Mandala Magazine Oct-Dec 2012

BLISSFUL RAYS OF THE MANDALA IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERSBLISSFUL RAYS OF THE MANDALA IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS

T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I CA T I O N O F T H E F O U N DA T I O N F O R T H E P R E S E R VA T I O N O F T H E M A H AYA N A T R A D I T I O N

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I CA T I O N O F T H E F O U N DA T I O N F O R T H E P R E S E R VA T I O N O F T H E M A H AYA N A T R A D I T I O N

MandalafpmtOCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

Khadro-la:If We Use Our Wisdom Carefully,Everything Is Possible

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“Buddhism is a house full of treasures—practices for gaining the happiness of future lives, the bliss of liberation and the supreme happiness of enlightenment— but knowing the difference between Dharma and non-Dharma is the key that opens the door to all those treasures. No matter how much we know about emptiness, the chakras or controlling our vital energy through kundalini yoga, it’s all pointless without this crucial understanding of how to practice Dharma, how to correct our actions. There are vast numbers of people who delude themselves and waste their entire life studying the most esoteric aspects of Buddhism but never understand the most fundamental point, the distinction between Dharma and non-Dharma.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

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October - December 2012 MANDALA 5

www.mandalamagazine.org www.fpmt.org

fpmt MandalaCONTENTS

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012 ISSUE 57 MANDALA (ISSN10754113) is published quarterly by FPMT, Inc., 1632 SE 11thAve, Portland, OR 97214-4702, USA. Printed by Journal Graphics, Portland, Oregon, USA. Periodicals postage paid at PortlandOR. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mandala, 1632 SE 11th Ave, Portland OR 97214-4702

COVER: Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drolma (Khadro-la) at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia, Italy, July 2012. Photo byPiero Sirianni.

DHARMA REALITIES“Leaves in the Wind:People Who Wish for Death”By Ven. Chönyi Taylor

BUDDHIST IN THE TRENCHES“Loneliness”By Sarah Shifferd

BIG LOVEAn excerpt from Adele Hulse’sbiography of Lama Yeshe

MANDALA TALKAn audio podcast featuringTibetan translator andteacher Craig Preston

… complete interviews,advice, personal storiesand more atmandalamagazine.org!

34

49

6 FROM THE EDITOR

8 GRATITUDE FOR OURFPMT PATRONS

10 TEACHINGS AND ADVICE

16 PRACTICING DHARMA INDAILY LIFE

COVER FEATURE23 An Interview with Khadro-la:

If We Use Our Wisdom Carefully,Everything Is Possible

30 EDUCATION

34 DHARMA ANDTHE MODERN WORLD

40 TAKING CARE OF OTHERS

46 YOUR COMMUNITY

54 FPMT NEWS AROUNDTHE WORLD

59 FPMT DIRECTORY

11

ONLINE HIGHLIGHTSMandala publishes EXCLUSIVE ONLINE articles, photos and audioeach issue to supplement our print publication.Visitmandalamagazine.org.

The October - December 2012 issue includes …

22

6 MANDALA October - December 2012

From the EDITOR

Mandala is the official publica-tion of the Foundation for thePreservation of the MahayanaTradition (FPMT), an interna-tional charitable organizationfounded more than thirty yearsago by two Tibetan Buddhistmasters: Lama Thubten Yeshe(1935-1984) and LamaThubten

Zopa Rinpoche. FPMT is now a vibrant international community with anetwork of over 150 affiliate centers, projects, services and study groups inmore than thirty countries.

Editorial PolicyRecurring topics include: Buddhist philosophy; Education; Ordination andthe Sangha; Buddhism and Modern Life; Youth Issues; FPMT ActivitiesWorldwide; Lama Yeshe and his teachings; Lama Zopa Rinpoche and histeachings; His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his teachings, among many othertopics.

Writers, photographers and artists, both amateur and professional, areencouraged to submit material for consideration. Mandala currently does notpay for publishable content; we credit all photos and other work as requested.

Mandala is published quarterly and is available via the Friends of FPMTprogram. Additionally, the publication is supplemented by online storiespublished exclusively at: www.mandalamagazine.org

Friends of FPMT is a donor program composed of Friends workingtogether to support FPMT’s global activities.

To learn about Friends of FPMT levels and benefits, contact us or visit:www.fpmt.org/friends

Mandala is published in January, April, July and October.

Managing Editor and PublisherLaura [email protected]

Assistant Editor,Advertising & SalesMichael [email protected]

Art DirectorCowgirls [email protected]

Friends of FPMT ProgramTrevor [email protected]

FPMT, Inc.1632 SE 11th Ave.Portland, OR 97214-4702Tel: 1 503 808 1588Fax: 1 503 232 0557Toll free USA only1 866 241 9886

FPMT Board of DirectorsSpiritual DirectorLama Zopa Rinpoche

Board MembersKhen Rinpoche Geshe ChonyiVen. Roger KunsangVen. Pemba SherpaOsel HitaKaruna CaytonAndrew HaynesPeter KedgeTim McNeillTara MelwaniAlison MurdochPaula de Wijs-Koolkin

www.mandalamagazine.orgwww.fpmt.org

ABOUT MANDALA

DEAR READER,

In June, FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpocheand Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drolma(Khadro-la) visited Mandala’s home base, also knownas FPMT International Office in Portland, Oregon. Ifind myself not having adequate words to describe the

experience, but I’ll throw out a few anyway: expansive,ebullient, incandescent and inspiring. It was Rinpoche’sfirst time in the office since manifesting a stroke in April2011.

One of the most moving sights for me during the visitwas watching Rinpoche go up and down the steps to oursecond floor office. Yes, we have an elevator, but Rinpochedecided to ascend and descend the very public steps instead.He had assistance, but as I watched him, I saw that it washis determination getting him to the top and back downagain. Upon reflection, I’m amazed by his kindness and byhow Rinpoche brings that level of determination to every

moment of his life, always working for the benefit of others.Even the act of going up and down stairs became, for me,a lesson in joyful effort.

On Rinpoche and Khardo-la’s final day in the Portlandarea, I had the opportunity to interview Khadro-la. I went tothe interview full of nerves, not sure how I came to have thiskind of amazing opportunity and anxious to not mess it up.During the interview, I was struck by how often Khadro-laemphasized wisdom and this has stuck with me. As I sitwriting this, I ask myself: Howwould a deeper understandingof dependent arising and emptiness change my experienceand actions? And do I firmly believe, as Khadro-la says, that“if we use our wisdom carefully, everything is possible”?Theseare powerful ideas that I believe can change us. I feel inspiredto integrate them into my life. I hope you do too.

Love,Laura


IN GRATITUDE

The Friends of FPMT program wants to extend its heartfeltgratitude to our FPMTPatrons listed below. FPMTPatronsgenerously offer US$100 or more each month to sustainFPMT’s global activities, which directly support the preser-vation of the Mahayana tradition and the loving-kindness itengenders. In addition to being included in a yearly patronpuja, FPMTPatrons receiveMandalamagazine and completeaccess to FPMT’s Online Learning Center, which offersdozens of online educational programs.

George Michael CuestaNicholas TanRam SistlaSandra SharpeValerie BennettMichael FujiiMun Kong LokeAmala Chew Soo ChuahJoerg EberhardtPlus, several anonymous Patrons

The Friends of FPMT program provides necessaryfunding for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s International Office.Funds go toward developing and publishing educationalmaterials in several languages, sharing LamaZopaRinpoche’slatest advice, providing support for FPMT’s 158 centers,projects and services around the world, and communicatingnews of Rinpoche’s compassionate activities and updatesfrom the entire FPMT international community.

To learn more, please visit www.fpmt.org/friends.

Gratitude forOur FPMT Patrons

A puja at Kopan Monastery, June 2012. Photo courtesy ofKopan Monastery.



Teachings and ADVICE

LAMA YESHE’S WISDOM

By Lama Yeshe

TRUE DHARMA PRACTITIONERSWELCOME TROUBLE

Lama Yeshe, Grizzly Lodge, Portola, California, U.S., 1980.Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

been studying works or not, a chance to transform sufferinginto happiness. Otherwise, you just go blithely along,completely out of touch with reality, thinking you’re OKwhen you’re not, because you haven’t actually been practicingDharma at all.

To put this another way, painful situations are a sourceof wisdom. How so? First of all, painful situations arise as a

result of non-virtuous karma. When we experience pain weshould ask, “Why is this happening to me? How has thiscome about?” That sort of inquiry leads us to understand

Sometimes when people first hear Dharma teachingson happiness and suffering they think that happi-ness depends upon suffering and that if they were to

be completely free of suffering there would be no way toexperience happiness.

I can see where the idea comes from. In a way, it’squite logical: if there’s no misery, there’s no happiness; mis-ery and happiness are interdependent phenomena. This ishuman experience. It’s my experience too.

When I was studying at Sera [Je Monastery] in Tibetfrom the ages of nine to twenty-four, I took many teach-ings and received many commentaries from excellentteachers. I was well looked after by my uncle, who madesure I never went hungry or thirsty and took care of me ingeneral. It was a typical monastic life and it was reallygood. And from my side, I tried my best to study andpractice Dharma.

But still, in 1959, the Chinese kicked us out. Well,not exactly, but they did not allow people to practiceDharma, so I thought that if I want to keep practicingthere was no reason to stay in Tibet. So I escaped to India.Not only were the Chinese preventing us from practicing,they were shooting people dead. And even though I hadbeen studying and practicing, I didn’t feel ready to die.

So in that painful situation of uncertainty, I had tolook deeply into myself to see if all those teachings I hadtaken would allow me to cope with my new reality. Ifound that they helped a great deal, and that gave me theconfidence I needed to deal with the changing environ-ment in which we found ourselves.

If you’re not tested, you take teaching after teachingand think you’re OK, but when you’re confronted with a

difficult situation, it’s possible that you’ll find you’re notOK at all. So that’s why true Dharma practitioners wel-come trouble. It gives them a chance to see if what they’ve

You need to realize that Dharma teachings are talking about you, your personalreality. You need to take them personally and integrate themwith your life.

ADVICE FROM A SPIRITUAL FRIEND

that it’s the ripening of negative karma we created in thepast. That basic understanding can grow into wisdom; thepainful experience helps us develop a deeper understandingthat is beyond the merely intellectual.

Of course, if you’re completely ignorant, it doesn’t matterhow much suffering you experience, there’s no way for thatto lead to happiness. All you do is go from misery to moremisery. If, on the other hand, you have at least a modicum ofDharma wisdom, when you’re in difficulty you know howto use that experience to lead yourself into happiness.

One lama said, “When things go well, you’re a greatDharma practitioner; when things go badly, your Dharmadisappears. When your stomach is full and sunshine ispouring into your room, it’s easy to look religious; but whendifficulties arise, you come up empty.”

It’s like when I was a young boy in Tibet and every-thing was going well, I pretty much took it for grantedthat I was practicing Dharma. It could easily havehappened that when it came to the crunch, I could havefound my Dharma practice wanting – that I’d neverpracticed or even understood Dharma – and that could

easily have led me to give it up, thinking that Dharmadoesn’t work.

Dharma practice is very difficult if you don’t under-stand what it is. You need to realize that Dharma teachingsare talking about you, your personal reality. You need totake them personally and integrate them with your life. It’sno good if your Dharma understanding is like soup – manydifferent ideas all mixed up – and you never make Dharmaa part of your life. Then it can’t really help you.

If you understand your own attitude and level andknow what you need at any particular moment in time, youcan fulfill your needs appropriately and will see yourselfmaking real progress. Simply collecting information that’sdisconnected from your own reality doesn’t make sense. Byunderstanding Dharma from your own point of view, fromthe way you live your life, you have a much better chanceof developing yourself. So that’s what you should try to do.Base your practice on your own experience.

Lama Yeshe gave this teaching at Grizzly Lodge, Portola,California, U.S., in 1980. Edited for Lama YesheWisdom Archive(www.lamayeshe.com) by Nicholas Ribush.

The Buddha explained in a sutra that we can neverachieve satisfaction as long as we follow desire.Furthermore, LamaTsongkhapa said in the Lam-

rim Chen-mo that following desire opens the door tomany problems. Just as many branches grow from theroot of a plant, most of the disturbing emotions andproblems we face in life grow out of desire.

The great yogi Sharawa said that with clingingcomes dissatisfaction. Even though we might havemore than enoughmaterial possessions, clothes, moneyand so forth to last our whole life, we still feel we don’thave enough, we still crave more. But following desire

SAMSARIC METHODS CANNEVER SATISFYBy Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Maitripa College,Portland, Oregon, U.S., June 2012.

Photo by Marc Sakamoto.


doesn’t fill the empty heart. No matter how many objects ofdesire we manage to obtain, we still don’t experience satis-faction, and that is our major suffering.There’s never an end.Whether we experience a little pleasure or a lot, we never findreal satisfaction so we just want it again and again and againand again and again.We’re always craving for better andmorebut it just doesn’t happen. Desire is by nature hungry; it cannever be satiated.

Desire is like a chronic disease. There are chronicdiseases of the body; this is a chronic disease of the mind.Following the dissatisfied mind is like drinking salt water …or eating Indian popcorn. The popcorn in India is verysalty. Because of that you have to drink tea with it. After aglass of tea you crave more popcorn, which makes youthirsty, which makes you drink more tea, which makes youwant more popcorn, and so forth, on and on. Until youactively determine to stop, you just keep on eating anddrinking endlessly.

What the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger sang is very true:“I can’t get no satisfaction.” In his heart, no matter howmany friends he has, no matter how many people say they

love him, no matter how famous he has become, no matterhow much wealth he has, he’s still not satisfied. The songexpresses what’s in his heart – he has all these external thingsbut his heart, his inner life, is empty. In singing this heshows us the shortcomings of desire and proves what theBuddha said: samsaric pleasure never gives satisfaction. Nomatter how much we get, no matter how much we experi-ence, we’re never satisfied.

…We can travel around the world for months or evenyears trying to find a desirable object, trying to find afriend. Our mind is so upset, so lonely, so worried we won’tget what we want. One country doesn’t give us what weneed and so we go to another. Maybe we spend some timehanging around in Greece, but not finding the object tosatisfy our desires there, we go to California.

We spend all our money like this. We cling to thedream of finding the perfect partner but, unable to meethim or her in one place, our attachment takes us toanother part of the world. We experience a difficult life,

full of problems, all caused by the evil thought of eightworldly dharmas. There are many people like this, totallyout of control, blindly following attachment. Some endup going crazy or killing themselves because they can’tcontrol their lives. They’re always searching for happinessbut finding only suffering.

… Life becomes so heavy and difficult, bringingdepression, worry, fear. Chasing satisfaction in things, wehave no chance to enjoy what life can offer. Even if we’reliving in a jeweled palace full of luxuries, even if we havebillions of cars – Bentleys, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Rolls –even if we have billions of swimming pools, we still can’treally enjoy life. We might have an army of servantsworking for us but we’re still completely miserable. Lookat the very rich beyond their glossy exteriors and ask your-self whether they’re truly happy. Many of them lookthoroughly worn down and miserable.

When we don’t get what our attachment wants, we feelhopeless. This is one of the fundamental sufferings in ourlife. This is what makes people crazy. Whatever we’reattached to that we lose – our business, our friend, whatever

– makes us think that our life has no meaning. This thenmakes us create negative karma out of anger, jealousy,stealing, killing and so forth. We cause so much harm toourselves and others. It brings much unhappiness not onlyto ourselves but also to many others and is the cause ofrebirth in the lower realms.

We need to let go by practicing mindfulness, bywatching the mind. Then, when attachment to the eightworldly dharmas arises, like the missiles America used onIraq that travel hundreds of miles and go right to the target,we need to see attachment for what it is and launch ournuclear missile of mindfulness right at it to destroy it.

Excerpted from How to Practice Dharma: Teachings on theEight Worldly Dharmas by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, editedby Gordon McDougall. How to Practice Dharma is the secondin Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s FPMT Lineage Series(www.lamayeshe.com).

See page 37 to readmore about the FPMT Lineage Series andthe founding of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive in our interviewwith Archive director Nicholas Ribush.


No matter how many objects of desire we manage to obtain,we still don’t experience satisfaction and that is our major suffering.

There’s never an end.



We need to understand that our present happinessand suffering isn’t something that comes withoutcauses and conditions, nor does it come as a result

of discordant causes and conditions. Everything good orbad in life occurs in accordance with causes and conditions.When we amass karmic actions that are non-virtuous, thenthere is suffering. As we amass karmic actions that arevirtuous, then there is happiness. That is the natural flow,which is the natural dependent arising of life.

Right now we are blessed with a perfect human rebirth.Not only that, we have encountered the teachings of theBuddha, have met with teachers and are blessed with anintellect that allows us to make discernments. We all havethe wish to do good. The feeling to do good, to do some-thing right, it’s always there. But in the actual application,in the actual practice, we don’t employ that wish we have.What we are focusing on is just the immediate temporarysituation, and we are totally deceived by that. Therefore, itis important to be honest and truthful. Honesty and truth-

fulness in your activities is something that should bewithout limit. Truth and honesty are things that arelimitless. You may call it “bodhichitta,” you may call it“emptiness,” but reality is that truth and that honestybrought forth to their ultimate level.

For our basic sustenance and our basic means of livingwe depend on various jobs, but these are all dependentconditions. They’re not something you can ultimately trustbecause they are conditions that are dependent on other

things. However, if we have that basic honesty and truth inus, we naturally become good people. When we know whatin actuality is bodhichitta and what in actuality is empti-ness, and when we have trust in that reality of bodhichittaand emptiness, we can see that this is the real goodnesswithin ourselves. When we lack that honesty and truth andwork to enhance our own reputation, well-being andcomfort, that is the way in which we deceive ourselves. Andalthough we wish for or seek out those things, they’re notgoing to work out anyway.

You should think about dependent arising – subtle dependentarising and gross dependent arising – and how because of dependent

arising liberation is possible for us.

A TEACHER TELLS US WHY

TRUTH AND HONESTY AREWITHOUT LIMIT

QUESTION:

How can I best use my human rebirth?ANSWERED BY RANGJUNG NELJORMA KHADRO NAMSEL DROLMA (KHADRO-LA)

Khadro-la offering advice to FPMT International Office staff, Portland, Oregon, U.S., June 2012. Photos by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.



Because of dependent arising, you have liberation.Because of dependent arising, you have the means toextinguish suffering. And because of dependent arising,you need to cultivate compassion and you need todevelop bodhichitta. You need to meditate on thesethings that are very, very precious. Because of dependentarising, thinking about the kindness of others becomesvery important. You should think about dependentarising – subtle dependent arising and gross dependentarising – and how because of dependent arising liberationis possible for us. If we need to use our intellect in anyway, it should be to reflect on dependent arising and whatthat means for us.

If you see bodhichitta and emptiness as really precious,you are able to counter difficulties or problems – outer andinner – much better. When in the face of difficulties, youare not depressed by them or set back by them. If you seethe preciousness of bodhichitta and emptiness, you are notquick to anger and aggression, and you become morecompassionate and more tolerant. If one is able to think“until the enlightenment of all sentient beings, I dedicatemy mind and body for the benefit of sentient beings’enlightenment” – if one is able to have an attitude like that– one fulfills one’s own well-being and happiness in terms

of the present and in terms of the future.If you put your effort into being honest and truthful,

you remember that when you are concerned for yourself,it’s just for one person, but when you are concerned forothers, it’s limitless. Out of that understanding comesaltruism.Whatever activities you engage in with that attitudebecome very pervasive and extensive. Even at the time ofdeath, if you happen to be dying due to some ailment,make dedications for the benefit of sentient being so that ifyou have to think of the possibility of your body gettingcremated or buried, there is no feeling of anxiety over it.

We say that our mind by nature is luminous and thatall our defilements are adventitious. When you extinguishthese adventitious defilements, you actualize the luminousnature of your mind. This is how we actualize the buddha-nature in us. The key thing is being good and kind – nightand day, no matter where – constantly checking to seewhether one is upholding that attitude or not. �

Excerpted from a talk given to FPMT International Office staff,Portland,Oregon, U.S., June 22, 2012. InterpretedbyVen. Tsen-la.Edited for publication in Mandala.

Khadro-la offers more advice to FPMT students in our coverfeature, “If We Use Our Wisdom Carefully, Everything Is Possible"on page 22.

fpmt relies on the generosity of Friends and donors like you to achieve itsmission – the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values world-wide through teaching, meditation and community services. A gift membership to

Friends of FPMT is another way to practice generosity and may be made by goingonline to www.fpmt.org/friends/giftmembership.

We appreciate having you as a Friend and thank you for your ongoing support of ourprograms.

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Practicing Dharma in DAILY LIFE


PRAYER OF CHENREZIG,THE COMPASSIONATE BUDDHA

Statue of Songtsen Gampo in Maitripa College’s Jokhang, Portland, Oregon, U.S. Photo by Marc Sakamoto.

FEATURED PRACTICE

Buddha DaysOctober 29 – Lord Buddha’s acceptance to descend from

God Realm of Thirty-three

November 6 – Lord Buddha’s actual descent from GodRealm of Thirty-three

The FPMT Foundation Store offers for sale the LIBERATION calendar, a traditional Tibetan lunar calendar includingauspicious days and more, produced by Liberation Prison Project: shop.fpmt.org.

Full and New Moons(Tibetan 15th and 30th days)

October 15, 29November 13, 28December 13, 28

“Prayer of Chenrezig, the Compassionate Buddha” comes out of theMani Kabum, a collection of teachings attributed to the firstDharma King of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo. Songtsen Gampo himself was considered an embodiment of Chenrezig, sometimesreferred to as “the Compassionate Buddha” and “Compassionate Eye Looking One.”

“If you keep the Compassionate Buddha who is enriched with supreme power in your mind, you will be protected from all dangers,”Lama Zopa Rinpoche instructs. “First you request these things to happen to yourself, and then you cause the same things to happento all other sentient beings. This is extremely effective to generate bodhichitta and the good heart, to cherish others.”

Mandala offers this prayer as this issue’s Featured Practice.


Prayer of Chenrezig, the Compassionate BuddhaNAMO GURU LOKESHVARAYAYou who are the universal being enriched with supreme power,

please look at me with compassion.Pure Lord, treasure of compassion, please be my guide and save me.

I request the transcendental sublime Compassionate Eye Looking One,Please be my captain

And liberate me from the great oceans of beginningless samsara.

When I am obscured by the darkness of ignorance, please be myilluminating light, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When, like a blazing fire, I become angry at my enemy, please belike a waterfall, extinguishing my anger, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When, like violent waves, I become attached to my friends, pleasehelp me realize the ultimate nature, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When I am bound to my possessions by the knot of miserliness,please be the governor of my generosity, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When I am intoxicated by the five poisonous delusions, please be my King ofMedicine (Medicine Buddha), Compassionate Eye Looking One.

At the time of death, when I am disturbed and frightened, pleaseshow your face, which introduces self-nature, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When I am surrounded by karma, the messenger of Yama, pleasebe my refuge and guide, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When I am on the journey of the unknown and dangerous path ofthe intermediate stage, please be like my close relative, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When I am seeking and wandering without end, please take meto the pure land, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When I am experiencing the suffering of karma in the womb,please build a pavilion of light for me, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When I have taken the body of an unknowing baby, please be myvirtuous friend, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When I always meditate that you are on my crown, make offeringsand pray, please be my root Guru, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When I meditate and praise you, please be my mind-sealed assemblydeity (yidam), Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When I experience bad conditions, outer and inner obstacles,please be my Dharma protector and pacify these obstacles, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When my mind is tormented by poor health, hunger, thirst, andpoverty, please grant all attainments of all my wishes, Compassionate Eye Looking One.

When I request with the six syllables, OM MANI PADME HUM,with continual sound close to your ears, please always look at me with compassion,Compassionate Eye Looking One.

Translated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Hong Kong, January 1999. Draft prepared and edited by SarahShifferd, FPMT Education Services, April 2009, for the 100 Million Mani Retreat at Institut Vajra Yogini.



REJOICE!

As part of his vast vision forFPMT and its students, LamaZopa Rinpoche encouragesFPMT centers to host mani

retreats, a practice found in TibetanBuddhism in which practitioners gathertogether in order to collectively accumu-late 100million repetitions of themantraOMMANI PADME HUM (“mani” for short),the mantra of Chenrezig, the Buddha ofCompassion. Lama Zopa Rinpocheteaches that reciting this mantra supportsthe development of compassion and bod-hichitta in one’s mind, among other in-credible benefits.

Two centers – Rinchen JangsemLinginTriang,Malaysia, and Chenrezig Insti-tute in Eudlo, Australia – have taken upthe challenge of regularly organizing andhosting these retreats, garnering a cumu-lative 17 years of experience since 2000.

Rinchen Jangsem Ling finished its fifth annual maniretreat July 1, 2012. Retreat leader Ven. Sonam Yeshereports that 189 participants from Malaysia, Singapore,Mexico, Australia and Vietnam collected over 25 millionrecitations over the course of a month.

Rinchen Jangsem Ling honors those who recite110,000 mantras by forwarding their names to LamaZopa Rinpoche and allowing them to choose one name(for each set of 110,000 they personally accumulate) tobe inscribed on a gold plaque on the platform of thecenter’s Tara statue. On average, participants in the 2012retreat recited just over 138,000 mantras each, but therewas one person, Carolyn Chan, who recited an impressive1,520,888!

“I have heard much positive feedback and praise fromparticipants pertaining to [the retreat],” shares participantand coordinator Sand Lee, who herself offered over 1.2million mantras to the total count. “This great retreat hasbrought many people together in Dharma; people whom

we did not know before have come to be great friends. Forsome who have never before recited a mantra, taking partin this retreat and chanting their first OM MANI PADME HUM

has opened up new paths in their lives….”Chenrezig Institute begins their annual mani retreat on

the holiday marking Buddha’s descent fromTushita (usuallyin November) and ends on Saka Dawa (in May or June).Over the 12 years the retreat has taken place, participantshave accumulated over 558 million mantra recitations. Thisyear, 90 people from around the world participated.Although the count for this year is not final, veteran coor-dinator Caroline Crossman reports that with the help ofmajor contributions from the students of Do Ngak SungJuk Centre in Tokyo, the count is already nearing 16million and is still growing!

Both centers offer onsite and at-home options for contributingto the mani retreats, opening the way for anyone to partici-pate. Contact the centers directly (see FPMT Directory, p. 59)for more information.

Every year, practitioners quietly complete retreats and commitments and engage in acts of great devotion. REJOICE! is wherewe recognize the amazing practice of FPMT students around the world.

Participants at an onsite session of Rinchen Jangsem Ling’s 2012 mani retreat,Malaysia. Photo courtesy of Ven. Sonam Yeshe.

“MANI” THANKS TO MALAYSIA AND AUSTRALIA


I,000,000 PROSTRATIONS!Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently received the following letter from a student in the United States. After Rinpoche readthe letter, he requested that it be published inMandala for people to rejoice in, as this is an incredible accomplishment.To respect this student’s privacy, we have not included her name.

Tomorrow, I will have completed one million prostrations while reciting the 35 Buddha names. I dedicate thismerit to the success of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s projects and his long, happy, healthy life.

I plan to do another set of 100,000 during the next 12 months and possibly finish them in India.

I feel so very lucky...

If not for Rinpoche, I would never have had a place to study Dharma or meet Geshe-la and learn to do prostra-tions. It was only Dharma that held me together during the hardest years of caring for my mother as she sufferedfrom dementia, and I have no doubt that my mother meeting Rinpoche is what helped her have a peaceful death.So, I wholeheartedly dedicate my merit to the success of his projects. �

The FPMT Foundation Store offers both a practice book and a CD of the Prostrations to the 35 Buddhas.Visit shop.fpmt.org.


W E A L L H AV E A W O R D F O R G E N E R O S I T Y:

慷慷慨慨 ggeenneerrøøssiitteett vvrriijjggeevviigghheeiidd ssuuuurreemmeeeellssuuss kkaaggaannddaahhaanngg--lloooobbhhààoo pphhóónngg 寛寛大大なな ggéénnéérroossiittéé ggeenneerroossiittàà GGrrooßßzzüüggiiggkkeeiitt щедрость

ggeenneerroossiiddaaddee kkeemmuurraahhaann ggeenneerroossiitteett ggaavvmmiillddhheett GGeenneerroozziittaatteeaa

Practice generosity with your own International Merit Box kit, now available in eleven languages.Email [email protected] for more information and to obtain your own Merit Box kit, or visit

www.fpmt.org/meritbox If you are already an International Merit Box participant, thank you for practicing generosity today, and throughout the year, in support of FPMT projects worldwide.

THE INTERNATIONAL

MERIT BOX PROJECT



An Interview with Khadro-la


If We Use Our Wisdom Carefully,Everything Is Possible

On a cool, summer evening in Portland,Oregon, an enthusiastic crowd of nearly200 gathered at Maitripa College tohear Khadro-la offer her first publicteaching in the United States. Thepacked room vibrated with curiosity and

anticipation at hearing a female lama teach –such a rare opportunity in Tibetan Buddhism. She sat ona low throne surrounded by flowers and with Lama ZopaRinpoche and Yangsi Rinpoche sitting on either side of her.Even before she began, her visible humbleness and bubblingyouthful laughter relaxed and lightened the mood. AsKhadro-la said at the start of her talk, for most people inattendance, this was the first time meeting with her in thislifetime. By the end of the evening, Khadro-la’s smile andwarmth had spread through the crowd; after she had left, theaudience lingered in the bliss, hoping to meet her again soon.

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the originator of allsentient beings’ happiness,” FPMT Spiritual Director LamaZopa Rinpoche said during his teaching at Maitripa Collegethe previous evening. “Khadro-la’s responsibility is to serveHis Holiness. She came from Tibet to serve His Holiness.You know, without her I think we would probably have avery difficult time.”

Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drolma is Khadro-la’s formal title – “Rangjung Neljorma” being the name thatHis Holiness gave her meaning “self-arising, natural yogini.”The international FPMT community was introduced toKhadro-la through an interview with Ven. Roger Kunsang,who serves as Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s attendant and FPMTCEO, called “Interview with a Dakini,” published inMandala January-March 2009. In the interview, Khadro-la

shared stories of the incredible hardships she met with whenleavingTibet and becoming a refugee and the obstacles thatblocked many of her initial attempts to see His Holiness theDalai Lama once she arrived in Dharamsala, India. Sincethe 2009 interview appeared, FPMT students have seenKhadro-la in pictures with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and DagriRinpoche performing pujas and visiting sacred sites in Indiaand Nepal. She’s become known through the assistance shehas been offering Lama Zopa Rinpoche since he manifesteda stroke in 2011 and also through serving as an oracle at theKalachakra initiation given by His Holiness in Bodhgaya,India, in January.

Until recently, only a very few FPMT centers hadhosted public teachings with Khadro-la, such as LosangDragpa Centre in Malaysia and Nalanda Monastery inFrance. Fortunately for FPMT students, Khadro-la hasbeen traveling from her home in Dharamsala, stopping byseveral FPMT centers on the West Coast of the UnitedStates in June 2012 with Lama Zopa Rinpoche (see page54). Then in July, Khadro-la visited Spain, Italy andSwitzerland, offering public teachings in centers there. InAugust, she led her second retreat at Nalanda Monastery.Many more FPMT centers have invited her to teach andare hoping to host her in the future.

While Khadro-la was visiting the FPMT InternationalOffice in Portland in June, she agreed to a second interviewwith Mandala magazine. Managing editor Laura Millerasked Khadro-la to talk about her connection with andservice to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, offer advice to femalepractitioners and share her thoughts for the developmentof FPMT. We share this interview with the hope thatmany will be inspired by Khadro-la’s sincere and profoundcommitment to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and tospreading the Dharma.

An Interview with Khadro-la:

Left page: Khadro-la teaching at Maitripa College, Oregon,U.S., June 2012. Photo by Marc Sakamoto.


Mandala: How did you meet Lama Zopa Rinpoche?And can you talk about your connection and service toRinpoche?

Khadro-la: I don’t remember the year exactly, but it wasaround 1996 or ’97 that I was going on pilgrimage. I meta woman called Maria, and through her, I came to knowof Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Later on, I met Dagri Rinpoche.Through him and others I became more connected. I had anaudience with His Holiness the Dalia Lama. During thattime, I think Rinpoche was working on the project of theMaitreya statue [known as theMaitreya Project]. HisHolinessmentioned to me that if there was anything I could do forRinpoche and the project, then I should help with that. Sothen I met with Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the first time. Iimmediately felt that Rinpochewas a personwho practices realbodhisattva actions and I developed a great sense of devotion.

In addition, I had heard that Rinpoche was sponsoringthe meals for the monks at Sera Je Monastery [through theSera Je Food Fund]. Then I came to know that this was notjust hearsay, but real action. It’s quite a big monastery. Themonks there are upholding the Dharma and the lineage, andI am really moved by such actions. Through my acquain-tance with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, I’ve also come to knowthat Rinpoche is someone who firmly believes in, supportsand has one-hundred-percent faith in His Holiness theDalai Lama.These things also have brought me much closerto Rinpoche.

At one point, LamaZopaRinpochementioned tome thathe would like me to visit some centers in Asia. I checked withHis Holiness if it was alright for me to visit, and His Holinesssaid, “Yes, go ahead.” After that, I started visiting some centershere and there. Seeing these centers, I came to realize that LamaYeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche really were so kind andhelpful to all Buddhists. Not only that, they had establishedso many centers all around the world. I realized that FPMTwas one of the organizations that had the most centers ofTibetan Buddhism around the world.

When people come in contact with FPMT centers, itgives them the opportunity to purify and to do practice. Itgives a lot benefit. For Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the purpose


Top: Khadro-la at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, July 2012.Photo by Piero Sirianni.

Bottom: Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khadro-la circumambulatingLama Yeshe's Great Enlightenment Stupa at Vajrapani Institute,California, U.S., June 2012. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.


of having all the centers and projects is so that people canhave contact with Dharma. Due to Rinpoche’s bodhichitta,even if people cannot practice, they can have an introduc-tion to or some kind of experience of Dharma. In order tofulfill the ultimate goal of enlightenment of all beings,Rinpoche is working tirelessly, creating opportunities forall people by building holy objects here and there and byestablishing centers. All this so that students and others canaccumulate merit through contact with holy objects andthe Buddha’s teachings.

The vastness of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s bodhisattvamind cannot be fathomed by a person like me. These arejust some of the surface qualities of that mind that I cansee. Due to all these vast actions that Lama Zopa Rinpoche

has done, I felt a special connection with Rinpoche anddecided that whatever I can do to serve Rinpoche, in what-ever capacity, I’m happy to do it. Even though from myside, I don’t know much and might not be able to help a lot.

Mandala: How do you think Rinpoche’s recoveryfrom manifesting a stroke is going and what is helping withthat recovery?

Khadro-la: Lama Zopa Rinpoche took this manifes-tation of having a stroke, but on the inside, Rinpoche doesn’tworry about being cured and getting over this stroke. Hismental state is very calm and very vast. The actions he’sthinking about don’t concern his own immediate recovery.

When I heard of Rinpoche’s stroke, I had a sense orvision that somewhere around Rinpoche’s neck [Khadro-lagestures towards the area where the neck meets the back ofthe head] there was some kind of blockage of the passage ofblood. It’s like the wind [subtle energy] stops and then theflow of blood stops.

It seems that modern medicine cannot immediatelybenefit Rinpoche right now. Whenever there is an impedi-ment to Rinpoche’s own physical strength or ability to doexercise, someone can help with massage and with hismovement and that can be very beneficial. Rinpoche doesn’tdo much physical exercise! [Khadro-la laughs.] It’s kind of

awkward to push Rinpoche too much to do physicalexercise.

Mandala: Would you speak about the teachings youoffer to female practitioners? For example, teachings havingto do with self-confidence.

Khadro-la: Generally speaking, whatever you practiceor whatever actions you do, there will not be muchdifference between males and females. When you talk aboutcourage and self-confidence there are many levels, but whatis most important is to see reality for what it is. Throughthat experience [of recognizing the ultimate reality ofsituations], then one can experience self-confidence.

Developing the ability to see reality may be most help-ful for female practitioners, who are more sensitive toexperiences – good or bad – and more able to recognizefeelings in themselves and others. I think that women moreeasily have a sense of compassion and closeness and aremore comfortable with emotions. Also, women experiencedifferent difficulties in life and maybe their nervous systemis set up a little differently. But as for the ability to eliminatesuffering and to practice Dharma, I feel and think that thereis no difference between men and women.The main reasonfor this is the very nature of our minds, which is clear andpure. It’s the same for males and females; there is nodifference. Therefore, the self-cherishing thought rooted inignorance is exactly the same for males and females. In orderto eliminate temporary and permanent suffering, we all needto use our wisdom. I think that in terms of wisdom, womenneed to have a sharper and clearer vision of how things reallyexist.

It is a cultural thing that woman have been lookeddown upon in the past. Particularly in some rural andsmaller [or economically less developed] countries, there isa lot of discrimination. In these kinds of cultures wherewomen are looked upon as inferior, it is a huge mistake anda wrong way of thinking. The person who can think in theshort term as well as the long term – keeping in mind thegoal of perceiving exactly how things are in reality –

As for the ability to eliminate suffering and to practice Dharma, I feel

and think that there is no difference between men and women. The

main reason for this is the very nature of our minds, which is clear and pure.



understands there is no difference between men or womenor anything else. We shouldn’t feel discouraged as females;we shouldn’t feel that we can’t do anything. Whether youcan do or cannot do something is up to your wisdom –one’s own wisdom. If we can use the wisdom correctly, thenwe can do anything.

Mandala: Do you have any advice for FPMT or ideason how FPMT can grow in the future?

Khadro-la:Most of the people who run FPMT are veryknowledgeable and well-educated people. Unlike someonelike me, they have had access to all kinds of opportunities. Asa simple femaleTibetan who hasn’t had much education andhas studied less than others, it doesn’t seem too appropriatefor me to give advice to FPMT. At the same time, I really feellike saying what I think honestly, since you asked.

First of all, the existence of FPMT and its centers isvery, very important. The people associated with FPMT

centers experience benefit for themselves. But centers alsobenefit others by creating the possibility for them to comeinto contact with Buddhism so that they may eventuallybecome enlightened. If we see the centers in this context,undoubtedly they are helping sentient beings have morehappiness.

In most cases, people think of themselves as good andas trying to benefit or help others, and never think thatthey’re bad or trying to harm someone. People want to seethemselves as good. In order to actually be a good humanbeing, the first quality necessary is that a person has to behonest. In order to be honest, one shouldn’t have to be soclose or dependent on someone or try to keep othersdistant. You have to have equanimity. Then you must lookat reality and see it as it is. Through this, we become morehonest and reliable.

There is no limit to howmuch we can develop the qual-ities of a good human being within ourselves.We always canimprove. After all, as Mahayana Buddhists our ultimate aimand goal is to get enlightened in order to benefit all othersentient beings. For those in Buddhist centers especially, thatshould be our main goal. If we get too involved in seekingtemporary benefits – just for this life or for the benefit ofthis life – it won’t be very good. If you think just aboutpersonal benefit when you are at a Buddhist center, then it’san incorrect motivation. It won’t help. Instead of helping, itmight harm us in the long term.

In addition, we have to remember the kindness of ourteachers. If someone gives you tons of money – millions ofdollars – or if someone gives you a transmission of, for ex-ample, the mani mantra, as Buddhists the mantra transmis-sion is more beneficial and more kind. Students, everyone,need to remember this. The organization also recognizes verythoroughly what refuge is and that there are various kinds ofrefuge – outer, inner and secret. If you understand this verythoroughly, then it will be very beneficial for all.

For anyone who has a bad experience of suffering, thisis because of the negative actions of body, speech and mindthat have occurred in the past. Because of a particularaction, one experiences the result. If we have accumulatedpositive actions through our body, speech and mind in ourpast life, we experience positive experiences in this life.Moreover, through the doors of body, speech and mind, wewill attain the ultimate enlightenment through our positiveactions. In order to understand the Dharma, it’s quite deep.The Buddhism that comes fromTibet, and originally fromIndia, is like a jewel – a wish-fulfilling jewel – which can

Khadro-la laughing during teaching, Nalanda Monastery,France, August 2011. Photo courtesy of Nalanda Monastery.


benefit everyone in the world. So look at your own mindand look at reality, then through that you practice accord-ingly.This is particularly true for Buddhism and uncommonto other practices.

When we receive a teaching at a center, it shouldn’t belike reading the newspaper. Our self-cherishing thoughts,which we all have, are not very easy to tame. The wholereason that we are receiving teachings and that teachers aregiving teachings is to tame the wild mind. Even if youunderstand the whole path in general, the main thing isthat you must integrate whatever teachings you havereceived with your practice every day so that the teachingsbecome one with your mind. When you don’t do that, youbecome intellectually one-sided and your practice lacks. Youhave to respect the person giving you Dharma instructionand follow his or her advice. This helps to tame our minds.

Of course, there are sometimes instances when someteachers may be giving you teachings, but they are morelike worldly teachings. Or the teachers don’t practice whatthey teach or they are all about materialistic things. In thesecases, maybe it’s better not to follow such teachers at thattime. If what is taught is for the benefit of others always,then you can follow with faith. Otherwise, if it’s just tobenefit some individuals, then maybe it’s not too helpful.

All FPMT students should remember the kindness ofLama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche for establishingFPMT. Through FPMT centers [projects and services], it’snot only benefiting individual Dharma students, but it’salso benefiting a lot of other people through medicalprograms, hospices and different charitable projects thatFPMT is bringing to the world. Also, the main reason weare getting all of this benefit is because of the kindness ofHis Holiness the Dalai Lama. Through him, we are able toexperience all of this. Although we [Tibetans] don’t have

our own country, because of His Holiness’ amazing actionsand his teachings, it seems like we have conquered theworld. [Khadro-la laughs.]

The ultimate wish of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is tobenefit everyone and to bring everyone to ultimate enlight-enment. That is his main wish. In Buddha Shakyamuni’stime, there wasn’t this much attention on Buddhism.Maybethere were no scientists at that time, but nowHis Holiness is

regularly having dialogues with many modern scientists onBuddhism and science. This is amazing work that HisHoliness is doing. Because of the actions and kindness of HisHoliness, this is the first time that the scientists are payingattention to Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhist psychology offersan in-depth understanding of the nature of mind and how

the mind functions. For the modern scientists doing thiswork, they are like small babies in their understanding of themind. It’s really amazing how deep Tibetan Buddhism goeswith the study of the subtle mind. The scientists aren’t evenclose to that right now. So it seems like as long as scienceremains important, there will be Buddhist science andBuddhist philosophy engaging with it. This is all part of thebig vision of His Holiness.

Khadro-la during retreat, Nalanda Monastery, France, August2011. Photo courtesy of Nalanda Monastery.

If someone gives you tons of money – millions of dollars – or if someone

gives you a transmission of, for example, the mani mantra, as Buddhists

the mantra transmission is more beneficial and more kind.


When we say chom dän dä [Skrt. bhagavan], that’s aTibetan Buddhist word for Buddha, which means one whohas eliminated all the faults and who has already accumu-lated all the good qualities. His Holiness the Dalai Lamareally represents this. All around the world, wherever HisHoliness travels, he gives teaching or talks on manyimportant subjects. It’s really hard to find such a teacher.So feel very fortunate to meet with His Holiness at this timeand also know that there are other holy beings as well.

In terms of practice, when I was in Tibet, I had someexperience of hearing negative things like “this is my sect,”“I do it like this” or “this is not my sect.” Even withinBuddhism in earlier times, there were instances like this.But I practice a view of relying on dependent arising as theultimate view and that one’s actions should not harm

anyone. Through not harming anyone, our actions becomemore like those of a bodhisattva.When we develop like this,we don’t see the differences among the different traditions.The best practice or best sect for you is whatever benefitsyou the best, helps you tame your mind the most andmakes you happy. That’s the best-suited practice for you –whatever is the most helpful for you.

That’s also why we have to try to not have attachmentfor one and keep another at a distance. We need equa-nimity. If we don’t, it’s not following Tsongkhapa. Whenwe are looking very carefully at the other sects andtraditions, all are equal if practitioners are gainingenlightenment from doing their practice. The differenceshave to do with the history of their development. Themain goal is all the same: for all practitioners to get toenlightenment. That’s why we do not think “this one isbest” or “this one is worst.” We never think like that. Andif you do, you are not a real follower of Tsongkhapa. Wealways have to try our best at whatever practice we do.The main goal is to reduce and eventually eliminate self-cherishing and the self-grasping “I.” If you are really doingthe practice, you are able to reduce the ignorance andgrasping. Then the ultimate result will be to achievebodhichitta and a direct realization of emptiness.

It is important to always check your own mistakes andto work to end the accumulation of negative karma. Also,do not spend time looking for what others are doing wrong.Many people do that saying, “Oh, he’s doing this and that.”

Instead, always work to correct your own mistakes, andthen you can be looking for good things in others.The natureof the mind is always pure and clear. We should understandthat our ignorance, anger, attachment – everything – istemporary. If you understand that well, then you’re able toexperience compassion for other sentient beings. Throughunderstanding the impermanence of things, we are able toachieve renunciation, bodhichitta and emptiness. If we seethings as permanent, we have no chance.

FPMT students see how very valuable and important itis to take care of other sentient beings. Because of this, theyhave very big goals and take on big jobs and projects, whichcan come with a lot of problems. This is the nature ofthings. However, we can use our wisdom and see that it ispossible to solve these problems. It is important when facing

problems to try our very best to never think, “This isimpossible.” If we use our wisdom carefully, everything ispossible; we can solve the problems.

Whatever I’m saying here and whatever this looks like,I’m not giving advice. It’s just my opinion. I have answeredwhat I could of your questions, but it’s mixed up and maynot be of benefit. From my side, it has all been saidhonestly. Maybe there are some extreme words or mistakes.I want to say I’m sorry if I made any mistakes. �

Ven. Zamling and Ugyen Shola provided translation.

There’s more online!You can find our archive story “Interview with aDakini” from Mandala January-March 2009 as wellas read Khadro-la talking about the stupas being builton the U.S.West Coast to minimize the damage frompotential earthquakes at mandalamagazine.org.

To learn about the Maitreya Project, go towww.maitreyaproject.org.

For more information on Sera Je Food Fund, visitwww.fpmt.org/projects/fpmt/seraje.

For more on the stupas being built, or to donate tothese efforts, visit www.fpmt.org and search, "Stupas toMinimize Harm from the Elements."


Through not harming anyone, our actions become more like those of

a bodhisattva. When we develop like this, we don’t see the differences

among the different traditions.


Chod

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EDUCATION

FPMT EDUCATION SERVICES

FPMT Education Services is the education department of FPMT International Office and develops study programs, practicematerials, translations and trainings designed to foster an integration of four broad education areas: study, practice, service andbehavior. These programs and materials are available through the FPMT Foundation Store, the FPMTOnline Learning Centerand FPMT centers worldwide.

Many of us have had theunique cherry-on-top-of-a-precious-human-rebirth

experience of receiving empowermentinto the highest yoga tantric practiceof Vajrayogini. In conjunction withsuch an empowerment, one receives adaily practice commitment and, usu-ally, a retreat commitment of 100,000or more mantras. These retreats areknown as lä rung in Tibetan, oftentranslated as “nearing the deity” or“approaching the deity” retreats. Bydoing a retreat of a certain number ofmantras while engaging in the variousmeditations and prayers related to thatpractice, you come closer to attainingthe enlightened state of Vajrayogini.

In order to do such a retreat, you need the relevant prac-tice materials. At FPMT Education Services, one of ourprimary tasks in helping to preserve the Mahayana traditionis to locate relevant texts, assure their accurate translationfrom the Tibetan into English and publish them. Theseprecious texts have been developed over centuries. At first,these practices were given only as oral instructions fromteacher to disciple. Later, they were written down by realizedpractitioners together with commentaries on how to engagein the practices. Then, to be able to print copies for distri-bution, monks carved woodblocks of these texts – letter byletter (and Tibetan letters can be complex) and in mirrorimage, no less!

Leading up to our first edition of Initial Practices ofVajrayogini in 2005, FPMT Education Services hadnumerous Vajrayogini “means of attainment” or sadhanas(step-by-step instructions for practicing the meditationsrelated to a particular deity) and other practice texts in our

files. Some of these were direct trans-lations from the Tibetan by scholarssuch as Alexander Berzin. Others weretranslations or oral instructions givenby Lama Zopa Rinpoche and otherlamas to their students directly orthrough an interpreter. In the earlyyears of this oral transmission, thechances of getting things written downin a completely accurate manner wereminimal, at best.

Our job was to sort through theclose to 100 files that came to us fromvarious sources, establish which weredirect translations of known Tibetantexts, which were oral instructionsdictated to a student, and figure out

which works belonged to whom as well as which root textswere used as the basis for any particular written work ortranslation. The materials we received were often photo-copies of older typewritten materials or handwritten notesand sometimes had no colophons to indicate original au-thors, texts or translators, so locating the root Tibetan textsproved exceptionally challenging.

Because our mission is to accurately preserve the Maha-yana tradition, this kind of detective work was absolutelynecessary. Still, with our best efforts made, not all quandariescould be solved. Rather than waiting for years, decades orlonger to meet demand, we did our best to make thingsavailable in a timely manner. When we first envisionedputting together a “Vajrayogini pack” in early 2000, theaim was to produce all of the practice texts, the ritual forentering into retreat, the pacifying burning offering ritual,the self-initiation rite and a commentary on how to do thegreat Vajrayogini retreat in one neat volume. However, asour research continued, our Vajrayogini materials grew into

Perfecting the Means of Attainment By Kendall Magnussen

Education Services Offers the New 2012 Edition of Initial Practices of Vajrayogini

New 2012 edition of Initial Practices of Vajrayogini


a four-volume set, with some volumes being 300 pages long!Our first volume, Initial Practices of Vajrayogini,

contains the short, middle-length and long retreat sadhanas,a long and abbreviated tsog practice, the ritual for enteringinto retreat, a tea offering practice, a hand offering practiceand two commentaries by Pabongkha Rinpoche on how toengage in a Vajrayogini retreat. We first published thisvolume in 2005 with English translations and included theTibetan phonetics for the long sadhana and tsog. In 2010,we put out a revised version. For each of these editions,soon after they were published, further clarifications cameto our attention or were requested. So, for the 2012 edition,we relied on the assistance of three different translators, theentire FPMT Education Services editorial team and feed-back from numerous seasoned practitioners to make surethat this edition reflects the quality and accuracy needed tolast formany years! Two new features of the 2012 edition arechantable English versions of select prayers to accompany thedakini-inspired Tibetan tunes and careful reformatting tomake it more user-friendly for practice and retreat.

Ah, the discoveries that were made in this latest processof revisions! For example, we had originally extracted the longsadhana from a self-initiation text by Pabongkha Rinpoche,based on advice from a very skilled translator. As we wentthrough the practice more carefully, we discovered that there

were many more inconsistencies between the long sadhanacontained within the self-initiation text and PabongkhaRinpoche’s stand-alone version thanhad earlier been brought toour attention. In addition, when comparing the long sadhanawith Pabongkha Rinpoche’s own Tibetan compositions, wefound discrepancies between the long sadhana contained inhisCollectedWorks and the one found in his contributions toVajrayogini Collected Activities, a compilation of works fromvarious Gelug lamas. There were even differences in theTibetan rendering of Vajrayogini’s mantra! To avoid furtherconfusion and increase practitioner confidence in ourmaterials, our new 2012 edition includes extensive endnotesto clarify and source all adjustments made to the text.

Tantric practitioners know that to practice the “meansof attainment” and achieve the enlightened state of thedeity is an impressive undertaking that can take many life-times. What FPMT Education Services now appreciates isthat perfecting the means to accomplish that feat – in otherwords, developing accurate practice materials – is also anelaborate and complicated undertaking. We pray that allwho engage in the practice of Vajrayogini will appreciateour latest publication and, as a result, more easily reachtheir enlightened goals.

The new 2012 edition of Initial Practices of Vajrayogni can bepurchased from the FPMT Foundation Store, shop.fpmt.org.

The Foundation for Developing Compassion andWisdom (FDCW) is an internationalFPMT project advancing Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom seculareducation programs for people of all ages and cultures.

Sharing the Dharma withChildren and Families By the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom team

As many Mandala readers will know, one of LamaYeshe’s primary aims for Universal Education [nowcalled Universal Education for Compassion and

Wisdom] was to provide children and young people withthe inspiration and tools that they need to lead a happy,peaceful and meaningful life.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been equally clear and directin his advice to the Foundation for Developing CompassionandWisdom, the organization set up in 2005 to take forwardthis work. In this extract from a July 2000 talk given at DeerPark Buddhist Center inWisconsin, U.S., Rinpoche explainshow social transformation begins with children and families:

FOUNDATION FOR DEVELOPINGCOMPASSION AND WISDOM

EDUCATION


How much peace and suffering there will be in theworld depends on the present generation of children and howthey are brought up. The purpose of Universal Education isto raise children to be more kind to others, more loving andcompassionate, and for them to grow up with moreuniversal responsibility. In this way, they bring great peaceinto their family and later also to their own children. Theybecome good examples as parents and as teachers to theirchildren, and then their children can become good examplesand meaningful parents to their own children, and thegeneration is educated to grow up with a good heart, havinguniversal responsibility.

We would like to highlight some inspiring stories ofhow FPMT centers are finding innovative, contemporaryand authentic ways to communicate the essence of theDharma teachings to children and young people.We rejoicethat they have found our educational initiative 16 Guide-lines for a Happy Life of assistance in this work. We share apiece on Kadampa Center’s Children and Youth Program inthe United States below. In Mandala’s online content atmandalamagazine.org, you can read about programs atCentro Yamantaka in Colombia and Losang Dragpa Centrein Malaysia that are also using the 16 Guidelines.

Formore information on FDCWand its programs, or to sign up fornewsletters and updates, visit www.compassionandwisdom.org.

Participants of the Children and Youth Program, Kadampa Center, North Carolina, U.S. Photo by Denise Flora.

Never Give Up! Development of the Childrenand Youth Program at Kadampa CenterBy Erin Sloan, Children and Youth Program coordinator, Kadampa Center

Development of the Children and Youth Program(CYP) at Kadampa Center in Raleigh, NorthCarolina, U.S., started over a dozen years ago, when

volunteers worked to find space and create materials tointroduce children to the Dharma.Today, the program servesmore than 30 children and youth per week. It continues torely on the kindness of volunteers, the generosity of thecenter to provide space, a foundation of inspired materials,

and the exceptional support of center director RobbieWatkins and resident teacher Geshe Gelek Chodha.

A key factor in CYP’s development was finding acurriculum that fit with our program, which is offered once aweek on Sundays.The curriculum needed to be self-containedand flexible for new students or those attending on anirregular basis and friendly to families with mixed religiousbackgrounds and those new to Buddhism. Many approaches


MAITRIPA COLLEGE

Venerable Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (r), Spiritual Director of FPMT, with Yangsi Rinpoche (l), Geshe Lharampa & President of Maitripa College; ~ Photo by Marc Sakamoto

Master of Arts in Buddhist Studies (MA) ~ 44 Credits

Master of Divinity (MDiv) ~ Now 72 Credits!

Maitripa College Degree Programs:

Embark on the Path to Enlightenment

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Continuing Education & Distance Learning (Online) Classes Available

were reviewed and tried. Then Geshe Gelek handed an earlyversion of the 16 Guidelines to Denise Flora, a regular CYPvolunteer, suggesting, “This may be useful for the children’sprogram.” Denise began working on posters and chants toillustrate each guideline. This simple task evolved into acomplete resource for working with 7- to 11-year-olds calledReady, Set, Happy, which is now an indispensable part of ourprogram for toddlers through teens.

Over the years, we’ve discovered many benefits ofteaching the 16 Guidelines, including familiar terminologyand teaching materials that are accessible to kids, parentsand those new to Buddhism and of other faiths. The 16Guidelines also easily connect to Dharma practice as theyare based on Buddha’s teachings.

For any center considering the development of achildren’s program, based on our experience at KadampaCenter, we offer this advice:

• Hold the vision. You may have to start many times.Keep trying.• Make the program visible. If the center has been

focused on adults, change takes time.• Find support in key leadership.• Develop a committed core of volunteers. Acceptpeople for the gifts they offer.

• Establish a nursery. Young families will come.• State what you need. Pray for what you need.• Remember karma.And what about the program’s effect on the center?

“[CYP] is really the catalyst for the tremendous amount ofgrowth that’s going on here at the center,” shares directorRobbie Watkins. “It’s really become a center for families ina way it wasn’t before.” �

Learn more about the Kadampa Center in Raleigh, NorthCarolina, U.S., by visiting them online, www.kadampa-center.org.

For more information on Ready, Set, Happy, visitwww.16guidelines.org/publications/29-ready-set-happy.

Go online to mandalamagazine.org to read about youthprograms in Colombia at Centro Yamantaka and in Malaysiaat Losang Dragpa Centre.


Dharma and theMODERN WORLD

In April 2011, Geshe Kelsang Wangmo made his-tory by becoming the first female geshe, signaling a new erafor nuns to excel scholastically and to take on importantteaching roles that had traditionally been the domain ofmonks. “It has been a great pleasure to see that Ven. KelsangWangmo has been awarded with the Geshe degree and Ihope that many nuns, some having finished their study foryears already, will follow very soon,” Ven. Kunphen, spiritualprogram coordinator at Tushita Meditation Centre inDharamsala, toldMandala. “It’s quite a big step, which willheighten the esteem and value nuns are given considerably.”

Geshe Wangmo, who is German by birth, arrived inMcLeod Ganj in 1990 as a confused and lost recent highschool graduate who had already been traveling aroundEurope and Asia for several months. She told Mandala inan email interview in July that she remembers waking up onher first morning in McLeod Ganj and feeling “happy andpeaceful.” Because of this, she decided to stay and withina few months ended up attending teachings at TushitaMeditation Centre with Tibetan lamas like Kirti TsenshabRinpoche and Lati Rinpoche. From there, she went toKopan Monastery in Nepal, where she attended a coursewith Ven. Karin Valham, and following that, attended theone-month November course taught by Kirti TsenshabRinpoche. “By that time, I had developed great faith inTibetan Buddhism and wanted to become a nun,” she said.In spring 1991 while living back at Tushita, she took rabjungordination from Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche.

“During all these months I was burning to meet LamaZopa Rinpoche, having heard so much about him. Unfor-tunately, he was too busy at the time to be able to come toTushita,” Geshe Wangmo recalled. “Then I heard a rumorthat Rinpoche might be teaching at the Kopan Novembercourse. Thus in autumn 1991, I traveled to Nepal and aftersome time finally met Rinpoche. He taught part of theNovember course and had an impact on me that no otherlama, except His Holiness the Dalai Lama, has ever had. Ifind it impossible to express the way Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Geshe Kelsang Wangmo’sPath to Becoming theWorld’s First Female Geshe

Geshe Kelsang Wangmo, Manali, India, 2011. Photo courtesy ofGeshe Kelsang Wangmo.

THE JOY OF STUDY


makes me feel, but just thinking about it brings tears to myeyes. He is one of the most amazing beings I have ever metand has truly changed my life through his profoundlyinspiring example and his peerless teachings.”

After the 1991 November course, GesheWangmo tookgetsul ordination from Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche. She even-tually returned to McLeod Ganj and decided to learnTibetan, which is how she ended up entering a gesheprogram.

“I found the technique of debate so helpful [to learningTibetan] that in 1993 I signed up for the new class of thegeshe study program at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics(IBD),” Geshe Wangmo toldMandala. “At the time, I didnot know exactly what the program involved and howlong it would take. I actually thought that because it wasdescribed as very demanding and difficult, I probablywould not last long. I therefore decided to study for abouttwo years, hoping to be able to learn enough to be able toread the scriptures and receive direct instructions fromTibetan teachers.”

But instead of leaving, GesheWangmo continued withthe program. At times, she experienced incredible difficultydue to the rigorous curriculum and not being a nativespeaker of Tibetan. She also struggled with the isolation andloneliness she felt as the only female student and as one ofa very few Westerners that stayed with the program.

“I think it is primarily due to the kindness of myamazing teacher Geshe Gyatso-la that I did not give up.

Whenever I had a problem, I could go to see him. Hewould help me with my studies, explain difficult points,give me advice and encourage me to continue,” GesheWangmo said. “On top of that, it was also the joy of doingthe studies that kept me going. Studying and debating thesacred Buddhist scriptures has given me a deep sense ofhappiness and satisfaction. It has made my life so muchmore meaningful and set my mind in the direction of theDharma. This is why, despite the hardships, I do not regreteven a single day of the last 18 years.”

Left: His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Geshe Kelsang Wangmo and her mother, Dharamsala, India, April 2011. Photo courtesy ofGeshe Kelsang Wangmo; Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Tushita Meditation Centre with Geshe Kelsang Wangmo in attendance,McLeod Ganj, India, May 2012. Photo courtesy of Tushita Meditation Centre.

Geshe Kelsang Wangmo with her classmates after theirgraduation ceremony, April 2011, Dharamsala, India. Photocourtesy of Geshe Kelsang Wangmo.


Over the past decade, Geshe Wangmo has taughtBuddhist philosophy to Westerners at the IBD. “I haveattended Geshe-la’s class for a few years and found her anamazing and inspiring teacher,” Ven. Kunphen said. “It’squite rare to have a Western teacher, not to mention awoman, who has studied in the Tibetan system, and herstudents benefit very much from her vast knowledge

and experience of both worlds and how to bring themtogether.”

Due to her teaching obligations at IBD, GesheWangmo doesn’t have much free time to teach at otherplaces, but according to Ven. Kunphen, Tushita is hopingto welcome her to teach an intermediate-level course or twonext year.


The Emergence of the Female GesheTraditionally, Geshe degrees are awarded to monkswho have completed extensive studies on the five majortreatises of Buddhist philosophy. For centuries, TibetanBuddhist nuns were discouraged from engaging in anyphilosophical study and debate and denied the ability totake full ordination vows, which prevented them fromeven hoping to obtain Geshe degrees. This institutional-ized disadvantage for nuns continued even after theChinese takeover of Tibet in the 1950s and the reestab-lishment of the main monasteries in India, but notwithout question.

Over the years, His Holiness the Dalai Lama came tovoice concern about the situation for nuns and supportedefforts to improve educational opportunities and livingconditions for nuns. In the mid-1990s, the Dalai Lamabegan advocating for the awarding of Geshe degrees tonuns. According to Tenzin Lungtok from the CentralTibetan Administration’s Department of Religion andCulture, “Since then, the matter [of female geshes] wasdiscussed on several occasions, including the religiousconference of the spiritual heads and representatives of thefour traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and the indigenousBön religion, but a conclusive decision was not reached dueto its complexities and divergence of views.”

His Holiness, however, continued to discuss thesituation for nuns. “The important thing is that now, forthe past 30 years, we have worked to change [the lowerstatus of nuns]. Many nuns are very sincere, but they havehad no chance to ascend to the highest ordination level.This has made me somewhat uncomfortable, especiallysince the Buddha gave equal opportunities to women,” HisHoliness told The Progressivemagazine in a 2006 interview.

On a practical level, only monasteries had beenauthorized to award Geshe degrees, so even though aTibetan nun may have completed studying in a gesheprogram, she would be unable to be a part of a monastery

and receive the degree. But in 2011, His Holiness and theDepartment of Religion and Culture authorized theInstitute of Buddhist Dialectics (IBD) to award RimeGeshe degrees for the first time. This allowed GesheWangmo, who had been a student at IBD since 1993, andseveral of her male monastic classmates to receive the degreewithout having to join a monastery. In addition to studyingthe standard Gelug geshe curriculum, taking exams anddebating, a Rime Geshe has also spent time studyingNyingma, Sakya and Kagyu presentations of philosophy.

It wasn’t until March 2012, however, that the doorbegan to open for all qualified nuns to receive a Geshedegree. During the annual Monlam celebration in Dharam-sala, His Holiness “categorically advised the Department ofReligion and Culture to set up a committee consisting ofmembers from the Tibetan Nuns Project, the Institute ofBuddhist Dialectics and the nunneries in the vicinity ofDharamsala to discuss and formulate a procedure to awardGeshe degrees to nuns,” Tenzin Lungtok told Mandala.The meeting took place in May 2012 and concluded withthe announcement that the group had framed rules andregulations for granting degrees. This means that all nunswho have completed or are in the process of completinggeshe study programs now have the opportunity to takeexams and be awarded Geshe degrees.

The FPMT-affiliated Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery (alsoknown as the Kopan Nunnery) in Kathmandu has severalnuns currently studying for Geshe degrees. KhensurRinpoche Lama Lhundrup, former abbot at KopanMonastery, was instrumental in establishing the studyprogram for nuns. While he was alive, he taught on aregular basis at the nunnery. Khachoe Ghakyil reports thattwo of their top nuns should be able to take their final examin two years’ time.

You can read a complete interview with Geshe KelsangWangmo and Mandala online at mandalamagazine.org.


In 1972, Dr. Nicholas Ribush arrived at Kopan Monastery in Nepal.

After attending the Third Kopan Course, he offered to help Lama Zopa

Rinpoche revise Rinpoche’s TheWish-Fulfilling Golden Sun of the Mahayana

Thought Training, which served as the teaching text for the course. Rinpoche

accepted the offer, and for several years Nick lived at Kopan, attending the

month-long courses, working on revisions to The Wish-Fulfilling Golden

Sun, and editing notes and transcriptions from Rinpoche’s teachings into

course commentaries.

Top: Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching during the Fifth Meditation Course, KopanMonastery, Nepal, 1973. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Right: Cover for How to Practice Dharma: Teachings on the Eight WorldlyDharmas by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

PUBLISHING THE FPMT LINEAGE:Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Lam-Rim Teachings


After many years of offering service to a variety ofFPMT activities, including Wisdom Publications, Nickfounded the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, which isresponsible for the collection and dissemination of LamaYeshe’s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings and advice.

How to Practice Dharma: Teachings on the EightWorldlyDharmas is the Archive’s most recent publication and thesecond in their FPMT Lineage Series. In July 2012,Mandala spoke with Nick, who currently serves as theArchive’s director, about the evolution of the FPMT LineageSeries and how its roots stretch all the way back to TheWish-Fulfilling Golden Sun.

Mandala: How are the early Kopan courses connectedto the Archive and the FPMT Lineage Series?

Nick: Both Lama Yeshe’s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teach-ings are important, but Rinpoche gave by far the mostteachings. During my time at Kopan, I saw what would beuseful would be to produce a series of topic-basedcommentaries on the nature of the mind, on the perfecthuman rebirth, on impermanence and death, on the threelower realms, refuge and karma – the main lam-rim topicsthat were really the heart of Rinpoche’s teachings. So, thiswas an idea that has been in my mind for 35-40 years.

Creating books from teachings is so much editorialwork. For a person to be able to edit the Lamas’ [LamaYeshe’s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s] teachings, you neededto meet basically five criteria: a good understanding ofDharma; a familiarity with the Lamas’ language; the abilityto create a coherent manuscript with a beginning, middleand end; the time to do it; and essentially, the ability to doit for nothing or for little money.Who can do all that? Also,what tends to happen in FPMT is that the people who dowant to put their life into it full-time already have so muchelse to do. Editing books takes time; you really need to workfull-time at it. Even when we establishedWisdom Publica-tions, obviously, a large part of our mission would havebeen to publish the teachings of Lama Yeshe and LamaZopa Rinpoche. But somehow, the way the company de-veloped, there was never enough money to pay people toedit the Lamas’ teachings.

In 1995 and ’96, when circumstances came about thatI should leaveWisdom and when I wasn’t sure what I woulddo, Rinpoche said, “Well, take the Archive out ofWisdom,

and set it up as a separate FPMT entity and focus on that.”He never said “focus on my teachings.” He always couchedit in terms of focusing on Lama Yeshe’s teachings, butobviously it included Rinpoche’s teachings. So we set upthe Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive as a separate FPMT en-tity.

Mandala: How was the Archive finally able to beginpublishing a series based on Lama Zopa Ripoche’s lam-rim teachings?

Nick: In 2007, after about five years of trying to raiseenough money to hire editors and publish more of theLamas’ teachings, I got a letter from Rinpoche saying weweren’t doing things well enough or fast enough – youknow, our operations were rusty. So, I came up with thisnew plan called Publishing the FPMT Lineage, which wasa million-dollar-plus plan. What it involved was payingsomeone to travel with Lama Zopa Rinpoche to recordeverything he taught because we weren’t getting recordingsin a timely fashion from the centers and what we got wasoften of poor quality – basically untranscribable – andsometimes we didn’t get anything at all. It also includedpaying transcribers and people to edit. Jen Barlow, ourfinance manager, and I flew to Portland and presented theplan to FPMT International Office, but they were unableto offer financial support to it.

A month later, I got an email from one of Rinpoche’sAsian students, who I didn’t know even existed, saying thatshe was looking on the website and saw an older fundraisingplan and was wondering how it was coming together –maybe she could help us with that. I said, “Well, that plandidn’t work, but have I got a plan for you!” I sent her theUS$1,045,000 plan. She said, “Ok, look, I’ll send you$45,000 right away, and I’ll give you half a million as amatching grant. You raise money to match it, and there isyour million dollars. But I won’t wait for you to get thefunds. I will give you the half million right away so thatyou can start immediately, but over five years you have toraise $100,000 a year.” I said, “Ok. I’ll take the money,”which I did, and we’ve been able to raise the money eachyear to match it.

That immediately allowed us to hire Ven. [Thubten]Kunsang to start traveling with Rinpoche and record him.As for transcribers, we ended up hiring one person, Ven.



[Thubten] Munsel as our chief transcriber. She doesn’t workfull-time because to do 40 hours a week is just too hard,but she does a lot. We could probably do with anotherperson, because there is still a huge backlog from the ’80sand ’90s that has not been transcribed. But transcribers arehard to find. We have had so many come and go. Theytry it; they can’t do it. Either they can’t hear Rinpocheor they get too much lung doing it. There are a lot ofobstacles to that job for some reason. But, anyway, a lot isgetting transcribed.

In terms of hiring editors, we tried a few people. ThenGordonMcDougall, who is a long-time student of the Lamasand had been involved with the Hong Kong center, gotinvolved. When he was in London, he worked with GesheTashi Tsering to develop and edit the six books in GesheTashi’s Foundation of Buddhist Thought series published byWisdom.

We also were able to hire Ven. (as she was then) Namdrol[Miranda Adams] part-time. She edited Yangsi Rinpoche’sLamrim Chenmo commentary called Practicing the Path forWisdom, and we hired her to start going through all LamaZopa Rinpoche’s lam-rim teachings and “basketing” them.As you read through a Kopan course transcript, you cutand paste the teaching into a topic basket: perfect humanrebirth, refuge, karma, yada, yada, yada. There are somany things that Rinpoche covered from one course toanother.

The idea was we would collect everything Rinpochehas ever said on perfect human rebirth into the perfecthuman rebirth basket and so forth. When everything ischopped up like that and basketed, then you go back, sortout all the teachings and you make a coherent whole on thetopic out of it. We decided some years ago that we woulduse the outline from Pabongka Rinpoche’s Liberation in thePalm of Your Hand to organize these teachings as that wasprobably the main lam-rim text that Rinpoche used to referto when he was giving his “lam-rim commentaries.”

Then Maitripa College started, and Namdrol had towork for that, so she couldn’t do the basketing anymore.Ven.Trisha Donnelly took over; I think she was betweenher stints as Root Institute director. So between Namdroland Trisha, we had a lot of the teachings basketed. By thetime Gordon came on board, he had a lot of material towork with, and the system was kind of established, so hewent through and did the rest. Still we had this idea we

needed five editors. But then as Gordon started working onit, it became fairly apparent that, actually, one full-timeeditor was probably enough.

The first book I thought we should do is Rinpoche’steachings on the eight worldly dharmas, which is somethingthat I have wanted to do since 1974, when during the SixthKopan Course Rinpoche gave his most extensive teachingon the eight worldly dharmas. That is partly the backboneof the new book How to Practice Dharma. Following this,teachings on the perfect human rebirth and impermanenceand death have been sponsored. The matching grant forPublishing the FPMT Lineage project pays for the editing,but it doesn’t pay for the printing.We find sponsors to coverthe printing costs. How to Practice Dharma was covered bysponsors in Singapore. �

Read the complete interview with Nicholas Ribush online atmandalamagazine.org.

To learn more about Lama YesheWisdomArchive and the newbook How to Practice Dharma, visit www.lamayeshe.com.

Every issueMandala publishesadditional original stories on ourwebsite not found in print.

In this issue:

• “The Practice of Writing,” an interview with DintyW. Moore, author of The MindfulWriter, a recentbook fromWisdom Publications.

• An excerpt from Journeys on the Silk Road: A DesertExplorer, Buddha’s Secret Library, and the Unearthingof theWorld’s Oldest Printed Book by Joyce Morganand ConradWalters, which tells the story of thediscovery of tens of thousands of ancient Buddhisttexts hidden away at the Caves of the ThousandBuddhas near Dunhuang, China.

• Reflections on cooking, mindfulness and a recipefor quiche fromMaarten de Vries, director ofMaitreya Instituut Loenen.

For these stories andmore, visitmandalamagazine.org


Taking Care of OTHERS

Meet the Liberation Prison ProjectAletter from Arturo Esquer, a youngMexican-American

ex-gangster serving three life sentences at Pelican Bay,one of California’s maximum-security prisons, to Ven.Robina Courtin sparked an international organization – theLiberation Prison Project (LPP). “I’m writing in hope to beable to receive [FPMT]’s journal on a regular basis,” Arturowrote in 1996, having recently read Lama Yeshe’s Introduc-tion to Tantra. “If possible, I would like to personally getinvolved in the Buddhist way of life.” Ven. Robina, who atthe time wasMandala’s editor, replied to the letter, sendingalong some Dharma books and copies of Mandala, andplanting the seeds for a project that has supported thespiritual practice of over 20,000 incarcerated men andwomen around the world.

In 16 years, LPP has offered over 200,000 Buddhistbooks, magazines, CDs, DVDs and practice materials freeto LPP students, their families, and prison chaplains andlibraries. Countless letters have been exchanged betweenLPP students and volunteers. Up until 2009, LPP’s centraloffice was under the directorship of Ven. Robina Courtinin San Francisco, California. Today, Ven. Thubten Chokyiholds the position of director and LPP Australia nearSydney serves as LPP’s central office, coordinating interna-tional operations in addition to Australian programs. KevinIson, LPP’s resources coordinator, provides administrativeassistance in Australia. Timothy Powell covers adminis-trative work in the United States from his base in Raleigh,North Carolina. Together, they handle requests from the1,500 inmates, prison chaplains and families of inmatesworldwide, who write to LPP each year.

The project has regional offices in the United States,

Italy, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand and Spain, whichmanage the local, center-based FPMT programs withintheir countries. Activities to support prisoners at FPMTcenters vary as each center provides services within its ownmeans, capabilities and interest. Centers have offeredmeditation and Buddhist practice sessions through regularprison visits; correspondence to prisoners to support theirDharma practice; Dharma materials to prison libraries orchaplains; regular volunteer meetings to exchange ideas andshare resources for writing to prisoners and/or coordinatinglocal prison visits; refuge ceremonies in prison; visits toprisons by qualified lamas and geshes; and talks to univer-sity students about prison work.

“Writing letters to inmates who wish to practicemeditation or study Buddhism is the most precious servicewe offer,” shares Ven. Chokyi. “The vast majority of inmateswho write us are male, poor, estranged from their familiesand have histories of drug and alcohol abuse; their lives aredominated by violence and suffering and many have beeninvolved in street and prison gangs. Most are desperatelyseeking to transform their minds, to make their livesmeaningful, or simply to deal with the harsh reality of thesituation they find themselves in.”

The majority of prisoners who write to LPP are based inthe United States. However, there are prisoners writing fromall the countries with a local LPP coordinator, plus manyothers, such as Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Thailand andZambia. At any one time, LPP has around 800 students,both in prison and in post-release, in correspondence. Thismakes for one very large virtual Dharma center!

For many Buddhists busy with the demands of modern


Image by E. F.Stiner, coloredpencil on front andback of envelope,Texas, U.S., 2001

Progetto Liberazione NellaPrigione (LPP Italy)By Alessandro Venuto, regional coordinator

The recidivism rate in Italian prisons is 80 percent and overcrowding makes survivingincarceration even more difficult. Normal life there is marked by violence, pain andsuicide, and those on the outside of prisons tend to look down upon the inhabitants.

14th Dalai Lama – Tenzin Gyatso by KennethGingerich, pencil on paper, CentennialCorrectional Facility, Colorado, U.S., 2007

life, it can be easy to overlook people who have beensentenced to prison. But volunteers involved with prisonprojects can attest to the fact that, prisoner or not, we asBuddhists all share things in common, including an interestin authentic Dharma and finding personal liberation. Inthis issue of Mandala, we’ve included reports from threeFPMT centers with LPP projects as well as several examplesof prisoner artwork and a recent essay from an AmericanLPP student. In this way, we are reminded that the FPMT

is an international community that includes hundreds ofstudents serving out sentences in prison and many othersoffering them support.

To learn more, visit www.liberationprisonproject.org,or write to:

International Office, Liberation Prison ProjectPO Box 340, Blackheath, NSW 2785, Australia

USA Office, Liberation Prison ProjectPO Box 33036, Raleigh, NC 27636, USA

Grazia Sacchi, a volunteer who visits prisons, once askeda class of children to describe a “prisoner” and they answered:somebody dirty, tattooed, bad, ugly and alone! Who taughtthem all this? I believe we as a society give them this idea.Prisons, and by extension, prisoners serve as a symbol of whatwe as a society don’t like and what we fear. This view createsa lot of division inside and outside us, which is a problem.

But another way to look at it is as Ven. Khenrab Rin-poche once told me, “Prisoners are like us, the difference isthat nobody sees us do what we usually do, so we are stillfree.” Our LPP volunteers have also arrived at a different

way of seeing prisoners. After a prison visit, they tell methat they were just talking to simple human beings, menand women like anyone else.

LPP Italy is now turning the Wheel of Dharma in 10institutions, with more than 20 volunteers teaching ingroups or one-on-one, and others that teach by correspon-dence. We also support the collection of essential goods,hosts concerts, organize soccer tournaments and offer theprison libraries books. In May 2012, Geshe Sonam taughtfor two days in San Vittore and Milano Bollate Prisons tomore than 90 prisoners.



I have been receiving Mandala as a gift through my teachers and Dharmafriends at the Liberation Prison Project. I want to say that each issue is a joy toread and study, and I thank everyone who contributes toMandala in any way.– Patrick Sluyter, Martin Correctional Institution, Florida, U.S.

Over the years, LPP has offered thousands of free subscriptions of Mandala to prisoners, due tothe kindness of LPP, benefactors and an International Merit Box grant. However, these funds are

limited and many more devoted prisoners would like to receiveMandala.To continue to offerMandala to prisoners and expand this beneficial program, we have established

the Mandala Magazine for Prisoners Fund. Your generous donations to this fund make a tangibledifference in the lives of LPP students.

In addition, current Friends of FPMT have the option of donating their Mandala subscriptionsdirectly to an LPP student.

To learn more, visit www.mandalamagazine.org/support-prisoners/.

Volunteers definitely are able to see how our presencechanges people. One volunteer shared a story from an LPPstudent about a time when he had to make an importantcall home, but the corrections officers wouldn’t allow himto because the officers wanted to see the student’s reaction.It was very important to the student to make the call, hetold the volunteer, and normally he would, in his ownwords, “lose his mind” if he was denied. This time, however,

the student thought about meditation and what he hadlearned in LPP class. Instead of getting upset, he controlledhimself, saying to the corrections officers, “OK, non c’èproblema, no problem,” and they were shocked. We heardmany stories like that, demonstrating the validity of ourwish to create a new way to think about prison as a chancefor a new life.http://plpiltk.altervista.org

In the city of Aguascalientes, Mexico, Centro Bengungyalhas worked for almost seven years in women’s and men’sprisons, both in the city of Aguascalientes and in a facilityin a little town called El Llano. In September, CentroBengungyal makes its first attempt at working in a prisonfor young people, ranging from 12 to 22 years old. In total,we’ll have 76 new young inmates – four women and 72men – with whom we are working.

Over the years, we have gradually received permissionfrom prison authorities to offer courses as well as booksand videos to inmates. Currently, we offer “Working withAfflictive Emotions,” a secular meditation program basedin Buddhist principles designed to help people work withpotentially destructive emotions, twice a year in Aguas-calientes’ prisons. The group ranges between 20 and 30participants. Also this year, the director of the men’s socialrehabilitation center asked us to teach the course toadministrative and custodial staff. This required us to sharethe program a little bit differently from usual because weare working with a group of more than 200 people.

Prison work requires patience and tenacity fromvolunteers, as well as confidence. Over time, we’ve seen thatattendee participation in our courses depends on the leaders’dynamism.When an instructor presents the course principleswell and involves the prisoners, the attendance grows.Inmates comment, “You put us in our place and make usthink.”

www.fpmt-mexico.org/html/proyecto.html#dos

Proyecto Liberación en la Prisión(LPP Aguascalientes) By Rogelio Pallares Valdés, local coordinator

“Double Dorje” offered by Robert Page, a Liberation Prison Project student who served a ten-yearprison sentence and received a free subscription toMandala during that time. Robert passed away inApril 2011.

Two LPP Aguascalientes volunteers, Laura Lugo and RodrigoJácome


One BreathBy Mario EasevoliMandala recently received this essay from an LPP student incarcerated at the Federal Correc-tions Complex in Coleman, Florida, U.S.We have edited it for length.

There I sit… breathing deeply, caught inside walls that do not vanish before half-closed eyes. My breath finds its way out, over the barbed-wire fences. Freedom of

breath cannot be measured, contained, or punished – as I breathe, my aliveness assertsitself. Even laughs at its constraints. Yes, in this place it is an elusive joy; but I feel itnow, as surely as I feel the suffering all around me.

Prison is typically an extremely negative environment. The average prisonerusually has serious emotional and behavioral problems, problems which have oftenlead to his or her incarceration. Prisons, even the “sweetest,” are terrible places to live.Many of the things that make it so bad are beyond the prisoners’ control. Larger issues,

LPP New ZealandBy Kate Bukowski, regional coordinator

LPP New Zealand has been in operation for four years, sending Dharmabooks to prison libraries, corresponding with prisoners and visitingprisons. In 2010, we were able to set up some meetings with inmates atParemoremo, a large prison complex north of Auckland and invited Ven.Tenzin Chogkyi, who’s been in New Zealand for the last five years, toteach.

Ven. Chogkyi began the first session by telling the story of Shakya-muni Buddha’s life. About 10 minutes into Chogkyi's talk, one of theinmates interrupted. “Hey,” he said, “I can’t listen to a word you’re saying– I don’t know who you are, where you came from, why you’re here. Idon’t know your story.” “Fair enough,” Ven. Chogkyi said, and thenstarted telling her own personal spiritual story, the struggles she hadexperienced, her search for some meaning in life, the promise that theDharma had given her. As she was talking, this inmate periodically inter-jected, “Kia ora, kia ora, I hear you, I understand what you’re saying.”

Ven. Chogkyi learned that in Maori culture, there is a certain way ofintroducing yourself at the beginning of a gathering, explaining aboutyour lineage and family background, setting the context for who you are.It is done out of respect. Protocol is of utmost importance, and to estab-lish who you are, you set yourself in context. And this is what the inmateswere asking for – without that, they literally couldn’t hear what Ven.Chogkyi was saying.

For her next visit, Ven. Chogkyi arrived at the prison having prepared a pepeha (introduction) inMaori, which she recitedto the group by heart. After this, the energy shifted a lot and we had a great discussion. Rather than trying to find faults withBuddhism, the inmates were trying to find common ground with their beliefs and worldview. At the end, they offered awaiata (song), which is the traditional way of thanking a visitor.

In our second session within the complex’s medium security yard, the inmates there also offered a beautiful waiatathat they accompanied with guitar with beautiful harmonies. One of the inmates translated for us and said that it was allabout building a bridge between people. They also offered the traditional koha (offering). They had organized ahead oftime to collect their fruit and cookies from their lunch, and we were offered two bulging paper bags full of apples andoatmeal cookies. This felt like a really significant offering, as they don’t get much to eat in prison.

[email protected]

Buddha by David Lightsey,pencil on paper, Louisiana StatePenitentiary, Louisiana, U.S., 2007

White Tara by LPP New Zealand studentGareth, water color on paper


such as prison conditions, overcrowding, staff abuse, exces-sive sentencing and the like, should be addressed.The problemfor us on the inside, however, is that usually these thingsare all we focus on, and, even then, what we do most iscomplain, doing little to correct the situation. The one areawhich we are usually loath to examine is the same one overwhich we have the most control, and which can impact ourlives the most: ourselves.

This unwillingness to look within for the source of, andsolution to, our problems is not limited to prisons. Prisonersand “free-world” people alike all share the same conditions:being subject to illness, old age, death and suffering.Whether we are in prison or not, we are all caught up indelusion of some sort.

Some say that prison is a monastery of sorts, and Ibelieve certain parallels do exist, but a better comparisonmight be the Buddhist practice in which aspirants medi-tated in the charnel grounds, experiencing the terror ofdeath and demons. In this parallel – where there are(prison) demons of fear, hatred, anger, despair and othermyriad negative states – we have an advantage, or perhaps,an opportunity, that isn’t as available on the outside.

What one can learn here is that these demons existwithin us and are creations of our own minds, born of ourdelusions. Through meditation and mindfulness practicewe can see the true nature of ourselves and reality. It waswhen I first decided to try meditation at the very beginningof my sentence that I really began to breathe. My heart be-came less constricted, the Dharma path opened. I grew lessafraid of what could happen to me.

As I meditate, deepening my breath, feeling my length-ened spine, I learn to discard my preconceptions andexpectations – all of the many hopes and fears and attach-ments that have given shape to my life. I learned to lay asideanxiety about what I am missing and what I don’t have.Besides establishing a regular sitting practice, I practicemindfulness perpetually, including when gripped by anger,anxiety or any other strong emotion.

Each day presents a new confrontation with reality.Instead of wanting to run, I breathe. Each breath bringswith it the freedom to choose my response in thatmoment. I know that through this practice I can arrive ata place of genuine peace. The path is before me. It is mychoice to follow. �

In 2011, more than 108 yaks’ lives were saved inNepal through the efforts of Lama Zopa Rinpocheand Geshe Thubten Jinpa and with support fromFPMT’s Animal Liberation Fund and Amitabha Bud-dhist Centre in Singapore. Geshe Jinpa has releasedan exciting new video called 108 Yaks: A Journey ofLove and Freedom that tells the story of the 19-dayjourney made by the rescued yaks from Dhudkunda,Nepal, to their new home in the lush pastures of thesacred Rolwaling Valley in northeastern Nepal, where

the foot prints of Guru Rinpoche are said to be.Lama Zopa Rinpoche arranged for the yaks to be

rescued when he heard they were to be butchered formeat. With Geshe Jinpa’s assistance, 115 yaks werebought and given into the care of villagers living inRolwaling.The video takes us along on the stunning trekas a team of 22 herders and porters guides the gentle andpeaceful animals over treacherous mountain terrain.

You can order 108 Yaks from the Foundation Store(shop.fpmt.org).

108Yaks: A Journey of Love and Freedom

Liberated yaks after arriving in Rolwaling, Nepal, wearing cords blessed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, September 2011


Books Meditation supplies Study programs Videos Practice books Ritual objects

Visit our website for information about special promotions.http://shop.fpmt.org/

fpmt �e Foundation Store

FPMT Foundation Store off ers a vast selection of Buddhist study materials, high quality thangkas,

statues, prayer fl ags, and meditation supplies including cushions, khatas, malas and incense.


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Tucked amongst farm fieldsalong France’s Agout River, Nalanda Monasteryoffers serious Western Dharma students a place to

study and live in a peaceful and quite environment. LamaYeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche founded Nalanda in 1981as FPMT’s first Western monastery. Located about 25miles (40 kilometers) fromToulouse, Nalanda is currentlyhome to around 23 monks and 10 lay people. In addition,Institut Vajra Yogini, only a few miles away, contributes tocreating a rich community of Dharma practice in south-western France.

As part of Nalanda’s growing education program, we willoffer for the second time FPMT’s Basic Program, acomprehensive course of study, discussion and meditationbased upon sutra and tantra texts traditionally studied in theTibetan Buddhist Gelug tradition. Students from the firstfive-year residential Basic Program at Nalanda, which beganin 2008, have recently completed their final exam. Thesecond Basic Program is scheduled to begin in February2013. Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently appointed GesheJamphel Gyaltsen, from Sera Monastery, to be the teacherfor the course.

Beginning in September2013, Nalanda will offer forthe first time a residentialMasters Program, an intensiveprogram consisting of sixyears of in-depth Dharmastudy and a total of one yearof retreat. We will becomethe second FPMT center tooffer theMasters Program afterIstituto Lama Tzong Khapa(ILTK) in Italy. Nalandaabbot Geshe Losang Jamphelwill teach theMasters Program, assisted by Sze Gee, a highlyskilled translator and tutor. She is an ILTK Master Programgraduate and is renowned for the clarity of her explanationsof the philosophical texts.

Over the last few years, Nalanda has also been honoredto host many special teachers. Since 2010, we havewelcomed Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Jangtse Chöje LobsangTenzin Rinpoche, Dagri Rinpoche and Khadro-la, who ledher second retreat at Nalanda in August 2012.

FEATURED CENTER

Nalanda Monastery:A Growing Haven for Buddhist Study in the West

By Ven. Losang Tendar, center director,and Ven. Irene Turner

Above: Nalana Monastery’s ever-growing monastic community, June 2011. Right: Lama ZopaRinpoche, Nalanda Monastery, October 2011. Photo by Philippe Garric.


Lama Zopa Rinpoche, our spiritualdirector, has expressed the importance of continuallydeveloping Nalanda’s facilities as well as our study and

retreat programs in order to create a major seat of monasticlearning in the West. Over the years, we have seen growthin our community at the monastery in correspondence withthe opportunities we offer.

In 2008, we completed a new building for monks, andwith the start of our first Basic Program, the new roomsfilled up quickly. As our abbot, Geshe Jamphel, likes toencourage participation by both male and female students,we rented a house nearby for the student nuns and femalelay practitioners. As a monastery, we are unable to provideaccommodations for women on site. We are hoping thatthe nuns will be able to start a nunnery located close tonearby Institut Vajra Yogini and continue to be part ofNalanda’s study programs.

Even though housing for monks is adequate now, weknow once we have two different study programs runningat the same time, more students will come and needaccommodation. Our experience has also been that someof the students ordain once they are in a study program.For these reasons, Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised us in 2009to plan and construct a new monks accommodation blockthat will be ready for the start of the next Basic Program andour firstMasters Programs in 2013.

“Many people want to come and study,” Rinpochesaid, “so we need more rooms. I told Geshe Jamphel it isimportant to make a very good plan. If there is no plan,you might regret it later. Avoid having regret. It is very

important to think about where to put the new rooms.Make a plan. Then think of what other things you willneed; make a plan for landscaping. A little bit like Japanese[landscaping]: well organized, neat, nice, so that whenpeople come, they like to stay here. You need a good archi-tect, and then in the future it will be easy.”

Inspired by this advice, Nalanda now has a 15-yearMaster Plan, which has been reviewed by Lama ZopaRinpoche, Dagri Rinpoche and Khadro-la. Martijn Prins,a young Dutch architect familiar with Tibetan culture andart, worked with Geshe Jamphel and Nalanda monks todraw up a skillful plan for the development of Nalanda withan eye toward its medium- and long-term growth.We havealready begun Phase I of the plan, which has to do withinfrastructure and landscaping.

“Before starting a new building we needed to improvethe infrastructure,” Martijn explained, “including a lake(required by the fire brigade), a reed bed for waste water, ameandering driveway laid out in accordance with feng shuiprinciples, an underground rain water catchment, a drive-way for the fire brigade and a pipe infrastructure (forelectricity, water and heating) for the extensions in thefuture.”

In September 2012, we start work on the foundation ofthe new monks accommodation block. The building designis influenced by the layout of large monastic universities inIndia and will have 21 rooms, including four double-roomsand one for physically disabled people. The second floor willbe reserved for two teachers and an attendant. How quicklywe progress on the building depends on how our fundraising

From left: Sketch of south facade of newmonks building; Geshe Losang Jamphel,Khadro-la and Dagri Rinpoche discussing

Nalanda’s 15-year Master Plan

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE


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From left: Preparing the foundation for the 10-foot (3-meter) Padmasambhava statue in Nalanda Monastery’s newly dug lake, July2012; Preparing the infrastructure for future development up to the year 2025, which will limit overall cost and save time, July 2012.

for it goes. We maintain the hope to have it ready for thestart of theMasters Program in September 2013.

Nalanda’s Master Plan seeks to be environmentallyresponsible, seeing this as an essential aspect of the Bud-dhist path. As a result, we aim to achieve as much self-suf-ficiency as possible while trying to have a minimal impacton the natural surroundings. Building materials like wood,clay, plaster and natural fibers will be used for the newmonks accommodations. Hot water and heating will beprovided through wood burners and solar panels. Andbuilding designs are created to take maximum advantage

of natural light and heat.“I am always trying to remind the monks and students,

again and again, that this is a very good place,” GesheJamphel said. “The community and companions here aregood people, and all the conditions conducive for goodstudies are gathered here. The Dharma here is good becauseit aims at bringing the benefit of both oneself and others.So, [Nalanda] has a purpose to stay here for a long time.”

You can learn more about educational opportunities atNalanda and the monastery’s building plans by visitingNalanda Monastery online at www.nalanda-monastery.eu.

the continuing activities of LAMA YESHE and LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHEover many lifetimes to come by requesting your legal advisor to include a bequest toFPMT in your will or trust.

SAMPLE BEQUEST LANGUAGE:I give, devise, and bequeath to the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, Inc.,a California Non Profit Corporation, with offices at 1632 SE 11th Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 97214, USA____ percent (_____%) of my residuary estate; and/or the sum of _____ dollars ($_____).

Gifts of stocks, bonds, life insurance proceeds, real estate and other assets may also be donated in your will or trust.

For more information, contact Chuck Latimer at FPMT International Office: Tel. +1 (503) 808-1586;Email: [email protected]. Or visit: www.fpmt.org/projects/office/planned-giving.html

FPMT, INC. 1632 SE 11TH AVE. PORTLAND OR 97214 WWW.FPMT.ORG

Support

“Within our organization, the Foundation for thePreservation of the Mahayana Tradition, there arenumberless projects through which you can make yourbelongings most beneficial for sentient beings and theteachings of the Buddha. . . . The aim of the projects isto illuminate the world from darkness, ignorance andsuffering.” – LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE


Road to Kopan:Where I Needed to BeFor many long-time students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, is wherethey first met the teachings of Buddha and where they saw the courses of their lives changed profoundly.Mandala has beencollecting the stories of how early students came to Kopan in our ongoing “Road to Kopan” series.

Paula deWijs arrived at Kopan in 1972. Since then, she has been involved with supporting the development of Buddhism intheWest as well as working with organizations providing aide to Tibetan refugees. She currently serves as center director atMaitreya Instituut Amsterdam and also is an FPMT board member. We’re happy to share an extract from her “Road toKopan” story, which can be read in its entirety at mandalamagazine.org.

When I left San Francisco in1970, I was 22 years old. I had lived in HaightAshbury, in a cabin at Muir Beach and in an old

Victorian house for five intense years, full of music, dancingand all kinds of experiences and friendships. I had no qualmsabout saying that I was a San Francisco hippie, but eventhen, I wondered how much of what I thought and did wasa result of my own thinking or of the strong culture aroundme. So when a friend invited me to visit him in Afghanistan,I stored or sold everything I owned and, armed with twohundred dollars, a Eurail pass and some addresses, left forEurope where I hoped to get a ride to Kabul.

I was lucky to be able to earn a little more money bybeing an extra in the Steve McQueen movie Le Mans andworking in a hotel in Switzerland, but at the end of thesummer, I realized that I needed to find a home or a lift toAfghanistan before winter set in. Amsterdam seemed to be agood choice since an American acquaintance who hadtraveled with my friend in Afghanistan was there and plan-ning to buy a car and drive there once again. He brought meto visit Matti de Wijs, who had also been with them inKabul, and I had a very strange experience when we rangMatti’s doorbell – a strong premonition that this person wasgoing to be extremely significant in my life. Of course, Ithought that this meant that I would fall head-over-heels inlove with him. I was disappointed at the time, when that didnot immediately happen. Little did I know that he would in-troduce me to my future teachers and later, that I wouldmarry him and we would spend the next 42 years together!

My American friend ended up deciding not to travel toAsia, but Matti was already planning his next trip and whenhe offered me a ride, I accepted gladly. On his first trip, hehad gone overland with Olivia de Haulleville and her thenthree-year-old son, Michael. The three of them drove out ina Land Rover to visit Olivia’s friend from Greece, Zina

Rachevsky, who lived in Nepal with two Tibetan lamas –Thubten Yeshe andThubten Zopa – at a place called Kopan.There were plans to start a school in Lawudo for Sherpa andTibetan refugee children called the Mount Everest Centrefor Buddhist Studies. When Matti returned to Amsterdamon his own, he worked to raise funds for it.

We left Amsterdam during summer 1971, driving aCitroën van through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and on

Paula de Wijs with Michael Lobsang Yeshe at BouddanathStupa in Kathmandhu, Nepal, May 1972. Photo courtesy ofPaula de Wijs.

By Paula de Wijs


to Afghanistan, from where our mutual friend had longsince departed. We were stuck there during the next winterdue to the Indo-Pakistani War after which the bordersbetween Pakistan and India were closed and we could nottravel any further. We were there in Kabul together withothers like Barbara and Chris Vautier, who attended theDecember 1972 Kopan course with me (and later wereconnected with Land of Medicine Buddha and VajrapaniInstitute in California). Many years later when I read theautobiography A Leaf in theWind byThubten Gyatso (nowat Thubten Shedrup Ling in Australia), I realized that wehad been caught in an historic snowstorm in Kandahar atthe same time as him, eating dinner together in the samerestaurant, but only meeting one another some years later.

When it was finally possible to travel to India, we flewfrom Lahore in Pakistan to Delhi. Once there, I went to visittheTibet House, where I discovered that Olivia andMichaelwere living in Delhi, and at an address I would pass on theway back to our hotel. So I asked my rickshaw to stop there,and while I looked for the right building, a Western ladyapproached, asking if she could help – it was, of course, Olivia!We talked for hours, sweltering in the pre-monsoon heat.

Not long before, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpochehad passed through Delhi, and six-year-old Michael had

expressed a wish to return to Nepal and stay with them.Olivia asked whether we would be willing to take her sonwith us to Kopan, and a day later Michael* moved in andcame with us from Delhi to Varanasi and then on to Kath-mandu. Matti wanted to go to Kopan immediately to giveLama Zopa Rinpoche the funds he had raised for theschool, so our taxi drove from the airport directly up theheavily rutted road to Kopan.We were greeted by a smilingLama Yeshe and Anila Ann, and were immediately invitedto stay for lunch – and also stay on at Kopan. We acceptedboth invitations with pleasure!

That day in 1972, I was quite surprised to find that Ifelt that I had come home. It was such a strong feeling thatI sat on top of the hill and cried with a kind of gratitude andrelief. I had not consciously been looking for anything, butknew right away that I had found where I needed to be.…

You can read the rest of Paula’s story, including a few of hermemories of Lama Yeshe, as well as other early student’s“Road to Kopan” stories at mandalamagazine.org.

*Six-year-old Michael became amonk a year later with a newname – Lobsang Yeshe. He went on to do geshe studies in SeraJe Monastery and has worked as a translator and teacher atLand of Medicine Buddha in California, at Maitreya Instituut inthe Netherlands, and in Singapore and has been at TaraInstitute in Australia since 2007.

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OBITUARIES

Geshe Tsering, 85, died inKopan Monastery, Nepal,August 16, 2012,of natural causesBy Linda Gyatso, TushitaMeditation Centre director

Geshe Tsering was LamaYeshe’s older half-brother,having the same father, PemaWangyel. Geshe-la was born

in 1927 near Tolung Dechen in Central Tibet close toLhasa. After leaving Tibet, Geshe-la studied at Sera JeMonastery in South India, until he was invited to KopanMonastery to teach the young monks Tibetan language.In 1980, he came to Tushita Meditation Centre inDharamsala to serve as co-director for one year. Geshe-la’sheartfelt service to Tushita spanned 30 years.

Following Geshe-la’s service as co-director, he stayed

on at Tushita doing pujas, retreats and his own dailypractices. “He was very kind to Tushita,” Ven. ThubtenDorjee, Tushita’s longest serving Sangha member, recalls.“He always tried to advise directors regarding the work toenable Tushita to progress.” In his trips away, Geshe-lawould always bring back useful things for the center, suchas the red bowls and cups that it still uses today.

Geshe-la had a gentle, caring heart that at the sametime could be firm and strict when the situation required.Geshe-la loved to talk toWesterners and encourage themin their Dharma practice. His simple English made theadvice he gave clear and memorable. Just a few daysbefore Geshe-la’s passing, I came across some advice hehad given me on leaving Tushita for Kopan in March2010: “You are young and strong, you MUST make themost of time NOW, before old age comes.”

Even as his health was deteriorating, Geshe-la wasa constant example to all of how to live the Dharma.


Lama Zopa Rinpoche requests that “students who readMandala pray that thestudents whose obituaries follow find a perfect human body, meet a Mahayana guru andbecome enlightened quickly, or be born in a pure land where the teachings exist and theycan become enlightened.” Reading these obituaries also helps us reflect upon our owndeath and rebirth, prompting us to live our lives in the most meaningful way.

Advice and practices for death and dying from Lama Zopa Rinpoche are available inthe Foundation Store (shop.fpmt.org).

Jeanne “Yeshe Gawa” Allen, 73,died in Houston, Texas, UnitedStates, June 11, 2012, from acuterespiratory failureBy Molly Highley

Jeanne, a long-time student of LamaYeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, wasborn to Wayne and Betty (Hurley)Eaton in Guthrie, Oklahoma, onApril 18, 1939. She leaves behind twinsons, Kelly and Kerry Allen, herdaughter-in-law, Susan Allen, and hergranddaughter, Jessica Wintel, as wellas many Dharma brothers and sistersworldwide.

Jeanne’s life was not always easy,but she had the capacity to see thesilver lining where personal stormclouds may have gathered. For muchof her life, Jeanne suffered with triplescoliosis, but declined correctivesurgery. In a 2008 email she wrotethat she had never regretted her choiceto not have surgery and, in fact, hadalways “given thanks for the free-dom” as a young girl to make it. Shespent most of her life “pretending herback was normal or straight,” eventhough she never could walk very far,even less as she got older.

Married at 17, she went on toraise twins as a single mother in thelate 1950s. She worked nights andexcelled by day in her universitystudies. At the age of 35, she quit herjob and flew from San Franciscotoward India by way of Taiwan,Hong Kong, Bali, Java, Singapore,Malaysia, Thailand and Burma. Afterlanding in Calcutta, she boarded aplane for Kathmandu and eventuallyattended her first meditation courseat Kopan Monastery.

Jeanne lived in India, travelingbetween Nepal and Sri Lanka, from

1975 to 1978. In 1979, she livedand studied at Manjushri Institutein England. She again took up trav-eling between India and Nepal toretreat and study from 1983 to1986. Over time, her back conditionworsened, and she required thesupport of crutches after returningto her home in the United States. In2008 she wrote, “I still use crutchesbut am pain-free unless I overdo it.... I keep telling myself to wait fiveyears before I get a wheelchair, butI’ve been telling myself that aboutfive years. I’m afraid once I get inone, I’ll never get out ... still, I’venever regretted I chose NOT to havethe surgery. ... I am content withhow things are.”

In the years leading up to herpassing, Jeanne lived alone on theninth floor – which she jokinglycalled “the ninth bhumi” – of aHouston apartment building. Fromthere she continued to express herintellectual curiosity and interest inthe greater world. She was an avidreader as well as intelligent, imagi-native, creative, unpretentious, gentleand kind. If she loved you, she


Your COMMUNITYwould let you know it in no uncertainterms, yet she seemed to expect littlein return. “She was the best mom,”Kerry Allen expressed. “She’ll neverbe forgotten.”

Kerry shares that his mother“died in the sitting position with anarm on each knee.” Two days beforeshe passed from this world, Jeannecontinued to express a sincere interestin the happiness of others as well as anunwavering faith in the immeasurableblessings of the Triple Gem.

Eileen “Lee” Carol Ventura, 51,died in Durham, North Carolina,United States, June 13, 2012,unexpectedlyBy Julie LaValle Jones

Lee was an exuberant lover of life andbeauty. An inventor, creator, realestate developer, gifted cook and anardent friend, she touched a vastcommunity of people whom sheloved and who deeply loved her. Leewas expansively generous, giving tofriends, family, nonprofit causes andspiritual groups. She gave with anopen, joyful heart not only herfinancial support, but also her atten-tion, effort, creativity and love.

Lee’s generosity included Bud-dhist centers. She was a regular practi-tioner at Kadampa Center in Raleigh,

North Carolina, in the 1990s. As areal estate and land developer, sheprovided invaluable advice to thecenter when it began the search for aproperty to purchase. Later, during thecenter’s capital campaign to purchaseand renovate a former retail store, shebecame the largest single contributor.In typical fashion, when asked tocontribute a specific (and very large)sum, she offered more than twice thatamount.

When she came to see the newcenter under renovation, she noticedthat the floor of the gompa wasstill the poured concrete with noadditional floor covering. She thenspontaneously offered to pay forflooring and beautiful sustainablecork flooring was delivered toKadampa Center for our volunteersto install. She sponsored monks atSera Je Monastery, orphans in Africaand summer camp experiences forindigent children in North Carolina.Her generosity was effusive, sponta-neous and heartfelt. She truly wasjoyful when able to give.

Lee took refuge in the KarmaKagyü tradition in the early 1990s.She also studied and practiced ZenBuddhist meditation. Beginning inthe mid-’90s, Lee practiced at andsupported Kadampa Center. Sheattended several significant teachingsby His Holiness the Dalai Lama,including in Tucson, Arizona; Cali-fornia; and Bloomington, Indiana.

Lee was born and raised inRochester, New York, and livedmany years in Durham. She was theowner and founder of Indra Group,LLC, a commercial real estate devel-opment firm and Elix, LLC, aventure to create innovative green

packaging for cosmetics and phar-maceuticals. Prior to that she was avice president and later a jointventure partner of Heartland Group,Inc. Embracing her heritage and loveof all things Italian, she lived formany years near Florence, Italy,cooking, bringing in the olive harvestand extending her inimitable hospi-tality to family, friends and travelersfrom around the world. She returnedto Durham in 2011.

Kevin “Doc” McNeill, 54, died inSterling, Colorado, United States,July 2012, of unknown causesBy Kate DrewsKevin first wrote to Liberation Prison

Project (LPP) in 2006 and took refugevows in prison in 2007. There, hestarted the Discovering Buddhismcourse in 2007, which he studiedthroughout 2009 with visiting LPPchaplain John Scorsine. He continuedthe course with me, and I found himto be a keen knowledge seeker withan intelligent mind. He remarked thatwhen he started the DiscoveringBuddhism course it had felt likecoming home.

Kevin was always concerned forthe welfare of others despite his ownserious medical problems. When he


saw a friend beaten to death in prisonin 2009, he sought our help to developcompassion for the officers who, hesaid, “knowingly placed him in thatsituation.”

During Saka Dawa 2010, Kevinpledged to continue reciting OM MANI

PADME HUM every day, planning tocomplete 25 million recitations by hisanticipated release date in 2028. Heoffered his mantra recitations to holybeings and all sentient beings andrejoiced in having the Dharma in hislife. He loved to cook and could oftenbe found preparing meals for others.He was positive in his outlook despitebeing consigned to a wheelchair atthe start of 2011. Even then, he com-mitted to memorizing as manymantras as he could and practicing asmuch as possible.

Earlier this year, inquiring afterLama Zopa Rinpoche’s health, hementioned that he made daily prayersfor Rinpoche’s good health andoffered blessings, despite the greatpain he himself was living with. Inthe last few months, Kevin had beenmoved to a facility much furtheraway from his family and not wellsuited to a person with his complexmedical issues.

In his last letter to me, datedMay 25, 2012, Kevin informed methat his health was poor, but that hewas practicing Medicine Buddhadaily. He noted that all his practiceswere not for himself but for thesake of others. His greatest concernwas for his brother Kenneth whohad recently been sentenced toprison. As usual, he signed off hisletter “with love and light.” To thevery end he was someone that haddeep concern for others. Kevin’s

death is a great loss to the LPP com-munity and he will be dearlymissed.

Cherie Poe Glasse, 81, died in MillValley, California, United States,July 13, 2012, from a strokeBy Ven. Paula ChichesterLike her husband, prayer-wheel

maker JimGlasse, mymother, Cherie,combined her Christian faith withthe practicalities of Buddhism. Cherieembraced Brother David Steindl-Rast’s teaching to be grateful foreverything; she most enjoyed herfour children and five grandchildren.

In 1959, Cherie moved fromGeorgia to Berkeley, California, withher first husband, Helon Chichester,where she deepened her lifelongcommitment to prayer and to theEpiscopal Church. She was a skilledpainter and sculptor, and a mentor forBerkeley elementary school teachers.Her love for teaching children beganwhen she was a civil rights activist inGeorgia.

In 1982, she attended the firstUniversal Education conference atIstituto LamaTzong Khapa, partially

motivated by her use of sandplaytherapy in her classroom. The chil-dren’s transformation inspired her torecord their progress in photos thatshowed how the sandplay trayscorrelated with changes in children’scognitive development. The benefitto children from unhappy familieswas especially remarkable, and sheeventually wrote a booklet calledSandplay in the Classroom.

Cherie received Chenrezig initi-ation from His Holiness the DalaiLama at the conference. Cherie alsoreceived teachings at Vajrapani Insti-tute from Lama Yeshe, Zong Rin-poche, Choden Rinpoche, LamaZopa Rinpoche and Sogyal Rin-poche. Her calligraphy adorns LamaYeshe’s stupa and she painted twovery good portraits of Lama.

I was doing practice on themorning of my mother’s death.When Cherie stopped breathing, Iwas meditating on dharmakaya [asubtle mind characterized by blissand wisdom], and so we both wentinto the dharmakaya together. It wasa most profound experience, and westayed there for about 20 minutes.What an amazing gift! For the next36 hours, she remained in clear lightwith the mind not yet separated fromthe body. When I got a chance to sitwith her, my mind immediatelystopped racing about and droppedinto the dharmakaya. Lama ZopaRinpoche said about Cherie’s death,“Looks very positive, possibly Vajra-yogini’s pure land.” Cherie lived afull and wonderful life; her partingteaching is “Hallelujah, anyway!” �

To obtain a copy of Sandplay in theClassroom, contact [email protected]

FPMT News Around the WORLD

Lama Zopa Rinpoche News

From left: Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Jhado Rinpoche, joined by Khadro-la, consecrating Land of Medicine Buddha’s newly filled prayerwheel, California, U.S., June 2012. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang; Lama Zopa Rinpoche with members of Pamtingpa Center at BuddhaAmitabha Pure Land, Washington, U.S., July 2012. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche returned to the United States, arriving in California on June 9, 2012. Students in Californiahad not seen Rinpoche since early 2011, before Rinpoche manifested a stroke. Rangjung Neljorma Khadro NamselDrolma (Khadro-la) joined Rinpoche touring several California centers including Land of Calm Abiding,Vajrapani Institute and Land of Medicine Buddha (LMB). Rinpoche and Khadro-la’s visit to LMB overlappedwith Jhado Rinpoche’s stay there. The three of them took a boat ride out into the Pacific Ocean to bless the marinelife joined by Geshe Ngawang Dakpa, resident teacher at Tse Chen Ling, and several students.

Rinpoche and Khadro-la next visited FPMT International Office andMaitripa College in Oregon, June 22-25. Rinpoche offered a teaching and oral transmission on June 23, which was webcast live and viewed by more than360 people around the world. You can watch the video on FPMT’s YouTube channel.

Rinpoche spent the end of June, July and part of August at his retreat house at Buddha Amitabha Pure Landin remote northeastern Washington state. Khadro-la joined Rinpoche for part of his time there before she traveledto Europe. In mid-August, Rinpoche returned to Kachoe Dechen Ling, his house in California.

To learn the latest from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT, visit www.fpmt.org/enews or “Like” Lama Zopa Rinpoche andFPMT on Facebook.

You can find the FPMT YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/fpmtinc.


Advice from Rinpoche:What to Do with Dead Insects Foundat Home and on the WindowsillsFrom Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Dead insects can be gathered together and put into a containerand, at the very least, one can recite OM MANI PADME HUM andblow on the insects. This mantra alone has incredible benefit: byreciting themantra and blowing on the dead bodies of the insects,

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Vajrapani Institute, California, U.S., June 2012. Photoby Ven. Thubten Kunsang.


the negative karmic obscurations of the insects – even thoughthe consciousness has already left the body – are purified.

If one has more time, one can also recite the FivePowerful Mantras for Liberating Sentient Beings from theLower Realms: 1) the mantra of Kunrig (Vairochana); 2)the mantra of Mitrugpa (Akshobya); 3) the mantra ofNamgyälma (Ushnishavijaya); 4) the Stainless PinnacleHeart mantra; and 5) the Wish-granting Wheel mantra,and blow on the insects. [You can find these on fpmt.org bytyping “five powerful mantras” into the search engine.]

On top of this, one should also purify the insects’negative karma by pouring blessed water over them. (Youcan use water blessed by Rinpoche himself, if you have it.)One can bless water oneself by reciting mantras and thenblowing on the water. One can recite the mantras mentionedabove, but in general, one can also just keep a container ofwater handy, and after reciting the mantras in one’s dailypractice – OM MANI PADME HUM, Vajrasattva’s mantra, etc.– just blowing on the water blesses it. One should make theprayer: “May this water purify all the negative karmicobscurations of every sentient being that it touches!”

In order to purify the insects with blessed water, onecan either generate oneself as Thousand-Arm Chenrezig orvisualize Thousand-Arm Chenrezig in front of oneself. Asone pours the water over the insects, visualize streams of

nectar flowing from one’s hand, or from the hands ofThousand-Arm Chenrezig in front of one, purifying all theinsects’ delusions and negative karma created since begin-ningless time.

Rinpoche was asked if there was still benefit to the insects if theperson reciting the mantra has no realizations and is just anordinary being. Rinpoche replied that it doesn’t matter whetherthe person reciting the mantra has realizations or not. Even ifthe person has no realizations, it still benefits the insects becausethe benefit comes from the power of the mantra.

Scribed by Ven. Tenzin Tharchin, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land,Washington, U.S., July 26, 2012. Edited for publication inMandala.

More of Rinpoche’s advice can be found online atwww.fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/advice.html and also atLama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, www.lamayeshe.com, under"Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.”

Khadro-la Travels to EuropeSeveral European centers welcomed Khadro-la in July andAugust. In Spain, Khadro-la visited Centro NagarjunaValencia, Nagarjuna C.E.T. Barcelona and O.Sel.LingCentro de Retiros. In Italy, Khadro-la was at Centro TaraCittamani, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa and Kushi LingRetreat Centre. Longku Center in Switzerland and InstitutVajra Yogini in France also hosted her. Khadro-la offeredher second retreat atNalandaMonastery in France in August.

http://fpmt-europe.org/

FPMT International Office has welcomed three new staff membersover the last six months. In March, Trevor Fenwick stepped into theposition of donor services coordinator, taking over the position fromHeather Drollinger. Trevor is a long-time Buddhist practitioner andhas spent several years in retreat or working at Shasta Abbey, SravastiAbbey and other retreat centers in the United States doing kitchenmanagement, administration and fundraising.

Carl Jensen joined the International Office as office manager inJune. Carl will be filling the very large shoes of Ugyen Shola whoseinvolvement with FPMT stretches over decades. Carl’s educational

background is in political science and law. He’s taught English in China and Japan and is currently working oncompleting his Master of Divinity degree at Maitripa College.

In July, Aruna Prakash began work as the new finance controller, filling the vacancy left by Sarah Pool. Aruna holdsa Bachelors in Accounting from the University of South Pacific, Fiji Islands, and a Diploma in Business Adminis-tration from the Fiji Institute of Technology, Fiji Islands. She has more than 20 years of experience in her field.

International Office thanks Heather, Ugyen and Sarah for all their hard work and wishes Ugyen and Sarah thebest of luck with their new company, Pacific Northwest Kale Chips.

www.fpmt.org

New Faces at FPMT International Office

Khadro-la and Lama Zopa Rinpoche visiting FPMT Inter-national Office, Oregon, U.S., June 2012. Photo by MarcSakamoto.


FPMT News Around the WORLD

We’ve moved most of our FPMTNews Around theWorldsection online. News highlights from FPMT centers,projects and services are now part of Mandala’s daily blogat mandalamagazina.org/posts.

All centers, projects and services are encouraged to sendin news at any time! Guidelines are posted online atmandalamagazine.org/news-guidelines. Or simply emailyour news, photos, updates and/or thoughts to us [email protected]. You can also findMandala on Facebook as“Mandala Publications.”

RECENT ONLINE NEWS STORIES:• Geshe Tashi Tsering, resident teacher at Jamyang

Buddhist Centre in London, served as a chaplain in theOlympic Village and the Olympic Park.

• Kurukulla Center in the United States celebratedwith their resident teacher Geshe Tenley, who received hisU.S. citizenship.

• GesheThubten Sherab is currently touring Australian

centers, coordinated in part by FPMT Australia.• Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore celebrated

Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi's 50th birthday with a longlife puja. �

Attention FPMT Centers, Projects and Services!MandalaWants to Hear Your Latest News!

Check out Mandala’sMultimedia Stories Online!

• Watch a video interview with Geshe NgawangSonam, the new resident teacher at HayagrivaBuddhist Centre in Perth, Australia.

• See photos from the first-ever fire prevention andsafety trainings at Kopan Monastery and KhachoeGhakyil Nunnery in Kathmandu, Nepal, offered by aconcerned Australian volunteer firefighter instructor.

Visit mandalamagazine.org.

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FPMT DIRECTORYThis directory is a listing of centers, projects and services worldwide which are under the spiritual direction of Lama ZopaRinpoche and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). You can find a complete listing with

address and director/coordinator information on the FPMT website: http://www.fpmt.org/centers/directory.htmlPlease contact [email protected] with any updates to your listing.

Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpochec/o FPMT International Office

FPMT International Office1632 SE 11th AvenuePortland, OR USAwww.fpmt.orgTel: (1) (503) 808 1588

Projects of FPMTInternational Office include:Amdo Eye CenterFPMT Puja FundLama Tsongkhapa TeachersFundSera Je Food FundStupa Fundwww.fpmt.org/projects

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

International MahayanaInstituteSan Francisco, CA USAwww.imisangha.org

Lama Yeshe Wisdom ArchiveLincoln, MA USAwww.LamaYeshe.comTel: +1 (781) 259 4466

Liberation Prison ProjectAshfield, Australiawww.liberationprisonproject.org

Lotsawa Rinchen ZangpoTranslator ProgrammeDharamsala, Indiahttp://lrztp.blogspot.com/

LKPY: Loving KindnessPeaceful YouthUnley, SA Australiawww.lkpy.org

Maitreya Project Internationalwww.maitreyaproject.org

Universal Education forCompassion and Wisdom

London, United Kingdomwww.essential-education.orgTel: +44 (0) 20 7820 9010

FPMT REGIONAL ANDNATIONAL OFFICES

Australian National Officewww.fpmta.org.auTel: +61 (2) 4782 2095

Brazilian National [email protected]: +55 (47) 9127 3314

European Regional Officewww.fpmt-europe.orgTel: +31 (0) 20 627 3227

Italian National [email protected]

Mexico National Officewww.fpmt-mexico.orgTel: +52 (987) 869 2222

Nepal National [email protected]: +977 (1) 442 4091

North American (USA andCanada) Regional [email protected]: +1 (831) 334 2777

South Asian Regional [email protected]

Spanish National Officewww.fpmt-hispana.orgTel/Fax: +34 (91) 445 6514

Taiwan National Officewww.fpmt.twTel: +886 (2) 2523 0727

FPMT CENTERS, PROJECTSAND SERVICES

ARGENTINA (Tel Code 54)

Yogi Saraha Study GroupBuenos [email protected]: (11) 4541 7112

AUSTRALIA (Tel Code 61)

New South Wales

Enlightenment for theDear AnimalsDenistone Eastwww.enlightenmentforanimals.orgTel: +61 (2) 9808 1045

Kadam SharawaBuddhist InstituteCopacabanawww.kadamsharawa.orgTel: (0402) 688 620

Kunsang Yeshe Retreat CentreKatoombawww.kunsangyeshe.com.auTel: (02) 4788 1407

Vajrayana InstituteAshfieldwww.vajrayana.com.auTel: (02) 9798 9644Resident Geshe:Geshe Ngawang SamtenResident Teacher:Wai Cheong Kok

Queensland

Chenrezig InstituteEudlowww.chenrezig.com.auTel: (07) 5453 2108Resident Geshe:Geshe Lobsang JamyangResident Teacher:Ven. Tenzin Tsepal

Projects of Chenrezig Institute:The Enlightenment Projectfor Purification and [email protected]

The Garden of Enlightenmentwww.chenrezig.com.au/content/view/42/146

Cittamani Hospice ServicePalmwoodswww.cittamanihospice.com.auTel: (07) 5445 0822

Karuna Hospice ServiceWindsorwww.karuna.org.auTel: (07) 3632 8300

A project of Karuna Hospice:Karuna Bookswww.karunabooks.com.au

Langri Tangpa CentreCamp Hillwww.langritangpa.org.auTel: (07) 3398 3310

South Australia

Buddha HouseTusmorewww.buddhahouse.orgTel: (08) 8333 2824

De-Tong Ling Retreat CentreKingscotewww.detongling.orgTel: (08) 8559 3276

Tasmania

Chag-tong Chen-tong CentreSnugwww.chagtong.orgTel: (03) 6267 9203

Victoria

Atisha CentreEaglehawkwww.atishacentre.org.auTel: (03) 5446 3336

The Great Stupa ofUniversal CompassionMaiden Gullywww.stupa.org.auTel: (03) 5446 7568

Shen Phen Ling Study [email protected]: (02) 6027 1335

Tara InstituteBrighton East

www.tarainstitute.org.au

Tel: (03) 9596 8900

Resident Geshe:

Geshe Lobsang Doga

Thubten Shedrup LingEaglehawk

www.tslmonastery.org

Tel: (03) 5446 3691

Western Australia

Hayagriva Buddhist CentreKensington

www.hayagriva.org.au

Tel: (08) 9367 4817

Resident Geshe:

Geshe Ngawang Sonam

Resident Teacher:

Ven. Thubten Dondrub

Hospice of Mother TaraBunbury

www.hmt.org.au

Tel: (08) 9791 9798

AUSTRIA (Tel Code 43)

Panchen Losang ChogyenGelugzentrumVienna

www.fpmt-plc.at

Tel: (1) 479 24 22

BELGIUM (Tel Code 32)

Shedrup Zungdel StudyGroupBurg Reuland

[email protected]

BRAZIL (Tel Code 55)

Centro Shiwa LhaRio de Janeiro

www.shiwalha.org.br

Tel: (21) 9322 0476


CANADA (Tel Code 1)

Gendun Drubpa CentreWilliams Lake, B.C.www.gendundrubpa.comTel: (250) 398 5681

Lama Yeshe Ling CentreOakville, Ontariowww.lamayesheling.orgTel: (905) 296 3728

CHINA (Tel Code 852)

Mahayana Buddhist Assoc.(Cham-Tse-Ling)North Point, Hong Kongwww.fpmtmba.org.hkTel: 2770 7239

COLOMBIA (Tel Code 57)

Centro YamantakaBogotáwww.yamantakabogota.orgTel: (311) 251 0993

DENMARK (Tel Code 45)

Tong-nyi Nying-je LingCopenhagenwww.fpmt.dkTel: 33 13 11 08Resident Teacher:Stephan Pende Wormland

Projects of Tong-nyiNying-je Ling:The Center for ConsciousLiving and Dyingwww.cbld.dk

Dharma Wisdom Publishingwww.dharmavisdom.dk

FINLAND (Tel Code 358)

Tara Liberation Study [email protected]: (50) 353 2886

FRANCE (Tel Code 33)

Editions Vajra YoginiMarzenswww.vajra-yogini.comTel: (05) 6358 1722

Gyaltsab Je Study GroupIle de la [email protected]

Institut Vajra YoginiMarzenswww.institutvajrayogini.frTel: (05) 6358 1722Resident Geshes:Geshe Tengye andGeshe Tenzin Loden

Kalachakra CentrePariswww.centre-kalachakra.comTel: (01) 4005 0222Resident Geshe:Geshe Drakpa Tsundue

Nalanda MonasteryLabastide St. Georgeswww.nalanda-monastery.euTel: (05) 6358 0225Resident Geshe:Geshe Losang Jamphel

Thakpa Kachoe Retreat LandMarseillewww.thakpakachoe.comTel: (612) 918 949

FRENCH POLYNESIA (Tel Code 689)

Naropa Meditation CenterTahitihttp://naropatahiti.over-blog.com

GERMANY (Tel Code 49)

Aryatara InstitutMünchenwww.aryatara.deTel: (89) 2781 7227Resident Teacher:Ven. Fedor Stracke

Diamant VerlagKaltern, Italywww.diamant-verlag.infoTel: +39 (0471) 964 183

Tara Mandala [email protected]: 9951 90235Resident Teacher: Dieter Kratzer

GREECE (Tel Code 30)

Gonpo ChakdukLing Study [email protected]: (210) 762 7189

INDIA (Tel Code 91)

Choe Khor SumLing Study GroupBangalorewww.cksl.inTel: (80) 4148 6497

Maitreya Project [email protected]: (551) 2342 012

MAITRI Charitable TrustBodhgayawww.maitri-bodhgaya.orgTel: (631) 2200 841

Root InstituteBodhgayawww.rootinstitute.comTel: (631) 2200 714

Projects of Root Institute:Shakyamuni BuddhaCommunity HealthCare Centre

Maitreya School

Sera IMI [email protected]

Tushita MahayanaMeditation CentreNew [email protected]: (11) 2651 3400

Tushita Meditation CentreMcLeod Ganjwww.tushita.infoTel: (1892) 221 866

INDONESIA (Tel Code 62)

Lama Serlingpa BodhicittaStudy [email protected]

Potowa CenterTangerangwww.potowa.orgTel: (21) 9359 2181

ISRAEL (Tel Code 972)

Shantideva Study GroupRamat Ganhttp://shantideva.org.ilTel: 3 736 6226

ITALY (Tel Code 39)

Casa del Buddha dellaMedicinaLivornowww.associazionedareprotezione.it

Centro Lama Tzong [email protected]: (0422) 300 850

Centro Muni GyanaPalermowww.centromunigyana.itTel: (0327) 038 3805

Centro Studi CenresigBolognawww.cenresig.orgTel: (347) 246 1157

Centro Tara CittamaniPadovawww.taracittamani.itTel: (049) 864 7463

Centro Terradi Unificazione EwamFlorencewww.ewam.itTel: (055) 454 308

Chiara Luce EdizioniPomaia (Pisa)www.chiaraluce.itTel: (050) 685 690

Istituto Lama Tzong KhapaPomaia (Pisa)www.iltk.itTel: (050) 685 654Resident Geshes:Geshe Tenzin Tenphel andGeshe Jampa Gelek

Projects of IstitutoLama Tzong Khapa:Shenpen SamtenLing Nunnery

Takden Shedrup Targye LingMonastery

Kushi Ling Retreat CentreArco (TN)www.kushi-ling.comTel: (347) 2113471Resident Geshe:Geshe Dondup Tsering

Sangye Choling Study GroupSondrio

www.sangye.it

Tel: (39) 0342 513198

Shiné JewelryPomaia (Pisa)

www.shinegioielli.it

Tel: (050) 685 033

Yeshe Norbu -Appello per il TibetPomaia (Pisa)

www.AdozioniTibet.it

Tel: (050) 685 033

JAPAN (Tel Code 81)

Do Ngak Sung Juk CentreTokyo

www.fpmt-japan.org

Tel: (070) 5562 8812

LATVIA (Tel Code 371)

Ganden BuddhistMeditation CentreRiga

www.ganden.lv

Tel: 2949 0141

Yiga Chodzin Study GroupRaunas novads

www.yigachodzin.lv

MALAYSIA (Tel Code 60)

Chokyi Gyaltsen CenterPenang

www.fpmt-cgc.blogspot.com

Tel: (4) 826 5089

Resident Geshe:

Geshe Deyang

Rinchen Jangsem LingRetreat CentreTriang

www.jangsemling.com

Kasih Hospice CareSelangor

www.kasih-hospice.org

Tel: (3) 7960 7424

Losang Dragpa CentreSelangor

www.fpmt-ldc.org

Tel: (3) 7968 3278

Resident Geshe:

Geshe Jampa Tsundu


MAURITIUS (Tel Code 230)

Dharmarakshita Study [email protected]: 258 3054

MEXICO (Tel Code 52)

Bengungyal CenterAguascalienteswww.bengungyal.orgTel: (449) 973 5550Resident Geshe:Geshe Losang Khedup

Chekawa Study [email protected]/Fax: (452) 523 5963

Khamlungpa CenterZapopanwww.khamlungpa.org.mxTel: (33) 3122 1052Resident Geshe:Geshe Losang Khedup

Khedrup Sangye YesheStudy [email protected]

Tel: (443) 308 5707

PadmasambhavaStudy [email protected]: (6181) 711 102

Rinchen Zangpo CenterTorreonwww.rinchenzangpo.org.mxTel: (087) 1712 6873

Serlingpa Retreat CenterZitacuarohttp://calendarioretiroserlingpa.blogspot.com

Tel: (715) 153 9942

Thubten Kunkyab StudyGroupCoapawww.meditadf.blogspot.comTel: (552) 325 5861

Vajrapani Tibetan BuddhistStudy [email protected]: (958) 70989

Yeshe Gyaltsen CenterCozumelwww.fpmtcozumel.orgTel: (987) 869 2222

MONGOLIA (Tel Code 976)

All Mongolian centers,projects and services areaccessible through:www.fpmtmongolia.org

Drolma Ling NunneryUlaanbaatarTel: (11) 480 741

Enlightening MindUlaanbaatarTel: (11) 480 741

Ganden Do NgagShedrup LingUlaanbaatarTel: (11) 321 580

Golden Light Sutra CenterDarkhanTel: (1372) 28856

NEPAL (Tel Code 977)

Ganden Yiga Chözin BuddhistMeditation CentrePokharawww.pokharabuddhistcentre.com

Tel: (61) 522 923

Himalayan BuddhistMeditation CentreKathmanduwww.fpmt-hbmc.orgTel: (980) 325 4704

Khachoe Ghakyil NunneryKathmanduwww.kopannunnery.orgTel: (1) 481 236Resident Geshes:Geshe Lobsang Zopa,Geshe Tsering Norbu,Geshe Konchog Nodrup,and Geshe Losang Chodak

Kopan MonasteryKathmanduwww.kopanmonastery.comTel: (1) 482 1268Resident Geshes:Geshe Lobsang Sherab,Geshe Lobsang Nyendrak,Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen,and Geshe Tashi DhondupResident Teacher:Ven. Karin Valham

Projects of Kopan Monastery:Animal Liberation Sanctuarywww.fpmt.org/projects/other/alp.html

Mu GompaChhekamparwww.fpmt/projects/tsumResident Geshe:Geshe Tenzin Nyima

Rachen NunneryChhekamparwww.fpmt/projects/tsumResident Geshe:Geshe Tenzin Nyima

Thubten Shedrup LingMonasterySolu KhumbuResident Geshe:Geshe Thubten Yonden

Lawudo Retreat CentreSolu Khumbuwww.lawudo.comTel: (1) 221 875

THE NETHERLANDS (Tel Code 31)

Maitreya Instituut AmsterdamAmsterdamwww.maitreya.nl/adamTel: (020) 428 0842Resident Teacher:Ven. Kaye Miner

Maitreya Instituut LoenenLoenenwww.maitreya.nl/emstTel: (0578) 661 450Resident Geshe:Geshe Sonam Gyaltsen

A project of MaitreyaInstituut Loenen:Maitreya Uitgeverij(Maitreya Publications)Loenen

NEW ZEALAND (Tel Code 64)

Amitabha Hospice ServiceAvondalewww.amitabhahospice.orgTel: (09) 828 3321

Chandrakirti TibetanBuddhist Meditation CentreRichmondwww.chandrakirti.co.nzTel: (03) 543 2015

Resident Geshe:Geshe Jampa TharchinResident Teacher:Alan Carter

Dorje Chang InstituteAvondalewww.dci.org.nzTel: (09) 828 3333Resident Geshe:Geshe Thubten Wangchen

Mahamudra CentreColvillewww.mahamudra.org.nzTel: (07) 866 6851

ROMANIA (Tel Code 402)

Grupul de Studiu BuddhistWhite TaraJudetul [email protected]: 4829 4216

RUSSIA (Tel Code 7)

Aryadeva Study GroupSt. Petersburgwww.aryadeva.spb.ruTel: (812) 710 0012

Ganden Tendar Ling CenterMoscowwww.fpmt.ruTel: (926) 204 3164

SINGAPORE (Tel Code 65)

Amitabha Buddhist CentreSingaporewww.fpmtabc.orgTel: 6745 8547Resident Geshe: KhenrinpocheGeshe Thubten Chonyi

SLOVENIA (Tel Code 386)

Chagna Pemo Study [email protected]: (40) 573 571

SPAIN (Tel Code 34)

Ediciones DharmaNoveldawww.edicionesdharma.comTel: (96) 560 3200

Nagarjuna C.E.T. AlicanteAlicantewww.budismoalicante.comTel: (66) 387 124

Nagarjuna C.E.T. BarcelonaBarcelonawww.nagarjunabcn.orgTel: (93) 457 0788Resident Geshe:Geshe Losang Jamphel

Nagarjuna C.E.T. GranadaGranadawww.nagaryunagr.orgTel: (95) 825 1629

Nagarjuna C.E.T. MadridMadridwww.nagarjunamadrid.orgTel: (91) 445 65 14Resident Geshe:Geshe Thubten Choden

Centro Nagarjuna ValenciaValenciawww.nagarjunavalencia.comTel: (96) 395 1008Resident Geshe:Geshe Lamsang

O.Sel.Ling Centro de RetirosOrgivawww.oseling.comTel: (95) 834 3134Resident Teacher:Ven. Champa Shenphen

Tekchen Chö LingOntinyentwww.centrobudistaontinyent.esTel: (96) 291 3231

Tushita Retreat CenterArbúcieswww.budismotibetano.net/tushitaTel: (97) 217 8262

SWEDEN (Tel Code 46)

Tsog Nyi Ling Study GroupRanstawww.fpmt.seTel: (0224) 200 22

Yeshe Norbu Study GroupStockholmhttp://fpmt-stockholm.seTel: (0707) 321 793

SWITZERLAND (Tel Code 41)

Gendun Drupa CentreMuraz/Sierrewww.gendundrupa.chTel: (27) 455 7924Resident Teacher: Sixte Vinçotte


Longku CenterBernwww.fpmt.chTel: (31) 332 5723

TAIWAN (Tel Code 886)

All Taiwanese centers areaccessible through:www.fpmt.tw

Heruka CenterCiaotouTel: (7) 612 5599Resident Geshe:Geshe Tsethar

Jinsiu FarlinTaipeiTel: (2) 2577 0333Resident Geshe:Geshe Gyurme

Shakyamuni CenterTaichung CityTel: (4) 2436 4123Resident Geshe:Geshe Ngawang Gyatso

UNITED KINGDOM (Tel Code 44)

Jamyang Bath Study GroupBathwww.jamyangbath.org.uk

Jamyang Buddhist CentreLondonwww.jamyang.co.ukTel: (02078) 208 787Resident Geshe:Geshe Tashi Tsering

Jamyang BuddhistCentre LeedsLeedswww.jamyangleeds.co.ukTel: (07866) 760 460

Jamyang CoventryStudy GroupCoventrywww.coventry-buddhists.com

Khedrup Je Study [email protected]: (07789) 327054

Land of Joywww.landofjoy.co.ukTel: (07949) 595691

Saraswati Study GroupDraytonwww.saraswati.org.ukTel: (01458) 252463

Togme Sangpo Study GroupFindhornwww.togmesangpo.org.ukTel: (01309) 690926

Yeshe Study [email protected]: (01229) 885 329

UNITED STATES (Tel Code 1)

California

Gyalwa GyatsoBuddhist CenterCampbellwww.gyalwagyatso.orgTel: (408) 866 5056Resident Teacher:Ven. Losang Drimay

Land of Calm AbidingSan Simeonhttp://landofcalmabiding.orgTel: (831) 475 6018

Land of Medicine BuddhaSoquelwww.landofmedicinebuddha.orgTel: (831) 462 8383

Tara HomeSoquelwww.tarahome.orgTel: (831) 477 7750

Tara Redwood SchoolSoquelwww.tararedwoodschool.org

Tsa Tsa Studio / Center forTibetan Sacred ArtRichmondwww.tsatsastudio.orgTel: (415) 503 0409

Tse Chen LingSan Franciscowww.tsechenling.orgTel: (415) 621 4215Resident Geshe:Geshe Ngawang Dakpa

Vajrapani InstituteBoulder Creekwww.vajrapani.orgTel: (831) 338 6654

Colorado

Lama Yeshe HouseStudy [email protected]: (831) 234 7963

Florida

Land for Nagarjuna’sSutra and TantraDharma Study [email protected]: (941) 745 1147

Tse Pag Me Study [email protected]: (813) 783 1888

Tubten Kunga CenterDeerfield Beachwww.tubtenkunga.orgTel: (954) 421 6224Resident Geshe:Geshe Konchog Kyab

Massachusetts

Kurukulla CenterMedfordwww.kurukulla.orgTel: (617) 624 0177Resident Geshe:Geshe Tenley

Wisdom Publications Inc.Somervillewww.wisdompubs.orgTel: (617) 776 7416

Montana

Osel Shen Phen LingMissoulawww.fpmt-osel.orgTel: (406) 543-2207

Nevada

Dharmakaya Study GroupRenohttp://dharmakayacenter.com/Home_Page.htmlTel: (775) 232 8067

New Mexico

Thubten Norbu LingSanta Fewww.tnlsf.orgTel: (505) 660 7056Resident Teacher:Don Handrick

Ksitigarbha TibetanBuddhist CenterRanchos de [email protected]

New York

Shantideva Meditation CenterNew Yorkwww.shantidevameditation.org

North Carolina

Kadampa CenterRaleighwww.kadampa-center.orgTel: (919) 859 3433Resident Geshe:Geshe Gelek Chodha

Ohio

Manjushri Study GroupYoungstownhttp://manjushristudygroup.blogspot.com

Oregon

Maitripa CollegePortlandwww.maitripa.orgTel: (503) 235 2477Resident Geshe:Yangsi Rinpoche

Texas

Land of Compassionand WisdomAustinwww.austinfpmt.orgTel: (512) 280 8687

Vermont

Milarepa CenterBarnetwww.milarepacenter.orgTel: (802) 633 4136

Virginia

Guhyasamaja CenterCentrevillewww.guhyasamaja.orgTel: (703) 774 9692Resident Geshe:Khensur Lobsang JampaRinpoche

Washington

Buddha Amitabha Pure LandRiversidewww.buddha-amitabha-pure-land.org

Pamtingpa CenterTonasketwww.tonasketbuddhist.orgTel: (509) 223 3003

What does it meanto be an FPMT Center,

Study Group,Project or Service?

If a center, project or service isaffiliated with FPMT, it meansthat it follows the spiritualdirection of Lama Zopa Rin-poche. It means that centersand study groups use FPMT’seducational programs andmaterial, created in the uniquelineage of Lama Yeshe andLama Zopa Rinpoche.

Each FPMT center, projector service is incorporated indi-vidually (is a separate legalentity) and is responsible for itsown governance and finance.

All FPMT centers, projects,services and study groupsfollow the FPMT Ethical Policy.

FPMT study groups aregroups which are using thisstatus as a probationary periodbefore a group becomes a legalentity and a full FPMT center,project or service.

FPMT study groups are notyet affiliated with the FPMT, andtherefore do not have the sameresponsibilities as a center orproject, financially or adminis-tratively.

Documents

Mandala Magazine Oct-Dec 2012