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55-579: In 1976 the students of Lama Thubten Yeshe founded the Manjushri Institute, a registered charitable company with Lama Yeshe as the spiritual director and purchased the assets of Conishead Priory , a neglected Victorian mansion in Ulverston, Cumbria , England for the price of £70,000. In the same year Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in India and invited him to teach at

110-731: A "Protection from Abuse" online training course. On the 2023 death of Lama Zopa, the FPMT board indicated that he would have no direct successor, and that the board would collectively assume his responsibilities, subject to the advice of the Dalai Lama. An "advisory council of teachers" is planned. Bei, Voulgarakis, and Nault use the FPMT to illustrate Arjun Appadurai 's understanding of globalization in terms of (in Appadurai's words) "(a) ethnoscapes, (b) mediascapes, (c) technoscapes, (d) finanscapes, and (e) ideoscapes." The authors accordingly describe

165-608: A 3-year retreat from 1987 to 1990 in Dumfries , Scotland and asked Geshe Losang Pende from Ganden Shartse monastery to lead the General Programme in his absence, whilst Geshe Konchog Tsewang continued to teach the Geshe Studies Programme at Conishead Priory (Manjushri Institute). Different Lamas, including Lama Zopa Rinpoche, were still invited. Especially the visit of Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1988 "is significant, indicating

220-523: A few of their Western students, Lamas Yeshe and Zopa bought an old colonial house on a hill above McLeod Ganj in Dharamkot in Himachal Pradesh , and Tushita Meditation Centre was founded. A number of books have been compiled from Lama Yeshe's lectures. His books include Introduction to Tantra, Wisdom Energy, The Bliss of Inner Fire, Becoming Vajrasattva: The Tantric Path of Purification, When

275-457: A free monthly eletter of which more than 200 back issues are available, and offers a free monthly podcast and many free videos on its YouTube channel. In 1974 Lama Yeshe entered into a celibate marriage with a now-deceased Australian disciple, apparently for the purpose of obtaining an Australian passport which, it was thought, might have allowed him to visit Tibet. His intended journey took place in 1982. Lama Yeshe died 20 minutes before dawn on

330-451: A hundred centers and study groups. David N. Kay makes the following observation: Lama Yeshe's project of defining and implementing an efficient organizational and administrative structure within the FPMT created the potential for friction at a local level. The organization's affiliated centers had initially been largely autonomous and self-regulating, but towards the late-1970s were increasingly subject to central management and control. As

385-513: A number of options including: Students who complete any of the seven programs listed above may apply to become FPMT registered teachers. FPMT maintains a number of charitable projects, including funds to build holy objects; translate Tibetan texts; support monks and nuns (both Tibetan and non-Tibetan); offer medical care, food and other assistance in impoverished regions of Asia; re-establish Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia; and protect animals. Perhaps

440-584: A number of teachings there. Eventually this led to a new Buddhist Centre, Madhyamaka Centre, being established in York under Geshe Kelsang's guidance. Kay sees this as the beginning of a conflict between Lama Yeshe and Geshe Kelsang. However, according to Geshe Kelsang, "the opening of the Centre in York caused not one moment of confusion or disharmony". Geshe Kelsang was asked to resign so that another Geshe, described by Kay as "more devoted to FPMT objectives", could take over as

495-473: A parallel twelve-year Geshe Studies Programme, which was recognized and validated by the Dalai Lama and which was modeled on the traditional Geshe degree. From 1982 to 1990 this program was led by Geshe Konchog Tsewang. According to a disciple of Lama Yeshe from this time, Lama Yeshe intended the institute "to become the central monastery of the FPMT ... one of the early jewels of the FPMT crown" and "the pioneer among

550-507: A public-teaching function, which would raise the count), some 18 are unincorporated "study groups," and the rest a mix of other projects, such as hospices or dharma presses. The name and structure of the FPMT date to 1975, in the wake of an international teaching tour by Lamas Yeshe and Zopa. However, the two had been teaching Western travelers since at least 1965, when they met Zina Rachevsky , their student and patron, in Darjeeling . In 1969,

605-514: A resident teacher of Manjushri Institute. Many students of Geshe Kelsang petitioned him to stay and teach them, and on this basis he decided to remain. As Geshe Kelsang said in Santa Barbara USA, 2 February 1996: "Soon after I arrived I started to teach Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life , which took almost one year. Then I gave extensive Lamrim teachings, and after that I taught Guide to

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660-474: A result, says Kay (and Samuel's analysis concurs), at the same time that the FPMT was consolidating its structure and practices, several local groups and teachers defected, founding independent networks. Geshe Loden of Australia's Chenrezig Institute left the FPMT in 1979, in order to focus on his own network of centers. More consequentially, Kelsang Gyatso and his students caused the Manjushri Institute ,

715-484: A ten-year period, and called for the FPMT to arrange an independent, third-party investigation. A petition to this effect attracted more than 4000 signatures. The FPMT International Office responded by suspending Dagri Rinpoche from its list of teachers, and commissioning FaithTrust Institute to conduct the requested investigation. Its 19 Sept. 2020 report found the allegations credible. Five (out of eight) FPMT board members resigned amidst controversy over whether to release

770-533: A traditional education for a Gelugpa tulku, Ösel subsequently chose to attend a western secondary boarding school in Canada and is currently a filmmaker in Spain. He has expressed discomfort with others' expectations as to his role in life and is committed to spiritual discovery in a post-modern context, as are other young tulkus, in particular Ösel Hita's close friend, the 23rd Gomo Tulku. FPMT The Foundation for

825-794: A well-known publisher of Buddhist books, originated at Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1975 under editor Nicholas Ribush. Its first publication was Lama Yeshe's and Lama Zopa's Wisdom Energy. Under Ribush, the publisher began formal operations in London in 1983 (after several years operating out of the Manjushri Institute), with Jeffrey Hopkins' Meditation on Emptiness (1983) as an early perennial. It moved to Boston in 1989, under director Timothy McNeill. The press offers both academic and popular Buddhist literature from all traditions of Buddhism, as well as translations of classic Buddhist literature. Especially noteworthy are its encyclopedia-style project,

880-400: Is held only by organizations (although several of these offer their own, local membership to individuals). In addition to its local board and officers, each FPMT center also has a spiritual program coordinator and in many cases, a resident geshe or teacher (and perhaps other Sangha as well). The center directors and spiritual program coordinators from various countries meet every few years as

935-456: Is now without a spiritual director; meetings on the organization's structure and future are planned. The FPMT's international headquarters are in Portland, Oregon , United States. The central office has previously been located at: As of 2023, the FPMT has 138 centers, projects, and services in 34 countries worldwide, of which about 85 are dharma centers (monasteries and retreat centers often have

990-847: The NKT-IKBU . Thubten Yeshe Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984) was a Tibetan lama who, while exiled in Nepal , co-founded Kopan Monastery (1969) and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (1975). He followed the Gelug tradition, and was considered unconventional in his teaching style. Lama Yeshe was born near the Tibetan town of Tolung Dechen, and was sent to Sera Monastery in Lhasa at

1045-663: The 32-volume Library of Tibetan Classics (developed by Thupten Jinpa, English-language translator for the Dalai Lama); and the Teachings of the Buddha series of translations of the Pali Nikāyas. Diamant Verlag (from 1984) and éditions Mahayana (from 2020) publish Buddhist books in German and French, respectively. In 1983, the FPMT began publishing a glossy annual called Wisdom. In 1987 it

1100-589: The Bodhisattva's Way of Life , Chandrakirti's Guide to the Middle Way and Lamrim , and then check whether there was any meaning in his continuing to stay." Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, monk and scholar from the Gelug tradition, is a contemporary of Lama Yeshe's from the time they spent studying at Sera Monastery . Geshe Kelsang was requested by Lama Yeshe to lead the "General Program" of Buddhist study. In 1979 Lama Yeshe installed another Geshe at Manjushri Institute, Geshe Jampa Tekchok, to teach

1155-704: The Chocolate Runs Out, and Becoming the Compassion Buddha, all of which are available from Wisdom Publications . In 2020 the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive published an extensive biography of Lama Yeshe written by Adele Hulse. The LYWA also has many free books of Lama Yeshe's (and Lama Zopa Rinpoche's) teachings, which are also available as ebooks. The Archive also has several DVDs of Lama Yeshe's talks and teachings, maintains an active presence on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.), publishes

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1210-703: The Council for the Preservation for the Mahayana Tradition (CPMT), in order to share experience and deliberate points of mutual concern. The 14th Dalai Lama is credited with the honorary role of "inspiration and guide". Students often first encounter the FPMT via short courses and retreats held at the various centers. The prototype of these is Kopan Monastery's annual month-long meditation course, offered since 1971. Many FPMT centers have adopted standardized curricula, whose modules may also be studied online. They range from short introductory courses like "Buddhist Meditation 101," to Students desiring more advanced study have

1265-530: The FPMT Geshe Studies Programme. The program never ran its full course in any of the Centres where it was taught." In 1991, Manjushri Institute was dissolved and its assets turned over to a new corporation, Manjushri Mahayana Buddhist Centre, located on the same premises at Conishead Priory. The centre was later renamed Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre, which is still active as the "Mother Centre" of

1320-610: The FPMT and the NKT is given by three reliable witnesses who were involved in the proceedings. They explain: The community of Manjushri Institute wished to save their building, Conishead Priory, from being sold to make funds available for suspect business dealings in Hong Kong.(This needs to be clarified, as it is just an allegation). This meant they needed to separate from the FPMT. On the other hand, they wished Lama Yeshe to stay as their Spiritual Director. After continual discussions on how to solve

1375-596: The FPMT as "an international network of Gelugpa dharma centers headquartered in Portland, Oregon, but founded by Tibetan and Sherpa monks in India and Nepal (one of whom has apparently reincarnated as a Spaniard), and whose funding comes disproportionately from ethnic Chinese communities in East / Southeast Asia." Samding Dorje Phagmo The FPMT is headed by a board of directors, with its spiritual director (presently vacant) an ex officio member. The FPMT International Office represents

1430-545: The FPMT's flagship center in England, to sever its FPMT ties. At issue was whether the centers and their students ought to identify primarily with Lama Yeshe, local teachers, the Gelugpa tradition, or Tibetan Buddhism as a whole. The FPMT now asks its lamas to sign a "Geshe Agreement" which makes explicit the organization's expectations. The latter rift widened in the wake of unrelated, post-1996 controversy over Dorje Shugden . Following

1485-470: The FPMT's policies "were considered to be particularly unreasonable strains which threatened the Institute's existence." Moreover, some of Lama Yeshe's students were alleged to be engaging in illegal activities, which would cause embarrassment to Lama Yeshe and to the FPMT. Cozort states that different disagreements "led to a rift between Lama Yeshe and his students and Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and his, and eventually

1540-402: The FPMT. In 2009, Hita was quoted in several media sources as renouncing his role as a tulku—remarks which he later disavowed. On 3 May 2019, Sera lama and FPMT teacher Dagri Rinpoche was arrested for groping a woman aboard an domestic Indian flight. A few days later, a group of nuns drew attention to additional complaints of groping, sexual harassment, and sexual assault by Dagri Rinpoche over

1595-540: The Greatest Statue Never Built (Cornell University Press, 2018; based on her Ph.D. dissertation in cultural anthropology for Cornell) is about the controversy, and the meaning of the proposed statue to FPMT participants and Kushinagari protesters. Also to note is the Sera Je Food Fund offering 3 meals a day to the 2600 monks who are studying at Sera Je Monastery since 1991. Wisdom Publications , now

1650-531: The Manjushri Board of directors (composed of Geshe Kelsang's students) severed the connection between the institute and the FPMT ." According to Kay, Lama Yeshe tried at different times to reassert his authority over the institute, but his attempts were unsuccessful. Kay goes on to describe an open conflict of authority which developed between the Priory Group and the FPMT administration in 1983. In February 1984

1705-517: The Manjushri Institute, which was a part of their FPMT network. According to David Kay, they sought the advice of the 14th Dalai Lama when choosing Geshe Kelsang. At first Geshe Kelsang appears to have been reluctant to accept this invitation, but "Lama Yeshe requested Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche [Geshe Kelsang's Teacher] to ask Geshe Kelsang to become Resident Teacher of Manjushri Institute. Geshe Kelsang later recounted that Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche asked him to go to England, teach Shantideva 's Guide to

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1760-405: The Middle Way . So altogether it took almost three years to complete my commitment and I was very happy to return to India. My root Guru Trijang Rinpoche was there and he was very old; my mother and my many spiritual friends were there. Lama Yeshe also accepted my returning to India, so I nearly returned to India. But then the Manjushri Institute community people strongly requested me to stay." In

1815-418: The Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition ( FPMT ) was founded in 1975 by Gelugpa Lamas Thubten Yeshe and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche , who began teaching Tibetan Buddhism to Western students in Nepal . The FPMT has grown to encompass over 138 dharma centers , projects, and services in 34 countries. Lama Yeshe led the organization until his death in 1984, followed by Lama Zopa until his death in 2023. The FPMT

1870-713: The Tibetan or Himalayan peoples (Zopa's status as a minor tulku notwithstanding), and that their activities took place independently of any support or direction from the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala . On his reading, their willingness to reach out to Westerners was in large measure the result of a lack of other sources of support. Nevertheless, Samuel sees their cultivation of an international network as having ample precedent in Tibet. In December 1973, Lama Yeshe ordained fourteen Western monks and nuns under

1925-469: The Tibetan refugee camp at Buxaduar, India . There his teacher Geshe Rabten entrusted to his care a younger monk, Thubten Zopa Rinpoche . The two would work together throughout Lama Yeshe's life. In 1965 Lama Yeshe began teaching Western students, beginning with Zina Rachevsky , who sought him out at the Ghum Monastery in Darjeeling . The number of students continued to grow, eventually resulting in

1980-631: The University in Western Philosophy. Thubten Yeshe and his main student, Thubten Zopa Rinpoche , founded Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu , Nepal for the western seekers in the 1960s. The first annual ‘One-Month Meditation Course’ was held there in November 1971. Responding to the growing demand from their Western students, the lamas decided to open a sister centre to be used for retreats. In 1972, along with

2035-464: The age of six. He received full ordination at the age of 28 from Kyabje Ling Rinpoche . Jeffrey Paine reports that Lama Yeshe deliberately refused to complete his geshe degree, despite having studied for it: Many years later, when pressed why he had shunned this prestigious degree, he would laugh: "And be Geshe Yeshe?" With the Chinese invasion in 1959 Lama Yeshe made his way to Bhutan and thence to

2090-407: The board's executive function. The president / CEO of the FPMT is currently (2023) Ven. Roger Kunsang, in that office since 2005. As of 2023, there are 138 FPMT dharma centres , projects, services and study groups in 34 countries. Each affiliated center, project or service is separately incorporated and locally financed. There is no such thing as FPMT "membership" for individuals; rather, membership

2145-545: The centre belonged only to four people, in reality all the work of developing the centre was being done by the community, and not these four. Eventually, a legally binding agreement was made, which was signed by the FPMT’s representatives, Geshe Kelsang, the Priory Group and the community representatives. One part of the agreement was to confirm that Lama Yeshe was the Spiritual Director of Manjushri Centre. Geshe Kelsang made

2200-572: The conflict was mediated by the Office of the Dalai Lama in London. Kay states that after the death of Lama Yeshe in March 1984, the FPMT lost interest because they saw it as a fruitless case. Since that time, Kay states, the Manjushri Institute has developed mainly under the guidance of Geshe Kelsang without further reference to the FPMT, but legally remained part of the FPMT until late 1990. A detailed history of early Manjushri Institute and its relationship to

2255-640: The first day of Losar , the Tibetan New Year, and was cremated at the Vajrapani Institute in Boulder Creek, California , where there is a stupa honoring him. In 1986 his reincarnation was identified in the person of a Spanish boy , Ösel Hita Torres, who is now known as Tenzin Ösel Hita (b. 1985). This makes Yeshe the first in a line of tulkus . After spending his childhood and youth in Nepal receiving

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2310-566: The first of Kopan's meditation courses (then semiannual, now annual) in 1971. Lama Zopa led these courses at least through 1975, and sporadically thereafter. During the early 1970s, hundreds of Westerners attended teachings at Kopan. Historical descriptions and recollections routinely characterize early Western participants as backpackers on the hippie trail (extended overland tours of Asia), to whom Lama Yeshe's style of discourse especially appealed. Geoffrey Samuel finds it significant that Lamas Yeshe and Zopa had not yet attracted followings among

2365-491: The following years prior to 1990 Geshe Kelsang established 15 centres under his own direction in Great Britain and Spain. The management committee of Manjushri Institute, also known as "the Priory Group", were deeply appreciative of Geshe Kelsang's teachings and example and were some of his closest students. According to Kay, "The Priory Group became dissatisfied with the FPMT's increasingly centralized organisation" and some of

2420-508: The foundations of the New Kadampa Tradition . Kay states: "The first major development that took place during Geshe Kelsang's retreat was the introduction of the 'Teacher Training Programme' (TTP) at the Manjushri Institute." In 1990 the Geshe Studies Programme at Manjushri Institute was cancelled, as it had been in most of the other FPMT Centres where it had been established. According to Cozort, "No one, to my knowledge, ever completed

2475-466: The founding of the several institutions mentioned above. At this time, the Tibetan religious community considered the teaching of Westerners to be undesirable. Paine reports criticism from other Tibetans calling Lama Yeshe a " paisa lama," i.e., one interested primarily in money. In 1977 - 1978 Lama Yeshe taught at University of California Santa Cruz. There he taught one class, "Tibetan Buddhism", appropriately. During that time, he also attended courses at

2530-541: The highest-profile FPMT project to date is the Maitreya Project . Originally a planned colossal statue of Maitreya to be built in Bodhgaya and/or Kushinagar (India), the project has been reconceived in the face of fund-raising difficulties and controversy over land acquisition, and now intends to construct a number of relatively modest statues. Jessica Marie Falcone's Battling the Buddha of Love: A Cultural Biography of

2585-501: The investigation (pp. 11-13). (Zopa had characterized Dagri Rinpoche as “a very positive, holy being—definitely not an ordinary person," and advised Dagri's students to see only his pure qualities.) The FPMT objected that the FPMT centers where the abuse took place were legally independent; and that the report's criticism of Lama Zopa failed to take into account the core principle of guru devotion. FPMT center leaders and registered teachers (but not Tibetan teachers) are now required to take

2640-586: The name of the International Mahayana Institute. Around this time, Lama Yeshe's students began returning to their own countries. The result was the founding of an ever-increasing number of dharma centers in those countries. In his description of the FPMT, Jeffrey Paine emphasizes the charisma, intuition, drive, and organizational ability of Lama Yeshe. Paine asks us to consider how a refugee with neither financial resources nor language skills could manage to create an international network with more than

2695-580: The ongoing devotion of the students to this lama and their desire to leave the negativity of the schism with the FPMT in the past." In 1988 and 1990 the uncle of Geshe Kelsang, Ven. Choyang Duldzin Kuten Lama - the oracle of Dorje Shugden - also visited Manjushri Institute. Before that time Song Rinpoche, Geshe Lhundup Sopa, Geshe Rabten, as well as other lamas such as Ajahn Sumedho and Thich Nhat Hanh have taught at Manjushri Institute. During Geshe Kelsang's period of retreat he wrote five books and established

2750-446: The policy of the 14th Dalai Lama, the FPMT bans the worship of this deity from its centers. Lama Yeshe's death in 1984 led to his succession as spiritual director by Lama Zopa. In 1986, a Spanish boy named Tenzin Ösel Hita (a.k.a. Tenzin Ösel Rinpoche, or "Lama Ösel") was identified as the tulku of Lama Yeshe. As he came of age, Hita gave up his robes for a secular life, attending university in Spain, and became relatively inactive in

2805-625: The problem, also involving two representatives from the Dalai Lama, the Institute’s managers – then called the ‘Priory Group’ – decided to take steps to separate Manjushri Institute from FPMT. There were three main reasons for doing this: 1) FPMT managers had committed serious illegal actions, which was public knowledge among many people at Dharma centres;(this needs to be clarified, as it is just an allegation as it stands) 2) FPMT managers wanted to sell Manjushri Institute’s building; and 3) Although, according to its constitution, legally everything at

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2860-520: The report. A “draft” summary report was eventually published—so labeled by the FPMT in anticipation of revisions, but the FaithTrust Institute considered its work complete. Besides abuse, the summary also noted a pattern of "coercive or retaliatory behaviors" aimed at silencing complainants; criticized the FPMT for its lack of any clear mechanism to handle such complaints (pp. 38-39); and criticized statements by Lama Zopa which tended to "undermine"

2915-625: The three of them founded the Nepal Mahayana Gompa Centre (now Kopan Monastery). Rachevsky died shortly afterwards during a Buddhist retreat. Lama Yeshe resisted Rachevsky's appeals to teach a "meditation course", on the grounds that in the Sera Monastery tradition in which he was educated, "meditation" would be attempted only after intensive, multi-year study of the Five Topics . However, he gave Lama Zopa permission to lead what became

2970-507: The western centers". In the late 1970s, Geshe Kelsang received a request to give a teaching in York , at which he met Ron Lister. Ron later invited Geshe Kelsang to stay with him in York, since the winters in the drafty Conishead Priory were difficult for Geshe Kelsang's health. While in York, Geshe Kelsang was requested repeatedly to teach. Acting in accordance with his Bodhisattva vow not to withhold teachings from those who request them, he offered

3025-478: Was renamed Mandala and made biannual (and supplemented with newsletters). Between 1996 and 2008 it appeared bimonthly, then quarterly until it ceased publication in 2021. The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive , which holds copyright to the speeches and writings of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa, is one of the FPMT's member organizations. The LYWA archives and transcribes teachings by these and other lamas, and produces edited books for free distribution and for sale. Its director

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