The international Buddhist community Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), founded by the late revered Gelug master and Tibetan Buddhist scholar Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, recently shared that it has successfully provided the means for more than 1,500 young students in India and Nepal to receive a high-quality education this year.
“Since 2012, the FPMT’s Social Services Fund has been a cornerstone of support for schools in India and Nepal, catering to students from Tibetan, Nepali, Sherpa, and Indian backgrounds,” the FPMT said in an announcement dated 29 October. “This initiative ensures that these schools can provide [a] quality education at no cost by covering essentials such as food, uniforms, school supplies, and teacher salaries. In 2024 alone, the fund allocated US$213,052 to seven schools, positively impacting nearly 1,500 children. This remarkable effort not only delivers essential modern education but also preserves cultural heritage and Buddhadharma teachings.” (FPMT)
The Social Services Fund was founded to support Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s aspirations for the FPMT, with a focus on helping children, the elderly, the sick, and the very poor in India, Nepal, Mongolia, and Tibet by financing schools, health clinics, soup kitchens, homes for the elderly, and more.
The seven schools that benefited from FPMT funding are: Sagarmatha Secondary School in Chailsa, Solukhumbu, Nepal, dedicated to providing a holistic education to its 235 students; Sambhota Tibetan School CVP Bylakuppe in the Tibetan Dickey Larsoe Settlement in Karnataka, southwestern India, which provides classes from primary through to secondary school; Ngari Institute in Ladakh in India’s far north, inaugurated by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and currently supporting 62 Tibetan students; Shree Sangka Dhechholing Gonpa School in Taplejung, Nepal, which is educating 86 girls and 85 boys, who start at age three; Maitreya School in Bodh Gaya, India, which is dedicated to fostering the overall growth and well-being of its 263 students; Rolwaling Sangag Choling Monastery School in Nepal’s Rolwaling Valley, a community-run free school that provides secular and Buddhist education for 26 students and supports senior students in their Ngondro preliminary practice; and Gaden Jangtse Monastic College in southern India, which includes a Gaden Jangtse School, with 570 students, 15 salaried teachers, and 15 volunteer teachers who are senior monks.
Each of these schools are facing their own unique challenges in maintaining operations and providing the resources for a complete education to prepare and empower their students for the future, while seeking to preserve and cultivate traditional culture, Buddhist traditions, and ways of life of their respective communities. The support of the FPMT’s Social Services Fund means that more children are assured of an education and a brighter future.
Click here for more information about the FPMT’s Social Services Fund
Lama Zopa Rinpoche founded the FPMT in Nepal in 1975 with Lama Thubten Yeshe, his closest teacher, and began teaching Buddhism to Western students. In the years since, the FPMT has grown across the globe, with Dharma centers, projects, and activities in 37 countries. After the passing of Lama Yeshe in 1984, Lama Zopa Rinpoche served as the FPMT’s spiritual director until his own death in 2023.* The FPMT’s international headquarters are now located in Portland, Oregon.
The FPMT offers a range of courses in Buddhist study and practice, and operates several charitable initiatives to support: the construction Dharma monuments; the translation of Tibetan Buddhist texts; the re-establishment Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia; Tibetan and non-Tibetan monks and nuns; and medical care and humanitarian assistance for vulnerable Himalayan communities.
It is good for FPMT to benefit extensively sentient beings by offering various social services, such as those that bring loving-kindness and peace to youth using Universal Education methods, religious interfaith activities, which bring peace and happiness, and extensively benefit others by spreading Dharma. — Lama Zopa Rinpoche
* Revered Buddhist Scholar and FPMT Founder Lama Zopa Rinpoche Has Died (BDG) and UPDATE: FPMT Shares News on Lama Zopa Rinpoche (BDG)
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FPMT
Social Services Fund (FPMT)
Contribute to the Social Services Fund (FPMT)
Rejoicing in Support Offered to 1,500 Students in India and Nepal in 2024! (FPMT)
FPMT (Facebook)
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