Mandala. fpmt. Khadro-la: If We Use Our Wisdom Carefully, Everything Is Possible BLISSFUL RAYS OF THE MANDALA IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS

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1 fpmt Mandala OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012 BLISSFUL RAYS OF THE MANDALA IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS Khadro-la: If We Use Our Wisdom Carefully, Everything Is Possible THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE FOUNDATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE MAHAYANA TRADITION

2 Wisdom Publications New and classic books from Wisdom Publications. WISDOM ENERGY Basic Buddhist Teachings Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche 160 pages $15.95 A perennial resource for new and practicing Buddhists alike from two of Buddhism's greatest teachers. In this wonderful book, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche bring alive the rich tradition of Buddhism in a way that is directly relevant to modern life. Howard C. Cutler, coauthor of The Art of Happiness THE ARTS OF CONTEMPLATIVE CARE Pioneering Voices in Buddhist Chaplaincy and Pastoral Work Edited by Cheryl A. Giles and Willa B. Miller 368 pages Hardcover $34.95 Destined to become the core text of Buddhist chaplaincy. A radical and wise offering to the world. Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx A valuable, honest, and wise handbook and a beautiful sign of the blossoming of Dharma in the West. Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart INSIGHT INTO EMPTINESS Khensur Jampa Tegchok Edited by Thubten Chodron 296 pages $18.95 This is one of the best introductions to the philosophy of emptiness I have ever read. José Ignacio Cabezón, Dalai Lama Professor and Chair, Religious Studies Department, UC Santa Barbara A jewel of a book. Kathleen McDonald, author of Awakening the Kind Heart FIRST INVITE LOVE IN 40 Time-Tested Tools for Creating a More Compassionate Life Tana Pesso and Penor Rinpoche Foreword by the Dalai Lama 200 pages $15.95 A SPIRITUALLY & PRACTICE BEST SPIRITUAL BOOKS WINNER A clear, practical handbook that will genuinely help anyone who reads it and follows its exercises. Sharon Salzburg, cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and author of Lovingkindness

3 The Autobiography of Geshe Sopa LIKE A WAKING DREAM The Autobiography of Geshe Lhundub Sopa Geshe Lhundub Sopa with Paul Donnely 384 pages Hardcover $24.95 Prior to his thirty-year career as a professor in the first-ever academic Buddhist Studies program in the United States, Geshe Sopa was the son of peasant farmers, a novice monk in a rural monastery, a virtuoso scholar monk at one of the prestigious central monasteries in Lhasa, and a survivor of the Tibetan uprising in Lhasa and perilous flight into exile in In Like a Waking Dream, Geshe Sopa frankly and observantly reflects on how his life in Tibet, a monastic life of yogic simplicity, shaped and prepared him for the unexpected. His is a tale of an exemplary life dedicated to learning, spiritual cultivation, and the service of others from one of the greatest living masters of Tibetan Buddhism. This book is a must read. Zorba Paster, host of Public Radio International s On Your Health Geshe Sopa is one of the greatest living Buddhist masters of his generation. This marvelous life story will captivate the hearts and minds of anyone who reads it. José Ignacio Cabezón, Dalai Lama Professor and Chair of the Religious Studies Department, UC Santa Barbara Also Available from Wisdom MOODY COW LEARNS COMPASSION Kerry Lee MacLean 32 pages Hardcover $16.95 ONE OF SPIRITUALITY & PRACTICE'S BEST SPIRITUAL BOOKS OF 2012 A tale that young children and the parents who read it to them will find engaging and instructive. Highly recommended. Jon Landaw, author of Prince Siddhartha: The Story of Buddha LOOK FOR THE MIND JAR APP FOR IPHONE AND IPAD, AVAILABLE NOW ON ITUNES AND IN THE APP STORE! 2013 TIBETAN ART CALENDAR 16.5 x Paintings $28.95 These thirteen sacred paintings by Tibet s master painters represent a variety of classical images, mandalas, deities, and icons suitable for framing. The traditional days of the week and moon phase calendar returns for Order direct and save. Free shipping available. wisdompubs.org, Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144

4 f p m t l i n e a g e s e r i e s heart advice series Bodhisattva Attitude How to Dedicate Your Life to Others Lama Zopa Rinpoche Edited by Ven. Sarah Thresher FREE For more free books go to lamayeshe.com all our books are available as ebooks from amazon, apple, barnes & noble, sony and more How to Practice Dharma: Teachings on the Eight Worldly Dharmas By Lama Zopa Rinpoche Edited by Gordon McDougall $10 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 Free video of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche on our newyoutube channel: youtube.com/ lamayeshewisdom Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive contains recordings and transcripts of Lama Thubten Yeshe s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche s teachings dating back to the early 1970s and we re still growing! Our website offers thousands of pages of teachings by some of the greatest lamas of our time. Hundreds of audio recordings, our photo gallery and our ever-popular books are also freely accessible at lamayeshe.com. please see our website or contact us for more information Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive po box 636, lincoln, ma info@lamayeshe.com

5 CONTENTS fpmt Mandala 6 FROM THE EDITOR 30 EDUCATION 8 GRATITUDE FOR OUR FPMT PATRONS 34 DHARMA AND THE MODERN WORLD 10 TEACHINGS AND ADVICE 16 PRACTICING DHARMA IN DAILY LIFE COVER FEATURE 23 An Interview with Khadro-la: If We Use Our Wisdom Carefully, Everything Is Possible 40 TAKING CARE OF OTHERS 46 YOUR COMMUNITY 54 FPMT NEWS AROUND THE WORLD 59 FPMT DIRECTORY 11 ONLINE HIGHLIGHTS 22 Mandala publishes EXCLUSIVE ONLINE articles, photos and audio each issue to supplement our print publication. Visit mandalamagazine.org. The October - December 2012 issue includes DHARMA REALITIES Leaves in the Wind: People Who Wish for Death By Ven. Chönyi Taylor BUDDHIST IN THE TRENCHES Loneliness By Sarah Shifferd BIG LOVE An excerpt from Adele Hulse s biography of Lama Yeshe MANDALA TALK An audio podcast featuring Tibetan translator and teacher Craig Preston complete interviews, advice, personal stories and more at mandalamagazine.org! OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012 ISSUE 57 MANDALA (ISSN ) is published quarterly by FPMT, Inc., 1632 SE 11th Ave, Portland, OR , USA. Printed by Journal Graphics, Portland, Oregon, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Portland OR. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mandala, 1632 SE 11th Ave, Portland OR COVER: Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drolma (Khadro-la) at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Pomaia, Italy, July Photo by Piero Sirianni. October - December 2012 MANDALA 5

6 From the EDITOR DEAR READER, In June, FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drolma (Khadro-la) visited Mandala s home base, also known as FPMT International Office in Portland, Oregon. I find 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 s first time in the office since manifesting a stroke in April One of the most moving sights for me during the visit was watching Rinpoche go up and down the steps to our second floor office. Yes, we have an elevator, but Rinpoche decided to ascend and descend the very public steps instead. He had assistance, but as I watched him, I saw that it was his determination getting him to the top and back down again. Upon reflection, I m amazed by his kindness and by how 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 Portland area, I had the opportunity to interview Khadro-la. I went to the interview full of nerves, not sure how I came to have this kind of amazing opportunity and anxious to not mess it up. During the interview, I was struck by how often Khadro-la emphasized wisdom and this has stuck with me. As I sit writing this, I ask myself: How would a deeper understanding of dependent arising and emptiness change my experience and actions? And do I firmly believe, as Khadro-la says, that if we use our wisdom carefully, everything is possible? These are powerful ideas that I believe can change us. I feel inspired to integrate them into my life. I hope you do too. Love, Laura Mandala is the official publication of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an international charitable organization founded more than thirty years ago by two Tibetan Buddhist masters: Lama Thubten Yeshe ( ) and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. FPMT is now a vibrant international community with a network of over 150 affiliate centers, projects, services and study groups in more than thirty countries. Editorial Policy Recurring topics include: Buddhist philosophy; Education; Ordination and the Sangha; Buddhism and Modern Life; Youth Issues; FPMT Activities Worldwide; Lama Yeshe and his teachings; Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his teachings; His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his teachings, among many other topics. Writers, photographers and artists, both amateur and professional, are encouraged to submit material for consideration. Mandala currently does not pay for publishable content; we credit all photos and other work as requested. Mandala is published quarterly and is available via the Friends of FPMT program. Additionally, the publication is supplemented by online stories published exclusively at: ABOUT MANDALA Friends of FPMT is a donor program composed of Friends working together to support FPMT s global activities. To learn about Friends of FPMT levels and benefits, contact us or visit: Mandala is published in January, April, July and October. Managing Editor and Publisher Laura Miller laura@fpmt.org Assistant Editor, Advertising & Sales Michael Jolliffe michael@fpmt.org Art Director Cowgirls Design cowgirl@newmex.com Friends of FPMT Program Trevor Fenwick friends@fpmt.org FPMT, Inc SE 11 th Ave. Portland, OR Tel: Fax: Toll free USA only FPMT Board of Directors Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche Board Members Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi Ven. Roger Kunsang Ven. Pemba Sherpa Osel Hita Karuna Cayton Andrew Haynes Peter Kedge Tim McNeill Tara Melwani Alison Murdoch Paula de Wijs-Koolkin MANDALA October - December 2012

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8 IN GRATITUDE Gratitude for Our FPMT Patrons The Friends of FPMT program wants to extend its heartfelt gratitude to our FPMT Patrons listed below. FPMT Patrons generously offer US$100 or more each month to sustain FPMT s global activities, which directly support the preservation of the Mahayana tradition and the loving-kindness it engenders. In addition to being included in a yearly patron puja, FPMT Patrons receive Mandala magazine and complete access to FPMT s Online Learning Center, which offers dozens of online educational programs. George Michael Cuesta Nicholas Tan Ram Sistla Sandra Sharpe Valerie Bennett Michael Fujii Mun Kong Loke Amala Chew Soo Chuah Joerg Eberhardt Plus, several anonymous Patrons A puja at Kopan Monastery, June Photo courtesy of Kopan Monastery. The Friends of FPMT program provides necessary funding for Lama Zopa Rinpoche s International Office. Funds go toward developing and publishing educational materials in several languages, sharing Lama Zopa Rinpoche s latest advice, providing support for FPMT s 158 centers, projects and services around the world, and communicating news of Rinpoche s compassionate activities and updates from the entire FPMT international community. To learn more, please visit 8 MANDALA October - December 2012

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10 Teachings and ADVICE LAMA YESHE S WISDOM TRUE DHARMA PRACTITIONERS By Lama Yeshe WELCOME TROUBLE Sometimes when people first hear Dharma teachings on happiness and suffering they think that happiness depends upon suffering and that if they were to be completely free of suffering there would be no way to experience happiness. I can see where the idea comes from. In a way, it s quite logical: if there s no misery, there s no happiness; misery and happiness are interdependent phenomena. This is human experience. It s my experience too. When I was studying at Sera [Je Monastery] in Tibet from the ages of nine to twenty-four, I took many teachings and received many commentaries from excellent teachers. I was well looked after by my uncle, who made sure I never went hungry or thirsty and took care of me in general. It was a typical monastic life and it was really good. And from my side, I tried my best to study and practice Dharma. But still, in 1959, the Chinese kicked us out. Well, not exactly, but they did not allow people to practice Dharma, so I thought that if I want to keep practicing there 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 had been studying and practicing, I didn t feel ready to die. So in that painful situation of uncertainty, I had to look deeply into myself to see if all those teachings I had taken would allow me to cope with my new reality. I found that they helped a great deal, and that gave me the confidence I needed to deal with the changing environment in which we found ourselves. If you re not tested, you take teaching after teaching and think you re OK, but when you re confronted with a Lama Yeshe, Grizzly Lodge, Portola, California, U.S., Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. been studying works or not, a chance to transform suffering into happiness. Otherwise, you just go blithely along, completely out of touch with reality, thinking you re OK when you re not, because you haven t actually been practicing Dharma at all. To put this another way, painful situations are a source of wisdom. How so? First of all, painful situations arise as a You need to realize that Dharma teachings are talking about you, your personal reality. You need to take them personally and integrate them with your life. difficult situation, it s possible that you ll find you re not OK at all. So that s why true Dharma practitioners welcome trouble. It gives them a chance to see if what they ve result of non-virtuous karma. When we experience pain we should ask, Why is this happening to me? How has this come about? That sort of inquiry leads us to understand 10 MANDALA October - December 2012

11 that it s the ripening of negative karma we created in the past. That basic understanding can grow into wisdom; the painful experience helps us develop a deeper understanding that is beyond the merely intellectual. Of course, if you re completely ignorant, it doesn t matter how much suffering you experience, there s no way for that to lead to happiness. All you do is go from misery to more misery. If, on the other hand, you have at least a modicum of Dharma wisdom, when you re in difficulty you know how to use that experience to lead yourself into happiness. One lama said, When things go well, you re a great Dharma practitioner; when things go badly, your Dharma disappears. When your stomach is full and sunshine is pouring into your room, it s easy to look religious; but when difficulties arise, you come up empty. It s like when I was a young boy in Tibet and everything was going well, I pretty much took it for granted that I was practicing Dharma. It could easily have happened that when it came to the crunch, I could have found my Dharma practice wanting that I d never practiced or even understood Dharma and that could ADVICE FROM A SPIRITUAL FRIEND The Buddha explained in a sutra that we can never achieve satisfaction as long as we follow desire. Furthermore, Lama Tsongkhapa said in the Lamrim Chen-mo that following desire opens the door to many problems. Just as many branches grow from the root of a plant, most of the disturbing emotions and problems we face in life grow out of desire. The great yogi Sharawa said that with clinging comes dissatisfaction. Even though we might have more than enough material possessions, clothes, money and so forth to last our whole life, we still feel we don t have enough, we still crave more. But following desire easily have led me to give it up, thinking that Dharma doesn t work. Dharma practice is very difficult if you don t understand what it is. You need to realize that Dharma teachings are talking about you, your personal reality. You need to take them personally and integrate them with your life. It s no good if your Dharma understanding is like soup many different ideas all mixed up and you never make Dharma a part of your life. Then it can t really help you. If you understand your own attitude and level and know what you need at any particular moment in time, you can fulfill your needs appropriately and will see yourself making real progress. Simply collecting information that s disconnected from your own reality doesn t make sense. By understanding Dharma from your own point of view, from the way you live your life, you have a much better chance of 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 Edited for Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive ( by Nicholas Ribush. SAMSARIC METHODS CAN NEVER SATISFY By Lama Zopa Rinpoche Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Maitripa College, Portland, Oregon, U.S., June Photo by Marc Sakamoto. October - December 2012 MANDALA 11

12 Teachings and ADVICE doesn t fill the empty heart. 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. Whether we experience a little pleasure or a lot, we never find real satisfaction so we just want it again and again and again and again and again. We re always craving for better and more but it just doesn t happen. Desire is by nature hungry; it can never be satiated. Desire is like a chronic disease. There are chronic diseases 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 very salty. Because of that you have to drink tea with it. After a glass of tea you crave more popcorn, which makes you thirsty, which makes you drink more tea, which makes you want more popcorn, and so forth, on and on. Until you actively determine to stop, you just keep on eating and drinking endlessly. What the Rolling Stones Mick Jagger sang is very true: I can t get no satisfaction. In his heart, no matter how many friends he has, no matter how many people say they full of problems, all caused by the evil thought of eight worldly dharmas. There are many people like this, totally out of control, blindly following attachment. Some end up going crazy or killing themselves because they can t control their lives. They re always searching for happiness but finding only suffering. Life becomes so heavy and difficult, bringing depression, worry, fear. Chasing satisfaction in things, we have no chance to enjoy what life can offer. Even if we re living in a jeweled palace full of luxuries, even if we have billions of cars Bentleys, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Rolls even if we have billions of swimming pools, we still can t really enjoy life. We might have an army of servants working for us but we re still completely miserable. Look at the very rich beyond their glossy exteriors and ask yourself whether they re truly happy. Many of them look thoroughly worn down and miserable. When we don t get what our attachment wants, we feel hopeless. This is one of the fundamental sufferings in our life. This is what makes people crazy. Whatever we re attached to that we lose our business, our friend, whatever 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. love him, no matter how famous he has become, no matter how much wealth he has, he s still not satisfied. The song expresses what s in his heart he has all these external things but his heart, his inner life, is empty. In singing this he shows us the shortcomings of desire and proves what the Buddha said: samsaric pleasure never gives satisfaction. No matter how much we get, no matter how much we experience, we re never satisfied. We can travel around the world for months or even years trying to find a desirable object, trying to find a friend. Our mind is so upset, so lonely, so worried we won t get what we want. One country doesn t give us what we need and so we go to another. Maybe we spend some time hanging around in Greece, but not finding the object to satisfy our desires there, we go to California. We spend all our money like this. We cling to the dream of finding the perfect partner but, unable to meet him or her in one place, our attachment takes us to another part of the world. We experience a difficult life, makes us think that our life has no meaning. This then makes us create negative karma out of anger, jealousy, stealing, killing and so forth. We cause so much harm to ourselves and others. It brings much unhappiness not only to ourselves but also to many others and is the cause of rebirth in the lower realms. We need to let go by practicing mindfulness, by watching the mind. Then, when attachment to the eight worldly dharmas arises, like the missiles America used on Iraq that travel hundreds of miles and go right to the target, we need to see attachment for what it is and launch our nuclear missile of mindfulness right at it to destroy it. Excerpted from How to Practice Dharma: Teachings on the Eight Worldly Dharmas by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, edited by Gordon McDougall. How to Practice Dharma is the second in Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive s FPMT Lineage Series ( See page 37 to read more about the FPMT Lineage Series and the founding of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive in our interview with Archive director Nicholas Ribush. 12 MANDALA October - December 2012

13 A TEACHER TELLS US WHY TRUTH AND HONESTY ARE WITHOUT LIMIT Khadro-la offering advice to FPMT International Office staff, Portland, Oregon, U.S., June Photos by Ven. Thubten Kunsang. QUESTION: How can I best use my human rebirth? ANSWERED BY RANGJUNG NELJORMA KHADRO NAMSEL DROLMA (KHADRO-LA) We need to understand that our present happiness and suffering isn t something that comes without causes and conditions, nor does it come as a result of discordant causes and conditions. Everything good or bad in life occurs in accordance with causes and conditions. When we amass karmic actions that are non-virtuous, then there is suffering. As we amass karmic actions that are virtuous, 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 the Buddha, have met with teachers and are blessed with an intellect that allows us to make discernments. We all have the wish to do good. The feeling to do good, to do something 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 temporary situation, and we are totally deceived by that. Therefore, it is important to be honest and truthful. Honesty and truthfulness in your activities is something that should be without limit. Truth and honesty are things that are limitless. You may call it bodhichitta, you may call it emptiness, but reality is that truth and that honesty brought forth to their ultimate level. For our basic sustenance and our basic means of living we depend on various jobs, but these are all dependent conditions. They re not something you can ultimately trust because they are conditions that are dependent on other You should think about dependent arising subtle dependent arising and gross dependent arising and how because of dependent arising liberation is possible for us. things. However, if we have that basic honesty and truth in us, we naturally become good people. When we know what in actuality is bodhichitta and what in actuality is emptiness, and when we have trust in that reality of bodhichitta and emptiness, we can see that this is the real goodness within ourselves. When we lack that honesty and truth and work to enhance our own reputation, well-being and comfort, that is the way in which we deceive ourselves. And although we wish for or seek out those things, they re not going to work out anyway. October - December 2012 MANDALA 13

14 Teachings and ADVICE Because of dependent arising, you have liberation. Because of dependent arising, you have the means to extinguish suffering. And because of dependent arising, you need to cultivate compassion and you need to develop bodhichitta. You need to meditate on these things that are very, very precious. Because of dependent arising, thinking about the kindness of others becomes very important. You should think about dependent arising subtle dependent arising and gross dependent arising and how because of dependent arising liberation is possible for us. If we need to use our intellect in any way, it should be to reflect on dependent arising and what that means for us. If you see bodhichitta and emptiness as really precious, you are able to counter difficulties or problems outer and inner much better. When in the face of difficulties, you are not depressed by them or set back by them. If you see the preciousness of bodhichitta and emptiness, you are not quick to anger and aggression, and you become more compassionate and more tolerant. If one is able to think until the enlightenment of all sentient beings, I dedicate my 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 for others, it s limitless. Out of that understanding comes altruism. Whatever activities you engage in with that attitude become very pervasive and extensive. Even at the time of death, if you happen to be dying due to some ailment, make dedications for the benefit of sentient being so that if you have to think of the possibility of your body getting cremated or buried, there is no feeling of anxiety over it. We say that our mind by nature is luminous and that all our defilements are adventitious. When you extinguish these adventitious defilements, you actualize the luminous nature of your mind. This is how we actualize the buddhanature in us. The key thing is being good and kind night and day, no matter where constantly checking to see whether one is upholding that attitude or not. Excerpted from a talk given to FPMT International Office staff, Portland, Oregon, U.S., June 22, Interpreted by Ven. Tsen-la. Edited for publication in Mandala. Khadro-la offers more advice to FPMT students in our cover feature, If We Use Our Wisdom Carefully, Everything Is Possible" on page MANDALA October - December 2012

15 F R I E N D S O F fpmt fpmt relies on the generosity of Friends and donors like you to achieve its mission the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community services. A gift membership to Friends of FPMT is another way to practice generosity and may be made by going online to We appreciate having you as a Friend and thank you for your ongoing support of our programs.

16 Practicing Dharma in DAILY LIFE FEATURED PRACTICE PRAYER OF CHENREZIG, THE COMPASSIONATE BUDDHA Statue of Songtsen Gampo in Maitripa College s Jokhang, Portland, Oregon, U.S. Photo by Marc Sakamoto. Prayer of Chenrezig, the Compassionate Buddha comes out of the Mani Kabum, a collection of teachings attributed to the first Dharma King of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo. Songtsen Gampo himself was considered an embodiment of Chenrezig, sometimes referred 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 happen to 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. Buddha Days October 29 Lord Buddha s acceptance to descend from God Realm of Thirty-three November 6 Lord Buddha s actual descent from God Realm of Thirty-three Full and New Moons (Tibetan 15th and 30th days) October 15, 29 November 13, 28 December 13, 28 The FPMT Foundation Store offers for sale the LIBERATION calendar, a traditional Tibetan lunar calendar including auspicious days and more, produced by Liberation Prison Project: shop.fpmt.org. 16 MANDALA October - December 2012

17 Prayer of Chenrezig, the Compassionate Buddha NAMO GURU LOKESHVARAYA You 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 my illuminating light, Compassionate Eye Looking One. When, like a blazing fire, I become angry at my enemy, please be like a waterfall, extinguishing my anger, Compassionate Eye Looking One. When, like violent waves, I become attached to my friends, please help 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 of Medicine (Medicine Buddha), Compassionate Eye Looking One. At the time of death, when I am disturbed and frightened, please show your face, which introduces self-nature, Compassionate Eye Looking One. When I am surrounded by karma, the messenger of Yama, please be my refuge and guide, Compassionate Eye Looking One. When I am on the journey of the unknown and dangerous path of the intermediate stage, please be like my close relative, Compassionate Eye Looking One. When I am seeking and wandering without end, please take me to 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 my virtuous friend, Compassionate Eye Looking One. When I always meditate that you are on my crown, make offerings and pray, please be my root Guru, Compassionate Eye Looking One. When I meditate and praise you, please be my mind-sealed assembly deity (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, and poverty, 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 Draft prepared and edited by Sarah Shifferd, FPMT Education Services, April 2009, for the 100 Million Mani Retreat at Institut Vajra Yogini. October - December 2012 MANDALA 17

18 REJOICE! Practicing Dharma in DAILY LIFE Every year, practitioners quietly complete retreats and commitments and engage in acts of great devotion. REJOICE! is where we recognize the amazing practice of FPMT students around the world. MANI THANKS TO MALAYSIA AND AUSTRALIA As part of his vast vision for FPMT and its students, Lama Zopa Rinpoche encourages FPMT centers to host mani retreats, a practice found in Tibetan Buddhism in which practitioners gather together in order to collectively accumulate 100 million repetitions of the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM ( mani for short), the mantra of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches that reciting this mantra supports the development of compassion and bodhichitta in one s mind, among other incredible benefits. Two centers Rinchen Jangsem Ling in Triang, Malaysia, and Chenrezig Institute in Eudlo, Australia have taken up the challenge of regularly organizing and hosting these retreats, garnering a cumulative 17 years of experience since Rinchen Jangsem Ling finished its fifth annual mani retreat July 1, Retreat leader Ven. Sonam Yeshe reports that 189 participants from Malaysia, Singapore, Mexico, Australia and Vietnam collected over 25 million recitations over the course of a month. Rinchen Jangsem Ling honors those who recite 110,000 mantras by forwarding their names to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and allowing them to choose one name (for each set of 110,000 they personally accumulate) to be inscribed on a gold plaque on the platform of the center s Tara statue. On average, participants in the 2012 retreat recited just over 138,000 mantras each, but there was one person, Carolyn Chan, who recited an impressive 1,520,888! I have heard much positive feedback and praise from participants pertaining to [the retreat], shares participant and coordinator Sand Lee, who herself offered over 1.2 million mantras to the total count. This great retreat has brought many people together in Dharma; people whom Participants at an onsite session of Rinchen Jangsem Ling s 2012 mani retreat, Malaysia. Photo courtesy of Ven. Sonam Yeshe. we did not know before have come to be great friends. For some who have never before recited a mantra, taking part in 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 from Tushita (usually in November) and ends on Saka Dawa (in May or June). Over the 12 years the retreat has taken place, participants have accumulated over 558 million mantra recitations. This year, 90 people from around the world participated. Although the count for this year is not final, veteran coordinator Caroline Crossman reports that with the help of major contributions from the students of Do Ngak Sung Juk Centre in Tokyo, the count is already nearing 16 million and is still growing! Both centers offer onsite and at-home options for contributing to the mani retreats, opening the way for anyone to participate. Contact the centers directly (see FPMT Directory, p. 59) for more information. 18 MANDALA October - December 2012

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20 Practicing Dharma in DAILY LIFE I,000,000 PROSTRATIONS! Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently received the following letter from a student in the United States. After Rinpoche read the letter, he requested that it be published in Mandala 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 this merit 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 prostrations. It was only Dharma that held me together during the hardest years of caring for my mother as she suffered from 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. THE INTERNATIONAL MERIT BOX PROJECT WE ALL HAVE A WORD FOR GENEROSITY: generøsitet vrijgevigheid suuremeelsus kagandahang-loob hào phóng générosité generosità Großzügigkeit щедрость generosidade kemurahan generositet gavmildhet Generozitatea Practice generosity with your own International Merit Box kit, now available in eleven languages. meritbox@fpmt.org for more information and to obtain your own Merit Box kit, or visit 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. 20 MANDALA October - December 2012

21 October - December 2012 MANDALA 21

22 An Interview with Khadro-la 22 MANDALA October - December 2012

23 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 nearly 200 gathered at Maitripa College to hear Khadro-la offer her first public teaching in the United States. The packed room vibrated with curiosity and anticipation at hearing a female lama teach such a rare opportunity in Tibetan Buddhism. She sat on a low throne surrounded by flowers and with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Yangsi Rinpoche sitting on either side of her. Even before she began, her visible humbleness and bubbling youthful laughter relaxed and lightened the mood. As Khadro-la said at the start of her talk, for most people in attendance, this was the first time meeting with her in this lifetime. By the end of the evening, Khadro-la s smile and warmth had spread through the crowd; after she had left, the audience lingered in the bliss, hoping to meet her again soon. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the originator of all sentient beings happiness, FPMT Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche said during his teaching at Maitripa College the previous evening. Khadro-la s responsibility is to serve His Holiness. She came from Tibet to serve His Holiness. You know, without her I think we would probably have a very difficult time. Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drolma is Khadrola s formal title Rangjung Neljorma being the name that His Holiness gave her meaning self-arising, natural yogini. The international FPMT community was introduced to Khadro-la through an interview with Ven. Roger Kunsang, who serves as Lama Zopa Rinpoche s attendant and FPMT CEO, called Interview with a Dakini, published in Mandala January-March In the interview, Khadro-la Left page: Khadro-la teaching at Maitripa College, Oregon, U.S., June Photo by Marc Sakamoto. shared stories of the incredible hardships she met with when leaving Tibet and becoming a refugee and the obstacles that blocked many of her initial attempts to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama once she arrived in Dharamsala, India. Since the 2009 interview appeared, FPMT students have seen Khadro-la in pictures with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Dagri Rinpoche performing pujas and visiting sacred sites in India and Nepal. She s become known through the assistance she has been offering Lama Zopa Rinpoche since he manifested a stroke in 2011 and also through serving as an oracle at the Kalachakra initiation given by His Holiness in Bodhgaya, India, in January. Until recently, only a very few FPMT centers had hosted public teachings with Khadro-la, such as Losang Dragpa Centre in Malaysia and Nalanda Monastery in France. Fortunately for FPMT students, Khadro-la has been traveling from her home in Dharamsala, stopping by several FPMT centers on the West Coast of the United States in June 2012 with Lama Zopa Rinpoche (see page 54). Then in July, Khadro-la visited Spain, Italy and Switzerland, offering public teachings in centers there. In August, she led her second retreat at Nalanda Monastery. Many more FPMT centers have invited her to teach and are hoping to host her in the future. While Khadro-la was visiting the FPMT International Office in Portland in June, she agreed to a second interview with Mandala magazine. Managing editor Laura Miller asked Khadro-la to talk about her connection with and service to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, offer advice to female practitioners and share her thoughts for the development of FPMT. We share this interview with the hope that many will be inspired by Khadro-la s sincere and profound commitment to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to spreading the Dharma. October - December 2012 MANDALA 23

24 An Interview with Khadro-la Mandala: How did you meet Lama Zopa Rinpoche? And can you talk about your connection and service to Rinpoche? Khadro-la: I don t remember the year exactly, but it was around 1996 or 97 that I was going on pilgrimage. I met a woman called Maria, and through her, I came to know of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Later on, I met Dagri Rinpoche. Through him and others I became more connected. I had an audience with His Holiness the Dalia Lama. During that time, I think Rinpoche was working on the project of the Maitreya statue [known as the Maitreya Project]. His Holiness mentioned to me that if there was anything I could do for Rinpoche and the project, then I should help with that. So then I met with Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the first time. I immediately felt that Rinpoche was a person who practices real bodhisattva actions and I developed a great sense of devotion. In addition, I had heard that Rinpoche was sponsoring the meals for the monks at Sera Je Monastery [through the Sera Je Food Fund]. Then I came to know that this was not just hearsay, but real action. It s quite a big monastery. The monks there are upholding the Dharma and the lineage, and I am really moved by such actions. Through my acquaintance with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, I ve also come to know that Rinpoche is someone who firmly believes in, supports and has one-hundred-percent faith in His Holiness the Dalai Lama. These things also have brought me much closer to Rinpoche. At one point, Lama Zopa Rinpoche mentioned to me that he would like me to visit some centers in Asia. I checked with His Holiness if it was alright for me to visit, and His Holiness said, Yes, go ahead. After that, I started visiting some centers here and there. Seeing these centers, I came to realize that Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche really were so kind and helpful to all Buddhists. Not only that, they had established so many centers all around the world. I realized that FPMT was one of the organizations that had the most centers of Tibetan Buddhism around the world. When people come in contact with FPMT centers, it gives them the opportunity to purify and to do practice. It gives a lot benefit. For Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the purpose Top: Khadro-la at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, July Photo by Piero Sirianni. Bottom: Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khadro-la circumambulating Lama Yeshe's Great Enlightenment Stupa at Vajrapani Institute, California, U.S., June Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang. 24 MANDALA October - December 2012

25 of having all the centers and projects is so that people can have contact with Dharma. Due to Rinpoche s bodhichitta, even if people cannot practice, they can have an introduction to or some kind of experience of Dharma. In order to fulfill the ultimate goal of enlightenment of all beings, Rinpoche is working tirelessly, creating opportunities for all people by building holy objects here and there and by establishing centers. All this so that students and others can accumulate merit through contact with holy objects and the Buddha s teachings. The vastness of Lama Zopa Rinpoche s bodhisattva mind cannot be fathomed by a person like me. These are just some of the surface qualities of that mind that I can see. Due to all these vast actions that Lama Zopa Rinpoche awkward to push Rinpoche too much to do physical exercise. Mandala: Would you speak about the teachings you offer to female practitioners? For example, teachings having to do with self-confidence. Khadro-la: Generally speaking, whatever you practice or whatever actions you do, there will not be much difference between males and females. When you talk about courage and self-confidence there are many levels, but what is most important is to see reality for what it is. Through that experience [of recognizing the ultimate reality of situations], then one can experience self-confidence. 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. has done, I felt a special connection with Rinpoche and decided that whatever I can do to serve Rinpoche, in whatever capacity, I m happy to do it. Even though from my side, I don t know much and might not be able to help a lot. Mandala: How do you think Rinpoche s recovery from manifesting a stroke is going and what is helping with that recovery? Khadro-la: Lama Zopa Rinpoche took this manifestation of having a stroke, but on the inside, Rinpoche doesn t worry about being cured and getting over this stroke. His mental state is very calm and very vast. The actions he s thinking about don t concern his own immediate recovery. When I heard of Rinpoche s stroke, I had a sense or vision that somewhere around Rinpoche s neck [Khadro-la gestures towards the area where the neck meets the back of the head] there was some kind of blockage of the passage of blood. It s like the wind [subtle energy] stops and then the flow of blood stops. It seems that modern medicine cannot immediately benefit Rinpoche right now. Whenever there is an impediment to Rinpoche s own physical strength or ability to do exercise, someone can help with massage and with his movement and that can be very beneficial. Rinpoche doesn t do much physical exercise! [Khadro-la laughs.] It s kind of Developing the ability to see reality may be most helpful for female practitioners, who are more sensitive to experiences good or bad and more able to recognize feelings in themselves and others. I think that women more easily have a sense of compassion and closeness and are more comfortable with emotions. Also, women experience different difficulties in life and maybe their nervous system is set up a little differently. But 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. It s the same for males and females; there is no difference. Therefore, the self-cherishing thought rooted in ignorance is exactly the same for males and females. In order to eliminate temporary and permanent suffering, we all need to use our wisdom. I think that in terms of wisdom, women need to have a sharper and clearer vision of how things really exist. It is a cultural thing that woman have been looked down upon in the past. Particularly in some rural and smaller [or economically less developed] countries, there is a lot of discrimination. In these kinds of cultures where women are looked upon as inferior, it is a huge mistake and a wrong way of thinking. The person who can think in the short term as well as the long term keeping in mind the goal of perceiving exactly how things are in reality October - December 2012 MANDALA 25

26 An Interview with Khadro-la Khadro-la laughing during teaching, Nalanda Monastery, France, August Photo courtesy of Nalanda Monastery. understands there is no difference between men or women or anything else. We shouldn t feel discouraged as females; we shouldn t feel that we can t do anything. Whether you can do or cannot do something is up to your wisdom one s own wisdom. If we can use the wisdom correctly, then we can do anything. Mandala: Do you have any advice for FPMT or ideas on how FPMT can grow in the future? Khadro-la: Most of the people who run FPMT are very knowledgeable and well-educated people. Unlike someone like me, they have had access to all kinds of opportunities. As a simple female Tibetan who hasn t had much education and has studied less than others, it doesn t seem too appropriate for me to give advice to FPMT. At the same time, I really feel like saying what I think honestly, since you asked. First of all, the existence of FPMT and its centers is very, very important. The people associated with FPMT centers experience benefit for themselves. But centers also benefit others by creating the possibility for them to come into contact with Buddhism so that they may eventually become enlightened. If we see the centers in this context, undoubtedly they are helping sentient beings have more happiness. In most cases, people think of themselves as good and as trying to benefit or help others, and never think that they re bad or trying to harm someone. People want to see themselves as good. In order to actually be a good human being, the first quality necessary is that a person has to be honest. In order to be honest, one shouldn t have to be so close or dependent on someone or try to keep others distant. You have to have equanimity. Then you must look at reality and see it as it is. Through this, we become more honest and reliable. There is no limit to how much we can develop the qualities of a good human being within ourselves. We always can improve. After all, as Mahayana Buddhists our ultimate aim and goal is to get enlightened in order to benefit all other sentient beings. For those in Buddhist centers especially, that should be our main goal. If we get too involved in seeking temporary benefits just for this life or for the benefit of this life it won t be very good. If you think just about personal benefit when you are at a Buddhist center, then it s an incorrect motivation. It won t help. Instead of helping, it might harm us in the long term. In addition, we have to remember the kindness of our teachers. 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. Students, everyone, need to remember this. The organization also recognizes very thoroughly what refuge is and that there are various kinds of refuge outer, inner and secret. If you understand this very thoroughly, then it will be very beneficial for all. For anyone who has a bad experience of suffering, this is because of the negative actions of body, speech and mind that have occurred in the past. Because of a particular action, one experiences the result. If we have accumulated positive actions through our body, speech and mind in our past life, we experience positive experiences in this life. Moreover, through the doors of body, speech and mind, we will attain the ultimate enlightenment through our positive actions. In order to understand the Dharma, it s quite deep. The Buddhism that comes from Tibet, and originally from India, is like a jewel a wish-fulfilling jewel which can 26 MANDALA October - December 2012

27 benefit everyone in the world. So look at your own mind and look at reality, then through that you practice accordingly. This is particularly true for Buddhism and uncommon to other practices. When we receive a teaching at a center, it shouldn t be like reading the newspaper. Our self-cherishing thoughts, which we all have, are not very easy to tame. The whole reason that we are receiving teachings and that teachers are giving teachings is to tame the wild mind. Even if you understand the whole path in general, the main thing is that you must integrate whatever teachings you have received with your practice every day so that the teachings become one with your mind. When you don t do that, you become intellectually one-sided and your practice lacks. You have to respect the person giving you Dharma instruction and follow his or her advice. This helps to tame our minds. Of course, there are sometimes instances when some teachers may be giving you teachings, but they are more like worldly teachings. Or the teachers don t practice what they teach or they are all about materialistic things. In these cases, maybe it s better not to follow such teachers at that time. If what is taught is for the benefit of others always, then you can follow with faith. Otherwise, if it s just to benefit some individuals, then maybe it s not too helpful. All FPMT students should remember the kindness of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche for establishing FPMT. Through FPMT centers [projects and services], it s not only benefiting individual Dharma students, but it s also benefiting a lot of other people through medical programs, hospices and different charitable projects that FPMT is bringing to the world. Also, the main reason we are getting all of this benefit is because of the kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Through him, we are able to experience all of this. Although we [Tibetans] don t have Khadro-la during retreat, Nalanda Monastery, France, August Photo courtesy of Nalanda Monastery. regularly having dialogues with many modern scientists on Buddhism and science. This is amazing work that His Holiness is doing. Because of the actions and kindness of His Holiness, this is the first time that the scientists are paying attention to Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhist psychology offers an in-depth understanding of the nature of mind and how 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. our own country, because of His Holiness amazing actions and his teachings, it seems like we have conquered the world. [Khadro-la laughs.] The ultimate wish of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is to benefit everyone and to bring everyone to ultimate enlightenment. That is his main wish. In Buddha Shakyamuni s time, there wasn t this much attention on Buddhism. Maybe there were no scientists at that time, but now His Holiness is the mind functions. For the modern scientists doing this work, they are like small babies in their understanding of the mind. It s really amazing how deep Tibetan Buddhism goes with the study of the subtle mind. The scientists aren t even close to that right now. So it seems like as long as science remains important, there will be Buddhist science and Buddhist philosophy engaging with it. This is all part of the big vision of His Holiness. October - December 2012 MANDALA 27

28 An Interview with Khadro-la When we say chom dän dä [Skrt. bhagavan], that s a Tibetan Buddhist word for Buddha, which means one who has eliminated all the faults and who has already accumulated all the good qualities. His Holiness the Dalai Lama really represents this. All around the world, wherever His Holiness travels, he gives teaching or talks on many important subjects. It s really hard to find such a teacher. So feel very fortunate to meet with His Holiness at this time and also know that there are other holy beings as well. In terms of practice, when I was in Tibet, I had some experience of hearing negative things like this is my sect, I do it like this or this is not my sect. Even within Buddhism in earlier times, there were instances like this. But I practice a view of relying on dependent arising as the ultimate view and that one s actions should not harm Instead, always work to correct your own mistakes, and then you can be looking for good things in others. The nature of the mind is always pure and clear. We should understand that our ignorance, anger, attachment everything is temporary. If you understand that well, then you re able to experience compassion for other sentient beings. Through understanding the impermanence of things, we are able to achieve renunciation, bodhichitta and emptiness. If we see things as permanent, we have no chance. FPMT students see how very valuable and important it is to take care of other sentient beings. Because of this, they have very big goals and take on big jobs and projects, which can come with a lot of problems. This is the nature of things. However, we can use our wisdom and see that it is possible to solve these problems. It is important when facing 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. anyone. 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. The best practice or best sect for you is whatever benefits you the best, helps you tame your mind the most and makes 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 attachment for one and keep another at a distance. We need equanimity. If we don t, it s not following Tsongkhapa. When we are looking very carefully at the other sects and traditions, all are equal if practitioners are gaining enlightenment from doing their practice. The differences have to do with the history of their development. The main goal is all the same: for all practitioners to get to enlightenment. That s why we do not think this one is best or this one is worst. We never think like that. And if you do, you are not a real follower of Tsongkhapa. We always have to try our best at whatever practice we do. The main goal is to reduce and eventually eliminate selfcherishing and the self-grasping I. If you are really doing the practice, you are able to reduce the ignorance and grasping. Then the ultimate result will be to achieve bodhichitta and a direct realization of emptiness. It is important to always check your own mistakes and to 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. problems to try our very best to never think, This is impossible. If we use our wisdom carefully, everything is possible; 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 answered what I could of your questions, but it s mixed up and may not be of benefit. From my side, it has all been said honestly. 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 a Dakini from Mandala January-March 2009 as well as read Khadro-la talking about the stupas being built on the U.S. West Coast to minimize the damage from potential earthquakes at mandalamagazine.org. To learn about the Maitreya Project, go to For more information on Sera Je Food Fund, visit For more on the stupas being built, or to donate to these efforts, visit and search, "Stupas to Minimize Harm from the Elements." 28 MANDALA October - December 2012

29 FPMT Education Services Providing Programs and Practice Materials For All FPMT Prayers and Practices ipod, ipad, and Kindle Ready! MP3 downloads for just $8.00 each!! E-Books 50% off book cost Meditations for Children Heruka Vajrasattva Tsog, Daily Meditation on Shakyamuni Buddha Lama Chopa Jorcho Heart Practices for Death and Dying Bodhisattva Vows Extensive Offering Practice Available from the Foundation Store: Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga Chod Prostrations to the 35 Buddhas Essential Buddhist Prayers Vol 1 Essential Buddhist Prayers Vol 2 FPMT Retreat Prayer Book October - December 2012 MANDALA 29

30 EDUCATION FPMT EDUCATION SERVICES FPMT Education Services is the education department of FPMT International Office and develops study programs, practice materials, translations and trainings designed to foster an integration of four broad education areas: study, practice, service and behavior. These programs and materials are available through the FPMT Foundation Store, the FPMT Online Learning Center and FPMT centers worldwide. Perfecting the Means of Attainment By Kendall Magnussen Education Services Offers the New 2012 Edition of Initial Practices of Vajrayogini Many of us have had the unique cherry-on-top-ofa-precious-human-rebirth experience of receiving empowerment into the highest yoga tantric practice of Vajrayogini. In conjunction with such an empowerment, one receives a daily practice commitment and, usually, a retreat commitment of 100,000 or more mantras. These retreats are known as lä rung in Tibetan, often translated as nearing the deity or approaching the deity retreats. By doing a retreat of a certain number of mantras while engaging in the various meditations and prayers related to that practice, you come closer to attaining the enlightened state of Vajrayogini. In order to do such a retreat, you need the relevant practice materials. At FPMT Education Services, one of our primary tasks in helping to preserve the Mahayana tradition is to locate relevant texts, assure their accurate translation from the Tibetan into English and publish them. These precious texts have been developed over centuries. At first, these practices were given only as oral instructions from teacher to disciple. Later, they were written down by realized practitioners together with commentaries on how to engage in the practices. Then, to be able to print copies for distribution, monks carved woodblocks of these texts letter by letter (and Tibetan letters can be complex) and in mirror image, no less! Leading up to our first edition of Initial Practices of Vajrayogini in 2005, FPMT Education Services had numerous Vajrayogini means of attainment or sadhanas (step-by-step instructions for practicing the meditations related to a particular deity) and other practice texts in our New 2012 edition of Initial Practices of Vajrayogini files. Some of these were direct translations from the Tibetan by scholars such as Alexander Berzin. Others were translations or oral instructions given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and other lamas to their students directly or through an interpreter. In the early years of this oral transmission, the chances of getting things written down in a completely accurate manner were minimal, at best. Our job was to sort through the closeto100filesthatcametousfrom various sources, establish which were direct translations of known Tibetan texts, which were oral instructions dictated to a student, and figure out which works belonged to whom as well as which root texts were used as the basis for any particular written work or translation. The materials we received were often photocopies of older typewritten materials or handwritten notes and sometimes had no colophons to indicate original authors, texts or translators, so locating the root Tibetan texts proved exceptionally challenging. Because our mission is to accurately preserve the Mahayana tradition, this kind of detective work was absolutely necessary. Still, with our best efforts made, not all quandaries could be solved. Rather than waiting for years, decades or longer to meet demand, we did our best to make things available in a timely manner. When we first envisioned putting together a Vajrayogini pack in early 2000, the aim was to produce all of the practice texts, the ritual for entering into retreat, the pacifying burning offering ritual, the self-initiation rite and a commentary on how to do the great Vajrayogini retreat in one neat volume. However, as our research continued, our Vajrayogini materials grew into 30 MANDALA October - December 2012

31 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 entering into retreat, a tea offering practice, a hand offering practice and two commentaries by Pabongkha Rinpoche on how to engage in a Vajrayogini retreat. We first published this volume in 2005 with English translations and included the Tibetan 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 came to our attention or were requested. So, for the 2012 edition, we relied on the assistance of three different translators, the entire FPMT Education Services editorial team and feedback from numerous seasoned practitioners to make sure that this edition reflects the quality and accuracy needed to last for many years! Two new features of the 2012 edition are chantable English versions of select prayers to accompany the dakini-inspired Tibetan tunes and careful reformatting to make it more user-friendly for practice and retreat. Ah, the discoveries that were made in this latest process of revisions! For example, we had originally extracted the long sadhana from a self-initiation text by Pabongkha Rinpoche, based on advice from a very skilled translator. As we went through the practice more carefully, we discovered that there were many more inconsistencies between the long sadhana contained within the self-initiation text and Pabongkha Rinpoche s stand-alone version than had earlier been brought to our attention. In addition, when comparing the long sadhana with Pabongkha Rinpoche s own Tibetan compositions, we found discrepancies between the long sadhana contained in his Collected Works and the one found in his contributions to Vajrayogini Collected Activities, a compilation of works from various Gelug lamas. There were even differences in the Tibetan rendering of Vajrayogini s mantra! To avoid further confusion and increase practitioner confidence in our materials, our new 2012 edition includes extensive endnotes to clarify and source all adjustments made to the text. Tantric practitioners know that to practice the means of attainment and achieve the enlightened state of the deity is an impressive undertaking that can take many lifetimes. What FPMT Education Services now appreciates is that perfecting the means to accomplish that feat in other words, developing accurate practice materials is also an elaborate and complicated undertaking. We pray that all who engage in the practice of Vajrayogini will appreciate our latest publication and, as a result, more easily reach their enlightened goals. The new 2012 edition of Initial Practices of Vajrayogni can be purchased from the FPMT Foundation Store, shop.fpmt.org. FOUNDATION FOR DEVELOPING COMPASSION AND WISDOM The Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) is an international FPMT project advancing Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom secular education programs for people of all ages and cultures. Sharing the Dharma with Children and Families By the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom team As many Mandala readers will know, one of Lama Yeshe s primary aims for Universal Education [now called Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom] was to provide children and young people with the inspiration and tools that they need to lead a happy, peaceful and meaningful life. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been equally clear and direct in his advice to the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom, the organization set up in 2005 to take forward this work. In this extract from a July 2000 talk given at Deer Park Buddhist Center in Wisconsin, U.S., Rinpoche explains how social transformation begins with children and families: October - December 2012 MANDALA 31

32 EDUCATION How much peace and suffering there will be in the world depends on the present generation of children and how they are brought up. The purpose of Universal Education is to raise children to be more kind to others, more loving and compassionate, and for them to grow up with more universal responsibility. In this way, they bring great peace into their family and later also to their own children. They become good examples as parents and as teachers to their children, and then their children can become good examples and meaningful parents to their own children, and the generation is educated to grow up with a good heart, having universal responsibility. We would like to highlight some inspiring stories of how FPMT centers are finding innovative, contemporary and authentic ways to communicate the essence of the Dharma teachings to children and young people. We rejoice that they have found our educational initiative 16 Guidelines for a Happy Life of assistance in this work. We share a piece on Kadampa Center s Children and Youth Program in the United States below. In Mandala s online content at mandalamagazine.org, you can read about programs at Centro Yamantaka in Colombia and Losang Dragpa Centre in Malaysia that are also using the 16 Guidelines. For more information on FDCW and its programs, or to sign up for newsletters and updates, visit Never Give Up! Development of the Children and Youth Program at Kadampa Center By Erin Sloan, Children and Youth Program coordinator, Kadampa Center Participants of the Children and Youth Program, Kadampa Center, North Carolina, U.S. Photo by Denise Flora. Development of the Children and Youth Program (CYP) at Kadampa Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., started over a dozen years ago, when volunteers worked to find space and create materials to introduce children to the Dharma. Today, the program serves more than 30 children and youth per week. It continues to rely on the kindness of volunteers, the generosity of the center to provide space, a foundation of inspired materials, and the exceptional support of center director Robbie Watkins and resident teacher Geshe Gelek Chodha. A key factor in CYP s development was finding a curriculum that fit with our program, which is offered once a week on Sundays. The curriculum needed to be self-contained and flexible for new students or those attending on an irregular basis and friendly to families with mixed religious backgrounds and those new to Buddhism. Many approaches 32 MANDALA October - December 2012

33 were reviewed and tried. Then Geshe Gelek handed an early version of the 16 Guidelines to Denise Flora, a regular CYP volunteer, suggesting, This may be useful for the children s program. Denise began working on posters and chants to illustrate each guideline. This simple task evolved into a complete resource for working with 7- to 11-year-olds called Ready, Set, Happy, which is now an indispensable part of our program for toddlers through teens. Over the years, we ve discovered many benefits of teaching the 16 Guidelines, including familiar terminology and teaching materials that are accessible to kids, parents and those new to Buddhism and of other faiths. The 16 Guidelines also easily connect to Dharma practice as they are based on Buddha s teachings. For any center considering the development of a children s program, based on our experience at Kadampa Center, 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. Accept people 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 of growth that s going on here at the center, shares director Robbie Watkins. It s really become a center for families in a way it wasn t before. Learn more about the Kadampa Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., by visiting them online, For more information on Ready, Set, Happy, visit Go online to mandalamagazine.org to read about youth programs in Colombia at Centro Yamantaka and in Malaysia at Losang Dragpa Centre. MAITRIPA COLLEGE ~ Embark on the Path to Enlightenment Maitripa College Degree Programs: Master of Arts in Buddhist Studies (MA) ~ 44 Credits Master of Divinity (MDiv) ~ Now 72 Credits! Continuing Education & Distance Learning (Online) Classes Available Venerable Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (r), Spiritual Director of FPMT, with Yangsi Rinpoche (l), Geshe Lharampa & President of Maitripa College; ~ Photo by Marc Sakamoto October - December 2012 MANDALA 33

34 Dharma and the MODERN WORLD THE JOY OF STUDY Geshe Kelsang Wangmo s Path to Becoming the World s First Female Geshe In April 2011, Geshe Kelsang Wangmo made history by becoming the first female geshe, signaling a new era for nuns to excel scholastically and to take on important teaching roles that had traditionally been the domain of monks. It has been a great pleasure to see that Ven. Kelsang Wangmo has been awarded with the Geshe degree and I hope that many nuns, some having finished their study for years already, will follow very soon, Ven. Kunphen, spiritual program coordinator at Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala, told Mandala. It s quite a big step, which will heighten the esteem and value nuns are given considerably. Geshe Wangmo, who is German by birth, arrived in McLeod Ganj in 1990 as a confused and lost recent high school graduate who had already been traveling around Europe and Asia for several months. She told Mandala in an interview in July that she remembers waking up on her first morning in McLeod Ganj and feeling happy and peaceful. Because of this, she decided to stay and within a few months ended up attending teachings at Tushita Meditation Centre with Tibetan lamas like Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche and Lati Rinpoche. From there, she went to Kopan Monastery in Nepal, where she attended a course with Ven. Karin Valham, and following that, attended the one-month November course taught by Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche. By that time, I had developed great faith in Tibetan Buddhism and wanted to become a nun, she said. In spring 1991 while living back at Tushita, she took rabjung ordination from Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche. During all these months I was burning to meet Lama Zopa Rinpoche, having heard so much about him. Unfortunately, he was too busy at the time to be able to come to Tushita, Geshe Wangmo recalled. Then I heard a rumor that Rinpoche might be teaching at the Kopan November course. Thus in autumn 1991, I traveled to Nepal and after some time finally met Rinpoche. He taught part of the November course and had an impact on me that no other lama, except His Holiness the Dalai Lama, has ever had. I find it impossible to express the way Lama Zopa Rinpoche Geshe Kelsang Wangmo, Manali, India, Photo courtesy of Geshe Kelsang Wangmo. 34 MANDALA October - December 2012

35 Left: His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Geshe Kelsang Wangmo and her mother, Dharamsala, India, April Photo courtesy of Geshe Kelsang Wangmo; Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Tushita Meditation Centre with Geshe Kelsang Wangmo in attendance, McLeod Ganj, India, May Photo courtesy of Tushita Meditation Centre. makes me feel, but just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. He is one of the most amazing beings I have ever met and has truly changed my life through his profoundly inspiring example and his peerless teachings. After the 1991 November course, Geshe Wangmo took getsul ordination from Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche. She eventually returned to McLeod Ganj and decided to learn Tibetan, which is how she ended up entering a geshe program. I found the technique of debate so helpful [to learning Tibetan] that in 1993 I signed up for the new class of the geshe study program at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics (IBD), Geshe Wangmo told Mandala. At the time, I did not know exactly what the program involved and how long it would take. I actually thought that because it was described as very demanding and difficult, I probably would not last long. I therefore decided to study for about two years, hoping to be able to learn enough to be able to read the scriptures and receive direct instructions from Tibetan teachers. But instead of leaving, Geshe Wangmo continued with the program. At times, she experienced incredible difficulty due to the rigorous curriculum and not being a native speaker of Tibetan. She also struggled with the isolation and loneliness she felt as the only female student and as one of a very few Westerners that stayed with the program. I think it is primarily due to the kindness of my amazing teacher Geshe Gyatso-la that I did not give up. Geshe Kelsang Wangmo with her classmates after their graduation ceremony, April 2011, Dharamsala, India. Photo courtesy of Geshe Kelsang Wangmo. Whenever I had a problem, I could go to see him. He would help me with my studies, explain difficult points, give me advice and encourage me to continue, Geshe Wangmo said. On top of that, it was also the joy of doing the studies that kept me going. Studying and debating the sacred Buddhist scriptures has given me a deep sense of happiness and satisfaction. It has made my life so much more meaningful and set my mind in the direction of the Dharma. This is why, despite the hardships, I do not regret even a single day of the last 18 years. October - December 2012 MANDALA 35

36 Dharma and the MODERN WORLD Over the past decade, Geshe Wangmo has taught Buddhist philosophy to Westerners at the IBD. I have attended Geshe-la s class for a few years and found her an amazing and inspiring teacher, Ven. Kunphen said. It s quite rare to have a Western teacher, not to mention a woman, who has studied in the Tibetan system, and her students benefit very much from her vast knowledge and experience of both worlds and how to bring them together. Due to her teaching obligations at IBD, Geshe Wangmo doesn t have much free time to teach at other places, but according to Ven. Kunphen, Tushita is hoping to welcome her to teach an intermediate-level course or two next year. The Emergence of the Female Geshe Traditionally, Geshe degrees are awarded to monks who have completed extensive studies on the five major treatises of Buddhist philosophy. For centuries, Tibetan Buddhist nuns were discouraged from engaging in any philosophical study and debate and denied the ability to take full ordination vows, which prevented them from even hoping to obtain Geshe degrees. This institutionalized disadvantage for nuns continued even after the Chinese takeover of Tibet in the 1950s and the reestablishment of the main monasteries in India, but not without question. Over the years, His Holiness the Dalai Lama came to voice concern about the situation for nuns and supported efforts to improve educational opportunities and living conditions for nuns. In the mid-1990s, the Dalai Lama began advocating for the awarding of Geshe degrees to nuns. According to Tenzin Lungtok from the Central Tibetan Administration s Department of Religion and Culture, Since then, the matter [of female geshes] was discussed on several occasions, including the religious conference of the spiritual heads and representatives of the four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and the indigenous Bön religion, but a conclusive decision was not reached due to its complexities and divergence of views. His Holiness, however, continued to discuss the situation for nuns. The important thing is that now, for the past 30 years, we have worked to change [the lower status of nuns]. Many nuns are very sincere, but they have had no chance to ascend to the highest ordination level. This has made me somewhat uncomfortable, especially since the Buddha gave equal opportunities to women, His Holiness told The Progressive magazine in a 2006 interview. On a practical level, only monasteries had been authorized to award Geshe degrees, so even though a Tibetan nun may have completed studying in a geshe program, she would be unable to be a part of a monastery and receive the degree. But in 2011, His Holiness and the Department of Religion and Culture authorized the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics (IBD) to award Rime Geshe degrees for the first time. This allowed Geshe Wangmo, who had been a student at IBD since 1993, and several of her male monastic classmates to receive the degree without having to join a monastery. In addition to studying the standard Gelug geshe curriculum, taking exams and debating, a Rime Geshe has also spent time studying Nyingma, Sakya and Kagyu presentations of philosophy. It wasn t until March 2012, however, that the door began to open for all qualified nuns to receive a Geshe degree. During the annual Monlam celebration in Dharamsala, His Holiness categorically advised the Department of Religion and Culture to set up a committee consisting of members from the Tibetan Nuns Project, the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics and the nunneries in the vicinity of Dharamsala to discuss and formulate a procedure to award Geshe degrees to nuns, Tenzin Lungtok told Mandala. The meeting took place in May 2012 and concluded with the announcement that the group had framed rules and regulations for granting degrees. This means that all nuns who have completed or are in the process of completing geshe study programs now have the opportunity to take exams and be awarded Geshe degrees. The FPMT-affiliated Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery (also known as the Kopan Nunnery) in Kathmandu has several nuns currently studying for Geshe degrees. Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup, former abbot at Kopan Monastery, was instrumental in establishing the study program for nuns. While he was alive, he taught on a regular basis at the nunnery. Khachoe Ghakyil reports that two of their top nuns should be able to take their final exam in two years time. You can read a complete interview with Geshe Kelsang Wangmo and Mandala online at mandalamagazine.org. 36 MANDALA October - December 2012

37 PUBLISHING THE FPMT LINEAGE: Lama Zopa Rinpoche s Lam-Rim Teachings 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 The Wish-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, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. Right: Cover for How to Practice Dharma: Teachings on the Eight Worldly Dharmas by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. October - December 2012 MANDALA 37

38 Dharma and the MODERN WORLD After many years of offering service to a variety of FPMT activities, including Wisdom Publications, Nick founded the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, which is responsible for the collection and dissemination of Lama Yeshe s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche s teachings and advice. How to Practice Dharma: Teachings on the Eight Worldly Dharmas is the Archive s most recent publication and the second in their FPMT Lineage Series. In July 2012, Mandala spoke with Nick, who currently serves as the Archive s director, about the evolution of the FPMT Lineage Series and how its roots stretch all the way back to The Wish- Fulfilling Golden Sun. Mandala: How are the early Kopan courses connected to the Archive and the FPMT Lineage Series? Nick: Both Lama Yeshe s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche s teachings are important, but Rinpoche gave by far the most teachings. During my time at Kopan, I saw what would be useful would be to produce a series of topic-based commentaries on the nature of the mind, on the perfect human rebirth, on impermanence and death, on the three lower realms, refuge and karma the main lam-rim topics that were really the heart of Rinpoche s teachings. So, this was an idea that has been in my mind for years. Creating books from teachings is so much editorial work. For a person to be able to edit the Lamas [Lama Yeshe s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche s] teachings, you needed to meet basically five criteria: a good understanding of Dharma; a familiarity with the Lamas language; the ability to create a coherent manuscript with a beginning, middle and end; the time to do it; and essentially, the ability to do it for nothing or for little money. Who can do all that? Also, what tends to happen in FPMT is that the people who do want to put their life into it full-time already have so much else to do. Editing books takes time; you really need to work full-time at it. Even when we established Wisdom Publications, obviously, a large part of our mission would have been to publish the teachings of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. But somehow, the way the company developed, there was never enough money to pay people to edit the Lamas teachings. In 1995 and 96, when circumstances came about that I should leave Wisdom and when I wasn t sure what I would do, Rinpoche said, Well, take the Archive out of Wisdom, and set it up as a separate FPMT entity and focus on that. He never said focus on my teachings. He always couched it in terms of focusing on Lama Yeshe s teachings, but obviously it included Rinpoche s teachings. So we set up the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive as a separate FPMT entity. Mandala: How was the Archive finally able to begin publishing a series based on Lama Zopa Ripoche s lamrim teachings? Nick: In 2007, after about five years of trying to raise enough money to hire editors and publish more of the Lamas teachings, I got a letter from Rinpoche saying we weren t doing things well enough or fast enough you know, our operations were rusty. So, I came up with this new plan called Publishing the FPMT Lineage, which was a million-dollar-plus plan. What it involved was paying someone to travel with Lama Zopa Rinpoche to record everything he taught because we weren t getting recordings in a timely fashion from the centers and what we got was often of poor quality basically untranscribable and sometimes we didn t get anything at all. It also included paying transcribers and people to edit. Jen Barlow, our finance manager, and I flew to Portland and presented the plan to FPMT International Office, but they were unable to offer financial support to it. A month later, I got an from one of Rinpoche s Asian students, who I didn t know even existed, saying that she was looking on the website and saw an older fundraising plan and was wondering how it was coming together maybe she could help us with that. I said, Well, that plan didn t work, but have I got a plan for you! I sent her the US$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 a matching grant. You raise money to match it, and there is your million dollars. But I won t wait for you to get the funds. I will give you the half million right away so that you can start immediately, but over five years you have to raise $100,000 a year. I said, Ok. I ll take the money, which I did, and we ve been able to raise the money each year 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. 38 MANDALA October - December 2012

39 [Thubten] Munsel as our chief transcriber. She doesn t work full-time because to do 40 hours a week is just too hard, but she does a lot. We could probably do with another person, because there is still a huge backlog from the 80s and 90s that has not been transcribed. But transcribers are hard to find. We have had so many come and go. They try it; they can t do it. Either they can t hear Rinpoche or they get too much lung doing it. There are a lot of obstacles to that job for some reason. But, anyway, a lot is getting transcribed. In terms of hiring editors, we tried a few people. Then Gordon McDougall, who is a long-time student of the Lamas and had been involved with the Hong Kong center, got involved. When he was in London, he worked with Geshe Tashi Tsering to develop and edit the six books in Geshe Tashi s Foundation of Buddhist Thought series published by Wisdom. We also were able to hire Ven. (as she was then) Namdrol [Miranda Adams] part-time. She edited Yangsi Rinpoche s Lamrim Chenmo commentary called Practicing the Path for Wisdom, and we hired her to start going through all Lama Zopa Rinpoche s lam-rim teachings and basketing them. As you read through a Kopan course transcript, you cut and paste the teaching into a topic basket: perfect human rebirth, refuge, karma, yada, yada, yada. There are so many things that Rinpoche covered from one course to another. The idea was we would collect everything Rinpoche has ever said on perfect human rebirth into the perfect human rebirth basket and so forth. When everything is chopped up like that and basketed, then you go back, sort out all the teachings and you make a coherent whole on the topic out of it. We decided some years ago that we would use the outline from Pabongka Rinpoche s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand to organize these teachings as that was probably the main lam-rim text that Rinpoche used to refer to when he was giving his lam-rim commentaries. Then Maitripa College started, and Namdrol had to work for that, so she couldn t do the basketing anymore. Ven.Trisha Donnelly took over; I think she was between her stints as Root Institute director. So between Namdrol and Trisha, we had a lot of the teachings basketed. By the time Gordon came on board, he had a lot of material to work with, and the system was kind of established, so he went through and did the rest. Still we had this idea we needed five editors. But then as Gordon started working on it, it became fairly apparent that, actually, one full-time editor was probably enough. The first book I thought we should do is Rinpoche s teachings on the eight worldly dharmas, which is something that I have wanted to do since 1974, when during the Sixth Kopan Course Rinpoche gave his most extensive teaching on the eight worldly dharmas. That is partly the backbone of the new book How to Practice Dharma. Following this, teachings on the perfect human rebirth and impermanence and death have been sponsored. The matching grant for Publishing the FPMT Lineage project pays for the editing, but it doesn t pay for the printing. We find sponsors to cover the printing costs. How to Practice Dharma was covered by sponsors in Singapore. Read the complete interview with Nicholas Ribush online at mandalamagazine.org. To learn more about Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive and the new book How to Practice Dharma, visit Every issue Mandala publishes additional original stories on our website not found in print. In this issue: The Practice of Writing, an interview with Dinty W. Moore, author of The Mindful Writer, a recent book from Wisdom Publications. An excerpt from Journeys on the Silk Road: A Desert Explorer, Buddha s Secret Library, and the Unearthing of the World s Oldest Printed Book by Joyce Morgan and Conrad Walters, which tells the story of the discovery of tens of thousands of ancient Buddhist texts hidden away at the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas near Dunhuang, China. Reflections on cooking, mindfulness and a recipe for quiche from Maarten de Vries, director of Maitreya Instituut Loenen. For these stories and more, visit mandalamagazine.org October - December 2012 MANDALA 39

40 Taking Care of OTHERS Meet the Liberation Prison Project Aletter from Arturo Esquer, a young Mexican-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 the Liberation Prison Project (LPP). I m writing in hope to be able to receive [FPMT] s journal on a regular basis, Arturo wrote in 1996, having recently read Lama Yeshe s Introduction to Tantra. If possible, I would like to personally get involved in the Buddhist way of life. Ven. Robina, who at the time was Mandala s editor, replied to the letter, sending along some Dharma books and copies of Mandala, and planting the seeds for a project that has supported the spiritual practice of over 20,000 incarcerated men and women around the world. In 16 years, LPP has offered over 200,000 Buddhist books, magazines, CDs, DVDs and practice materials free to LPP students, their families, and prison chaplains and libraries. Countless letters have been exchanged between LPP students and volunteers. Up until 2009, LPP s central office was under the directorship of Ven. Robina Courtin in San Francisco, California. Today, Ven. Thubten Chokyi holds the position of director and LPP Australia near Sydney serves as LPP s central office, coordinating international operations in addition to Australian programs. Kevin Ison, LPP s resources coordinator, provides administrative assistance in Australia. Timothy Powell covers administrative work in the United States from his base in Raleigh, North Carolina. Together, they handle requests from the 1,500 inmates, prison chaplains and families of inmates worldwide, who write to LPP each year. The project has regional offices in the United States, Italy, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand and Spain, which manage the local, center-based FPMT programs within their countries. Activities to support prisoners at FPMT centers vary as each center provides services within its own means, capabilities and interest. Centers have offered meditation and Buddhist practice sessions through regular prison visits; correspondence to prisoners to support their Dharma practice; Dharma materials to prison libraries or chaplains; regular volunteer meetings to exchange ideas and share resources for writing to prisoners and/or coordinating local prison visits; refuge ceremonies in prison; visits to prisons by qualified lamas and geshes; and talks to university students about prison work. Writing letters to inmates who wish to practice meditation or study Buddhism is the most precious service we offer, shares Ven. Chokyi. The vast majority of inmates who write us are male, poor, estranged from their families and have histories of drug and alcohol abuse; their lives are dominated by violence and suffering and many have been involved in street and prison gangs. Most are desperately seeking to transform their minds, to make their lives meaningful, or simply to deal with the harsh reality of the situation they find themselves in. The majority of prisoners who write to LPP are based in the United States. However, there are prisoners writing from all the countries with a local LPP coordinator, plus many others, such as Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Thailand and Zambia. At any one time, LPP has around 800 students, both in prison and in post-release, in correspondence. This makes for one very large virtual Dharma center! For many Buddhists busy with the demands of modern 40 MANDALA October - December 2012

41 ImagebyE.F. Stiner, colored pencil on front and back of envelope, Texas, U.S., 2001 life, it can be easy to overlook people who have been sentenced to prison. But volunteers involved with prison projects can attest to the fact that, prisoner or not, we as Buddhists all share things in common, including an interest in authentic Dharma and finding personal liberation. In this issue of Mandala, we ve included reports from three FPMT centers with LPP projects as well as several examples of prisoner artwork and a recent essay from an American LPP student. In this way, we are reminded that the FPMT is an international community that includes hundreds of students serving out sentences in prison and many others offering them support. To learn more, visit or write to: International Office, Liberation Prison Project PO Box 340, Blackheath, NSW 2785, Australia USA Office, Liberation Prison Project PO Box 33036, Raleigh, NC 27636, USA Progetto Liberazione Nella Prigione (LPP Italy) By Alessandro Venuto, regional coordinator The recidivism rate in Italian prisons is 80 percent and overcrowding makes surviving incarceration even more difficult. Normal life there is marked by violence, pain and suicide, and those on the outside of prisons tend to look down upon the inhabitants. 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso by Kenneth Gingerich, pencil on paper, Centennial Correctional Facility, Colorado, U.S., 2007 Grazia Sacchi, a volunteer who visits prisons, once asked a class of children to describe a prisoner and they answered: somebody dirty, tattooed, bad, ugly and alone! Who taught them all this? I believe we as a society give them this idea. Prisons, and by extension, prisoners serve as a symbol of what we as a society don t like and what we fear. This view creates a lot of division inside and outside us, which is a problem. But another way to look at it is as Ven. Khenrab Rinpoche once told me, Prisoners are like us, the difference is that nobody sees us do what we usually do, so we are still free. Our LPP volunteers have also arrived at a different way of seeing prisoners. After a prison visit, they tell me that they were just talking to simple human beings, men and women like anyone else. LPP Italy is now turning the Wheel of Dharma in 10 institutions, with more than 20 volunteers teaching in groups or one-on-one, and others that teach by correspondence. We also support the collection of essential goods, hosts concerts, organize soccer tournaments and offer the prison libraries books. In May 2012, Geshe Sonam taught for two days in San Vittore and Milano Bollate Prisons to more than 90 prisoners. October - December 2012 MANDALA 41

42 Taking Care of OTHERS Volunteers definitely are able to see how our presence changes people. One volunteer shared a story from an LPP student about a time when he had to make an important call home, but the corrections officers wouldn t allow him to because the officers wanted to see the student s reaction. It was very important to the student to make the call, he told the volunteer, and normally he would, in his own words, lose his mind if he was denied. This time, however, the student thought about meditation and what he had learned in LPP class. Instead of getting upset, he controlled himself, saying to the corrections officers, OK, non c è problema, no problem, and they were shocked. We heard many stories like that, demonstrating the validity of our wish to create a new way to think about prison as a chance for a new life. Proyecto Liberación en la Prisión (LPP Aguascalientes) By Rogelio Pallares Valdés, local coordinator In the city of Aguascalientes, Mexico, Centro Bengungyal has worked for almost seven years in women s and men s prisons, both in the city of Aguascalientes and in a facility in a little town called El Llano. In September, Centro Bengungyal makes its first attempt at working in a prison for young people, ranging from 12 to 22 years old. In total, we ll have 76 new young inmates four women and 72 men with whom we are working. Over the years, we have gradually received permission from prison authorities to offer courses as well as books and videos to inmates. Currently, we offer Working with Afflictive Emotions, a secular meditation program based in Buddhist principles designed to help people work with potentially destructive emotions, twice a year in Aguascalientes prisons. The group ranges between 20 and 30 participants. Also this year, the director of the men s social rehabilitation center asked us to teach the course to administrative and custodial staff. This required us to share the program a little bit differently from usual because we are working with a group of more than 200 people. Two LPP Aguascalientes volunteers, Laura Lugo and Rodrigo Jácome Prison work requires patience and tenacity from volunteers, as well as confidence. Over time, we ve seen that attendee participation in our courses depends on the leaders dynamism. When an instructor presents the course principles well and involves the prisoners, the attendance grows. Inmates comment, You put us in our place and make us think. I have been receiving Mandala as a gift through my teachers and Dharma friends at the Liberation Prison Project. I want to say that each issue is a joy to read and study, and I thank everyone who contributes to Mandala 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 to the kindness of LPP, benefactors and an International Merit Box grant. However, these funds are limited and many more devoted prisoners would like to receive Mandala. To continue to offer Mandala to prisoners and expand this beneficial program, we have established the Mandala Magazine for Prisoners Fund. Your generous donations to this fund make a tangible difference in the lives of LPP students. In addition, current Friends of FPMT have the option of donating their Mandala subscriptions directly to an LPP student. To learn more, visit Double Dorje offered by Robert Page, a Liberation Prison Project student who served a ten-year prison sentence and received a free subscription to Mandala during that time. Robert passed away in April MANDALA October - December 2012

43 LPP New Zealand By Kate Bukowski, regional coordinator LPP New Zealand has been in operation for four years, sending Dharma books to prison libraries, corresponding with prisoners and visiting prisons. In 2010, we were able to set up some meetings with inmates at Paremoremo, a large prison complex north of Auckland and invited Ven. Tenzin Chogkyi, who s been in New Zealand for the last five years, to teach. Ven. Chogkyi began the first session by telling the story of Shakyamuni Buddha s life. About 10 minutes into Chogkyi's talk, one of the inmates 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. I don t know your story. Fair enough, Ven. Chogkyi said, and then started telling her own personal spiritual story, the struggles she had experienced, her search for some meaning in life, the promise that the Dharma had given her. As she was talking, this inmate periodically interjected, 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 of introducing yourself at the beginning of a gathering, explaining about your lineage and family background, setting the context for who you are. It is done out of respect. Protocol is of utmost importance, and to establish who you are, you set yourself in context. And this is what the inmates were 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) in Maori, which she recited to the group by heart. After this, the energy shifted a lot and we had a great discussion. Rather than trying to find faults with Buddhism, the inmates were trying to find common ground with their beliefs and worldview. At the end, they offered a waiata (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 waiata that they accompanied with guitar with beautiful harmonies. One of the inmates translated for us and said that it was all about building a bridge between people. They also offered the traditional koha (offering). They had organized ahead of time to collect their fruit and cookies from their lunch, and we were offered two bulging paper bags full of apples and oatmeal cookies. This felt like a really significant offering, as they don t get much to eat in prison. liberationprisonproject.nz@gmail.com One Breath By Mario Easevoli Mandala recently received this essay from an LPP student incarcerated at the Federal Corrections 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 halfclosed 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 asserts itself. Even laughs at its constraints. Yes, in this place it is an elusive joy; but I feel it now, as surely as I feel the suffering all around me. Prison is typically an extremely negative environment. The average prisoner usually has serious emotional and behavioral problems, problems which have often lead 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, White Tara by LPP New Zealand student Gareth, water color on paper Buddha by David Lightsey, pencil on paper, Louisiana State Penitentiary, Louisiana, U.S., 2007 October - December 2012 MANDALA 43

44 Taking Care of OTHERS such as prison conditions, overcrowding, staff abuse, excessive sentencing and the like, should be addressed. The problem for us on the inside, however, is that usually these things are all we focus on, and, even then, what we do most is complain, doing little to correct the situation. The one area which we are usually loath to examine is the same one over which we have the most control, and which can impact our lives the most: ourselves. This unwillingness to look within for the source of, and solution to, our problems is not limited to prisons. Prisoners and 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 in delusion of some sort. Some say that prison is a monastery of sorts, and I believe certain parallels do exist, but a better comparison might be the Buddhist practice in which aspirants meditated in the charnel grounds, experiencing the terror of death and demons. In this parallel where there are (prison) demons of fear, hatred, anger, despair and other myriad 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 exist within us and are creations of our own minds, born of our delusions. Through meditation and mindfulness practice we can see the true nature of ourselves and reality. It was when I first decided to try meditation at the very beginning of my sentence that I really began to breathe. My heart became less constricted, the Dharma path opened. I grew less afraid of what could happen to me. As I meditate, deepening my breath, feeling my lengthened spine, I learn to discard my preconceptions and expectations all of the many hopes and fears and attachments that have given shape to my life. I learned to lay aside anxiety about what I am missing and what I don t have. Besides establishing a regular sitting practice, I practice mindfulness 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 brings with it the freedom to choose my response in that moment. I know that through this practice I can arrive at a place of genuine peace. The path is before me. It is my choice to follow. 108 Yaks: A Journey of Love and Freedom Liberated yaks after arriving in Rolwaling, Nepal, wearing cords blessed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, September 2011 In 2011, more than 108 yaks lives were saved in Nepal through the efforts of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Geshe Thubten Jinpa and with support from FPMT s Animal Liberation Fund and Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore. Geshe Jinpa has released an exciting new video called 108 Yaks: A Journey of Love and Freedom that tells the story of the 19-day journey made by the rescued yaks from Dhudkunda, Nepal, to their new home in the lush pastures of the sacred 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 for meat. With Geshe Jinpa s assistance, 115 yaks were bought and given into the care of villagers living in Rolwaling. The video takes us along on the stunning trek as a team of 22 herders and porters guides the gentle and peaceful animals over treacherous mountain terrain. You can order 108 Yaks from the Foundation Store (shop.fpmt.org). 44 MANDALA October - December 2012

45 fpmt The Foundation Store FPMT Foundation Store offers a vast selection of Buddhist study materials, high quality thangkas, statues, prayer flags, and meditation supplies including cushions, khatas, malas and incense. Books Meditation supplies Study programs Videos Practice books Ritual objects Visit our website for information about special promotions.

46 Your COMMUNITY FEATURED CENTER Nalanda Monastery: By Ven. Losang Tendar, center director, and Ven. Irene Turner A Growing Haven for Buddhist Study in the West Above: Nalana Monastery s ever-growing monastic community, June Right: Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Nalanda Monastery, October Photo by Philippe Garric. Tucked amongst farm fields along France s Agout River, Nalanda Monastery offers serious Western Dharma students a place to study and live in a peaceful and quite environment. Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche founded Nalanda in 1981 as FPMT s first Western monastery. Located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Toulouse, Nalanda is currently home to around 23 monks and 10 lay people. In addition, Institut Vajra Yogini, only a few miles away, contributes to creating a rich community of Dharma practice in southwestern France. As part of Nalanda s growing education program, we will offer for the second time FPMT s Basic Program, a comprehensive course of study, discussion and meditation based upon sutra and tantra texts traditionally studied in the Tibetan Buddhist Gelug tradition. Students from the first five-year residential Basic Program at Nalanda, which began in 2008, have recently completed their final exam. The second Basic Program is scheduled to begin in February Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently appointed Geshe Jamphel Gyaltsen, from Sera Monastery, to be the teacher for the course. Beginning in September 2013, Nalanda will offer for the first time a residential Masters Program, an intensive program consisting of six years of in-depth Dharma study and a total of one year of retreat. We will become the second FPMT center to offer the Masters Program after Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) in Italy. Nalanda abbot Geshe Losang Jamphel will teach the Masters Program, assisted by Sze Gee, a highly skilled translator and tutor. She is an ILTK Master Program graduate and is renowned for the clarity of her explanations of the philosophical texts. Over the last few years, Nalanda has also been honored to host many special teachers. Since 2010, we have welcomed Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Jangtse Chöje Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche, Dagri Rinpoche and Khadro-la, who led her second retreat at Nalanda in August MANDALA October - December 2012

47 From left: Sketch of south facade of new monks building; Geshe Losang Jamphel, Khadro-la and Dagri Rinpoche discussing Nalanda s 15-year Master Plan BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE Lama Zopa Rinpoche, our spiritual director, has expressed the importance of continually developing Nalanda s facilities as well as our study and retreat programs in order to create a major seat of monastic learning in the West. Over the years, we have seen growth in our community at the monastery in correspondence with the opportunities we offer. In 2008, we completed a new building for monks, and with the start of our first Basic Program, the new rooms filled up quickly. As our abbot, Geshe Jamphel, likes to encourage participation by both male and female students, we rented a house nearby for the student nuns and female lay practitioners. As a monastery, we are unable to provide accommodations for women on site. We are hoping that the nuns will be able to start a nunnery located close to nearby Institut Vajra Yogini and continue to be part of Nalanda s study programs. Even though housing for monks is adequate now, we know once we have two different study programs running at the same time, more students will come and need accommodation. Our experience has also been that some of the students ordain once they are in a study program. For these reasons, Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised us in 2009 to plan and construct a new monks accommodation block that will be ready for the start of the next Basic Program and our first Masters Programs in Many people want to come and study, Rinpoche said, so we need more rooms. I told Geshe Jamphel it is important 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 will need; make a plan for landscaping. A little bit like Japanese [landscaping]: well organized, neat, nice, so that when people come, they like to stay here. You need a good architect, and then in the future it will be easy. Inspired by this advice, Nalanda now has a 15-year Master Plan, which has been reviewed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Dagri Rinpoche and Khadro-la. Martijn Prins, a young Dutch architect familiar with Tibetan culture and art, worked with Geshe Jamphel and Nalanda monks to draw up a skillful plan for the development of Nalanda with an eye toward its medium- and long-term growth. We have alreadybegunphaseioftheplan,whichhastodowith infrastructure and landscaping. Before starting a new building we needed to improve the infrastructure, Martijn explained, including a lake (required by the fire brigade), a reed bed for waste water, a meandering driveway laid out in accordance with feng shui principles, an underground rain water catchment, a driveway for the fire brigade and a pipe infrastructure (for electricity, water and heating) for the extensions in the future. In September 2012, we start work on the foundation of the new monks accommodation block. The building design is influenced by the layout of large monastic universities in India and will have 21 rooms, including four double-rooms and one for physically disabled people. The second floor will be reserved for two teachers and an attendant. How quickly we progress on the building depends on how our fundraising October - December 2012 MANDALA 47

48 Your COMMUNITY From left: Preparing the foundation for the 10-foot (3-meter) Padmasambhava statue in Nalanda Monastery s newly dug lake, July 2012; Preparing the infrastructure for future development up to the year 2025, which will limit overall cost and save time, July for it goes. We maintain the hope to have it ready for the start of the Masters Program in September Nalanda s Master Plan seeks to be environmentally responsible, seeing this as an essential aspect of the Buddhist path. As a result, we aim to achieve as much self-sufficiency as possible while trying to have a minimal impact on the natural surroundings. Building materials like wood, clay, plaster and natural fibers will be used for the new monks accommodations. Hot water and heating will be provided through wood burners and solar panels. And building 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, Geshe Jamphel said. The community and companions here are good people, and all the conditions conducive for good studies are gathered here. The Dharma here is good because it 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 at Nalanda and the monastery s building plans by visiting Nalanda Monastery online at Support the continuing activities of LAMA YESHE and LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE over many lifetimes to come by requesting your legal advisor to include a bequest to FPMT 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) ; chuck@fpmt.org. Or visit: Within our organization, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, there are numberless projects through which you can make your belongings most beneficial for sentient beings and the teachings of the Buddha.... The aim of the projects is to illuminate the world from darkness, ignorance and suffering. LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE FPMT, INC SE 11TH AVE. PORTLAND OR MANDALA October - December 2012

49 Road to Kopan:Where I Needed to Be For many long-time students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, is where they first met the teachings of Buddha and where they saw the courses of their lives changed profoundly. Mandala has been collecting the stories of how early students came to Kopan in our ongoing Road to Kopan series. Paula de Wijs arrived at Kopan in Since then, she has been involved with supporting the development of Buddhism in the West as well as working with organizations providing aide to Tibetan refugees. She currently serves as center director at Maitreya Instituut Amsterdam and also is an FPMT board member. We re happy to share an extract from her Road to Kopan story, which can be read in its entirety at mandalamagazine.org. When I left San Francisco in 1970, I was 22 years old. I had lived in Haight Ashbury, in a cabin at Muir Beach and in an old Victorian house for five intense years, full of music, dancing and all kinds of experiences and friendships. I had no qualms about saying that I was a San Francisco hippie, but even then, I wondered how much of what I thought and did was a result of my own thinking or of the strong culture around me. So when a friend invited me to visit him in Afghanistan, I stored or sold everything I owned and, armed with two hundred dollars, a Eurail pass and some addresses, left for Europe where I hoped to get a ride to Kabul. I was lucky to be able to earn a little more money by being an extra in the Steve McQueen movie Le Mans and working in a hotel in Switzerland, but at the end of the summer, I realized that I needed to find a home or a lift to Afghanistan before winter set in. Amsterdam seemed to be a good choice since an American acquaintance who had traveled with my friend in Afghanistan was there and planning to buy a car and drive there once again. He brought me to visit Matti de Wijs, who had also been with them in Kabul, and I had a very strange experience when we rang Matti s doorbell a strong premonition that this person was going to be extremely significant in my life. Of course, I thought that this meant that I would fall head-over-heels in love with him. I was disappointed at the time, when that did not immediately happen. Little did I know that he would introduce me to my future teachers and later, that I would marry him and we would spend the next 42 years together! My American friend ended up deciding not to travel to Asia, but Matti was already planning his next trip and when he offered me a ride, I accepted gladly. On his first trip, he had gone overland with Olivia de Haulleville and her then three-year-old son, Michael. The three of them drove out in a Land Rover to visit Olivia s friend from Greece, Zina By Paula de Wijs Paula de Wijs with Michael Lobsang Yeshe at Bouddanath Stupa in Kathmandhu, Nepal, May Photo courtesy of Paula de Wijs. Rachevsky, who lived in Nepal with two Tibetan lamas Thubten Yeshe and Thubten Zopa at a place called Kopan. There were plans to start a school in Lawudo for Sherpa and Tibetan refugee children called the Mount Everest Centre for Buddhist Studies. When Matti returned to Amsterdam on his own, he worked to raise funds for it. We left Amsterdam during summer 1971, driving a Citroën van through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and on October - December 2012 MANDALA 49

50 Your COMMUNITY to Afghanistan, from where our mutual friend had long since departed. We were stuck there during the next winter due to the Indo-Pakistani War after which the borders between Pakistan and India were closed and we could not travel any further. We were there in Kabul together with others like Barbara and Chris Vautier, who attended the December 1972 Kopan course with me (and later were connected with Land of Medicine Buddha and Vajrapani Institute in California). Many years later when I read the autobiography ALeafintheWindby Thubten Gyatso (now at Thubten Shedrup Ling in Australia), I realized that we had been caught in an historic snowstorm in Kandahar at the same time as him, eating dinner together in the same restaurant, but only meeting one another some years later. When it was finally possible to travel to India, we flew from Lahore in Pakistan to Delhi. Once there, I went to visit the Tibet House, where I discovered that Olivia and Michael were living in Delhi, and at an address I would pass on the way back to our hotel. So I asked my rickshaw to stop there, and while I looked for the right building, a Western lady approached, 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 Rinpoche had 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 son with us to Kopan, and a day later Michael* moved in and came with us from Delhi to Varanasi and then on to Kathmandu. Matti wanted to go to Kopan immediately to give Lama Zopa Rinpoche the funds he had raised for the school, so our taxi drove from the airport directly up the heavily rutted road to Kopan. We were greeted by a smiling Lama Yeshe and Anila Ann, and were immediately invited to stay for lunch and also stay on at Kopan. We accepted both invitations with pleasure! That day in 1972, I was quite surprised to find that I felt that I had come home. It was such a strong feeling that I sat on top of the hill and cried with a kind of gratitude and relief. I had not consciously been looking for anything, but knew right away that I had found where I needed to be. You can read the rest of Paula s story, including a few of her memories of Lama Yeshe, as well as other early student s Road to Kopan stories at mandalamagazine.org. *Six-year-old Michael became a monk a year later with a new name Lobsang Yeshe. He went on to do geshe studies in Sera Je Monastery and has worked as a translator and teacher at Land of Medicine Buddha in California, at Maitreya Instituut in the Netherlands, and in Singapore and has been at Tara Institute in Australia since OBITUARIES Geshe Tsering, 85, died in Kopan Monastery, Nepal, August 16, 2012, of natural causes By Linda Gyatso, Tushita Meditation Centre director Geshe Tsering was Lama Yeshe s older half-brother, having the same father, Pema Wangyel. Geshe-la was born in 1927 near Tolung Dechen in Central Tibet close to Lhasa. After leaving Tibet, Geshe-la studied at Sera Je Monastery in South India, until he was invited to Kopan Monastery to teach the young monks Tibetan language. In 1980, he came to Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala to serve as co-director for one year. Geshe-la s heartfelt 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 daily practices. He was very kind to Tushita, Ven. Thubten Dorjee, Tushita s longest serving Sangha member, recalls. He always tried to advise directors regarding the work to enable Tushita to progress. In his trips away, Geshe-la would always bring back useful things for the center, such as the red bowls and cups that it still uses today. Geshe-la had a gentle, caring heart that at the same time could be firm and strict when the situation required. Geshe-la loved to talk to Westerners and encourage them in their Dharma practice. His simple English made the advice he gave clear and memorable. Just a few days before Geshe-la s passing, I came across some advice he had given me on leaving Tushita for Kopan in March 2010: You are young and strong, you MUST make the most of time NOW, before old age comes. Even as his health was deteriorating, Geshe-la was a constant example to all of how to live the Dharma. 50 MANDALA October - December 2012

51 Lama Zopa Rinpoche requests that students who read Mandala pray that the students whose obituaries follow find a perfect human body, meet a Mahayana guru and become enlightened quickly, or be born in a pure land where the teachings exist and they can become enlightened. Reading these obituaries also helps us reflect upon our own death 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 in the Foundation Store (shop.fpmt.org). Jeanne Yeshe Gawa Allen, 73, died in Houston, Texas, United States, June 11, 2012, from acute respiratory failure By Molly Highley Jeanne, a long-time student of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was born to Wayne and Betty (Hurley) Eaton in Guthrie, Oklahoma, on April 18, She leaves behind twin sons, Kelly and Kerry Allen, her daughter-in-law, Susan Allen, and her granddaughter, Jessica Wintel, as well as many Dharma brothers and sisters worldwide. Jeanne s life was not always easy, but she had the capacity to see the silver lining where personal storm clouds may have gathered. For much of her life, Jeanne suffered with triple scoliosis, but declined corrective surgery. In a she wrote that she had never regretted her choice to not have surgery and, in fact, had always given thanks for the freedom as a young girl to make it. She spent most of her life pretending her back was normal or straight, even though she never could walk very far, even less as she got older. Married at 17, she went on to raise twins as a single mother in the late 1950s. She worked nights and excelled by day in her university studies. At the age of 35, she quit her job and flew from San Francisco toward India by way of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bali, Java, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma. After landing in Calcutta, she boarded a plane for Kathmandu and eventually attended her first meditation course at Kopan Monastery. Jeanne lived in India, traveling between Nepal and Sri Lanka, from 1975 to In 1979, she lived and studied at Manjushri Institute in England. She again took up traveling between India and Nepal to retreat and study from 1983 to Over time, her back condition worsened, and she required the support of crutches after returning to her home in the United States. In 2008 she wrote, I still use crutches but am pain-free unless I overdo it.... I keep telling myself to wait five years before I get a wheelchair, but I ve been telling myself that about five years. I m afraid once I get in one, I ll never get out... still, I ve never regretted I chose NOT to have the surgery.... I am content with how things are. In the years leading up to her passing, Jeanne lived alone on the ninth floor which she jokingly called the ninth bhumi of a Houston apartment building. From there she continued to express her intellectual curiosity and interest in the greater world. She was an avid reader as well as intelligent, imaginative, creative, unpretentious, gentle and kind. If she loved you, she October - December 2012 MANDALA 51

52 Your COMMUNITY would let you know it in no uncertain terms, yet she seemed to expect little in return. She was the best mom, Kerry Allen expressed. She ll never be forgotten. Kerry shares that his mother died in the sitting position with an arm on each knee. Two days before she passed from this world, Jeanne continued to express a sincere interest in the happiness of others as well as an unwavering faith in the immeasurable blessings of the Triple Gem. Eileen Lee Carol Ventura, 51, died in Durham, North Carolina, United States, June 13, 2012, unexpectedly By Julie LaValle Jones Lee was an exuberant lover of life and beauty. An inventor, creator, real estate developer, gifted cook and an ardent friend, she touched a vast community of people whom she loved and who deeply loved her. Lee was expansively generous, giving to friends, family, nonprofit causes and spiritual groups. She gave with an open, joyful heart not only her financial support, but also her attention, effort, creativity and love. Lee s generosity included Buddhist centers. She was a regular practitioner at Kadampa Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, in the 1990s. As a real estate and land developer, she provided invaluable advice to the center when it began the search for a property to purchase. Later, during the center s capital campaign to purchase and renovate a former retail store, she became the largest single contributor. In typical fashion, when asked to contribute a specific (and very large) sum, she offered more than twice that amount. When she came to see the new center under renovation, she noticed that the floor of the gompa was still the poured concrete with no additional floor covering. She then spontaneously offered to pay for flooring and beautiful sustainable cork flooring was delivered to Kadampa Center for our volunteers to install. She sponsored monks at Sera Je Monastery, orphans in Africa and summer camp experiences for indigent children in North Carolina. Her generosity was effusive, spontaneous and heartfelt. She truly was joyful when able to give. Lee took refuge in the Karma Kagyü tradition in the early 1990s. She also studied and practiced Zen Buddhist meditation. Beginning in the mid- 90s, Lee practiced at and supported Kadampa Center. She attended several significant teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, including in Tucson, Arizona; California; and Bloomington, Indiana. Lee was born and raised in Rochester, New York, and lived many years in Durham. She was the owner and founder of Indra Group, LLC, a commercial real estate development firm and Elix, LLC, a venture to create innovative green packaging for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Prior to that she was a vice president and later a joint venture partner of Heartland Group, Inc. Embracing her heritage and love of all things Italian, she lived for many years near Florence, Italy, cooking, bringing in the olive harvest and extending her inimitable hospitality to family, friends and travelers from around the world. She returned to Durham in Kevin Doc McNeill, 54, died in Sterling, Colorado, United States, July 2012, of unknown causes By Kate Drews Kevin first wrote to Liberation Prison Project (LPP) in 2006 and took refuge vows in prison in There, he started the Discovering Buddhism course in 2007, which he studied throughout 2009 with visiting LPP chaplain John Scorsine. He continued the course with me, and I found him to be a keen knowledge seeker with an intelligent mind. He remarked that when he started the Discovering Buddhism course it had felt like coming home. Kevin was always concerned for the welfare of others despite his own serious medical problems. When he 52 MANDALA October - December 2012

53 saw a friend beaten to death in prison in 2009, he sought our help to develop compassion for the officers who, he said, knowingly placed him in that situation. During Saka Dawa 2010, Kevin pledged to continue reciting OM MANI PADME HUM every day, planning to complete 25 million recitations by his anticipated release date in He offered his mantra recitations to holy beings and all sentient beings and rejoiced in having the Dharma in his life. He loved to cook and could often be found preparing meals for others. He was positive in his outlook despite being consigned to a wheelchair at the start of Even then, he committed to memorizing as many mantras as he could and practicing as much as possible. Earlier this year, inquiring after Lama Zopa Rinpoche s health, he mentioned that he made daily prayers for Rinpoche s good health and offered blessings, despite the great pain he himself was living with. In the last few months, Kevin had been moved to a facility much further away from his family and not well suited to a person with his complex medical issues. In his last letter to me, dated May 25, 2012, Kevin informed me that his health was poor, but that he was practicing Medicine Buddha daily. He noted that all his practices were not for himself but for the sake of others. His greatest concern was for his brother Kenneth who had recently been sentenced to prison. As usual, he signed off his letter with love and light. To the very end he was someone that had deep concern for others. Kevin s death is a great loss to the LPP community and he will be dearly missed. Cherie Poe Glasse, 81, died in Mill Valley, California, United States, July 13, 2012, from a stroke By Ven. Paula Chichester Like her husband, prayer-wheel maker Jim Glasse, my mother, Cherie, combined her Christian faith with the practicalities of Buddhism. Cherie embraced Brother David Steindl- Rast s teaching to be grateful for everything; she most enjoyed her four children and five grandchildren. In 1959, Cherie moved from Georgia to Berkeley, California, with her first husband, Helon Chichester, where she deepened her lifelong commitment to prayer and to the Episcopal Church. She was a skilled painter and sculptor, and a mentor for Berkeley elementary school teachers. Her love for teaching children began when she was a civil rights activist in Georgia. In 1982, she attended the first Universal Education conference at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, partially motivated by her use of sandplay therapy in her classroom. The children s transformation inspired her to record their progress in photos that showed how the sandplay trays correlated with changes in children s cognitive development. The benefit to children from unhappy families was especially remarkable, and she eventually wrote a booklet called Sandplay in the Classroom. Cherie received Chenrezig initiation from His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the conference. Cherie also received teachings at Vajrapani Institute from Lama Yeshe, Zong Rinpoche, Choden Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Sogyal Rinpoche. Her calligraphy adorns Lama Yeshe s stupa and she painted two very good portraits of Lama. I was doing practice on the morning of my mother s death. When Cherie stopped breathing, I was meditating on dharmakaya [a subtle mind characterized by bliss and wisdom], and so we both went into the dharmakaya together. It was a most profound experience, and we stayed there for about 20 minutes. What an amazing gift! For the next 36 hours, she remained in clear light with the mind not yet separated from the body. When I got a chance to sit with her, my mind immediately stopped racing about and dropped into the dharmakaya. Lama Zopa Rinpoche said about Cherie s death, Looks very positive, possibly Vajrayogini s pure land. Cherie lived a full and wonderful life; her parting teaching is Hallelujah, anyway! To obtain a copy of Sandplay in the Classroom, contact director@ landofcalmabiding.org October - December 2012 MANDALA 53

54 FPMT News Around the WORLD From left: Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Jhado Rinpoche, joined by Khadro-la, consecrating Land of Medicine Buddha s newly filled prayer wheel, California, U.S., June Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang; Lama Zopa Rinpoche with members of Pamtingpa Center at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, U.S., July Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang. Lama Zopa Rinpoche News Lama Zopa Rinpoche returned to the United States, arriving in California on June 9, Students in California had not seen Rinpoche since early 2011, before Rinpoche manifested a stroke. Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drolma (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 overlapped with Jhado Rinpoche s stay there. The three of them took a boat ride out into the Pacific Ocean to bless the marine life joined by Geshe Ngawang Dakpa, resident teacher at Tse Chen Ling, and several students. Rinpoche and Khadro-la next visited FPMT International Office and Maitripa College in Oregon, June Rinpoche offered a teaching and oral transmission on June 23, which was webcast live and viewed by more than 360 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 Land in remote northeastern Washington state. Khadro-la joined Rinpoche for part of his time there before she traveled to 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 or Like Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT on Facebook. You can find the FPMT YouTube channel at Advice from Rinpoche: What to Do with Dead Insects Found at Home and on the Windowsills From Lama Zopa Rinpoche Dead insects can be gathered together and put into a container and, at the very least, one can recite OM MANI PADME HUM and blow on the insects. This mantra alone has incredible benefit: by reciting the mantra and blowing on the dead bodies of the insects, Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Vajrapani Institute, California, U.S., June Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang. 54 MANDALA October - December 2012

55 the negative karmic obscurations of the insects even though the consciousness has already left the body are purified. If one has more time, one can also recite the Five Powerful Mantras for Liberating Sentient Beings from the Lower Realms: 1) the mantra of Kunrig (Vairochana); 2) the mantra of Mitrugpa (Akshobya); 3) the mantra of Namgyälma (Ushnishavijaya); 4) the Stainless Pinnacle Heart mantra; and 5) the Wish-granting Wheel mantra, and blow on the insects. [You can find these on fpmt.org by typing 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. (You can use water blessed by Rinpoche himself, if you have it.) One can bless water oneself by reciting mantras and then blowing on the water. One can recite the mantras mentioned above, but in general, one can also just keep a container of water handy, and after reciting the mantras in one s daily practice OM MANI PADME HUM, Vajrasattva s mantra, etc. just blowing on the water blesses it. One should make the prayer: May this water purify all the negative karmic obscurations of every sentient being that it touches! In order to purify the insects with blessed water, one can either generate oneself as Thousand-Arm Chenrezig or visualize Thousand-Arm Chenrezig in front of oneself. As one pours the water over the insects, visualize streams of nectar flowing from one s hand, or from the hands of Thousand-Arm Chenrezig in front of one, purifying all the insects delusions and negative karma created since beginningless time. Rinpoche was asked if there was still benefit to the insects if the person reciting the mantra has no realizations and is just an ordinary being. Rinpoche replied that it doesn t matter whether the person reciting the mantra has realizations or not. Even if the person has no realizations, it still benefits the insects because the benefit comes from the power of the mantra. Scribed by Ven. Tenzin Tharchin, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, U.S., July 26, Edited for publication in Mandala. More of Rinpoche s advice can be found online at and also at Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, under "Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Khadro-la Travels to Europe Several European centers welcomed Khadro-la in July and August. In Spain, Khadro-la visited Centro Nagarjuna Valencia, Nagarjuna C.E.T. Barcelona and O.Sel.Ling Centro de Retiros. In Italy, Khadro-la was at Centro Tara Cittamani, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa and Kushi Ling Retreat Centre. Longku Center in Switzerland and Institut Vajra Yogini in France also hosted her. Khadro-la offered her second retreat at Nalanda Monastery in France in August. New Faces at FPMT International Office Khadro-la and Lama Zopa Rinpoche visiting FPMT International Office, Oregon, U.S., June Photo by Marc Sakamoto. FPMT International Office has welcomed three new staff members over the last six months. In March, Trevor Fenwick stepped into the position of donor services coordinator, taking over the position from Heather Drollinger. Trevor is a long-time Buddhist practitioner and has spent several years in retreat or working at Shasta Abbey, Sravasti Abbey and other retreat centers in the United States doing kitchen management, administration and fundraising. Carl Jensen joined the International Office as office manager in June. Carl will be filling the very large shoes of Ugyen Shola whose involvement 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 on completing 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 holds a Bachelors in Accounting from the University of South Pacific, Fiji Islands, and a Diploma in Business Administration 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 the best of luck with their new company, Pacific Northwest Kale Chips. October - December 2012 MANDALA 55

56 FPMT News Around the WORLD Attention FPMT Centers, Projects and Services! Mandala Wants to Hear Your Latest News! We ve moved most of our FPMT News Around the World section online. News highlights from FPMT centers, projects and services are now part of Mandala s daily blog at mandalamagazina.org/posts. All centers, projects and services are encouraged to send in news at any time! Guidelines are posted online at mandalamagazine.org/news-guidelines. Or simply your news, photos, updates and/or thoughts to us at editor@fpmt.org. You can also find Mandala 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 the Olympic Village and the Olympic Park. Kurukulla Center in the United States celebrated with their resident teacher Geshe Tenley, who received his U.S. citizenship. Geshe Thubten 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 long life puja. Check out Mandala s Multimedia Stories Online! Watch a video interview with Geshe Ngawang Sonam, the new resident teacher at Hayagriva Buddhist Centre in Perth, Australia. See photos from the first-ever fire prevention and safety trainings at Kopan Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery in Kathmandu, Nepal, offered by a concerned Australian volunteer firefighter instructor. Visit mandalamagazine.org. 56 MANDALA October - December 2012

57 The Foundation of Buddhist Thought A correspondence course that provides a structured approach to deepen your knowledge and practice of Tibetan Buddhism. Established in 1999 and recently updated, it has over 600 graduates worldwide. This precious two-year course offers study, supportive tutors, Q & A sessions, meditation, learning activities and online discussion. Geshe Tashi Tsering, Jamyang Buddhist Centre s resident teacher and course creator, is renowned for making Buddhism accessible and relevant to modern day life. Courses start every 4 months in January, May and September. For more information and to apply, visit: This course is part of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition FBT graduates can continue their studies by joining Geshe Tashi's Lamrim Chenmo correspondence course

58 NEW!! Buddhism Courses LEARN TIBETAN & STUDY BUDDHISM WITH DAVID CURTIS Over 18 years experience teaching hundreds of students DISTANCE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES Tibetan Language Courses: Levels I, II, and III Fundamentals of Buddhism: A Dharma Course (No Tibetan required) TLI BOOKSTORE Best-selling Beginners Package with Effective Instructional DVDs VISIT THE TLI WEBSITE Free study aids, info about classes, and more Learning Tibetan from David Curtis is definitely one of life s better experiences. K.J., VA David was named a Lama in 1992 and an Acharya in TIBETAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE Dharma Journeys Pilgrimage 2013 India & Nepal Pilgrimage Saturday, January 26 to Wednesday, February 13 from Varanasi, India formerly Chasing Buddha Visit the sacred Buddhist sites in India: Sravasti, Kushinagar, Nalanda, Vulture s Peak, Bodhgaya and Sarnath. In Nepal: Boudhanath, Swayambunath, Parping and Lumbini. Daily practices and teachings. Includes short retreats at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India and Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Land cost from US$3350 plus air to Varanasi, India and returning home from Kathmandu, Nepal. Venerable Amy Miller, Leader Himalayan High Treks CST Dolores Street San Francisco, CA 94103, USA Phone (in US): (800) (415) Fax: +1 (415) effie@hightreks.com I was pleased with how easy the traveling was. Super good organization helped a lot. I d do it again in a minute! SUSAN FARRAR, 2011 India Pilgrimage Visit for full details, itinerary and photos! PROFITS GO TO MILAREPA CENTER. A TIBETAN BUDDHIST CENTER SUPPORTING WISE PRACTICE THROUGH STUDY, MEDITATION AND SERVICE (802) MANDALA October - December 2012

59 FPMT DIRECTORY This directory is a listing of centers, projects and services worldwide which are under the spiritual direction of Lama Zopa Rinpoche 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: Please contact centerservices@fpmt.org with any updates to your listing. Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche c/o FPMT International Office FPMT International Office 1632 SE 11th Avenue Portland, OR USA Tel: (1) (503) Projects of FPMT International Office include: Amdo Eye Center FPMT Puja Fund Lama Tsongkhapa Teachers Fund Sera Je Food Fund Stupa Fund INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS International Mahayana Institute San Francisco, CA USA Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Lincoln, MA USA Tel: +1 (781) Liberation Prison Project Ashfield, Australia project.org Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Programme Dharamsala, India LKPY: Loving Kindness Peaceful Youth Unley, SA Australia Maitreya Project International Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom London, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) FPMT REGIONAL AND NATIONAL OFFICES Australian National Office Tel: +61 (2) Brazilian National Office myferreira@terra.com.br Tel: +55 (47) European Regional Office Tel: +31 (0) Italian National Office fpmtcoord.italy@gmail.com Mexico National Office Tel: +52 (987) Nepal National Office franh@wlink.com.np Tel: +977 (1) North American (USA and Canada) Regional Office fpmtnorthamerica@gmail.com Tel: +1 (831) South Asian Regional Office franh@wlink.com.np Spanish National Office Tel/Fax: +34 (91) Taiwan National Office Tel: +886 (2) FPMT CENTERS, PROJECTS AND SERVICES ARGENTINA (Tel Code 54) Yogi Saraha Study Group Buenos Aires yogisaraha@gmail.com Tel: (11) AUSTRALIA (Tel Code 61) New South Wales Enlightenment for the Dear Animals Denistone East animals.org Tel: +61 (2) Kadam Sharawa Buddhist Institute Copacabana Tel: (0402) Kunsang Yeshe Retreat Centre Katoomba Tel: (02) Vajrayana Institute Ashfield Tel: (02) Resident Geshe: Geshe Ngawang Samten Resident Teacher: Wai Cheong Kok Queensland Chenrezig Institute Eudlo Tel: (07) Resident Geshe: Geshe Lobsang Jamyang Resident Teacher: Ven. Tenzin Tsepal Projects of Chenrezig Institute: The Enlightenment Project for Purification and Merit info@enlightenmentproject.com The Garden of Enlightenment content/view/42/146 Cittamani Hospice Service Palmwoods Tel: (07) Karuna Hospice Service Windsor Tel: (07) A project of Karuna Hospice: Karuna Books Langri Tangpa Centre Camp Hill Tel: (07) South Australia Buddha House Tusmore Tel: (08) De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre Kingscote Tel: (08) Tasmania Chag-tong Chen-tong Centre Snug Tel: (03) Victoria Atisha Centre Eaglehawk Tel: (03) The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion Maiden Gully Tel: (03) Shen Phen Ling Study Group Wodonga shenpenling@hotmail.com Tel: (02) Tara Institute Brighton East Tel: (03) Resident Geshe: Geshe Lobsang Doga Thubten Shedrup Ling Eaglehawk Tel: (03) Western Australia Hayagriva Buddhist Centre Kensington Tel: (08) Resident Geshe: Geshe Ngawang Sonam Resident Teacher: Ven. Thubten Dondrub Hospice of Mother Tara Bunbury Tel: (08) AUSTRIA (Tel Code 43) Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelugzentrum Vienna Tel: (1) BELGIUM (Tel Code 32) Shedrup Zungdel Study Group Burg Reuland stanlight3@yahoo.de BRAZIL (Tel Code 55) Centro Shiwa Lha Rio de Janeiro Tel: (21) October - December 2012 MANDALA 59

60 CANADA (Tel Code 1) Gendun Drubpa Centre Williams Lake, B.C. Tel: (250) Lama Yeshe Ling Centre Oakville, Ontario Tel: (905) CHINA (Tel Code 852) Mahayana Buddhist Assoc. (Cham-Tse-Ling) North Point, Hong Kong Tel: COLOMBIA (Tel Code 57) Centro Yamantaka Bogotá Tel: (311) DENMARK (Tel Code 45) Tong-nyi Nying-je Ling Copenhagen Tel: Resident Teacher: Stephan Pende Wormland Projects of Tong-nyi Nying-je Ling: The Center for Conscious Living and Dying Dharma Wisdom Publishing FINLAND (Tel Code 358) Tara Liberation Study Group Helsinki Tel: (50) FRANCE (Tel Code 33) Editions Vajra Yogini Marzens Tel: (05) Gyaltsab Je Study Group Ile de la Reunion Institut Vajra Yogini Marzens Tel: (05) Resident Geshes: Geshe Tengye and Geshe Tenzin Loden Kalachakra Centre Paris Tel: (01) Resident Geshe: Geshe Drakpa Tsundue Nalanda Monastery Labastide St. Georges Tel: (05) Resident Geshe: Geshe Losang Jamphel Thakpa Kachoe Retreat Land Marseille Tel: (612) FRENCH POLYNESIA (Tel Code 689) Naropa Meditation Center Tahiti over-blog.com GERMANY (Tel Code 49) Aryatara Institut München Tel: (89) Resident Teacher: Ven. Fedor Stracke Diamant Verlag Kaltern, Italy Tel: +39 (0471) Tara Mandala Center Landau Tel: Resident Teacher: Dieter Kratzer GREECE (Tel Code 30) Gonpo Chakduk Ling Study Group Athens Tel: (210) INDIA (Tel Code 91) Choe Khor Sum Ling Study Group Bangalore Tel: (80) Maitreya Project Trust Gorakhpur Tel: (551) MAITRI Charitable Trust Bodhgaya Tel: (631) Root Institute Bodhgaya Tel: (631) Projects of Root Institute: Shakyamuni Buddha Community Health Care Centre Maitreya School Sera IMI House Bylakuppe Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre New Delhi Tel: (11) Tushita Meditation Centre McLeod Ganj Tel: (1892) INDONESIA (Tel Code 62) Lama Serlingpa Bodhicitta Study Group Jambi Potowa Center Tangerang Tel: (21) ISRAEL (Tel Code 972) Shantideva Study Group Ramat Gan Tel: ITALY (Tel Code 39) Casa del Buddha della Medicina Livorno protezione.it Centro Lama Tzong Khapa Treviso danilloghi@mailfarm.net Tel: (0422) Centro Muni Gyana Palermo Tel: (0327) Centro Studi Cenresig Bologna Tel: (347) Centro Tara Cittamani Padova Tel: (049) Centro Terra di Unificazione Ewam Florence Tel: (055) Chiara Luce Edizioni Pomaia (Pisa) Tel: (050) Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa Pomaia (Pisa) Tel: (050) Resident Geshes: Geshe Tenzin Tenphel and Geshe Jampa Gelek Projects of Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa: Shenpen Samten Ling Nunnery Takden Shedrup Targye Ling Monastery Kushi Ling Retreat Centre Arco (TN) Tel: (347) Resident Geshe: Geshe Dondup Tsering Sangye Choling Study Group Sondrio Tel: (39) Shiné Jewelry Pomaia (Pisa) Tel: (050) Yeshe Norbu - Appello per il Tibet Pomaia (Pisa) Tel: (050) JAPAN (Tel Code 81) Do Ngak Sung Juk Centre Tokyo Tel: (070) LATVIA (Tel Code 371) Ganden Buddhist Meditation Centre Riga Tel: Yiga Chodzin Study Group Raunas novads MALAYSIA (Tel Code 60) Chokyi Gyaltsen Center Penang Tel: (4) Resident Geshe: Geshe Deyang Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat Centre Triang Kasih Hospice Care Selangor Tel: (3) Losang Dragpa Centre Selangor Tel: (3) Resident Geshe: Geshe Jampa Tsundu 60 MANDALA October - December 2012

61 MAURITIUS (Tel Code 230) Dharmarakshita Study Group Vacoas Tel: MEXICO (Tel Code 52) Bengungyal Center Aguascalientes Tel: (449) Resident Geshe: Geshe Losang Khedup Chekawa Study Group Uruapan Tel/Fax: (452) Khamlungpa Center Zapopan Tel: (33) Resident Geshe: Geshe Losang Khedup Khedrup Sangye Yeshe Study Group Morelia yahoo.com.mx Tel: (443) Padmasambhava Study Group Durango Tel: (6181) Rinchen Zangpo Center Torreo n Tel: (087) Serlingpa Retreat Center Zitacuaro blogspot.com Tel: (715) Thubten Kunkyab Study Group Coapa Tel: (552) Vajrapani Tibetan Buddhist Study Group Huatulco blanca_eb@hotmail.com Tel: (958) Yeshe Gyaltsen Center Cozumel Tel: (987) MONGOLIA (Tel Code 976) All Mongolian centers, projects and services are accessible through: Drolma Ling Nunnery Ulaanbaatar Tel: (11) Enlightening Mind Ulaanbaatar Tel: (11) Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling Ulaanbaatar Tel: (11) Golden Light Sutra Center Darkhan Tel: (1372) NEPAL (Tel Code 977) Ganden Yiga Chözin Buddhist Meditation Centre Pokhara centre.com Tel: (61) Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Centre Kathmandu Tel: (980) Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery Kathmandu Tel: (1) Resident Geshes: Geshe Lobsang Zopa, Geshe Tsering Norbu, Geshe Konchog Nodrup, and Geshe Losang Chodak Kopan Monastery Kathmandu Tel: (1) Resident Geshes: Geshe Lobsang Sherab, Geshe Lobsang Nyendrak, Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen, and Geshe Tashi Dhondup Resident Teacher: Ven. Karin Valham Projects of Kopan Monastery: Animal Liberation Sanctuary /alp.html Mu Gompa Chhekampar Resident Geshe: Geshe Tenzin Nyima Rachen Nunnery Chhekampar Resident Geshe: Geshe Tenzin Nyima Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery Solu Khumbu Resident Geshe: Geshe Thubten Yonden Lawudo Retreat Centre Solu Khumbu Tel: (1) THE NETHERLANDS (Tel Code 31) Maitreya Instituut Amsterdam Amsterdam Tel: (020) Resident Teacher: Ven. Kaye Miner Maitreya Instituut Loenen Loenen Tel: (0578) Resident Geshe: Geshe Sonam Gyaltsen A project of Maitreya Instituut Loenen: Maitreya Uitgeverij (Maitreya Publications) Loenen NEW ZEALAND (Tel Code 64) Amitabha Hospice Service Avondale Tel: (09) Chandrakirti Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre Richmond Tel: (03) Resident Geshe: Geshe Jampa Tharchin Resident Teacher: Alan Carter Dorje Chang Institute Avondale Tel: (09) Resident Geshe: Geshe Thubten Wangchen Mahamudra Centre Colville Tel: (07) ROMANIA (Tel Code 402) Grupul de Studiu Buddhist White Tara Judetul Arges buddhism.romania@gmail.com Tel: RUSSIA (Tel Code 7) Aryadeva Study Group St. Petersburg Tel: (812) Ganden Tendar Ling Center Moscow Tel: (926) SINGAPORE (Tel Code 65) Amitabha Buddhist Centre Singapore Tel: Resident Geshe: Khenrinpoche Geshe Thubten Chonyi SLOVENIA (Tel Code 386) Chagna Pemo Study Group Domzale my.sunstar@gmail.com Tel: (40) SPAIN (Tel Code 34) Ediciones Dharma Novelda Tel: (96) Nagarjuna C.E.T. Alicante Alicante Tel: (66) Nagarjuna C.E.T. Barcelona Barcelona Tel: (93) Resident Geshe: Geshe Losang Jamphel Nagarjuna C.E.T. Granada Granada Tel: (95) Nagarjuna C.E.T. Madrid Madrid Tel: (91) Resident Geshe: Geshe Thubten Choden Centro Nagarjuna Valencia Valencia Tel: (96) Resident Geshe: Geshe Lamsang O.Sel.Ling Centro de Retiros Orgiva Tel: (95) Resident Teacher: Ven. Champa Shenphen Tekchen Chö Ling Ontinyent Tel: (96) Tushita Retreat Center Arbúcies tushita Tel: (97) SWEDEN (Tel Code 46) Tsog Nyi Ling Study Group Ransta Tel: (0224) Yeshe Norbu Study Group Stockholm Tel: (0707) SWITZERLAND (Tel Code 41) Gendun Drupa Centre Muraz/Sierre Tel: (27) Resident Teacher: Sixte Vinçotte October - December 2012 MANDALA 61

62 Longku Center Bern Tel: (31) TAIWAN (Tel Code 886) All Taiwanese centers are accessible through: Heruka Center Ciaotou Tel: (7) Resident Geshe: Geshe Tsethar Jinsiu Farlin Taipei Tel: (2) Resident Geshe: Geshe Gyurme Shakyamuni Center Taichung City Tel: (4) Resident Geshe: Geshe Ngawang Gyatso UNITED KINGDOM (Tel Code 44) Jamyang Bath Study Group Bath Jamyang Buddhist Centre London Tel: (02078) Resident Geshe: Geshe Tashi Tsering Jamyang Buddhist Centre Leeds Leeds Tel: (07866) Jamyang Coventry Study Group Coventry Khedrup Je Study Group Liverpool Tel: (07789) Land of Joy Tel: (07949) Saraswati Study Group Drayton Tel: (01458) Togme Sangpo Study Group Findhorn Tel: (01309) Yeshe Study Group Cumbria Tel: (01229) UNITED STATES (Tel Code 1) California Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center Campbell Tel: (408) Resident Teacher: Ven. Losang Drimay Land of Calm Abiding San Simeon Tel: (831) Land of Medicine Buddha Soquel buddha.org Tel: (831) Tara Home Soquel Tel: (831) Tara Redwood School Soquel Tsa Tsa Studio / Center for Tibetan Sacred Art Richmond Tel: (415) Tse Chen Ling San Francisco Tel: (415) Resident Geshe: Geshe Ngawang Dakpa Vajrapani Institute Boulder Creek Tel: (831) Colorado Lama Yeshe House Study Group Boulder lamayeshehouse@gmail.com Tel: (831) Florida Land for Nagarjuna s Sutra and Tantra Dharma Study Group Sarasota gedun@mindspring.com Tel: (941) Tse Pag Me Study Group Zephyrhills tropical_moments@ verizon.net Tel: (813) Tubten Kunga Center Deerfield Beach Tel: (954) Resident Geshe: Geshe Konchog Kyab Massachusetts Kurukulla Center Medford Tel: (617) Resident Geshe: Geshe Tenley Wisdom Publications Inc. Somerville Tel: (617) Montana Osel Shen Phen Ling Missoula Tel: (406) Nevada Dharmakaya Study Group Reno Home_Page.html Tel: (775) New Mexico Thubten Norbu Ling Santa Fe Tel: (505) Resident Teacher: Don Handrick Ksitigarbha Tibetan Buddhist Center Ranchos de Taos taostudy@newmex.com New York Shantideva Meditation Center New York North Carolina Kadampa Center Raleigh Tel: (919) Resident Geshe: Geshe Gelek Chodha Ohio Manjushri Study Group Youngstown blogspot.com Oregon Maitripa College Portland Tel: (503) Resident Geshe: Yangsi Rinpoche Texas Land of Compassion and Wisdom Austin Tel: (512) Vermont Milarepa Center Barnet Tel: (802) Virginia Guhyasamaja Center Centreville Tel: (703) Resident Geshe: Khensur Lobsang Jampa Rinpoche Washington Buddha Amitabha Pure Land Riverside Pamtingpa Center Tonasket Tel: (509) What does it mean to be an FPMT Center, Study Group, Project or Service? If a center, project or service is affiliated with FPMT, it means that it follows the spiritual direction of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. It means that centers and study groups use FPMT s educational programs and material, created in the unique lineage of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Each FPMT center, project or service is incorporated individually (is a separate legal entity) and is responsible for its own governance and finance. All FPMT centers, projects, services and study groups follow the FPMT Ethical Policy. FPMT study groups are groups which are using this status as a probationary period before a group becomes a legal entity and a full FPMT center, project or service. FPMT study groups are not yet affiliated with the FPMT, and therefore do not have the same responsibilities as a center or project, financially or administratively. 62 MANDALA October - December 2012

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