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Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, April 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
In a new video from Kopan Monastery in Nepal, Lama Zopa Rinpoche reminds us that the coronavirus, and the suffering that is being experienced from this, can be used to motivate us to practice Dharma, to purify as much as possible, and to practice virtue. Regardless of the method we use, Rinpoche emphasizes that we should do everything with bodhichitta.
Rinpoche explains how to do tonglen practice and how to use this situation to meditate on emptiness, reminding us not just to recite the words, but to think about the meaning. Rinpoche says to not delay even a second the development of our realization of emptiness. Also, we should do our meditations on emptiness, or whatever practice we are undertaking, thinking of the numberless sentient beings, from whom we have received all our happiness from beginningless rebirths, and thinking of how all sentient beings are suffering and have been suffering from beginningless rebirths, by being in samsara.
Rinpoche also talks about the general practice advice for these times, which includes His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s advice to recite the short Tara mantra (OṂ TĀRE TUTTĀRE TURE SVĀHĀ), and the advice from Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la) that includes doing the Padmasambhava incense puja and reciting the short Chenrezig mantra (OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ) on the basis of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Avalokiteshvara Guru Yoga.
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s video “Tonglen and Emptiness”:
https://youtu.be/EAVzCNa7tng
- Read the transcript of “Tonglen and Emptiness.”
- Practices mentioned in this teaching include His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Avalokiteshvara Guru Yoga and Nölsang (Incense Ritual by the Great Master Padmasambhava Called “The Divine Blue Water Clearing Away Contamination).
Find more video teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery during the COVID-19 crisis.
Practice advice from our teachers, Dharma study-from-home opportunities, and more can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with “friends,” Kopan Monastery, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
In a new video from Kopan Monastery in Nepal, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offers an introduction to lojong and tonglen practices. Rinpoche teaches on how to approach these practices in this hour-and-fifteen-minute-long video.
Rinpoche emphasizes the importance of the guru and the importance of having a strong foundation in lamrim practice. In particular, Rinpoche points to teachings on death and impermanence, and how we have had much time but haven’t used it to practice Dharma.
Rinpoche also explains the advice that he received from Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la), including her advice on doing His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s (Avalokiteshvara) Guru Yoga and the original plan for the Padmasambhava incense puja at Nepal’s holy sites.
Rinpoche talks about the importance of keeping a healthy and satisfied mind, and of seeing the coronavirus in the context of Dharma:
“What I’m saying is the answer is that you see the mistakes of being in samsara. To get this virus, whatever it is, cancer or anything in the world, to get this, this is the mistakes of being in samsara. From beginningless rebirths up to now we didn’t try anything to get liberated from that. So that is the mistakes of being in samsara. Then, practice Dharma. The answer is—practice Dharma. In that way you keep the mind in a state of happiness, … compassion for living beings, as well as satisfaction.”
Rinpoche concludes the video saying, “So the condition, the virus or whatever it is, is helping you to practice more Dharma. To practice more Dharma. To practice more Dharma—to purify more all the sufferings, all the obstacles, and then to develop the mind in the path to enlightenment.”
Watch Lama Zopa Rinoche’s Introduction to Lojong and Tonglen:
https://youtu.be/5lqAqnxtTw4
- Read the transcript for the teaching “Introduction to Lojong and Tonglen.”
- Practices mentioned in this teaching include His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Avalokiteshvara Guru Yoga and Nölsang (Incense Ritual by the Great Master Padmasambhava Called “The Divine Blue Water Clearing Away Contamination).
Find more video teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery during the COVID-19 crisis.
Practice advice from our teachers, Dharma study-from-home opportunities, and more can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche going to do a Padmasambhava incense puja, Kopan Monastery, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
A student wrote to Lama Zopa Rinpoche about his anger and its impact on other people. The following is an extract of Rinpoche’s reply to the student.
This is really an opportunity to practice the path of patience. The purpose of practicing patience is to have immediate peace and happiness within you. That moment when you don’t get angry means you don’t harm yourself, you don’t cause yourself unhappiness. When the mind becomes negative, it is like a bomb inside you.
Even if you are killed in a war by a bomb, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be born in the lower realms; you can be born in the upper realms. The bomb of anger is billions of times worse for you than any external bomb. When it arises, you create negative karma and throw yourself into the three lower realms, where you have to experience terrible suffering for an incredibly long time—for eons!
It is said by Shantideva in A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life that the negative karma created by one second of anger causes us to experience the three lower realms for eons—one can’t be reborn in the realm of a happy transmigratory being. There is no need to mention the negative karma collected from infinite past lives.
Another quote is that the merit collected for one thousand years by making charity and offerings to Those Gone to Bliss and so forth is destroyed by one second of anger.
The first quote is saying how much anger causes you to suffer in the three lower realms. The second one is concerned with destroying eons of merit. The third disadvantage is that anger delays realizations, depending on who you get angry with and who you create the negative karma with. Then, anger also causes you to have an ugly body in your future lives. Practicing patience brings you a beautiful body in future lives.
In this way, anger is unbelievably harmful to oneself. Being angry just one time is so harmful, so you can imagine if it happens all day long or for weeks, months, or years. It is terrifying to think about. Just being angry one time brings so much suffering.
If you are angry you can’t really work with others. They get upset and leave, because they are so unhappy with you, and seeing this also makes you unhappy. Also, if you get angry, it makes others angry, and then this makes you angry again! You make yourself the target for others to get angry at you and harm you with harsh speech and dislike. If anger gets worse, it can even cause physical harm.
If you are patient, you don’t get angry at sentient beings. In that way, sentient beings only receive peace and happiness from you. Each time you stop being angry, by practicing patience, this becomes your most practical contribution to world peace. It brings so much peace and happiness to your own world, mind, and heart. For others, it brings peace and happiness, not only in this world, but for all living beings. If you are able to practice patience in this life, it will be much easier in future lives. By developing your mind in patience through the continuity of lives, you will bring happiness to all living beings.
Also, each time you come closer to completing the perfection of patience, it means you are getting closer to enlightenment, and much closer to bringing all sentient beings to enlightenment. So, you can see that each time you practice patience, there are long-term results. This is the power of the mind. Not only can you bring sentient beings temporary peace, but also full enlightenment.
This advice “Dealing with Anger” was originally published in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/dealing-anger
For detailed advice on the practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
Additional resources, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche during a Padmasambhava incense puja, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
In a new video, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives advice and an oral transmission (lung) of the Verses for the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones to stop the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and to bring success.
After a brief introduction from young Kopan Monastery monks, Rinpoche begins with an extensive motivational teaching for receiving the lung. “Now this virus is happening, so then now an examination is happening to you,” Rinpoche says in the 50-minute video (transcript here).
“You have to check your mind. An examination is happening as to whether you are afraid of death, whether you are afraid of sicknesses, or you don’t mind, [whether] for you it is not important, not something that you are scared of, a kind of a huge thing like a mountain, a kind of obstacle to you. Now it is really interesting to examine your mind. Really, very interesting. So that shows how much Dharma practice you normally do, day and night how much your mind becomes Dharma, how much your mind has become Dharma. So that is very interesting.”
The Verses for the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones is by the “great, great, great holy being Je Miphampa,” Rinpoche explains. It is often recited to bring success to a project.
“The biggest project, of course, is for yourself to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible because numberless sentient beings are suffering—most unbelievable—in samsara. They have been experiencing that from beginningless rebirths—wow, wow, wow, you can’t imagine it—in the six realms, over and over, without beginning. Wow, already it is like that—not just suffering. Bah, bah, bah. So, to free them from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment, for their success, what else is a greater project than that? For the success of this: I mean not just only the virus to stop it bringing sickness, the coronavirus. Not just that. Okay. …”
Rinpoche concludes the video by offering the oral transmission of the Verses for the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones in English.
Watch the new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche—”Motivation and Oral Transmission for Success”:
https://youtu.be/GKJ-K3_Btdc
- Read a transcript of this video.
- Follow the oral transmission of the Verses for the Eight Noble Auspicious Ones.
Find more video teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery during the COVID-19 crisis.
Practice advice from our teachers, Dharma study-from-home opportunities, and more can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche watching a teaching with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on a tablet. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Dharma practitioners around the world have been advised to isolate themselves from others as much as possible to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. This can be a challenge to those wishing to study without access to their local centers.
We are offering several FPMT Online Learning Center programs to any student or center who would like to use them. (Please note: Students who are new to the Online Learning Center will need to create an account. For details, see “Getting Started Guide.”)
- Discovering Buddhism: Module 11, Transforming Problems
Enrollment key: tonglen33 - Basic Program: Mahayana Mind Training, Wheel of Sharp Weapons
Enrollment key: lojong100 - Living in the Path
We have made this entire program available for free. Find the enrollment keys for the individual modules here. - Living in the Path (Spanish)
This program is also in Spanish and is available for free. Find the enrollment keys for individual modules here. - Discovering Buddhism (French)
All of the modules of Discovering Buddhism in French are available for free and do not require enrollment keys.
Additionally, students are welcome to access complete teachings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via Rinpoche Available Now. Find video of recent and archive teachings from Nepal, Russia, Singapore, Latvia, France, and many other teaching events.
Please also visit the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive for freely available teachings by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche in a variety of digital formats.
We hope that students will take full advantage of these opportunities during this isolating time of uncertainty.
For detailed advice on the practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
A new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche focuses on advice for students supporting someone who is dying. Rinpoche recorded this video in March 2020 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal.
In the video, Lama Zopa Rinpoche recites various mantras and teaches on their benefits. These mantras can be used to support a person who is dying.
Rinpoche teaches on:
- Buddha’s Name Mantra (Rinchhen Tsugtorchen Name Mantra)
- the short Chenrezig mantra
- Lotus Pinnacle of Amoghaspasha Mantra
- Celestial Mansion Extremely Secret Sublime Success
- Maitreya Buddha mantras (root mantra, heart mantra, and close heart mantra)
- the short Medicine Buddha mantra
- the short Namgyalma mantra
- Mantra from “The Sutra of Great Liberation”
Watch “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice to a Person Who is Dying” on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/wmIVjkVDyVE
- Read the transcript of this teaching.
- Find the mantras to recite for the dying discussed in this video.
- Find additional resources for the dying and other mantras on FPMT.org.
For detailed advice on the practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
Additional resources, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Thangtong Gyalpo
We recently shared a new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche in which Rinpoche shares his advice for practices concerning protection and healing from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as well as oral transmissions of the Vajra Armor mantra and four other recommended prayers.
FPMT Education Services is pleased to share a draft transcript of this advice. All are welcome to download this to your device or read online.
For more detailed advice on the practices recommended by Rinpoche, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
Additional resources for this difficult time, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
There is a new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on his advice for practices for coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Rinpoche recorded this video in March 2020 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal.
The new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins with a teaching and motivation for doing the practices. Then Rinpoche gives additional advice along with the oral transmission of a mantra and four prayers.
Watching this video attentively can qualify as having received the oral transmission of the following mantra and prayers, if viewed with the intention of receiving the oral transmission from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Watch video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19):
https://youtu.be/O7oTHLEQn6Y
In this video Rinpoche gives the following oral transmission:
- Vajra Armor mantra (this mantra is recommended in “Advice to Protect Yourself and Others from the Coronavirus” from Rinpoche.)
- Swift Fulfillment of Wishes in Dependence on the Great Jetsun Tsongkhapa
- The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: The Blessed Prayer Known as “Liberating Sakya from Disease” (This prayer is recommended in “Advice to Protect Yourself and Others from the Coronavirus” from Rinpoche.)
- The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: Words of Truth Pacifying the Danger of Weapons
- The Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: A Request to Pacify the Fear of Famine
Read the transcript of this video.
For more detailed advice on the practices recommended by Rinpoche, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
Additional resources for this difficult time, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
In these challenging and anxious times, FPMT International Office offers our prayers and best wishes to all who are navigating uncertainty and change during the coronavirus pandemic.
We have created a page of resources and advice related to this crisis in order to make it as easy as possible for you to find recommended practices, prayers, online study and practice resources, and news about Lama Zopa Rinpoche and from around the FPMT organization.
This page will be updated as new advice and news become available and should be consulted as an up-to-date resource for Dharma practice during the time of this pandemic.
Find advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Dharma study materials, and other updates on “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic” page on FPMT.org:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching in Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
The Six Perfections: The Practice of the Bodhisattvas is a new book from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In it, Rinpoche offers instruction on the six perfections, a key Mahayana Buddhist teaching. Here’s an excerpt from the book’s “Introduction”:
The Sanskrit for perfection is paramita, which literally means “gone beyond.” The perfections are the practices of bodhisattvas, holy beings who have completely renounced the self; they have transcended selfish concerns and cherish only others.
Each perfection is perfect, flawless. Each arises from bodhichitta and is supported by the other perfections, including the wisdom of emptiness. Because of that, a bodhisattva generates infinite merit every moment, whether outwardly engaged in working for others or not. A bodhisattva’s bodhichitta never stops. Even sleeping, there is no self-cherishing; even in a coma, infinite merit is still created.
Cover of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new book
The six perfections are as follows:
- Charity (dana)
- Morality (shila)
- Patience (kshanti)
- Perseverance (virya)
- Concentration (dhyana)
- Wisdom (prajna)
The first perfection is the perfection of charity. Its nature is the virtuous thought of giving. With that thought we perform the three types of charity: giving material objects, giving fearlessness, and giving the Dharma. These encompass all our actions of body, speech, and mind, such as giving material objects, protecting from fear, and giving the Dharma.
The second perfection is the perfection of morality, of which there are three types: refraining from nonvirtue, gathering virtuous deeds, and working for others. The first, refraining from nonvirtue, is abstaining from actions that harm sentient beings. The second, gathering virtuous deeds, means completely giving up the thought of seeking happiness for the self, including seeking self-liberation. The third, working for others, means just that—protecting sentient beings from harm as well as helping them in any way we can.
Then there is the perfection of patience. The nature of patience is keeping the mind in virtue whenever we encounter disturbance and harm. (We could endure these with a nonvirtuous mind as well, which is why the distinction is made.) There are three types of patience: not retaliating when harmed, accepting suffering, and having certainty about the Dharma. Accepting suffering means our mind remains calm and undisturbed whenever we receive harm from either sentient beings or nonliving things. Having certainty about the Dharma means always abiding in the wish to continuously practice the Dharma no matter what the circumstance.
The perfection of perseverance means being happy to practice virtue—specifically, being happy to practice each of the perfections—and doing work for all sentient beings. This includes virtuous actions of the body and speech, such as doing prostrations and reciting mantras.
With the fifth perfection, concentration, through both analytical meditation and single-pointed concentration we constantly reflect on the meaning of the teachings and put them into practice. For instance, when we do a shamatha, or calm-abiding meditation, using Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the Buddha is the object of meditation; if we are meditating on bodhichitta, the mind of enlightenment, when we place our mind single-pointedly on bodhichitta, that is the object of meditation.
The last perfection is the perfection of wisdom, of which there are two types. One type realizes the conventional (or all-obscuring) truth, which includes the nature of impermanence or the law of cause and effect. The other type realizes the ultimate truth, the emptiness of all phenomena. Generally, the perfection of wisdom refers to realizing emptiness.
Excerpted from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new book The Six Perfections: The Practice of the Bodhisattvas, edited by Gordon McDougall and published by Wisdom Publications.
Learn more about the book, including information on ordering, on Wisdom Publication’s website:
https://wisdomexperience.org/product/the-six-perfections/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently offered advice on practices to do to protect from the coronavirus. As part of the advice, Rinpoche recommended a specific puja be done. The puja has now been arranged at Sera Je Monastery in India. It has also been arranged to be done in Tibet.
Rinpoche now offers this additional advice to protect from the coronavirus:
Rinpoche says that in addition to his earlier advice people should also recite “The Prayer Liberating Sakya from Disease” ( PDF, Audio). The prayer comes from the great yogi Thangtong Gyalpo (1385–1464) and is for healing from disease.
While doing this prayer, students should look at an image of Thangtong Gyalpo. (The image of Thangtong Gyalpo below is from a thangka in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s house.)
Rinpoche added, “the previous mantras are to protect yourself and others, but this prayer from Thangtong Gyalpo is to heal the disease in China and for it not to spread out to other countries. So it is to protect the country. And anyone in the world can recite this prayer.”
Thangtong Gyalpo
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s earlier advice to protect from the coronavirus is here:
https://fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche/lama-zopa-rinpoche-offers-advice-to-protect-from-the-coronavirus/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche was asked what can be done for the outbreak of the coronavirus. UPDATE: Rinpoche has offered additional advice.
Rinpoche advised the arrangement of a wrathful fire puja offered by Jhado Rinpoche in South India at Sera Je Monastery. [This was done. Also a Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong was offered at Kopan Monastery and at Sera Je Monastery, and a number of other pujas were arranged in India and Nepal.]
Individual students can do the following mantra recitation practice:
As a motivation before reciting the two mantras, Rinpoche said it’s best if people can do The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices, which is the daily morning practice Rinpoche has put together. That is best. But if that is too much, then do the lamrim motivation, which is just The Method without additional practices. [In other words, do the recitation on pages 7–14 of the booklet and stop at the Additional Practices, which begin with the “Blessing the Speech” section.] So at least do that part as a motivation before reciting the mantras.
- Recite Vajra Armor mantra, which is a famous mantra for healing. You can do the entire Vajra Armor Protection Wheel if you want. Otherwise, just do the mantra:
HŪṂ VAJRA PHAṬ* / OṂ PADMAŚHAVARI PHAṬ / NÄN PAR SHIG / NĀGANAN / TADYATHĀ / SARVAVIRITA / HANA HANA / VAJRENA RAKṢHA RAKṢHA SVĀHĀ
*Lama Zopa Rinpoche often gives the oral transmission of the mantra with the additional syllables “HŪṂ VAJRA PHAṬ,” as was taught by Trulshik Rinpoche. These syllables are recited with each recitation of the mantra. There are other lineages of the mantra that do not contain these syllables.
After you finish reciting the mantra, hold your hand in front of your mouth and blow the air up, so it goes into your nostrils.
Vajra Armor
- Then also recite Black Manjushri mantra. The Meditation-Recitation of Black Manjushri is also good to do if you want. Otherwise, just do the mantra:
OṂ TRA SÖ / CHHU SÖ / DUR TA SÖ / DUR MI SÖ / NYING GO LA CHHÖ / KHA LA JAḤ KAṂ ŚHAṂ TRAṂ / BÄ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ
Black Manjushri
Then at the end, do dedication prayers:
JANG CHHUB SEM CHHOG RIN PO CHHE
May the precious supreme bodhichitta
MA KYE PA NAM KYE GYUR CHIG
Not yet born arise.
KYE PA NYAM PA ME PA YI
May that arisen not decline,
GONG NÄ GONG DU PHEL WAR SHOG
But increase more and more.
GE WA DI YI NYUR DU DAG
Due to this virtue, may I quickly
LA MA SANG GYÄ DRUB GYUR NÄ
Become a Guru-Buddha,
DRO WA CHIG KYANG MA LÜ PA
And lead all transmigratory beings,
DE YI SA LA GÖ PAR SHOG
Without exception, to that state.
Due to all the merits of the three times collected by me, the numberless buddhas, and the numberless sentient beings, may all wars, sickness, famine, torture, poverty, and economic problems in the world, and all dangers of earth, water, fire, and wind, be pacified immediately, and may perfect peace and happiness prevail in everyone’s hearts and lives. May the Buddhadharma last for a long time, and may the sentient beings in this world meet the Buddhadharma and achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.
Due to all the past, present, and future merits collected by me and all the merits of the three times collected by the numberless buddhas and numberless sentient beings, which are completely empty of existing from their own side, may I, who am completely empty of existing from my own side, achieve the state of full enlightenment, which is completely empty of existing from its own side, and lead all sentient beings, who are completely empty of existing from their own side, to that state, which is completely empty of existing from its own side, by myself alone, who is completely empty of existing from my own side.
Scribe: Ven. Holly Ansett, January 23, 2020.
Links to the practices in this advice can be found here:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/
Additional advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for protection from coronavirus:
https://fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche/additional-advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-to-protect-from-the-coronavirus/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.