Yeeeepeee!!! Lhagsam is now an FPMT center!!!
We are excited to announce that in June 2022 Lhagsam has officially transformed from a study group to a full center affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). While this change has no impact on our program or team, it marks a happy and important milestone for the entire Lhagsam family.
It took more than six years…
Geshe Sherab gave the first teaching at Lhagsam in December 2015. We started out as a satellite study group under the kind guidance of the Longku FPMT Center in Bern, Switzerland.
All FPMT centers, projects and services were founded by a student or a group of students, who had the wish to open a center in order to bring Dharma to people in their local area. They always begin as informal “study groups” (probationary centers, projects, or services) before they are able to apply for full affiliation with FPMT. This probationary period provides the opportunity to see whether developing in accordance with the FPMT policy and guidelines is working for the group, and for the group’s harmonious coordination with other FPMT centers. All FPMT affiliates and study groups are supported by the FPMT International Office, which provides education programs and practice materials, policies and guidelines.
Each FPMT center, project, service and study group is responsible for itself legally and financially. Lhagsam is a tax-exempt association registered in Zurich, Switzerland. From a funding perspective, we rely entirely on kind donations from the Lhagsam students and benefactors. Thank you very much for your ongoing support, which made it all possible!
Typically, FPMT study groups work towards fulfilling the steps required to become a full FPMT center within a period of two years, but this can take longer if needed. In our case it took over six years…
but we are finally there…
As of June 2022, Lhagsam became an FPMT center and we are now listed in the FPMT Center Directory. Our goal has not changed – we still want to make Buddha’s teachings available to all sentient beings in the kindest, most harmonious atmosphere possible, according to Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vision. How fortunate and happy we are!
I just want to explain simply how meaningful it is that we have Dharma centers so that we can help so many sentient beings while they have this most precious human body by awakening them to the unmistaken causes of happiness and suffering through explaining the Buddha’s teachings on karma, which is our experience, not merely belief. By offering this education we open their lives to all happiness – not just that of this life, but that of future lives and the ultimate happiness of liberation from samsara and the peerless happiness of full enlightenment. How fortunate and happy I am! How fortunate and happy we are!
– Lama Zopa Rinpoche
