Shakyamuni Buddha with offerings, Kachoe Dechen Ling, California, USA. Photo by Chris Majors.

Each year on Saka Dawa—the celebration of Lord Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and parinirvana—Buddhist practitioners around the world engage in many auspicious and merit-making activities such as personally devoting oneself to the path; sponsoring beneficial pujas, practices, and prayers; and making extensive offerings to our teachers, holy objects, and auspicious charitable activities. This year, Saka Dawa takes place on June 9. 

We would like to invite you to participate and rejoice in this holy day of incredible virtuous activity. 

Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Bhutan, May 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Long Life Prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Each year Ven. Roger Kunsang, on behalf of the FPMT organization, checks with one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus or Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) to determine what practices should be done to help create the conditions for Lama Zopa Rinpoche to have good health for the coming year. Khadro-la has recently advised that the Vajra Cutter Sutra and the Dependent Arising: A Praise of the Buddha (Tendrel Topa) need to be recited, together with the completion of a number of pujas. 

Additionally, Khadro-la personally composed a moving long life prayer for Rinpoche, now available in several languages. 

Saka Dawa is an excellent opportunity to offer recitations of these prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Sangha at Kopan Monastery offering puja

Activities of the FPMT Pua Fund

Every year on Saka Dawa the Puja Fund offers US$10,000 toward an extensive array of pujas and practices. This is a very auspicious way for FPMT to support the Sangha at various monasteries and nunneries in Nepal and India. Providing prayer services such as these allow the ordained Sangha to benefit others while also helping to support themselves.

Pujas Offered by Over 15,650 Ordained Sangha

• Recitation of the Prajnaparamita (three versions) are read by the 650 monks of Gyurme Tantric College.
• Recitation of the 100,000 Praises to 21 Taras are offered by 400 nuns of Kopan Nunnery.
• Druk Chu Ma, Namgyal Tong Cho, and Zangcho are offered by 6,000 monks of Sera Je and Sera Mey Monasteries.
• Druk Chu Ma, Medicine Buddha Puja, and Zangcho are offered by 3,400 monks of Gaden Jangtse and Shartse Monasteries.
• Druk Chu Ma, Namgyäl Tsechog and Zangcho are offered by 4,200 monks of Drepung Gomang, Loseling, and Deyang Monasteries.
• Namgyal Tong Cho and Zangcho are offered by 600 monks of Gyuto Tantric Colleges.
• Druk Ch Ma, Medicine Buddha Puja, and Zangcho are offered by the 370 monks of Kopan Monastery.
• Tea, bread, and money offerings are given to all 15,650 participating Sangha in the above pujas. 
• Sangha at Chenrezig Institute, Australia, are sponsored to fill stupas, and lunch is offered to all who participate. 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, June 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Offerings to Gurus and Sangha

Offerings are made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus:

• His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• His Holiness the Sakya Trizin
• Jhado Rinpoche
• Khongla Rato Rinpoche

Offerings are made to over 15,650 Sangha:

• Sera Je and Sera Mey Monasteries
• Gaden Jangtse and Shartse Monasteries
• Drepung Gomang, Loseling, and Deyang Monasteries
• Gyurme and Gyuto Tantric College
• Kopan Monastery and Kopan Nunnery

Offerings are made to Sangha at International Mahayana Institute (IMI) communities:

• Nalanda Monastery, France
• Thubten Shedrup Ling, Australia
• Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy
• Chenrezig Institute, Australia

Offerings Made to Holy Objects in Nepal, India, and Tibet

• Bouddhanath and Swayambunath Stupas: Offering white wash and four giant saffron flower petals and new umbrellas to the stupas’ pinnacles
• Buddha inside the Bodhgaya Mahabodhi temple: Offering a new set of robes of the most precious material
• Jowo Buddha in Lhasa’s Jokhang: Offering gold to the holy face of the Jowo Buddha

Prayers and Practices for FPMT Students

Thirty-five Confessional Buddhas thangka.

On Buddha Multiplying Days, such as Saka Dawa, karmic results are multiplied by one hundred million, as cited by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Lama Zopa Rinoche advises that any beneficial practices can be done. In particular, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has recommended: 

• Recitation of the names of the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas
• Vajrasattva mantras

Practices specifically recommended by Rinpoche for Buddha Multiplying Days include:

• Taking the eight Mahayana precepts
• Doing nyung nä retreats
• Performing the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha puja
• Reciting the Sutra for Remembering the Three Jewels

Of course, any other meritorious activities often advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche are also good to do on these days, such as recitation of the Sanghata Sutra, the Sutra of Golden Light, etc., with extensive dedications. These texts are available on our sutras page.

In addition, you might consider including children in your Buddha Multiplying Day celebrations and reading Eight Plays for Children. This book of charming and easily produced plays for children contains tales of wisdom and kindness from Buddha’s past lives as animals as well as his life as Prince Siddhartha.

The ceremony for taking the eight Mahayana precepts can be found in the “Morning Prayers” section of Essential Buddhist Prayers, Vol. 1 or in the text The Direct and Unmistaken Method. We have a beautiful color cover glossy booklet for nyung nä, complete with instructions for how to do the practice.

Rejoice!

All are welcome to participate in all of this beneficial activity by imagining all of these practices and offerings happening around the world and then mentally offering everything oneself and/or rejoicing. Students can also make a financial contribution to the many prayers, practices, and offerings sponsored by the FPMT Puja Fund. 

The Puja Fund was established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to provide resources for continuous pujas dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors and those serving the organization in any way.

Learn more about the Puja Fund or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the large light offering to Guru Rinpoche statue in Chailsa, Nepal.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche often explains the benefits of offering to holy objects and encourages extensive offerings around the world. “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,” Rinpoche explains in Extensive Offering Practice to Accumulate the Most Extensive Merit. “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.”

We’d like to invite you to rejoice in just some of the extensive light offerings which Lama Zopa Rinpoche sponsors through the FPMT Puja Fund. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche making offerings to the Hayagriva statue on the altar at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia.

Bodhgaya, India: Recently while in Bodhgaya, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was pleased with the extensive light offerings arranged on the roof of the apartment he occupies when there. The electricity for the offerings has now been sponsored for the entire year so they can remain on at all times. 

Chailsa, Nepal: The cost of butter for one year was recently sponsored to a light offering in front of a very special Guru Rinpoche statue in Chailsa, Nepal. 

Mongolia: The electricity for lotus light offerings is offered to all the holy objects on the altar at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia. The lights are offered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Among the holy objects on this altar is an incredible Most Secret Hayagriva statue.

Garsha, India: All the butter is offered to keep alight a brass butter lamp in front of a holy self-emanating image of Chenrezig in a cave in Garsha, India.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s residences in USA: Extensive light offerings are made daily by the Sangha at Rinpoche’s residences in California and Washington State. Additionally, many other daily practices are offered at Rinpoche’s residences including animal liberation practice, flower and water bowl offerings, and protector practices.

Please rejoice in these offerings and also feel very free to use them in your own practice by mentally offering these light offerings. 

The Puja Fund was established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to provide resources for pujas and offerings dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors and those serving the organization in any way. You can learn more about the Puja Fund, or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity. 

Monks of Sera Me Monastery offering Medicine Buddha puja

On Chotrul Duchen (the Day of Miracles), which is the fifteenth day of the Tibetan New Year (Losar) and falls on March 12 this year, the Puja Fund will sponsor offerings to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and Sangha around the world; make offerings of robes and gold to holy objects in India, Nepal, and Tibet; and sponsor extensive prayers and pujas offered by up 15,650 Sangha. One of the many pujas happening on Chotrul Duchen is the recitation of the Prajñaparamita.

The Puja Fund makes offerings on the four Buddha Multiplying Days, when karmic results are multiplied by one hundred million, as cited by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from the Vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained that the karma of group practice is more powerful than individual practice. “The karma of one ordained Sangha reciting a sutra in a temple or room alone, compared to reciting a sutra with all the assembly of Sangha present, the latter one—reciting a sutra with all the Sangha—is much more powerful…. The more people there are supporting the practice, the more powerful it becomes…. When the karma is more powerful, the result comes more quickly.”

These auspicious activities cost approximately US$8,000 on Buddha Multiplying Days, including Chotrul Duchen on March 12. All are welcome to join in the merit of these prayers, practices, and offerings by rejoicing or contributing any amount to the Puja Fund.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has given advice about what practices can be done on Buddha Multiplying Days such as Chotrul Duchen.  

The Puja Fund was established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to provide resources for continuous pujas dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors, and those serving the organization in any way. You can learn more about the Puja Fund and FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity online.

Light offerings at Boudhanath Stupa at night, with Khen Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Sherab.

One of the regular activities of the FPMT Puja Fund is offering white wash, four giant saffron flower petals and the best quality cloth (shambu) to the umbrellas at the pinnacles of Bouddhanath and Swayambunath stupas in Nepal on the full moon and also on Buddha Days when merit is multiplied 100 million times.

Highest quality shambu for the top of Boudhanath Stupa.

Due to damage from the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the Puja Fund has been unable to make these regular offerings. Please rejoice that the Boudhanath Stupa has undergone extensive restoration and repairs since the earthquake. In November a grand blessing occurred, where lamas of the four traditions came to re-consecrate the stupa. After the ceremony FPMT was able to continue with these most precious offerings. Lama Zopa Rinpoche wanted to be sure that this first offering since the earthquake was made with the highest possible quality materials and Kopan Monastery very kindly sourced the shambu. 

Stupas, one of the most ancient icons in Buddhist art, are powerful symbols of the mind’s limitless potential. In other words, they represent the mind of enlightenment. The Boudhanath Stupa is one of the largest stupa in the world and dominates the Kathmandu skyline. 

From the Sutra of the Mudra of Developing the Power of Devotion:

     The minute you see a holy object you create infinite merits,
     So no question, if you actually make prostrations,
     Offerings and so forth, you create far greater merit. 

We are very happy to be able to continue this offering to Boudhanath and Swayambunath stupas. Offering these to holy objects on behalf of all FPMT centers, projects and services, is one way of creating an incredible amount of merit and in this way helps the FPMT organization achieve its goals which stretch far into the future for the benefit of all.

If you would like to be part of this monthly offering, please consider offering any amount to the Puja Fund. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche translated, “Padmasambhava’s Instruction on Offerings to Stupas” which details the benefits of prostrating to, circumambulating, making offerings, and offering service to stupas. 

The Puja Fund was established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to provide resources for pujas and offerings dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors and those serving the organization in any way. You can learn more about the Puja Fund, or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity. 

Monks of Sera Je Monastery performing puja together.

Every year on Lhabab Duchen (Buddha’s Descent from Tushita) the Puja Fund sponsors prayers, pujas, offerings to Sangha  all over the world, as well as offerings to holy objects in India, Nepal, and Tibet. This year, Lhabab Duchen, one of the four great holy days of the Tibetan calendar, takes place on Sunday, November 20.

Lhabab Duchen celebrates when Lord Buddha actually descended from the God Realm of Thirty-three after teaching his mother and the gods living there Dharma for several months. As a Buddha Multiplying Day, karmic results of actions on this day are multiplied 100 million times. This amazing result is sourced by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

On holy days, offerings are made to holy objects in India, Nepal, and Tibet including the Swayambunath Stupa in Nepal.

These activities are advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors and those serving the organization in any way, as well as all beings.  

Group practice is far more powerful than individual practice. 15,650 Sangha participate in the Lhabab Duchen offerings.

Incredibly, 15,600 ordained Sangha join in for these practices over a 24 hour period. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained that the karma of group practice is more powerful than individual practice. “The karma of one ordained Sangha reciting a sutra in a temple or room alone, compared to reciting a sutra with all the assembly of Sangha present, the latter one—reciting a sutra with all the Sangha—is much more powerful….The more people there are supporting the practice, the more powerful it becomes…. When the karma is more powerful, the result comes more quickly.” It is amazing to consider the power of 15,600 monks engaging in group practice on a holy day when the karma is already multiplied. Additionally, as they are dedicating to His Holiness and FPMT in this way… the benefit is almost unimaginable!  As Rinpoche reminds us, “Sangha are living in a high number of vows and are unbelievably powerful objects.”

These activities offered cost approximately US$8,000 on each holy day. All are welcome to join in the merit of these prayers, practices, and offerings by contributing to the Puja Fund. 

You can read more about the individual activities sponsored on Lhabab Duchen and please rejoice in the massive merit generated by 15,600 Sangha on this holy multiplying day.

If you would like to make a donation toward the meritorious activities being sponsored by the Puja Fund on Chokor Duchen, you can do so by offering any amount you are able. 

The Puja Fund was established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to provide resources for continuous pujas dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors and those serving the organization in any way. You can learn more about the Puja Fund, or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity. 

Sera Je Monastery monks performing pujas sponsored by the Puja Fund.

Each year on Chokhor Duchen (commemorating Lord Buddha’s first teaching) the Puja Fund sponsors pujas and offerings all over the world dedicated to success of the entire FPMT organization. The practices are offered by up to 15,650 monks and nuns. This year Chokhor Duchen was celebrated on August 6. 

The Prajnaparamita (short, medium and long versions) was recited by the monks of Gyurme Tantric College, the entire Kangyur was recited by Kopan Nunnery, extensive offerings were presented to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and holy objects in India and Tibet, among many other virtuous activities, prayers and pujas which were advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. 

You are welcome to participate in these offerings which take place every holy Buddha day, and rejoice that 15,650 monks and nuns will be doing these prayers, remembering that they are all “pores of the guru” and thus extensions of our teachers.

If you would like to make a donation toward the meritorious activities being sponsored by the Puja Fund on Chokor Duchen, you can do so by offering any amount you are able. 

The Puja Fund was established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to provide resources for continuous pujas dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to the success of all the FPMT centers, projects, services, students, benefactors and those serving the organization in any way. You can learn more about the Puja Fund, or FPMT’s other extensive charitable activity. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche making offerings to the Hayagriva statue on the altar at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia.

Through the Puja Fund, Lama Zopa Rinpoche sponsors continuous light offerings to two precious statues in Mongolia and India. 

Electricity is sponsored for lotus light offerings to all the holy objects on the altar at Idgaa Choizinling College in Mongolia. The lights are offered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Among the holy objects on this altar is an incredible Hayagriva statue. The annual 100 Million Mani Retreat, which is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions, is also held in the Idgaa Choizinling gompa.

In Phakpa, a small village in Garsha Khandroling (Land of the Dakinis), India,  light is also offered to a self-emanating statue of Chenrezig. The statue is said to actually be Chenrezig, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche requested that continuous light be offered for as long as the statue remains. The light is offered through a giant eighteen-gallon silver butter lamp which is in front of the statue.

Self-emanating statue of Chenrezig said to be the actual deity itself in Phakpa, Garsha Khandroling, India.

Buddhism first came to Garsha Khandroling two thousand years ago and over the centuries, pilgrims and holy beings have visited the valley’s sacred sites to practice. Many miracles have been reported in connection with Phakpa over the years such as the statue speaking and dripping with nectar. 

Extensive offerings of light are being sponsored all over the world for the success of the entire FPMT organization. Every day you can join in on these offerings by rejoicing in the continual light being offered. You are also welcome to donate any amount to the Puja Fund to help cover the costs of materials for this offering. 

Light Offering Prayer

Composed by Lama Atisha

The butter lamp offered to the Chenrezig statue will burn as long as the statue remains.

May the light of the lamp be equal to the great three thousand worlds and their environments,
May the wick of the lamp be equal to the king of mountains – Mount Meru.
May the butter be equal to the infinite ocean.

May there be billions of trillions of lamps in the presence of each and every buddha.
May the light illuminate the darkness of ignorance of all sentient beings
From the peak of samsara down to the most torturous hell,
Whereby they can see directly and clearly all the ten directions
Buddhas and bodhisattvas and their pure lands.

OM VAJRA ALOKE AH HUM E MA HO

I offer these beautifully exalted clear and luminous lights
To the thousand buddhas of the fortunate eon,
To all the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the infinite pure lands and of the ten directions,
To all the gurus, meditation deities, dakas, dakinis, dharma protectors,
and the assembly of deities of all mandalas.

 “Extensive Offering Practice,” by Lama Zopa Rinpoche is available through the FPMT Foundation Store

All are welcome to donate to the Puja Fund and directly support these most precious offerings. 

Robes offered to the Buddha statue in Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya, India, through the Puja Fund. July, 2015. Photo by Andy Melnic.

Every month, on the full moon, the Puja Fund sponsors offerings to Buddha statues in Tibet and Bodhgaya. An offering of robes, made of the most precious material chosen by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, to the Buddha Statue in Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya, India; and gold is offered to the Jowo Buddha Statue in Tibet. 

Mahabodhi Temple and grounds at night, Bodhgaya, India, January 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Bodhgaya is where Shakyamuni Buddha reached enlightenment and according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, is “where a thousand buddhas will descend, place their holy feet, display holy deeds, and achieve enlightenment. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha is the fourth of the thousand buddhas. The rest of the buddhas will descend here and will also display the twelve deeds, and the holy deed, achieving enlightenment. There is a place in Bodhgaya called the Vajra Seat. This ground is blessed. Before becoming enlightened, Buddha blessed this ground so it would not be destroyed or cracked, but would stay firm. It is said that there are no earthquakes in Bodhgaya because it is blessed by Buddha, and also that this will be the last place to exist when the world ends.”

You can watch a video of robes being offered to the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya on a full moon.

Also said to have been blessed by Shakyamuni Buddha himself (making it approximately 2,500 years old), the Jowo Buddha statue is one of the most sacred statues in all of Tibet. Originally crafted in India, the Jowo was brought to China, and then brought to Tibet by the daughter  of the Chinese emperor, Princess Wenchen Kongjo, upon her marriage to Songsten Gampo. The Jowo Buddha statue resides in the central chapel of the Jokhang, among the most holy temples in Lhasa.

The Jowo Buddha statue in Lhasa, Tibet.

About the power of statues of Buddha, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said, “The benefit we get each time we see a statue of Buddha, a picture of Buddha or a stupa is like the limitless sky. It causes us to achieve all the realizations from guru devotion up to enlightenment and to achieve all the numberless qualities of the Buddha’s holy body, speech and mind.”

Every full moon students around the world can take a few moments to participate in these offerings by rejoicing and mentally offering the precious robes and gold to these two most holy Buddha statues. Thanks to all the donors who make this possible as well as those who are directly involved by engaging in the practice on site or facilitating the offerings. 

All are welcome to donate to the Puja Fund and directly support these most precious offerings. 

(Left to right) Kontsak Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi during a Guru Rinpoche puja at Kopan Nunnary, Nepal, December 2015. Photo by Bill Kane.

This year on Losar, in addition to the wide array of pujas and offerings, the Puja Fund also sponsored 100,000 tsog offerings by the Kopan monks and nuns and dedicated to the long life of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and to purify our karma for Rinpoche to show any aspect of illness.

In this way, the Puja Fund has joined in with all FPMT centers, projects and services to help create the karma for Rinpoche’s long and healthy life. All of the tsog offerings completed will be offered to Rinpoche during the upcoming long life puja in Singapore.

The Puja Fund sponsors prayers and practices, offered by up to 15,650 ordained Sangha members, on every Buddha Day, such as Losar, when merit is multiplied by 100 million times.

The official long life puja on behalf of the entire FPMT will be offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore on Sunday, March 13 as part of Rinpoche’s teaching event there. The puja will start at 9 a.m. Singapore time (GMT+8).

All are welcome to contribute to this long life puja by donating any amount to the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Long Life Puja Fund. 

Robes offered to the Buddha inside Mahabodhi temple, Bodhgaya, India. Lhabab Duchen, 2015.

Every month, on the full moon, the Puja Fund sponsors an offering of robes, made of the most precious material, to the most holy Buddha statue in Mahabodhi temple, Bodhgaya, India.
The offering and prayers and kindly offered by Sangha and students from Root Institute for Wisdom Culture.

In 2014 Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited the market in Bodhgaya and personally chose the best quality cloth for the robes as an example for the ongoing offerings.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has taught extensively on the benefits of offering to statues of Buddha. “If someone offers a small flower or rice to a Buddha statue, a stupa, or scripture then the benefit extends from then up to enlightenment. Amazing, amazing,” Rinpoche has said. “It is said in the sutra Piled Flowers, on top of that benefit, you achieve ultimate happiness, liberation from the causes of delusion and karma, and on top of that full enlightenment, all the realizations and omniscient mind.”

This year on Lhabab Duchen, many pujas and offerings were sponsored by the Puja Fund, including the robes offered to the Buddha statue in Mahabodhi temple. 

You are welcome to contribute any amount to these ongoing pujas and offerings.

You can learn more about the FPMT Puja Fund and the various activities it supports. You can also enjoy an overview of all the FPMT Charitable Projects which contribute to many beneficial endeavors.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Western Sangha, Mexico, 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

As part of an array of offerings made through the FPMT Puja Fund on Losar, Lama Zopa Rinpoche sponsored 57 sets of robes for FPMT’s touring teachers and resident geshes. 

“If you were Sangha but you didn’t wear robes, then people would not know [that you were ordained], but with robes on there is no question.” Lama Zopa Rinpoche once commented to a monk about the benefits of wearing robes. “That is how the robes have such incredible benefit for the mind. It is planting the seed for enlightenment when people show respect to your wearing of the robes, or to the robes themselves: This is planting the seed of liberation, and is a way of benefiting sentient beings.” 

Offering robes to these teachers is a gesture of thanks for the incredible service they offer and in recognition of their dedication to upholding the teachings of Buddha. 

Thanks to Kopan Monastery for arranging this offering. Please rejoice that these teachers were able to receive new robes and also in their committed service to FPMT. 

You can learn more about the FPMT Puja Fund and the various activities it supports. You can also enjoy an overview of all the FPMT Charitable Projects which contribute to many beneficial endeavors.

The monks of Sera Je Monastery offering extensive Medicine Buddha puja.

Please rejoice in the amazing array of pujas and offerings  which will be sponsored by the FPMT Puja Fund this year on Lhabab Duchen (November 3 this year), one of the year’s holy Buddha Multiplying Days. 15,650 Sangha will participate in this activity.

You can read an entire list of these activities, as well as descriptions of the pujas and offerings sponsored, but here are a few highlights of what will be offered:

• Recitation of the Prajnaparamita (three versions) offered by the 650 monks of Gyurme Tantric College.
• Druk Chu Ma (64 offerings to Kalarupa to eliminate obstacles), Namgyäl Tong Chö (One thousand sets of offerings to Buddha Namgyälma) and Zangcho (King of Prayers) offered by the 6,000 monks of Sera Je and Sera Mey Monastery.
• Offerings are made to all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus.
• Small money offerings made to 15,650 Sangha at the great monasteries of India and Nepal, as well as to Sangha at IMI international Sangha communities.
• Offerings made to holy objects: Bouddhanath and Swayambunath stupas, the Buddha inside Bodhgaya Mahabodhi temple, and to the Jowo Buddha in Lhasa’s Jokang.

All are welcome to join in on these incredible offerings by rejoicing in, donating toward, or mentally offering. 

You can learn more about the FPMT Puja Fund and the various activities it supports. You can also enjoy an overview of all the FPMT Charitable Projects which contribute to many beneficial endeavors.