Social Services Fund News

Students, staff, and guests welcoming His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Ngari Institute in August 2016.

For the forth year, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, through the Social Services Fund, has offered food every day of the year to the school children and staff of Ngari Institute in Ladakh, India. This year, 53 school children in addition to teachers and young monks will benefit from this offering. The cost for 2017 is US$23,124.95. 

Supporting those in need (such as children, the elderly, poor, and sick) is one of the main priorities of Social Services Fund and Lama Zopa Rinpoche has also indicated that in addition to offering for material needs, we must help in the ultimate way as well by offering Dharma education or creating holy objects as this creates the cause to change the karma and bring real lasting benefit. 

Students of Ngari Inistute studying together.

Ngari Institute is located  in the Himalayan Kingdom of Ladakh in a small village called Saboo. The campus is spread over 20 hectares of deserted land. The main aim of this school is to empower and enrich the poor and needy remote-area students by imparting a combined learning of both modern scientific knowledge and ancient Buddhist wisdom. It was founded by the Ladakh alumni of Sera Je Monastery in South India.

Students of Ngari Inistitute.

Thanks to all who donate to the Social Services Fund enabling the offering of important grants such as this. If you would like to contribute to the offering of grants such as this, you are welcome to donate any amount you can. 

The Social Services Fund has sponsored the food for Ngari Institute for the fifth year in a row and hopes to be able to continue long into the future. If you are inspired by grants such as this, you are welcome to contribute to the Social Service Fund and help ensure that work like this can continue. 

Stupa and prayer flags bless the animals at the Animal Liberation Sanctuary, Nepal.

Every day around the world millions of animals are killed and mistreated needlessly. In countries like Nepal, the care and management of animals is very poor and animal sacrifices are common creating tremendous suffering for the animals and those involved. 

Animal Liberation Sanctuary, near Kopan Monastery, was established to provide shelter and care for animals who have been rescued from being killed, so that they may live out their natural lives in peace and attain a higher rebirth through exposure to the Dharma. The animals regularly hear mantras and are led around holy objects. 

Cows, sheep, and goats enjoy their days at the Animal Liberation Sanctuary.

The sanctuary has a main animal shelter designed to provide a healthy environment throughout Nepal’s seasons, it has facilities to separate weaker animals from the main flock, and it is designed to reduce water use and waste. The sanctuary has a quarantine area, a treatment room, and the property also has a live-in caretaker. 

For the fifth year, a very kind benefactor has worked with the Social Services Fund to issue a substantial grant for the ongoing work and care of the sanctuary. We are delighted to report that a US$10,000 grant has recently been issued which will be used for ongoing food and care expenses, as well as for urgent repairs needed for the sanctuary’s goat shed. These are fenced pens which are used to separate and protect weaker goats from the the rest. 

Please rejoice in another year of support being offered to this wonderful project which benefits animals so in need of support, care, and kindness.

You can donate to the Animal Liberation Sanctuary or learn more about the work being done for animals in Nepal: http://kopanmonastery.com/charitable/animal-sanctuary-nepal

The Animal Liberation Fund supports weekly animal liberations and extensive dedications offered by Sangha at the residences of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. When funds allow, additional animal liberations conducted in Singapore and Hong Kong are supported, as well the Animal Liberation Sanctuary in Nepal, MAITRI Charitable Trust in India and elsewhere. You are welcome to offer any amount toward this ongoing work. 
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MAITRI Charitable Trust provides essential education, medical care, aid to mothers and children, animal care, and various forms of charitable service to the destitute in Bodhgaya, India. 

MAITRI began its work in 1989 when Adriana Ferranti put her leprosy training to good use by helping people those with the disease and working towards its eradication. Since then, the project has expanded greatly to meet the needs of the people in the Bodhgaya-area in Bihar, one of the poorest, most depressed and most populated states in India.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Adriana Ferranti at MAITRI Charitable Trust, blessing all the staff, children, patients and animals. January, 2017.

For the fifth year in a row, a very kind benefactor has offered a substantial grant to MAITRI via the FPMT Social Services Fund. Please rejoice that US$70,000 was recently issued toward another year of services for those in need in Bodhgaya. Here we invite you to rejoice in some of MAITRI’s many accomplishments from 2015-2016 which were made possible by last year’s grant:

Leprosy Program

The MAITRI information stall in (in front of the Chinese Temple) in Bodhgaya , Bihar, 2016.

• Detection, verification, and management of 516 new cases that were registered for treatment.
• Prevention of Deformities (POD) program was implemented by instructing 1,853 individuals on self-care of their needs, particularly ulcers.
• Assessing and instructing 625 high risk cases on prevention of deformities.
• Distributing 276 sandals and supplying 522 kits for ulcer dressing.
• Performing 3,240 dressings of ulcers.
• The implementation of the Information, Education, Communication (IEC) program to raise awareness on the identification and treatment of leprosy by covering a population of 1,223,550 people in 3,908 villages and by particularly contacting 6,354 community members to promote collaboration among villagers.
• Addressing 69,300 school students in routine visits to government and private schools.
• Celebrating World Leprosy Day on January 31 with a promotional drive in 221 villages populated by 295,890 individuals.
• The hospitalization of 61 leprosy-affected individuals.
• The distribution of blankets in the winter season to 385 leprosy-affected individuals.

Children are offered powdered milk and supplements by MAITRI Charitable Trust. This child’s mother passed away from tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis Program

Paramedical workers find another leprosy case in this young woman in Bodhgaya , Bihar. Photo courtesy of MAITRI Facebook page.

• Identification, promotion, and management of 209 new case.
• Implementation of the Information, Education, Communication (IEC) program to raise awareness on the identification and treatment of TB by covering a population of 578,958 in 864 villages.
• Hospitalization of fourteen under treatment patients in serious conditions, 10 of whom were successfully released from MAITRI’s hospital.
• The distribution of food items and supplements to 87 indigent patients under treatment.

Mother Care Program

• The identification, registration, and management of 227 new cases that were registered at MAITRI’s outpatient and mobile clinics. 
• The collection of 110 blood samples for blood tests for women with first time pregnancies. 
• The monthly medical check-ups of an average 161 patients under treatment.
• The field follow-up of 171 registered cases during treatment and after release. 
• Delivery of 180 healthy babies including 16 twins and 3 triplets.
• The post-natal field follow-up of women after third pregnancy to facilitate tubectomies. 127 tubectomies were completed.
• Distribution of 273 blankets during Winter. 

Aid, education and medical care from MAITRI is offered to India’s poorest and most densely populated area in Bodhgaya. Photo by Adriana Ferranti.

Child Care Program

• Identification, registration, and management of 44 new cases that were registered at MAITRI’s clinics.
• Monthly medical check-ups of an average 129 children in treatment.
• Distribution of fifty-five rations of milk powder and ten rations of cereal. 
• The identification, registration, and management of ten new cases of girls aged 5-14 that were registered at MAITRI’s clinics.
• Monthly medical check-ups of an average of sixty-six girls aged 5-14.

Maintenance of Campus

• Repair work was completed on the building. 

Adriana Ferranti expressed her gratitude for last year’s grant in the following way: 

The grant was very gratefully received and has enabled us to continue our support to some of Bihar’s poorest people. MAITRI always manages the funds it receives from generous donors around the world with the utmost care so that as many persons can be benefited as possible.  

Please rejoice in another year of essential charitable service offered through MAITRI and in director Adriana’s dedication to this work for nearly thirty years. 

If you would like to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants such as this can continue, you can read more about the charitable projects this fund supports or donate any amount to the fund itself. 

You can donate directly to MAITRI and learn more about the vast services to those in need. 

For the past six years, due to the kindness of one main benefactor, the FPMT Social Services project has been able to offer substantial grants toward the amazing projects of Root Institute, India, which directly benefit underprivileged individuals in the area. We are delighted to report that this support will continue in 2017 and a grant of US$62,500 was recently issued. Please rejoice in the below report outlining some of the many accomplishments of these three projects in 2016 which were made possible by these grant. 

Residents of Tara Children’s Home enjoying a performance.

Tara Children’s Project
Tara Children’s Project (TCP) is the only children’s home caring for HIV-affected orphaned children in the state of Bihar. In 2016, TCP focused on bringing in a full team to work toward the proper functioning of the home, which currently serves twenty-one children. New team members include a project manager, two house managers, one additional caregiver and a cleaner.

Community engagement features prominently in the regular activities for the children and staff of TCP.

In June, Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic (see more below) initiated a meeting with two other local NGOs assisting HIV-positive people. In the meeting, the clinic shared its experience working with children diagnosed with HIV at TCP as well as other HIV-positive patients. The main point of the discussion was to explore how to provide jobs to those infected with HIV and integrate them into the economic and social life of the community. As TCP’s population grows from children to adolescents to adults, this work will become extremely important.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche giving a Dharma talk to the Shakyamun Buddha Clinic, 2015.

Shakyamuni Buddha Community Health Care Center
Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic began in 1991 as a home for the destitute and has evolved into a diverse community health program encompassing a wide range of medical and rehabilitative services and health promotion activities. In 2016 50,422 people in need were served at the clinic. Services included allopathic medicine, homeopathic medicine, health promotion and education, and patient care. Highlights of the year include:

• Health education for adolescents is of particular importance as young people are coming of age. Groups of fifty girls and thirty boys were offered educational seminars pertaining to health. 
• Educational plays were offered in surrounding villages and at the clinic. These dramatic presentations were well attended and offered important information in a unique and engaging format. 
• Camps were offered in villages providing information on how to prevent and how to treat malaria. 279 patients were offered free homeopathic kits.
• Camps were offered in villages providing information about blood pressure including how to check one’s blood pressure and how to determine high risk.
• HIV/AIDS support programs were offered in villages where consultation, medicine delivery, healthy food distribution, and education were provided.
• 300 children in Marni School, Kolhoya, were offered health care. 
• Twenty-one HIV affected orphans from the Tara Children’s Project were offered regular  check ups and treatment. 
• A child clinic for very small children was offered every Wednesday.
• Physiotherapy was offered to children with cerebral palsy.
•  A dental clinic was offered one day per week offering free dental treatment for adults and children.
• Care was offered to high risk patients including: a high risk burn case, orthopedic rehabilitation and physiotherapy for one patient, infected wound treatment for a sixteen-year-old orphan who was at high risk for gangrene, and physiotherapy and proper nutrition was offered to a wheelchair-bound motor vehicle accident survivor.

Maitreya School children all smiles after a lesson about teeth cleaning.

Maitreya School
Maitreya School is a free school benefiting impoverished children from Bodhgaya and neighboring villages. The children not only have the chance to obtain a traditional education but, more importantly, they receive life skills in compassion, honesty, and loving-kindness presented through Buddhist study. This is the core of the training and vision of the school: making lives meaningful.

In 2016 the school set up a computer room which has enabled all students from grades 1-5 the opportunity to have regular computer sessions. A projector and screen were also obtained thanks to a kind donor. Two new teachers joined the school and facilities have been upgraded with two new classrooms and a toilet. The children participated in various competitions and activities which incorporate the 16 Guidelines. 

How to Support

• Support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants such as this can continue
• Make a donation directly to one of Root Institute’s social service projects.

You can read more about the charitable projects supported by the Social Services Fund. 

Approximately 80 destitute people are offered meals daily through Lamp of the Path soup kitchen.

Lamp of the Path NGO, a project of FPMT Mongolia, has been offering free meals and a regular free health clinic to the poor and homeless living in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia for many years.

No repairs have been made the community center since 2003 and the facility is in major need of repair.

In 2016, 21,000 meals were offered to the underprivileged  living in the area. Many are single mothers, the elderly, and children with little or no housing and no access to water or sewage. Woman-headed households served at the soup kitchen are a group significantly disadvantaged both financially and by reason of social and psychological stresses. 

The cost of food for one week averages US$415. Last year, during the spring and summer months, a successful vegetable garden was set up and this provided nutritious produce for the daily meals. Two Mongolian women are employed as kitchen staff. 

In 2017, much needed repairs will be made to the community center.

The community center had not been updated or repaired since 2003 and at the end of 2016 some repairs were completed. Major and much needed renovation is planned for 2017. For example: The roof has deteriorated over the years causing major leaks and dripping; the building walls are so thin that the heat loss becomes a real issue through the winter season; and the ceiling and inner walls are extremely deteriorated due to leaks and damage.

The annual budget for 2017, including the cost to complete these urgent repairs, is US$51,500.

Due to the kindness of a generous benefactor, the Social Services Fund has been able to offer a US$30,000 grant toward the 2017 operating expenses. This is the  fifth consecutive year that we have offered significant support to the the Lamp of the Path NGO in Mongolia, allowing the project to continue.

If you would like to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants such as this can continue, you can read more about the charitable projects this fund supports or donate any amount to the fund itself. 

Last year Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited the Lugsung Samdupling Home for the Aged and Disabled in Bylakuppe, India, and spent time with the residents there.

Last year, the Social Services Fund offered several grants to elderly homes in India occupied by Tibetan refugees. Without such facilities, many elderly, first-wave Tibetan refugees, who often are without families of their own, have little prospect of accommodation or support. By offering assistance in this way, FPMT can help repay the kindness and bravery of the Tibetan people.

Built in 1968, the current accommodation must be demolished and new accommodation built

One residential home that needs a lot of support is the Lugsung Samdupling Home for the Aged and Disabled in Bylakuppe, India. The home is building ten essential new rooms for residents that will feature excellent ventilation and security.

The existing building was constructed in 1968 and is on the verge of collapse. The foundation and walls cannot withstand renovation and thus will be demolished and a new permanent building constructed in its place. The new accommodation will be designed in blocks, allowing residents to enjoy increased privacy.

The Social Services Fund is very pleased to offer a grant for five of the ten new rooms, the remaining five being covered by another sponsor.

We will continue to support elderly Tibetan refugees in whatever way we are able. For example, we have already begun to assess where holy objects can be built so that residents of homes such as the Lugsung Samdupling Home for the Aged and Disabled can benefit from their blessings.

FPMT is committed to assisting Tibetan communities in need. You can read about recent support given to a Tibetan settlement for refugees in South India, including a grant toward a new community center and food for an elderly home.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses the suffering of animals and how to help them with Dr. Howard Ralph and Tania Duratovic.

In March of this year, Tree of Compassion brought veterinarian Dr. Howard Ralph to the Animal Liberation Sanctuary in Nepal to perform critical surgeries on animals who would otherwise suffer and die without them. 

The visit also gave Dr. Howard the opportunity to assist with other animals at the sanctuary, give lectures for veterinary students in Kathmandu and help a local animal shelter with some difficult cases. 

Every year around the world, millions of animals die or suffer needlessly. In countries such as Nepal, the care and management of animals is particularly poor. Nepal is still home to a number of festivals in which animals are violently and brutally ritually slaughtered each year. The Animal Liberation Sanctuary benefits animals by sparing them from impending death and suffering but they are also are exposed to Dharma teachings, regularly hear mantras, and are led around holy objects to create merit for their next life and purify their minds.  This work also allows those who support the work the chance to create merit and purify life-obstacles.

Dr. Ralph examines Nyingjey the goat after surgery with Animal Sanctuary coordinator Tania Duratovic and manager Pema.

You can watch a short video about one goat named Osel’s surgery. Osel’s fractured leg was fixed with surgery which hopefully means he won’t lose his leg.

Last week, Dr. Howard Ralph was presented with an Alumni Award for Services to Humanity from the Sydney University Veterinary Science department. This recognition is very deserved for a man who gives his time and expertise so tirelessly to animals in need. 

Please rejoice in the ongoing compassionate work of the Animal Liberation Sanctuary for many animals in Nepal who would simply die or live lives of terrible suffering if not for the sanctuary’s kind care. 

All are welcome to contribute to the work of the Animal Liberation Sanctuary. 

The Animal Liberation Fund supports weekly animal liberations and extensive dedications offered by Sangha at the residences of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. When funds allow, additional animal liberations conducted in Singapore and Hong Kong are supported, as well as efforts to save the lives of animals at the Animal Liberation Sanctuary in Nepal, MAITRI Charitable Trust in India and elsewhere. You are welcome to offer any amount toward this ongoing work. 
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Some of the nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery (also known as Bigu Nuns).

In 2014 a grant was offered to Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery for new accommodation needed for the resident nuns. The nunnery recently sent an update that three rows of rooms are nearly finished and some nuns have already begun moving in. They are anticipating the entire project to be finished by the year’s end. 

The nuns are very pleased with their new accommodations and offered, “Our sincere prayers and dedication to the long life of our gurus and good health of all friends, benefactors, donors, and well wishers.”

The new accommodations for the nuns.

Since 2009 sponsorship has been offered to the nuns to complete one and now two 100 million mani retreats (100 million recitations of the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM). In addition to the 100 million mani retreats, funds are offered to cover the cost of food to all the nuns for this period as well as the cost of a very qualified geshe to stay during the retreat in order to give lamrim teachings. With the help of donors, we will offer this again in 2017. 

Rinpoche has said about 100 million mani retreats: “The benefits of reciting the Compassion Buddha mantra are infinite, like the limitless sky. Even if you don’t have much intellectual understanding of Dharma, even if the only thing you know is OM MANI PADME HUM, still the happiest life is one lived with an attitude free of the eight worldly concerns. If you live your life with the pure attitude free of attachment clinging to this life and simply spend your life chanting OM MANI PADME HUM—this six-syllable mantra that is the essence of all Dharma—that’s the purest Dharma. Whoever attends a mani retreat is unbelievably fortunate. This retreat also blesses the country where it is held and brings so much peace, happiness and prosperity. Without bodhichitta, you cannot cause all the happiness for all sentient beings. You cannot do perfect work for all sentient beings, and you cannot achieve the complete qualities of the realizations and cessation, even for yourself. “

Please rejoice in the progress of these new rooms for the sincere nuns of Tashi Chime Gatsal Nunnery. 

You can learn more about the Supporting Ordained Sangha Fund and the ways it supports monasteries and nunneries.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in front of Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery, Chailsa, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In March 2017, Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited the village of Chailsa, in Solu Khumbu, Nepal. Among various activities there, he visited Sagarmatha Secondary School. More than two years ago, FPMT took on the commitment of sponsoring this school, which has about 120 students, with its Social Service Fund. Kopan Monastery oversees the management of the school.

Chailsa is in Solu Khumbu, north-eastern Nepal, the district where Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born and where many Himayalan Buddhists live. Chailsa is in the southern part of the district near Salleri, the district headquarters. The area is remote but still reachable by jeep—a day-long drive from Kathmandu over difficult roads.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how to do water bowl offerings to the children of Sagarmatha school. Chailsa, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche blessed the school and was welcomed by the children with a traditional dance. He gave a talk to them, giving them an explanation of how to do water bowls. He also sponsored a picnic for the children and their teachers. The school provided prizes for the children’s exams, which Rinpoche handed out. Rinpoche and Kopan are working to identify the needs of the schoolchildren so they can ensure that the necessary donations are organized.

Schoolchildren offering Lama Zopa Rinpoche a traditional dance. Chailsa, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In the village, Rinpoche gave a lung and some commentary for the Vajrayogini three-year retreat privately to some students, one who is planning to soon do the retreat. He also gave a short commentary to the local gompa keeper of the torma gyatsa practice. Finally, he offered an Amitabha long life initiation with teachings.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering an Amitabha long life initiation, Chailsa, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche also visited Thubten Shedrup Ling. This monastery, located in Chailsa, is under the care of Kopan Monastery, which took it over in 2004. It has only a few dozen residents, and with the help of Kopan, it has been partially rebuilt. It offers an opportunity for young people to receive a monastic education, to live in their vows in a monastic environment, and study and practice the teachings of the Buddha.

Rinpoche is also trying to locate land in Chailsa on which to keep goats and other animals whose lives have been saved.

On the trip, Rinpoche also went to Thubten Chöling, a large monastery built by the late Trulshik Rinpoche in the 1960s in Junbesi, which is near Salleri and on the Jiri-Everest trekking trail.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the monks and nuns of Thupten Chöling Monastery doing prayers in front of the Holy Body of Trulshik Rinpoche. Solu Khumbu, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

One of the greatest living masters of the Nyingma and rime traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, Trulshik Rinpoche, who passed away in 2011, was one of Rinpoche’s gurus. While at Thubten Chöling, Rinpoche offered to sponsor a portion of the costs of a stupa being constructed there. He paid his respects to Trulshik Rinpoche’s holy body (which is in a mandala house above the altar), made prayers, and made offerings to each of the approximately 400 Sangha present. Rinpoche’s assistant, Ven.Roger, requested the Sangha to do an extensive Medicine Buddha puja for Rinpoche’s health and long life, following the advice of Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme).

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.

Amitabha Buddhist Centre community liberates sea creatures at the shoreline in Singapore.

Benefiting animals in any way possible is a high priority for FPMT and one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the organization. The Animal Liberation Fund helps carry forth this work.

The Animal Liberation Fund sponsored the liberations of approximately 70,400 animals at Rinpoche’s houses in California and Washington State in 2016. Not only were the animals saved from untimely death by resident Sangha, but they were also taken around an incredible amount of holy objects, mantras were recited and blown on them and they were carefully placed where they could live out the rest of their life. When Sangha finish these liberations, they make strong prayers for all those who are sick, have recently died, or who have requested prayers. This is one of the most beneficial aspects of this practice as the merit is shared among so many. All are welcome to request prayers and dedications from the Sangha at Rinpoche’s residences for themselves or loved ones. In addition to the animal liberations in Washington State, the Sangha regularly bless the beings living in the lakes of this area. 

During the animal liberation practice, animals are carried around holy objects so they can create merit.

About once a month at Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC), Singapore, sea creatures are purchased at a seafood market to liberate. The animals are then circumambulated around center, which has 100 sets of the Kangyur and Tengyur as well as more than 300 stupas and many holy objects, including prayer wheels and statues. The community then offers animal liberation practice for  the animals according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s instructions and advice. Incredibly, 4,199,007 crabs, shellfish, and fish were liberated in 2016.  ABC estimates that they have helped liberate 218,000,000 lives to date. 

During animal liberation practice, an altar like this one designed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche filled with holy objects can be used for circumambulating the animals.

Recently, a student wrote to Rinpoche asking what they could do when finding dead insects. Rinpoche responded, not only to give advice but to describe in detail how he and Sangha at his residences work to benefit insects, birds, and other small animals.

Animal liberation is a specific practice done for animals which would otherwise be killed. The practice involves taking the animals-in-danger around holy objects to leave positive imprints in their minds, reciting mantras for them, blessing water to sprinkle onto their bodies, and then releasing them. This differs from general animal blessings which involve blessing any animal with mantras or a holy object. Animal blessings are, of course, wonderful to do for animals, but this is not what is meant by “animal liberations.”

Animal liberation practice is an incredible practice for anyone who has illnesses or is experiencing life obstacles. FPMT Education Services makes available many resources for those wishing to engage in this practice. 

All are welcome to contribute to the Animal Liberation Fund to help ensure that our work sponsoring animal liberations around the world continues. 

Approximately 700,000 meals were offered to the monks of Sera Je Monastery through the Sera Je Food Fund in 2016.

In 2016, FPMT Charitable Projects provided grants totaling US$3,512,326 toward various beneficial activities, including offering food to ordained Sangha and children; providing Buddhist philosophy scholarships; sponsoring beneficial pujas and practices; monthly offerings to the main teachers of the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition and sponsoring annual debates; offering grants to social services such as elder care homes, schools, hospitals, and monastic institutions; providing comprehensive Dharma programs; translating Dharma texts; sponsoring the creation of holy objects, such as statues, stupas, prayer wheels, and large thangkas; and saving animals from death and giving them Dharma imprints.

Elderly residents of a home in Dharamsala sponsored by the Social Services Fund

Of particular note in 2016 was the US$356,727 disbursed from the Social Services Fund. Supporting those in need—such as children, the elderly, the poor, and sick—is the main priority of this fund. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has also indicated that in addition to offering much needed material resources, we should also help by offering Dharma talks and when possible holy objects, which helps change karma for the better and bring real lasting benefit.

This 13-foot Guru Rinpoche statue had to be airlifted to Lawudo, Nepal, and was sponsored by the Holy Objects Fund in 2016.

Another area we are so happy to have supported in 2016 is the creation of holy objects. The Holy Objects Fund contributes to the construction of holy objects for world peace, which is a high priority among Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization. This year, US$879,972 was offered toward these projects, including the Maitreya Projects in Kushinagar and Bodhgaya; seven large prayer wheels, including five water-turned prayer wheels in Nepal, one in a Tibetan settlement in India, and one in New Zealand; thirteen Guru Rinpoche statues for Lawudo Retreat Center in Nepal; and seven statues that will be placed inside a larger statue in India.

We’d like to invite you to rejoice in all the grants that FPMT Charitable Projects was able to offer this year. You can read more about this in this year’s FPMT International Office annual review. Tremendous thanks for the kindness and generosity of many who give to the various funds and initiatives this past year, enabling our compassionate work to continue. 

You can learn more about the FPMT Charitable Projects, follow news and updates, or make a donation of any amount to help this work continue.

Students enjoying midday meal provided by the Social Services Fund

The Central School for Tibetans, Cauvery Valley Project (CVP), located in Bylakuppe, South India, was established in 1971 to serve the children of refugees living at Dickey Larsoe Tibetan Settlement. Twenty-four staff help educate 217 elementary, middle, and secondary students. 

Morning assembly and group prayer

The Social Services Fund has been sponsoring midday meals for the children of CVP for the last few years. In a letter of thanks from the school, the Parent’s Representative Committee wrote, “The diet that the children are enjoying these days is very nutritious…. We have never forgotten your kind help and support and to the school and the children. We always have felt that without your kind financial support and good will, our situation would have been very different.” 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche also sponsored the complete renovation of the school’s kitchen in 2013. 

Students performing cultural dance together

The school has not only established an impressive academic program with an emphasis on preserving the student’s Tibetan cultural heritage, but also offers extracurricular activities such as sports, arts, and crafts. The principal reports that, “Overall, the school has exalted status in the community and among the local settlers.” 

Please rejoice in the offering of meals to these school children! Helping the children of Tibetan refugees receive quality education is a high priority for FPMT, and through this offering of food, the school can use precious and scarce resources for continuing to develop and implement quality academic programs for the students. 

If you would like to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants such as this can continue, you can read more about the charitable projects this fund supports or donate any amount to the fund itself.