FPMT News August 2007   We hope you enjoy your new newsletter – from now on we are combining the Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and the FPMT General News into one wonderful FPMT NEWS. The FPMT NEWS will come to you every month. We hope you enjoy reading it!   Rinpoche’s Current Activities and Schedule New Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche International Office News Minutes from the 2006 FPMT Geshe Conference FPMT Training Mandala Magazine Education Programs New Guidelines for Creating your Website FPMT Snippets Opportunities to Offer Service in FPMT Impermanence at Work – Center Details Changes

At the request of the organizers of Milarepa – The Movie, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was recently filmed talking about Milarepa. This talk will part of be a 30 minute special feature on the Milarepa DVD that will include a number of other lamas. The filming took place recently when Rinpoche was attending Geshe Sopa Rinpoche’s teachings in Deer Park, Wisconsin. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang

 

Geshe Tenzin Dorje of Institut Vajra Yogini, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Geshe Sopa Rinpoche taking a break during Geshe Sopa’s teachings at Deer Park. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang

Rinpoche’s Current Activities and Schedule For the detailed schedule and details of how to contact the center and book for these events, please go to Rinpoche’s Schedule. Rinpoche will be giving teachings on the Three Principal Aspects of the Path and 21 Tara initiation at Guhyasamaja Center, USA on Oct 20 – 21. He will then teach at the Kopan November course towards the end of this year. Rinpoche will teach at Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India from Dec 28 2007 – Jan 2 2008.

 

New Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche Sangha are the Heroes Excerpt: By mixing with people who have a totally different culture, and then being able to live in your practice, the vows, well then that’s being a really great hero, that’s a great challenge. This hero is unbelievable. This is the hero over the delusions, not a hero from killing many millions of people, the hero regarded by worldly people as a hero. Here, this is a real hero – the real hero is a hero over the delusions, who is able to conquer the delusions.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in his room at Kopan Monastery, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang

 

International Office News

FPMT resident geshes waiting to greet His Holiness. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang

Minutes from the 2006 FPMT Geshe Conference, Sarnath For all center directors, spiritual program coordinators and FPMT teachers – these minutes (which are in the FPMT Affiliates Area) have some excellent and useful advice, from Rinpoche, Khenrinpoche Lama Lhundrup, Ven Roger Kunsang, and of course the FPMT resident geshes.  Plus there are some lovely photos!

An excerpt from the lovely concluding talk by Khenrinpoche Lama Lhundrup:

“We, the geshes, should organize long life puja for Rinpoche. Having said that, since we are all working to fulfill Rinpoche’s holy wishes, thus I feel that to be able to do that in itself is making a real long life puja to Rinpoche.  Even today this very meeting also pleases Rinpoche. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is also very pleased. For all this to continue it is extremely important for Rinpoche to live long, for hundreds of years. In every country wherever there are Dharma centers established, peace is being established. Therefore it is very important for Rinpoche to live long. We, all the geshes, must unite and go according to the holy wishes of Rinpoche. Up to now you have worked very hard and will continue to do so in the future. This is from all us geshes [Lama Lhundrup offers a khata to Rinpoche] together requesting Rinpoche to live long and with our promise to you that we all will work hard into the future. There have been very auspicious dependent links, and we are able to live with positive dependent links of conditions so thank you very much Rinpoche for that.

Last but not least to the one who takes the main responsibilities of the organization and the centers, the all good Roger Kunsang who, like Samantabhadhra, always with a cheerful face does every piece of work in exact detail and day and night whole-heartedly serves Rinpoche with great devotion, fulfilling his holy wishes, and is extremely talented to take up the entire responsibilities of FPMT on his shoulders, I from the bottom of my heart thank you for your dedicated services.”

CHANGE: Foundation Training in Compassionate Service hosted at Vajrapani Institute has been changed to a two day training only, November 10 and 11th. Led by Amy Cayton, the training will focus primarily on the Inner Job Description and how we can most effectively offer service to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and sentient beings. More details

The much requested Rituals Trainings will be hosted at Institut Vajra Yogini on Oct 19-26. Led by Ven Dondrub, this training is intended for anyone who would like to know more about the meaning of the pujas and rituals we do and how to chant them. More details

Our new-look website fpmt.org/mandala (thanks to our web developer, Adam Payne) is attracting more visitors, so we thought we’d give you something extra – a regular selection from the ‘best of Mandala’. And with the latest Mandala now out, we hear there is a resurgence of interest in going on retreat to places as tranquil as the cover! But one thing we are really waiting for – brilliant photos that say, simply: “LOVING KINDNESS”. We have extended the age restriction so now it’s open to anyone, not just the youngsters. So – what says “LOVING KINDNESS” to you, and how would you capture it in a photograph? Send hi-res images to editor@fpmt.org.

The new edition of Discovering Buddhism for centers is now available! If your center has purchased the previous edition and is currently hosting DB, please send an update to Heather that includes details on how the program is progressing, your schedule and who is teaching and she will send you a complementary disk of the 2007 edition.

The next Masters Program, starting January 2008, promises to become an unprecedented occasion, with an impressive number of students (among them about twenty Basic Program graduates) and an impressive staff (among them several MP graduates)! It will be preceded by a three month intensive Tibetan language course taught by Gavin Kilty. But, if you can’t make it to Italy for six+ years of residential, intensive study, there is another option: the Masters Program On-line! This program runs parallel to the residential program and is offered in both English and Italian. The Masters Program On-line – the modern equivalent of a home study or correspondence course – will use services offered by Moodle , an open-source program especially designed for distance learning programs. Check out what is being offered at Masters Program On-line.

FPMT International Office has often been requested to provide a template for an FPMT study group/center’s website.  Upon consideration we feel that this will not work and that it is better for study groups/centers to create a connection with a web person as you will always need that person to add new content to your website.

So, instead we have created a guide which FPMT study groups and centers can give to your web person so that firstly they can make your website similar in design to the FPMT site, and which they can then use at various levels depending on their proficiency.  FPMT centers and study groups can read our guide here.

FPMT Snippets Maitreya Peace Meditation Around the World From Linda Gatter of Maitreya Project “Thank you to the many FPMT centers and individuals who have joined in the “Maitreya Peace Meditation Around the World.” There are now 47 meditations scheduled each month – including 6 meditations every day! If you don’t already know about the meditation circle, please go to the home page of the website where you will find all of the info and a list showing where and when the meditations take place: www.maitreyaproject.org. Please join us if you can. We’d like to add even more centers and individuals who can commit to regular practice, at a specific time, so that they can act as an ‘anchor’ for meditators around the world. Please contact us at media@maitreyaproject.org if you would like to be added to the list.”

His Holiness visiting Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery in Australia.

Keep checking https://fpmt.org/jobs.html for interesting opportunities to offer service in FPMT centers around the world.

NB: center details are always most up to date in the directory on the FPMT website, https://fpmt.org/centers/

Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore
44 Lorong 25A Geylang
Singapore 388244

Buddha House, Australia
New Spiritual Program Coordinator – Becky Geisler
With grateful thanks to outgoing SPC India Wallace

Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Centre, Nepal  
 fpmt.org-hbmc.org

Jangsem Ling Retreat Centre, Malaysia
Triang
rjling@gmail.com

Langri Tangpa Centre, Australia
535 Old Cleveland Road
Camp Hill, Qld. 5152
Tel: (61) (7) 3398 3310
Fax: (61) (7) 3398 3314   

Liberation Prison Project, Australia
PO Box 340
Blackheath, NSW 2785
Tel: (61) (2) 4787 6030

Rinchen Zangpo Study Group, Mexico
www.rinchenzangpo.org.mx

Tubten Kunga Center, USA
New Director – Maggie Bustamente

With love,
FPMT International Office