International Office News
December 2021

Warm season’s greetings to you, and our best wishes for peace, happiness, harmony, and joyous compassion through 2022 and beyond.

May all the holy wishes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Thubten Yeshe, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche be fulfilled perfectly and immediately.

We send our heartfelt thanks to each of you supporting the FPMT mission as students, staff, benefactors, and friends. We rejoice in the great beneficial efforts of the entire FPMT family.

One of four posters available to download.

Live with compassion, work with compassion, do everything with compassion–this is Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice to us. Rinpoche commented that this advice encapsulates the essence of the practice of students in the FPMT organization.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche:

Light of the Path Retreat 2022

The next in the series of Light of the Path retreats is scheduled for August 14-28 2022! This will be a new model of retreat because of pandemic restrictions. We are designing a hybrid retreat, with both online and, we hope, in-person opportunities. Retreat host, Kadampa Center, expects to open registration by late February.

How Anger and Patience Relate to Each Other

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Rigsel Rinpoche (on right) and other young monks, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, November 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In a short video recorded during a 2018 retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Australia, Lama Zopa Rinpoche responded to a question about how to practice patience. We first must have a strong understanding of how harmful anger is, Rinpoche explains. If we don’t understand the danger of anger, then we won’t be persuaded to practice patience. Read more …

Teachings from the 2011 Retreat – Available Now

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, April 2011. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In April 2011, Lama Zopa Rinpoche began teaching during the Bodhicaryavatara (A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia. Rinpoche taught for about ten days before manifesting the symptoms of a stroke. Now for the first time, these precious teachings from Rinpoche have been made publicly available and can be streamed for free. Read more …

Find advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche 24/7 on Rinpoche’s Advice page.
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We’re Rejoicing About:

1,000 Buddha Statues Offered to His Holiness the Dalai Lama

One of the statues completed for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s long life.

We are extremely happy to share the auspicious good news that 1,000 statues of Shakyamuni Buddha have now been offered to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on behalf of the FPMT organization. This project began in 2019, and we are delighted to share the details of its completion. Read more …

Find Our Materials More Easily

We have been reorganizing in order to make it easier for you to find our prayer and practice materials. For a complete list of FPMT Education Services prayers and practices, please visit our new catalogue page. Find all new arrivals and updated materials available on our Foundation Store.

• We continue to make more materials available in ebook format. These can now be downloaded as either PDFs or ebooks:
  Practices of Arya Sitatapatra (White Umbrella Deity)
  The Practice of White Tara and Chenrezig Lion’s Roar to Eliminate Sickness and Life Obstacles
  The Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: A Request to Pacify the Fear of Famine
• We also continue to create new editions of existing PDFs, including:
  The Norbu Zangpo Zung
  The Arya Wisdom Mantra of Six Syllables
• New audio MP3s added to the Foundation Store include:
  Celestial Mansion Extremely Secret Sublime Success Mantra
  Lama Zopa Rinpoche Holy Name Mantra
  Shakyamuni Buddha Holy Name Mantra

Raising Support for our Give Where Most Needed Fund

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Nepal, November 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

As 2021 comes to a close, we’re inviting your support for the projects of the Foundation, which spring from the FPMT mission. These include expanding access to Dharma studies and practice; supporting Sangha and the Gelug lineage; building holy objects for inspiration and peace; providing large grants for social services benefiting children and elder Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal, among many others. We’re aiming for US$25,000 by year’s end! You can offer support here.

Tibetan Government Works to Eliminate Violence Against Women

We’re delighted to note that the Central Tibetan Administration has been working to eliminate violence against women. Their conference on this is available to watch on Youtube. Lama Zopa Rinpoche commented that he felt it was a very good presentation of the issue.

New FPMT Study Group

We welcome a new FPMT probationary center (study group) in Italy – Thubten Kunkyen.

Opportunities and Changes within the Organization:

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, November 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Opportunities to Offer Service in the FPMT Organization

Would you like to spend your days making a meaningful contribution? Have a look at the various meritorious opportunities to offer service as a volunteer or as paid staff in FPMT centers, projects, and services around the world. Newly Added: Kopan Monastery, Nepal is looking for qualified teachers for the Kopan School; Land of Medicine Buddha, USA, is looking for a manager.

For Those Offering Service in FPMT Affiliates:

Please Display the Live with Compassion Posters

Poster on display at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia.

As you know, Rinpoche requested each FPMT center, project, and service to prominently display his Live with Compassion quote, as it is the essence of our service and practice. Therefore we made four posters available in high resolution, which are in the For Display in Centers, Projects, Services and Study Groups section of the Affiliates Area. Many of you have sent us photos of the poster on display, which we enjoyed and rejoice about!

Coming Soon– FSS Online!

In early 2021 we will be piloting the FPMT Foundation Service Seminar (FSS) as an online training. FSS registered facilitators have condensed the FSS retreat into six modules. The FSS Online is not meant to replace the Foundation Service Seminar Retreat, however, we hope it will be particularly helpful until onsite experiences are common again and as an additional training format. More information to come!

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FPMT International Office is Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s office.