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Lama Zopa Rinpoche with his new book ‘How to Enjoy Death,’ Osel Labrang, Sera Monastery, India, December 2015.
All of us live with reminders of impermanence and the loss of those we hold dear, yet it is difficult to accept the inevitability of our own deaths or the deaths of our loved ones. While avoiding death is not possible, it is possible to prepare for death and equip ourselves with the tools to help those around us engage with their own deaths in the most beneficial way.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has given extensive advice and instruction for caring for ourselves and others at the time of death, or during the process of dying. FPMT Education Services would like to make sure students are aware of and have access to all of the resources available.
Heart Advice for Death and Dying
This package is a collection of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s essential advice and commentaries for the time of death and for finding the deepest fulfillment in life. Teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche include, “The Nine-Point Meditation on Death,” “The Process of Dying,” “Preparing for Death,” “Practicing the Five Powers,” “Caring for the Dying and the Dead,” “Essential Activities at the Death Time,” and “Mantras to Benefit the Dying and Dead.” This collection also includes an MP3 CD of 11 hours of teachings on death by Ven. Sangye Khadro. In addition to the book and CD, this material is also available as a program for students more interested in structured study.
Available as:
- Hard copy book
- eBook
- FPMT Online Learning Center program
- Hard copy program for centers hosting
- PDF program for centers hosting
Heart Practices for Death and Dying
This condensed resource book provides the heart practices to do at the time of death, including the Medicine Buddha puja and the traditional eight prayers done in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. This collection also contains the most powerful mantras to say for those who are dying or who have died, teachings on their precise benefits, as well as a sheet of mantras to place on the body of one who has died. It contains precious texts to benefit the minds of those who are dying by relieving pain and purifying negative karma.
Available as:
How to Enjoy Death
A unique new collection, How to Enjoy Death: Preparing to Meet Life’s Final Challenge Without Fear, brings together all the extensive commentary from Lama Zopa Rinpoche as well as a number of essential prayers, practices, and other materials that Lama Zopa Rinpoche has compiled over the years, skillfully edited by Ven. Robina Courtin.
“We Buddhists all know about death and impermanence, but when death comes into our lives we often panic and don’t know what to do to help,” said Ven. Robina. “Rinpoche lays out all the instructions so clearly, one step at a time, for how to help our loved ones: what to do in the months and weeks before death, what to do in the hours before death, at the time the breath stops, and in the three days as well as the 49 days after death, including transforming our loved one’s ashes into a holy object.”
All of the practices one needs to be prepared to face death are included, making this an essential reference for Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, caregivers, hospice workers, or chaplains.
Available as:
- Hard copy book from Wisdom Publications, How to Enjoy Death: Preparing to Meet Life’s Final Challenge Without Fear
- Free PDF, How to Help Your Loved Ones Enjoy Death and Go Happily to Their Next Rebirth: A Handbook by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
The Liberation Box contains many resources recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to help one’s self and others at the time of death.
Liberation Box: Protection Tool for a Fortunate Rebirth
A must-have toolkit to go along with any of the above texts, this invaluable collection of holy objects and essential blessed materials was put together on the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Available as:
- Hard copy collection
- PDF digital edition (omitting stupa, phowa pill, and blessed cord)
Resource Webpage
The FPMT Death and Dying Heart Practices and Advice webpage is kept up to date with all of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s latest advice and materials concerning death and dying. FPMT Education Services hopes that you will take full advantage of these resources.
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, training seminars, and scholarships, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Light of the Path Retreat 2016 (August 14-August 28, 2016) is the fourth part of series of teaching retreats led by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA, and hosted by FPMT’s Kadampa Center. The root text for the course is Lama Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. All are welcome to attend, even those who did not come in previous years. You are welcome to stream the teachings from past years on the Online Learning Center to help prepare.
Living in the Path, an FPMT education program based on the Light of the Path Retreat teachings, is unique in that it draws completely from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings. This program is ideal for anyone who wishes to deepen their personal practice and develop the realizations of the path to enlightenment by relying on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s heart advice and teachings.
Registration is now open through the Kadampa Center website. Additional information about this unique retreat opportunity can be found there as well.
Centers and study groups are encouraged to download and print this poster and place it in commonly used areas so that students are made aware of this teaching event with Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, ILTK, Pomaia, Italy, June 17, 2014. Photo by Piero Sirianni.
Many important audio resources from Lama Zopa Rinpoche are available for download via the Foundation Store. Acquiring audio can often be cost prohibitive for students due to shipping costs. By ordering these digital files, you can access the materials right away, without waiting and paying for shipping costs. In addition, these files are offered for free! You are welcome to make an offering for the files, but it is not required.
Please take a look at what is available to you. Utilizing audio resources helps bring a richness to your study and practice and enables you to access Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings and recitations quickly and efficiently.
Sutras
Mantras, Prayers, and Teachings
- Mantra Recitations Volume 1
- Mantra Recitations Volume 2
- Calling the Guru from Afar
- How to Meditate on Emptiness
The Foundation Store also stocks many other audio resources including recitations of Prostrations to the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas, Medicine Buddha Puja, Lama Chöpa Tunes and Audio Guide, and you can also learn the tunes of essential FPMT prayers by downloading Essential Buddhist Prayers Volume 1 Tunes.
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, training seminars, and scholarships, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Thirty-five Confession Buddhas thangka available from the FPMT Foundation Store.
On lunar and solar eclipses, Lama Zopa Rinoche advises that the merit generated is multiplied by 700,000 and 100 million, respectively, and any beneficial practices can be done. In particular, Rinpoche recommends:
- Recitation of the names of the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas
- Vajrasattva mantras
Practices specifically recommended by Rinpoche for this and other Buddha Multiplying Days include:
- Taking the Eight Mahayana Precepts
- Doing Nyung Näs
- Performing the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha puja
- Reciting the Sutra for Remembering the Three Jewels
Of course, any other meritorious activities often advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche are also good to do on these days, such as recitation of the Sanghata Sutra, Sutra of Golden Light, etc. with extensive dedications. These texts are available on our sutras page.
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, training seminars, and scholarships, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
This set of talks from September 2005 is particularly valuable as Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave extraordinary teachings on emptiness and how to meditate on emptiness. Rinpoche defines the “I,” and addresses issues of the false “I” and our fear of losing the “I.” Emptiness is explained relating to external objects and when practicing guru yoga. Also, a detailed explanation is given for how to meditate on the emptiness of the “I,” the emptiness of others, and the emptiness of time.
Rinpoche concludes with teachings on refuge, and provides commentary and recitation of several sutras, including four chapters of the Sutra of Golden Light.
This and many other Dharma materials are available by donation through the Foundation Store.
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, training seminars, and scholarships, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
FPMT Education Services has made available a variety of commonly used prayers and practices which students can download for free or utilize online.
On this page you can find resources for death and dying, long life prayers and practices, plus a variety of recommended materials that can be used daily.
Also available through the Foundation Store are Essential Buddhist Prayer Books, Buddhist practices, and Tibetan texts available for purchase as hard copy materials and/or eBooks and PDF downloads (many of which are available for free download).
In addition, you can find various mantras and sutras for your use as well, available for free on the website.
There are many resources available to students who wish to strengthen or enhance their daily practice. Please let us know if you can’t find what you are looking for and we are happy to help you in any way we can. You can reach us at education@fpmt.org.
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, training seminars, and scholarships, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Shakyamuni Buddha in sambhogakaya aspect with offerings in the jokhang of Maitripa College. Photo by Noah Gunnell.
The practice of offering 100,000 water bowls is one of nine preliminary practices or “ngöndros” performed in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The preliminary practices are designed to accumulate merit and purify negativities in order to quickly generate realizations on the path. They are also done in preparation for longer tantric retreats. The nine preliminaries are to do 100,000 repetitions related to the following practices: prostrations, mandala offerings, guru yoga, Vajrasattva, Damtsig Dorje, Dorje Khadro, tsa-tsas, water bowl offerings, and refuge.
The Preliminary Practice of Altar Set-up and Water Bowl Offerings has been revised and is now available in PDF format, or as an eBook available from the FPMT Foundation Store or Amazon Kindle Store.
Contents of this booklet include: “The Practice of Offering” by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, “Guidelines for Completing 100,000 Water Bowl Offerings,” “Extensive Offering Practice,” “Light Offering Prayer” by Lama Atisha, and “How to Fill a Small Statue.”
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, training seminars, and scholarships, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Prostrations to the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas with recitation of the “Bodhisattva’s Confession of Moral Downfalls” from the Sutra of Three Heaps, is one of the most powerful methods available to purify harmful actions we have done in the past. By doing this practice mindfully, we can prevent unwanted suffering from occurring in the future. In addition, this practice clears away obstacles to spiritual practice and opens the mind in order to gain realizations on the path. Doing this practice first thing in the morning helps empower all other prayers and activities of the day.
As Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains, “There is so much hope in our lives. Our lives are so full of opportunity. It is so easy to purify, so easy to become free from samsara and achieve enlightenment. Even with just prostration, we can achieve all of this.”
This essential practice is now available as an eBook from the FPMT Foundation Store and the Amazon Kindle Store.
Practicing the Five Powers Near the Time of Death by Lama Zopa Rinpoche contains advice and commentary to help ensure a peaceful death and positive rebirth. Although this book was intended for use by those facing imminent death, it is a deeply profound teaching on how to live life for anyone who wishes to make their life and eventual death most meaningful.
Rinpoche explains, “When you practice the five powers, every single thing you do is only for numberless sentient beings and therefore, everything you do only becomes the cause for achieving the peerless happiness of full enlightenment. This is the greatest profit that can be achieved with this life and so this practice is the most beneficial one for achieving peerless happiness. It means that every single action you do, whether it is meditation and prayers or doing your job, becomes the cause of happiness for all sentient beings. This means that you will have the best, happiest life now and also the best, happiest life in the future – like the sun shining in this world and eliminating all darkness.”
This forty page practice is available as an eBook from the FPMT Foundation Store and the Amazon Kindle Store.
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, training seminars, and scholarships, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
In this revised module of Living in the Path, “The Secret of the Mind,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives an extensive teaching on karma and the mind based on two verses from the Dhammapada (The Collection of Sayings), each of which begin with the line “Phenomena are created by the mind.”
Rinpoche explains that the philosophy of phenomena being created by the mind is unique to Buddhism, and that what this means is that every experience of suffering and happiness is the result of our own actions, or karma, which in turn come from our mind. “The secret of the mind” means the same as “Phenomena are created by the mind.” Rinpoche tells us that as long as we don’t know this important point, we won’t understand that abandoning suffering and achieving happiness have to come from our mind. On the other hand, when we do come to understand this, we will see that the experience of happiness and suffering is in our hands.
The materials for this module of Living in the Path are drawn from teachings given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Light of the Path 2010. The transcripts have been divided into ten short readings that are complimented by four short video excerpts of the teachings. An introductory video, “Mind: The Creator,” with Ven. Robina Courtin provides an engaging and informative overview of the subject of karma and the mind. To help students gain a deeper understanding and experience of the teachings, each reading begins with several questions that help to draw out the main points and encourage an active involvement with the teaching. In addition, the readings are supplemented with guidelines for meditating on the teaching, keeping it present throughout the day with a mindfulness practice, and offering service to others. Students who complete all the required readings, meditations, mindfulness and service practices are awarded a Certificate of Achievement.
For an overview of this module, see “Mind: The Creator,” with Ven. Robina Courtin:
https://youtu.be/YL_2yXFv-Mk
For the full module, see Living in the Path, “The Secret of the Mind.” The enrollment key to access this module is available as a benefit of becoming a Friend of FPMT at the Dharma Supporter level or higher. Alternatively, it can be purchased in the Foundation Store.
1,000 Arm Chenrezig painting by Peter Iseli.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche recommends taking the 24-hour eight Mahayana precept vows on days on which the karmic effects of positive actions are multiplied, such as Buddha days, full moon, new moon, and eclipses.
The eight Mahayana precepts are a powerful and effective way for you to build, maintain and increase deep propensities for spiritual practice and attainment and thus is a profound method for giving meaning to your precious human life. Lama Zopa Rinpoche quotes this passage from the King of Concentration Sutra:
“For ten billion eons equaling the number of sand grains in the Pacific Ocean, if one offers umbrellas, flags, garlands of light offerings, food and drink with a calm mind, or offers service to one hundred billion times ten million buddhas, when the holy Dharma has become extremely perished and the teachings of the Gone to Bliss One have stopped, if somebody who is enjoying (living in) one vow for one day or night, this merit is particularly exalted than having made all those offerings.”
Here we offer a few helpful guidelines for those considering taking the eight Mahayana precepts:
* Whomever you first take the eight Mahayana precepts from does become your guru. Because of this, Lama Zopa Rinpoche says if the student is not ready (or confident) to make that
commitment to that person then it is better for the student to take the precepts from the altar until they are ready to take from someone whom they are willing to accept as their guru.
* It is fine to take the precepts from the altar, although of course having the lineage makes it stronger, but you are still taking and keeping the precepts when you take them from the altar.
* You can take the eight Mahayana precepts before you have officially taken refuge – in fact with faith taking the eight Mahayana precepts is taking refuge, in the heart sense. Anyone who has faith and is sincere is in fact in the heart taking refuge.
You can find the practice, Direct and Unmistaken Method: Practice and Benefits of Eight Mahayana Precepts, on the FPMT Foundation Store.
For more information on recommended practices for multiplying days.
Lama Yeshe, Kopan, 1970, Photo courtesy Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has recently reminded FPMT centers to offer extensive Lama Chöpa with Tsog on Losar (Tibetan New Year) in honor of the anniversary of FPMT founder Lama Yeshe’s passing away. Rinpoche added that it would be good to do this at 5 a.m., the time when Lama Yeshe manifested death. This year, Losar is on February 9.
In addition to this, Rinpoche also said for centers to start the tradition of telling stories about Lama Yeshe every Losar to keep his memory alive, for example, by inviting older students who knew Lama to share their favorite stories, or by watching video or reading published stories of Lama. This Losar marks the 32nd year since Lama Yeshe’s passing away.
Losar also marks the beginning of the 15 Days of Miracles, a period when Lord Buddha performed many miracles to benefit others. Lama Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school, established the Great Prayer Festival (Monlam Chenmo) to coincide with this special occasion in 1409.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, citing the Vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic, teaches that the karmic results of non-virtuous and virtuous actions are multiplied by one hundred million during Buddha Multiplying Days such as these. It is a very powerful time to practice – such as taking the eight Mahayana precepts, completing nyung näs, and reciting sutras – and strengthen one’s commitment to engaging in virtuous activity.
Find advice and inspiration from Lama Yeshe (http://bit.ly/lama-yeshe-teachings) in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive and on FPMT.org (https://fpmt.org/tag/lama-yeshe).
For more information about Losar, visit Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice page.