FPMT News Around the World

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Tushita Meditation Centre, May 15, 2012. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala has been abuzz with activity. FPMT’s spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s two-week visit earlier this month brought with it many blessing for Sangha and students. On May 15, he gathered the 100 students there for the course together to share with them a piece of the torma (ritual cake) from Khadro-la’s retreat.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Tushita Meditation Centre, May 15, 2012. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Two days earlier, Lobsang Sangay, the Kalon Tripa (Prime Minister of Tibet), visited Rinpoche at Tushita with Kalon Pema Chinnjor (the Minister for Religion and Culture). They met privately, and then Rinpoche led the Kalon Tripa on a tour of the center. Ling Rinpoche also paid Lama Zopa Rinpoche a visit at Tushita on May 10. Ling Rinpoche received a tour of Tushita as well and took time to address students.

Tushita celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The center offers a full range of courses for both beginner and experienced Dharma students. In 2011, more than 9,000 people from all over the world attended their residential courses, retreats and drop-in sessions, with many more visiting for personal retreat and special events. Tushita will be featured in the next issue of Mandala, which comes out soon.

You can see many more photos from Rinpoche’s visit to Tushita, find links to recent teachings and learn about other happenings at the center on Tushita’s Facebook page. 

With 159 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.

Lama Yeshe’s talk in Berkeley, California, in the summer of 1983 was given at a time when the world was in a state of anxiety about the threat of nuclear war.

From Mandala March-May 2002.

In Training for Buddhahood Ven. Tenzin Chonyi talks about the lam-rim, the genre of Tibetan Buddhist literature the serves as a step-by-step manual for spiritual and psychological development. “If you want to become an Olympic athlete,” Ven. Tenzin Chonyi points out, “you train your body. You find out how your body works, how it can be trained, and what to expect as you keep up your training schedule. And you would need to know what not to do.

“What if you want to train your mind? What if you want to train your mind? How do you join the ranks of the great spiritual teachers, yogis and saints? Is it really possible for an ordinary person to become fully enlightened? All these questions, and more, are answered in the lam-rim teachings.”

From Mandala June-August 2003.

FPMT News Around the World

Men-Tsee-Khang, Dharamsala, India. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Are you curious about Tibetan medicine and astrology? Men-Tsee-Kang, the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute, was established in Tibet by the 13th Dalai Lama in 1916 and reestablished in 1961 by the 14th Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. The institute is, in part, dedicated to promoting and practicing gSowa-rigpa, the Tibetan system of medicine, astronomy and astrology. The institute’s website is a rich source of information on these topics.

Now the FPMT Foundation Store is happy to announce a new relationship with Men-Tsee-Kang. The Foundation Store just received in its warehouse three new items produced by the institute. Sorig Loong Lotion and Sorig Loong Massage Oil are herbal healthcare products from Men-Tsee-Kang intended to help pacify loong disorders. Loong, or lung, is sometimes called the meditator’s disease. Ven. Nyingje, an experienced meditator and FPMT register teacher, writes in a Mandala article on lung that it can be thought of as a strained nervous system.

The Foundation Store also offers Men-Tsee-Kang’s Sorig Tibetan Incense. As part of Men-Tsee-Kang’s mission, they are committed to creating all their products in an environmentally sensitive manner.

In addition to offering herbal products, the institute has a college, where students study Tibetan medicine and astrology in a five-year program. Through a network of clinics, Men-Tsee-Kang also provides free or subsidized healthcare to Tibetan refugees, the poor and needy, monks and nuns, and those over age seventy.

With 159 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.

FPMT News Around the World

Osel Hita speaks at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, April 2012. Photo by Piero Sirianni.

“The first step for harmonious communities is to be aware of your own actions and thoughts,” Osel Hita told a group of students in April 2012. 

A 50-minute recording of the talk is now available online. This was the first time Osel had spoken to a group of Western Dharma students in over a decade. Gomo Tulku also joined the discussion, which took place at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy.

In 2010, Osel Hita and Gomo Tulku along with Ling Rinpoche and Cherok Lama participated in a roundtable discussion with Mandala about being recognized as reincarnated “lamas” and the future of Buddhism. The young FPMT notables offered fresh and original views on how Buddhism fits into the 21st-century world.

“Religion is moved by the people,” Osel told Mandala. “It is connection between the unknown and known universes within and outside of us. Like many other religions, Buddhism is one more way of understanding and growing closer to our true essence.” 

Gomo Tulku, perhaps even more than his compatriots, is pushing into new territories, pursuing a long-held interest in becoming a musician. He has just released his second music video today, called “Let Me Down.”

You can learn about new recordings and teachings along with the latest FPMT news by reading the FPMT International Office News, a monthly e-newsletter. Subscribe online to have it delivered directly to your email inbox.

With 159 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.

Dr. Renuka Singh interviews His Holiness the Dalai Lama for her book Women Reborn. In it, His Holiness discusses his greatest spiritual accomplishments and struggles, celibacy, and separating from his mother at a young age, among other topics.

From Mandala January-February 1998.

As president of the Tibetan Women’s Association, Rinchen Khadro was the inspiration and energy behind many of the social welfare projects to help the Tibetan refugee community in India. 

American nun Ven. Thubten Chodron talked to Rinchen Khadro (in October 1992) about her views about social work activities.

From Mandala November-December 1999.

FMPT News Around the World

Kadampa stupa construction at Kadampa Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, May 2012

Kadampa Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, is making impressive strides with its project to build a new Kadampa stupa. The center reports, “For two months, we had been designing and building all the remaining concrete parts for the stupa ‒ an ‘upper cylinder’ to complete the vase section, a lid for the cylinder, and a harmika. These have all been built to sizes and shapes that we have been taught by Jampel Lama, who of course is with us every day in person, and by his comrades who are back in Nepal.”

Jampel watches as the assembled upper cylinder, lid and harmika are moved by forklift.

With the aid of a forklift, center members moved the concrete pieces weighing well over 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) each, making sure they all fit together.

With the completion of the last concrete parts, the stupa is ready for the blessing and filling ceremony. At the blessing ceremony, the cylinder will be filled with mantras and precious substances, and then the lid and harmika will be lifted into place and the ceremony completed.   

Jampel, who supervised the construction and decoration of the stupa at Kurukulla Center, will be adding more decorations to the harmika. You can see some of the decorations (above) that have already been completed on the throne section.

The stupa is situated in view of both passing drivers and those traveling by train on nearby tracks as advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. 

With 159 centers, projects and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.

Adèle Hulse remembers some of the experiences that her son T.Y. had early on as a young resident of a Dharma center, concluding that ultimately her wish is to let him “find his own way in Buddhism.”

From Mandala July-August 1998.

FPMT News Around the World

Lama Yeshe meditating in the botanical gardens, Berkeley, California, 1974. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

It’s no surprise that meditation continues to draw the media’s attention. More and more, its positive effects on the mind and body are being documented by scientists and its techniques are being taught in clinical settings. A 2007 national survey in the United States found that “9.4 percent of respondents (representing more than 20 million people) had used meditation in the past 12 months – compared with 7.6 percent of respondents (representing more than 15 million people) in a similar survey conducted in 2002.” In fact, U.S. National Institute of Health has a dedicated webpage on meditation’s health benefits, which include helping with anxiety, pain, depression, stress, insomnia and coping with chronic illness. All signs indicate this interest will only continue to grow. The inaugural International Symposia for Contemplative Studies recently brought together more than 700 neuroscientists, educators, and contemplative scholars from around the world to share cutting-edge research on the nature and workings of the human mind. We can sincerely rejoice in the benefits that people throughout the world may experience from this increased interest in and use of meditative techniques.

But for students of Mahayana Buddhism, a meditation practice has benefits beyond improved health (which is still important). Developing the ability to calm the mind facilitates one’s ability to progress towards enlightenment, when one can be of most benefit. Fortunately, FPMT offers many resources online to support the development of this kind of meditation practice. Discovering Buddhism’s Module 2 “How to Meditate” is available free of charge on the Online Learning Center as well as instruction on shiné or calm abiding meditation. In addition, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive offers many teachings from Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and other qualified teachers on meditation. These resources are freely available to you to deepen your Mahayana meditation practice and to share with others who might want to take the altruistic path of Dharma.

With 160 centers, projects, and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.