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.

This account of a day with Lama Zopa Rinpoche comes from Ven. Thubten Jinpa, Kopan Lama Gyupa, who has often served as Rinpoche’s second attendant and was with him recently in Dharamsala, India. Incredibly inspiring!

From Mandala July-September 2009.

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.

Ven. Gyalten Wangmo describes Dorje Chang Institute’s organized effort to gather enough sponsors to save 60 Kaimanawa wild horses from being slaughtered in New Zealand in celebration of Saka Dawa.

From Mandala October-December 2009.

Did you know that Mandala offers hours of video and audio content freely through the FPMT Mandala eZine? The “Archive” tab at left will take you to all 13 issues. Happy exploring!

Mandala recommends the content in the August 2010 issue. On page 21, Lama Zopa Rinpoche provides instruction on how to visualize and think while reciting the abbreviated version of Calling the Guru from Afar.

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.

“A Buddhist Approach to Mental Illness,” an interview with Lama Yeshe. Excerpted from Make Your Mind an Ocean, published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (LYWA).

From Mandala May-June 1999.

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.

Miffi Maximillion of Langri Tangpa Centre in Brisbane, Australia – “I’ve had one foot in the nether world of boarding houses and the street for years” – makes some down-to-earth recommendations for dealing with mentally unstable people who come to Dharma centers.

From Mandala September-October 1999.

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.