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Are you a Friend of FPMT? If not, click here: www.fpmt.org/ friends BLISSFUL RAYS OF THE MANDALA IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS BLISSFUL RAYS OF THE MANDALA IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS fpmt fpmt e-VOL. 3 ISSUE 4 DECEMBER 2010 YOUTH AND BUDDHISM Mandala Mandala A TIBETAN BUDDHIST JOURNAL JUNE/JULY 2006 FINDING A GURU LAY VOWS LIFE LESSONS Mandala Mandala APRIL/JUNE 2009 THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE FOUNDATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE MAHAYANA TRADITION 25 YEARS SINCE LAMA’S PASSING: Mandala celebrates his life and work through Intimate Reflections on the Early Days of FPMT The Official Publication of The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition Mandala eZine Mandala eZine

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Page 1: Mandala eZine December 2010

Are you aFriend of FPMT?If not, click here:www.fpmt.org/

friends

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

fpmtfpmte-VOL. 3 ISSUE 4

DECEMBER 2010

YOUTH AND BUDDHISM

MandalaMandalaA TIBETAN BUDDHIST JOURNAL

JUNE/JULY 2006

F I N D I N G A G U R U • L A Y V O W S • L I F E L E S S O N S

MandalaMandalaAPRIL/JUNE 2009

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE FOUNDATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE MAHAYANA TRADITION

25 YEARS SINCE LAMA’S PASSING:

Mandala celebrates his life and work through

Intimate Reflections on the Early Days of FPMT

The Official

Publication of

The Foundation for

the Preservation

of the Mahayana

Tradition

Mandala eZineMandala eZine

Page 2: Mandala eZine December 2010

Books Meditation supplies Study programs Videos Practice books Ritual objects

www.fpmt.org/shop

fpmt �e Foundation Store

“May our Dharma publicationsspread all over the world

and in every corner of the world.”– Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition

Page 3: Mandala eZine December 2010

e-Vol 3 ISSUE 4 DECEMBER 2010. The Mandala eZine is published as an online quarterly for Friends of FPMT byFPMT Inc., 1632 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97214-4702.

LAMA YESHE’S WISDOM6 Clean Clear Copingat the Time of DeathBy Lama Yeshe

ADVICE FROMTHE VIRTUOUS FRIEND8 A Path to Quickly AchieveFull EnlightenmentBy Lama Zopa Rinpoche

COVER FEATURE12 The Best of Mandala

MEDIA PAGE22 Featured Media

COMMUNITY FORUM24 Discussion Topic25 Photo Bulletin Board

COVER:Mandala covers from the magazinescontaining articles used in this year’s“Best of” feature.

fpmt Mandala eZine

CONTENTS

6

17

December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 3

Page 4: Mandala eZine December 2010

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

LIFE, DEATH, AND AFTER DEATHby lama yesheedited by nicholas ribush120 pages, free

“Tibetan Buddhism teaches us to understand the death process and trainsus to deal with it so that when the time of crisis arrives and the various illusory visions arise, instead of being confused, we’ll know what’s going on and will recognize illusions as illusions, projections as projections and fantasies as fantasies.”

TEACHINGS FROM THE MEDICINE BUDDHA RETREAT

by lama zopa rinpocheedited by ailsa cameron458 pages, $20

Teachings from Land of Medicine Buddha October-November 2001

KADAMPA TEACHINGSby lama zopa rinpocheedited by ailsa cameron288 pages, free

Commentary on essential piecesof advice from Kadampa Geshes.

*plus shipping charges of$1 per book ($5 minimum)

* plus shipping charges of

free books!*

Page 5: Mandala eZine December 2010

December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 5

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

(1935-1984) and LamaThubten Zopa Rinpoche. FPMT is now a vibrantinternational community with a network of over 150 affiliate centers,projects, services and study groups in more than thirty countries.

Editorial PolicyRecurring topics include: Buddhist philosophy; Education; Ordinationand the Sangha; Buddhism and Modern Life; Youth Issues; FPMTActivities Worldwide; Lama Yeshe and his teachings; Lama Zopa Rin-poche 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 currentlydoes not pay for publishable content; we credit all photos and other workas requested.

Mandala, in addition to the Mandala eZine, is published quarterlyand is available via the Friends of FPMT program. Additionally, bothpublications are supplemented by online stories published exclusively at:www.mandalamagazine.org

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

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

Mandala is published in January, April, July and October.Mandala eZine is published in February, May, August and December.

Managing Editor and PublisherCarina [email protected]

Assistant Editor,Advertising & SalesMichael [email protected]

Art DirectorCowgirls [email protected]

Friends of FPMT ProgramHeather [email protected]

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

FPMT Board of DirectorsSpiritual DirectorLama Zopa Rinpoche

Board MembersKhenrinpoche Geshe LhundrupVen. Roger KunsangVen. Pemba SherpaKaruna CaytonAndrew HaynesPeter KedgeTim McNeillTara MelwaniAlison MurdochPaula de Wijs-Koolkin

www.mandalamagazine.orgwww.fpmt.org

ABOUT MANDALA

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FOUNDATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE MAHAYANA TRADITION

By becoming a Friend of FPMT you can stay connected to

all that FPMT has to offer including Mandala Publications,

the FPMT Online Learning Center and various complimentary

resources offered at the free level. We're confident we've designed

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Become A Friend of FPMT! www.fpmt.org/friends

Page 6: Mandala eZine December 2010

6 MANDALA EZINE December 2010

Lama Yeshe’s WISDOM

Those of you who have some familiaritywith Tibetan medical terminology willhave heard of rlung, usually referring toa disturbance of the air element. When

desire arises, it produces strong air energy in

your nervous system; the air doesn’t movesmoothly and there can be hyperventilation.Jealousy and hatred disturb the bile. Hatredespecially produces too much fire; excess of thefire element. Ignorance produces an excess ofwater. So when one of the three poisons isstrong, it causes its corresponding element toget strong and this creates an imbalance amongthe elements and causes confusion within us.And this can kill us.

Our air element is supposed to preserve ourlife, but if it gets out of balance, we can die.It’s the same with our fire element: normally, itpreserves our life, but if there’s an explosion ofheat, it can kill us. What about water? Water is

necessary, but if there’s too much, again we die.However, when our elements are correctlybalanced, good things happen. When one getsextremely out of balance, we die. That’s ourreality.

Some of youmight have read theBardoThödrol [TheTibetan Book of the Dead]. Init there are descriptions of horrible visionssome people have when they’re dying, likebeing attacked by somebody with a knife.Things like that. One way it looks kind ofexaggerated: “How could that be?” It seemstoo much. Another way, I think it can betrue. We have accumulated so many layersof negativity, not just in this life but frombeginningless previous lives, one piled ontop of the other.

I heard on TV that there’s a singerwho’s sold so many records that if youpiled them up they would be higher thanMt. Everest. Our heavy blankets ofconfusion are just like that: if you piledthem up they would be even higher than

that ... two or three times higher than Mt.Everest. So because of all these imprints ofconfusion, it’s possible that during the deathprocess all kinds of visions can appear.

For example, we see people in hospital withterminal cancer suffering greatly, going in andout of consciousness. For me, that’s like hell.When I see people in a cancer ward, I don’t needany other explanation of hell. Of course, we havedetailed explanations of hell, but for me, thecancer ward’s enough. It’s not usual suffering; it’sunusual. It’s worse than animal suffering.They’reconscious, they slip into unconsciousness andthe death process; then they come to again. Haveyou seen people suffering like this? For me, this

Clean Clear Copingat the Time of Death

Lama Yeshe teaching in Geneva, 1983. Photo by Ueli Minder.

By Lama Yeshe

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December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 7

is a hellish experience. So I’m going to say thatthis kind of situation is absolutely the same aswhat’s described in the Bardo Thödrol: exagger-ated visions of yamas with horns coming to eatyou. Things like that.

In San Francisco in 1978, I went to see somecancer patients. I couldn’t sleep that night; seeingthose peoplewas toomuch forme. It was like hell.

That’s why it’s so important for you to keepyourself clean clear all the time. Every day,keep yourself as clean clear as possible. Don’tcreate confused situations with your body,speech or mind. It’s simple. Then you’ll haveno problems. You’ll be balanced both inter-nally and externally and will also not be indanger of contracting a serious disease.

When we meditate and the negative forcesof confusion come, we recognize them forwhat they are: confusion, illusion and untruth.Then you can understand non-self-existenceand non-duality during the death process. Youdevelop a more stable comprehension of real-ity. This makes a big difference as to whetheror not you can cope with what’s happeningwhen you die. If you’re too shaken by the illu-sions that appear, you have no control, but ifwhen the illusory appearances come you haveconscious strength, you can maintain control.

If you’re seriously ill with advanced diseaseand tremendous confusion, you can’t cope. Youcan’t keep yourself clean clear because of theoverwhelming power of your confusion. But ifyou die in a more normal way without tremen-dously heavy illness and confusion, you can copeby yourself and keep your consciousness cleanclear. When the various stages of death occur,you can explain to yourself, “Now this ishappening, now that will come …” and watchwhat’s happening almost as if it’s happeningoutside of yourself.What I’m saying is that beingconscious and having control during the deathprocess depends a lot on your mind’s being free

of the three poisons. That’s the conclusion.… Fortunate people, who die naturally,

without heavy disease or confusion, have a verysmooth death. The advantage of this situationis that of clean clear control: even though someconfusion might arise during absorption of theelements, the dying person can recognize thevarious appearances as hallucinations andunderstand that there’s no self-existent earth,water, fire and so forth and therefore can main-tain control. Then, slowly, slowly, as moreelements absorb, the person naturally becomes

clearer and clearer and approaches non-self-existent, or non-dual, unification, and is slowlyled to the completely clear light stage. Insteadof causing confusion, the death process allowsthe person to touch reality. So death can bringgood things or bad; here, I’m talking aboutgood things that can happen.

However, you shouldn’t worry that deathmust be difficult and rebirth evenworse; that youmight be reborn in the lower realms as a tiger, adonkey, a monkey or something. I tell you, don’tworry. Even though we might not have greatwisdom, we do have a certain degree of lovingkindness, so those who die with loving kindnessin their mind never have to worry about gettinga bad rebirth. With loving kindness in yourmind, there’s no way to go to the lower realms.�

Lama Yeshe gave this teaching in Geneva, Switzer-land, in September 1983, his last teaching in theWest.Edited from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive byNicholas Ribush. Excerpted from Life, Death and AfterDeath, forthcoming from the LYWA, October 2010.

Every day, keep yourself as cleanclear as possible. Don’t createconfused situations with yourbody, speech or mind. It’s simple.Then you’ll have no problems.

Page 8: Mandala eZine December 2010

8 MANDALA EZINE December 2010

Advice from THE VIRTUOUS FRIEND

A path to quickly acheive

Full EnlightenmentBy Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The basic reason why the tantric pathbecomes the quick path to achievingenlightenment is that there is theopportunity to do meditations on the

path that are similar to the four purities, thefour complete pure results that we will achievein the future when we become enlightened.

The first of the four complete pure resultsis the completely pure, holy body. When webecome enlightened, when we becomeChenrezig, the Compassion Buddha, at thattime, we have the completely pure vajra holybody.

We don’t have suffering, and the aggregatesare completely pure and uncontaminated byeven the subtle imprint left by the disturbingthoughts, the simultaneously-born concept ofinherent existence.

The completely pure holy body covers allexistence and has infinite qualities that don’tfit with our present, very primitive andobscured mind. Our ordinary mind cannotcomprehend all the qualities of the Buddha’sholy body. The completely pure holy bodypervades all existence and whenever thesentient beings’ karma ripens, without delayingfor even a second, it immediately takes formright there and guides the sentient beingswithout any effort.

In everyday life we stop impure, ordinaryappearances and concepts, and by visualizingourselves as a deity, we transform into pureappearance and pure thought. By visualizingour own body as the deity’s, we stop ordinaryappearances and concepts, and we transform

our own body’s ordinary form into pureappearance – the holy body of the Buddha, theholy body of the deity.

Each time we do this practice, by purifyingthe ordinary “I,” the ordinary aggregates, intoemptiness and generating as the deity, we prac-tice the pure appearance of our own body as thedeity’s holy body. For example, we visualize now,

in our daily life, the Compassion Buddha’s holybody that we are going to achieve in the future,and we practice pure appearance by holdingdivine pride and generating faith that this is theresult-time Compassion Buddha’s body. Thismeditation becomes an incredibly skillful meansand a very powerful purification, purifying somuch negative karma and accumulating somuch merit, because this special meditationtechnique is done not just by visualizing theresult-time deity’s holy body, but by visualizingthe holy body with method and wisdom. The

By visualizing our own bodyas the deity’s, we stopordinary appearancesand concepts, and wetransform our own body’sordinary form into pureappearance – the holybody of the Buddha, theholy body of the deity.

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December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 9

visualization of the holybody of the deity is doneby perfecting method andwisdom within one mind– method inseparable fromwisdom. So, it becomeslike a very sophisticatedmachine, one that has veryadvanced technology thatcan do things very fast, likesome modern developedmachineswithwhich thingscan go much faster thanmachines made some yearsago.

… This meditationitself becomes a path toquickly achieve the result-time, completely pure holybody of the deity, whichcan guide sentient beingswho have different levelsof mind perfectly, withoutmistakes.

The second result isthe completely pure place,the holy place, the celestialmansion mandala that isthe pure appearance of thedeity’s wisdom. For exam-ple, Chenrezig, the Compassion Buddha’smandala is a completely pure, holy place thatwe will achieve when we become enlightened.In our everyday life, we stop the ordinaryappearance and concept of the place, and wetrain the mind in pure appearances, seeing thepure, holy place, the mandala of the deity.

It is said in the tantric teachings that eachtime we visualize a mandala, it purifies tenmillion eons of negative karma. Each time wevisualize the mandala of the deity and do this

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the California poppies. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.

meditation, it has incredible power to purify ourmental continuum of so much obscuration, often million eons of negative karma, and we alsoaccumulate extensive merit.

This is why practicing secret mantra,Vajrayana, helps us achieve full enlighten-ment more quickly. Even just a few secondsmeditating on the mandala becomes unbe-lievably powerful purification. So, it becomesa quick path to achieve enlightenment. Everyday, in our everyday life, practicing this pure

Page 10: Mandala eZine December 2010

Advice from THE VIRTUOUS FRIEND

appearance and visualizing the result-time,the completely pure place of the deity itself,becomes the path to achieving the result-time, the completely pure place, the mandala.

The third result is the enjoyment in ourdaily life. We stop the impure, ordinaryappearance or concept of enjoyments as ordi-nary, and we visualize the result-time, thecompletely pure enjoyment. Each time we dothis, we accumulate inconceivable merit and itbecomes great purification. Again, that makesus quickly achieve enlightenment, so thismeditation becomes the path to achieving theresult-time, the completely pure enjoyment ofthe deity. Similarly, by visualizing thecompletely pure enjoyment we are going toexperience when we become enlightened –when we become the deity – in our daily life asif it is happening now, becomes the path toachieving the result-time, completely pureenjoyment of the deity.

The fourth result is the completely pureholy action of the deity, such as emittingbeams from the holy body, from the pores ofthe deity. Each beam that emits from thedeity’s holy body every second liberatesnumberless sentient beings from suffering andleads into temporary and ultimate happiness –we visualize this result-time, the completelypure action of working for sentient beings andbenefiting sentient beings, in our daily life.

In the sadhanas there are many points wherewe visualize the syllable of the deity, and we sendbeams to both purify all sentient beings and leadthem into enlightenment, and make offering tothe deities, buddhas and bodhisattvas. Wevisualize beams emitting from the deity’s holybody, and by visualizing ourselves as the deity,the Buddha, we purify sentient beings and leadthem into enlightenment. There are many

meditation practices like this in the sadhanas.Here, we are meditating on the result-timecompletely pure holy actions, and we arevisualizing now in our daily life what is goingto happen when we become enlightened.

Each time we do this special, particularway of visualizing ourselves as the deity andsending beams purifying sentient beings, itaccumulates much more merit than the sutrapath practice of doing tong-len (taking andgiving), taking other sentient beings’ sufferingsand giving our own happiness and merit toothers. Of course, we accumulate infinitemerit each time we take other sentientbeings’ sufferings within our own heart anddedicate our own merits and happinesstowards all sentient beings. But it is said intantra that when we do this visualization –visualizing ourselves as a deity and sendingbeams purifying sentient beings – we accu-mulate more merit than in paramitayanapath practices such as tong-len. So thismeditation itself becomes the path to achievethe result-time, completely pure holy actionof the deity.

These four types of meditation, visualizingthe four purities or the four complete pureresults, become very incredible, skillful medi-tation techniques, a path to quickly achievethese four completely pure results of the deity,to quickly achieve full enlightenment. Eachtime we do the sadhana, the meditation of thedeity, this is the basic meditation – this is thefoundation of the Vajrayana path. �

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave this teaching at the28th Kopan Course in 1995. Edited by SandraSmith. This teaching is an edited excerpt fromLecture Two of the course, courtesy of the LamaYeshe Wisdom Archive. The entire 28th KopanCourse is available for free.

10 MANDALA EZINE December 2010

Page 11: Mandala eZine December 2010

FPMT programs available online!

Buddhism in a Nutshell Meditation 101Death & Dying Living in the Path Basic ProgramDiscovering Buddhism

Online Learning Center

Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition

Video teachingsAudio teachings and meditationsWritten transcriptsReadingsDaily practices

•••••

Each online program includes some or all of the following components:

How to access FPMT online programs:For all online programs go to FPMT Online Learning Center:

http://onlinelearning.fpmt.org FREE! Discovering Buddhism module two, How to MeditateFREE! Living in the Path module one, Motivation for Life

For all other program modules:Individual modules can be purchased from theFPMT Foundation Store: http://shop.fpmt.org Become a Dharma Supporter Friend of FPMT and receive:free access to all online programs anda subscription to Mandala magazine:www.fpmt.org/friends

••

FPMT Media Center:High-defi nition streaming video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Light of the Path teachings are available in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and German.

http://onlinelearning.fpmt.org

Mindfulness exercises for daily lifeKarma yoga exercisesOnline quizzesOnline discussion forumCompletion certifi cate

•••••

“I want to thank you for the amazing job of placing FPMT into a new era of spreading the Dharma, a really new step in FPMT era to spread the Dharma,something to celebrate.”

–Thubten Kunsang, Oct 2009

December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 11

Page 12: Mandala eZine December 2010

Lama Yeshe loved wandering about the Chen-rezig property, much of it lush, tropical rainforest. He often returned with exotic ferns herepotted into little arrangements for the house.He also got to know the land. One day hepointed to a particular spot close by theextremely primitive shower facilities (asuspended drum of hot water) and said to digfor a spring right there. This was done, withgreat success. He also advised the Vichtas [Tomand Kathy] to clear their crowded paddocksand plant fruit trees in specific locations. Tenyears on, they acknowledged his remarkableunderstanding of landscape. Such under-standing of nature and water is said to be one

of the fruits of successful practice.Inta McKimm brought her ten-year-old

daughter, Miffi, to the course and when thechild came down with the flu, Lama Yesheinvited her to spend time at his house. “Hetold me the best way to get better was to eat,”said Miffi. “Lama Zopa was very quiet andspent a lot of time making momos for us. Ithought he was shy.

“When we sat down for lunch, Lama and Iate solidly for an hour and a half. We talkedabout really normal things and laughed a lot.After lunch, we sat on the verandah lookingout over the Pacific Ocean, and Lama walkedup and down slapping his arms across his

Best of MANDALA

Welcome to our annual Best of Mandala eZine! For twenty-three years, Mandala magazine has been delivering topicalarticles, features and news to FPMT students and novice

Buddhists around the world. In case you missed out the first time theywere published, we are featuring a few of our favorites from the vault.The articles selected here were nominated by Mandala readers, past

editors and FPMT staff.Enjoy!

Since 1992 Adele Hulse has been putting together Lama Yeshe’s official biography, Big Love, soon tobe released by the LamaYesheWisdom Archive. Adele has regularly featured excerpts from her researchand writing in Mandala, all of them rare glimpses into the life of FPMT’s beloved founder. The“The Famous Celery ‘Cure’” from the June-July 2006 issue gives a complete picture of Lama Yesheas a mystic, nurturer and fearless teacher. As you’ll see, this was not always comfortable if you wereon the receiving end of his instruction!

MANDALAbestof

THE FAMOUS

Celery “Cure”By Adele Hulse

12 MANDALA EZINE December 2010

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December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 13

chest. He said these were heart exercises hisdoctor had advised him to do and were verysimilar to Tibetan dancing. He taught me tostand on one leg; then we both stamped upand down the verandah until the whole houseshook and the glasses rattled. ‘These houses aresupposed to be cyclone-proof!’ he said, whileeverything was still wobbling.

“Back inside, he pointed to a wall and said,‘Do you know what’s in there?’ He pressed thewall a bit and it was a secret door to his medi-tation room. I was a serious kind of kid and hegave me heaps of cuddles and strong squashybear hugs,” Miffi told me.

Being kind and normal was one of LamaYeshe’s greatest powers. Yeshe Khadro’s motherlived not far from Chenrezig. Lama Yeshe al-ways sent her Christmas cards and one timeshe invited him to dinner.

“It was the night of my favorite TV show,”Corrie Obst told me. “Of course I sat down todinner with him instead. Suddenly he lookedat me and said. ‘Would you like to watchTV?’I said that, actually, I would. So I sat in frontof the set and he came and sat with me, myyoungest daughter on his knee. That was lovelyfor her, because her father had died.”

But sometimes people needed somethingdifferent. A woman brought her adult sonalong to the course, hoping it would help hisschizophrenia. He liked peeking at the girlswhile they showered, so Lama was asked tospeak to him.

Jhampa Zangpo had been living at Chen-rezig for some time, and Lama Yeshe askedhim to assist at a puja to help remove spiritsfrom the young man. However, in this case, itseemed a puja was not going to be enough.

“Lama said prayers over him for about five

minutes, then left the room,” said JhampaZangpo. “I stayed with this man, who wasparticularly tall and heavy. Lama returned witha big bunch of very healthy, firm, greenAustralian celery. He stood over the guy andsaid, ‘It’s not you, it’s your crazy mind!’ andwhacked him over the head with the celery. Hedid it again and again, saying the same thingand beating the guy with the celery until Lamawas huffing and puffing and stringy bits ofcelery dangled everywhere.

“Then the guy looks up at Lama and hiseyes go blood red. ‘You hit me!’ he shouts, andlunges at Lama. And he’s so big! I’m quitesmall, but somehow I managed to body-tacklehim from behind and threw him against thewall. Lama nicked out of the room and shutthe door. So the guy turns on me. At first Ithought I should be a bodhisattva and let himhit me, but after four or five blows I thought,the hell with this, slid the glass balcony doorsopen and dived off the edge, a fall of nearlyten feet.

“Right at that moment Lama Zopa wascoming out of the gompa and saw this guy leapafter me. I ran around and got back into thehouse, but he caught up with me in thekitchen, where Yeshe Khadro stood choppingvegetables with her eyes wide open. We wres-tled some more until Peter Kedge and someothers came up and managed to subdue thepoor guy, but that was the end of his stay atChenrezig.

“I turned up back at the house sporting twoblack eyes. ‘Everything all right, dear?’ Lamaasked. I said it was and he said, ‘Didn’t youfight back?’ I said no, and he said, ‘Oh, youshould have!’ – which made me just furious,”said Jhampa Zangpo.

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“Ngawang Ridzin Gyatso Rinpoche,” he says,trying to conceal the infectious grin spreadingacross his face as Kopan’s littlest lama tells hisproper name to Lama Zopa Rinpoche overlunch. To just about everyone else who knowshim, however, he is Cherok Lama, the boywhose affection and laughter make even thesternest of hearts to open and wonder just whois inside the four-year-old body.

… Kushog Mangden, as he was known in hisprevious life, was a great Nyingma yogi andterton. Sherpa by birth, he spent his early life inthe Solo valley of Nepal and in the Shigatseregion of Tibet. By middle-age he had estab-lished a monastery in Solo, married and had twochildren, a daughter and a son. Although he hadspent time as a monk in his younger years, thetradition of his lineage was to pass his teachingsand empowerments to his offspring. Keepingperfectly to his tradition, the family of KushogMangden were given a full Dharma training bytheir father, starting their first set of fournyun-droswhen they were only twelve years old!

Besides their residence in Solo, KushogMangden’s family also had a house and land at aplace called Cherok, very close to the LawudoGompa in the Khumbu valley. Thus in his laterlife, when the Kushog Mangden lived out hisyears at Cherok, he came to be called simply theCherok Lama. How much Cherok Lama andthe Lawudo Lama (Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s

previous incarnation) spent time together is notentirely clear to me. However, when eleven yearsago I asked Cherok Lama this question, I willnever forget his reply. With a look of adorationhe described how when he was young he wouldlie in the meditation box of the elder LawudoLama, his head neatly tucked into his knee whilethe latter did his prayers. From that time on itwas evident even to my obscured mind thatwhen the time of passing from this life wouldcome for Cherok Lama he would most certainlytake rebirth in a form that would serve LamaZopa in some way. In the six years that followedI had a great deal of contact with Cherok Lama,and from the questions he would ask of LamaZopa’s activities, the West, Western people,climate and so on, this certaintywas strengthened.

January 22, 1992, at eighty-seven years ofage, Cherok Lama passed away. His holy mind

Best of MANDALA

THE FLIGHT

of a Young LamaBy Merry Colony

14 MANDALA EZINE December 2010

Cherok Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan.Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

One of the privileges of reading Mandala regularly is the opportunity to watch notable youngtulkus change and develop from extraordinary children into remarkable adults. In this excerptfrom theMarch-April 1997 issue,Merry Colony briefly describes the incredible self-discovery

of Ngawang Ridzin Gyatso Rinpoche, the Cherok Lama, and the history of his predecessor, KushogMangden.

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December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 15

remained in meditation for many days after thelast breath, and once the consciousness hadexited, the holy body was cremated in a stupaoverlooking the meditation hut and stupa ofhis grandfather as well as his own family homeand gompa at Cherok. Though I had leftCherok three weeks earlier, I was told that theholy body had been placed upon a large tripodstructure within the stupa, holding dorje andbell. When the stupa was opened three dayslater the three legs of the tripod had fusedtogether with the upright dorje in the center. Aportion of the heart also remained, which wasput along with other relics into a metal stupa inthe family gompa. Cherok Lama’s son and onegrandson had passed away two years earlier, andso at his passing he left his elder daughter, Ven.Anila Pema Choden and grandson TenzinTrinley as his ancestral lineage holders.

… Without anyone looking, however, theboy was found. In the spring of 1995Ven. AnilaNgawang Samden, Lama Zopa’s sister whomanages Lawudo Retreat Center, was taking awalk to the nearby water source to fix her pipe.There she ran into awoman she didn’t know whowas from a nearby village and was clearlydistraught. With very little prompting thewoman began crying to Ngawang Samdenabout the child she was carrying on her back,how he made life very difficult for her by alwayscarrying on about his home “under the rock,”his daughter and wanting to go home.Ngawang Samden, having been very close toCherok Lama and knowing something aboutincarnations, immediately tuned her listeningvery carefully.

The woman continued. She had finallysuccumbed to her son’s wishes that morning bypromising him that she would bring him to thishouse under the rock up the mountain that hekept speaking of. However, not knowing clearly

herself the place he referred to and knowingthat a lama nearby was giving a long-lifeceremony that day, she tried in vain to quellthe boy’s insistence by bringing him to thelama’s house.

On arrival however the two-and-a-half-year-old screamed furiously that this was notwhere he wanted to go, that he wanted to go toCherok. It was then, as this mother wascontinuing up the path to find this place calledCherok, that she ran into Ngawang Samden.

On the agreement that Ngawang Samdenwould take the boy for ten days so the mothercould get some work as a porter, he thenmoved to Lawudo. When the ten days wereup, however, he refused to leave, saying that ifhe couldn’t return to Cherok then he would bea Lawudo monk and that he never wanted tolive with his family again.

It was also at this point that NgawangSamden checked with Ven. Trulshik Rinpocheof Thubten Chöling Gompa in Solo if thereincarnation was correct. Trulshik Rinpochereplied that the boy was indeed the incarna-tion of Kushog Mangden and later gave thename Ngawang Ridzin Gyatso. NgawangSamden started sending me letters saying thatI must come meet the boy. She described tome the event that led to his recognition andsaid that he had been asking about me. Trueor not, she needn’t have said another word. InOctober 1995 I went to meet the lama whowas not yet three.

There was no denying that the young lamawas extraordinary. From waking until sleep theonly entertainment he was interested in wasdoing puja. He would sit crossed-legged inLawudo’s dining room, holding dorje and bell,wearing the red hat of his predecessor, recitingin tantric voice the text in front of him(though not in a language understandable to

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his listeners). In front of him, on the floor,were his attendants, playing cymbals (a pair ofenamel mug lids), gyaling (a length of plasticpipe) and passing out tsog (balls of clay), onlywhen the lama said so and not before.

So powerful was he during these daily pujasthat though I would often be brought tolaughter by the scene I was witnessing, I wasequally brought to tears by its utter beauty. Assolemnly as he would hold up a small stupa tohis forehead, lower his eyelids and go intomeditation, just as spontaneously would heburst into laughter and announce the pujadone. Besides this, his favorite activities werestanding with his gyaling perched atop the wallof Lawudo’s courtyard, blessing the valleybelow with his new young voice and talkingabout who he was and what he wanted to do.

I have never spent as much time withanother young tulku, so I have nothing tocompare my experience with, but this boy left

no room for misunderstanding about his inten-tions. Having a three-year-old dictate letters forme to write to Lama Zopa and others statingthat he was the real Cherok Lama and please tohelp him accomplish his wishes was certainly anew one for me. As stated, he wanted to go toKopan, study, become a big lama and thenteach Westerners. Point blank. His heartfeltconnection with Westerners was, and is, unde-niable. Each person who arrived at Lawudo inthe year he lived there was formally shownaround hand in hand by a little boy in a maroonchuba and yellow sweater and I saw not onewho wasn’t visibly affected by the affectionatecharacter of the boy they knew nothing of.

Cherok Lama, currently sixteen years old, wasrecently featured in “Round Table Discussion withYoung FPMT Notables” along with Ling Rinpoche,Osel Hita and Gomo Tulku. Cherok Lama currentlystudies with Jangtse Choje Lobsang TenzinRinpoche at Sera Je Monastery.

I lived and worked in the Himalayan regionsof Nepal and Bhutan for nearly 12 years. I firstwent there to climb mountains – like mostclimbers, excited by the challenge of testingyourself in wild and inhospitable places, andsurviving. In the process I met people wholived in these areas, and as I started to listen to

them, I started to learn.I learned that these people are not really

interested in so-called “conquering” the moun-tains; instead, they hold the mountains inrespect as they respected all of nature. Theymake their living as farmers, traders, or moun-tain guides, but instead of trying to control

By Elaine Brook

IN HARMONY

With Our Ecosystem

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16 MANDALA EZINE December 2010

Increasingly, people all over the world are acknowledging that living with an attitude that viewshumans as separate from the rest of natural world leads to irresponsible behavior and tragic consequences(the most recent being the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico). In this article from theOctober-November 2005 issue, Elaine Brook tells how mythology and story shape the ways humansrelate to the environment, and offers some poignant thoughts on how meditation helps bring harmonybetween ourselves and our surroundings.

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nature, they attune themselves to its balanceand harmony and learn to work with it. It ishard to express in a Western industrial contextthe profound difference of psychology andspirit that underlies the process of constantlyadapting at a personal level rather than tryingto change the ecosystem in which you live.

It starts with a shift from thinking of theword “environment” as a kind of vaguely greenbackdrop to the activities of humans andperhaps some animals, to understanding it as acollective noun for all the living beings who co-create the living web of life that sustains us all.This understanding then deepens throughmeditations on interdependence and compas-sion and leads to a profound reverence andrespect for all life. This reverence and respectgradually changes our practical everyday waysof living.

I began to realize that the compartmental-izing of the spiritual and the practical is aninvention of a compartmentalized, industrial-ized society. If you live in harmony with yourcommunity and ecosystem, you also live inharmony within your own mind. The mindthat explores other states of consciousness inmeditation and experiences the interconnect-edness of oneself with everything else is notseparate from the mind that makes a cup of teaor does the washing up.

Only a relatively small percentage of peoplein a Himalayan community have the time todevote themselves to Buddhist study andmeditation. So how are these values shared andfollowed by the whole community? Eventually,I began to realize that it is the “mythology” ofa society, the stories we live by, that hold thecollective values and enable individuals towork together cooperatively within thoseshared values. As new stories began to arrive

from the industrialized world of competitionand profit, it was becoming more difficult forHimalayan communities to maintain theircooperative, non-harming working systems.

When I returned to England, I wanted tofind a way of making what I had learnedavailable to other people within the contextof our own culture – a culture that hashanded over its traditional stories to the ad-vertising industry and to its partner, enter-tainment. We now live, work, andcommunicate within shared stories that tellus we are separate, incomplete beings whowill become happier and more fulfilled if wehave this or that lifestyle, appearance, orproduct. Because these lifestyles, appearances,and products are almost without exceptioncreated in ways that bring enormous damageto other humans and living beings, our soci-

December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 17

Roseneath, Australia, 2005. Photos by Jake Harris.

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ety’s most powerful collective stories discour-age us from even looking in caring andcompassionate ways at the interdependenteffects of what we do and what we have. Sowe need new stories. We need shared storiesthat carry the wisdom of tradition and med-itation, that are also validated by our newreligion of science. The Gaia story representsancient wisdom expressed in terms of scientificsystems, and shows how the Earth’s biosphereis a balanced, living system in which all theecosystems, wind and ocean currents, andmineral cycles harmonize together to regulatetemperature, distribute rainfall, and co-createconditions for life. It is as if the Earth herselfwas a living being: the essence of the EarthGoddess who appeared to bear witness to theBuddha in his final meditation of awakeningunder the Bodhi tree.

... Meditation on the breath is sometimesstill practiced alone, but not always. Remem-bering that we are not an isolated, independentself reminds us that the breath of life connects uswith all other living beings. This reminder canbring us out from within the four concrete wallsof the meditation room into nature and a rela-tionship with a tree. It is here that meditationon the breath can simultaneously become med-itation on generosity and interconnectedness.The out-breath is no longer just an out-breathbut a gift of life, of carbon dioxide, for the tree,and an in-breath is no longer just an in-breathbut a receiving in gratitude of the gift of life ofthe oxygen breathed out by the tree. Recogniz-ing and respecting the multitude of living beingsfor whom the tree is home gives an insight intothe even greater multitudes of living beings inother trees, and meadows, and oceans whosewell-being is more important than thesatisfaction of our immediate consumer desires.

The difficulty of expressing these ideaswithin the context of an addicted society isthat, like addicted individuals, we have aheightened sensitivity to any hint of “should”or “ought to,” which only leads to increaseddenial and resistance. For a Buddhist practi-tioner, however, the situation is reversed. It isnot a case of “if you are a Buddhist, then you‘should’ be living in an ethical and eco-friendlyway.” Rather, it is the other way around. If,in the meditation room, we are practicingopening the heart to a sense of interconnected-ness and compassion for other living beings, wethen have to step back out into a world thatencourages us to close the heart and not thinkabout the suffering that our lifestyle is causing.We cannot continue to hold these two con-flicting attitudes within our mindstream forvery long without developing some kind ofspiritual indigestion! Sooner or later, for ourown inner peace and ease, we have to startadjusting the way we live our everyday lives, tobecome more congruent with the mind we aredeveloping in meditation.

This isn’t easy. It means swimming againstthe flow of the way the majority of people dothings. It means being prepared to takethings one small step at a time, and beingable to hold the awareness that there is stillmore to do without feeling guilty that wehaven’t done it yet. It’s not as easy for us asfor our Himalayan friends; the necessities ofday-to-day living are delivered to us, plasticwrapped, from all corners of the world, andour sense of self is more individual than intraditional or indigenous societies. This hasadvantages – we have human rights, women’srights, gay rights, children’s rights – but wehave paid a price. We have lost much of thesense of extended self that older cultures

Best of MANDALA

18 MANDALA EZINE December 2010

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experience – the sense of self extendingbeyond the skin and including communityand ecosystem.

The good news is that it gets easier after thefirst few weeks. After all the hassle of findingout where to buy local food that hasn’t beensprayed with pesticides, or fair trade items, orless damaging means of transport, or telephoneor banking or energy services from ethicalcompanies, it all settles down again and

becomes more comfortable, and we wonderwhy we didn’t get round to it before.Elaine Brook is an ecologist, writer, and photo-grapher who spent 12 years living and working inthe Himalayas, where she studied with Buddhistteachers, andmet Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan.Her books, The Windhorse, Land of the Snowlion,and In Search of Shambhala (with foreword by HisHoliness the Dalai Lama), are published byJonathan Cape. Elaine currently designs theeducation program at Gaia Partnership.

I swear he was glowing! I only went to Kopanto see a friend. I was not interested in Bud-dhism. In fact, I was completely turned off bythe whole scene. Many of the people thereseemed unhealthy, both mentally and physi-cally. I thought if this is meditation, who needsit? I was really only an observer and refused toprostrate. However, my first sight of LamaYeshe changed all that. I immediately sensed heknew things most people don’t. I’d met a lot ofhighly educated people, but none who werewise. Lama Yeshe was as wise as you could get.His compassion and wisdom were so apparentthat one was really struck by his presence. Iregarded him as a buddha, because if he wasn’t,I don’t know what he could be. After seeinghim, I began doing prostrations. – SuziAlbright, “a biker girl from Arizona” whoattended the sixth Kopan course, later becamea nun and did a twelve-year retreat.

[I] burst in on Lama, sobbing hysterically.His eyes widened and he looked very con-cerned. I just blubbered, out of control, a real

spectacle. “What is it dear?” he asked, takingmy hands in his and drawing me close to him.Looking around he found flowers someonehad given him and said: “Here dear, these arefor you.” I said, “No, no, Lama, it’s me whoshould be offering them to you!”

He handed me some fruit and said to takeit, too. “No, Lama, you don’t understand,nothing helps. Not fruit, not flowers, it’s use-less! I’m totally isolated and alone. I can’t feelanything. I’m dead. Nothing means anythingto me, not even you, Lama!” I shrieked andsobbed.

He said: “Not even me? Impossible, impos-sible!”

Then he opened his eyes very wide and drewmy eyes to his, and what felt like my whole beingwent … somewhere. I haven’t the words todescribe what happened. I felt like he took meinto the deepest recesses of his being, and I saw,I knew, that there was nothing there. Absolutelynothing at all. There was just an empty silence,a black hole. There was simply no person called

Intimate Reflections

December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 19

Mandala honored the 25th anniversary of LamaYeshe’s passing with the inaugural issue (April-June 2009) of a seven-part series dedicated to telling the story of FPMT. The stories about theearly days, particularly those of Lama Yeshe, are worth publishing again and again.

Page 20: Mandala eZine December 2010

“Lama” inside. It was awe-some. In that moment Irealized that the friendly,smiling, personable LamaYeshe I knew was a figment,a persona he’d created solelyfor our benefit; that behindthe charismatic exterior layunbounded empty space.Lama had allowed me tocatch a glimpse of that for onebrief, but eternal, moment.” –Carol Royce-Wilder, earlystudent, photographer.

We did a lot of cookingtogether, Lama teaching mehow. For breakfast he likedFrench toast with lashings of butter and syrup,as well as sausage or bacon and strong coffeewith whipped cream. If Anila Ann had seenthat she would have gone nuts. She was alwayson at me about his diet. I agreed with her at thetime but Lama claimed nobody knew his bodylike he did. “I need strong food to keep it going– steak and milk.” He made these big momosbut wouldn’t let me buy ground beef for them,it had to be best steak and he’d chop it up him-self. He didn’t like ground beef: “You don’tknow what’s in that!” He loved his coffee. Hestarted adding ‘Half and Half ’ but said it wasn’tstrong enough, so moved on to whippingcream. – Ngawang Chotak, early student,former director of Wisdom Publications.

Words were not necessary with Lama Yesheand we developed our own communication.Occasionally, when he came out from a lecture,he put his arm over my shoulders and said,“Good?” and I answered, “Very good!” Then Iwould put my right arm around his waist andfeel how he was transmitting energy that filledmy whole being with joy. I sat in the front row

for his talks so I could gethim whatever he needed. Ihardly understood what hewas talking about, eventhough it was translated intoSpanish. The concepts werelight years away from mymind. But now and thenLama pointed to me, andtold the others that if theyhad questions they shouldask me because I understood.

I felt nothing could be further from the truthbut what I did understand was the respectful,kindly and affectionate way he treated people.– Paco Hita, father of Osel Hita, the rein-carnation of Lama Yeshe, speaking about hisfirst meditation course, Ibiza 1978.

At the end-of-course puja, with tsog piledhigh and happy faces all around, Lama badefarewell to those who were not staying on for aten-day retreat, led by Ven. Marcel. “You peoplevery beautiful,” Lama Yeshe told them. “Lamais very happy.Thank you so much, soooo much!And remember as much as possible cultivate,activate wisdom action, stay unified much aspossible with the universal compassion wisdomand never come down in supermarket. At Kopanwe’ll always pray for you people, we’ll always bewith you – in the sky, in space. Actually, we’realways together in space – going, coming, going,coming. Absolutely, of course, there is no goingor coming. So. Goodbye, thank-you, everythingokay. See you soon, on the moon!” – After theeighth Kopan course, 1975; fromBig Love, theforthcoming biography of Lama Yeshe. �

Ngawang Chotak, Lama Yeshe,Peter Kedge, 1979.

Below: Lama Yeshe on bus inAmsterdam, 1980.

20 MANDALA EZINE December 2010

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FPMT Education ServicesProviding Programs and Pract ice Materials For All

Available from the Foundation Store: www.fpmt.org/shop

Taking the Essence All Day and Night The Liberation Box

Powerful tools to ensure a fortunate rebirth for those who have died:To prepare: Heart Practices and Heart Advice for Death and DyingTo hear: Recitations to alleviate pain and benefit the mindTo see: Mantras and images to look uponTo touch: Mantras, text, stupa, and phowa pill for the body

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Mantras to empower your speech and bless your bodyRecollections to infuse every life action with bodhichitta mindfulness.The yogas of eating and making extensive offeringsThe Eight Mahayana Precepts

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

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

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

THE INTERNATIONAL

MERIT BOX PROJECT

December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 21

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22 MANDALA EZINE December 2010

FEATURED AUDIO:“Self-ConfidenceBetween InferiorityFeelings and Arrogance”By Sylvia Wetzel

In this excerpt from a teaching retreat lead by Sylvia Wetzel at Tong-nyi Nying-je in November2009, Sylvia discusses some of the ways in which we identify with our body and mind, and theproblems that can result from clinging too strongly to that identity. At the end of the excerpt, Sylviagives brief instructions on how “to be the witness,” observing personal experience throughmeditation in a more peaceful, non-neurotic way. SylviaWetzel, one of Lama Yeshe’s first students,is an eloquent and dynamic speaker, and a wonderful teacher. A self-proclaimed Buddhist feminist,Sylvia works tirelessly to explore and promote women’s issues in Buddhist circles. The entirerecording of the retreat is offered freely on Tong-nyi Nying-je’s audio archive.

Media PAGE

FEATURED VIDEO:“The Wisdom of Emptiness”With Ven. Karin Valham, Ven. Robina Courtin and Janice Willis, Ph.D.

Excerpted from the twelfth module of Discovering Buddhism, “The Wisdom of Emptiness”is a beautifully clear introduction to a very complex topic – emptiness. Three long-timepractitioners give an overview of the liberating power of insight, the distinction between howthings exist conventionally and ultimately, and an explanation of how insight supports thedevelopment of boundless compassion. The video in its entirety can be accessed through theFPMT Online Learning Center.

Featured Media

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December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 23

FEATURED PICTURE:“Lama Yeshe with Children”Photo by Ueli Minder

Courtesy of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, this photo was taken in Italy at Istituto LamaTzong Khapa in 1983, the last of year of Lama Yeshe’s formal teachings before his death inMarch of 1984. The children and their parents remain unknown.

Page 24: Mandala eZine December 2010

Discussion TopicCommunity FORUM

24 MANDALA EZINE December 2010

WHAT HAVE BEEN SOMEOF YOUR “BEST OF”MOMENTS IN 2010?

Please send your responses [email protected]

Responses will be printed in the Februaryissue of Mandala eZine.

Drawing by Emma Bramma-Smith

RESPONSE TO LAST ISSUE’SDISCUSSION TOPIC

(What is the most fruitful challengeyour teacher has given you?)

This question reminds me of a story relatedby a friend: after leading an emptinessmeditation at a prison, he received thesheepish response, “I’m sorry, I looked reallyhard, but I just couldn’t find the I.”John Castelloe, Cary, North Carolina, USA

“The biggest challenge has been to not feellike I'm the only one that feels down or feelslike life is a struggle. Basically, not feelingalone and using that to serve others in myunique way.”Charlotte Jolliffe, Burlingame, California, USA

Page 25: Mandala eZine December 2010

December 2010 MANDALA EZINE 25

Some of the students of Centro Yeshe Gyaltsen (director Moya Mendezholding Mandala) with Ven. Fabio, Cozumel, Mexico

Photo Bulletin BoardSend us a photo of you or a group with an issue of Mandala and we’ll post it on

our bulletin board in the next eZine. This is an excellent opportunity for us tovisualize the amazing international community of teachers, students and friendsthat make up the FPMT family.

To seemore of the FPMT community reading theirMandalas, visit our Facebook page.Send your photos to [email protected]

Laura Perez of Centro Yamantaka,Bogotá, Colombia

Nine of the graduating students from the fifth Lotaswa Rinchen ZangpoTranslator Program (LRZTP5), Dharamsala, India

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