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Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the garden at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 2022. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
In a 2022 letter to an FPMT center director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the perfect epitome of patience, offered an unmissable teaching on why patience is critically important, and how to protect and cultivate it through applying conscientious effort. Explaining the value of patience, Rinpoche said it protects our hard-won merits, which are necessary for our liberation from samsara but which are easily destroyed through our acts of anger and heresy.
Rinpoche then advised on how best to dedicate our merits so as to protect them. Rinpoche’s letter also offers guidance on six ways to train the mind in patience: by seeing the “enemy” as the guru and as positive support, by realizing that the “enemy” has no freedom to act differently, by developing compassion, and by remembering karma and the emptiness of phenomena.
We offered a short edited version of this advice in our 2022 Annual Review, and now we are very happy to share this entire advice available as a PDF download.
Please explore other teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the topic of patience.
You can read other advice that Lama Zopa Rinpoche has offered students on the topic of patience and anger.
Order Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s book, Patience: A Guide to Shantideva’s Sixth Chapter from Wisdom Publications.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche (1945–2023) was 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 and Ven. Roger Kunsang in Vienna, Austria, September 2017. Photo by Andrea Husnik.
In late September 2017, Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelugzentrum in Vienna, Austria. This was Rinpoche’s first official stay in Austria and his first visit to the FPMT center.
Following the 2017 Light of the Path retreat, and a long flight from North Carolina, US, to Austria, Rinpoche rested for a number of days with the Igel family at their home in Vienna. During his stay, Rinpoche was offered an apple strudel, which the mother of the family had made. The dish was so good that Rinpoche asked if he could be shown how to make the dessert.
Rinpoche gave a motivation before cooking, speaking about making cooking part of the path to enlightenment. This was followed by a demonstration and the actual instructions on how to make Austrian apple strudel (recipe available here) with Rinpoche also joining in to make it.
From the archives we are sharing an extremely joyful video showing such a precious aspect of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s ability to connect so genuinely with others, and also Rinpoche reminding us how to turn ordinary daily activities (like cooking or offering food) into Dharma activities.
In 2013 Rinpoche also offered some advice to the cooks of Tushita Mediation Centre on how to remember bodhichitta when when preparing and cooking food. This is timeless advice which we can all use to actualize the path to enlightenment, as cooking and preparing food for ourselves and others is a daily necessity.
When you are cutting anything, for example onions, think,
I am cutting the root of all sentient beings’ suffering which comes from ignorance and the self-cherishing thought, with the knife of the wisdom realizing emptiness (shunyata) and bodhichitta.
When you are washing pots and so on think,
I am washing away all the obscurations and negative karmas from all sentient beings’ minds.
You can think that you are washing away your own obscurations and negative karmas but most important is to think you are washing away those of all sentient beings. And you can think the water is nectar coming from Vajrasattva, the Guru, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, or Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. There is always a lot of washing up to do in the kitchen and you can use the opportunity to purify all sentient beings’ obscurations. It’s very good if you can sincerely think this way because all the washing up becomes Dharma practice purifying your negative karma and defilements and collecting merits. In India even the beggars keep their pots very clean!
When you are sweeping the floor think that the broom is the whole path to enlightenment, especially wisdom and bodhichitta, and that the dust is all sentient beings’ obscurations.
I am sweeping away the dust of all sentient beings’ obscurations with the broom of the path to enlightenment and especially wisdom and bodhichitta.
If you sincerely think this while you are cleaning it becomes real Dharma practice that benefits all sentient beings. In the lamrim it says to think that you are abandoning the dust of the three poisonous minds—anger, attachment, and ignorance—which are the gross obscurations and also the stains of the three poisonous minds, the subtle obscurations.
When you are kneading dough so that it can be made into any shape think,
I am taming all sentient beings’ minds by softening them with my two hands of the wisdom realizing emptiness and bodhichitta.
When you are making momos or shapale—rolling out pastry and filling it with cheese, potato, and vegetables—think,
I am filling all sentient beings’ minds with the realizations of the path from guru devotion up to enlightenment so that they can actualize all the qualities of a buddha.
When you are cooking soup or other food you can think that the fire is the Six Yogas’ tummo fire that causes the kundalini to melt. Do the same meditation that is used to bless the inner offering in highest yoga tantra. Or you can think that the fire is the wisdom realizing emptiness and the uncooked food is the unsubdued mind. By cooking the food all the gross and even the subtle delusions are purified and all the realizations of Buddha are achieved.
These are some ways of thinking as you are working in the kitchen. You can think in a similar way with other kitchen activities.
This advice by Lama Zopa Rinpoche was typed and edited by Ven. Sarah Thresher at Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamsala, India, June 17, 2013.
Related Practice Materials
Lama Zopa Rinpoche (1945–2023) was 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.
Vajrasattva.
With the new year approaching, many of us are reflecting on the past year— rejoicing in the blessings we received, and also assessing mistakes we have made in relation to ourselves and others. Fortunately, we have methods at our disposal to help us purify negative karma we have created. We can utilize these practices daily, and also as a way to enter the new year with a renewed sense of resolve to be the best versions of ourselves, so we can be of most benefit to others.
“Of course by purifying negative karma collected since beginningless rebirth and by collecting extensive merits, this allows you to have realizations on the path to enlightenment and for your mind to change,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche once explained to a student. “There is always hope the mind can change, even to achieve enlightenment, so you can achieve a higher rebirth, ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara and enlightenment.”
Rinpoche offered four teachings at Kopan Monastery on April 7, 8, and 9 before leaving for Tsum Valley on April 10. As we now all know, Rinpoche showed the aspect of passing away on April 13, and as such, these teachings are particularly precious as they are the last organized and recorded teachings Rinpoche offered in this life. Three of these teachings were to students attending the 2023 Vajrasattva retreat at Kopan during this time. Rinpoche also gave the White Tara Practice Oral Transmission and Visualization to Glen H. Mullin and a group of his students. You can access all of these teachings and transcripts to the teachings.
In his first teaching from this series on April 7, Rinpoche overviewed some of the many benefits of purification practice. Addressing the retreatants Rinpoche said:
“There are so many problems in the world—what should we do? Doing Vajrasattva practice is the answer; doing purification is the answer. You are purifying negative karma, from where all the sufferings came. Purification is the answer to war, famine, disease, and the dangers from fire, water, earth, and air. That is the answer.”
During one teaching to the 2022 Vajrasattva retreatants at Kopan, Rinpoche discusses the Four Opponent Powers practice, which is essential to Vajrasattva practice (starting at 1:12:14 in the video):
- The Power of Reliance
- The Power of Reflecting on the Shortcomings of Negative Karma (the Power of Regret)
- The Power of Always Engaging in the Remedy
- The Power of Not Committing the Negative Karma (Faults) Again
Rinpoche also discussed the meanings of both the long and short Vajrasattva mantras and offers instruction for the visualizations and meditations to be done when reciting the mantras (starting at 1:24:48 in the same video).
By practicing Vajrasattva, we can purify the five heavy negative karmas without break which cause us to be reborn in hell; and we can achieve the general and sublime realizations, Rinpoche explained to Vajrasattva retreatants in 2022. This is why Rinpoche stressed that Vajrasattva practice is so important.
Explore Rinpoche’s three teachings on Vajrasattva from 2023: April 2023 Teachings at Kopan Monastery
Explore Rinpoche’s four teachings on Vajrasattva from 2022: Teachings for 2022 Vajrasattva Retreatants at Kopan Monastery.
Read more in “Benefits of Vajrasattva Practice,” posted in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/benefits-vajrasattva-practice
You can find resources to support your Vajrasattva practice and other purification practices on the Practices for Purification page:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/purification/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Netherlands, July 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
In this short and intimate teaching from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, which was recorded over lunch at Maitreya Instituut, the Netherlands, in July 2015, Rinpoche explains the incredible merit that is collected by offering to the guru.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered countless profound teachings on guru devotion, many of which are available here:
fpmt.org/tag/guru-devotion/
In the book, The Heart of the Path, Rinpoche explains the importance of the spiritual teacher and advises how to train the mind in guru devotion, the root of the path to enlightenment.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Turkeys at a farm.
Every year in the United States, tens of millions of turkeys are killed for the holiday of Thanksgiving, which is this Thursday, November 23, 2023. Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered advice in a 2018 teaching to help benefit the turkeys killed, and how we can think during the holiday. Rinpoche explained that these practices can be applied beyond the Thanksgiving holiday, “These are simple methods, but they have unbelievably profound benefits, like the sky. You can also do more or different practices as well. These are just suggestions. You can also do these practices at Christmas or on other occasions where turkeys and so many other animals are sacrificed and eaten.”
In “Prayers and Practices to Do for Turkeys at Thanksgiving”, Rinpoche explains,
“If you are Buddhist, or just someone who does not want to suffer now or in endless future lives as well, having to experience unbelievably suffering, you need to purify your past negative karma and stop creating any more so that you will not be reborn as a turkey over and over again. … If you do have to eat turkey because of some family obligation, then at least do some mantras and prayers to benefit the turkeys, such as the four immeasurables with tonglen. Otherwise, if you just enjoy eating turkey together with the rest of the Americans who are not Buddhist, who do not know Dharma, who have not generated compassion for the turkeys, you create much negative karma.”
In this teaching Rinpoche provides detailed instructions on practices to purify negative karma, such as Vajrasattva, taking the eight Mahayana precepts, reciting sutras, engaging in nyung ne fasting retreats, generating love and compassion through the practice of tonglen and the Four Immeasureables, practicing Chenrezig, Medicine Buddha puja and specific mantras. Rinpoche also offers a special dedication to purify any negative karma that could cause future rebirth as a turkey.
Of course, Rinpoche also has given extensive advice for benefiting animals in general, such as ocean animals, bugs, saving animals from the danger of death, and has outlined mantras and their benefits that are beneficial for animals.
For links to practice materials in these detailed instructions, we invite you to read “Prayers and Practices to Do for Turkeys at Thanksgiving”. Included on the page is an additional short teaching from Rinpoche which we include below:
Further Commentary and Advice for Thanksgiving from Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, April 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
I don’t think the general population of America accepts clairvoyance, but if it did, people would understand where all the sufferings, such as depression, come from. The way people normally think—for example, what causes depression—is very limited. They only think about things that are to do with this life. If they had clairvoyance they could see much deeper; they could see things such as past and future lives. People normally think of only this life, not past and future lives.
In the past, many of the turkeys that Americans are eating were Americans who in the past had killed turkeys. Often it could even be a past family member that they are now eating.
There’s a sutra story about Buddha’s disciple Shariputra, who excelled in wisdom. Once when he was on his alms round he looked into a family’s house and saw that the father, who used to catch fish in his backyard pond, had died and been reborn as a fish in that pond. The mother, his wife, who had been very attached to the home, had also died and been reborn as the family dog. And the son’s enemy, who had been very attached to the son’s wife, had died and been reborn as their child. The son was holding the child, his former enemy, eating the fish, his late father, and beating the dog, his late mother, while it chewed on fish bones. Shariputra then observed, “The son is eating his father’s flesh, beating his mother with a stick, and cuddling his enemy on his lap—samsaric existence makes me laugh.”
If we have animals we have to remember this story and take care of them well. It is very important to understand the benefits of taking care of our pets and other animals by giving them food and drink. Think that you are making charity and don’t just do it out of attachment, thinking that you love the shape of the animals or something, doing everything simply for your own happiness. It’s the same with looking after your children. You create a child with attachment, for your own happiness, thinking how your life would be unbelievably happy if you had a child. Then you take care of the child, but it is for your own happiness.
It is also important to recognize and remember your animals’ most unbelievable kindness, how they have been kind to you in three ways, and then with that awareness give them food and drink. First recite OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ and then blow over the food and drink to bless it. If you have mani pills, it’s good to crush them and put them into the food and drink, or even add blessed water. You don’t have to get blessed water from a lama; you can make it yourself. Whether or not you have daily commitments, recite OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ and other mantras, such as OṂ PADMO UṢHṆĪṢHA VIMALE HŪṂ PHAṬ, the Mitrugpa mantra and so forth, and then blow on the water. You can recite however many repetitions of each mantra you want, like seven, ten, fifteen, or more, blow on the animal’s food or water and make prayers as well. Similarly, you can keep a bottle of water nearby and when you’ve done your commitments you can blow on the water and then use that to put on the food and water that you give to the animals.
Then make this dedication prayer:
Due to all the past, present, and future merits collected by me and all the merits of the three times collected by numberless buddhas and numberless sentient beings, may all these animals (you can also include your family members, especially your father and mother) never ever get reborn back into the lower realms but be reborn in a pure land where they can achieve enlightenment, or, if not, at least receive a perfect human body, meet the Mahayana teachings, and a perfectly qualified guru revealing the unmistaken path to enlightenment, and by pleasing the holy mind of the virtuous friend may they attain enlightenment as quickly as possible.
Finally, please remember the unbelievable benefits of making charity of food to the animals. As the Buddha said, “Anybody who makes charity well during the period my teachings exist will receive great enjoyments for 80,000 eons, even if the material that person offers is merely the size of a hair. That person will be free from pain and disease, will enjoy great happiness, will be enriched with all manner of desirable things, and will eventually achieve the result: peerless cessation and complete enlightenment.”
This advice has been extracted from the page “Prayers and Practices to Do for Turkeys at Thanksgiving,” which shares a teaching and advice given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Switzerland in 2018. Scribed by Holly Ansett. Edited by Nicholas Ribush, November 2020.
For more mantras and resources for mantra recitation, visit FPMT Education Services’ page on mantras. You can find a full catalogue of all FPMT prayers, practices, and advice materials on FPMT.org.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is 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 at Kopan Monastery, April 8, 2023.
On April 8, 2023, five days before showing the aspect of passing away, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered a White Tara oral transmission and visualization at Kopan Monastery to Glen H. Mullin and a group of his students.
This was one of Rinpoche’s last recorded teachings in this life and offers timeless advice on benefiting and cherishing others.
“Whatever service you can offer others, whatever help you can bring, even a small benefit offered to an insect, this is fulfilling the bodhisattvas’ and buddhas’ wishes,” Rinpoche explains in this teaching.
“And any harm you do, if you kill an insect or ant under your feet and don’t care, even though you’re learning philosophy, sutra and tantra, you don’t care about their life. Any harm, even a small harm, is a harm to all the bodhisattvas and buddhas. You must know that. Oh, and a small benefit is the best offering to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. It makes them most happy. …”
“So my answer is that if you want happiness, you must help others. If you don’t want to suffer, you don’t harm others. Stop. If you want happiness, you cause happiness to others.”
Rinpoche begins the White Tara oral transmission at 36:27 of the video
- Read the transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching
- Download the White Tara practice
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered three other teachings at Kopan Monastery between April 7-9 before leaving for Tsum Valley on April 10.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche was 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.
For more video teachings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche please visit:
fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche
Lama Zopa Rinpoche dictating a response letter to a student asking for practice advice.
One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s highest priorities was providing guidance to students’ requests for advice on daily and lifetime practices. We are so happy to let you know we have created a new page that is based on Rinpoche’s essential daily practice and lifetime practice advice.
This is his essential advice and by following this advice, students can feel confident they are following and practicing according to Rinpoche’s heart advice.
“Rejoice! This is a happy thing, to get these practices, to benefit every sentient being, to free every sentient being from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and to bring them to enlightenment. So for that reason this advice is for you to achieve enlightenment.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche
When Rinpoche gave life advice he gave a brief overview of the practice:
“Please find my advice for your practice, what you should focus on for your life. One practice to do every day is the morning motivation, How to Make My Lives Wish-fulfilling, along with blessing the speech and daily mantras.
“It is very important to meditate every day on the lamrim and to recite a lamrim prayer every day, such as The Foundation of all Good Qualities or The Three Principal Aspects of the Path. Read it slowly while thinking about the meaning. Lamrim is what you need to actualize, no matter how long it takes. Please put all your effort there. “Probably you are doing Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga every day. If so, this is excellent. If not, now you can start. Before the guru absorbs into you, stop and meditate on whatever section of the lamrim you are up to.
“One meditation that you must try to do every day is on the topic of guru devotion. If you sometimes miss doing it, that’s okay but then continue the next day. There is no question of a certain length of time for the meditation; it is up to you. Do whatever fits your schedule. Then do whatever lamrim topic you are on. Do it every day, slowly going through each of the subjects. Whatever meditation you did in the morning, keep it in mind during the day so that your mind remains in the lamrim all day long.”
These are the additional practices that one can do everyday:
- Prostrations by reciting the Thirty-Five Buddhas’ names in the morning.
- Recite the Vajrasattva mantra at night.
- Recite Medicine Buddha mantra.
- Practice Chenrezig and recite the mantra.
- Recite the Golden Light Sutra for world peace.
“Please practice as much as you can,” Rinpoche advised us. “Life is not long and the nature of this life is that it is impermanent; death can happen at any time. Impermanence is the foundation of Buddha’s teachings, and was the last advice Buddha gave by showing the aspect of passing away.
We hope this page will be useful for everyone who wants to know what is Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s essential heart advice on what to practice in your daily life and in one’s whole life:
fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/lama-zopa-rinpoche-life-practice-advice
“Please try to meditate on the lamrim based on guru yoga. On this basis, you will get all the realizations and have the most success in your life. It is important to try to achieve all the realizations in order to actualize enlightenment in order to liberate the numberless sentient beings from samsara and bring them to enlightenment. That’s the real project or the real goal of your life.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche (1945-2023) was 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, November 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered extensive precious advice on how to start each day with the best motivation to be of most benefit to others and ourselves.
In this collection of prayers and advice, Morning Prayers and Motivation, Rinpoche places particular emphasis on the importance of taking refuge in His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the guru embodying the Three Jewels; and of cherishing every mother sentient being as they are the source of our temporal and ultimate happiness. Rinpoche’s advice includes every living being, “… from the smallest sentient being that can be seen only with a microscope to the largest, who lives in the ocean and is as big as a mountain, all sentient beings are extremely kind, most beloved, most precious—they are the bestowers of all happiness for my mind.”
A more extensive set of similar reflections and prayers complied by Rinpoche is published under the title, How to Make My Lives Wish-Fulfilling: The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness. It has a companion piece in The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices: A Commentary.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche was 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.
Through comprehensive study programs and practice materials, FPMT Education Services nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the oral transmission of the Sutra of Golden Light, Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre, Delhi, India, March 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said about the Sutra of Golden Light, “This text is very precious; it brings peace and happiness and is very powerful to stop violence. By hearing this text, one’s karma is purified.” Rinpoche made a personal vow to propagate the Sutra of Golden Light and give oral transmissions of it in many parts of the world. Having the sutra recited as much as possible was also one of Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT. Rinpoche has said, “I would like to make this request with my two palms together, to please recite the Sutra of Golden Light for world peace as much as you can.”
At this time, with the world in trouble in many ways, actions taken toward world peace are desperately needed.
Please visit our webpage dedicated to the recitation of the Sutra of Golden Light where you will find many resources and links, including:
- PDFs of the sutra in fifteen different languages
- Audio and video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering an oral transmission of the sutra
- Advice from Rinpoche on the benefits of reciting the sutra
- Instructions on how to dedicate your recitations and how to report them
- Stories from students about experiences reciting the sutra
“The holy Sutra of Golden Light is extremely powerful and fulfills all one’s wishes, as well as bringing peace and happiness for all sentient beings, up to enlightenment. It is also extremely powerful for world peace, for your own protection, the protection of your country, and the world. Also, it has great healing power for living beings in the area in which you are reciting.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche
A year ago, IMI Sangha asked Rinpoche for advice on prayers and practices they could do in response to the difficult situation in the Ukraine. You can read all of this advice here: fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/lama-zopa-rinpoches-recent-advice-for-generating-peace-in-the-world
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is 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, Germany, December 2018. Photo by Harald Weichhart.
Our time to practice Dharma is fleeting and we don’t know when we will die. Lama Zopa Rinpoche regularly encouraged us to think about impermanence and death so we don’t procrastinate doing our Dharma practice.
Although death is definite, the time of our death is uncertain. We are unbelievably fortunate to still be alive today. So many people died last night, but we are still alive. Although we can die at anytime, we can remember that we could die today or, at most, we could die tomorrow. In this way, we can use every moment we have left to practice Dharma.
“At the time of death nothing can benefit us other than Dharma,” Rinpoche has explained. The family and friends that we love can’t come with us, nor can our wealth or possessions—not even our precious body that we cherish so much. We can’t carry even one atom with us. It is only our Dharma practice that can benefit us at the time of death, nothing else.
Remembering death and impermanence encourages us to practice right now. There is no time to waste. We don’t think about death to develop a fear of dying—we do it to encourage ourselves to practice Dharma without delay, to not put it off until we get old.
“Among all the things to remember, the best is remembering impermanence-death. It reminds you to practice Dharma. Not just to practice Dharma in this life, but to practice Dharma—since when death will occur is not definite,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised.
We have many practices and resources available for the death and dying of ourselves and our loved ones (and pets!).
All are welcome to explore all that is available, collected and compiled over time on advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
fpmt.org/death
Please explore recent teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on death and impermanence:
fpmt.org/tag/death-and-dying
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is 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, Kopan Monastery, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
The Verses for the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones, or Tashi Gyepa in Tibetan, is one of Je Mipham’s most well-known compositions and is recited daily by practitioners from a variety of different traditions. The verses are directly based on the Mangalashtaka Sutra or Eight Auspicious Noble Ones Sutra. In these verses one pays homage to the Three Jewels, eight sugatas, the eight great bodhisattvas, the eight offering goddesses, and the eight worldly guardians. The text also describes the hand implements or offerings held by each of the eight bodhisattvas, goddesses and guardians.
The text invokes the auspiciousness of all these figures, and as mentioned by Je Mipham at the end of the text, its recitation, if done daily or especially before commencing new activities or projects, has inconceivable benefits. It removes obstacles, creates favorable circumstances, and allows one to accomplish all of one’s desires.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche recommended reciting this prayer every morning for “the success of the center and your own success, the success of the FPMT organization, and for the actualization of the holy wishes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.”
Rinpoche offered the oral transmission of this text in March 2020 from Kopan Monastery and all are welcome to watch the video and follow along in a full transcript.
You can download this text for free from the FPMT Foundation Store:
shop.fpmt.org/Verses-for-the-Eight-Noble-Auspicious-Ones-PDF_p_3541.html
Lama Zopa Rinpoche (1945-2023) was 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 at Kopan Monastery, April 9, 2023.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered teachings and advice to a group of Vajrasattva retreaters at Kopan Monastery on April 7, 8, and 9, 2023. In his final teaching from this series, Rinpoche discussed how to develop one’s mind in Dharma, the necessity of practicing the lamrim, and concludes offering the oral transmission of The Essential Nectar. This was one of the last teaching events Rinpoche offered before showing the aspect of passing away on April 13, 2023.
In order to develop one’s mind in Dharma, Rinpoche advised:
“The conclusion is that we need to learn Dharma; we need to learn, reflect, meditate, and actualize the path. The whole point is to actualize the path. It’s not about just being an expert, like a professor; it’s not about knowing the words of sutra and tantra, blah, blah, blah, like snow falling, or like hailstones. It is not just that; it is about practice. Whether you know a lot about Dharma, an average amount, or only a little, you must practice; you must subdue your mind.
“So, how do you begin to practice Dharma? By meditating on impermanence and death. How do you subdue your mind? By meditating on the impermanence and death. That’s how you start. Once you have that, everything happens; everything then comes in your mind. There’s no separation between your mind and Dharma. In this way your mind itself becomes Dharma.”
The one answer is to practice lamrim, Rinpoche explained:
“If you want to make your life really fruitful, really meaningful, the one answer is to practice lamrim. Otherwise, your life is spent in hallucination. There are many different levels of hallucination. Your life is spent in distraction, with attachment and anger, but especially with attachment. Like that, your life is spent in distraction, in hallucination. …
“Even if you’re working, even if you have to do a job to make money, your motivation should be to benefit sentient beings, to serve sentient beings. Do you understand? You should be humble and respectful with your body, speech, and mind. You should be kind to everyone, even those who criticize or harm you. You should be humble, kind, polite, and serve others with your body and speech. It makes people so happy when you speak politely to them. With holy objects, you have a mind of devotion, but with sentient beings, you should have compassion.”
Rinpoche continues, and concludes, the oral transmission of The Essential Nectar, starting at 1:27:52 of this video.
We invite you to go deeper into the topics presented here, plus many others, by watching Rinpoche’s video below and reading the full transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching.
- Read the transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching.
- Find links to resources to support your Vajrasattva practice in the Foundation Store.
Teachings offered by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to the 2022 Vajrasattva retreatants at Kopan Monastery:
Read a letter from Lama Zopa Rinpoche to a student who offered 100,000 Vajrasattva mantras to Rinpoche:
Lama Zopa Rinpoche was 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.
For more video teachings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche please visit:
fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche