Mandala Blogs

Bob Sharples leading a Healing Meditation Group session at Tara Institute, Brighton East, Victoria, Australia, July 2018. Photo by Llysse Velez.

Social or Community Service is one of FPMT’s Five Pillars of Service. The Social or Community Service pillar sits with the other four Pillars of Service—Dharma, Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom, Interfaith activities, and Revenue-generating activities.

Llysse Velez, center manager of Tara Institute (TI) in Victoria, Australia shares that Bob Sharples, a long-time TI member and volunteer has been recognized by the Australian government for service to the community health as a psychologist.

Bob Sharples was recently awarded a Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division. Established in 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, the award recognizes Australians and other persons for their outstanding achievement and service.

Bob Sharples. Photo courtesy of Tara Institute.

Nominations for the Order of Australia award come from the community. Bob was nominated by people who attend TI’s Healing Meditation Group. Bob has been running the group on a voluntary basis for twenty-seven years at the request of Lama Zopa Ripoche. About thirty-five people attend each session.

We are all thrilled as Bob is an extraordinary person who has benefited countless people in the Healing Meditation Group.

One of our Healing Meditation Group participants wrote us to say, “Bob was instrumental in setting me on the right path. I am sure this has allowed me to live with cancer, and stay alive and well now for nineteen years. Bob and Tara Institute are both deserving of all the accolades heaped upon them.”

Sandra Kinread, who assisted Bob with the Healing Meditation Group as a volunteer for fourteen years, said, “Each twelve-week course is structured and framed against the backdrop of Buddhist ethics, and yet is delivered in a most dynamic and non-proselytizing, interactive way.

“People walk through the doors of Tara Institute having received one of life’s curve balls. It can’t be underestimated the value of interaction with others who are struggling with very serious health conditions and prognoses. The immediate understanding, empathy, and bonding that occurs is very powerful and transformative. 

“Bob has the ability to hold empathically a group of diverse people whilst tending to their individual needs with good humor, kindness, and compassion; it is really a testament to his generosity of spirit, skill, intelligence, and long experience.

“It takes a special person to be able to support and sustain others through that experience over such lengthy periods. He is never mawkish, sentimental, or condescending; rather he uses his enormous breadth of learning, as well as his immense professional and life experience to benefit others. He has such a love of life and the natural world. This is reflected in his use of poetry in some of the meditations.

“I have always said that Bob is a person on this earth doing what he was meant to do. The Healing Meditation Group spearheaded by Bob is a sanctuary for all the people who attend it.”

For more information about Tara Institute and the Healing Meditation Group at Tara Institute visit their website:
http://www.tarainstitute.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.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Birthday celebration, Réunion Island, July 2018. Photo courtesy of Gyaltsab Je Center.

Marc Salamolard, center director of Gyaltsab Je Center on Réunion Island east of Madagascar shares a summary of the celebration held for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s eighty-third birthday.

Réunion Island, July 2018. Photo courtesy of Facebook page Monks Reunion.

On Saturday, July 7, 2018, Gyaltsab Je Center, Tara Association, and Kalé-Kalé hosted a big celebration for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s eighty-third birthday. Tara Association and Kalé-Kalé are local nonprofit organizations that sponsor Tibetan youth and monks in India.

We were very pleased to welcome one hundred guests from the local community as well as five monks from Gyumed Tantric College in Mysore, India.

The first thing guests saw when they arrived at the party was a large banner on the roadside. We also showed our guests photos of His Holiness taken at different points throughout his life.

We performed a puja together and then watched a video about His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s life. We presented and then cut a beautiful birthday cake. All of our guests enjoyed the lunch that we offered, as well as the desserts, which were kindly brought by our guests. It was a very peaceful, joyful, and lovely day.

Watch a YouTube video Fatiha Naili made about our celebration:
https://youtu.be/UzhYZNlig4A

To learn more about Gyaltsab Je Center visit their website:
https://www.gyeltsabje.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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Yangsi Rinpoche and Ven. Sangpo visiting a park in Portland, Oregon, US, 2014. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches at Maitripa College in Portland, Oregon, US, on Saturday and Sunday, August 11-12. Rinpoche is scheduled to give an oral transmission of the 8000 verse Prajnaparamita Sutra on Saturday and a Medicine Buddha jenang on Sunday.

The transmission and preliminary teachings will be streamed live, beginning Saturday at 4 p.m. local time (UTC-7).

Find links to watch Rinpoche teach here:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Portland, Oregon, US, 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

The following weekend, Rinpoche will teach at Kurukulla Center in Boston, Massachusetts, Friday, August 17-Sunday, August 19.

Rinpoche is scheduled to teach on the Seven-Point Mind Training and will give Red Tara and Vajrasattva initiations.

Friday’s teaching, which will be livestreamed, will begin at 7 p.m. local time (UTC-4). Teachings on Saturday and Sunday are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

Video recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings from Portland and Boston will be available to view at any time on the Rinpoche Available Now page on FPMT.org, where you can also find video recordings of all of Rinpoche’s recent teachings:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/

Learn more about Maitripa College and Rinpoche’s teachings August 11-12:
https://maitripa.org/

Find out more about Kurukulla Center and Rinpoche’s teachings August 17-19:
http://www.kurukulla.org/

More information, photos, teaching schedule, and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.

Interfaith meditation retreat, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pisa, Italy, July 2018. Photo courtesy of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa.

Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) in Pisa, Italy, celebrated His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s eighty-third birthday by hosting a three-day interfaith meditation retreat on universal compassion. Manuela Ferro, communications manager at ILTK, and Jeremy Luedtke share the details.

Held over the weekend of July 6-8, 2018, the retreat Giornate di meditazione sulla Compassione Universale focused on the meaning of universal compassion, its importance for all humanity, and its significance in life, at the time of death, and beyond.

The retreat was led by three religious leaders belonging to different traditions, united by the universal value of compassion—our resident teacher Geshe Tenzin Tenphel, Father Giancarlo Bruni, and Father Guidalberto Bormolini.

Interfaith meditation retreat speakers including Father Giancarlo Bruni in black, seated next to Geshe Tenzin Tenphel, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pisa, Italy, July 2018. Photo courtesy of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa.

Many people participated in these experiential days of practice and contemplation. We spent the weekend reflecting on the idea that compassion, love, and kindness are qualities that belong to every person, regardless of faith.

The retreat included an optional twenty-four hour fasting practice. The representatives of the different religious traditions explained how this spiritual practice has been, and is still used in their respective traditions.

Interfaith meditation retreat, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pisa, Italy, July 2018. Photo courtesy of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa.

Participants observed silence during the retreat to support their retreat experience. If it was necessary to speak, then participants embraced the idea of the “right word,” focusing on the practice itself, and on developing loving kindness and other qualities.

It was an event of reconciliation, and one of real and active profound compassion. In his book Toward a True Kinship of Faiths: How the World’s Religions Can Come Together, His Holiness the Dalai Lama says that compassion lies at the heart of all of the world’s religions. Also on this occasion, in reading passages from Christian mysticism, great parallels have been found with Buddhist practices.

Interfaith meditation retreat leaders Geshe Tenzin Tenphel and Father Guidalberto Bormolini in grey, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pisa, Italy, July 2018. Photo courtesy of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa.

Giorgio Raspa, president of the Italian Buddhist Union (UBI), spoke at the opening of the retreat, bringing greetings from the Italian Buddhist community. He underlined how dialogue is no longer just for theologians, but now exists between people from different faiths, through the opportunity to practice together and show respect for each other.

We were inspired to offer this retreat as a gift and tribute to His Holiness the Dalai Lama in honor of his birthday because His Holiness has always had inter-religious dialogue at his heart.

We would like to thank everyone at ILTK who helped make this retreat possible.

For more information about Istituto Lama Tsong Khapa visit their website:
https://www.iltk.org/en/

To watch videos from the retreat visit:
https://www.iltk.org/en/media-eventi/meditazione_sulla_compassione_universale/

View photos of the retreat taken by Manuela Ferro and Ester Nuzzo: 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140688878@N02/sets/72157669012920707

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ladakhi Lama, the attendant of the previous great Khunu Lama Rinpoche, Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, March 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The Buddha’s teaching on the four noble truths are essential to our understanding and practice of Buddhism. Lama Zopa Rinpoche provides clear instruction on this fundamental teaching in his new book The Four Noble Truths: A Guide to Everyday Life, just published by Wisdom Publications.

Here we share a short extract from a longer excerpt published on Wisdom’s blog. In the excerpt, Rinpoche discusses actualizing bodhichitta and offers examples of twentieth century Tibetan masters, including the following. 

… The late Kyabje Khunu Lama Rinpoche, a learned and pure practitioner of bodhichitta, was tutored by the great Buddhist masters in Tibet on philosophy and other types of knowledge. During the early days of Tibetans arriving in India after the Chinese takeover of their country, Khunu Lama Rinpoche lived like a yogi, dwelling with the Hindu sadhus in Varanasi along the Ganges River. One day, clothed like a sadhu—wrapped up in plain cloth and looking unwashed—Rinpoche went to a local Tibetan monastery to ask for a small room. The monks there did not recognize Rinpoche and said no room was available. Rinpoche slept outside on the bare ground, the way the beggars did.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama was visiting that place at the time and knew what was happening, so he went directly to where Khunu Lama Rinpoche was and requested teachings and commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara. Word quickly spread that a great bodhisattva was living there, and soon long lines of people gathered seeking advice from Rinpoche.

Kyabje Khunu Lama Rinpoche was able to recite by heart passages from any root text of the Buddha’s teachings and any of the commentaries. His mind was so robust and totally clear it was most amazing. His holy mind was like the entire Buddhist library.

I once went alone to Rinpoche to request a commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara. Rinpoche declined on that occasion but gave me the complete oral transmission of that text. Rinpoche then told me to translate the Bodhicaryavatara, even though he knew others had already translated it. “You translate,” Rinpoche said to me, advising me that before translating one must know the language and the subject well. I have not yet done the translation, but hope to do so sometime in the future.

I once attended teachings by Rinpoche that went on for a whole day with no break. Rinpoche then approached the wisdom chapter of the Bodhicaryavatara, an unbelievably precious teaching for one who seeks freedom from samsara. However, the minute Rinpoche started teachings on that chapter, I fell asleep. Until that moment I was wide awake. But when Rinpoche began the commentary, sleep overcame me. Some unbelievably bad and heavy negative karma from my past life must have caused that. Imagine—at the wisdom teaching that will bring liberation, I fell asleep!

After the teaching, Rinpoche gave some kambu, which are apricots in a bottle, that I think were from Ladakh. As he gave me the apricots, he said, “Subdue their minds.” I think that that was the last advice I received from Rinpoche. “You have the responsibility to subdue their minds.”

I have not yet subdued my own mind, so I do not know how to subdue the minds of others. But I try to offer advice when I am asked to give teachings. …

Read the entire excerpt from The Four Noble Truths by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, edited by Yeo Puay Huei, on Wisdom Publications blog:
https://www.wisdompubs.org/blog/201806/exchanging-self-others

The Four Noble Truths is available for purchase from the FPMT Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/The-Four-Noble-Truths-_p_3107.html

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche doing prayers with Geshe Sopa Rinpoche a month before Geshe Sopa passed into clear light meditation, Deer Park Buddhist Center, Wisconsin, US, July 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

A student in severe pain wrote to Lama Zopa Rinpoche seeking advice. Lama Zopa Rinpoche explained how to experience the pain for all sentient beings.

It’s very good to think that you are not the only one in pain. My sister has so much pain in her knee all the time, for many years. Also, generally in the world numberless people have so much pain in the hips or in the knees. Geshe Sopa Rinpoche took the aspect of having pain in the knee, but he had an operation and one leg got better, but the other leg was still painful. Geshe-la took that aspect.

There are many people in the world who have pain, not only you, so it’s very good to think this way:

Through my experience of this pain, may all mother sentient beings—the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, suras, asuras, and intermediate state beings—be free immediately from all disease and spirit harm, including hip and knee pain. May they be free from the cause of the pain, delusion, and karma, and not only that, may they all achieve buddhahood as quickly as possible.

In this way dedicate your pain to all sentient beings.

Recite this like a prayer or a mantra, just like reciting OM MANI PADME HUM or any mantra. This is the best practice to purify all your defilements and negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths, and not only that, to also collect the most extensive merits.

Dedicate to the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, suras, asuras, and intermediate state beings. In this way you collect the most extensive merits and this causes you to achieve enlightenment, so you are very fortunate, unbelievably lucky.

This advice is from one great yogi called Choje Götsangpa. This is his practice and advice.

This advice, “Experience the Pain for Others,” is from “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book,” published in May 2018 on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/experience-pain-others

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.

Geshe Ngawang Sangye with Gonpo Ludup Study Group, Laguna Beach, California, US, May 2018. Photo courtesy of Gonpo Ludup Study Group.

Andrew Schrage, marketing coordinator, Gonpo Ludup Study Group in Laguna Beach, California, US, shared this story about FPMT touring teacher Geshe Ngawang Sangye’s visits to their study group:

Geshe Ngawang Sangye came to Orange County, California, to take an intensive English language speaking course at the University of California, Irvine. The Gonpo Ludup Study Group was therefore fortunate to have him accept our invitation to visit and teach us “Tools for Happiness” every Tuesday evening from May 22 through June 12, 2018.

A student of Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery, Geshe Sangye has been a monk since he was nine years old. He recently received his geshe degree from Sera Je Monastery.

From 2007-2017, Geshe Sangye worked for the Sera Je Food Fund, which was an FPMT charitable project that provided nearly 3,000 meals each day for the Sera Je monks. In addition, he organizes pujas for the FPMT organization, works as FPMT International Office’s new geshe coordinator, and manages a variety of other projects in Tibetan settlements in South India. Geshe Sangye also serves as director of a school for young Sera Je monks with a modern curriculum.

Geshe Ngawang Sange, Ven. Robina Courtin, and Carly and Andrew Schrage. Ven. Robina was in town at the same time to help greet Geshe Sangye, Laguna Beach, CA, US, May 2018. Photo courtesy of Gonpo Ludup Study Group.

Geshe Sangye told us, “I am very happy to be here in the United States and to get the chance to study at the University of California, Irvine, while exploring the American lifestyle and learning about the differences of the education system.”

Gonpo Ludup Study Group Coordinator Kate Macdonald said, “Meeting Geshe Sangye and receiving teachings from him has been incredibly precious. He’s very down to earth and easy to talk to. And you can feel his big heart and devotion to Lama Zopa Rinpoche.”

Geshe Ngawang Sangye teaching at Gonpo Ludup Study Group, Laguna Beach, CA, US, May 2018. Photo courtesy of Gonpo Ludup Study Group.

Amanda Proud, one of the Gonpo Ludup organizers, said, “Geshe Sangye leads with a personal story, so each person can likewise consider a time when they may have had a similar feeling, and how those feels can generate a thought pattern that leads to unhappiness. I appreciate his very humble, personal approach to sharing the Dharma.”

After attending the teachings, Carly Schrage said, “Geshe Sangye really has a way of explaining concepts that makes you examine them with fresh eyes.”

In discussing his teachings on “Tools for Happiness,” Geshe Sangye said, “I am honored to share something that I learned from my monastic life with Gonpo Ludup Study Group. I’m enjoying my time with the group and hoping I can benefit more in coming weeks.”

To learn more about Gonpo Ludup Study Group visit their website:
https://gonpoludup.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.

The July-December 2018 issue of Mandala magazine is on its way in the mail to Friends of FPMT supporters and to the FPMT centers, projects, and services who offer the magazine as a benefit.

For those wishing to purchase a copy, the July-December issue is now available through the FPMT Foundation Store.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Buddha House students after blessing all of the sentient beings in the ocean, Adelaide, South Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The cover story, “Creating Harmony through Our Thoughts and Actions: FPMT Community Members Share Ideas on how to Create and Support Harmony,” opens up the conversation on how we cultivate an environment of peace and unity in our Dharma communities.

Contributors to this story include FPMT organization directors, spiritual program coordinators, Foundation Service Seminar facilitators, regional and national coordinators, and FPMT registered teachers.

We have made the print version of this cover story available for all to read online.

There were also a few submissions that we unfortunately were not able to fit into the print magazine that are available online as well.

In addition to the cover story, the latest print edition includes an interview with the 104th Ganden Tri Rinpoche Lobsang Tenzin; an excerpt from His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s The Life of My Teacher: A Biography of Kyabje Ling Rinpoche; and an interview with the new abbot of Sera Mey Monastery, Geshe Tashi Tsering, who served for twenty-four years as the resident teacher of Jamyang Buddhist Center.

The print version of the excerpt from His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s The Life of My Teacher: A Biography of Kyabje Ling Rinpoche is available for all to read online.

Finally, in this issue we also share the story about how an enormous Twenty-one Taras thangka brings blessings of peace to our chaotic world. Plus, teachings from Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Mandala magazine is published twice a year. If you would like to have future issues of Mandala sent to you in the mail, sign up for Friends of FPMT at the Foundation Friends level or higher. Friends of FPMT can also read the full issue online or download it to their electronic reading devices. They can also choose to donate their print issue to an incarcerated person, facilitated by the Liberation Prison Project.

We hope you enjoy the July-December 2018 issue of Mandala magazine.

Amitabha Buddhist Centre director Tan Hup Cheng with Master Yap’s advance team, Kushinagar, India, April 2018. Photo courtesy of Maitreya Buddha Project Kushinagar.

Marcel Bertels, director of FPMT project Maitreya Buddha Kushinagar, shares an update. This news comes from Kushinagar, India, where Shakyamuni Buddha entered into Mahaparinirvana. Marcel served as country director of Maitreya Project Trust until 2003. He recently rejoined the project.

As an important first step to plan the 170-plus acre site of Maitreya Buddha Project Kushinagar, Lama Zopa Rinpoche requested world-renowned Feng Shui Master Joey Yap to determine the feng shui for the project. Master Yap is the author of 162 books on feng shui and has been involved with many major developments all around the globe. A number of these projects are commissioned by Fortune 500 companies.

Master Yap kindly offered his services and those of his team entirely for free, and even offered to pay for their travel expenses from Malaysia to the site in Kushinagar.

A three-member team from Master Yap’s company arrived in Kushinagar on April 20, 2018, to start with the preliminary investigations. They worked with a team of Indian experts in drone services to do the required aerial videography.

A photo taken by the drone of Maitreya Project Trust’s Executive Director Virginia Roche, Tan Hup Cheng, and the feng shui and videography team on the Kushinagar land accompanied by some of the local children, Kushinagar, India, April 2018. Photo courtesy of Maitreya Buddha Project Kushinagar.

For the purpose of the feng shui, the site was too large to document from the ground, and it had to be done by drone. To orientate themselves further, on April 21 the team drove around the periphery of the site and physically walked the land.

The project architect will use Master Yap’s feng shui recommendations in the master planning of the site.

We would like to thank Master Yap and his three-member team for their incredible support. Amitabha Buddhist Centre Director Tan Hup Cheng coordinated the visit of the team and traveled along with them to Kushinagar.

For more information about Maitreya Buddha Project Kushinagar or to make an offering visit the website:
http://mbpkushinagar.org

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.

Vens. Michael Lobsang Yeshe and Thubten Lhundrup offering tsog to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche sent these words of encouragement and advice in a handwritten card to the monks at Nalanda Monastery.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the geshes and Sangha attending the retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Founded by Lama Yeshe in 1974 at Kopan Monastery, the International Mahayana Institute (IMI) is FPMT’s community of monks and nuns. IMI Sangha members serve in the FPMT organization as registered teachers, directors, spiritual program coordinators, editors, and more. On July 16, FPMT’s sixteenth annual International Sangha Day, we celebrate and thank our Sangha.

Ven. Losang Tendar, IMI director draws our attention to our aging Sangha members, a topic highlighted by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on April 7, 2018 during the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa Retreat at The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ven. Thubten Gyatso, Ven. Tenzin Tsapel, Ruby Karmay, Ian Green, and Ven. Thubten Tendar at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Tsultrim.

During the retreat in Bendigo this year, Lama Zopa Rinpoche brought up the topic of our aging Sangha members.

He spoke about many older students, who have dedicated so many years—their lives—to developing and building up the FPMT. Rinpoche said we can see how this has brought benefit to sentient beings.

Nuns inside of the gompa during the retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, April 2018. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

He said in the past we have had meetings about how to help the Sangha when they become old, but we did not come up with a workable solution. He joked, “we had meetings numberless times.” Rinpoche advised that from time to time we should have discussions and meetings to talk about obstacles, difficulties, and solutions.

Ven. Thubten Lhundrup and Ven. Michael Losang Yeshe offering tsog during the retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche said of the Sangha, “When they become old—including myself—we can’t move, can’t function, can’t see, can’t walk, with lots of pain.” Rinpoche joked, “Maybe I have to come back to Bendigo from Nepal for an old folks’ home.”

Rinpoche said the Sangha will age like this soon. He presented the idea that we should organize for the Sangha, and that this needs some discussion. He said the Sangha will need help.

Ven. Tenzin Nangsel and Ven. Tenzin Palyon at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Tsultrim.

Suggestions for celebrating International Sangha Day include reciting the Sutra for Remembering the Three Jewels; showing respect for and appreciation of monastics; generating a deeper awareness of the Sangha Rare Sublime One; and making a donation to the Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund.

To learn more about the International Mahayana Institute visit the website:
http://imisangha.org

Watch recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching during the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa Retreat at The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia, March 30-May 12, 2018.
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/lama-zopa-rinpoche-teachings-in-bendigo-2018/

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.

Geshe Tenzin Zopa with Combatants for Peace, Jerusalem, Israel, February 2017. Photo courtesy of Shantideva Study Group.

Shuki Preminger, coordinator of the Shantideva Study Group in Israel, introduces us to Women Wage Peace and Combatants for Peace—two groups of Palestinians and Israelis working together to create peace—and shares the details of their meetings with Dagri Rinpoche, Geshe Tenzin Zopa, and Dr. Lobsang Sangay:

Combatants for Peace is a Palestinian-Israeli organization committed to promoting dialogue and a non-violent resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. It was started by ex-soldiers from both sides who participated in the ongoing violent, bloody armed-conflict.

Twelve years ago, the group started to observe a mutual memorial day for the victims of both sides of the violence called the Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony. This alternative memorial day draws attention to the idea that grief is the same on both sides. The pain is the same; the tears of a mother crying for her killed or wounded child are the same.

Over the years, attendance at the Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony has slowly increased. Last April, 10,000 people participated in the ceremony, while 50,000 more watched online.

Three years ago, Nobel Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu gave an inspiring video keynote to the participants. Afterwards I was contacted by Uri Ben Asa, the Israeli CEO of Combatants for Peace, who is a personal friend of mine. (Combatants for Peace also has a Palestinian CEO, Sulliman Chatib.) Uri Ben Asa was seeking a similar message from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

Shortly after I received this request, Geshe Tenzin Zopa, an FPMT touring geshe, came to visit the Shantideva Study Group. I arranged a meeting with Geshe Tenzin Zopa, Combatants for Peace, and the Shantideva Study Group. We jointly discussed the benefits of a compassionate, non-violent dialogue.

Geshe Tenzin Zopa with Combatants for Peace, Jerusalem, Israel, February 2017. Photo courtesy of Shantideva Study Group.

Geshe Tenzin Zopa told us, “Our spiritual teacher, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, even though he himself went through unbelievable suffering—losing his country, losing his people—he was able to remain in peace.”

“He never initiated even one single moment or one single action of violence. That’s what our teacher taught us,” Geshe Tenzin Zopa said. “Even though so much suffering was brought to us by some of the leaders of the Chinese Communists, it has to be healed only by compassion. It has to be healed only by dialogue. It has to be healed only by peaceful movements. It has to be healed only by understanding.”

Dagri Rinpoche with Women Wage Peace, Jerusalem, Israel, February 2018. Photo courtesy of Shantideva Study Group.

Last February Dagri Rinpoche, an FPMT touring lama, visited us and we arranged a meeting with Dagri Rinpoche, Combatants for Peace, and Women Wage Peace.

We created a video with highlights from the visits of Geshe Tenzin Zopa and Dagri Rinpoche. You can watch the ten-minute video on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/QzdGQrYPUIQ

In June 2018 Lobsang Sangay, President of the Central Tibetan Administration, made his first official trip to Israel. He convened a meeting in East Jerusalem attended by Combatants for Peace, Shantideva Study Group, and the Bereaved Family Circle. It was a very inspiring get-together, where both wisdom and compassion were discussed as the only means to end this conflict.

Lobsang Sangay emphasized the idea of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to not use any violence in the Tibetan quest for freedom. The local participants were absolutely stunned by this, and a very positive discussion ensued. At the end a Palestinian from Jericho said to us Israelis: “Perhaps you can make us love you so that we want to live together with you.”

To me this resonated with the very powerful statement—which can be seen in the YouTube video—made by a Palestinian father whose daughter was killed by an Israeli soldier. The father reflects on this tragic event in the most powerful, heartbreaking words of compassion and wisdom.

The father said, “In my case, I really ask the [person] who killed my daughter that if you ask me to forgive you, I will forgive you. Because I think I’ve already forgiven myself, and forgiveness, it’s for yourself. You discover that you can live in peace even in the middle of a very violent conflict because no one can occupy you and you live a normal life.”

We will continue to work with these group and all others who advocate non-violent compassionate conflict resolution. We hope this is of benefit to all sentient beings.

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For more information about Shantideva Study Group visit their website:
http://shantideva.org.il

To watch teachings given by Dagri Rinpoche and Geshe Tenzin Zopa in Israel visit the Shantideva Study Group’s YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHdMzMLITnUWC_NO50D-tJQ/videos

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