FPMT Education News

Saka Dawa Announcement

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Published on May 17, 2013

Shakyamuni BuddhaSaka Dawa, one of the four great holy days of the Tibetan calendar, celebrates the Buddha’s birth, death, and parinirvana, and is just around the corner. As a Buddha Multiplying Day, karmic results are multiplied one hundred million times. This amazing result is sourced by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Saka Dawa takes place this year on Friday/Saturday, May 24/25.

If you decide to recite the Sutra of Golden Light on this special day, you might like to report your recitations using the facility on the FPMT website – which you can find on the Sutra of Golden Light reporting page. You can also find many other sutra texts available for free download on the FPMT Education Services’ Sutras page.

New Products from FPMT Education Services

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Published on May 07, 2013

New Products Available at the FPMT Foundation Store!

• Long Life Lama Chopa with Request to the Dakinis eBook—Please note, this is one of the current recommended practices for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s health.
• Sixteen Arhats Puja available as eBook as well as booklet letter and A4 formats.
• The Yoga of the Three Purifications of Shri Chakrasamvara available as eBook as well as booklet letter and A4 formats.
• We have updated a short Medicine Buddha Sadhana.

Announcing a Sixteen Arhats Puja eBook

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Published on April 24, 2013

We are happy to announce the publication of a new eBook, The Wish-fulfilling Gem Enhancing the Buddha’s Doctrine, a Method for Making Offerings and Prayers to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and the Sixteen Arhats by Yeshe Gyaltsen which includes a purification practice and is suitable to be performed by anyone.

This practice is also available in A4 and letter booklet formats.

“It has greater blessings to pray to the kind compassionate Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the Founder, who is caring with a loving mind for us migratory beings who are in the end of the five-hundred age time. He left the Sixteen Arhats as a regent of himself not to pass away and to be the Savior for us sentient beings.

The benefits of making offerings and prayers to the Sixteen Arhats are:

1. All the Victorious Ones (Buddhas) are pleased.
2. Anyone who correctly practices it will have no obstacles.
3. One will be able to abide in pure morality.
4. It increases one's scriptural understanding and realization.
5. One will have perfect inner and outer conditions to practice Dharma.
6. One will not be overwhelmed by untimely death and will have a long life.
7. The community of Sangha will be increased.
8. The study and practice of the Tripitaka (Three Baskets) will increase.

And so forth, there are infinite benefits one will enjoy until enlightenment is achieved.”

Translated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Caloundra, Australia, on August 10, 1996.

French Version of Masters Program Texts in Progress!

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Published on April 18, 2013

FPMT's French-language translation office, Service de traduction de la FPMT, is happy to share their enthusiasm for a new promising project: creating French versions of the Masters Program (MP) study texts. Inspired by the unique vision of Lama Yeshe, the Masters Program (MP) is the organization's most rigorous and advanced education program.

The MP scheduled to start this year at Nalanda Monastery in France isn’t able to provide a French graduation option due to a lack of translations of the necessary standard texts. With this project, Service de traduction de la FPMT’s goal is to see to it that French-speaking students in the future can fully benefit from the program. The translation of these essential texts will contribute to the emergence of a new generation of qualified French-speaking graduates, while at the same time serving all French speakers interested in Buddhism.

The principal texts that comprise the MP curriculum represent around 3,500 pages. Costs of this translation work is estimated to be around EUR€ 3,500 (US$4,500) each year for ten years. Motivated and experienced translators have already accepted the challenge to help realize this ambitious project.

www.traductionfpmt.info

Italian Online Basic Program Success!

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Published on April 09, 2013

The Italian Basic Program Online offered by Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) had its first ever final exam this March. All 10 participating students passed – a huge achievement  for all involved! Kind thanks Basic Program Online tutor Vania Tesser, who provided students with the care, support and inspiration needed to get this far, and many other staff at ILTK who contributed over the course of five years! It is an FPMT exclusive: Previously we had no Homestudy students completing a Basic Program and final exam in any language other than English. Congratulations to all!

Commonly Used Prayers and Practices

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Published on March 27, 2013

Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drolma (Khadro-la) with Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Washington State, 2012.FPMT Education Services has made freely available a variety of commonly used  prayers and practices which you can download or reference online.

Sutras Page

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Published on March 13, 2013

Ven.Tsering's writing of the Prajnaparamita at Kachoe Dechen Ling, USAAs records of teachings given by Buddha, sutras are an important part of Buddhist study and practice. As such, we have created a page dedicated to the exploration of many of these valuable texts.

First Basic Program Graduation Ceremony at Nalanda!

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Published on February 27, 2013

On February 15 Nalanda Monastery, France, officially completed its first five year residential Basic Program (BP) with a graduation ceremony. Geshe Jamphel, BP teacher and abbot, handed out BP completion certificates to the graduates (two of them were not there), and BP completion cards to students who did not yet graduate. The ceremony was an inspiration for the 36 brand new students of Nalanda's second Basic Program, who attended as part of their introduction day. A special presentation was made to Ven. Tharchin, the program's interpreter and Ven. Yonten, the program's coordinator, reflecting appreciation for their contributions that made this excellent BP, with its three month review and three month retreat, such a success! Geshe-la then gave a talk to the 36 new students and all Nalanda residents, emphasizing the work that the BP students had done over the five years. The ceremony was followed by a big celebratory lunch. Two of these graduates are now FPMT registered teachers!

Gyalwa Gyatso Long Sadhana eBook

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Published on February 20, 2013

We are pleased to present those students with the highest yoga tantra empowerment of Gyalwa Gyatso this wonderful revised 52-page long sadhana for daily practice and retreat by Kalsang Gyatso, the Seventh Dalai Lama.

Available through the FPMT Foundation Store, this sadhana is available as an eBook (non-reflowable PDF) for use on your Kindle, iPad, or other digital device.

FPMT Education and Friends of FPMT

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Published on February 13, 2013

With the wishes, guidance, and advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FPMT Education has designed study programs suitable for every level of student: from beginning to advanced and everything in between. Engaging with FPMT Education not only benefits your own study and practice- your support enables the publication of practice materials, the development of training programs, the resources to produce important translations and the funds to offer scholarships to sincere students.

An easy and beneficial way to support FPMT Education is by becoming a Friend of FPMT. Every level of this program gains you access to FPMT Education and supports our work in the process!  In addition to other benefits, at the Free Membership and Basic Friend levels you will receive access to all free FPMT Online Learning Center modules—currently thirteen free modules; and at the Dharma Supporter and Patron levels you receive complete access to all Online Learning Center program modules available which currently number fifty-one!

Please consider benefiting from and supporting FPMT Education today by becoming a Friend of FPMT!

A Daily Meditation on Shakyamuni Buddha eBook

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Published on February 06, 2013

Written by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for use by beginning students, this new eBook,  A Daily Meditation on Shakyamuni Buddha, is a clearly outlined practice complete with guided meditations for developing one's motivation, the mind of refuge, and the thought of bodhichitta.

In addition the practice contains mantra recitation and visualization based on Shakyamuni Buddha and a Lam-rim prayer in the form of a request for blessings to develop all the realizations on the path to full awakening.

New Products Available at the FPMT Foundation Store!

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Published on January 31, 2013

FPMT Education Services is continually making new materials available for all of your study and practice needs. New to this selection of offerings available at the FPMT Foundation Store are the following:

• Statues and Stupas - Benefits and Practices Related to Statues and Stupas, Part 3 eBook

This eBook includes the root text of Shalkar Melong, translated with commentary by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, which provides detailed instructions for filling larger holy objects. Also included are the Sung Drub and Rab Na ceremonies for consecrating your holy object.

• The Practice of Virtue verses card by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Translated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, with calligraphy by Jane Seidlitz, The Practice of Virtue is a frameable one-page prayer reminding us of the power of karma and importance of virtue.

• Engaging in the Practice of the Hundred Torma Offerings

Offering tormas is an important practice for the accumulation of merit and elimination of obstacles. This practice, Engaging in the Practice of the Hundred Torma Offerings, is from the great scholar Kaldan Gyatso based on the text on the Hundred Torma Offerings composed by Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen. Translated by Tenzin Bhuchung Shastri.