation Prison Project has been a lifeline for people in prison worldwide, who turned to it for Buddhist books and spiritual advice in an effort to find meaning in life when everything else was lost.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
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“Distorted Emotions and Destructive Perceptions,” November 2020. Photo courtesy of Science & Wisdom LIVE.
Jamyang Buddhist Centre, the FPMT center in London, UK, launched their new project, Science & Wisdom LIVE, on November 11, 2020, with a dialogue between two scientists and two contemplative practitioners. Project managers Marco Colnaghi and Dr. Sajda van der Leeuw share the story.
Science & Wisdom LIVE, supported by Mind & Life Europe, aims to bridge the gap between science and wisdom traditions by bringing scientists into conversation with contemplative practitioners on the biggest challenges of our times.
Science & Wisdom LIVE launched its program with an online dialogue on the topic of “Destructive Emotions & Distorted Perceptions.” The event was held on the traditional Remembrance Day, when we commemorate the first day of peace after World War I and remember the lives lost in war.
Two scientists, Dr. Elena Antonova, a senior lecturer in psychology at Brunel University London and a visiting researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London, and Dr. Wendy Hasenkamp, science director of Mind & Life Institute, joined two contemplative practitioners, Geshe Tenzin Namdak, FPMT resident geshe at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, and Father Laurence Freeman, a Catholic priest and a Benedictine monk of Monastery of Sta Maria di Pilastrello in Italy and the Director of the World Community for Christian Meditation, for a lively discussion on negative emotions and their possible solutions. The event was moderated by Scott Snibbe, host and creator of the podcast “A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment.”
The dialogue began with an exploration of why we call certain emotions “negative” or “destructive” and how they can lead to patterns of behavior that bring suffering to ourselves and others. The speakers then launched into an inspired (and truly inspiring) exchange about the possible antidotes to non-virtuous states of mind, discussing how contemplative traditions offer us practical tools to release the grasp of negative emotions.
“Distorted Emotions and Destructive Perceptions,” November 2020. Photo courtesy of Science & Wisdom LIVE.
Dr. Elena Antonova and Dr. Wendy Hasenkamp reflected on the scientific approach to the study of our inner world and explored how recent scientific findings, such as neuroplasticity and social baseline theory, can inform a more constructive way of understanding our minds and thinking about emotions.
Dr. Elena Antonova said, “An accepted dogma on which a lot of our Western society is based—and which has dominated our baseline idea of the mental state—is the state of anxiety, survival, vigilance, and separation. (Because we also perceive animals primarily as being in a relationship of predator and prey.) However, some scientists suggest that we should entertain the possibility that serenity, contentment, and connectiveness is our primary baseline, but that this gets disturbed when we’re put in the state of flight or fight response.”
Dr. Wendy Hasenkamp explained, “We need to repattern these entrenched patterns that have been developed over the course of our lives—and potentially inter-generationally—which can be done in many ways. We are learning about neuroplasticity and neural patterning, and that there’s a capacity of the brain to change. We need to reactivate a pattern that’s already there, and then carve a different path. This comes close to contemplative traditions, where we have to sit with negative emotions and where we learn about the role of acceptance and how to lovingly embrace what’s happening to us, after which we can start to create a different pathway or outcome.”
Geshe Tenzin Namdak and Father Laurence Freeman offered their often poetic insights from their own practices and experiences with meditation.
Father Laurence Freeman said, “There’s a variety of spiritual practices, centered in meditation, that can release us from the pattern of the hold of these negative emotions over time, with support from others. … Essentially, as the Buddhist would say, we have Buddha nature—or as the Christians would say, we are in the image of God. We are a living icon of the Divine, yet we need to build up a likeness to God over a lifetime, through becoming aware of ourselves and our problems, and also hoping (and later on trusting) that at the core of our being is an essential goodness, compassion, and virtue.”
Geshe Tenzin Namdak remarked, “We have a potential of the mind, which Father Laurence mentioned is like icon nature, but then there is obscuration—the ‘clouds’ that obscure that nature. So we need to first find acceptance of the problem without getting involved in it (as a neutral observer). This will lead to acceptance and the ability to observe—instead of engaging with—destructive emotions. Then we can start to have an intention for change and repattern our mind accordingly. We then have a freedom before any emotional hijack sets in.”
Watch a four-minute excerpt of the November 11 dialogue on the Science & Wisdom LIVE YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/TSzHK5lvpV0
A video recording of the full event will be published soon.
Science & Wisdom LIVE brings meditation practitioners into conversation with scientists to address the problems of contemporary society and come to new possible solutions. The Science & Wisdom LIVE dialogues are based on the ideas of societal wisdom, the deliberate use of human knowledge and experience to cultivate well-being.
As a long-term series, these dialogues aim to enrich our insight, wisdom, and understanding of mind and life. Each dialogue touches upon specific sub-themes where science and contemplative traditions intersect, such as the ethics of artificial intelligence, gender equality, climate change, and the benefits of mindfulness and meditation for mental health.
To learn more about Science & Wisdom LIVE, learn about upcoming events, and subscribe to their newsletter, visit their website:
www.sciwizlive.com
Follow Science & Wisdom LIVE on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/sciwizlive
Listen to interviews with the November 11 panelists and recordings of the event on the Science & Wisdom LIVE podcast:
https://www.sciwizlive.com/podcast-episodes/
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
- Tagged: geshe tenzin namdak, interfaith, jamyang buddhist centre, mind and life, science & wisdom live
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Lama Yeshe and Geoff Jukes, Kew Gardens, London, 1982. Photo courtesy Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
For more than three decades, the Meridian Trust has been documenting on film and video Buddhist teachings and traditions around the world. The UK-based organization has collected an archive of more than 2,500 hours of footage, including rare footage of the generation of Tibetan lineage holders who first went into exile. Vicki Mackenzie shares the story of the Meridian Trust and its connection to FPMT in the new online story “Preserving the Past for Future Generations: The Meridian Trust Documents the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition as It Grows in the West.” Here’s a short excerpt from the story:
Unbeknown to most Buddhist students, there is a stash of hidden treasure accessible through a mere tap of the fingertip. Faces, voices and words of the most venerable masters who managed to escape from Tibet, video of His Holiness the Dalai Lama receiving the Nobel Peace prize, extraordinary footage from Tibet itself of its culture and historical events, and little gems of meetings between students and gurus. It’s accessible through the Meridian Trust website, an archive of over 2,500 hours of footage that has recorded the vanishing Tibetan traditions. And it is the brain child of Geoff Jukes, long term British student of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and manager of some of the biggest names in the British music industry.
“The late 1970s and early 1980s, was an extraordinary time to meet the Dharma,” Geoff said. “There seemed to be a seemingly unending supply of these very rare beings, who appeared in our midst, the repositories of the unique Tibetan culture that was rapidly vanishing. It became very clear to me what an extraordinary window of opportunity we had been given, and it wasn’t going to go on forever. I wanted to record and preserve it for future generations. I discussed it with Lama Yeshe, and he was very enthusiastic.” …
“For me, however, it’s the early films that are particularly precious because no-one else was doing it then,” said Geoff. “We caught some iconic FPMT moments such as His Holiness’s and Lama Yeshe’s teachings at Institut Vajra Yogini in France and at Istituto Lama Tsong Khapa in Italy in 1981. Many FPMT centers do not realize the special, iconic moments we’ve captured and which are available to them.” …
Read the complete online story “Preserving the Past for Future Generations: The Meridian Trust Documents the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition as It Grows in the West.”
Visit the Meridian Trust online to watch videos and learn more about the video archive. The Meridian Trust is expanding the scope of its online work in January 2021 with a new, updated website, which will include podcasts and articles covering a wide range of Dharma subjects.
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
15
Kopan monks making light offerings on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, December 10, 2020, Kopan Monastery. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Tsongkhapa Day, or Ganden Ngamchoe, is a celebration of the anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana. It is celebrated on the 25th day of the 10th month of the Tibetan calendar. This year, Lama Tsongkhapa Day fell on December 10.
Lama Tsongkhapa Day light offerings at Kopan Monastery, December 10, 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Kopan Monastery on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, December 10, 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Kopan Monastery offered a variety of auspicious activities on this occasion. We are pleased to share this short video of some of the events of the day, including a Heruka Lama Chopa in the morning, the Kopan Lama Gyupas taking Guhyasamaja self initiation, and a clip of Lama Zopa Rinpoche sharing this about light offerings: “Light offering is very important, in particular, by making light offerings you are able to dispel the darkness of ignorance and develop Dharma wisdom. Any light offering can dispel darkness, it doesn’t have to be just a butter lamp. You can offer electric lights and even the sun.”
The video ends with many monks making light offerings in the dark while circumambulating the stupas on the Kopan grounds.
https://youtu.be/YT0cwI9PEoA
Please join us in rejoicing in all of the powerful and merit-making activities offered around the world in celebration of Lama Tsongkhapa.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation, and community service.
Watch the video series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and find links to videos in transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
- Tagged: kopan monastery, lama tsongkhapa day, light offering, video
3
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching in the garden at Kopan Monastery, November 19, 2020. Photo by Lobsang Sherab.
Rinpoche with his giant birthday cake, which everyone enjoyed.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthday is celebrated on December 3. Rinpoche is at Kopan Monastery where he has been for most of the year due to COVID-19 restrictions. Celebrations for Rinpoche’s birthday began at 5:30 a.m. at Kopan with the offering of the Sixteen Arhats Puja. Rinpoche attended and Khadro-la joined the puja and the whole day celebrations. During the puja the body, speech, and mind mandala was offered by Venerable Roger Kunsang on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. What followed was a day of activities including traditional Tibetan dances and dharma sketches, and a large birthday cake offered for all in attendance to enjoy.
During the celebration, Rinpoche took time to explain that there are many ways to make one’s birthday most meaningful including Vajrasattva tsok or Medicine Buddha practice. Otherwise, it’s just a distraction and negative karma following attachment. You can invite your friends to do practice together, whatever is possible, even reciting OM MANI PADME HUM together with the strong thought of impermanence and bodhichitta. One can also think of the knife cutting the cake as cutting one’s ego. This makes even serving the delicious cake so meaningful! This way, you are not just wasting time.
Kopan Monstery monks looking on during Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthday celebration.
Please enjoy this short video of the young Kopan monks singing happy birthday to Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
https://youtu.be/qpsLg3u-g5I
As Rinpoche is continually stressing: The purpose of life is to benefit sentient beings and not harm them. Rinpoche’s entire life has been an example of this: tirelessly benefiting others from the smallest and most vulnerable among us including insects or animals killed for meat or human pleasure; to the most feared and misunderstood including pretas, nagas, hell beings, and the most deluded and dangerous human beings among us. As Rinpoche explains: Every single happiness you have experienced since beginningless rebirths comes from them, including every ant you see on the road, mosquito flying around, person you don’t like, person who hates you—yes, even your enemy—every happiness comes from them. Numberless buddhas, Dharma, Sangha—they all came from every hell being, every hungry ghost, every animal, every human being, every sura and asura, every bug that bites you. So who you take refuge in—Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—they came from every sentient being, so every sentient being is so precious and so kind.
In 2018, Lama Zopa Rinpoche shared a video message from Switzerland on his birthday offering advice on how to best see one’s birthday and the practices that can be done that become the causes for total and complete enlightenment for oneself and for all sentient beings.
https://youtu.be/ajT7srFuHw8
We look forward to sharing more details and photos from Rinpoche’s birthday celebration at Kopan Monastery.
Please join the entire FPMT community and students around the world in offering sincere prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long and healthy life, so that he may continue to show us by his perfect example how to live life to the best of our ability in order to be of most benefit and the least harm to others. You can download Long Life Prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation, and community service.
Watch the video series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and find links to videos in transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
- Tagged: birthday, lama zopa rinpoche, long life
30
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with flower offering at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, July 2020. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been staying at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. We’ve added a new photo album for the months July through October 2020 with more than eighty photos of day to day life at Kopan Monastery and Nunnery.
Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Thubten Tendar walking around Kopan Monastery (with new gift), Boudhanath, Nepal, August 2020. Photo by Lobsang Sherab.
The photos feature Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the monks and nuns of Kopan. Highlights include the fire puja for purification and healing that Rinpoche did with Khadro-la and other high lamas, a special long life puja for Rinpoche, Kopan’s annual consecration ceremony, and many other teachings, pujas, and daily activities.
See more photos of Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/
The stupa garden at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, September 2020. Photo by Lobsang Sherab.
Watch more from the video series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and find links to videos in translation, transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
Practice advice from our teachers, Dharma study-from-home opportunities, and more can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
13
Vens. Losang Gyaltsen and Lobsang Tendar, the previous and current Nalanda Monastery directors, receive the keys to the Gachepel property from previous property owner, Didier Leyrisse, Lavaur, France, October 2020. Photo by Ven. Losang Chodrak.
On October 12, 2020, Nalanda Monastery, the FPMT monastery in the South of France, celebrated a significant step in their project to develop a retreat location called Maitreya Pure Land. The nearby property, known as Gachepel, was handed over to the monastery in a symbolic moment.
Nalanda’s Facebook page narrated the photo they posted of the occasion: “The happy moment of receiving the key from the owner of Gachepel, the neighboring property. We managed to acquire it (with your enormous help) with a plan to transform it into a retreat place for both monastic and lay people. Maitreya Pure Land is a big step and also a big responsibility for Nalanda. Thank you all who made it possible! Let’s rejoice and pray that this project will be most beneficial for all sentient beings.”
Geshe Tenzin Losel (Graham Woodhouse), Ven. Losang Gyaltsen, and lay people offering prayers at Maitreya Pure Land, Lavaur, France, October 2020. Photo by Ven. Künkhyen.
Maitreya Pure Land was inaugurated on October 24, 2020. The celebratory event included a visit to the new land, a community vegetarian lunch, speeches, prayers, and a ribbon cutting ceremony.
About the event, Nalanda Monastery wrote on Facebook, “Very happy moments! Maitreya Pure Land, our new retreat land, was recently inaugurated in the presence of Emmanuel Joulié, the mayor of Labastide-Saint-Georges, Gomde Rinpoche, Nalanda Monastery’s abbot Geshe Lobsang Jamphel, Geshe Jamphel Gyaltsen, Geshe Graham Woodhouse, and a great community of monks, nuns, and lay practitioners. All together we had about 100 visitors. The rainy days miraculously stopped and we were granted a beautiful sunny day. We all came together in the courtyard of our new retreat place and performed Lama Chöpa with Tsog Offering as well as ‘Praises to the 21 Taras.’
“Ven. Lobsang Tendar, Nalanda’s new director, expressed his gratitude, saying, ‘We are very very fortunate to have this beautiful property now. I hope it will benefit all sentient beings. Thanks to all sponsors who have contributed. Also, thanks to our teachers and holy beings: without their blessings nothing would happen.'”
Watch “Vision for Maitreya Pure Land – Retreat Place near Nalanda,” created by Ven. Thubten Zoksang, on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/RqZg93_8VXo
In October 2018, Nalanda Monastery learned of the possibility of purchasing Gachepel, a neighboring property which had been a family home for two hundred years, in a private sale from the owner. The agreed upon price was 1.2 million € (US$1,340,000).
The first donation, US$100,000, and the property’s new name, Maitreya Pure Land, were given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche when he visited Gachepel in June 2019. Later, Nalanda Monastery’s then director Vens. Losang Gyaltsen and current director Lobsang Tendar went on a fundraising tour. Nalanda Monastery successfully completed their fundraising campaign on March 19, 2020.
Gomde Rinpoche, Geshe Lobsang Jamphel, Geshe Jamphel Gyaltsen, and Mayor Emmanuel Joulié at Maitreya Pure Land, Lavaur, France, October 2020. Photo by Ven. Künkhyen.
Rinpoche said, “It would be excellent for those who have studied at Nalanda, both monastics and lay, to do semi-isolated retreats [at Maitreya Pure Land] in order to realize the teachings. Therefore, by acquiring Gachepel, Nalanda can provide a retreat center allowing monastic and lay practitioners to integrate and realize the Buddha’s teachings.
“The results from achieving this goal are many. Notably more Western practitioners will become qualified and experienced teachers, being able to benefit the Dharma and sentient beings. Also Gachepel will help to ensure the preservation of the complete Tibetan Buddhist tradition in the West.”
For more information about Nalanda Monastery, visit their website:
https://nalanda-monastery.eu/index.php/en/
For more information about Maitreya Pure Land, visit their website:
https://maitreya.nalanda-monastery.eu/
US$100,000 was offered toward the purchase of new retreat land for Nalanda Monastery in France. This land will be used to facilitate lamrim retreats. Rinpoche commented that it would be excellent for those who have studied at Nalanda, both monastics and lay people, to do semi-isolated retreats at this new retreat land in order to realize the teachings.
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
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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.Use problems as ornaments, seeing them as extremely precious, because they make you achieve enlightenment quickly, by getting you to achieve bodhicitta. Experience these problems on behalf of all sentient beings, giving all happiness to sentient beings. This is the ornament.