Sangha from Kopan Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery doing prayers and practices in preparation for the long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2022. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

A White Tara long life puja will be offered to FPMT Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche on March 11, 2022, at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Currently, the monks and nuns from Kopan Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery are doing seven days of practice in preparation for this special long life puja.

A long life puja offered to one’s teacher is a powerful opportunity to show devotion. The heartfelt prayers and praises along with the procession of symbolic offerings made to a spiritual guide create extensive merit. In addition, one is able to purify the mistakes that occur in relation to a teacher and to create the causes and conditions to continue to receive benefit from that teacher for a very long time. And, as Lama Zopa Rinpoche regularly mentions, offering long life pujas is a cause for one’s own long life.

We are pleased to share a short video of the long life puja preparations at Kopan Monastery:

The long life puja on March 11 will be offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. Our prayers have tremendous power, and we invite you to join us by rejoicing in the puja being offered, generating your own prayers for Rinpoche’s health and long life, or making an offering toward the expenses associated with the pujas and practices for Rinpoche’s health and long life.

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.

Visit our Long Life Puja Fund page to learn more about the purpose of long life pujas and opportunities to offer support for them.

For additional recent advice on mantra recitations to do for Lama Zopa Rinpoche, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the entire FPMT organization see:
fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/mantra-recitations-for-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-lama-zopa-rinpoche-and-fpmt

Ven. Roger Kunsang offering a mandala to Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the April 19, 2021 long life puja at Kopan Monastery

Every year Ven. Roger Kunsang, on behalf of the FPMT organization, checks with Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus and/or Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la), to determine what practices should be done to help create the conditions for Lama Zopa Rinpoche to have a long life and good health for the coming year. 

The first offering to Rinpoche arranged this year will be a White Tara long life puja on March 11, 2022, at Kopan Monastery. This special long life puja will involve seven days of preparation led by Khadro-la with the Kopan monks. At a later date there will be a Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong and a Guru Rinpoche bum tsog also offered according to the advice received. 

Khadro-la making an offering during a long life puja to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, April 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Our prayers have tremendous power and we invite you to join us by rejoicing in the puja being offered, generating your own prayers for Rinpoche’s health and long life, or making an offering toward the expenses associated with the pujas and practices for Rinpoche’s health and long life.

For additional recent advice from Khadro-la on mantra recitations to do for Lama Zopa Rinpoche, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the entire FPMT organization see: fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/mantra-recitations-for-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-lama-zopa-rinpoche-and-fpmt

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.

The Long Life Puja Fund always contributes to long life pujas offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. You can also learn about the many Charitable Projects of FPMT and discover how the various funds and projects are benefiting others.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama meeting with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Bodhgaya, India, January 2020. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

At the beginning of each Tibetan year, Ven. Roger Kunsang requests advice for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s health and the success of the FPMT organization. This year  Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Dronme (Khadro-la) has advised that it would be extremely beneficial if FPMT students can recite Chenrezig and White Tara mantras for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s health, for the fulfilment of all their wishes, and for the benefit of all in the FPMT organization.

The request is to recite these mantras during the most meritorious period starting with Losar (March 3), and up to and including the last of the Days of Miracles, Chotrul Duchen, on March 18. Please dedicate using the FPMT dedication prayers (in the FPMT Essential Prayer Book and Complete Dedication Prayer Book), including the long life prayer for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Whether you are doing them individually or as part of a group at your local center, project, or service; please keep track of the numbers of mantras you complete. You can send your individual recitation numbers on March 19 to Claire Isitt, and if you are connected to a local FPMT center, please send them your recitation numbers. Ven. Roger will then offer that accumulation of meritorious activity to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on behalf of us all.

• Chenrezig mantra:

OM MANI PADME HŪM (link to a short practice from Education Services)

• White Tara mantra:

 OM TĀRE TUTTĀRE TURE MAMA ĀYUR PUṆYE JÑĀNA PUSHTIM KURUYE SVĀHĀ (link to a short meditation from Education Services)

These practices are in addition to the long life puja being offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on March 11 (with seven days of preparatory pujas being offered). We will send more details and a reminder about this auspicious long life puja at the end of the week. 

His Holiness the 14th the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. 

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 Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, September 2017. Photo by Kalleen Mortensen.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche led the first Light of the Path retreat in 2009 in North Carolina, US, hosted by Kadampa Center. The last retreat was in 2017 and the next highly anticipated retreat is this year, August 14 – 28 2022! 

Kadampa Center shares this important update:

The Light of the Path Retreat is returning this year (August 14-28) , in a new model that we hope will allow students all over the world to hear Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s precious teachings together.

We have requested Rinpoche to teach each day, for approximately two hours, beginning at around 8 p.m. Nepal time. You will be able to find Rinpoche’s teaching time for your local time zone.

We are putting the finishing touches on a hybrid retreat, with both online and in-person opportunities. As we get closer to August, we will share our schedule and offer some suggestions for designing schedules for personal retreat. 

We have invited retreat and residential centers from around the world to hold in-person retreats on their home sites, so that retreatants can experience true retreat in person and in community with other students. We are still working out the details with several centers; watch for more news about where to attend the retreat in person!

We also encourage students who are unable to attend in person to take this time off work and do retreat from home, following the teachings, prayers, and practices online. Some students are forming “pods” to rent space and do retreat in person together in small groups. 

We expect to open registration in March. Watch for more information as we finalize the details.

We recommend that students prepare for Light of the Path 2022 by reviewing Rinpoche’s teachings in previous Light of the Path retreats.

Please refer to Kadampa Center’s website for registration details in March. 

FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from 150 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.

In the new book The Power of Mantra: Vital Practices for Transformation, Lama Zopa Rinpoche guides students through understanding the power and benefit of mantras. Rinpoche explains many popular mantras, giving specific instructions for practicing them, including Shakyamuni Buddha, Chenrezig, Manjushri, Tara, Medicine Buddha, Vajrasattva, and more. In an excerpt from the book’s introduction, Rinpoche explains that mantras protect our minds:

The Sanskrit word mantra (which is ngag in Tibetan) has two syllables: man, which means “mind,” and tra, which means “protect,” so a mantra is something that protects our mind.

The benefits of mantra recitation are vast. There are many stories about terrible diseases such as cancer being cured by mantras, or people or animals being helped to have a peaceful death and a positive rebirth through mantras being recited to them. But the supreme benefit of a mantra is its ability to transform our mind. When we recite a mantra such as Shakyamuni’s mantra, we are recalling the Buddha’s name over and over, helping us increase our closeness and devotion to the Buddha, and devotion is our real protection from suffering. By transforming our mind, it has the power to break negative habits and develop positive ones. As our mind changes, our ability to help others increases, so we are reciting mantras for others as well.

By linking us to the omniscient mind—the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha and all the enlightened beings—reciting a mantra invokes that great power, leading us from nonvirtue to virtue. The Buddha said,

Do not commit any nonvirtuous actions,
perform only perfect virtuous actions,
subdue your mind thoroughly—
this is the teaching of the Buddha.

The whole Buddhist path comes down to these two pieces of advice—to not harm others and to benefit them. In order to do that, we must subdue the mind, which means both collecting merit through doing only virtuous actions and purifying any negative imprints on our mindstream from negative actions we have done in the past.

Reciting a mantra such as OM MANI PADME HUM, the mantra of Chenrezig, is not only the most unbelievable purification—purifying defilements and negative karmas collected from not just this life but from beginningless rebirths—it also collects extensive merits.

In the West, when soccer players win, they throw their arms up in the air and run around. It’s very intense. When I first saw this, I thought they were very angry because of the strong emotion. If they feel that strongly about winning a match, we should feel a billion times more strongly about being able to purify all that negative karma and accumulate all that merit, simply by reciting a mantra.

Westerners have asked me many times to explain how mantras work. This is a question that comes from the Western mind; it’s not asked in Asia, certainly not among the Tibetans, because they have faith. When there is water, what does water do? It makes things wet; that is its nature. Fire has its own nature; its nature is to burn. Everything has its own nature. Mantras too have their own nature; their nature is to transform the mind. Any word we say affects another person’s mind, making them happy or sad or angry or whatever. The power of the mantra comes from the sound, and that sound has the power to transform the mind into one of virtue.

Thinking of mantras as just some Sanskrit sounds to be chanted is an extremely limited view of what they are; they are much more than that. The sound of a mantra has the power to protect us, holding our mind from nonvirtuous thoughts and fostering virtuous ones, thus allowing us to develop toward enlightenment. In the same way that the Dharma in general holds us, protecting us from suffering—Dharma literally means “that which holds”—mantras are mind protection. In A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, the great being Shantideva said,

Therefore, I should focus my mind correctly,
and keep a careful watch over it.
What good will it do to keep many vows,
if one neglects the vow of watching over the mind?

It is vital to remember Shantideva’s advice. If we forget to protect our mind, what is the use of any traditional form of discipline? Even though we may do hundreds of other things, if we leave out this most important practice and leave the mind unprotected, we cannot stop our problems and achieve happiness, especially ultimate happiness. Everything comes from the mind; it is the source of all our suffering and all our happiness, so if we neglect to protect our mind, we cannot close the door to suffering or open it to happiness.

In the West, there are so many external rules: you can’t do this, you can’t do that. Sometimes I think there are too many rules. When we rely on external discipline, we can never solve our problems. The discipline has to come from our own mind. As a Buddhist, we might take certain vows to protect ourselves from committing any of the ten nonvirtuous actions, but unless we protect our mind, those vows will be impossible to keep. As Shantideva said, what good will having vows be if we can’t watch over our mind?

Modern Western life is full of distractions. Everywhere are objects of the senses to keep our mind busy, enticing us away from the Dharma. If you check you will see this is true. Being preoccupied with working for this worldly life, as so many people are, makes it extremely difficult to remember the necessity of Dharma practice and to find the time to practice it. Buddhism has many methods to overcome a distracted mind, such as meditating on impermanence and death or on the disadvantages of the self-cherishing mind. When we are not meditating, however, what is the best method? Reciting mantras will keep our mind in virtue and protect it from nonvirtue.

From The Power of Mantra: Vital Practices for Transformation by Lama Zopa Rinpoche; compiled and edited by Gordon McDougall; published by Wisdom Publications (WisdomExperience.org), where you can order the paperback or digital versions of the book. You can also find the ebook and PDF version in the Foundation Store (shop.fpmt.org).

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 at Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, November 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Since our last update, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has remained in Nepal, concluding his teachings at Kachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery, celebrating a birthday, visiting Pokhara and Patan for a variety of auspicious activities, and taking a pause from teachings. We invite you to rejoice in Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others and enjoy some new photos we have made available.  

Kopan Monastery and Kachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s seventy-sixth birthday was celebrated on December 3 at Kopan Monastery. The festive day included the offering of a large Tara statue to Rinpoche during the early morning Sixteen Arhats long life puja. The statue was offered to Rinpoche on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. Also, a special lunch was prepared for all Kopan monks, nuns, and guests, which included presenting a birthday cake to Rinpoche, young monks singing “Happy Birthday,” and short plays. You can read more about these auspicious activities.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the Sixteen Arhats puja offered to him on his birthday, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2021. Photo by Ven. Topgye.

Starting on December 10 and over the course of a few days Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered Yamantaka initiation at Kopan Monastery.

For nearly two months, Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught at Kachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery. The teachings ended right before the Christmas holiday on December 22. These teachings were translated into Nepali from Tibetan, providing a rare opportunity for Nepali people to have access to Rinpoche’s teachings in their own language and were made available on the FPMT Tibetan YouTube channel. Among many other topics, Rinpoche focused on how to distinguish between holy Dharma and worldly Dharma, and how to make sure all actions become holy Dharma.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, the abbot of Kopan, Pokhara, Nepal, December 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Pokhara and the Ashoka Stupas in Patan

Following the conclusion of the teachings at the nunnery, Rinpoche traveled to Pokhara, which is Nepal’s second most populated city after Kathmandu. Located about 120 miles west and north of Kathmandu, Pokhara is a major tourist destination and is where the FPMT center Ganden Yiga Chözin Buddhist Meditation Centre is located. While there, Rinpoche used every moment to benefit others—offering Heruka incense puja, a teaching at the center, and blessing the fish and all beings in the lake.

Rinpoche with Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, monks, and students blessing the sentient beings in the lake, Pokhara, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

At the new year, Rinpoche traveled to Patan, which is now the third largest city in Nepal, located just south of Kathmandu. There Rinpoche and Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la) consecrated and offered prayers in front of three of what are known as the “Ashoka Stupas.” These ancient stupas are located around the historic city of Patan, where trade routes cross the city going towards India and Tibet. The western, southern, and eastern stupas are still in the form of grassy mounds although later additions were added by both Newari and Tibetan Buddhist. The northern stupa was renovated and plastered over half a century ago and looks more like Boudhanath Stupa. Nobody knows how old these stupas are or what is contained inside them because they have never been excavated. Legend tells us that either King Ashoka, or his daughter, or his emissaries came to the Kathmandu Valley and constructed them. 

Ibahi Thur, the north Ashoka Stupa, where Rinpoche and Khadro-la offered prayers and did consecration, Patan, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

King Ashoka was the warrior king, who famously converted to Buddhism and took the relics from seven of the original stupas constructed after the Buddha passed away, which he then distributed in stupas constructed throughout the Indian subcontinent. King Ashoka is said to have constructed or sponsored 84,000 stupas containing Buddha’s ashes. He visited Lumbini to worship at the birthplace of the Buddha in 249 BCE—a fact that was verified upon excavation of the site by the British, who uncovered an inscribed pillar recording the visit. If the Ashoka Stupas were constructed on the command of King Ashoka they are very old. 

The northern stupa is called Ibahi Thur; the eastern stupa is Teta Thur; the southern stupa is Lagan Thur; and the western stupa is Pulchowk Thur. Although three were originally constructed outside the historical boundaries of Patan, the city has recently become so developed that they are now mostly on busy roads or surrounded by buildings. There is also a central stupa, the Pimbahal Stupa, which is quite different in style, since it was destroyed in 1350 CE during an attack by Muslim invaders from Bengal and subsequently restored.

Rinpoche and Khadro-la consecrating one of the Ashoka Stupas and offering prayers, Patan, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Rinpoche and Khadro-la consecrating one of the Ashoka Stupas and offering prayers, Patan, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Stay Connected and Please Rejoice!

Rinpoche will be taking a break from teachings, but we look forward to their continuation in the near future, and we will share new videos and summaries as they become available. Meanwhile, we will continue to offer excerpts from Rinpoche’s teachings of recent years. 

Please rejoice in Rinpoche’s continued auspicious activities, benefiting others at every opportunity. We have created a new photo album of Rinpoche, including activities we didn’t mention above, which we invite you to enjoy. 

Visit the November–December 2021 photo album:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/nepal-november-december-2021/

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.

Thanks to Ven. Sarah Thresher for her research on the Ashoka Stupas.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during Sixteen Arhats long life puja offered to Rinpoche on his birthday, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2021. Photo by Ven. Lhundrup Topgye.

The celebration of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthday on December 3 began in the early morning with the offering of a Sixteen Arhats long life puja to Rinpoche in the main gompa at Kopan Monastery in Nepal.

During the offerings part of the puja, a group of monks carried in a beautiful large Tara statue. Ven. Roger Kunsang, Rinpoche’s assistant and CEO of FPMT Inc, offered the golden statue to Rinpoche on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. Rinpoche later offered the statue to Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la). 

Tara statue offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the Sixteen Arhats long life puja at Kopan Monastery

After the puja, a delicious buffet lunch with many dishes was prepared for all in the stupa garden at Kopan. Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan monks and nuns, and guests sat among the stupas for Geshe Lama Konchog and Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup. A tent and table were set up for Rinpoche. Kopan Abbot Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi was present for the events as well as Rinpoche’s brother Sangye and his family.

After lunch, Rinpoche was presented with a large tiered birthday cake. A group of young monks, including Rigsel Rinpoche, the reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup, sang “Happy Birthday” to Rinpoche while holding khatas. They also sang praises to different gurus.

Rinpoche turned the birthday cake into a tsog offering. He made a nice dedication to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He then cut the first slice of cake.

Offering cake to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on his birthday, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 3, 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the birthday cake offered to him, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2021. Photo by Ven. Lhundrup Topgye.

Birthday cake offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on his birthday, celebrated at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 3, 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Also during the afternoon, there was a musician playing dramyin, who accompanied the young monks singing. A group of monks, some dressed in costumes, including young monks dressed up as goats, performed a series of short plays for all gathered in the garden. The final play was a story from the life of Geshe Ben Gungyal. Afterwards, the performers offered khatas to Rinpoche.

Monks who offered plays for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthday celebration with Rinpoche at the close of the event, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2021. Photo by Ven. Lhundrup Topgye.

Thanks to Ven. Roger Kunsang, CEO of FPMT Inc., and Frances Howland, FPMT South Asia Regional Coordinator, for details on the event. For more, you can find videos of the celebration of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthday on the Facebook pages of Kopan Monastery and Kopan Monastery School.

You can watch videos from the ongoing series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation, recorded at Kopan Monastery. Find links to transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more on the video series page on FPMT.org.

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 the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, April 2011. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In early April 2011, Lama Zopa Rinpoche began teaching a retreat series at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia, focused on Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara (A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) and the transmission of the rare Rinjung Gyatsa initiations. Co-hosted by the Great Stupa,  Atisha Centre, and Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery, and attended by nearly 200 students, Rinpoche taught for about ten days before manifesting the symptoms of a stroke. Now for the first time, these precious teachings from Rinpoche have been made publicly available and can be streamed for free.

Watch Rinpoche’s welcome talk from the April 2011 Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion:

Rinpoche continued his teaching of Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat series at the Great Stupa in September-October 2014 and April-May 2018, and was scheduled to lead the March-April 2020 retreat, which was postponed due to the pandemic.

You can read more about the April 2011 retreat and Rinpoche manifesting a stroke in two articles from Mandala July-September 2011: “The Retreat of a Lifetime” and “When the Guru Manifests a Stroke.” You can also watch archival video footage from the retreat in the story “Remembering a Retreat of a Lifetime.”

Visit this page to find all the videos, transcripts, and audio files for Rinpoche’s Bendigo April 2011 teachings:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/lama-zopa-rinpoche-teachings-in-bendigo-australia-2011

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering a khata to Guru Rinpoche at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, April 2011. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Watch the current video series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation on FPMT.org and find links to transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more.

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, Nepal, November 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthday is celebrated on December 3. We invite you to join the entire FPMT community as we rejoice in another year of Rinpoche’s compassionate life. Rinpoche tirelessly models the bodhichitta motivation for us, benefiting countless others every single moment of every day.  

A celebration for Rinpoche will begin at Kopan Monastery on the morning of December 3. We look forward to sharing all the joyous details of this celebration. 

Through his recent activities and teachings, Rinpoche continues to guide us so that we make the most of this precious human rebirth by benefiting others and not causing harm. It is not enough to achieve liberation from samsara for oneself alone, Rinpoche regularly reminds us. We must aspire to liberate every single numberless sentient being from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. Rinpoche is a living example of these teachings. And we can all find inspiration in how Rinpoche offers compassion to all living beings without a single one left out, including the most vulnerable, feared, harmful, and difficult among us. 

Please join the entire FPMT community, including students and friends around the world, in offering sincere prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long and healthy life. (All are welcome to download Long Life Prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche.) Rinpoche, please, please live long!

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.

Watch Lama Zopa Ripoche’s current video series on thought transformation and find links to videos in transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/

Rinpoche giving teachings at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling, Nepal, October 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Since our last update, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has remained in Nepal and has been offering two ongoing teaching events. Rinpoche also celebrated Lhabab Duchen, gave advice via video at the fortieth anniversaries of two FPMT centers, and engaged in many other beneficial activities. We invite you to enjoy some of the details of Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others! 

Rinpoche Offers Teachings

Rinpoche continued his video thought transformation teachings during this time, offering teachings for ordained Sangha and also extensive teachings on Buddhist refuge. In Rinpoche’s refuge teachings he warns that we must be careful about the objects in which we take refuge. For example, people take refuge in animals, nature, or spirits, but none of these have the qualities of the Buddha or can offer us ultimate refuge—freedom from samsara. Rinpoche also discussed depression, explaining that to understand the mental states of others we first have to understand our own craziness. Then, when we think of others, we will be able to more easily develop compassion. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

Rinpoche has been offering regular teachings at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling, also known as the Kopan Nunnery, for the past three weeks. These teachings are being translated into Nepali from Tibetan, providing a rare opportunity for Nepali people to have access to Rinpoche’s teachings in their own language. These teachings are available on the FPMT Tibetan YouTube channel. Half in attendance at the teachings are nuns and half are people from outside the nunnery. Topics taught include what is and is not holy Dharma, the eight worldly dharmas, the preciousness of this human rebirth, karma, proper motivation, the importance of a good heart, and the kindness of the enemy. Rinpoche offered a White Tara jenang and the oral transmission of the Vajra Cutter Sutra. The teaching series will end with a Medicine Buddha initiation.

A recent podcast episode.

“Of all practices, the practice of kindness is best,” Rinpoche emphasized during these teachings. “Of all forms of education, the best education is how to be a kind person. Parents should teach their children to have a kind heart from a young age. That will help them the most when they grow up. It will help their friends, their neighborhood, their town, their country, the world.” 

A new podcast series featuring full-length teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche was recently launched. Each episode corresponds to a new video in the ongoing series of Rinpoche’s thought transformation teachings. Episodes are released shortly after the latest video teaching and blog are published, so listeners have access to the transcript and other materials associated with a specific teaching. For the podcast episodes, pauses have been shortened and background noise reduced, but otherwise the teachings are unedited. Currently we have podcast episodes for Rinpoche’s video teachings from July 2021 onward (videos 102–123).

Lama Zopa Rinpoche walking to offer puja on the land in Maratika where the giant Padmasambhava statue will be built, Nepal, September 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche Travels to Maratika

In September 2021, Rinpoche returned to Maratika along with Kopan lama gyupas monks and nuns to bless the land where a 45-foot (14-meter) tall statue of Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) on a 15-foot (4.5-meter) tall throne will be built. The statue will be in the aspect of Padma Gyalpo, Padmasambhava’s magnetizing form, and will be made of bronze and plated with gold. It is expected to take around five years to complete. During this visit, Rinpoche spent time meeting with some local people, including the mayor of Maratika. He offered teachings to two hotel owners. He also blessed the goats in Maratika liberated for his long life, gave two online Zoom teachings, and visited the main cave, which was opened only for Rinpoche, to make special prayers at the long life vase.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering puja in front of Boudhanath Stupa, Nepal, October 15, 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche Circumambulates and Makes Offerings to Stupas

While Rinpoche is in Nepal, he frequently goes to visit the great stupas of Boudhanath and Swayambhunath to circumambulate and make offerings and prayers. Sometimes Rinpoche goes in the evenings, sometimes after teachings, sometimes on the way back from trips in Kathmandu or other places. 

When Rinpoche goes to Boudha Stupa he usually does korwa while reciting the mantras that increase the power of making circumambulation. Students in attendance join in as Rinpoche recites out loud In Praise of Dependent Origination by Lama Tsongkhapa, followed by several repetitions of the Confession of Downfalls to the Thirty-five Buddhas and Vajrasattva mantra to purify. At the end of the circumambulations, Rinpoche leads a group offering of five-colored khatas to the stupa and dedication prayers. During the circumabulations, Rinpoche also likes to offer incense and rice visualized as wish-granting jewels, bless the dogs, and turn the prayer wheels. 

Lama Zopa Rinpocha and Khadro-la offering five-colored khata at Swayambhunath Stupa on Lhabab Duchen. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

When Rinpoche goes to Swayambhunath, he circumambulates around the base of the hill. As Rinpoche circumambulates, he recites prayers, offers rice visualized as wish-granting jewels, and rejoices for all those who helped construct the many prayer wheels and stupas that encircle the hill. Rinpoche stops at a special Padmasambhava statue to chant prayers and pray for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibet. Rinpoche also stops at the local cremation grounds to recite prayers for those who have recently died and whose corpses are being burned.

On Lhabab Duchen Rinpoche offered pujas, prayers, and five-colored khatas with Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khandro Namsel Drönme) at Swayambunath. You can read more about the activities sponsored during this merit-multiplying Buddha day. 

Winter Debates at Kopan

Monks have held the Jang Guncho, the winter debate festival, for centuries. The first Nuns’ Jang Guncho took place in Dharamsala, India, in 1995. Jang Guncho is an opportunity for ordained Sangha to gather together to train in and practice debate. Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended the winter debates of both Kopan Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Ling early this October.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche attending the winter debate of the nuns of Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, Nepal, October 11, 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche attending the winter debate of the monks of Kopan Monastery, Nepal, October 8, 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche Offers Encouragement and Advice during the Fortieth Anniversary Celebrations of Two FPMT Centers

Nalanda Monastery, the FPMT monastery in the south of France, has been celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year. In October, Rinpoche offered the Nalanda community an encouraging and joyful talk from Kopan Monastery, urging everyone to meditate strongly on impermanence and death in order to change worldly dharma into holy Dharma. Rinpoche also praised those who are Sangha in the West, explaining that they are the “real heroes” due to the “incredible renunciation” of becoming ordained. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering a talk to the Nalanda Monastery community, France, October 18, 2021. Photo courtesy of Nalanda Monastery’s Facebook page.

Buddha House, an FPMT center located in a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, also celebrated its fortieth anniversary this year. In October, Rinpoche offered a teaching via video on the importance of FPMT centers and on emptiness. “You can see how it is most important for the center to exist!” Rinpoche said. “[Centers share] Lama Tsongkhapa teachings, Buddha’s teachings. [Centers create] an opportunity for sentient beings to study, to learn with no mistakes! Thank you very much!” We look forward to sharing video of this teaching with you and a summary of the main points Rinpoche expressed. (Extensive advice from Rinpoche is always available on the benefits of offering service as well as on the benefits of centers and the FPMT Organization. See Rinpoche’s Advice page.)

Thousand-Arm Chenrezig statue and Twenty-one Tara statues at Amitabha Buddha Centre with image of Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering a talk via video, Singapore. Photo courtesy of ABC.

Twenty-one Tara Statues Consecration at Amitabha Buddhist Centre

In 1995, Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) in Singapore to buy land and build on it a dedicated temple that has as its central image Thousand-arm Chenrezig surrounded by the Twenty-one Taras. The land was bought in 1998. Construction began in 2003. And in 2007, the center opened its doors. The Thousand-arm Chenrezig statue was completed in 2016. And this year, the Twenty-one Tara statues were completed and consecrated on October 27. 

ABC organized a celebratory event for the consecration, which was broadcast live over several online platforms with translations offered in seven languages. Lama Zopa Rinpoche did the consecration of the statues via Zoom from Kopan Monastery. He also gave a teaching and made strong prayers for the statues to be of great benefit to sentient beings. Nine hundred people joined via Zoom with a thousand others joining on Facebook Live. Center Director Tan Hup Cheng offered an opening speech for the event. There was a short video of how the statues were made in Nepal and installed on the altar. Khenrinpoche Geshe Chonyi, ABC’s resident teacher, unveiled the statues. Ven. Sangye Khadro and Ven. Thubten Chodron shared congratulatory messages via video, including a moving prayer to Tara, which had been translated by Lama Yeshe from the Cittamani Tara long sadhana. The program ended with extensive dedications. We are pleased to share video of this auspicious event. A complete transcript of this teaching, as well as more photos and details of the event will be shared in the near future. 

Please Enjoy New Photos of Rinpoche’s Recent Activities

Please join us in rejoicing in all of Rinpoche’s beneficial activities for others! We have created a new photo album of Rinpoche, including many activities we didn’t mention above, which we invite you to enjoy. 

Visit the September–October 2021 photo album:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/nepal-september-october-2021/

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.

Watch the video series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and find links to videos in transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/

Rinpoche meeting with the reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsering, Kathmandu, Nepal, October 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In a new touching video, Lama Zopa Rinpoche meets with the young incarnation—currently named Kunga Choyang—of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsering (1923-2014) and his family. Rinpoche shares stories in the video about this extraordinary teacher.

Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsering was born in Tibet and ordained at age five. At twelve, he started his Buddhist philosophical studies. At seventeen, he joined Sera Je Monastery, then in Tibet, where he pursued rigorous philosophical studies. He served as a philosophy teacher at Sera Je for three years. In 1959, he was imprisoned by Chinese authorities for seven years and underwent extreme hardship. In 1969, he fled Tibet for India. At the rebuilt Sera Je Monastery in South India, he completed his Geshe Lharampa examination in 1978. In 1986, he was enthroned the seventieth abbot of Sera Je Monastery. He passed away in 2014 at the age of 91.

Rinpoche offering a statue of Buddha to the reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsering, the former abbot of Sera Je, Kathmadu, Nepal, October 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains in the video that many of the best, most educated teachers nowadays, including many geshes teaching in FPMT centers, are the disciples of Khensur Rinpoche. In addition, many of his disciples are teaching the young monks at Sera Je. Rinpoche said that Geshe Lobsang, as he calls him, had a very special, very clear way of teaching—more clear than other teachers. Geshe Lobsang had received this lineage of teaching philosophy from a well known teacher in Tibet. Geshe Sopa Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe also received this lineage and were known for their clear presentation of the Dharma.

Rinpoche talks about how he and Khensur Rinpoche had been friends since the early days of Sera Je in South India. In the evenings, they would talk until 2:30 A.M. In addition to discussing Dharma, they would talk about Khensur Rinpoche’s experience in prison in Tibet. Rinpoche recalls that they would have a thermos of tea and drink and talk until it was late. Rinpoche says, “He was an excellent teacher in the world. Amazing. Really amazing.”

When Khensur Rinpoche was chosen as abbot of Sera Je in 1986, he became very busy, Rinpoche says, and they didn’t meet much during that time. Khensur Rinpoche sent monks to do religious dance in the West to raise money for Sera Je to build a gompa. In 1991, in discussion with Khensur Rinpoche, it was determined that the most beneficial offering to the monastery from Lama Zopa Rinpoche would be to create a food fund, whereby all of the monks at Sera Je Monastery could be offered quality meals for free. This offering continued for twenty-six years until a substantial endowment was offered to the monastery through FPMT International Office. This allowed the monastery to become self sufficient, using the interest generated annually from the endowment to cover the entire Sera Je Food Fund expense. Khensur Rinpoche remained the abbot of Sera Monastery until 1993.

Khensur Rinpoche passed away in Bylakkupe, India. According to Rinpoche, he told his attendants that he would be reincarnated in Amdo, Tibet, because individuals in Amdo have so much devotion and faith. Rinpoche shared that His Holiness came to Sera Je to speak to Khensur Rinpoche and asked him to reincarnate as a child who is very awakened. In the video, gesturing to the young incarnation who is sitting across from him, Rinpoche says, “This is by the development of the mind and Dharma. Not the development of anger and attachment, which is the cause to be reborn in the lower realms. But this is because of the mind of Dharma.”

Rinpoche sitting and talking with the family of the reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsering, Kathmandu, Nepal, October 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

About the young incarnation’s upcoming education, Rinpoche explains that Kunga Choyang will be at Kopan Monastery for some years, then he will go to Sera Monastery. Rinpoche concludes the video by saying, “As he was an expert in his past life, he should be an expert in this life too. This life he won’t be an expert in the same way as his last life, but he will be an expert in order to benefit extensively.” 

Watch the video “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Meets with the Young Reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsering”

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 offering a talk to the Nalanda Monastery community, October 18, 2021. Photo courtesy of Nalanda Monastery’s Facebook page.

Nalanda Monastery, located in the South of France, was established in 1981 by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche and is one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries for Westerners.

During Nalanda’s fortieth anniversary celebration, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered the Nalanda community an encouraging and joyful talk from Kopan Monastery, urging everyone to meditate strongly on impermanence and death in order to change worldly dharma into holy Dharma. Rinpoche also praises those who are sangha in the West, explaining again that they are the “real heroes” due to the “incredible renunciation” of becoming ordained. 

All are welcome to listen to this teaching, which contains advice all students can take to heart. We also invite you to join us in rejoicing in this forty-year milestone for Nalanda Monastery! 

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teaching for Nalanda Monastery’s Fortieth Anniversary. 

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.

You can learn more about Nalanda Monastery‘s programs, events, and how to help support this monastic institution. Find the “Nalanda Monastery 40th Anniversary, Honouring Our Former Generations” videos and more on Nalanda Monastery’s YouTube channel.