Some of the monks of Sera Je Monastery. Photo courtesy of Sera Je Monastery Facebook page.

This year on August 1 we celebrate Chokhor Duchen, one of the four annual holy days of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha which commemorates Buddha’s first turning of the wheel of Dharma and on which merit generated is multiplied one hundred million times. An amazing array of prayers will be happening simultaneously around the world, dedicated to all beings, particularly the entire FPMT mandala—centers, projects, services, students, benefactors, volunteers and all connected to the organization—and all beings who are sick or who have passed away.

The prayers and practices happening will be:

• Recitation of the Kangyur
• Recitation of the Prajnaparamita Sutra
• One Thousand Offerings to Namgyalma
• Namgyalma long life ritual
• Sixty-Four Offerings to Kalarupa
• Recitation of the King of Prayers
• Medicine Buddha Puja

These prayers are being offered by thousands of ordained Sangha in Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery, Kopan Monastery, Gyudmed Tantric College, Gyuto Tantric College, Sera Lachi Monastery, Gaden Lachi Monastery, and Drepung Lachi Monastery.

Nuns of Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery, Nepal. Photo courtesy of Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery.

During the prayers, offerings will be made on behalf of FPMT to the nearly ten thousand Sangha, including the IMI Sangha residing in monasteries and nunneries around the world. Offerings will also be presented to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus.

Sangha will also be making offerings of robes to the Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India; saffron color and umbrellas to the most precious Boudhanath and Swayambunath stupas in Nepal; printing sutras; creating stupas and Buddha tsa-tsas; and liberating animals.

Please rejoice in these incredible prayers and offerings that are being made on behalf of all within the FPMT organization. The Puja Fund is honored to sponsor these activities and if you would like to be part of these offerings at any time, you can donate any amount to the Puja Fund.

This is an incredible opportunity on August 1 to remember these activities and offerings, to rejoice that they are happening, and to dedicate the merits.

Thank you to all who make this possible and especially the Sangha who undertake these prayers and practices on behalf of us all. 

Please find collected practice advice for this merit multiplying buddha day, as well as other information about Chokhor Duchen. 

You can learn more about the beneficial prayers, practices, and pujas sponsored by the Puja Fund, or about FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity. 

Nuns of Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Thubten Choying.

This year on Saka Dawa, June 14, when merit is multiplied 300 million times, the Puja Fund, on behalf of the entire organization, will be arranging the following pujas and practices for the benefit of all beings:

• • 100,000 Praises to Twenty-one Taras offered two times by Gaden Lachi Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery.
  • Recitation of the Prajnaparamita Sutra by Gyudmed Tantric College.
  • 1,000 sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyalma by Sera Lachi Monastery and Gyuto Tantric College.
  • Medicine Buddha Puja by Gaden Lachi and Kopan monasteries.
  • Namgyalma long life ritual  by Drepung Lachi Monastery.
  • Offerings to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus, to an incredible 13,500 Sangha who are performing these pujas and practices, and in IMI communities.
  • Offerings of robes to the Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, and saffron and umbrellas to the Boudhanath and Swayambunath stupas in Nepal.
  • Printing sutras, making stupas, and Buddha tsa-tsas, and liberating animals.

You can be part of these incredible collective prayers, which support the Sangha, as well as the offerings to holy objects, by contributing to the Puja Fund. All donors are included in the dedication prayers.

You can also join by rejoicing in the practices, remembering they are happening on the actual day, and joining in with your own collective prayers.

Thanks to all who make these offerings possible. This is a truly meaningful way to offer support that benefits the entire FPMT organization and all who serve it in any way, to ensure the organization’s success in helping others far in the future, to help fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes for these activities to occur according to his instructions, and to create extensive merit for every living being through dedication. 

You can learn more about the beneficial prayers, practices, and pujas sponsored by the Puja Fund, or about FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity. 

Ven. Roger Kunsang offering a mandala to Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the April 19, 2021 long life puja at Kopan Monastery

Every year Ven. Roger Kunsang, on behalf of the FPMT organization, checks with Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and/or Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la), to determine what practices should be done to help create the conditions for Lama Zopa Rinpoche to have a long life and good health for the coming year. 

The first offering to Rinpoche arranged this year will be a White Tara long life puja on March 11, 2022, at Kopan Monastery. This special long life puja will involve seven days of preparation led by Khadro-la with the Kopan monks. At a later date there will be a Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong and a Guru Rinpoche bum tsog also offered according to the advice received. 

Khadro-la making an offering during a long life puja to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, April 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Our prayers have tremendous power and we invite you to join us by rejoicing in the puja being offered, generating your own prayers for Rinpoche’s health and long life, or making an offering toward the expenses associated with the pujas and practices for Rinpoche’s health and long life.

For additional recent advice from Khadro-la on mantra recitations to do for Lama Zopa Rinpoche, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the entire FPMT organization see: fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/mantra-recitations-for-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-lama-zopa-rinpoche-and-fpmt

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.

The Long Life Puja Fund always contributes to long life pujas offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. You can also learn about the many Charitable Projects of FPMT and discover how the various funds and projects are benefiting others.

Monks of Sera Mey Monastery offering a puja sponsored by the FPMT Puja Fund, prior to local restrictions.

The Puja Fund was established in 1995 as an expansive way for the organization to clear obstacles and generate the merit needed to be of most benefit in the world.

Incredible Opportunity This Lhabab Duchen

On the auspicious day of Lhabab Duchen (October 27), when the merit is magnified one hundred million times, the Puja Fund will be making and extensive monetary offering to 10,000 ordained sangha in India and Nepal. The sangha will be engaged in the recitations of the Prajnaparamita, Golden Light, Arya Sanghata, Vajra Cutter, and Amitayus Long Life sutras and will dedicate the merit of reciting these incredible sutras to all beings and in particular for the FPMT family, for all of the Dharma activities to succeed, and for all the kind donors of the Puja Fund. 

In addition there will be robes offered  to the Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, and saffron and umbrellas offered to the Boudhanath and Swayambunath stupas. These offerings happen monthly throughout the year and always on merit-multiplying days.

If you would like to join in this vast offering, please offer any amount to the

Puja Fund

The monks of Sera Je Monastery.

An Increase of Offerings Due to Pandemic Difficulties

Current pandemic regulations prohibiting large gatherings have impacted monks and nuns in monasteries and nunneries all over India and Nepal who rely on support from offering the service of pujas and other prayers for individuals who request this from around the world. Due to this, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has increased the offerings we make to each sangha member eight-fold this year. We are honored to directly support sangha in this way. With this increase the amount being offered this Lhabab Duchen is US$40,000. 

The Buddha described the vast benefits that arise from making offerings to ordained sangha, the Sangha Jewel, who are living in pure morality. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained that the sangha are the “real heroes” among us because they are working to defeat the delusions and thus living the best lives as human beings. Also, offering to those who are disciples of the same guru, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, becomes offering to the most powerful object of devotion, one’s own guru.

Making Merit Wisely

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has encouraged students to create merit wisely in order to generate the greatest success and fulfill our wishes. The upcoming Buddha multiplying day offers us one of those wise opportunities because merit is multiplied by 100 million times. And if one generates a bodhichitta motivation—the thought to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings—while making an offering, this becomes the cause to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings and is the most powerful way to purify all the defilements you have accumulated since beginningless rebirths. This is very smart business and the best way to create the most extensive merit for yourself and others.

If you  would like to make an offering to the Puja Fund for this purpose, please remember on the actual day (October 27) to rejoice in the offering you have made, to rejoice in the activities of the sangha who are engaged in the recitations, and to dedicate all the merit generated. 

You can learn more about the beneficial prayers, practices, and pujas sponsored by the Puja Fund, or about FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche writing out the Prajnaparamita in pure gold, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, August, 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Recently we shared a video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche explaining some of the profound benefits of writing out the Prajnaparamita Sutra, and some of the history of Rinpoche’s ongoing project to write out this sutra in pure gold which Rinpoche and others have been undertaking for sixteen years including Ven. Tsering, Jane Seidlitz, and recently a monk from Kopan Monastery and a nun from Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery have joined these meritorious efforts. 

We are pleased to share PART TWO of Rinpoche’s teachings on the benefits of Prajnaparamita and invite you to rejoice, again, that after a ten year break due to a stroke, Rinpoche is now writing out this sutra in pure gold again. 

By hearing this sutra, writing it down, reading it aloud, or memorizing it, you create more merit than is fathomable. Rinpoche explains that by doing so, from life to life you crush the oceans of samsaric suffering, you crush the delusions. That is how profound this sutra is, it enables you to reach enlightenment. 

The Prajnaparamita Project is an FPMT Charitable Project which covers the cost of gold, paper, and calligraphy pens for the ongoing writing out of this most precious and beneficial sutra by Rinpoche and others. 

You can learn more about the Prajnaparamita Project as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche writing out the Prajnaparamita, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, August 21, 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

“Even writing one letter from Prajnaparamita, even writing one letter, one syllable, the benefits are unbelievable, unbelievable, more than making extensive offerings, skies of extensive offerings to all the buddhas, so many eons, the merits you collect are unbelievable.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The Prajnaparamita Sutra contains the highest teachings of the Buddha and is among the most precious texts available in the world today. Due to the power of this text, writing it out is a way to generate tremendous merit and receive blessings. In May we shared the incredible news that Lama Zopa Rinpoche has started writing out this sutra in pure gold after a ten year break due to Rinpoche’s 2011 stroke. 

In a recent video, Rinpoche talks about the history of the project to write out the Prajnaparamita in gold, which Rinpoche and a few others have been working on for the past sixteen years. Rinpoche discusses the benefits of writing out this precious sutra, giving extensive commentary on the sutra’s incredible benefits. He also talks about the process for writing it out, including the need for precise calligraphy and high quality supplies.

Rinpoche released two videos on this topic and we are delighted to share the first video with you!
https://youtu.be/66vb6_cjnvM

Some of the advice Rinpoche translates in this teaching includes:

“By writing the Prajnaparamita we create more merit than making offerings to the three great thousand world systems completely filled with Mount Merus of stupas made of the seven types of jewels. We receive patience in the profound Dharma, emptiness, and we have no fear of meditating on emptiness, as quickly as the snap of a finger. All previous merits are small compared to this.

“After writing the Prajnaparamita, if we reveal it, we collect far greater merit than if we engaged in the five paramitas for ten eons, or listened to teachings on emptiness for ten eons. If we show the teachings of the Prajnaparamita to one sentient being, we collect even greater merit. If, after writing the Prajnaparamita, we meditate on emptiness for the duration of one snap of a finger, we create far greater merit than if we revealed the teachings to others for ten eons.”

The Prajnaparamita Project is an FPMT Charitable Project which covers the cost of gold, paper, and calligraphy pens for the ongoing writing out of this most precious and beneficial sutra by Rinpoche and others. 

In the coming days we will share the second part of Rinpoche’s video on this subject. 

You can learn more about the Prajnaparamita Project as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.

It takes Sangha many hours each day to offer water bowls as part of the extensive offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling.

Since 1999, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has arranged to have continual extensive offerings of water bowls and lights offered twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year to create merit for the FPMT organization. Since this began over two decades ago, these offerings have been increasing and are now happening in various parts of the world. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained, “We are not aware of the limitless skies of benefits we achieve from the practice of offering, what we can achieve and enjoy from life to life. Even while you are in samsara, you enjoy good rebirths, wealth, and every happiness. Even just the samsaric perfections are amazing, without adding all those incredible realizations that allow us to offer deep benefit to sentient beings, liberating them from oceans of samsaric suffering and its cause, delusion and karma.”

Rinpoche personally incorporates all of these actual physically made offerings in his daily practices and when doing food offerings he sometimes leads an extensive practice where all of the offerings are visualized and multiplied and then mentally offered to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha and all the holy objects around the world.  

Rinpoche advises students, whenever making offerings in our practice, that we can also remember all the other arranged offerings in Kachoe Dechen Ling, CA, US; Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, WA, US; and also in all the FPMT centers around the world, by using these actual offerings as a basis and then visualizing and multiplying them. In this way, we can join in the merit from those having made these extensive offerings every day.

Extensive offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling, CA, US.

Please Rejoice in Some of the Extensive Offerings Around the World

• Thousands of light offerings, hundreds of water bowls, and a garden full of flower offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling, CA, US. 
• Thousands of light offerings, hundreds of water bowls, and a garden full of flower offerings at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, WA, US.  
• Thousands of light offerings, hundreds of water bowls, and gardens full of flowers offerings at Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India.
• Thousands of lights, hundreds of water bowls and gardens full of flower offering at Kopan Monastery, Nepal. 
•  100,000 lights continually offered at Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC), Singapore.
•  100,001 lights continually offered at Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Malaysia.
• Thousands of water bowl offerings, extensive light offerings at Ganden Do Ngag Shedrub Ling Center, Mongolia. These offerings are made daily by a group of very dedicated elderly volunteers.
• Continually burning butter lamp in front of precious stupa with Trulshik Rinpoche’s holy body in Chailsa, Nepal.
• Continually burning butter lamp in front of Guru Lhakang, Thubten Choeling, Chailsa, Nepal

Please rejoice and remember all these extensive offerings that happen every moment of every day!

Water bowls and extensive offerings at Ganden Do Ngag Shedrub Ling Center, Mongolia, offered by a dedicated group of elderly volunteers.

The Actual Offering Prayer

Through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund Rinpoche supports a number of Sangha to make many of these offerings daily, as well as covering the cost of electricity for the extensive light offerings at Kachoe Dechen Ling, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Kopan Monastery in 2021, and Root Institute, as well as the butter for the continual light offerings in Nepal and also occasionally the meals to the kind volunteers of  Ganden Do Ngag Shedrub Ling Center, Mongolia.

Extensive offerings at Kopan Monastery, Nepal.

You can learn more about the many beneficial activities of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund or other Charitable Projects of FPMT.

Beautiful Nyung-na altar at Institut Vajra Yogini, France.

By Nicolas Brun

One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization is to sponsor 1,000 Nyung-Na Retreats. In response to Rinpoche’s vision, Institut Vajra Yogini (IVY) has been hosting the TENTH 108 Nyung-Na Retreat and has now started to plan the eleventh set of 108 nyung-nas, from November 12, 2021 to mid-June 2022.

This year, following the COVID-19 crisis, the center had to face a really big challenge as the Nyung-Na Retreat was becoming more attractive for people. Before the pandemic, sessions could attract 20-25 people as one had the possibility to come and practice for a session. Unfortunately, the external conditions forced us to announce the end of this possibility because of the safety measures decided by the government.

Ven. Charles leading tenth 108 Nyung-na Retreat at Institut Vajra Yogini.

Because it was impossible to us the completely stop the retreat, all the team decided to keep some of the retreatants in a safe place and include them in the lockdown organization of IVY. Five long-term nyung-na retreatants have been able to stay and keep going three sessions a day, dedicating their practice for all of us and for all beings. We’ve also requested this year Ven. Charles allow us to broadcast some sessions online so that every morning people could join the first session, and do one complete nyung-na every month at a distance.

The Nyung-Na Retreat is an intensive practice that carries great blessings and is highly praised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche as a supreme method for transforming the mind. The practice includes taking the 24-hour Mahayana precepts every day, with the addition of complete fasting and silence every second day. One does four 2.5 hour sessions of well-structured practice that includes meditation, prostrations, and mantra recitation each day. It is a powerfully effective experiential practice that can be done by anyone with respect and faith for the practice.

These nyung-nas will be led in French but people can follow simultaneously in English or other languages.

2021 participants in the 108 Nyung-na retreat at Institut Vajra Yogini.

Everybody is welcome to join for one or more nyung-nas. You can contact Institute Vajra Yogini to enter any number of these retreats (1-100) when they begin the next set. Contributing to the sponsorship of these retreats or completing one or more yourself is directly contributing to Rinpoche’s wishes.

Nicolas Brun is the Director of Institut Vajra Yogini, France. 

A Practice to Open the Heart

As always, participants were moved by this challenging and sincere practice of nyung-na at Institut Vajra Yogini. One retreatant commented, “[Nyung-Na] requires a lot of commitment, discipline, and acceptance of suffering, but for this reason it also allows you to work on several levels.” Another reflected, “It is very special to go on this insightful and heart-opening journey to the many different corners of one’s mind, while being in a space full of kindness and care and with beloved Ven. Charles as a guide and example, who has the capacity to touch the hearts of every participant like a loving mother taking care of all her children equally.” One grateful participant gratefully shared, “Finally a retreat that has meaning for me! I really feel my heart opening for sentient beings.”

“Nyung-Nas are a most powerful, most beneficial and quickest way for you to develop bodhicitta, to collect extensive merit to quickly achieve enlightenment, to become Chenrezig, to liberate sentient beings from the oceans of samsara suffering and bring to enlightenment….This is an extremely powerful practice, it in an incredible way to develop bodhichitta.” —Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund. has been sponsoring the food and accommodation for up to ten people, each year, who undertake this retreat, and for the tenth 108 Nyung-Na Retreat at IVY US$7,315.38 was offered for the first half of the retreat. The next set of 108 nyung-nas is scheduled to begin on November 12, 2021. Lama Zopa Rinpoche is again offering sponsorship for up to ten people to commit to 100 nyung-nas.

You can learn more about the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.

Through the FPMT Puja Fund we have arranged for an incredible vast array of pujas, practices, and offerings for Saka Dawa May 26 when any merit created is multiplied 100 million times.

The pujas and offerings are being undertaken with strong prayers by up to 10,000 Sangha and every practice is extensively dedicated to all the donors of the puja fund, and in particular for all those affected by the pandemic.  By contributing any amount to the Puja Fund, not only will you be a part of all these prayers and practices but also every single puja arranged throughout the year, will be dedicated to you.

“If you make offerings, please remember on the actual day that the pujas are happening, rejoice in them and dedicate the merit. This is the best business and the best way to create most extensive merit.”  – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Monks at Kopan Monastery engaging in puja.

Some of the prayers, pujas, and offerings happening on Saka Dawa*:

• Recitation of the Prajnaparamita.
• 100,000 Praises to Twenty-one Taras offered three times by over 9,000 ordained monks and nuns.
• One thousand sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyalma, Namgyalma long life ritual, Medicine Buddha puja and Sixty-four Offerings to Kalarupa.
• One Hundred Million Mani Retreat by Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery in Nepal.
• Offerings are made to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all of Rinpoche’s gurus and to over 10,000 ordained Sangha around the world.
• Offering paint, gold, and new robes to stupas in Nepal, and Buddha statue in BodhGaya and Jowo Buddha statue in Tibet.

• See the complete list  of all the pujas, practices and offerings that will be happening on Saka Dawa. 

The nuns of of Kachoe Gyakyil Nunnery, Nepal, offering puja.

Thank you to all the donors who make it possible to arrange these continual pujas, prayers, and offerings.

*We are closely monitoring the most current COVID-19 restrictions and will adjust the practices and pujas offered on Saka Dawa according to the safety of all.

You can learn more about the beneficial prayers, practices, and pujas sponsored by the Puja Fund, or about FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche writing out the Prajnaparamita for the first time in ten years with the help of Ven. Tsering, Nepal. May 2021, photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche had been writing the 8,000 verse Prajnaparamita Sutra in pure gold for several years, but since 2011 Rinpoche hasn’t been able to write, as Rinpoche felt his handwriting was not stable enough, since manifesting a stroke that year.  Rinpoche has explained how important it is to write in one’s best calligraphy, due to the incredibly precious text that one is writing out. Under Rinpoche’s guidance several students have been writing out the Prajnaparamita on archival quality rainbow paper including Ven. Tsering, who is now based at Kopan Monastery, and is writing out volumes from the 12,000 verse Prajnaparamita in pure gold full-time, as well as Jane Seidlitz in US, and Ven. Nina at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche writing out the Prajnaparamita, Nepal. May 2021, photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Unbelievably, Rinpoche has started writing out the Prajnaparamita again! Please join us in rejoicing that Rinpoche is able to do this and Ven. Tsering is helping him.

As Rinpoche has explained:

Even writing one letter from Prajnaparamita, even writing one letter, one syllable, the benefits are unbelievable, unbelievable, more than making extensive offerings, skies of extensive offerings to all the buddhas, so many eons, the merits you collect are unbelievable.

 Offering one grain of rice or a tiny flower to a picture of the Buddha, statue of the Buddha, small or big, the benefits is that it brings you up to enlightenment and then you are able to free numberless sentient beings from oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring everyone to enlightenment.  Just by making skies of offerings to numberless buddhas for eons.

 Now here writing one word of Prajnaparamita, the teachings of emptiness, you create far greater merit than making that many offerings, skies of offerings to numberless buddhas for so many eons.

Thank you to all the kind donors of the Prajnaparamita Project, which covers the cost of gold, paper, and calligraphy pens. 

You can learn more about the Prajnaparamita Project as well as the other Charitable Projects of FPMT.

Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong puja that was offered for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life, the entire FPMT organization, and an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, October, 2020, Kopan Monastery. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The FPMT Puja Fund was established so that pujas and prayers, offered by as many as 15,650 ordained Sangha, would continuously be sponsored for the benefit of the entire FPMT organization. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, large groups of monks are not able to gather in South India monasteries, so over these months smaller groups of monks have offered the pujas.

Pujas and offerings are sponsored on all of the holy Buddha merit-multiplying days: Losar, Saka Dawa, Chokhor Duchen, and Lhabab Duchen.

This year on Lhabab Duchen (November 7, 2020) the following pujas were arranged:

• Recitation of the Prajnaparamita (three versions) by the monks of Gyurme Tantric College
• Namgyäl Tong Chö (One thousand sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyälma), and Zangcho offered by the monks of Gyuto Tantric College
• Druk Ch Ma (64 offerings to Kalarupa), Medicine Buddha Puja and King of Prayers offered by the 370 monks of Kopan Monastery
• Druk Chu Ma, Medicine Buddha Puja, and King of Prayers offered by the 400 nuns of Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery (Kopan Nunnery)
• Printing of the Sutra of Golden Light six times, Arya Sangata Sutra ten times, Vajra Cutter Sutra two-hundred times, and Amitayus Long Life Sutra twenty times
• Offerings to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and to all of the International Mahayana Institute sangha communities 

Sangha at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa enjoying dessert sponsored by the Puja Fund on Lama Tsong Khapa Day.

On Lama Tsong Khapa Day (December 10, 2020), Lama Zopa Rinpoche made offerings to all the monks and nuns of Kopan Monastery and Nunnery, and offered nice lunches and dessert to all the IMI sangha communities.

Rinpoche also recently sponsored 100,000 Buddha names recitation by the nuns of Kopan Nunnery. This puja was dedicated to all the animals killed during Darshain festival in Nepal, the tens of millions of turkeys killed during the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, as well as the 17 million minks that were killed due to fears that they were spreading COVID-19 in Denmark.

Puja at Kopan Monastery, June 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

After a pause in these offerings for a few months due to COVID-19, we are happy that the following Puja Fund activities have now resumed every month on the full moon:

• Offerings to the holy Boudhanath and Swayambunath Stupas in Nepal. Offerings of white wash, four giant saffron flower petals and the best quality cloth to the umbrellas at the pinnacles are made to the Boudhanath and Swayambunath stupas in Nepal every month on the full moon and also on Buddha Days when merit is multiplied 100 million times.
• Offerings of gold for the entire holy body and robes to the Jowo Buddha statue in Tibet and robes are offered to the Buddha statue in the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya.

Additionally, every month the Puja Fund sponsors: Medicine Buddha Puja and Most Secret Hayagriva Puja offered by the monks of Sera Je and Sera Mey Monastery. 

The Puja Fund is also now sponsoring a number of Hayagriva tsog kong pujas at Kopan Monastery, as advised by Khadro-la, for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life, the health and success of the entire FPMT organization, and an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.

These are just a few of the many activities sponsored by the FPMT Puja Fund. It is due to the kindness of so many that these ongoing prayers, pujas, and offerings can happen in this way, hopefully bringing more peace and happiness in the world. The annual expense for the pujas is over US$85,000 and all are welcome to contribute.

You can learn more about the beneficial prayers, practices, and pujas sponsored by the Puja Fund, or about FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity. 

Hayagriva tsog kong puja offered at Kopan Monastery on October 26, 2020, for the long life of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and all beings, Nepal

Following the advice of Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drolma (Khadro-la), a Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong puja was offered at Kopan Monastery in Nepal on October 26 for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life. In addition, this puja was dedicated for the health and success of the entire FPMT organization, an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, and for a number of individuals and geshes within the organization who were specifically advised to have this puja done for life obstacles.

Hayagriva tsog kong torma.

This is the third Hayagriva tsog kong offered at Kopan Monastery, following the advice of Khadro-la for pujas needed to remove obstacles to Rinpoche’s health in 2020. Hayagriva is the wrathful manifestation of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. This puja is very powerful as a means for removing obstacles and generating merit, and is very important for FPMT, due to the organization’s close connection with the deity as this is FPMT’s main protector.

Please enjoy this short video of various scenes from this powerful puja:
https://youtu.be/APW_NSlxn54

Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended this puja as well as Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, the Lama Gyupas, and senior monks of Kopan Monastery. The puja took many hours with extensive prayers and meditation, and elaborate tormas were made by the Kopan Lama Gyupas and offered within the puja.

Please rejoice in the successful completion of this third Hayagriva tsog kong for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life, the removal of obstacles and creation of merit for the entire FPMT organization, the end of the coronavirus pandemic, and the benefit of all beings.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.

Every month, the Puja Fund sponsors about 40 of the most senior monks of Sera Je Monastery, who specialize in this practice, to offer the Extensive Most Secret Hayagriva Puja for the success and longevity of the entire FPMT organization.