FPMT News Around the World

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

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

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

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

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

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

FPMT News Around the World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FMPT News Around the World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FPMT News Around the World

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

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

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

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

FPMT News Around the World

Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling Director Massimo Corona reports the recent uncovering of a VHS tape from a decade ago, featuring the former CEO of FPMT Mongolia Ueli Minder and Thubten Gyatso (Dr. Adrian Feldmann). The rough but fascinating video documents some of FPMT’s early contributions to the restoration of Buddhism in Mongolia. The 13-minute video, now available on FPMT Mongolia’s YouTube channel, includes footage of the renovation of a historic monastery located near Ulaanbaatar where Drolma Ling Nunnery, the first residential Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in Mongolia, was established. Also making a brief appearance in the video is Ven. Bakula Rinpoche, who greatly contributed to the return of Buddhism in Mongolia.

The history of Buddhism in Mongolia is rich, going back to the third century B.C.E. But with the rise of communism in the 1920s and Mongolia’s close alignment with the Soviet Union, Mongolian Buddhists suffered heavy oppression, witnessing the extensive destruction of monasteries and temples and the purging of an extraordinary number of monks and lamas in the late 1930s. The relighting of the lamp of Buddhism in Mongolia signifies the strength and determination of Mongolians to reclaim this nearly lost aspect of their cultural heritage.

Be sure to check out more of Mandala’s recent coverage of Mongolia.

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

FPMT News Around the World

His Holiness the Sakya Trizin with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, April 2012. Photo courtesy of Sakya Drolma Phodrang.

During April, FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche, along with Dhakpa Rinpoche and Dagri Rinpoche, were in Dehradun, India, receiving initiations from His Holiness the Sakya Trizin. Many others from the Sakya tradition, including Sangha from the Sakya Monastery and Nunnery, also took part in the ongoing Wangya Norbu Tangwa (Garlands of Jewels of Hundreds of Initiations) transmission. This is the fifth year the Sakya Trizin has been giving this very long series of initiations.

Dhakpa Rinpoche (far left) and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Dehradun, India, April 2012. Photo courtesy of Sakya Drolma Phodrang.

Several years ago, Lama Zopa Rinpoche requested to receive this transmission as the lineage of some of the initiations had already died out in the Gelug tradition. Rinpoche and FPMT’s Preserving the Lineage Fund have been the main sponsors of the initiation series and long life puja for His Holiness the Sakya Trizin. The Preserving the Lineage Fund supports the transmission of rare Mahayana teachings through initiations and oral transmissions, thereby allowing future lamas and students the benefits of receiving the Buddhadharma through an unbroken lineage.

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

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Dagri Rinpoche, Dehradun, India, April 2012. Photo courtesy of Sakya Drolma Phodrang.

FPMT News Around the World

Maitreya statue at Maitreya School grand opening, Bodhgaya, India, April 2012

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of FPMT, offered 27 life-size statues of Maitreya Buddha to FPMT centers, services and projects. In just one month, many centers have already received their Maitreya statue. Mandala is celebrating this with the Maitreya Statue Photo Gallery, featuring photos of Maitreya statues situated in FPMT centers, projects and services around the world!

Last week, we shared news of the new statue at Thubten Shedrub Ling in Australia. This week, we are featuring the Maitreya statue that is at the new Maitreya School, a project of Root Institute for Wisdom Culture in Bodhgaya. The Maitreya watched over the proceedings as the school held its grand opening in April. Maitreya School will provide education to children of poor families following the government curricula while also incorporating key Buddhist principles in the context of Indian culture.

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

FPMT News Around the World 

Have you ever wanted to improve your visualization practice? Instead of struggling to retrieve a fuzzy image, have you wished for Buddha’s face to pop clearly into mind as soon as you closed your eyes? Jon Landaw, a long-time FPMT teacher, recently led his Discovering Buddhism students through an exercise of drawing Buddha’s face to help them improve their visualizations. His students reported good results, saying they could bring Buddha’s image to mind more easily.

Landaw explains that he supplied students with artist Andy Weber’s gridded drawing of Buddha’s face, blank copies of the grid and some pencils. Then put on a recording of Lama Yeshe chanting mani and let them get to work.

“A couple of the students contented themselves with merely tracing the Buddha’s face, but the rest actually drew it ‘free hand,’ as it were,” Landaw writes. “They were very happily occupied for more than an hour, at the end of which time I led a brief visualization practice. Then on the following week, when I ask them whether they noticed any change in their meditation practice and their ability to bring Buddha’s image to their mind, I got an overwhelming positive response.”

“Even though I didn’t have the opportunity of joining the class while they were doing their work,” Landaw writes, “the mere activity of looking closely at all their work left a strong impression on my mind. So when I led the closing meditation, Buddha’s face appeared before my mind’s eye much more vividly than it has in ages.”

You can watch video of Andy Weber drawing Buddha’s face online, where you can also download copies of the gridded face and the empty grid. If you’re interested in the Discovering Buddhism course and it’s not offered in your area, you can take it online at the FPMT Online Learning Center.

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

FPMT News Around the World

Thubten Shedrup Ling’s new Maitreya statue

In March, FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered to sponsor life-size Maitreya statues at any FPMT center, service or project that wished to have one. Thubten Shedrup Ling (TSL) in Victoria, Australia, accepted the offer and received a statue two weeks ago.

“We are very grateful for Rinpoche’s kindness and generosity allowing us to have such a beautiful statue in the monastery,” writes Ven. Lhundrup, director at TSL. “The picture is of Maitreya seated in our temporary gompa where he keeps a watchful eye on the monks during puja. Maitreya will eventually be placed in our new, much larger gompa which we hope to commence building next month.”

The statues are scale replicas of the larger Maitreya statues that are to be built by the Maitreya Project in Bodhgaya and Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India. The plan to build a 500-foot (152-meter) tall Maitreya statue was inspired by FPMT founder Lama Yeshe.

While there are many depictions of Maitreya Buddha, the large statues that will be built by the Maitreya Project will show Maitreya Buddha in a simple form – without ornaments, wearing monk’s robes and seated on a throne – so as to be recognizable to many Buddhist traditions.

Directors of FPMT centers, projects and services that wish to receive a Maitreya statue can contact Peter Kedge at the Maitreya Project for more information.

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

FPMT News Around the World

Collages created by Land of Medicine Buddha students

Over the past few years volunteers at Land of Medicine Buddha (LMB) in Soquel, California, have cut pictures of deities, holy objects and lineage lamas out of Dharma publications – including Mandala magazine – before burning the excess Dharma material, based on advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. As a result, LMB has amassed a collection of boxes, bags and envelopes of differently sized holy images which they planned to put into a stupa.

“It is difficult to organize [the pictures] nicely and respectfully, so the idea to make collages came up, sticking them on old printed prayers sheets that were waiting to be burned,” Ven. Tsomo told Mandala. With that though in mind, LMB students and visitors started creating the collages.

“It turned out to benefit both organizing the pictures nicely for the stupas and also having less Dharma excess to burn!” said Ven. Tsomo, who took photos of some of their creations and posted them on Land of Medicine Buddha’s Facebook page. 

In addition to cutting and pasting holy images, LBM students and staff continue to fill their gigantic prayer wheel with mantras and holy texts. You can see photographs documenting their prayer wheel improvements, which include rolling one ton of microfilm mantras on to the prayer wheel, on their Facebook page.

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