International Office News
June 2019

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, France, May 2019. Photograph by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing dogs at Nalanda Monastery, France, May 2019. Photograph by Nicolas Balthazar.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche News:

Schedule

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s next scheduled teaching will be June 28-30, hosted by Ganden Center, Riga, Latvia.

Cancelled: Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s ongoing transmissions of Most Secret Hayagriva, which were scheduled at Sera Je Monastic University, India this November. These teachings have been cancelled by the organizing committee as Jhado Rinpoche had been scheduled to give similar transmissions a few weeks later.

Recordings of Rinpoche’s recent teachings are always available at Rinpoche Available Now.

Advice

Living with Bodhichitta is the Happiest Life

Lama Zopa Rinpoche enjoying a park in Madrid, Spain, April 2019. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught on how everything we receive, even the motivation of bodhichitta, comes through the kindness of other sentient beings.

“What makes life most beneficial to numberless sentient beings, the happiest life, is bodhichitta, living life with bodhichitta—the happiest life, no regret now and no regret in the future. It’s the happiest life…” Read in full …

Retreat at Institut Vajra Yogini with Lama Zopa Rinpoche Brings FPMT ‘Family’ Together

Varjayogini Retreat participants in front of the Kadampa stupa at Insitut Vajra Yogini, France, May 2019

The five-week Vajrayogini Retreat led by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Institut Vajra Yogini in the south of France has finished. The family feeling was experienced by FPMT students from around the world who attended the retreat—many of them students of Rinpoche for more than thirty years. Read more about this retreat and the “amazing, amazing, amazing” final week …

Subscribe to our FPMT news blog to get regular news.

International Office News

Ethical Policy in More Languages

We’re delighted to add translations of the FPMT Ethical Policy in French, Italian, and Spanish with our big thanks to the translators.

New FPMT Inc. Board Members

The FPMT Board (the board of FPMT, Inc.) is delighted to welcome three new board directors. Chair of the board, Andrew Haynes, commented:
“The board has been searching for new members for a while. In particular we wanted to have people with long term knowledge of the FPMT organization, who also had professional skills and good knowledge of US non-profit organizations.”
Read more about the new, and existing, board members.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, France, May 2019. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The Foundation Store is Going Digital-Only!

The Foundation Store will transition to only distributing digital files. This means that physical Dharma and meditation supplies—such as thangkas, prayer wheels, statues, malas, ritual items, incense, khatas, etc.—will no longer be available after current stock is depleted. If you think you will need books and meditation supplies from the Foundation Store, please submit your order now while supplies last.

For those who love print books, some core educational practice materials are already available by print-on-demand through Amazon, which are printed and shipped locally within each Amazon territory. More materials will be made available by print-on-demand soon!

New from Mandala Publications

Maitreya Instituut Loenen, the Netherlands, hosted an interfaith retreat at the end of 2018 that sought to transcend the usual interfaith dialogue model. Over the course of a four-day retreat focused on compassion, students from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and the Sufi tradition shared prayers, mantras, meditations, and music, and traded quotations from 13th-century Sufi poet Rumi and 8th-century Buddhist scholar Shantideva. Maarten de Vries, assistant director of Maitreya Instituut Loenen, describes the special event in the online story, ”Maitreya Instituut’s Interfaith Retreat Creates a Community Experience Focused on Compassion.”

Become a Friend of FPMT

Supporting Elderly Tibetans

In recent years, due to the kindness of benefactors, our Social Services Fund has been able to offer support to elderly homes in India caring for Tibetans of advanced age who have no access to other means of support. Offering these grants to elderly homes is one way to help repay the kindness and bravery of the Tibetan people. There are many Tibetan elders in the exile community who have either been rendered destitute or whose families are not capable of taking care of them due to dire circumstances. In 2019 we were very happy to offer grants totaling US$287,085.23 to five homes that directly benefit 370 elders. Read more …

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

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

Policy Update

As you will have read via the CPMT e-group, the policy regarding Copyright and Ownership of the Teachings for Resident Geshes and Teachers has been updated.

Taste of the Foundation Service Seminar

Group photo, courtesy of Ianzhina Bartanova.

We’re delighted to share with you that Wendy Ridley, a senior Foundation Service Seminar facilitator, recently facilitated a fruitful Taste of the Foundation Service Seminar at Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The Taste was designed by FPMT Service Seminar coordinator, Amy Cayton, to introduce and help people understand the benefit of an FPMT immersion training via the Foundation Service Seminar retreat. The Taste worked well, as center director, Ianzhina Bartanova, told us:
“I am very delighted to report about the Taste. There were 21 participants including two potential board members, the director of the FPMT center in Darkhan, and fourteen GDNSL employees. I think the Taste gave very good imprints, and planted the seeds for a full five days Foundation Service Seminar retreat.”

FPMT World:

Thank you and Farewell

Two long-time FPMT students passed away in June. Both will be missed by their FPMT and own family.

Bob Jacobson worked for FPMT International Office while it was located in Taos, New Mexico, USA; and for many years he was the director of the FPMT center in Missoula, USA: Osel Shen Phen Ling.

Peter Baker was the founder, director for many years, and benefactor of the FPMT center in Vermont, USA: Milarepa Center.

Registration for the Kopan One-Month Lamrim Course

Registration for the famous one-month lamrim course at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, opens on August 13th! This course is a core FPMT program. This year, the course starts on November 17th. In addition to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Ven. Robina Courtin will be the main teacher.

LRZTP Goes from Strength to Strength

The FPMT interpreter and Tibetan training program, the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program, is always developing! Read about progress on LRZTP 8, and the brief Tibetan language intensive LRZTP offered in Dharamsala, India.

Opportunities to Offer Service in the FPMT Organization

Would you like to spend your days in a very meaningful way? Take 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. Newly added: Jamyang Buddhist Center of Leeds, UK is looking for a spiritual program coordinator, and a house manager.

Impermanence at Work

Contact information for the following, and all, FPMT centers, projects, and services can be found in the FPMT Directory.

Centro Muni Gyana, Italy
We welcome new director – Marco Farina
With grateful thanks to outgoing director – Lucia Geraci

Centro Studi Cenresig, Italy
We welcome new spiritual program coordinator (SPC) – Laura Molinazzi
With grateful thanks to outgoing SPC – Andrea Fuser

Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Malaysia
We welcome new director – Eam Lee Lim
With grateful thanks to outgoing director – Daniel Yeoh
We welcome new spiritual program coordinator (SPC) – Seok Lee Chong

Jamyang Buddhist Center, London, UK
We welcome new resident geshe, Geshe Tenzin Namdak

Nagarjuna Center, Granada, Spain
We welcome new spiritual program coordinator (SPC) – Charo Tutau
With grateful thanks to outgoing SPC – Manuel Merino

Nagarjuna Center, Madrid, Spain
We welcome new director – Fernando Fernandez
With grateful thanks to outgoing director – Daniel Bardran

UK National Coordinator
We welcome new coordinator – Ven. Barbara Shannon
With grateful thanks to outgoing coordinator – Jay Simpson

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