Category Archives: From the Vault

The Mandala archive is filled with many treasures: articles, artifacts and images that remain relevant and inspiring year after year. In this section, you will find some of the editors’ favorites from the Mandala archive.

by Michael Jolliffe

“You Are His Daughter and You Want to Help,” said Lama Yeshe


The July-September 2009 issue of Mandala. Adele Hulse (in pink pants holding gold book) attended a puja lead by Lama Yeshe at Chenrezig Institute, Euldo, Australia, 1976. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Big Love, the long-anticipated authorized biography of Lama Yeshe written by Adele Hulse, provides an intimate portrait of FPMT’s founder. This excerpt is a snapshot from the author’s own life and relationship with Lama Yeshe and is another example of how amazing transformation is possible when a strong student meets a loving teacher.

“It was in early March 1974 that the lamas returned to Nepal and met the Australian journalist Adele Hulse who, years later, was to author this biography of Lama Yeshe. She had been in Boudha, the area around the monumental stupa located a 40-minute walk from Kopan hill, since before Christmas. ‘Having spent 11 years in Catholic boarding schools in Australia,’ Adele explained, ‘religion was the last thing on my mind. I wasn’t keen on Californian ‘Boodhists’ jangling their beads and mumbling about their ‘gooroo.’ Then a telegram arrived with the news of my father’s death. Standing outside the Kathmandu post office, I suddenly realized that I too was going to die one day. The words exploded in my brain: ‘He’s dead. You’re next.’ I looked around me at the people in the street and saw that they too would die…”

Read more…

From Mandala July-September 2012

by Carina Rumrill

The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation

In The Fourteen Dalai Lamas, author Glenn H. Mullin vividly brings to life the myth and succession of all 14 Dalai Lamas in one volume for the first time. The book contains a chapter on each Dalai Lama (except Dalai Lamas 9-12, who are covered in one chapter). Mullin has included characteristic excerpts from the Dalai Lamas’ teachings, poetry, and other writings that illuminate the principles of Tibetan Buddhism expressed in their lives. You can read an excerpt from the chapter on The Sixth Dalai Lama here.

by Michael Jolliffe

Letter to Lama Zopa from the Staff of FPMT International Office

In October 1997, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was diagnosed as having adult-onset diabetes, but continued his teaching schedule as normal. After there had been no significant improvement after Rinpoche’s blood levels were brought to less than half soon after the diagnosis, the 11 staff members of the FPMT International Office in Sequel, California, wrote to Rinpoche on November 20, 1997, requesting him to decrease his traveling and stay, at least for a while, in one place so that his illness could be treated and brought under control.

From Mandala January-February 1998.