International Office News
February 2018

Losar Tashi Delek!

Happy Tibetan new year to all our dear friends!

With love from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and
everyone at FPMT International Office

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during Root Institute’s 30th anniversary celebration, India, January 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

“If you know Dharma, if you practice Dharma, meditation, then you completely transform [problems] into happiness! So you enjoy your life every day, every hour, minute. With bodhichitta, you make your life beneficial to numberless sentient beings!”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, during the 100 Million Mani Retreat, Italy, October 2017.

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 News:

Thanks for all your recitations for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s health! Please rejoice as we offer them to Rinpoche for Losar!

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Maitreya School, Root Institute, India, January 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Schedule

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s schedule – new teachings added!

Enjoy livestreams of many of the teachings above and recordings of Rinpoche’s most recent teachings via Rinpoche Available Now!

Advice:

Highlights from our blogs:

Remedy for Obstacles, Fear, and Worry

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ven. Tenzin Jamyang, at the entrance to Maitreya School and Tara Children’s Project, Bodhgaya, India, January 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche sent a letter to a student who was experiencing a lot of obstacles, as well as fear, unhappiness, and worry. Here’s an excerpt from Rinpoche’s reply: “I heard about your difficulties. As you know, all these difficulties do not exist from their own side, even though they appear like that to our hallucinated mind. The difficulty appears to exist from its own side, to exist by itself. It appears real, using ordinary language.” Read in full …

Lama Zopa Rinpoche turning the prayer wheel at Root Institute, India, January 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Change the Label,
Change Your View

How you see something depends on past karma as well as on how you label it, Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches in a short video clip recorded during the 100 Million Mani Mantra Retreat in Italy in October 2017. “Even if it is an unpleasant object, even if it is problem, in a relationship or whatever, the way you view it is the way you label it—positive label or negative label,” Rinpoche teaches. “You make a positive label by thinking of the benefits of the problem.” Read in full …

Find a wide range of advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on Rinpoche’s Advice page. Subscribe to our FPMT news blog to get updates as soon as they are announced.

International Office News:

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Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing fish in the lake at Tso Pema (Rewalsar), India, February 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

It’s Time to Empty Merit Boxes!

If you have a Merit Box with offerings in it, please submit them soon! Offerings received between now and March 31 will become the funds used for the 2018 Merit Box grants given in May. These grants help local FPMT communities around the world with the resources they need for their Dharma projects. Just think, your offerings could be transformed into a new Dharma translation, a new holy object, needed repairs for a Dharma center, or support for someone’s retreat. Learn more and submit your Merit Box offerings …

New from Education Services

• Bodhisattva Vows PDF updated, these vows provide clear guidance as to what kinds of actions should be practiced and what should be avoided in order to be of greatest benefit to others, develop compassion, and overcome selfish ways of being.
• Abbreviated Long Life Puja to Lama Zopa Rinpoche (Lama Chopa with Sixteen Arhats), learn more about this long life puja text on FPMT.org.

For Center, Project and Service Directors, SPCs, Board Members, Registered Teachers and Coordinators:

(This advice is specifically for those offering service in these roles.)

Affiliate Area Highlight: Compilation of Key Advice, Resources and Updates in 2017

Key advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and resources and organizational updates provided during the last year are now available in one document for easy review. You’ll find Key Advice, Resources and Updates to Note – 2017 in the Resources at a Glance/Compilations of Key Advice section of the Affiliates Area. (Log in before clicking the link!)

FPMT World:

Rejoice!

Successful Foundation Service Seminars in Spanish

Attendees of the Foundation Service Seminar near Madrid, Spain, December 2017. Photo courtesy of Paloma Fernandez.

Organizer and co-facilitator of the Foundation Service Seminar in Spain in December 2017, Paloma Fernandez writes: “One question that came from many participants was: ‘When is the next one?’ I have the feeling that this is the sign that the first FSS in Spain was a great success!’” Read in full …

We also rejoice in the Foundation Service Seminar recently completed in Mexico, also in Spanish, from which 25 students graduated!

The next Foundation Service Seminars are being hosted at:
Jamyang Buddhist Centre, UK: August 3-8
Milarepa Center, USA: September 1-5

The FSS in the UK will be followed by an FPMT Teacher Development Service Seminar.

Opportunities to Offer Service in FPMT

Would you like to spend your days in a very meaningful way? Have a look at the regularly updated meritorious opportunities to offer service as a volunteer or as paid staff in FPMT centers, projects, and services around the world.

Impermanence at Work

Maitreya Buddha Project Kushinagar, India
mbertels8@gmail.com

Nagarjuna C.E.T. Granada, Spain
We welcome new spiritual program coordinator (SPC) – Manolo Merino
With grateful thanks to outgoing SPC – Antonio Jabaloy

Thubten Kunga Center, USA
www.thubtenkungaling.org
info@thubtenkungaling.org

Thubten Norbu Ling, USA
We welcome new spiritual program coordinator – Rachel Ryer

Tong-nyi Nying-je Ling, Denmark
Athensvej 26, 1st floor
2300 Copenhagen S

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