International Office News
March 2019

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Nepal, December 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

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Lama Zopa Rinpoche News:

Khyongla Rato Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Tushita Meditation Center, Dharamsala, India, February 2019. Photo by Ven. Nicky Vreeland.

Schedule

We make recordings of Rinpoche’s recent teachings always available to you at Rinpoche Available Now.

Advice

The Advantages of Cherishing Others

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and monks doing incense puja, Kopan Monastery, February 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche sent this advice about developing a good heart to a student who had been offering healing classes at a center for twenty-five years: “ As you know, caring for sentient beings, compassion for sentient beings, cherishing sentient beings, opens the door [to limitless qualities.]” Read in full …

Check Carefully When Meditating on Emptiness

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at the Light of the Path 2016 retreat, Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA, August 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In August 2016, during the Light of the Path retreat, Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised students to check carefully when meditating on emptiness:“When many people meditate on emptiness they say that nothing exists. Do you understand? Nothing exists. [When you do that] you are not meditating on emptiness.” Read in full or watch the video …

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International Office News

Annual Review 2018: Live with Compassion

We are happy to announce our FPMT Annual Review 2018: Live with Compassion. Our new annual review is available to read as an eZine and a downloadable PDF.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you all numberless times for all your service, dedication, practice of holy Dharma with your body, speech, and mind, and for your devotion and good heart,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche writes in this year’s annual review.

In addition to advice from Rinpoche, the FPMT Annual Review 2018 includes an update from FPMT CEO Ven. Roger Kunsang, an overview of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s tireless Dharma activities, and highlights from International Office’s departments.

Please note: The FPMT Annual Review 2018 is available in digital format only, meaning it will not be printed and posted to FPMT centers, projects, and services. 

New Materials from Education Services

• Written by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Recognizing the False I, now in ebook and PDF formats, is a commentary on and set of simple meditation techniques for identifying the object to be refuted— what Rinpoche calls “the false I”—during reflections on emptiness. The text was specifically composed for students engaging in the self-generation portion—often called “the ultimate deity”—of kriya yoga tantric practices, such as nyung nas. The meditations can also be used by students during retreats on the Heart Sutra or any other retreat focused on emptiness. Additionally, Rinpoche offers these techniques to all students in general to help them meditate on emptiness correctly during their daily practices.
• Meditations on White Tara, now in ebook format. The practice of White Tara strengthens and restores good health and life-force energy.
• A Meditation on Orange Manjushri, now in ebook format, written by the Fifth Dalai Lama.

Supporting Tibetan Elderly in Need

Two residents share these new simple, clean, and safe rooms at Lugsum Samduling Home for the Aged and Disabled.

Thanks to the kindness of those who donate to the fund, the Social Services Fund offered grants to support the extension of Lugsum Samduling Home for the Aged and Disabled, Bylakuppe, India, which cares for approximately forty elderly Tibetan individuals. This enabled accommodation and prayer wheels to be added.

Without homes like this, many elderly first-wave Tibetan refugees have very little prospect of accommodation or support, as many are without families of their own. Further, by supporting the creation of holy objects, FPMT is helping the elders to take ultimate care of themselves by providing the conditions for them to create merit for this and future lives. The Social Services Fund has been supporting elderly Tibetans in this way since 2015, and currently offers grants to six homes.

FPMT World:

Rejoice!:

Productive National Meeting in Mexico!

FPMT National Coordinator, Gilda Urbina, organized a very fruitful national meeting for the FPMT centers, projects, services, and study groups in Mexico.

Updates from LRZTP

• LRZTP 8 will finish in March 2020, followed by a two-month interpreting intensive.
• A two-month beginner level Tibetan short course will begin in April 2019.
• LRZTP 9, the next two-year course, will open in October 2020: advertising and registration for this course will start in the middle of this year.

Opportunities to Offer Service in the FPMT Organization

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. Newly added: Nagarjuna Center, Madrid, Spain is looking for a new director; Mahamudra Center, New Zealand, needs a spiritual program coordinator; Nalanda Monastery, France has many volunteer opportunities.

Impermanence at Work

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

Ganden Tendar Ling, Russia
We welcome new director – Andrey Lomonosov

Istituto Lama Tsong Khapa, Italy
Please note this change in email address: segreteria@iltk.it

Root Institute, India
We welcome new spiritual program coordinator (SPC) – Ven. Khadro
With grateful thanks to outgoing SPC – Drolkar Court

Gonpo Ludup Study Group, USA, has closed.

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