FPMT International Office News
November 2012

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Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the blessing at Tse Chen Ling, USA, October 2012. Photo by Chris Majors.

• Lama Zopa Rinpoche's News:
• Long Life Puja Offered at Sera Je
• Rinpoche's Schedule
• New Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche: Update on Maitreya Project
• International Office News:
• News from Education Services
• News from Mandala Publications
• International Merit Box Project: Generosity in Action Worldwide
• For Center, Project and Service Directors, SPCs, Teachers and Board Members:
  • Basic Program Updates
  • Foundation Store Offer
• FPMT World:
• Rejoice!
  • Langri Tangpa Centre is 30!
  • We Welcome Two New FPMT Study Groups
  • Being Your True Nature: Launch of a Film about Universal Education
  • Nouvelles du Service de traduction
• Opportunities to Offer Service in FPMT
• Impermanence at Work

Lama Zopa Rinpoche's News:

More than 3,000 monks participated in the long life puja offered to current and ex Abbots of Sera Je, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and senior Lama's. The main lamas present included the current and previous abbots of Sera Je; Khensur Jampa Tegchok who taught for 10 years at Nalanda Monastery and then in different FPMT centers; and Khensur Kangyur Rinpoche, who was the resident teacher at Buddha House in Australia for many years. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Long Life Puja
Offered at Sera Je

From Ven. Roger Kunsang:
"I think most of the monastery was there for Rinpoche's long life puja [offered by Drati Khamtsen], so many monks in the gompa and also outside in the garden, etc. It went so well.

The teachings went very well. Rinpoche taught the lam-rim text in the morning session with lots of advice and gave the Most Secret Hayagriva transmission in the afternoon. These will be continued next year."

The official long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered by FPMT will be at Kopan Monastery, Nepal on December 29, 2012. You are welcome to donate by December 18.

• FPMT centers, projects and services can make their annual donation via the secure site linked to from Further Resources in the FPMT Members Area.
• Individuals can donate here.
  
  

Rinpoche's Schedule

Please contact the hosts directly for any questions regarding the event.

Subscribe to our RSS feed on Rinpoche's Schedule page to receive updates automatically as soon as they are available!

2012
Kopan Monastery, Nepal
December 19 Vajrasattva initiation
December 24 – 26 Great Chenrezig initiation in Boudha
December 29 Long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche

2013 – awaiting details

2014
May 11 – 25 Light of the Path retreat with Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ven. Roger Kunsang at Tse Chen Ling, USA, October 2012. Photo by Chris Majors.

New Advice from
Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
Update on Maitreya Project

"I would like to announce that the Maitreya Project director is changing from the current director – the precious, kind Peter Kedge – to the precious, kind Nita Ing.

Also, the Maitreya statue will now be built in Bodhgaya, but due to restrictions there, the statue won't be as tall as originally planned (500 feet, or, 152 meters). Now it is going to be 150 feet (46 meters) in height. For the past nine years we have worked hard with the Uttar Pradesh state government to locate the project in Kushinagar, but because of very difficult issues regarding land acquisition, with the approval of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, we have now decided to build the Maitreya statue in Bodhgaya.

Once the Maitreya statue has been built, it will benefit the world and the sentient beings of the six realms – particularly those in this world – not only for a thousand years, but also for a very long time after that. Any sentient being who remembers, sees, touches or hears about the statue (and of course, no question, those who actually build the statue, who offer time, life, money and all the different things needed to actualize the statue), all those sentient beings, will ultimately achieve full enlightenment. On the way, they will also achieve ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara, and temporary samsaric pleasure while still in samsara. They are unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, most unbelievable, the benefits that the Maitreya statue will bring. It will bring happiness to numberless sentient beings; this is what they will receive from the statue.

It really is most amazing, most amazing, most amazing how building this Maitreya statue will benefit sentient beings! This is really what the world needs. The real need is the good heart, the ultimate good heart: bodhichitta and compassion for all living beings, for numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless suras, numberless asuras and numberless intermediate state beings. Great compassion is needed more than anything else.

That is the beginning of bodhichitta. Developing bodhichitta is unbelievable, most important, even without talking about buddhas in the world; it's the most important thing to bring peace and happiness. So we need to develop the good heart, if not bodhichitta realization, then as much as possible. With simply a good heart we give no harm and only benefit to sentient beings. In that way we can be the cause of happiness for other sentient beings. As much great compassion as possible is what is really needed in the heart of everybody in the world.

To create the cause, talk is not enough. To generate compassion and bodhichitta we need a great deal of merit. Therefore, you can see how important it is to build the Maitreya statue and to actualize bodhichitta."

Read Rinpoche's letter in full as well as letters from Nita Ing and Peter Kedge on fpmt.org.

Find a broad range of advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on Rinpoche's Advice page.Go to the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive for lots more advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

International Office News:

News from FPMT Education Services

New eBooks available for your digital device!

• Gyalwa Gyatso Commentary by Choden Rinpoche 
• Meditations for Children
• Heart Sutra Practices and Instruction for Retreat
• The Preliminary Practice of Altar Set-up & Water Bowl Offerings

Translation News:

After more than a decade of work, the draft translation of an FPMT-sponsored Lam-rim Chenmo in Chinese was made available on the Jangchup Lamrim website in time for His Holiness the Dalai Lama's lam-rim teachings in India. The translation is simultaneously being edited for publication in three volumes. Our grateful thanks to translators Shanghai Lee and Sherab Chen.

FPMT Education Services and its affiliate translation offices have provided five other lam-rim translations for the event in English, four in German, nine in Spanish and four in French.

Découverte du bouddhisme Module 4 – Le maître spirituel and La pratique préliminaire de Vajrasattva booklet are now available for French speakers.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Kurukulla Center, October 2012. Photo by Kadri Kurgun.

News from Mandala Publications

Mandala magazine brings the vast and dynamic world of FPMT directly to your mailbox. To receive the next issue of Mandala (featuring His Holiness on the cover), sign up to become a Friend of FPMT at the Basic Friendship level or higher by November 23, 2012.

In our next issue, we offer a first-hand account of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's visit to Kurukulla Center in Massachusetts, U.S., and an in-depth look at FPMT's activities in Nepal, which are bringing benefit to a wide variety of communities throughout the country. We also are celebrating the publication of Geshe Lhundub Sopa's autobiography Like a Waking Dream from Wisdom Publications. Geshe Sopa is a teacher of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and many other important Tibetan geshes and lamas and also instructed many prominent Western scholars of Buddhist philosophy while on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin in the United States.

International Merit Box Project: Generosity in Action Worldwide

In order to cultivate generosity as part of a daily practice, FPMT International Office is happy to present the International Merit Box Project. The original Merit Box Project began in 2001, and every year thousands of dollars are collected from FPMT students, centers and projects worldwide, and disbursed through grants to eligible FPMT projects and initiatives.

By growing the number of participants all over the world, we hope to also widen the array of projects eligible to benefit from these kind donations. The project is a tangible example of generosity and community in action: FPMT students worldwide practicing together in order to benefit the efforts of the entire organization. International Merit Box Project donations are collected beginning on Lama Tsongkhapa Day each year (December 8 in 2012), and continuously until March 31 of the following year.

Get your FREE Merit Box today and join in the international community of supporters!

For Center, Project and Service Directors,
SPCs, Teachers and Board Members:

(This advice is specifically for those offering service in the roles listed above.)

Basic Program Updates

The Spanish Basic Program Materials web page has been updated with charts, tests and revision questions for Grounds and Paths of Tantra; the English Basic Program Materials web page was also extensively updated and now provides interesting new charts for Middling Lam-rim, Mahayana Mind Training and Highest Yoga Tantra from a variety of centers, while several transcripts were added from the first Basic Program at Nalanda Monastery in France. Access to these pages is available through the Members Area. The three Basic Program Materials pages – French, Spanish and English – each offer a list of all available materials in that language, with the most recent updates marked.

Foundation Store Offer

FPMT World:

Rejoice!

Langri Tangpa Centre is 30!

We warmly congratulate Langri Tangpa Centre, Brisbane, Australia on their 30th anniversary of bringing the Dharma to sentient beings.

We Welcome Two New FPMT Study Groups

Please join us in welcoming two new study groups (probationary centers), one in Spain and one in Australia:

La Luz de Nagarjuna (Nagarjuna’s Light) Study Group
Biocentro del Caballo Blanco
Ronda del Obispo Barbazán n6
Pamplona, Navarra 31001, Spain
info@nagarjunapamplona.com
Coordinator Nerea Keesee Rosano

Wishfulfilling Thought Transformation Study Group
29 Dodgin Street
Wynyard
Tasmania 7325, Australia
wishfulfillingmind@gmail.com
Coordinator Wy Ostenfeld

Being Your True Nature: Launch of a Film about Universal Education

Lama Tsongkhapa Day (December 8, 2012), marks the international launch of a new film about Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom. Commissioned by the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) and directed by Osel Hita and Matteo Passigato, the film was shot on location at Institut Vajra Yogini in France, is narrated by Osel, and includes interviews with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Twenty-five FPMT centers around the world have already asked to host a screening of the film. The current list of participating centers is available on the FDCW website, and there's still time for more centers to join in! A screening pack will be provided with suggestions for discussion topics and a meditation kindly provided by Loving Kindness Peaceful Youth. If you would like to host a screening please contact Natasha.

Nouvelles du Service de traduction

Restez informé des traductions du matériel d’étude, des livrets de pratique, des nouvelles de la FPMT et des possibilités d’étudier en ligne sur Facebook, Twitter, la liste de diffusion et le site du Service de traduction.

Opportunities to Offer Service in FPMT

Please check out these and other exciting opportunities to offer service in FPMT centers, projects and services around the world!

Chandrakirti Centre, New Zealand is looking for a qualified interpreter; Maitreya Instituut Loenen, the Netherlands needs an experienced full-time cook; and Root Institute, India needs a center manager and a manager for their Maitreya School.

Impermanence at Work

Atisha Centre, Australia
We welcome new SPC – Liam Chambers
With grateful thanks to outgoing SPC – Nathalie Meriaud

Centro Yamantaka, Colombia
Carrera 27 # 61 D – 27, Bogotá

Kurukulla Center, USA
We welcome new director – Sean González
With grateful thanks to outgoing director – Debra Thornburg

Maitreya Institut Loenen (formerly, Emst)
Hoofdweg 109
7371GE Loenen, Gld.
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0) 5550 50 908
loenen@maitreya.nl
http://www.maitreya.nl

Nagarjuna C.E.T. Granada, Spain
centronagarjunagranada@gmail.com

Spanish National Office
We welcome new national coordinator – Isabel Arocena
With grateful thanks to outgoing coordinator – Rafael Ferrer

Tse Chen Ling, USA
We welcome new co-director – Ven. Carol Corradi, with Teresa Navarro

With love,
FPMT International Office