Lama Zopa Rinpoche News

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the meadow at Land of Medicine Buddha, Soquel, California, October 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

“The most unbelievably important thing in our life is lam-rim. The practice of the three principal aspects of the path is the most important thing. This is the most important, more important than a job, money, or anything else in our life. It is the most important thing,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches in the module “Advice for Realizing Lam-rim,” which is part of Living in the Path, FPMT Education Services’ essential lam-rim program as taught by Rinpoche. 

You can find the first video of this module “Lam-rim Is the Most Important Thing” on FPMT’s Online Learning Center.

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 teaches, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 2015. Photo courtesy of Marly Ferreira.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in September 25-27, 2015. National coordinator Marly Ferreira reports on the event hosted by Centro Shiwa Lha:

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s very first words in the public talk “The Power of Compassion in a Hostile World” captured the heart and attention of an audience of 300 people. Out of his great compassion, Rinpoche advised on what can be done, both collectively and individually, to help the country’s present situation. Brazil faces the possibility of a presidential impeachment, with many politicians under heavy corruption investigations. Unemployment and violence bringing fear and confusion to the people. Rinpoche’s words brought hope, showing how we can help the country. Besides some recommended pujas, the main advice was for people to read the Golden Light Sutra and the Sanghata Sutra. In a very clear manner, Rinpoche explained the power of these sutras and how reading them can bring peace, happiness and success, changing situations and positively affecting the environment.

Following the talk was a very successful weekend retreat. The strong connection between participants and Rinpoche reflected in everyone’s rapt attention and in the smiles on everyone’s faces. Rinpoche’s teachings were of pure wisdom, compassion and full of good humor. On the last day, 60 people took refuge.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche checking the Namgyälma mantra on the newly made board for blessing beings in the ocean, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Another special event was blessing the sea. While Rinpoche prayed on the beach, students held an acrylic and wood board with the Namgyälma mantra in the ocean to bless the water. Then, just as the sun was setting, blessed water was poured into the ocean with very strong dedications for the peace and happiness of all creatures living in or touching the ocean water as well as for anyone just being at the beach.

After such a successful and blissful stay, Rinpoche left us with innumerable blessings and the promise of a quick return.

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 in elevator at lam-rim retreat in Mexico, September 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

“A hard life is very good for learning, it is a teaching, it shows the nature of suffering,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised a student who was facing a difficult time. “Look at it that way, as a teaching, to give you inspiration, liberate you, and free you from samsara. Seeing sentient beings’ sufferings and from that developing compassion leads to bodhichitta and the Mahayana path, which eliminates all the gross and subtle defilements and causes you to achieve enlightenment. Then you can enlighten all sentient beings. These benefits come when you experience hardships or a hard life. So, if you can, think like this. …”

Read the advice from Rinpoche “The Benefits of Experiencing Hardship” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/benefits-experiencing-hardship

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.

Screenshot from “It Would Be Heaven”

“So, all the samsaric pleasures are like that,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches in a new video on FPMT’s YouTube channel. “After some time you get bored! You get bored. First you like that car so much you think, ‘I wish I had that.’ Then you buy that, if you have money. Then you drive one day, two days, three days, and then you have less and less interest. Then afterwards you get bored. Then you see another car that’s even better. Then for the first car you think, ‘This is horrible’ after seeing the better car.

“It’s the same for a friend. You see someone who has a better shape, who is better shaped, from birth or from make-up shops. In the beginning you meet and you talk and think, ‘If I could be with that person, wow, what a great bliss. That would be heaven! …”

Watch “It Would Be Heaven” on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoM5P2_Irlk

You can watch more video clips of Lama Zopa Rinpoche on FPMT.org: https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/videos-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/

For longer videos of Rinpoche teaching, visit: http://bit.ly/rinpoche-available-now

Learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and Rinpoche’s vision for a better world. Sign up to receive news and updates.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during visit to Lawudo Retreat Centre, Nepal, April 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“If you are able to help these people go to the pure land, then that is the quickest way to free them from cyclic existence or rebirth. Otherwise, without actualizing the path, there is no way to experience this or to overcome the normal experience of death,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote to a student who worked as a hospice nurse in the advice “Working with the Dying.”

“The great advantage to helping others be reborn in these pure lands is that it is possible for them to become enlightened there in that very life. However, one is not able to be enlightened in every pure land. To become enlightened in a pure land, there needs to be the opportunity to practice tantra in that pure land, but not every pure land gives that opportunity. In Shambhala, Heruka or Vajrayogini pure lands, one definitely has the opportunity to practice tantra, so one can become enlightened there.

“However, for that, from their side they also have to have merit. So, in order to bring the most benefit to yourself and others, first of all, one very good thing to do is to recite ten malas of OM MANI PADME HUM first thing in the morning. By doing this, your body becomes blessed. It actually becomes holy, so anybody who touches you or anybody whom you touch — even to shake hands or give a massage to — they are all purified. Even insects that touch you have their negative karmas purified. That means you are giving them the opportunity to have a good rebirth. Therefore, every time you touch sick people, touching their hands or body purifies their negative karma. So, this is a very good thing to do. …”

For more on working with the dying and the benefits of reciting OM MANI PADME HUM, read the entire advice from Rinpoche on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: 
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/working-dying

More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News. For more visit, https://fpmt.org/.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during a visit to Lawudo, Solu Khumbu, Nepal, April 4, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“The root of guru devotion is remembering the kindness of the guru, by thinking that the guru is precious,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche instructed. “Then we respect the guru, who is the root of the path all the way up to enlightenment. It’s from the guru that we will achieve all the realizations, from liberation from samsaric sufferings all the way up to enlightenment. This is the reason why the understanding and practice of guru devotion is so important. We need to look at it carefully. We have to be really careful and put a lot of effort into trying to understand it. …”

Read the entire advice “Training the Mind in Guru Devotion” by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at: https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/training-mind-guru-devotion/.

For more advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the lam-rim topic Guru Devotion see Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book.

Learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and Rinpoche’s vision for a better world. Sign up to receive news and updates.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche visiting the stupa being built at Land of Medicine Buddha, California, US, October 2015. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

“Especially important is the benefit to others from these holy objects,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said regarding the benefits of building a stupa. “Because we can’t see the Buddha now directly, this is something substantial that we can see, a manifestation of Buddha’s holy mind. It becomes so easy for us to purify and create merit with such holy objects. Even insects are able to purify negative karma and collect merit and create the cause to achieve enlightenment.

“The dust, rain, anything that touches the stupa and then touches others is the cause of purification, and helps us achieve a higher rebirth. Anyone who sees, touches, dreams of, or thinks of this stupa plants the seed of enlightenment and becomes meaningful to behold.

“In the Buddha’s teachings, it says that the benefits of making holy objects are like the limitless sky. The very essence of this is the benefits that Buddha explained to King Indrabodhi, which is: however many atoms there are inside the stupa or statue of Buddha, that many lifetimes will you be reborn as a king, human, or in the deva realms. You also create that many causes of perfect concentration, including shamatha and different levels of meditative states of the form and formless realms, as there are atoms in the statue or stupa. Also, you create that many causes to achieve the Aryan path and that many causes to achieve enlightenment. …”

You can read more of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice on stupas on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.

Screenshot from “The Real Smell of a Fart”

“When you smell a fart it seems to be real from its own side,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches in a new video on FPMT’s YouTube channel. “But what actually exists is only what is merely imputed by the mind. However, it appears to us as the real smell of a fart. Do you understand? In reality it is what is merely imputed by the mind. I gave the example of the smell of a fart as something that we think of as real, but it is the same for the real I – all these are totally false. We are living our life in a totally false world.”

Watch “The Real Smell of a Fart” on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlgeIBsmzr0

You can watch more video clips of Lama Zopa Rinpoche on FPMT’s YouTube page: http://bit.ly/fpmt-youtube

For longer videos of Rinpoche teaching, visit: http://bit.ly/rinpoche-available-now

Learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and Rinpoche’s vision for a better world. Sign up to receive news and updates.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing the building bought by Centro Shiwa Lha to become the center’s new home, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 2015. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

“I’m going to mention briefly how the Dharma center is so important. We can see more and more how much of an emergency it is to have such a center, because this is where we can learn the whole path to liberation, the unmistaken path to happiness, the unmistaken cause of happiness. Not only that, the unmistaken cause for the path to liberation; and not only that, the unmistaken cause for the path to great liberation, full enlightenment, how to be free from suffering; to understand the cause of suffering and how to get rid of that. This is never explained or taught in schools, colleges and universities,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote in a letter to Maitreya Instituut on the occasion of celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2008.

“These things are missing in the education facilities in the world. The most important teaching is missing, the most practical thing – the education of a good heart, compassion.

“Why is there so much killing and war even among religious people? It is because of the lack of this practice, this education. So practicing the good heart develops from this education, this practice.

“If we guard our mind then we don’t need guns. We don’t harm others and in this way we don’t receive harm back from others – shooting, atomic bombs, whatever. We don’t receive all this harm. This education is not brought up in schools and colleges, even though it is the most important thing for world peace.

“So what can bring peace and happiness to the world generally, to all different religions? It is compassion, loving kindness. This is the only answer for world peace. For young and for old, to bring peace and unity among religions, there is one thing – compassion, the good heart. …”

Read the entire letter from Rinpoche “Tenth Anniversary Message” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/benefits-dharma-centers/.

The future home of Centro Shiwa Lha, recently bought by the center and currently under renovation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

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 while teaching in Mexico, September 2015

“You may have heard the story about Drukhang Rinpoche, whose cave [was] just above Sera College,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said during a teaching on refuge given in Dharamsala in 1986. “He had one guru from whom he had learned the alphabet but he did not visualize him in the merit field because he saw him as being full of mistakes. For many years he meditated on lam-rim but no realizations came. So he went to ask his root guru for advice. His guru asked him, ‘Did you leave out any gurus in your visualization of the merit field? Go back and check.’ He returned to his place of meditation and counted all the gurus and found that his alphabet teacher was missing. He went back to tell his guru, who advised him, ‘You have had no attainment so far because that guru from whom you learned the alphabet was missing. Now you should meditate on that one as the principal being of the merit field.’ 

“I have heard different versions of this advice, one that he should be visualized as being the embodiment of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the principal being of the merit field, another that he should be visualized on the crown of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. Immediately, he did this meditation; realizations came so easily, like rainfall. Je Drukhangpa’s biography relating how he practiced lam-rim is unbelievable. It is so interesting, and so inspiring, especially how he practiced bodhichitta. One can understand the importance of having to develop devotion towards all of one’s gurus from that story.”

From “Refuge in the Three Jewels” published on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/refuge-three-jewels

Learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and Rinpoche’s vision for a better world. Sign up to receive news and updates.