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International Office News
February 2015
Losar Tashi Delek!
Happy Tibetan New Year to all our dear friends!
With love from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and
all at FPMT International Office
“Sakya Pandita mentioned that for thousands of eons of having practiced the paramita of charity to sentient beings, even the merits of this, all the merit collected that way is achieved in one second by the guru’s path. That means when you work for the guru, following the guru’s advice or fulfilling the guru’s wishes, all that merit that has been collected for thousands of eons by making charity, in one second it gets done. So you have to understand this. So please rejoice your whole life, be most unbelievably happy. Happy in Dharma, not happy with attachment and anger – this is totally different, it is happiness to achieve enlightenment to benefit sentient beings. So there is no time for depression, day and night, even when you are sick … happy!” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche, USA, 2014
Beneficial Exercise for the Mind – New from Mandala
Will You Be Our New Friend for Losar?
Send in Your Merit Box Offerings
More on the Five Pillars of Service
Masters Program Materials Updated
How Your Donations to the Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund Are Helping
Statues of the 16 Arhats Available Now
Key Advice and Points to Note from 2014
Remembering the Kindness – Tenzin Ösel Hita Turns 30!
New Padmasambhava Statue Completed at O.Sel.Ling
Have this translated into your native language by using our convenient translation facility located on the right-hand side of the page. French and Spanish speakers will find the FPMT International Office News translated each month in the “Bienvenue” and “Bienvenidos” tabs on the FPMT homepage!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s News:
New Advice and Activities
Excerpts from our blogs on FPMT.org:
How to Take Care of Your Life [Video], February 3
Lama Zopa Rinpoche during a long life puja at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2104.
Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
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“How to take care of your life? Life used for anger, to harm others, to
harm others; that is what in the world people do…. Now, the way of taking care of life, the correct way of taking care of your life, is to be non-attached – a positive mind of non-anger, non-ignorance, and non-attachment should be there. So there is taking care of your life with satisfied, inner happiness, a fully satisfied mind renouncing samsara.”
Read more and watch the video …
Put Enlightenment Second, January 28
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Bangalore, India, March 2014.
Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
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“Why do I say put enlightenment second? Of course, enlightenment is extremely important because without it you cannot work perfectly for sentient beings…. But what should be in your heart is sentient beings as the reason for your attaining enlightenment. What should be the first thing in your heart, in your life, the goal of your life? Sentient beings.”
Read more …
How to Benefit the Bodies and Minds of Birds [Video], February 6
Rinpoche explained on camera some of the ways he and Buddha Amitabha Pure Land residents benefit local birds with a very special bird feeder and bird bath.
Read more and watch the video …
Find a wide range of advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on Rinpoche’s Advice page. Go to the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive for lots more advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Keep up to date with Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Rinpoche’s Schedule
Please contact the hosts directly with any questions regarding the event.
February 28 – March 5 Teaching on “How to Meditate on Patience” and Cittamani Tara initiation, Root Institute, India
May 9 – 10 Teaching on “Working for Peace: Pacifying Inner and Outer Turmoil,” Mahamudra Centre, New Zealand
May 16 Teachings on Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Chandrakirti Centre, New Zealand
May 17 Vajrasattva initiation, Chandrakirti Centre, New Zealand
May 22 – 23 Teaching on “How to Have a Happy, Meaningful Life,” Dorje Chang Institute, New Zealand
May 24 “Chat about Death,” Amitabha Hospice Service, New Zealand
May 30 – 31 Teaching, Buddha House, Australia
June 13 – 15 Teaching, Vajrayana Institute, Australia
June 17 Amitayus initiation, Kunsang Yeshe Retreat Centre, Australia
July 1 – 2 Teaching on “Three Principals of the Path,” Ganden Tendar Ling, Russia
July 3 – 5 Great Medicine Buddha initiation, Ganden Tendar Ling, Russia
Hosted by Maitreya Institut, Loenen, the Netherlands:
July 11 – 12 Teachings on the Essence of the Kadam by Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen
July 13 – 19 Heruka 5 Deities initiation
July 20 Long life puja
September 5 Public talk, Guadalajara, Mexico
September 5 – 12 Lam-rim retreat and initiations (initiations to be confirmed), Guadalajara, Mexico
September 18 – 20 Centro Yamantaka, Colombia
September 25 – 27 Centro Shiwa Lha, Brazil
November/December Teachings during the one-month lam-rim course, Kopan Monastery, Nepal
2016
September 11 – 26 Light of the Path retreat, Kadampa Center, USA
Check Rinpoche’s schedule online or subscribe to our FPMT news blog to get updates as soon as they are announced.
Rinpoche Available Now – Enjoy livestreams and recordings of Rinpoche’s most recent teachings!
International Office News:
Sign up to receive daily posts of all FPMT news blogs via email.
News from FPMT Education Services
New Materials:
Sutra for Entering the City of Vaishali PDF
Vajra Cutter Sutra in amulet format now available
Program News: Centre Kalachakra, France offers a week of retreat at its retreat venue near Paris on Seventy Topics with Geshe Dakpa Tsoundou and Masters Program graduate Ven. Olivier Rossi, who tutored for the subject in both Basic and Masters Programs. A most exceptional opportunity for French speakers to reflect on this difficult Basic Program subject!
A successful Foundation Service Seminar was completed this January at Land of Medicine Buddha, United States. Twenty-three participants attended the seminar and six trainees took part in the facilitator training afterward.
Beneficial Exercise for the Mind – New from Mandala
Ven. Tenzin Gache, an American monk studying at Sera Je Monastery in India, just received the top place in Sera Je’s memorization exam (lo-gyu chenmo), having memorized 873 pages. In this month’s new online feature, “Memorization: Beneficial Exercise for the Mind,” Ven. Gache explains how the centuries-old Buddhist practice of memorization is a key part of Tibetan monastic education as well as how it can be an excellent practice for lay practitioners, especially in our hyper-electronic 21st-century lives.
Mandala’s expanding online offerings includes daily news updates and stories from the international FPMT community.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, August 2014.
Photo by Ven. Sherab.
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Will You Be Our New
Friend for Losar?
We’re striving to gain 108 new Friends of FPMT during these two auspicious weeks of Losar! Becoming a Friend is a great way to support many FPMT activities and you’ll also receive Mandala magazine and free access to FPMT education materials. If you would like to offer your support and help us reach our goal, become one of our 108 new Friends of FPMT here today!
Send in Your
Merit Box Offerings
Dear friends, it is time to empty your Merit Boxes and send in your offerings to support this year’s Merit Box grants! Click here to learn how to send in your offerings before March 31.
For Center, Project and Service Directors, SPCs, Board Members, Registered Teachers and Coordinators:
(This advice is specifically for those offering service in the roles listed above.)
More on the Five Pillars of Service
Find more from Ven. Roger Kunsang on the Five Pillars and ideas about how to bring the pillar of interfaith into your center, project or service from the September 2014 Australian National Meeting.
Masters Program Materials Updated
In preparation for the mid-March start of the third Masters Program at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, the Masters Program materials page was updated with Ornament materials.
How Your Donations to
the Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund Are Helping
Following up on one of their action points from CPMT 2014 – “More communication, more transparency from International Mahayana Institute (IMI), more sharing about what the Sangha is doing and how we are using your contributions” – a reminder that Ven Chantal Carrerot, IMI director, recently sent an update via the CPMT e-group thanking donors to the Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund and explaining how your donations supported Sangha activities in 2014.
Statues of the 16 Arhats Available Now
From Nalanda Monastery director Ven. Gyaltsen via the CPMT e-group:
“We are very happy to announce that Nalanda Monastery is now able to provide 16 Arhats statues. Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised centers, projects and services to have the 16 Arhats statues.”
Read about the benefits of making offerings and requests to the 16 Arhats.
Key Advice and Points to Note from 2014
Please find our 2014 compilation of key advice and points so that you can easily check if you are up to date. Compilations of key advice and points from 2013 and 2012 are also available.
FPMT World:
Rejoice!
Remembering the Kindness – Tenzin Ösel Hita Turns 30!
Tenzin Ösel Hita, the incarnation of our incomparably kind guru and co-founder of FPMT, Lama Yeshe, turned 30 years old on February 12, 2015. Please join the entire FPMT community in remembering the kindness of Lama Yeshe and wishing Tenzin Ösel a long, long, long and healthy life. May his activities flourish and continue to benefit others.
As a way of repaying the inconceivable kindness of Lama Yeshe, FPMT International Office has established the Big Love Fund to support the educational endeavors of Tenzin Ösel. Please consider supporting this fund.
Consider going on pilgrimage with Tenzin Ösel to India and Nepal from April 12-26, 2015. Details of this pilgrimage, along with information on how to book, can be found by visiting Más Allá del Viaje (Beyond the Journey).
Padmasambhava statue at O.Sel.Ling, Orgiva, Spain, 2015.
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New Padmasambhava Statue Completed at O.Sel.Ling
Anne Wenaas, director, says:
“We just finished filling the statue this afternoon and so many people helped out. This is a new gompa and Padmasambhava, who is 2 meters [6.5 feet] high, is totally dominating it!”
Opportunities to Offer
Service in FPMT
Please check out the regularly updated meritorious opportunities to offer service as a volunteer or as paid staff in FPMT centers, projects and services around the world!
Atisha Centre, Australia is looking for a director; Mahamudra Centre, New Zealand is looking for a spiritual program coordinator, a vegetarian cook, housekeeper and groundsperson.
Impermanence at Work
Choe Khor Sum Ling, India
We welcome new (first!) spiritual program coordinator (SPC) – Shanti Gopinath
Karuna Hospice Service, Australia
We welcome new director – Elisabeth Roberts
With grateful thanks to outgoing director – Phil Williams
Ganden Centre, Latvia
New Tel: +371 27551900
With love,
FPMT International Office
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