Daily Breakfast

A look at a typical daily offering of breakfast provided by the Sera Je Food Fund to 3,300 monks (including 800 monks from Sera Je School) studying at Sera Je Monastery.

You can also view a typical day's menu including breakfast and lunch.

Please take a moment to rejoice in this incredible offering of which you can be a part by donating any amount to the Sera Je Food Fund today.

Daily breakfast: Tibetan bread and Tibetan tea.

Tibetan bread and tea.Tibetan bread is 10-12 inches in diameter and half an inch thick.

Fresh breads ready for breakfast.

Young monks enjoying breakfast before class.

Seven Days of Lunch

A look at a typical week's worth of lunches provided by the Sera Je Food Fund to all 2,500 monks studying at Sera Je Monastery.

You can also view a typical day's menu including breakfast and lunch.

Please take a moment to rejoice in this incredible offering of which you can be a part by donating any amount to the Sera Je Food Fund today.

Monday, Thursday, Saturday: Rice, dahl, banana.

Tuesday: Rice or bread with dahl.

Wednesday, Friday, Sunday: Bread, dahl, banana.

Hot chili is available for anyone who likes their food spicy.

Lunch is served with filtered water.

A Typical Day at the Sera Je Monastery Kitchen

Kitchen helpers working hard. Please visit Sera Je Food Fund Office's Facebook page for a photo gallery of a typical day in the Sera Je Kitchen, which is sponsored by the Sera Je Food Food.

You can also read Geshe Thubten Sherab's account of a typical day at Sera Je Monastery here.

Buckets of vegetables and tofu.

Monks returning to their own quarters.

Seven Days of Dinner

A look at a typical week's worth of dinners provided by the Sera Je Food Fund to all 2,500 monks studying at Sera Je Monastery.

You can also view a typical day's menu including breakfast and lunch.

Please take a moment to rejoice in this incredible offering of which you can be a part by donating any amount to the Sera Je Food Fund today.

Monday: Rice with vegetables.
Tuesday: Noodle soup.
Wednesday: Rice with tofu and vegetable.
Thursday: Noodle soup.
Friday: Vegetable biryani with soup.
Saturday: Vegetable buns and soup. Sunday: Fried rice with soup.

Offering Food to 2,600 Monks

Have you ever wondered how to offer food to the 2,600 monks studying at Sera Je Monastery?

By donating any amount to the Sera Je Food Fund, you contribute to the daily offering of three healthy vegetarian meals prepared for and offered to all of the monks of Sera Je Monastery.

Please take a moment to rejoice in this incredible offering of which you can be a part by donating any amount to the Sera Je Food Fund today.

What Does a Meal for 2,600 Look Like?

Buckets of soup to be offered to the monks. Making giant pots of vegetarian dahl. Photo by Losan Piatti. Monks cutting the vegetables. Photo by Losan Piatti. The monks recite prayers together and dedicate to all the donors of the Ser Je Food Fund before the food is offered. Photo by Losan Piatti. Making bread dough. Monks enjoying cutting the vegetables together.

Prayers for all Sera Je Food Fund benefactors being offered by all 3,000 monks January 24-February 2, 2013

Rejoice! The 3,000 monks of Sera Je Monastery are offering 9 days of prayers and pujas dedicated to all our kind and generous benefactors.

We have just received this letter from the Abbott of Sera Je Monastery thanking Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FPMT and all the benefactors of the Sera Je Food Fund project.

Due to the kind and generous support of so many, FPMT has been able to offer food to all the Sangha at Sera Je Monastery now for the past 22 years. THANK YOU.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche Visits Sera Je Kitchen

October, 2012: Lama Zopa Rinpoche made a rare visit to the Sera Je Kitchen.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche visiting the Sera Je Food Fund kitchen.

Rinpoche enjoyed the evening's dinner that was was prepared for the 2,600 monks of Sera Je Monastery.

Sera Je Food Fund's New Videos!

June 2012: We are delighted to present you with new videos which help illustrate the many benefits of this project.

“A Brief Introduction to the Sera Je Food Fund” is a short introduction and overview of the project.

“The Making of Food” is 23-minute video providing a virtual tour of how the food is prepared for all 2,600 monks at Sera Je Monastery.

All Sera Je Food Fund videos can be found on our new video page on the Sera Je Food Fund web page.

Six Months of Food Offered

June 2012: FPMT was able to send US$115,000 to Sera Je Monastery. This contribution covers the next six months’ worth of meals for all 2,600 monks currently studying at Sera Je.          

Thank you to all the kind benefactors who support this amazing project and please rejoice in this incredible offering that we are able to make to the Sangha, our future center geshes and to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

“If you offer with the recognition that they are the guru’s pores,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said in 2011, “then that is an unbelievable way to collect merit. When you offer to many Sangha who have the same guru, then you are making offerings to that many pores of the guru. This is the easiest way to collect skies of merit by offering. By offering even just one candy or flowers or even one grain of rice to a statue of Buddha or even a visualized Buddha, you collect skies of merit. It is much more powerful than offering to the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) as well as all the statues, stupas and scriptures existing in all directions, so there is no question if really offering to the same guru’s disciple. These benefits should be understood so that when you make offerings to the guru’s pores that you think correctly. This is the best business.”

Rejoice for the Wonderful Food Fund! A Devotional Tear Dropped in the Rice Bowl

By Geshe Thubten Jinpa 

Received May 2012: The sun is at its brightest at 9 a.m., but a soft breeze blows making the morning chilly. Hundreds of monks in their maroon robes begin to flow in, clutching a square cushion in their right hands, like someone going to the office would carry a briefcase, and a plate in their left hands. Soon the debate courtyard is full with thousands of them and before long the courtyard turns into a huge garden of red roses.

After an hour-and-a-half long prayer session, everyone scatters all over the courtyard, each looking for a debate partner. In less than a minute the whole yard is covered with monks debating in pairs.

Thousands of hands clapping together with loud voices of Dharma discussion makes it sound like the middle of India’s busiest train station. Everyone seems so enthusiastic and absorbed in debate. Amazed and transfixed by the atmosphere around me, I hardly notice that time is running. It is 11:30 a.m. when the disciplinary master signals the conclusion of the morning session.

The senior monks gradually move towards the dining hall but so many other junior ones are still fully engaged in the high fever of debate, looking so determined to prove their side of the argument.

By the time I find my seat in the dining room, many senior monks have taken theirs in the front rows as more monks make their way into the dining room. Soon the hall is filled with thousands of monks and a deep voice far in front begins to roar. I realize it is the prayer from Lama Tsongkhapa’s "Songs of Experience," with its repeated verse: “I, the practitioner has practiced in this way. You the seeker of liberation, practice in the same way.”

As I listen to this prayer, my eyes roll over the many monks sitting around me. All of them look like they are in their thirties and forties, mostly quite skinny, the maroon of their robes a little faded, heads fully shaved, yet looking glorious sitting so calmly in concentration, perhaps contemplating the words of the prayer. Then hundreds of junior monks rush in with basins, buckets and kettles of food. It is an international marathon with Indians, Europeans, Americans, Chinese and Koreans among the procession serving the meal.

I am totally thrilled by this spectacular atmosphere, but as the serving of food begins my heart suddenly fills with a strange mixture of joy and sentiment. I am thrown back down memory lane to when Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche was emphasizing so much about the Sera Je Food Fund project, when he explained to every benefactor about its importance, and the time he put his palms together to appeal for support for the project. I recall Rinpoche working so hard to start this project and all the time and effort he took to make it run smoothly.

A part of my mind is rejoicing, “How wonderful the job Rinpoche has done! How kind he is. What an abundance of merit he let so many people create!” I cannot recall every thought that arose at that moment but it is all so emotional, hearing the voice reciting Lama Tsongkhapa’s inspirational prayer above these thoughts as my heart is moved more than ever with rejoicing and admiration. Then my heart explodes with extraordinary faith and tears begin to roll down my cheeks, silently slipping under my spectacles. I come to realize only when a drop falls into my rice bowl. By then my voice has turned soft and I find myself crying uncontrollably. Perhaps people around me start to notice.

By now, rice, dhal and a piece of fruit is served to each monk in the hall and food offering prayers begin. I sense unconditional appreciation and profound dedication in every monk throughout the offering prayer. Everyone begins to eat. For me, it is the most delicious dhal and rice I ever tasted. Silence is unbroken while thousands of monks empty their bowls, but I cannot finish my share as the feeling of admiration for my guru’s extraordinary deed makes me constantly emotional.

Soon with dedication prayers completed, all the monks leave their seats making way for the juniors to clean the place. I have no choice but to leave with the remaining food left in my bowl. As I walk out I notice a group of old monks, mostly in their seventies and eighties, some crippled with stick in right hand and a bowl in the left.

I go up to one of them whom I know and ask why he needs to come all the way when he can send one of his young disciples to fetch food for him.

He gives me a toothless smile and answers: Eating in the Sangha assembly means not only sharing the food but sharing our merit by making it greater, making our merit stronger, and dedicating for the happiness of all sentient beings. It is also to rejoice in the great deeds of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and all the benefactors of the Food Fund. He puts his palms together every time the name of my guru was mentioned. He keeps saying that coming to the Sangha assembly is never troublesome to him when he thinks of what wonderful karma has been created by those who have made this food offering possible.

I feel so much joy to see for myself the immense benefits that Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his disciples worldwide have brought to the entire Sangha assembly of Sera Je Monastery through the Food Fund Project!

Written by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, November 28, 2011. Edited by Ven. Tenzin Tsultrim April 4, 2012. Gently edited for inclusion here.

Dried Food for Monks over Losar

February 2012: Dried food was distributed to about 2,550 of our Sera Je monks! No, not to celebrate Valentine's Day but because our main kitchen will be closed during the coming two weeks Losar (Tibetan New Year) holidays.

Each monk received 2.5 kg of rice, 4 kg of flour and 0.5 liter of cooking oil. In total, we have distributed 6375 kg of rice, 10,200 kg of flour and 1275 liters of cooking oil!

A BIG Thank You to all the Sera Je Food Fund sponsors!

Sera Je Food Fund's Amazing New Bread-Making Machine

August 2011: Cherok Lama generously sponsored a new bread-making machine for the Sera Je Food Fund kitchen. This was offered on the occasion of his Rik-Chung ceremony in August of last year. 

This new machine has reduced the need for kitchen helpers (who are all monks studying in the monastery) by 50%. This means that these monks will have more time for their studies and practices!

Please enjoy this short video of the bread-making machine in action.

On the first day it managed to produce more than 800 loaves of bread for the day’s lunch in two hours, and again in the afternoon, 1,200 loads of bread for next day’s breakfast! This is a great improvement for the Sera Je Food Fund kitchen.

We also thank Cherok Lama for offering US$13,000 for a new refrigerator for the Sera Je Food Fund kitchen.

Ösel in the Sera Je Food Fund Kitchen

January 2012: Tenzin Ösel Hita visited Sera Je Monastery and made a point to check out the Sera Je Food Fund kitchen.

The Sera Je Food Fund Menu

A Typical Day’s Food Offering for the 2,600 monks of Sera Je Monastery through the Sera Je Food Fund

Breakfast

1-2 pieces of large bread (10-12 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick)
Choice of Tibetan or Chai Tea

More photos of SJFF breakfast.

 
Lunch

Tofu
Dahl
Rice or Bread
Vegetables
Fruit

More photos of SJFF lunch.

Dinner

Rice and curried vegetables
or noodles and vegetables
or thukpa (Tibetan noodle soup)

More photos of SJFF dinner.