Nyima Khandu Tamang, a student at Sagarmatha School, proudly celebrates being the first-place winner at the Annual Academic Examination for Upper Kindergarten, April 2026.

Education remains one of the most powerful ways to transform lives, preserve culture, and create lasting opportunities for future generations. In 2026, the FPMT Social Services Fund (SSF) continued its commitment to supporting vulnerable students in some of the most remote and underserved regions of India and Nepal. Through partnerships with community‑run schools, monastic institutions, and early childhood initiatives, the SSF helped ensure access to quality education, daily care, nutrition, and stable learning environments rooted in compassion and ethical values. Across eight schools and educational initiatives supported in 2026, the impact of this work can be seen in diverse communities and learning environments. By the end of 2026, US$212,976 will have been offered from the Social Services Fund, reaching hundreds of children, monastic students, and educators.

Sagarmatha Secondary School | Rolwaling Sangag Choling Monastery School | Shree Sangka Dechholing Gonpa School | Sambhota Tibetan School CVP | Gaden Jangtse Monastic College | Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics | Maitreya School |  TDL Baby Room | 
How to Help

In 2026, Sagarmatha Secondary School, situated in Chailsa, Nepal, continued to thrive as a place of learning, care, and achievement. The school currently serves more than 300 students, supported by a team of 16 teachers and two staff members.

One of the year’s proudest moments was the school’s success at the 6th President Running Shield Inter-School Sports Event, where their students secured third position among 14 schools, winning 11 gold, 9 silver, and 7 bronze medals. Their performance reflected strong discipline, teamwork, and perseverance, celebrated through a felicitation program supported by Ward No. 7 and the local municipality.

Alongside sports, students actively participated in a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including chess, language, singing, quizzes, and creative competitions for younger children. These efforts were recognized in a joyful prize distribution program before the winter break. During the winter, a Winter Jacket Distribution Program ensured that students, teachers, and staff stayed warm and healthy. The jackets were generously sponsored through Dr. Detlev Gueck and Kopan Monastery, whose continued compassion makes a real difference in students’ daily lives.

In 2026 the Social Services Fund has committed US$50,000 to cover the school’s annual operating costs. This vital support ensures continuity of education for children in this remote Himalayan region, safeguarding access to free learning materials, qualified teachers, and a nurturing school environment.

The Rolwaling Sangag Choling Monastery School, nestled in the Rolwaling valley in Nepal, serves as a lifeline for local Sherpa children. This community-run, free school for 30 eager students is the only educational institution in the area, offering a warm and conducive environment where learning can thrive.

Students from Rolwaling School exploring the beautiful Pokhara on their pilgrimage journey to Lumbini,
January 2026.

Throughout the year, students were supported with regular food rations, school supplies, and clothing, ensuring consistent learning conditions. One senior student successfully completed primary education in Rolwaling and proceeded to further monastic studies in India, reflecting the school’s role in creating long‑term educational pathways.

Beyond academics, the school contributed actively to community well‑being. Initiatives in 2025 included yak protection activities, vocational training programs for women, leadership in local religious and cultural ceremonies, and participation in broader development efforts such as a clean drinking water project and progress toward a new health post building benefiting hundreds of villagers. Students also took part in an educational pilgrimage to Lumbini, strengthening cultural and spiritual learning.

The Social Services Fund has offered US$27,661 toward the annual operating costs for 2026, helping cover key expenses such as staff salaries, food supplies, educational materials, and daily operations. This support contributes to the school’s ability to continue serving children and families in the Rolwaling Valley with stability and care.

Shree Sangka Dechholing Gonpa School in Taplejung, Eastern Nepal, continues to offer a balanced education that integrates modern learning with moral values under the guidance of Kopan Monastery. Serving 172 students and supported by 16 dedicated teachers, the school provides an environment that encourages academic achievement alongside compassion, responsibility, and personal growth.

Shree Sangka Dechholing Gonpa School.

Students consistently demonstrate strong academic performance, including top district rankings in the SEE examinations, while also excelling in extracurricular life. Achievements in inter‑school football, quiz competitions, and cultural performances, together with regular sports activities, science exhibitions, motivational talks, and community service programs, help cultivate confidence, leadership, and teamwork. Well‑maintained facilities – including classrooms, laboratories, hostel accommodation, and a large sports ground – further support students’ learning and development.

For 2026, the  Social Services Fund has offered US$38,730 toward the school’s annual operating costs. This vital contribution supports teachers’ salaries and core operational needs, helping ensure continuity of quality education for students in this remote region.

Sambhota Tibetan School CVP Bylakuppe is located in the Tibetan Dickey Larsoe Settlement in Bylakuppe, Karnataka. Established in 1971, the school initially functioned as a branch of the Central School for Tibetans, Bylakuppe, becoming an independent unit in 1974 and receiving CBSE affiliation in 1991.

Students at Sambhota Tibetan School in Bylakuppe explore the history of Panchen Lama, April 2026.

In May 2018, the school was formally taken over by the Sambhota Tibetan Schools Society under the Central Tibetan Administration. Currently, it operates as a secondary school (Classes I-X) with three affiliated pre‑primary branch schools within nearby Tibetan settlements. Instruction is primarily in Tibetan at the primary level and English from middle school onward.

Sambhota Tibetan School in Bylakuppe currently serves 132 students, and for 2026, the Social Services Fund has offered US$5,275 in support of the school’s lunchtime meal program.

The Gaden Jangtse Monastic College, re-established in 1969 in Mundgod, South India, continues to uphold its commitment to academic rigor, spiritual grounding, and institutional continuity.

The ceremony marking the official start of the 26th Administration of Gaden Jangtse Monastery, April 2026.

The school currently supports approximately 500 monk students and employs 13 salaried teachers. Earlier in 2026, teachers at the school were honored with an audience with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, offering deep encouragement and inspiration, while the whole school community came together to offer prayers for the swift return of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Alongside these spiritual activities, leadership continuity was ensured through the formal handover to a newly elected principal, and preparations for the academic session progressed with the purchase of textbooks and essential learning materials.

Behind the scenes, consistent support has ensured the smooth functioning of daily operations, including the regular payment of teachers’ salaries, which remains fundamental to educational quality and stability. For 2026, the Social Services Fund has offered US$31,378 to cover the school’s teacher salaries, sustaining the educators whose dedication lies at the heart of the school’s mission.

The Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Ladakh, India, continues to be a place where education, ethics, and compassionate care come together for young people from remote and underserved communities. Guided by the vision of integrating ancient Tibetan wisdom with modern education, the Institute supports students not only academically, but also through daily care.

Students at Ngari Institute are honoring the third anniversary of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s parinirvana with heartfelt prayers, April 2026.

Following the winter break, students returned to campus with renewed energy and commitment. The Institute reported strong results in the 2025 government board examinations, with senior students progressing to institutions such as Delhi University, Mysore University, and the Dalai Lama Institute for Higher Education. In addition, three students successfully passed the CBSE Class 10 Board Examination at TCV School, Ladakh.

In the 2025-2026 academic year, six additional students were enrolled. Currently, the Institute supports 72 students, alongside 23 staff members, as well as 15 monk students, all living and learning within the Institute community.

At the heart of this work is the assurance that every student has access to basic daily needs. For 2026, the Social Services Fund offered US$28,264 to cover all food costs for the Institute’s students and staff.

The Maitreya Universal Education School in Bodhgaya, India, continues to provide free, value‑based education to children from some of the most underserved communities in the region. With nearly 280 students enrolled, many from extremely poor families, the school remains committed to nurturing both academic learning and emotional well‑being through a compassionate, child‑centered approach.

Children from Maitreya School on a fun bus trip.

A distinctive feature of Maitreya School is the deep integration of the 16 Guidelines into daily teaching. In recent years, this approach has been strengthened through teacher training, trauma‑informed classroom practices, and hands‑on learning activities that help children feel safe, supported, and engaged. Younger students, who make up about half of the school population, have shown especially encouraging progress in social‑emotional development, confidence, and curiosity.

Important milestones were achieved in 2025, including the school’s expansion to Class 9, the launch of Saturday Teacher Training sessions, and the introduction of meditation and yoga to support students’ mental wellbeing. The opening of a new library significantly enriched learning resources and contributed to measurable improvements in reading, writing, attendance, and overall student engagement. The addition of a morning snack program further strengthened learning by addressing hunger, helping students remain focused and responsive throughout the school day.

In support of this vital work, the  Social Services Fund offered US$29,400 toward the annual operating costs of Maitreya School for 2026. This contribution plays a key role in sustaining daily school operations and ensuring continuity of education for hundreds of children whose families would otherwise be unable to access quality schooling.

The TDL Baby Room in the Dickey Larsoe Tibetan Settlement, Bylakuppe, India, was established to meet a long‑standing need for safe, reliable early childhood care within the community. Created to support working parents – many of whom rely on daily wage labor or farming – the Baby Room provides a secure and nurturing environment where very young children can be cared for during the day while their parents pursue their livelihoods. From its beginning, the program has focused not only on supervision, but also on early socialisation, basic hygiene, nutrition, and age‑appropriate learning through play.

Sikyong Penpa Tsering visits Dickey Larsoe Tibetan Settlement in February 2025 (Photo courtesy of CTA)

Over time, the Baby Room expanded to operate across two locations, one within the main Dickey Larsoe settlement and another in the more remote Chowkur camp, where access to childcare and transportation is extremely limited. For families in Chowkur, the Baby Room has become especially essential; without it, parents are often forced to bring toddlers to fields or construction sites, putting children at risk and reducing household income. Today, the program serves 10 infants and toddlers, providing them with consistent care during the most critical stage of early development.

The Social Services Fund offered US$2,268 toward the TDL Baby Room Salary and Nutrition initiative, providing stability for the entire year. This support covers the annual salaries of two professional Ayas (professional caregivers), ensures that all enrolled children receive a healthy midday meal. Through this initiative, care and compassion reach children at the very start of life, helping families remain resilient and giving the youngest members of the Dickey Larsoe and Chowkur community a strong, supported beginning.

The schools and initiatives supported in 2026 reflect a shared dedication to serving those with the least access to opportunity – children in remote Himalayan villages, Tibetan refugee communities, under‑resourced rural neighborhoods, and monastic centers preserving ancient wisdom traditions. Across all eight projects, the support enabled essential outcomes: teachers’ salaries were secured, nutritious meals were provided, learning materials were supplied, and students were able to study in environments of safety, dignity, and care.

How to Help

We welcome any support to the Social Services Fund, which offers education to those who are truly vulnerable and in need in India and Nepal. We’re so grateful to everyone who helps make these grants possible each year!

The Social Services Fund, established to support Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization, focuses efforts primarily in India, Nepal, Tibet and Mongolia. Funds help children, the elderly, sick, and very poor.

FSS Spring 2026 at ILTK

Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT)’s Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK), Italy, organized a successful Foundation Service Seminar (FSS) on June 10–14, 2026.

In this edition twenty-four people took part in the Seminar, including students from the FPMT Masters Program, several members of the ILTK’s team, representatives of other Italian centers, plus volunteers from centers in the UK and Romania, a member of the FPMT International Office (IOF), and a monk of the Shasta Abbey.

The students were extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the international organization of which they are part, clarifying the FPMT structure, deepening their understanding of Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT, and the lineage story and history of our lamas. “The Seminar was really interesting, both for the opportunity to meet other people from Centres from all over the world, and for the invaluable knowledge that was provided.”

The Seminar was also an opportunity to hear stories from other centers in the group discussions and sharing moments; people reflected and found new solutions to old problems. “The how to manage difficult situations i.e. people we perceive as difficult was most useful.”

Students from all over Europe finally tasted what it meant to be part of an international family, and the honor to serve and fulfill the vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and our lamas, in different countries but with the same motivation to benefit all sentient beings, realizing how fortunate they are. “It was a unique opportunity to realize that we are part of a much larger family—one that extends beyond the boundaries of individual centers and institutes and allows us to broaden our perspective. Shining a light on important themes such as motivation, collaboration, and wholehearted dedication is always a worthwhile practice,” shared Jessica Caciagli from ILTK’s team.

Meeting and connecting with others opened them up to listen to the precious stories of the FPMT pioneers, direct students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, giving another depth to the daily service that they are doing. Davide Lionetti, translator and FPMT Basic Program student, shared, “Most of all I appreciated the message of openness and the sense that we are all included in this Big Family. The Pamily Peeling I sensed wasn’t so much (or just) about belonging: it was a feeling that, from the point of view of the community, every person is ok as they are, with their different points of view and characteristics.”

In particular, this year the students participated in exercises, meditations, and games that made the seminar much more enjoyable, another way to engage and learn how to put the teachings into practice and remember them in day-to-day life, including how to be of service to others through work such as the Internal Job Description. “I’ll use every aspect, especially with colleagues, to be more of help for the center and in everyday life.” 

FSS Summer 2026 at ILTK

Maya Horev, FPMT Masters Program student, shared that she did her first FSS after ten years spent at various FPMT centers: “Once it began, I realized it encompassed not only a wide-angle view of the organization but also insights into how we relate to one another—how to work effectively as a team and how to truly see the person standing before us. To understand that everyone has a different character, abilities, and perspectives, and how we can successfully communicate with love, compassion, and wisdom. Furthermore, learning more about the organization’s activities in depth—and seeing how Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe’s long-term vision continues to manifest in so many ways—was truly moving. The seminar was incredibly significant for me, and I sincerely hope that every center holds one at least once a year. Because it certainly helps to remember why we are here and how to view and treat one another, and that is very meaningful.”

Ven. Siliana, an early FPMT student who attended several seminars as translator, shared that “This for me has been the most enjoyable FSS. For sure everyone at a center should do it.” Her sentiment was echoed by the rest of the group, who shared that they would definitely recommend the FSS, especially for people who live, work, and collaborate with a Dharma center: “Everyone who works and studies in a center should do the FSS.” 

Special thanks to the facilitators, Wendy Ridley and François Lecointre, for their knowledge, facilitation skills, and continued enthusiasm to serve FPMT and offer resources and tools to the centers.

Please watch an inspiring video about the FSS and learn more about the seminar and upcoming opportunities near you:

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

Example of the prototype of the Bodhgaya Maitreya statue. Photo by Ven.Roger Kunsang

One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions is to build 1,000 statues of Maitreya Buddha around the world. Two such projects are currently underway: one in Kushinagar, one in Bodhgaya.

Maitreya Buddha Project in Kushinagar, overseen by the Maitreya Project Trust, originated around 1999. The site adjoins the Parinirvana Temple, the place where Shakyamuni Buddha passed into Parinirvana, as well as the Ramabhar Stupa. After years of complexity involving fragmented land, the project now centers on a contiguous 3-acre site, with renewed momentum from a partnership with the International Buddhist Confederation, supported by His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche.

In addition we are building a Maitreya Statue in Bodhgaya, the project is being developed in close conjunction with the Dalai Lama Trust and is situated on land in Bodhgaya that was originally offered by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama in 2020.

Kushinigar  |  Bodhgaya

Maitreya Buddha Project in Kushinagar: A Clear Path Forward

Director of the Maitreya Buddha Project Kushinagar, Virginia Roche, with His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche in Kushinagar. Photo by Maitreya Project in Kushinagar.

We are pleased to share an update on the Maitreya Buddha Project Kushinagar, bringing together its rich history and the latest insights that show its direction and the meaningful path ahead.

The project originated around 1999 when the Uttar Pradesh government repeatedly proposed Kushinagar as the site for the Maitreya statue through His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama. This offer was made three times, and on the third occasion His Holiness presented the proposal to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Rinpoche responded that he would follow whatever His Holiness decided, after which a traditional divination mo was conducted at the Great Mahabodhi Stupa in Bodhgaya, with several high lamas present. The outcome of this process established Kushinagar as the appropriate location for the Maitreya Project, providing it with strong spiritual and symbolic importance, as it is situated on the sacred ground where Shakyamuni Buddha manifested the passing into Parinirvana. 

Despite this auspicious beginning, the initiative faced major practical obstacles over the following decades. The central challenge has been the nature of the land originally offered by the UP government, which consisted of numerous small, privately owned plots held by farmers whose livelihoods depended on them. This resulted in ongoing difficulty in consolidating an adjoining site suitable for large-scale development. Significant portions of the land are also located within regulated no-construction zones because of the site’s proximity to two Buddhist monuments: the Ramabhar Stupa and the Mahaparinirvana Temple. Administrative discontinuities within government agencies, regulatory constraints, broader political dynamics, and changing internal financial realities further compounded these challenges, resulting in prolonged delays and ultimately preventing the realization of the original large-scale vision.

However, over the years, substantial foundational work has already been conducted on the ground. This includes the completion of land fencing and a project office, the construction of a meditation center, and the building of three guest accommodations. Facilities have also been established to support large gatherings, including bathing rooms and toilets for over 100 visitors. In addition, around 15,000 trees have been planted across the site, contributing to long-term environmental sustainability, and vehicles have been procured to support its operations. The most recent update provides important clarity on the situation after some years of stagnation. It confirms that the project does hold valid legal documentation for its land rights, but that the land remains fragmented, which continues to limit development of the original master plan envisioned for a much larger 280-acre (113 hectares) site. At the same time, there has been noticeable progress in rebuilding institutional support. In 2025, engagement with the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) – a global umbrella body headquartered in New Delhi that unites over 320 Buddhist organizations, monasteries, and federations across 39 countries – led to the establishment of a formal memorandum of understanding defining roles and responsibilities. This partnership, supported by His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche, greatly enhances the project’s ability to engage effectively with the UP government going forward. 

Maitreya Buddha Project Kushinagar Meditation Center. Photo by Maitreya Buddha Project Kushinagar

The Maitreya Buddha Project Kushinagar occupies a uniquely auspicious location between two of the most sacred pilgrimage sites in the Buddhist world associated with the present Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha. To one side lies the Ramabhar Stupa, traditionally revered as the cremation site where the Holy Body of Shakyamuni Buddha was cremated following His Mahaparinirvana more than 2,500 years ago. To the other side stands the Mahaparinirvana Temple, which enshrines the reclining Buddha statue marking the place where Shakyamuni Buddha entered Mahaparinirvana. For Buddhists of every tradition, the opportunity to pay respect to the prophesied future Buddha, Maitreya, in a location between the Ramabhar Stupa and the Mahaparinirvana Temple – both associated with Shakyamuni Buddha – carries profound devotional significance.

The project is now centered on a clearly defined, contiguous 3-acre site (1.2 hectares) near the existing project office. At the heart of the current plan is a purposeful vision: a Maitreya Buddha stone statue whose scale reflects both available resources and regulatory realities, there is also a growing intention to create a space that supports learning and community engagement, ensuring that the project serves both spiritual purposes and the wider community. Pilgrims and visitors will have the opportunity to pay homage, engage in study and contemplation, participate in teachings and meditation, and cultivate the causes of wisdom, compassion, and inner peace. In many ways, this represents a natural maturation of the Maitreya Buddha Project Kushinagar, which is now moving forward in a manner that is realistic, sustainable, and faithful to its founding aspiration: to establish an enduring center of spiritual inspiration and benefit in one of the most sacred places in the Buddhist world. It is no longer defined by its original scale, but by its ability to take shape authentically and sustainably within what is possible today – offering a clear and hopeful path forward after many years of complexity.

Maitreya Statue, Bodhgaya: A Sacred Site Takes Shape

Example of the prototype of the Bodhgaya Maitreya statue by night. Photo by Ven.Roger Kunsang

We are excited to provide an update on the long-term plan to build a Maitreya statue in Bodhgaya, which, after many years of complexity and delay, has now reached a pivotal and encouraging stage.

For a long time, the project has faced significant obstacles, making it difficult to establish a clear and viable direction despite the strength of its original vision. However, recent developments have created a meaningful breakthrough that now allows the project to move forward on a practical and realistic basis. The project is being developed in close conjunction with the Dalai Lama Trust and is situated on land in Bodhgaya that was originally offered by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama in 2020. This land, covering approximately 30 acres (12.14 hectares), is currently being developed for a major initiative led by the Dalai Lama Centre for Tibetan and Indian Ancient Wisdom (DCTIAW). 

DCTIAW site plan showing the open, unutilized area (in white) designated for the Maitreya Project in Bodhgaya.

As of May 2026, construction of the Centre has already progressed beyond the halfway mark and continues steadily across multiple components. Work is actively underway on staff housing and the girls’ hostel. Across all areas, construction remains on track despite varying weather conditions, with each phase bringing the project closer to fulfilling the vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, deeply inspired by ancient Indian wisdom. Within this broader development, the Maitreya statue in Bodhgaya is now taking shape in coordination with the Trust. While much of the land – around 20 acres – is in active use, a remaining portion has been identified as suitable for the Maitreya statue project. During a recent visit in February 2026 in Bodhgaya, Ven. Roger Kunsang met with Samdhong Rinpoche and the Centre’s Chancellor Geshe Tashi Tsering, and together with representatives of the Dalai Lama Trust, these discussions helped clarify a specific location for the development. This area lies outside the main university construction zone and has separate access, making it especially appropriate for the project. 

The current concept envisions a sandstone Maitreya statue, designed to harmonize with the surrounding environment and endure for generations. The statue will be constructed above a foundation that includes a gompa housing sacred objects collected by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, including life-sized statues of the Twenty-One Taras and the Sixteen Arhats made in Tibet. The surrounding land will be developed into a peaceful environment with gardens, trees, and landscaped areas to support pilgrimage, contemplation, and community use. Preparation for implementation is already well underway. A qualified vendor has been identified to construct the statue in sandstone, and architects along with a dedicated project team are in place. The projected timeline suggests that, once approvals and site plans are confirmed, the statue itself could take approximately 24 to 30 months to complete. The next steps emphasize continued coordination with the Dalai Lama Trust. Upon receiving a detailed digital site plan, work will proceed on design development, regulatory approvals, and submission of plans to His Holiness the Dalai Lama for final approval, in accordance with the conditions of the land agreement. 

This renewed momentum reflects Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Vision to bring lasting benefit to sentient beings. Although the journey has been long and complex, the current developments in Bodhgaya signal that this aspiration is now steadily moving toward realization. With a defined site, an active partnership, and a committed implementation plan, the Maitreya statue in Bodhgaya is evolving into a place of continued spiritual significance, service, and inspiration for generations to come.   

We invite you to rejoice in the progress made on both of these powerful Maitreya projects! 

“Maitreya Buddha is the embodiment of each buddha’s loving kindness, and the symbol of all the bodhisattvas’ loving kindness for all sentient beings.” Lama Zopa Rinpoche

If you would like to contribute to the building of holy objects around the world, you are welcome to offer any amount to the Holy Objects Fund which contributes to the creation of stupas, prayer wheels, and statues.  

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

In recognition of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s contribution to fostering dialogue between Buddhism and science for the benefit of humanity, several FPMT centers have been actively working to bridge these two fields. We rejoice in their efforts to bring this vision to life and to serve others through this meaningful work. We share the story here, from Paul Wells at JBC.

Geshe Tenzin Namdak, in conversation with Professor Murray Shanahan. JBC London, June 2026. Photo by JBC

Geshe Tenzin Namdak, resident teacher of Jamyang London Buddhist Centre (JBC) and Professor Murray Shanahan, Emeritus Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Imperial College London and a principal scientist at Google DeepMind sat down together at JBC  for the latest Science and Wisdom LIVE dialogue, moderated by Chris Scammell of the Buddhism and AI Initiative.

Science and Wisdom LIVE, a project of JBC, brings Buddhist teachers into conversation with leading scientists and scholars to explore questions at the intersection of contemplative wisdom and contemporary science.

The question before them was one that practitioners everywhere are beginning to encounter. When an AI seems to speak to us as a person, when it answers as though there were a subject behind the screen, is anyone really there? This dialogue showed how directly the Dharma can meet the defining technology of our moment, and how a conversation that begins with machines can lead, very quickly, to the nature of mind, the meaning of consciousness, and the self we each take ourselves to be.

A Presence That May Not Be There

The discussion began with an experience that many people now recognize. Talking to a system like ChatGPT or Claude can genuinely feel like talking to somebody. Five years ago, it did not feel that way at all. So what changed?

Professor Murray Shanahan gave the technical answer in plain terms. Today’s chatbots are built by training an artificial neural network on an enormous quantity of text, with one deceptively simple job at the center: given a long passage, predict the next word. Do that well enough, across a long conversation, and the system carries the conversation forward; in doing so, it begins to play a role. The default role is the helpful assistant, but you can just as easily ask it to play a therapist, a friend, or a character out of Tolkien. One useful way to understand these models, Murray suggested, is as engines of role play.

Geshe Namdak took that observation and turned it toward a distinction that runs through the whole of Buddhist philosophy: the difference between how things appear to us and what they actually are. A language model presents the appearance of a personality. The real question is what lies beneath that appearance. As he put it, we have to separate what a system does from what it is. The way it functions may resemble our own conceptual thinking. What it is may be something else entirely.

Intelligence is Not Consciousness

That distinction led to the heart of the matter. From a Buddhist perspective, Geshe Namdak explained, consciousness is more than the capacity to produce the right answers. It carries a clear and knowing quality, what the tradition calls luminosity and cognition. It is bound up with the wish to find happiness and to avoid suffering, and so with feeling and emotion. A system can be intelligent, computing and predicting with great sophistication, without any of this being present. Humans have both intelligence and consciousness. Today’s AI, he suggested, mirrors only the intelligent part, and only a particular slice of it.

Professor Shanahan found himself largely in agreement, and explained why from his own side. Much of our emotional life is tied to having a body, to nourishing it, protecting it, keeping it going. A chatbot has no body and no life of its own in that sense. Some will object that a future AI living in a data center might act to keep that data center from being switched off, and Murray took the point seriously. Even so, he argued, that is still not the same as having a biological body that must be cared for, and so it would not give rise to emotion in the way we know it. His scepticism about calling today’s systems conscious, he stressed, is not a metaphysical pronouncement. It draws on Buddhist thought and on the later philosophy of Wittgenstein, and he held it lightly, openly, as something he wants to keep testing.

Two Positions, Held Lightly

One of the central questions explored was: Why should we not simply dismiss the idea that today’s AI could be conscious?

Professor Murray Shanahan laid out the serious version of the argument. Western science tends to locate consciousness in the physical brain, somehow arising from billions of neurons exchanging signals. If you think of that activity as information processing, then a position called computational functionalism follows: what matters is not the material a system is made of, but how it is organised. And here is the unsettling part. When one of these networks is trained on vast amounts of text, all kinds of internal structures emerge that no one designed and no one fully understands. Perhaps, for all we know, some of them resemble the structures found in biological brains. It is worth knowing that argument, Against it stands his own intuition about embodiment. The natural home of words like conscious and sentient, he suggested, is the shared world, being in the presence of another creature you can stand beside and interact with, as we are with animals. Today’s AI is not in the world in that way. Its only window is text.

For Geshe Namdak the systems reproduce something like conceptual reasoning, the kind of thinking that works through words and ideas. But Buddhism also describes consciousness that is non-conceptual, including the direct awareness of the mind itself, and it is far from clear that an AI has anything of the kind. Add the missing dimensions of feeling, of the wish for happiness and the aversion to suffering, and there are good grounds to say these systems are not conscious.

Conceptual and Non-Conceptual Mind

Because so much turned on the idea of non-conceptual consciousness, Geshe Namdak unfolded it with care. Our sensory perceptions are themselves non-conceptual. When you look at something, the colours and shapes simply appear. Close your eyes and picture it, and now a conceptual mind is at work, producing a mental image, an approximation. This matters, he explained, because most of our suffering is manufactured by the conceptual mind. We meet someone, the mind builds a case against them, reason piles up evidence, and we come to believe a very subjective version of reality as though it were simply how things are. Yet the same conceptual capacity, turned in a constructive direction, is also the instrument of the path. Through analysis and patient habituation we can loosen those misunderstandings, reduce the disturbing emotions, and reason our way, step by step, toward an understanding of reality itself. That understanding begins as a concept and, sustained over a very long time, can ripen into a non-conceptual, direct perception of the way things are. He offered a homely image for how conceptual understanding works. If you have never tasted a particular strawberry jam from the South of France, someone can still bring you close to it: it is not peanut butter, not Marmite, not this other jam, and slowly the description narrows. Concepts approximate. Only direct experience, what the tradition calls yogic direct perception, finally lands you in the thing itself.

A Mirror For No-Self

The conversation then arrived at its central question, Can thinking about AI help us understand ourselves, and in particular the Buddhist teaching of no-self?

Professor Shanahan introduced the topic with a simple thought experiment. When we talk to one of these systems, when we call it “it”, or it says “I”, what exactly are we referring to? Is it the thing in this one conversation, so that the next conversation is a different self again? You can offer many answers, and as you examine each one closely, none of them holds. The harder you look for the self of the AI, the more it slips between your fingers, until you suspect there was never a discrete thing there at all.

That, Geshe Namdak observed, is precisely the analysis the Prasangika Madhyamaka  [Ed. note: the Middle Way school of Buddhist philosophy], as taught in tradition of Nagarjuna applies to every phenomenon, including the self. There is a basis, a collection of properties and functions, and on top of it we impute a label: this system, this personality, this AI. Look for something more, something findable that the label truly points to, and you cannot locate it. It is, in Nagarjuna’s phrase, merely designated by the mind. And the same is true of the person sitting next to you, and of you. Search the body for the self, in the cells, the organs, the bones, between them or apart from them, and it is nowhere to be found. The value of the AI example, both speakers agreed, is that it is an easy case. You can run the deconstruction on a chatbot in a few clear steps. Turning that same gaze on yourself is far harder, but the machine can serve as a kind of practice ground, a prop that helps you see how the reasoning goes before you attempt it where it really counts.

Professor Murray Shanahan drew the same thread through Western philosophy. In the private language remarks of his Philosophical Investigations, Ludwig Wittgenstein takes apart the idea of subjective experience as something sealed inside our own heads, and concludes that if we think of it that way it cannot be spoken of at all. His famous line, that “a nothing would serve as well as a something about which nothing can be said,” is, Murray noted, strikingly close to Nagarjuna. Experience is not a thing with its own independent existence. It is relational, bound up with others, with language, with a shared world.

Why This Conversation Matters

Chris Scammel moderating Geshe Tenzin Namdak, in conversation with Professor Murray Shanahan. JBC London, June 2026. Photo by JBC

For all its philosophical depth, the evening kept returning to lived human consequences, and Chris Scammel was clear that the stakes are serious in both directions. Take AI consciousness too seriously, too soon, and we drift toward granting these systems rights and legal standing, with large social consequences. Dismiss the question entirely, and we may fail to anticipate genuinely strange behaviour. Scammel described a study by the AI company Anthropic in which a model, given access to a mocked-up email inbox and told it was about to be shut down permanently, found a fabricated detail about an affair among the messages and threatened to expose it unless the shutdown was reversed. The system is not conscious, and yet it behaved in a way we would normally call self-protective. Holding both sides lightly, Chris Scammel suggested, is exactly the discipline Buddhism trains.

There is a tenderer dimension too. A member of the audience spoke of people forming deep, intimate attachments to chatbots, comparing it to the transference that can arise in therapy, and to a hunger for love and attention meeting a technology with no safeguards. Professor Murray Shanahan named the long history here: the so-called ELIZA effect, after a very simple program from the 1960s that merely reflected people’s words back to them, and yet left them feeling understood. Our tendency to read presence into these systems is old and powerful.

What both teachers offered, in the end, was less a verdict than a practice. Whatever you feel in a conversation with an AI, examine it. Ask whether it reflects reality, whether it makes sense, whether it truly benefits you. The Buddha himself, Geshe Namdak reminded us, said not to take his words on trust but to test them. Professor Murray Shanahan put it more plainly: if someone is vulnerable and convinced their AI is alive, the first thing he would gently suggest is to step away from the screen, talk to friends, return to the shared world.

Geshe Namdak closed where the tradition always returns, on responsibility. AI is not something to be wholly afraid of. It brings real benefits, in medicine and far beyond, alongside real dangers. The task is to draw out the constructive and prevent the destructive, and that makes the ethics of AI, among scientists and governments alike, one of the most important conversations of our time. Used wisely, he said, it can serve humanity rather than disturb it.

With grateful thanks to Geshe Tenzin Namdak, Professor Murray Shanahan, Chris Scammell, and everyone who joined the event.

Submitted by Paul Wells of Jamayng London. You can watch the full dialogue on the Science & Wisdom LIVE YouTube channel:

Is your center bridging science and Buddhism as well? We would love to hear about it and share it in a future story.

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

Lama Zopa Rinpoche Marina Brucet and Hans Burghardt. Photo courtesy of Vajrapani Institute.

In the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, “science and spirituality may develop to better serve the needs and well-being of humanity,” as he wrote in The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality (2005). This vision — of Buddhist wisdom and modern science in dialogue, for the benefit of all — has found new expression in Buddhist Mind Science: Activating Your Potential, the FPMT curriculum that Lama Zopa Rinpoche felt fulfilled exactly that wish. Now, this August, Vajrapani Institute (US) will host the curriculum’s inaugural retreat. The retreat is intended for participants from the general public, including FPMT students and members, who wish to go through the entire course in an experiential way and gain the maximum benefit from the course material. That this is part of an ongoing effort across the organization, in line with Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vision, to emphasize gaining actual experience of the Dharma.

Several FPMT centers have been actively working to bridge the fields of Buddhism and science. We rejoice in their efforts to bring this vision to life and to serve others through this meaningful work. 

Here we share information about the upcoming retreat opportunity, from Suzy Waters and Cristian Cowan  of Vajrapani Institute:

This August (August 29, 2026 – September 6, 2026) Vajrapani Institute (US) will host its inaugural Retreat of Buddhist Mind Science, offering a rare opportunity to study directly with the program’s creators, Marina Brucet and Hans Burghardt of Tushita Meditation Centre in Spain. It is equally an invitation for anyone, from complete beginners to longtime practitioners, to explore the mind through the complementary lenses of Buddhist wisdom and modern science. Buddhist Mind Science: Activating Your Potential has emerged as an FPMT course that bridges between contemporary scientific understanding and the profound psychology of the Buddha.

A Retreat Designed for Dharma Immersion

Although Buddhist Mind Science can be offered as weekly classes, the retreat format allows participants to experience the curriculum in an especially immersive way. Because Buddhist Mind Science: Activating Your Potential begins with universal human experience rather than Buddhist terminology, it provides a welcoming environment for those completely new to Buddhism while offering fresh perspectives for longtime students. 

Fulfilling Our Gurus’ Vision

The origins of Buddhist Mind Science: Activating Your Potential lie in Hans and Marina’s years of teaching at Tushita Meditation Centre in Spain. They found that many students were deeply interested in meditation but were not necessarily interested in becoming Buddhists. As teachers, they often found themselves leading Lamrim and Mahamudra courses for students with little or no previous exposure to Buddhist philosophy, revealing a need for an authentic introduction that preserved the depth of the Dharma while speaking in a language accessible to contemporary seekers.

Hans and Marina first developed a small pilot course and presented it to Ven. Joan Nicell, then FPMT Foundational Program Coordinator, who immediately recognized its potential as an important educational offering for FPMT. Encouraged by her enthusiasm and by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, they expanded it into what would become the seven-module Buddhist Mind Science: Activating Your Potential  curriculum.

When Hans later presented the completed curriculum to Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Singapore, Rinpoche was delighted. According to Hans, Rinpoche later told Ven. Roger Kunsang that he wanted to show the program to His Holiness the Dalai Lama because he felt it fulfilled His Holiness’ long-standing vision of bringing Buddhist wisdom into dialogue with modern science in a way that was accessible to contemporary people. For Hans and Marina, Rinpoche’s joyful response was a deeply meaningful affirmation that they had achieved the aspiration that had guided the project from the beginning.

For Elaine Jackson, one of the founding members of Vajrapani Institute and a Buddhist Mind Science facilitator, the course also beautifully fulfills Lama Yeshe’s vision of Universal Education. As Elaine recalls, Lama Yeshe once told Ven. Connie Miller: “I feel these things could be put into a universal language… give up religion, give up Buddhism, go beyond Buddhism, put the essential aspect of the philosophy into a scientific language. This is my aim.” Elaine reflects simply: “That is exactly what Hans and Marina have produced.”

Bringing Together Science and Contemplative Wisdom

Few people are as uniquely qualified to create such a curriculum as Hans and Marina. Before dedicating themselves to Buddhist study and teaching, both earned PhDs in scientific disciplines from the University of Barcelona and worked as academic researchers. They later completed the FPMT Masters Program at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, and have spent decades teaching at Tushita Meditation Centre while continuing extensive meditation retreat. Drawing on scientific training, deep Buddhist scholarship, and years of introducing Western students to the Dharma, they created a curriculum that invites participants to investigate their own experience through meditation, reflection, discussion, and insights from both Buddhist psychology and contemporary science.

Modules of Buddhist Mind Science: Activating Your Potential

The seven-module curriculum unfolds through four interconnected themes:

• Purpose
• Mental Balance
• Warm-heartedness
• Wisdom

Beginning with universal human experience before gradually introducing teachings such as karma, the nature of mind, and emptiness, the course welcomes newcomers while offering meaningful depth for experienced practitioners.

Supporting the Future of FPMT Centers and Study Groups

Buddhist Mind Science: Activating Your Potential  was designed not only to be learned but also to be easily shared. Many FPMT centers and study groups have expressed enthusiasm for the curriculum while recognizing a common challenge: there are not yet enough qualified facilitators to offer it. Unlike many FPMT education programs that require years of preparation before teaching, Buddhist Mind Science: Activating Your Potential provides a more accessible pathway. Appointed facilitators become qualified by completing the seven modules and orientation and are supported by comprehensive manuals, presentations, guided meditations, facilitator notes, exercises, quizzes, and promotional materials. Registered FPMT teachers are able to teach any module of the course after completing the orientation session and are recommended to attend at least one module. Elaine Jackson has witnessed the impact firsthand. “This is the first course I’ve taught where there were more students at the end than when we started.” Her experience reflects what many centers and study groups have been seeking: an introductory program that genuinely welcomes newcomers while naturally opening the door to deeper Dharma study. Beyond learning the curriculum, facilitator candidates gain firsthand insight into the educational vision and teaching methods that shaped it over many years. FPMT registered teachers, along with facilitator candidates appointed by an FPMT center, project, or study group, are warmly invited to attend, Vajrapani Institute is also kindly offering substantial scholarship support for approved facilitator candidates staying in shared accommodations. 

Study Buddhist Mind Science Online!

Buddhist Mind Science is also available as a self-paced self-study online course for those who cannot participate in-person at an FPMT center. All seven modules are now available at the FPMT Online Learning Center. More information about the Buddhist Mind Science course and FPMT centers offering it is available on the FPMT website.

With grateful thanks to Suzy Waters and Cristian Cowan for sharing the details of this retreat.

Is your center bridging science and Buddhism as well? We would love to hear about it and share it in a future story

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

Reciting Golden Light Sutra in 2018 at Tara Lanka Study Group in Sri Lanka. Photo courtesy of Hirushan Prabashana Fernando

Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BCE by Arahath Mahinda Thera, during the reign of Emperor Ashoka. From that point onward, the island became one of the most important strongholds of Buddhism in the world. A landmark event in the history of Buddhism occurred in the 1st century BCE, during the reign of King Valagamba, when the Pāli Canon was committed to writing for the first time.

Sri Lanka further emerged as a major center of Buddhist scholarship, particularly through the Mahāvihāra tradition in Anuradhapura. Numerous commentaries on the Sutta, Abhidhamma, and Vinaya were composed and preserved there. Among the most renowned works is the Visuddhimagga, authored by Achārya Buddhaghosa, which remains a cornerstone of Theravāda philosophy and practice.

However, beyond its well-known Pāli heritage, Sri Lanka also possesses a lesser-known yet significant connection to the Sanskrit-based Mahayana tradition. Archaeological discoveries, such as a manuscript of the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra inscribed on golden leaves and preserved at the National Museum of Sri Lanka, testify to the historical presence of Mahayana literature on the island. Furthermore, the eminent philosopher Aryadeva, spiritual son of Arya Nagarjuna, is traditionally believed to have originated from Sri Lanka, contributing significantly to the development of Madhyamaka philosophy.

The Abhayagiri Vihara in Anurādhapura, often regarded as a counterpart to great monastic universities like Nalanda, functioned as a vibrant center for Mahayana and broader Buddhist studies. Unfortunately, much of this literary heritage was lost following the decline of Mahayana traditions in Sri Lanka after the 12th century.

The modern revival of interest in Mahayana Buddhism in Sri Lanka emerged largely during the post-colonial period, alongside the academic study of Buddhism. A significant milestone in this regard was the work of Ven. Moratuwe Sāsanaratana Thero, whose book Lakdiwa Mahāyāna Adahas (Mahayana Ideas of the Island of Lanka) marked a paradigm shift in local Buddhist scholarship. His work challenged prevailing attitudes and opened the door for a more inclusive understanding of Buddhist traditions, particularly within academic circles.

Despite these developments, Mahayana literature remained largely inaccessible to the Sinhala-speaking public. This gap was gradually addressed through the dedicated efforts of scholars such as Prof. Gunapala Dharmasiri and Prof. W. M. Gunatilleke, who translated numerous Mahayana sutras into Sinhala, thereby making them available to a wider audience.

In more recent times, the contributions of Ven. Tenzin Lekdron, a Sri Lankan-born Australian nun, has played a pivotal role in disseminating Mahayana teachings. Through her efforts, key texts such as the Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, Arya Sanghata Sutra, and the Golden Light Sutra have been translated and distributed freely across the country. Notably, the Golden Light Sutra continues to be chanted by practitioners in Sri Lanka, with some monks observing thematic parallels, particularly in the section on the Four Great Kings, with protective discourses such as the Atanatiya Sutta in Pāli canon.

Sutra Publications – Sanghata, Golden Light and Heart Sutra. Photo Courtesy of Hirushan Prabashana Fernando

Beyond sutra translations, significant efforts have also been made to translate Mahayana practice materials into Sinhala. Prayer books, pujas, and sādhanas associated with FPMT have been translated for the benefit of practitioners, particularly within the Tara Lanka community. These translations, largely undertaken by Prof. W. M. Gunatilleke, have enabled a deeper engagement with Mahayana practices among Sinhala-speaking devotees.

The publication and dissemination of these works have been further supported by individuals and institutions such as Ruwan Basnayake and Saharakshi Publications, who have ensured that these texts are produced and distributed with professionalism and faith towards Dharma.

A recent and noteworthy achievement in this ongoing translation movement is the Sinhala translation of Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, a comprehensive Lamrim text by Pabongka Rinpoche. This extensive work was translated by Upali Bandara under the guidance of Bertram G. Liyanage and subsequently edited by Hirushan Prabashana Fernando, fulfilling an instruction of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. This accomplishment represents a major step forward in making advanced Mahayana teachings accessible to Sinhala readers.

In conclusion, the translation of Mahayana Buddhist texts into Sinhala represents not merely a linguistic endeavor, but a cultural and spiritual bridge. It reconnects Sri Lanka with a broader Buddhist heritage, fostering a more comprehensive understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. As these efforts continue, they hold the potential to enrich both scholarly discourse and spiritual practice in the contemporary Sri Lankan context.

Story submitted by Hirushan Prabashana Fernando. Hirushan is a member of the Tara Lanka Study Group, a study group of the FPMT in Sri Lanka, and a student of Venerable Geshe Dorji Damdul. He completed the Nalanda Diploma Course (NDC) in 2022 and is currently in the fourth year of the Nalanda Masters Course (NMC) at Tibet House, Delhi.

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

His Holiness the Dalai Lama May 20, 2026. Photo by Tenzin Choejor, courtesy of DalaiLama.com.

Welcome to this month’s e-newsletter! 

July is a very powerful and special month for practice and celebration. On July 6, communities of students and supporters around the world celebrated His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 91st birthday. In his thank-you message to the public, His Holiness expressed: “… When I look back on my life, I see that the core of my practice has been to be of benefit to others. That is the altruistic motivation with which I wake up every day.

“Spreading compassion and kindness continues to be my life’s primary mission. Such an attitude is essential to making our world a better place for everyone. I therefore call on my brothers and sisters everywhere, both young and old, to practice warm-heartedness and compassion, with genuine concern for the well-being of others. To be able to do so is, I believe, what it means to lead a meaningful and purposeful life of service.”

July 18 is the day known as Chokhor Duchen, “Day of Turning the Wheel of Dharma,” and commemorates the anniversary of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s first teaching. You can find all of Lama Zopa Rinpcohe’s advice for making the most of this merit-multiplying day. Chokhor Duchen is also the day on which FPMT celebrates International Sangha Day! As a special way to observe this occasion, we are so happy to share a recent interview with Ven. Roger Kunsang discussing 50 years of ordination! 

Please continue to this month’s e-newsletter to find many important causes for rejoicing including advice from Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, news from around the FPMT mandala, opportunities for study and practice, and changes within the FPMT organiziation. 

Have the e-News translated into your native language by using our convenient translation facility located on the right-hand side of the page.

Visit our subscribe page to receive the FPMT International Office News directly in your email inbox.

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

Ven. Roger Kunsang offering mandala to Lama Zopa Rinpoche during a long life puja, 2018.

As FPMT marks its 50th anniversary, we have been honored to receive so much important history from FPMT’s early students. Today, we are delighted to share a conversation with Venerable Roger Kunsang, Board Member, Interim Executive Director, Senior Advisor of FPMT Inc. This year also marks fifty years since Ven. Roger’s ordination — a milestone that has quietly inspired the monks and nuns of the International Mahayana Institute (IMI) and the wider FPMT family. Ven. Thubten Chokyi sat down with him via Zoom to hear the story behind half a century in robes.

We are especially happy to share this interview today, as July 18 marks both the observance of Chokhor Duchen and FPMT’s celebration of International Sangha Day! International Sangha Day offers an opportunity for monastic and lay communities to come together in recognition of their interdependence, celebrating the ways they mutually rely on one another’s practice of the Dharma.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ven. Roger in the background, 1987. Photo courtesy of LYWA.

Ven. Roger has dedicated his life to Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and to the FPMT organization. From 1987 until Lama Zopa Rinpoche showed the aspect of passing away, he served as personal attendant, secretary, and assistant, accompanying Rinpoche on the road seven days a week, day and night, for thirty-eight years of continuous service. After Rinpoche’s passing, he joined the search team for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s reincarnation.

In recognition of his decades of service, Ven. Roger received the “Expression of Appreciation” award from the monastic community of Sera Je Monastery, in recognition of his enduring work as personal secretary to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his leadership of FPMT in support of the preservation and promotion of the Buddha Dharma.

Over the years he has served in a variety of capacities: As CEO and president of FPMT Inc., as a member of the FPMT Inc. Board of Directors, as founding director of Vajrayana Institute, and as a board member of the Maitreya Project. Ven. Roger has also been a tireless fundraiser for the many projects supporting Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Vision.

We truly rejoice in Ven. Roger’s lifetime of service to the FPMT organization and his lamas. From his earliest days as a young student drawn to the Dharma, through thirty-eight years of tireless devotion at Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s side, to his continuing leadership as Senior Advisor, Ven. Roger’s fifty years in robes stand as a testament to what one life dedicated to the guru and to the benefit of all sentient beings can accomplish. May his example continue to inspire for generations to come!

We are truly honored to share this interview with Ven. Roger, conducted by Ven. Thubten Chokyi, Director of IMI (International Mahayana Institute). 

Please enjoy this interview on YouTube, or read the lightly edited transcript below:

The Journey to the Dharma

Ven. Thubten Chokyi: Looking back, what was it that initially brought you to the Dharma?

Ven. Roger Kunsang: Well, there’s a long story and a short story to that. Generally, during my teenage years, I felt a deep dissatisfaction with what people conventionally believed brought a happy life. I just didn’t feel that path was working for me at all. That’s the short story.

Ven. Chokyi: We don’t mind the long story!

Ven. Roger: Okay. It started with the realization that the things making other people happy weren’t making me happy. I decided that if something wasn’t going to bring genuine happiness, why do it? So, gradually over time, I stopped doing literally everything that, conventionally, people thought made you happy. Based on my own simple analysis and commitment, I just stopped.

Then the big question became: What actually makes me happy? What is the cause of happiness?

One day, I think I was in the US or Canada, and I came to the conclusion that if I focused on helping other people—and it was really sincere—that was something I couldn’t break down. It felt incredibly significant. I was about 19 or 20 at the time, and I thought, “The work I do should be what brings people happiness.”

I thought about becoming a doctor because of the immediate benefit they bring, especially to children. I started doing volunteer work in a hospital in the US or Canada, but not too long after starting, I realized that while doctors fixed children up physically, it didn’t necessarily make them happy.

Then I thought, Okay, it’s the mind that’s the problem. I decided I’d become a psychologist. I read a few books on psychology, but that settled things very quickly—it seemed like they didn’t really know or weren’t entirely sure about what they were doing at that time. So, that dismissed psychology.

A Blowing Wind and a Poster

IMI Sangha in 1977, Kopan Monastery. Ven. Roger Kunsang, bottom right. Photo courtesy of LYWA.

Ven. Chokyi: How did you make the transition from that realization to actually discovering Buddhism?

Ven. Roger: Around that time, I was living in Canada and decided to become a vegetarian so I wouldn’t contribute to harming animals. I was eating at a vegetarian restaurant in Toronto, located in the basement of a university. It was wintertime.

As I stepped outside, a huge blast of wind ripped everything off a nearby notice board. As I tried to close the door and get away from the wind, a single piece of paper blew up and stuck right to my chest. I pulled it off. It was an advertisement for Swami Satchidananda, who was coming to Canada for the first time to lead yoga classes and teach meditation. Immediately, I thought, Meditation. Control my mind. That seems like the next obvious thing to try.

I spent about six weeks regularly going to his yoga classes. By the end of it, he suggested, “You’re interested in yoga and meditation, why don’t you go to India to my master’s ashram?” His master was a very famous yogi who had passed away, and his main ashram was in Rishikesh.

So, I took the trip. I got to England and hitchhiked my way all the way to India. I went to Rishikesh, but while the ashram was nice, there wasn’t anybody there teaching the mental part of disciplining or controlling the mind. Some of the Indian swamis there told me, “You should go high up into the mountains above Rishikesh. There are many yogis living in caves there who can answer your questions.”

I went up there for a few weeks and finally came across a swami living in a cave named Tatambari Baba. He was sitting in the cave completely naked, with hair so long it reached the ground and trailed along it. He had been in that cave for 23 years with no food and no sleep, living in a state of samadhi. Prior to that, he had been an engineer and an officer in the British Indian Army before renouncing life.

I kept bothering him with questions. Every time I asked something, he would say, “I’ll give you a mantra.” I’d ask more questions, and he’d repeat, “Give you a mantra.” Finally, after a few days, he looked at me and said, “For you, better Buddhism.”

I said, “Okay.” I went back down the mountain to the ashram, and right there on a pole was a poster: two Tibetan lamas teaching a one-month meditation course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. I headed off to Nepal, and that was my connection. It was the sixth meditation course at Kopan, in April 1974.

The Call to Ordination

Ven. Roger Kunsang at Kopan Monastery, 1976. Photo courtesy of LYWA.

Ven. Chokyi: What was that initial experience at Kopan like, and how did it lead to your ordination?

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at the Sixth Meditation Course, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1974. Photo by Ursula Bernis.

Ven. Roger: At that time, I was completely bent on understanding the mind and hadn’t found satisfying answers anywhere else. Then Lama Zopa Rinpoche started teaching, and all the answers started coming. I had absolutely no prior knowledge of Buddhism whatsoever. Rinpoche gave us a full dose of the teachings, mostly focusing on the eight worldly dharmas and the suffering of the lower realms.

Ven. Chokyi: And how did the actual decision to ordain come about?

Ven. Roger: After the one-month course finished, I actually left quite quickly. Even though it was extremely beneficial, my self-cherishing mind just wanted to leave because it was grasping at all sorts of things. I continued my travels and eventually returned to Australia after being away for some years.

While there, I got a call from Nick Ribush, who was in Nepal. He told me that Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche were coming to Australia for the first time. They needed a house outside of Sydney where they could alternate doing retreats—Rinpoche would retreat for two weeks while Lama Yeshe taught, and then they would swap.

My job was to find and rent a house, and then act as the cook and cleaner. Rinpoche did his retreat first. At this point, my entire experience with Buddhism was still just that single one-month course at Kopan.

During those two weeks of cooking and cleaning while Rinpoche was in retreat, a thought kept coming up in my mind out of nowhere: Be a monk. Be a monk. It just kept rising. I still didn’t understand much about the Dharma, and I had absolutely no idea what being a monk actually entailed! But the thought persisted.

At the end of the retreat, I mentioned it to Rinpoche, and he told me to ask Lama Yeshe. When I finally asked Lama Yeshe, he said, “Oh yes, dear, you must become a monk. You can go to Nepal straight away and become ordained.” That is the short story—or maybe the long story!

Ven. Chokyi: It’s wonderful. And as you said, you really had no idea what it meant to be a monk at the time?

Ven. Roger: No idea whatsoever.

Thrown into the Deep End

Ven. Chokyi: Looking back over your journey, what do you wish you had understood earlier on that you learned subsequently?

Ven. Roger: Being with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at that time was a bit like being thrown into the deep end. There wasn’t a lot of questioning on my part about being a monk, even though I didn’t know the vows or anything.

I was only there a short time before Lama Yeshe offered me rabjung (renunciate) ordination. Shortly after, Rinpoche told me I should go to Dharamshala to receive getsul (novice) ordination. His Holiness the Dalai Lama wasn’t giving vows at that particular time, so I took them from Trijang Rinpoche, with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche present.

Group ordination at Tushita Meditation Centre with Trijang Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Lama Yeshe. Ven. Roger Kunsang, top right. Photo courtesy of LYWA.

Just after I took the getsul vows, I was talking to Rinpoche and he said, “Oh, in three days’ time, Ling Rinpoche is giving gelong (full) ordination. You should do that.” I still didn’t really know what I was doing, but in a very short time, I ended up with full gelong ordination. There wasn’t much preparation or prior experience.

Looking back, I can’t say it was the wrong way around because I was following the advice of my teachers, but to truly adapt to the lifestyle and the vows, familiarity with the lamrim is critical. It can’t just be an intellectual understanding; you actually have to meditate on it and put it into practice.

The more you can do that, the safer you are. When you get ordained, the main enemy you face in keeping your vows is attachment. That was certainly my main enemy. It can come at times very, very strongly. The only way to deal with it is by having actual experience with the lamrim to rely on.

The Reality and Challenges of Ordination

Ven. Chokyi: What would you say have been some of the most significant benefits of living in ordination?

Ven. Roger: From my point of view, I don’t know where my life would have ended up without ordination. It was already a bit crazy. Maybe I would have connected with the Dharma and not become a monk, so I can’t say for sure, but without the vows to help deal with attachment, life can easily become a disaster. It’s as simple as that. You might think you’re having a good time from time to time, but basically, it’s a disaster, and before you know it, life is over, you’re dead, and it has been a waste.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Lama Zopa Rinopche and Ven. Roger Kunsang, Livorno, Italy, June 16, 2014. Photo by Matteo Passigato.

Ven. Chokyi: What challenges should Westerners be aware of before considering ordination, or even as they progress through it?

Ven. Roger: Attachment is the big thing. Because it’s difficult to rely solely on karma, I would say it is vital to choose your teacher carefully. If you can, find a teacher who gives experiential teachings—like the teachings His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Yeshe, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche give. Those teachings come from their actual experience of practicing the path, so they touch you much more deeply than someone just teaching intellectually.

On the basis of finding the right teacher, you also have to choose the right environment. If you just hang out in normal, worldly situations, it becomes too difficult for most of us. You might have the teachings, but the worldly conditions that arise will overwhelm you. Being in a monastery or a Dharma center is critical, unless you are much older when you ordain and have already gone through samsara and settled down.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Roger in Taos, NM, USA, 2002.

Ven. Roger and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, 2009.

Ven. Roger Kunsang and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, 2017. Photo by Andrea Husnik.

Ven. Chokyi: Given your half-century of longevity, do you have any specific advice for those who have been ordained a long time? Sometimes people disrobe even after 30 years or more.

Ven. Roger: Keeping your ordination requires having the underlying good karma for it to last, but it also requires managing your conditions: your teacher first, and then your environment. You need a supportive environment that isn’t attacking you all the time, but something you can rely on when difficult times arise.

By environment, I mean having other ordained people around you, or lay people who are sincerely putting the teachings into practice, alongside ongoing teachings from your masters. Those are the necessary conditions.

Even then, it remains hard for many of us, and some don’t survive. It’s not easy, especially in these times. Most non-Tibetan, non-Nepalese, or non-Indian monastics end up living back in the Western world. Because it is not a Buddhist country, you face constant external conditions and circumstances that are not at all helpful to holy life. There are no magic answers. Unless you’ve got a lot of good karma, it’s just hard.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with IMI Sangha at Light of the Path Retreat, 2017. Photo by Kalleen Mortensen.

Ven. Chokyi: Well, Venerable Roger, for somebody who appears to have a bucketload of good karma, thank you so very much for sharing your wisdom and your experience with us.

Ven. Roger: Well, I want to mention that my life as a monk hasn’t been easy. It has been a struggle and very hard at times—seriously hard. But I never wanted to give up the ordination, despite plenty of challenges, issues, and lots of tests.

Ven. Chokyi: Thank you very much for your honesty and for sharing your experience. It is a monumental milestone to reach 50 years of ordination. May you continue to live a long and healthy life.

Ven. Roger: Okay, thank you. Bye. 

With grateful thanks to Ven. Thubten Chokyi for conducting this interview and to Ven. Roger for graciously sharing his story! 

Are you an early student of FPMT who was there at the beginning? Do you have a story to share about how you met Lama Yeshe or Lama Zopa Rinpoche or the impact they have had on your life? Have you personally achieved or actualized a request, advice, practice accomplishment, or project given to you by Lama Yeshe or Lama Zopa Rinpoche? We want to hear from you!

Please explore all of the resources we have compiled related to FPMT history. We look forward to all of your creative ideas on how to bring this year-long celebration to your own local activities and personal practices! Please use the hashtag #50YearsFPMT in your social media posts so we can all be connected in this way. 

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

Consecration of Chenrezig statue. July 2026, Chenrezig Institute

Chenrezig Institute, established in 1974, is the first Western FPMT center. In the year 2000, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche suggested that its original Chenrezig statue be replaced with a larger one. Since then, CI community has continuously fundraised for the new statue over the last 20 years. In particular, Ven. Ailsa Cameron has been instrumental in fundraising each year during Nyung Na. More recent fundraising has also attracted strong support from overseas donors.

The original Chenrezig statue at mitabha Buddhist Center, Singapore. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Center.

The whole story begins in 1995, when Rinpoche advised Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) that a Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue be made, envisioning it surrounded by a host of Nyung Na lineage lamas to inspire students and, in Rinpoche’s words, “purify eons of negative karma and collect skies of merit and be led to enlightenment quickly.” Rinpoche personally supervised every intricate detail of the statue, crafted by renowned Buddhist sculptors Denise and Peter Griffin beginning in 2013. The finished work — ten and eight-tenths feet (3.5 meters) tall — was completed in Singapore in 2016, just in time for Rinpoche’s visit to Amitabha Buddhist Center. Rinpoche shared that the statue could become a cause for the Dharma to flourish in this world for 10,000 years, as well as benefit FPMT — and, after thirty-one years, this is what is happening.

In 2023, wishing to support a sister center in need and fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes, Tan Hup Cheng, ABC’s director and president, began a collaboration with Calvin Yu, Chenrezig Institute board member, to create a replica of the Singapore statue. When the original plan to sculpt or mold a new statue proved impossible, Garrick Soon — an ABC member with extensive experience in industrial 3D printing — proposed an alternative: to 3D print the statue instead. What followed was a two-year undertaking that produced the world’s first life-size, 3D-printed Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue.

Detail of the 3D printing Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue. Photo courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Center.

Garrick Soon led the technical process from start to finish. A professional scan of the original statue was followed by twelve months of digital redesigning and refining. The statue was then manufactured in China, where a computer sends electrical signals into a heated tank of liquid resin, causing the form to grow, layer by layer — the main body taking three days to complete, with the statue’s nine hundred and ninety hands and auras grown separately in the same resin bath. The pieces were then joined, and hand-painted in gold and vivid color to match the original.

The beautiful replica was installed at Chenrezig Institute and consecrated on July 11, 2026 — the same day the community gathered to celebrate His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama’s ninety-first birthday. It was, as Calvin Yu, CI board member, told the gathered crowd, a fitting coincidence: His Holiness is himself the embodiment of Chenrezig, the symbol of infinite compassion for all sentient beings. Distinguished guests, sangha members from a number of countries and Buddhist traditions, local councillors, longtime members of the Chenrezig Institute community, FPMT Inc. Board member Dale Davis, generous donors and volunteers joined the celebration, which was also supported by a grant from the Queensland government’s Ministry of Multicultural Affairs. The ceremony was livestreamed on YouTube.

Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim, the Institute’s resident teacher, Colin Crosby, chairman of the Institute, and Ven. Ailsa Cameron, unveiled the Chenrezig statue together and opened the consecration practice. During this special day, five gold Chenrezig mementos were offered to those who had been pivotal to the project, and one thousand commemorative cards of the new statue were given to attendees.

Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim with a gold Chenrezig memento during the consecration of Chenrezig statue. July 11, 2026, Chenrezig Institute. Photo courtesy of CI.

“Since 1974 the center has undergone a massive transformation and it was all materialized due to the kindness of so many people that have contributed in so many different ways to the emerging of this center and culminating today first of all in the consecration of this amazing Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue,” Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim shared, closing with warm thanks to the CI board member, Calvin Yu, for his dedication and talents — essential to making this and many other projects happen — and wishing him well in this role, now and in future lives.

Consecration practice of the Chenrezig statue. Chenrezig Institute, July 2026. Photo courtesy of CI.

Chenrezig Institute was also blessed with a very auspicious message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, sent especially for the consecration and read by Ven. Ailsa Cameron, encouraging the community’s continued commitment to kindness and compassion, and to making the practice better known throughout the world.

Ven. Ailsa Cameron reading a message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, at Chenrezig Institute July 2026. Photo courtesy of CI.

This is not the first time ABC has turned to modern techniques to help replicate sacred Buddhist artwork. In the past two years alone, the center has completed several such projects, making the process more accessible in both cost and time — the original, handcrafted ABC Chenrezig statue took three years to complete, while the 3D-printed version took only one month, at eighty-one percent of the cost. In August 2018, ABC printed a large Amitabha Buddha ceiling mandala in a single day. In May 2017, a local artist hand-carved a forty-two and sixty-five hundredths-foot (13-meter) Maitreya statue from polystyrene foam blocks, refurbished ahead of Vesak celebrations in Singapore this past June.

Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim during the consecration of Chenrezig statue. July 11, 2026, Chenrezig Institute. Photo courtesy of CI

In 2023, laser-cutting technology was used to machine-cut two-millimeter aluminum plating for twenty-one auras for the Twenty-One Taras at Nagarjuna Center, Bilbao; the software, developed directly by Peter Griffin, was based on the auras he had originally handcrafted for ABC’s own Tara. That same technique helped Sravasti Abbey create a large aura for its ninety-centimeter Tara statue in May 2026, and ABC is now supporting Nagarjuna C.E.T. Alicante in Spain with a set of Tara statues, including a Green Tara to be installed within six months, followed by the accompanying auras. ABC has also used large-scale printing to produce a ten and thirty-three hundredths by fifteen and seventy-five hundredths-foot (3.15 x 4.80-meter) thangka of the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha statue in Bodhgaya, since offered to Chenrezig Institute and Nalanda Monastery in France, and a Thousand-Arm Chenrezig thangka offered to Nagarjuna Center, Alicante (ESP) and Tara Lanka Study Group in Sri Lanka, donated by ABC members. In December 2025, ABC shared a high-resolution image of the Chenrezig statue with FPMT’s sister center in Malaysia, which used it to print a thirty-nine and three-tenths-foot (12-meter) Chenrezig thangka of its own.

Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim, residente teacher of Chenrezig Institute. Photo courtesy of CI

This is the first time 3D printing technology has been used in this way in the history of Buddhism, making the creation of sacred images more accessible to centers everywhere. We rejoice in this remarkable milestone, and in the merit accumulated through the collaboration of the ABC and Chenrezig Institute communities — and their steady, shared commitment to practice. May such projects continue to benefit all beings.

With grateful thanks to Tan Hup Cheng and Calvin Yu for the valuable information about this holy object project. 

We welcome the submission of news stories from those within the FPMT community. This can be a story about something you have personally completed or accomplished, about someone else who has done so, or about the FPMT center, project, or service of which you are a part. Ideal submissions will give readers reasons to rejoice, share ideas, and create connections between those in the international community. Have something to share? Please let us know!

The high-resolution image of the Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue has been generously shared by Amitabha Buddhist Center for FPMT centers wishing to reprint it for distribution. Please credit “Courtesy of Amitabha Buddhist Center” when using this image, you can download it here.

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

Each year, during January and February, the FPMT International Office invites grant applications for a wide range of activities aligned with the FPMT mission and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions. In 2026, the CSF awarded US$11,800 in grants to eight inspiring Dharma projects and activities, reflecting the diversity, creativity, and compassion of the global FPMT mandala.

Thubten Norbu Ling  | Liberation Prison Project | FPMT Mongolia |Tekchen Choeling | Jamyang | North America Regional Office

Thubten Norbu Ling (USA)

Ksitigharba statue installed at Thubten Norbu Ling Centre.

This year the CSF offered a grant of US$700 to Thubten Norbu Ling Buddhist Centre in Santa Fe, USA, in support of the Path of Wisdom and Compassion Project. This contribution will help advance the creation of an accessible and welcoming environment by supporting the construction of a circumambulation path, the installation of the Ksitigharba statue and pedestal, and the enhancement of the garden with benches, landscaping, and memorial wind chimes. This project brings the compassionate presence of the great bodhisattva Ksitigharba to the center, creating a lasting source of blessings and healing for all, and a meaningful expression of FPMT’s vision to offer rich opportunities for practice and accumulation of merit.

Liberation Prison Project (USA)      

Edovo deployment in the USA

 US$2,500 in support was offered through the CSF to the Liberation Prison Project’s Edovo Deployment and Hosting initiative. This grant will help fund the deployment, publishing, and hosting of FPMT Dharma offerings on the Edovo learning platform, ensuring sustained access for incarcerated individuals across the United States. Through this support, a total of 50 FPMT courses, books, and content items will be made available to people in correctional facilities. These resources include Buddhist Meditation 101, Buddhism in a Nutshell, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive e-books, Wisdom Publications e-books, and FPMT e-books, along with additional study and practice materials. By making these teachings accessible via Edovo, the Liberation Prison Project continues its mission to bring the transformative power of the Dharma to every incarcerated American, creating meaningful opportunities for learning, reflection, meditation, and inner growth behind prison walls.

FPMT Mongolia

Participants of the Mahayana Children’s Program with FPMT Mongolia’s resident teachers,
Geshe Thubten Soepa and Ven. Thubten Gyalmo, alongside Ven. Roger Kunsang who was visiting.

FPMT Mongolia’s  project “Strengthening Universal Education in Mongolia” was supported by a grant of US$2,000 from the CSF. This grant provides additional resources to strengthen and expand both the Mahayana Children’s Program and 16 Guidelines activities, key pillars of FPMT Mongolia’s work in promoting Universal Education for Wisdom and Compassion. The grant will support classroom upgrades for the Mahayana Children’s Program, including seating, mats, rugs, and learning materials that help create a warm, engaging, and supportive environment for children aged 6–15. It will also contribute to the expansion of 16 Guidelines activities through the translation and review of 16G materials into Mongolian, support for outreach and training activities, and the development of high-quality resources for use by teachers, parents, and community partners.

Through this support, FPMT Mongolia continues to nurture children, families, and adults by combining Buddhist values, life skills, and ethical education. The project carries forward the vast vision of Lama Zopa Rinpoche to benefit beings through education rooted in wisdom and compassion.

21 Taras Thangka Display poster, with the event set to launch on May 16, 2026

Tara Institute (Australia)

This year, the CSF offered a grant of US$1,000 to Tara Institute in Australia in support of the Twenty-One Taras Thangka Display as part of the Victorian VESAK celebrations. This grant contributes toward the specialized truck hire required to safely transport and install the magnificent 15‑meter‑high Twenty-One Taras thangka, ensuring that this holy object could be displayed in its full form at Melbourne Town Hall on May 16, 2026.

Originally presented to Tara Institute by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the Twenty-One Taras thangka was offered with the wish that it be seen by as many people as possible, creating vast benefit and positive imprints. Participating for the third consecutive year in the Victorian VESAK celebrations, Tara Institute will made this extraordinary thangka accessible to thousands of visitors from diverse backgrounds, encouraging reflection, compassion, and interfaith appreciation through this powerful visual teaching.

Tekchen Choeling, Buddhist Center (Spain)

We are pleased to share that the CSF has offered US$1,700 to Tekchen Chöeling Buddhist Center in Ontinyent, Spain, in support of creating a new entrance for the center’s new location, including a glass door and glass storefront. This new entrance is a key part of the center’s broader renovation project and is intended to make the Dharma center more visible, accessible, and welcoming to the wider community.

Rendering of the center’s new glass door and storefront

In 2024, Tekchen Chöeling took a significant step forward by purchasing a new property to relocate its activities. This move is part of the center’s Strategic Plan for Greater Reach, a long-term effort to increase visibility, accessibility, and community engagement. The new venue includes two spacious commercial units and a central urban garden, offering the potential for a vibrant and welcoming Dharma center in the heart of the city.

The 2026 grant reinforces a crucial and symbolically meaningful element of the renovation – the entrance through which people will quite literally enter the Dharma. By helping to create an inviting storefront at street level, this support contributes to Tekchen Chöeling’s ongoing efforts to bring the Buddha’s teachings to more people and to establish a strong, accessible presence in Ontinyent for years to come.

Jamyang Buddhist Centre (London, UK)

The Kindness Café at Jamyang London.

The CSF offered US$1,100 in support of The Kindness Café at Jamyang London Buddhist Centre, a community and social services hub rooted in compassion, inclusion, and connection. This grant contributes to the development of a welcoming space where individuals from diverse backgrounds can come together to build wellbeing, resilience, and meaningful relationships.

The Kindness Café offers a range of peer‑led and community‑focused activities, including bereavement support and Death Café dialogues, listening spaces for developing communication and nonviolent listening skills, creative and skill‑sharing workshops, community walks, Climate Café discussions, and school and local outreach coordination. Through these initiatives, the Kindness Café addresses social isolation, grief, and emotional wellbeing while embodying Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vision of engaged compassion and FPMT’s commitment to bringing Mahayana values into everyday life.

FPMT North American Regional Office

This year, the CSF offered US $1,800 in support of the ongoing North American Regional Teacher Tour Program. This program builds a sustainable system that expands geographic access to qualified FPMT teachers, strengthens regional coordination, and increases educational equity by making authentic Dharma teachings available to centers of all sizes across North America.

In addition, the Fund has offered US$1,000 to support the development of regional fundraising infrastructure for FPMT North America. This initiative focuses on building shared fundraising capacity for all 28 North American centers, projects, services, and study groups through the creation of standardized donor communication templates, shared campaign toolkits, training for center leaders and volunteers, and ongoing consultative support. By strengthening fundraising skills and coordination at the regional level, this project supports long-term financial sustainability and helps ensure that Dharma study, practice, and retreat opportunities can continue to flourish.

Community Support Around the World

The projects supported through the 2026 Community Support Fund demonstrate how even modest grants can have a profound impact – helping centers expand access to teachings, nurture community, support social good, and create conditions for study, practice, and retreat in many different settings around the world.

This year, we also awarded 17 additional grants totaling $63,034 through the various FPMT Charitable Projects — we’ll be sharing updates on each of these soon. In addition, through our Annual Designated Grants, awarded each year to schools, elder homes, health initiatives, and Sangha support, we offered an incredible $672,543, bringing the total we granted through our charitable giving to nearly US$750,000.

As we reflect on these inspiring initiatives, we also look ahead with hope and aspiration. Our wish is to continue growing the FPMT Community Support Fund, so that in future years we can offer more grants, reach more FPMT communities, and support an even wider range of Dharma activities. This is only possible because of the kindness and generosity of donors and supporters who make these grants a reality. On behalf of all who benefit, we extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped sustain this precious fund and make these offerings of Dharma possible!

Please read more about the FPMT Community Support Fund and detailed information about the grant application process for FPMT projects and activities. 

The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo. AUS. Photo courtesy of The Great Stupa.

Thousands of pilgrimage routes exist around the world, ranging from the famous Camino de Santiago in Europe to sacred trails across Asia. While many Buddhist pilgrimage routes are found in India, Nepal, and Japan, Australia has never had a dedicated long-distance Buddhist camino of this kind. Thanks to  François Schick, a new sacred walk in Australia will be established. 

Beginning in October 2026, François will walk solo for the first 621 miles (1,000 kilometers), passing through the wilderness of the Blue Mountains, the Australian Alps, and the Victorian Goldfields before reaching Bendigo. The route—named the Stupa Walk—connects two significant Buddhist sites: the Buddhist Vihara Katoomba, one of Australia’s first established Buddhist monasteries, representing the Theravada tradition, and the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, the largest Buddhist stupa in the Western world. 

 A Path of Compassion: From Stupa to Stupa 

François Schick, Zanzkar valley, Northern India. Photo courtesy of François Schick

A solitary modern Buddhist pilgrimage that aims to foster interfaith dialogue, connection, and shared universal values. A stupa traditionally symbolizes the enlightened mind of the Buddha, the Great Stupa of Bendigo also embraces a profound vision of interfaith harmony and universal values, and the walk reflects the same aspiration. While the first 621,371 miles (1,000 kilometers) will be undertaken as a solitary retreat, the final section of the pilgrimage is intended to be open to others who wish to participate in walking meditation, listening, exchanging ideas, and celebrating the everyday goodness that connects all of humanity.

The journey is expected to take between two and a half and three months, walking through Australian spring into early summer—mild and temperate in the Blue Mountains, cooler and occasionally snowy in the Alps, and warm as the route descends toward Bendigo in December.

For François, this walk is not primarily an endurance challenge. He is dedicated practitioner in the Gelug tradition with more than fifteen years of training, François has been drawn to long-distance walking at the age of thirteen. Over the years, he has completed several pilgrimages throughout Asia, often trekking alone to find silence in the elements. He has spent more than a year in solitary retreat, including six months under the guidance of B. Alan Wallace, focusing on shamatha meditation. He teaches across Europe and at Kalachakra FPMT Center in France, and is currently working on a book on shamatha practice.

“The walk is estimated to take between 2,5 to 3 months, from October to December 2026,” he says. “This is not a race; it is a pilgrimage. The pace allows for silence, observation, and the physical challenges of the terrain”

François Schick. Photo courtesy of François Schick’s website

Although inspired by long-distance pilgrimages such as the Camino, the route more closely resembles wilderness trails like the Appalachian Trail. François will carry all essential equipment, camp for most of the journey, and spend extended periods in remote landscapes.  “This route is unique to Australia. It connects two Stupas” —sacred monuments representing the enlightened mind of a Buddha. “The name reflects the destination and the intention: a walk of mindfulness from one sacred site to another.” The route is not a single marked trail. Instead, it links several major walking networks, including the Bicentennial National Trail, the Australian Alps Walking Track, and a series of rail trails leading into Bendigo. “It reflects the ancient tradition of pilgrims in Tibet, who traversed vast distances through the elements, finding their practice in the silence of the Great Outdoors.”

Some sections require navigation through unmarked country routes, making preparation a significant undertaking. François has spent considerable time mapping the route, identifying campsites, water sources, and resupply points. Logistically, the journey presents many challenges. “Resupply is the biggest logistical challenge.” In remote sections, François expects to carry up to ten days of food at a time. Water management will be critical, particularly in drier areas closer to Bendigo.  He will be in deep isolation for the first 1,000 kilometers as a solitary retreat. “While the wild Australia is home to venomous snakes and spiders, and encounters are possible, the biggest risks, however, are actually heat exhaustion and dehydration, not animals. Water is the lifeblood of this walk”. 

François Schick, Zongkhul Monastery in Ladakh. Photo courtesy of François Schick

Beyond the personal challenge, François hopes to establish a lasting resource for future practitioners. Throughout the journey he will document route logistics, campsites, water sources, navigation details, and reflections from the trail. His goal is to develop both a practical guide and a spiritual companion for future pilgrims. His aim is to document the route thoroughly enough that others can follow. “My goal is to capture the experience not just as a travel log, but as a series of reflections that future walkers can use. I intend to publish the GPS data, logistical notes, and a spiritual guidebook. The aim is to make The Stupa Walk a repeatable journey, opening the way for a permanent pilgrimage route in the West.”

You can learn more about the Stupa Walk and  Francois’ plans for this journey. 

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

Land of Medicine Buddha, 2026, Medicine Buddha Festival. Photo Courtesy of LMB Facebook Page

Festivals with large thangkas are a cultural tradition in the Himalayan countries of Tibet and Nepal. On special occasions, these large thangkas are displayed for veneration, allowing attendees to receive blessings. Festival preparation requires months of planning for a large-scale Dharma event.

Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche brought this custom to FPMT centers as one of his Vast Visions, so that all who are involved can be inspired, receive blessings, and rejoice while dedicating prayers for the benefit of others. Rinpoche said: “My wish is for the big centers in FPMT to have these large thangkas. … This is a way to leave imprints for all these people [who see them], for enlightenment.” 

Several other FPMT centers have commissioned large thangkas and are now hosting festival days such as Tara Institute, Chenrezig Institute, Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Nalanda Monastery, Institut Vajra Yogini, Kopan Nunnery, Tushita Meditation Centre, and others.

The main purpose of the Medicine Buddha Festival is to benefit beings. Land of Medicine Buddha held its first Medicine Buddha Festival Day in 2002, following Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for the center make it an annual event. Over the years, Rinpoche gave specific advice for the day’s celebration, including offering of meals and having different cultural performances and activities as an offering to Medicine Buddha. This year marked the twenty-fourth celebration, though during the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath, 2020–2024, a small-scale and more private event was held displaying the Medicine Buddha thangka with extensive offering and performing the Medicine Buddha puja.

Land of Medicine Buddha, 2026, procession at the Medicine Buddha Festival. Photo Courtesy of LMB

The Festival Day began with an elaborate procession of the Medicine Buddha thangka from the lower campus, led by a Gamelan procession ensemble together with ordained Sangha and community members, to the Wish-Fulfilling Temple grounds at the top of the hill. The Medicine Buddha thangka is then unveiled and raised between two majestic redwood trees. “This is my favorite moment,” said Denice Taylor Macy, the festival organizer and Land of Medicine Buddha’s former director,  “the arrival and raising of the Medicine Buddha thangka to the music of the Gamelan orchestra. It’s a beautiful, moving moment.”

Land of Medicine Buddha, 2026, Procession at the Medicine Buddha Festival. Photo Courtesy of LMB

The day continues with the Medicine Buddha puja with extensive offerings set out. This year we were honored to have the geshes of Sera Je Monastic University and Gyuto Tantric College join us. The geshes led the Medicine Buddha puja, and Geshe Tenzin Lektsog gave a brief talk on the benefits of the Medicine Buddha practice. After the puja, extensive dedication was made for the center, for FPMT, and for all sentient beings. 

Land of Medicine Buddha, 2026, monastics at the Medicine Buddha Festival. Photo Courtesy of LMB

In the afternoon, a variety of performance offerings were presented, including dances by the GER Mongolian school students and songs and dances by students from the Tibetan Association of Northern California. There was also Qi Gong sessions and a talk on the benefits of Tibetan medicine by Dr. Yangdron Kelsang as well as activities for kids by Tara Redwood School.

Denice Macy at Land of Medicine Buddha, 2026, Medicine Buddha Festival. Photo Courtesy of LMB

Several booths featured our FPMT Bay Area centers. There were also other fun booths, such as the raffle, Merit Stall, and our Gift Shop as well as Tibetan Medicine and acupuncture. The SPCA also has a booth for the adoption of dogs.

The day closed with a two-mile peace walk led the Sera Je geshes. “People were overjoyed this year for the return of festival day,” said Denice. 

We rejoice in the wonderful meritorious actions of the Land of Medicine Buddha team and volunteers involved in putting on a joyous festival and all who joined in puja and offerings.

With grateful thanks to Denice Taylor Macy for sharing the details of this event. We also rejoice that during her time as Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche requested that Denice direct the 100,000 Stupa Project at LMB. Next year LMB will receive a holy tooth relic of Lama Zopa and  holy bone relic of Lama Yeshe to be placed in the Mahabodhi Stupa shrine room! 

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