Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition
The FPMT is an organization devoted to preserving and spreading Mahayana Buddhism worldwide by creating opportunities to listen, reflect, meditate, practice and actualize the unmistaken teachings of the Buddha and based on that experience spreading the Dharma to sentient beings. We provide integrated education through which people’s minds and hearts can be transformed into their highest potential for the benefit of others, inspired by an attitude of universal responsibility and service. We are committed to creating harmonious environments and helping all beings develop their full potential of infinite wisdom and compassion. Our organization is based on the Buddhist tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa of Tibet as taught to us by our founders Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.
Die Stiftung zur Erhaltung der Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) ist eine Organisation, die sich weltweit für die Erhaltung und Verbreitung des Mahayana-Buddhismus einsetzt, indem sie Möglichkeiten schafft, den makellosen Lehren des Buddha zuzuhören, über sie zur reflektieren und zu meditieren und auf der Grundlage dieser Erfahrung das Dharma unter den Lebewesen zu verbreiten.
Wir bieten integrierte Schulungswege an, durch denen der Geist und das Herz der Menschen in ihr höchstes Potential verwandelt werden zum Wohl der anderen – inspiriert durch eine Haltung der universellen Verantwortung und dem Wunsch zu dienen. Wir haben uns verpflichtet, harmonische Umgebungen zu schaffen und allen Wesen zu helfen, ihr volles Potenzial unendlicher Weisheit und grenzenlosen Mitgefühls zu verwirklichen.
Unsere Organisation basiert auf der buddhistischen Tradition von Lama Tsongkhapa von Tibet, so wie sie uns von unseren Gründern Lama Thubten Yeshe und Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche gelehrt wird.
La Fundación para la preservación de la tradición Mahayana (FPMT) es una organización que se dedica a preservar y difundir el budismo Mahayana en todo el mundo, creando oportunidades para escuchar, reflexionar, meditar, practicar y actualizar las enseñanzas inconfundibles de Buda y en base a esa experiencia difundir el Dharma a los seres.
Proporcionamos una educación integrada a través de la cual las mentes y los corazones de las personas se pueden transformar en su mayor potencial para el beneficio de los demás, inspirados por una actitud de responsabilidad y servicio universales. Estamos comprometidos a crear ambientes armoniosos y ayudar a todos los seres a desarrollar todo su potencial de infinita sabiduría y compasión.
Nuestra organización se basa en la tradición budista de Lama Tsongkhapa del Tíbet como nos lo enseñaron nuestros fundadores Lama Thubten Yeshe y Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
A continuación puede ver una lista de los centros y sus páginas web en su lengua preferida.
L’organisation de la FPMT a pour vocation la préservation et la diffusion du bouddhisme du mahayana dans le monde entier. Elle offre l’opportunité d’écouter, de réfléchir, de méditer, de pratiquer et de réaliser les enseignements excellents du Bouddha, pour ensuite transmettre le Dharma à tous les êtres. Nous proposons une formation intégrée grâce à laquelle le cœur et l’esprit de chacun peuvent accomplir leur potentiel le plus élevé pour le bien d’autrui, inspirés par le sens du service et une responsabilité universelle. Nous nous engageons à créer un environnement harmonieux et à aider tous les êtres à épanouir leur potentiel illimité de compassion et de sagesse. Notre organisation s’appuie sur la tradition guéloukpa de Lama Tsongkhapa du Tibet, telle qu’elle a été enseignée par nos fondateurs Lama Thoubtèn Yéshé et Lama Zopa Rinpoché.
L’FPMT è un organizzazione il cui scopo è preservare e diffondere il Buddhismo Mahayana nel mondo, creando occasioni di ascolto, riflessione, meditazione e pratica dei perfetti insegnamenti del Buddha, al fine di attualizzare e diffondere il Dharma fra tutti gli esseri senzienti.
Offriamo un’educazione integrata, che può trasformare la mente e i cuori delle persone nel loro massimo potenziale, per il beneficio di tutti gli esseri, ispirati da un’attitudine di responsabilità universale e di servizio.
Il nostro obiettivo è quello di creare contesti armoniosi e aiutare tutti gli esseri a sviluppare in modo completo le proprie potenzialità di infinita saggezza e compassione.
La nostra organizzazione si basa sulla tradizione buddhista di Lama Tsongkhapa del Tibet, così come ci è stata insegnata dai nostri fondatori Lama Thubten Yeshe e Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Di seguito potete trovare un elenco dei centri e dei loro siti nella lingua da voi prescelta.
“护持大乘法脉基金会”( 英文简称：FPMT。全名：Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) 是一个致力于护持和弘扬大乘佛法的国际佛教组织。我们提供听闻，思维，禅修，修行和实证佛陀无误教法的机会，以便让一切众生都能够享受佛法的指引和滋润。
護持大乘法脈基金會”（ 英文簡稱：FPMT。全名：Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition ）是一個致力於護持和弘揚大乘佛法的國際佛教組織。我們提供聽聞，思維，禪修，修行和實證佛陀無誤教法的機會，以便讓一切眾生都能夠享受佛法的指引和滋潤。
The Foundation Store is FPMT’s online shop and features a vast selection of Buddhist study and practice materials written or recommended by our lineage gurus. These items include homestudy programs, prayers and practices in PDF or eBook format, materials for children, and other resources to support practitioners.
Items displayed in the shop are made available for Dharma practice and educational purposes, and never for the purpose of profiting from their sale. Please read FPMT Foundation Store Policy Regarding Dharma Items for more information.
Image for the podcast show “Lama Zopa Rinpoche full-length teachings”
We are happy to announce a new podcast series featuring full-length teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Each episode corresponds to a new teaching in the ongoing video series of Rinpoche’s thought transformation teachings.
The podcast is currently available through a podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, and most major podcast apps. Search for the show title “Lama Zopa Rinpoche full-length teachings” to find the show in the podcast app. (For those using an RSS reader app, the RSS feed link is feed:https://feeds.captivate.fm/lama-zopa-rinpoche-full-length/.) If you have questions on how to listen to podcasts through an app, a search of the internet offers many resources to help you.
This podcast is also available translated into Italian. To find it, search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoce insegnamenti completi.”
Recent podcast episode
Each new podcast episode is published at the same time as the latest video teaching and blog from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In that way listeners will have access to transcripts 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 teaching from July 2021 onward (videos 102–118).
The idea for a podcast had been discussed for several years by Ven. Roger Kunsang, CEO of FPMT, Inc. and Rinpoche’s assistant. This year FPMT International Office staff turned their attention to making the podcast happen. We will eventually produce two podcasts shows. In addition to full-length teachings, we will have a show of edited teachings by Rinpoche. We hope to launch the second podcast show featuring Essential Extracts from Rinpoche in the coming months.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Maratika, Nepal, September 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
“We need have strong determination that the goal of bodhicitta is attainable and desirable. For that we need inspiration, and, to my mind, there is nothing more inspirational than Khunu Lama Rinpoche’s Jewel Lamp and the first chapter of Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. These two great bodhisattvas have given us verses of inspiration that are beautiful and profound; verses that are good to read and reread many, many times,” writes Gordon McDougall in the “Editor’s Preface” of The Nectar of Bodhicitta: Motivations for the Awakening Mind, a new book by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
In the book, Rinpoche’s teachings on bodhicitta have been assembled into two parts. In Part One, Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches on selected verses by Khunu Lama Rinpoche. Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, “Understanding and constantly reminding ourselves of the skies of benefits that bodhicitta brings is unbelievably worthwhile. This is the overall purpose of Khunu Lama Rinpoche’s book, to cause us to feel inspired and joyful that such a mind is possible.”
In Part Two, Rinpoche teaches on Shantideva’s verses, which describe the amazing benefits of developing the precious mind of bodhicitta, the supreme cause of happiness for all sentient beings.
Here is a short excerpt from Part One of The Nector of Bodhicitta by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Do Everything With Bodhicitta
Every action we do should be done with bodhicitta
Whatever action we do with a selfish motivation is not only a complete waste of time, it causes only further future suffering. On the other hand, any action done with a selfless bodhicitta motivation is utterly worthwhile. Therefore, every action we do, every action, should be done with the thought to benefit others. As Khunu Lama Rinpoche says in The Jewel Lamp:
[338] When you walk, walk with bodhicitta. When you sit, sit with bodhicitta. When you stand, stand with bodhicitta. When you sleep, sleep with bodhicitta.
[339] When you look, look with bodhicitta. When you eat, eat with bodhicitta. When you speak, speak with bodhicitta. When you think, think with bodhicitta.
Twenty-four hours a day, every action we do should be done with bodhicitta, not for ourselves but for others. No matter what action we do, if it’s done with the mind cherishing others it’s a Dharma action, one that will lead us to peerless happiness and lead all others to peerless happiness. On the other hand, as long as our actions don’t oppose the self-cherishing thought, they are worldly actions, done out of worldly concern, and can only result in increasing our ignorance and in having to experience future suffering.
I was so inspired by Khunu Lama Rinpoche’s verses that I thought it might be good to advertise them for people to see them and bring them into their lives. You can have the verses printed on a cup and remember them when you drink coffee or have them as a bumper sticker on your car. (The car I use in America is covered in Dharma slogans!) One way I actually did this was by having some people produce bookmarks with these ideas on them. They became very popular. We modified the verses for the bookmark, which finally said,
Live with compassion Work with compassion Die with compassion Meditate with compassion Enjoy with compassion When problems come, experience them with compassion
It is possible to do every action with bodhicitta. When we eat, we can eat to satisfy our greed or we can eat to sustain ourselves in order to best help others.
The purpose of our life is to help free all beings from suffering. That’s the reason we are alive; that’s the reason for our survival, each day, each hour, each minute—to eliminate all the suffering of every kind mother sentient being. With this motivation, every second of our life becomes incredibly meaningful, not narrow but infinite like the limitless sky. It gives meaning to every tiny thing we do. With a bodhicitta motivation, every action becomes a Dharma action; every action becomes immense, with great, great meaning.
When we generate bodhicitta, such as saying the refuge and bodhicitta prayer with our palms together to the Buddha, we collect far greater merit than making offerings of buddha fields equaling the number of grains of sand of the Ganges river, filled with jewels, diamonds, silver and gold. If the benefits could materialize, even the sky would not be enough to hold them. …
Lama Zopa Rinpoche holding the book Lamrim Year, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, July 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lamrim Year: Making Life Meaningful Day By Day is an essential guide for students at any level of Buddhist study who want to develop their mind in the graduated path to enlightenment (lamrim).
The book was inspired by Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 2013 advise to students on how they could study the entire lamrim over the course of a year:
“My suggestion would be to divide the twelve months of the year into lamrim meditations and then meditate on each subject for one month or two weeks to finish the whole lamrim in one year. . . . To meditate like this each year, wow, wow, wow! That would be great. Your life would be so rich and you would be getting closer to realization and closer to enlightenment. At the time of death you can be happy and satisfied that you spent enough of your life practicing Dharma.”
Taking Rinpoche’s advice to heart, Alison Murdoch, who compiled and edited Lamrim Year, set out to work her way through the indispensable lamrim text Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, by the great Buddhist master Pabongka Rinpoche. Finding it hard to maintain daily momentum, she writes in the book’s Editor’s Preface that she had the idea to create “a 365-page daily route map through the lamrim that would consist entirely of extracts from the teachings of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and provide the best possible chance of fulfilling Rinpoche’s advice in the rough and tumble of modern life.”
Lamrim Year provides a 365-day outline of the graduated path in a clear, practical format that is suitable for both individual and group practice. Each day has a page with a quote and text selected from four decades of teachings by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The page concludes with a recap summarizing the main points for reflection and a reference to the lamrim topics covered, which closely follows the outline in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.
Here’s an excerpt from Lamrim Year: Making Life Meaningful Day By Day, published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive:
Day 64: The Perfect Human Rebirth (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)
“An appreciation of the perfect human rebirth is fundamental to our Dharma journey” —Lama Zopa Rinpoche
The great meditator, Lama Tsongkhapa, who formalized the whole lamrim structure, broke the lamrim up into two: appreciation of this life of freedom and richness—the perfect human rebirth—and how to make use of this precious opportunity—the rest of the lamrim topics from impermanence and death, refuge and karma up to the point where we attain full enlightenment.
The lamrim is not like a buffet, where we can pick and choose whatever we fancy. We have to eat the whole feast, otherwise we won’t get what we want, liberation or enlightenment. When we explore the lamrim we will see how each topic leads to the next and how each is therefore indispensable. The meditations on the perfect human rebirth come right at the beginning of the path, just after relying on a spiritual teacher. We need to understand karma and we need to have refuge, and to deepen our commitment we need to understand impermanence and death. But none of that will happen if we squander this precious and unique opportunity that we now have, this one time only.
Only those of us with this perfect human rebirth can become inner scientists and discover the true cause of happiness. We’re unbelievably fortunate. We have the opportunity to study, meditate, and understand everything that the Buddha taught, from the simplest lamrim topic to the most advanced. We have the opportunity to develop the altruistic heart, the attitude that wishes to be fully awakened to benefit others, and to understand the reality of things and events—emptiness. There is nothing we cannot understand with this perfect human rebirth.
The first section of the lamrim focuses on the perfect human rebirth
Each lamrim topic is an essential step on the journey to enlightenment
Only a perfect human rebirth gives us the opportunity to discover true happiness
For a printed copy of Lamrim Year: Making Life Meaningful Day By Day and links to more excerpts, visit the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website: https://www.lamayeshe.com/shop/lamrim-year-book
Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing a buffalo that he named Bodhichitta, Kopan Monastery, August 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Benefiting animals is a high priority for FPMT and one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the organization. Rinpoche recently liberated and blessed a water buffalo, which are often butchered for meat in Nepal. Rinpoche, who appeared to have a strong connection with the buffalo, tells the moving story of the blessing, calling his account the “BBC News” from Kopan Monastery:
Three monks recently got sick at Kopan and this buffalo was bought for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all the Kopan monks and nuns, for their safety. This time I asked Tenpa Choden to buy a buffalo. He bought a small one, so that the cow of Kopan Monastery and the buffalo will not fight.
There is one monk, who got sick again. I have been doing pujas for him. He did not ask me to, but for many years he has been taking care of many young men in Nepal who had gotten involved in drugs and alcohol. He helps them to stop and then to find jobs. The project he is doing has been so difficult, and he has 300 children he helps—those who don’t have parents, who are very poor. He has been soooo busy giving food to sooooo many poor Nepalis, as well as Sherpas and Tibetans, because of the virus. So I also liberated the buffalo for him.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Ven. Sherab, and Bodhichitta the buffalo, Kopan Monastery, August 2021. Photo by Ven. Thubten Tendar.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing a buffalo that he named Bodhichitta, Kopan Monastery, August 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Now the story of the buffalo is this: it took some hours for me to come down to recite mantras and prayers to bless the buffalo. I also recited several different very precious mantras and The Three Principal Aspects of the Path by Lama Tsongkhapa. During all that time, he was in the garden, eating in the corner, but when he was brought to me, he sat down by himself, then looked directly at me. The worker who brought the buffalo said the buffalo missed his home, from where he came. I looked at the buffalo, and he was looking at Tendar and Sherab. Sherab thought he was looking at a spider that was on the cement. Then from the buffalo’s eyes tears came out—out of both eyes, one by one.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing a buffalo that he named Bodhichitta, Kopan Monastery, August 2021. Photo by Ven. Thubten Tendar.
Bodhichitta the buffalo, Kopan Monastery, August 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
I went to see him again and recite mantras. He was not standing. It took time. The man brought something for him to eat. Then slowly we took the buffalo around Geshe Lama Konchog’s stupa. He had gone around before, quite a few times, before I came down.
This is “BBC News” from a Kopan room, middle room, the smaller one.
Most of the time when I recited the prayers, he sat with his head stretched towards me.
I gave him the name Bodhichitta, for a good imprint.
—From Lama Zopa Rinpoche, about Bodhichitta the Buffalo, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, August 15, 2021
For more from Lama Zopa Rinpoche about the buffalo, please watch this touching video: https://youtu.be/9sbZm1Xk_5M
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, April 2011. Photo by George Manos.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses reincarnation in a newly published archival video clip. During a quiet moment at the April 2011 retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion near Bendigo, Australia, Rinpoche gave an informal talk that was recorded by Ven. Thubten Kunsang, who traveled with Rinpoche, recording Rinpoche’s teachings and taking photos. The video was recorded before Rinpoche manifested a stroke at the retreat. Here’s a summary of the video:
Rinpoche begins by explaining that when someone dies, their body disintegrates and becomes dust, but their mind doesn’t stop. Their mind continues.
Rinpoche then offers the example of a family with children from the same mother. Some of the children in the family may be very intelligent or very compassionate, but sometimes there might also be a child who is very foolish and ignorant. One child may cry if they see someone else being beaten or even an insect being killed. That child can’t stand seeing others hurt and cries because of their compassion. And then, from the same mother, there may be one child who doesn’t care about this and maybe themselves want to kill.
Rinpoche explains that this shows that the minds of the different children didn’t come from the mother’s mind. The mind has its own continuity and is settled upon the body. The body of a child comes from their parents. But their mind doesn’t come from the parents. The mind has its own conditions from before.
So if in a past life one was more compassionate, the mind was trained in that, and the result is that in this life, they are compassionate, Rinpoche explains. Similarly if one was more angry in a past life, then the mind was trained or habituated to anger, which describes the result in this life. So there’s a cause from before a child takes birth in the mother’s womb that has a consequence in the present life. In past lives there were certain negative actions done, which polluted the mind. And so then there’s the result of that.
Rinpoche then talks about a book that he has in which a professor collected examples of children and older people who could remember their past lives. These are people in the West, but their stories are hidden and not part of the culture. They were discouraged from sharing their stories. Then there are people who can see other people’s past and future lives.
However, Rinpoche explains, there’s nobody who discovered or who realized that there’s no past and future lives and that there’s no reincarnation and karma. There’s nobody who has discovered or realized there is only one life. Many people have just assumed this or were taught this, but there’s nobody who realized this. Rinpoche concludes by explaining that those who have realized past and future lives are numberless.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, May 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche composed a letter to the monasteries and nunneries who sent messages and letters to Rinpoche saying they were praying for Kopan Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery in Nepal after they heard of the COVID-19 outbreak at Kopan. Rinpoche’s letter, which was written in Tibetan, thanked the monasteries and nunneries, and shared an update on the situation. The English translation of the letter follows:
On behalf of Kopan Monastery (Pal Ogmin Jangchub Choling) and Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery, I, Thubten Zopa, would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the members of the different monasteries and nunneries who showed great concern and offered their prayers when they learned that several of the monks at Kopan and the nuns at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling had tested positive for COVID-19. These well-wishers belong to institutions that uphold the precious and sacred teachings of the Buddha and are a source of happiness in the past, present, and future for us weary beings who have been drowning in the great ocean of samsaric suffering since beginningless time.
One hundred seventy of the 460 monks at Kopan and ninety of the 370 nuns at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling tested positive for the virus. Geshe Lobsang Jinpa, who has been a philosophy teacher at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling for many years, fell ill. Suffering from breathing problems, he was hospitalized. The nuns recited prayers such as the White Umbrella for him, and for one month many captive animals were released once a week in the United States to aid in his speedy recovery. His symptoms eventually subsided, and he was able to return to the nunnery.
Former Kopan disciplinarian, Geshe Tsering Tashi, who completed the great approximation retreat of Yamantaka, also became ill. He had trouble breathing, was taken to the hospital, and has since recovered. A monk from Mongolia and a child monk who similarly suffered from breathing problems had to spend time in hospital but are now back at the monastery.
Animals were freed for the former disciplinarian, for our spiritual teachers, especially His Holiness the Dalai Lama, for all Indians, and so on. In total, six goats were liberated for the monks and nuns at Kopan and Khachoe Ghakyil Ling. The liberation of these animals benefited both the goats and the people who were sick, and just the thought that had the goats not been freed they would have been killed is unbearable.
The monks and nuns who tested positive remained in quarantine for eighteen days. One person who had first tested negative was later found to have contracted the virus.
As soon as people started to get ill, Kopan and Khachoe Ghakyil Ling tightened their rules and restricted the movement of their residents. However, many caught COVID without ever leaving the monastic premises, while others did not become infected, although they had to spend time outside the premises to be of service to the two institutions. For instance, the manager of Kopan, Geshe Jangchub, took the monks and nuns who tested positive to the hospital, ran errands, etc.; the care-taker, Sonam Zangpo, regularly went shopping for food supplies; the medical clinic manager, Gen Sangye Tenzin, and his two monk assistants often attended to outside medical matters; Gen Tenpa Choden, who is responsible for the advancement of Kopan, Khachoe Ghakyil Ling, and their associated organizations, had to travel between the different institutions, and so forth—but none of them contracted the virus.
Unfortunately, Geshe Thubten Sherab, who teaches at the FPMT center in New Mexico, US, and in several other FPMT centers around the world, fell ill with COVID. But he has now left the hospital and is recovering.
Gen Sangye Tenzin, who is in charge of the medical clinic that belongs to the monastery and the nunnery, and his two monk assistants have been taking care of everyone very well. Kyabje Sengdrag Rinpoche kindly donated his precious Khyung nga pills that he had consecrated during a one year retreat. He gave nine pills to each monk who was hospitalized and five to everyone who was not.
I myself, as well as Ven. Roger Kunsang, the chief executive officer (CEO) of FPMT, and my attendants Ngarampa Tendar, Topgye, and Sherab, who does the computer work, are all well. None of us have become infected.
However, although I have not become ill, I am not sure whether this is desirable or not. For example, the owner of a five-star restaurant who is healthy, lives a long life, has numerous customers, and earns a lot of money is likely to accumulate the karma of killing every day. If he owns a restaurant by the sea, he is responsible for killing thousands of fish and other sea animals when he orders them to be caught to provide seafood for his guests. It is terrifying to think that after he breathes his last breath, he may be born into hellish existences for many eons to come. He similarly accumulates a lot of negative karma with regard to the other nonvirtues.
There are pure monks, on the other hand, who have no attachment to this life and pass away with a peaceful and joyous mind, even if they were sick their entire life, suffering from one illness after the other. They had accumulated negative karma in a previous existence that ripened in the present life in the form of diseases and other obstacles. This means that after their death, they might not be born in the lower realms but take rebirth in a pure realm and quickly attain the enlightened state of a Buddha. The Kadampa Geshe Kharag Gomchung said:
Even by experiencing this small suffering now,
Through finishing past negative karma,
There will be happiness in the future.*
So, we should rejoice when we suffer. Since we have accumulated the karma to experience disease, although we may not fall ill right now, this does not rule out getting sick in the future. Therefore, the Buddha said:
Do not commit any unwholesome actions.
Engage in perfect, wholesome actions.
Subdue one’s own mind.
This is the teaching of the Buddha.
Whether we study the scriptures extensively or not, we will definitely benefit from subduing our mind. I think this is an extremely comprehensive and profound advice. It is also what the glorious and unequaled Jowo Atisha taught.
In the Excellent Nectar Vase of the Essential Instructions of the Kadampa Volumes it says:
If we ourselves do not recognize it as our refuge,
Not even the strength of the buddhas and bodhisattvas
Will be able to save us from the abyss of the lower realms.
In the meantime, we should not deceive ourselves.
Whatever happiness and suffering exists in this samsaric place
Has all arisen from our karma.
So, we should examine our body, speech, and mind at all times
And make an effort to abandon wrongdoing and practice virtue.
These words indicate that although there are countless buddhas and bodhisattvas, there are also countless sentient beings who have been drowning in the great ocean of samsaric suffering from beginningless time. But now we have encountered the teachings of the Mahayana as part of the Buddha’s precious teachings, which is as if the impossible had become possible.
These days, the monks at Kopan and the nuns at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling are reading the Golden Light Sutra and the Arya Dharani Sutra five times and reciting the Great Dharani and others from the Kangyur. They are all cheerful. May the monks and nuns in all the other monastic institutions also be cheerful. In order to be of some benefit to others in accordance with the teachings of our lord of refuge and bright light, the Buddha, I focus on the entire world in general and on Dharamsala, India; Nepal; and so forth and perform the following rites: Incense Ritual by the Great Master Padmasambhava, (Nölsang; Wylie, mnolbsang), Purification Rite of the Four Directions (Sangsöl Chog Zhi; Wylie, bsang gsol phyogs bzhi), Cleansing Rite of the Four Directions (Thrü Söl Chog Zhi; Wylie, khrusgsolphyogsbzhi), Cleansing Rite of the Body (Ten Thrü; Wylie, rtrenkhrus), Cleansing Rite of the Place (Yul Thrü; Wylie, yul khrus), and Burning Food Ritual (Sur; Wylie, gsur).
Written by Thubten Zopa on behalf of Kopan Monastery and Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery on May 18, 2021. Translated by Geshema Kelsang Wangmo; lightly edited for publication on FPMT.org.
*This is Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s translation of the verse, done during the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa Retreat, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, 2018.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and students participating in the retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, April 2011. Photo by George Manos.
More than ten years ago, nearly 200 students participated in a retreat of a lifetime with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia. This was the first of the Australia retreat series—co-hosted by the Great Stupa, Atisha Centre, and Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery—in which Rinpoche would focused on Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara (A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) and the transmission of the rare Rinjung Gyatsa initiations. However, the April 2011 retreat is also remembered as the time when Rinpoche manifested the symptoms of a stroke.
Ven. Thubten Kunsang, the French monk who until his death in 2016 recorded Rinpoche’s teaching, created two short videos of the 2011 retreat. The first video shares many scenes with Rinpoche, including showing the open structure of the Great Stupa, where the teachings were held, before the Stupa’s exterior was complete. Other scenes include Rinpoche blessing insects, talking about the Mani caps, doing preta practice, and discussing the Namgyalma mantra. The video concludes with Rinpoche reminding us how our lives are all a hallucination.
Watch the archival video by Ven. Kunsang of Rinpoche at the 2011 Great Stupa Retreat: https://youtu.be/GZcTZQr5sJY
In the second video, students are shown doing Lama Chopa (Guru Puja) after Rinpoche manifested a stroke and was staying in the hospital. More than 250 students attended the powerful and touching puja, which was held in front of the large Guru Rinpoche statue in the Great Stupa at the conclusion of the retreat and featured a display of holy relics.
Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la), who was in Dharamsala, India, was consulted by Ven. Roger Kunsang on Rinpoche’s illness and had recommended, among other practices, the puja, which was also attended by the FPMT resident geshes from Melbourne and Sydney.
“Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen checked all the guru yogas, what made the great Indian yogis—Saraha, Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, etc.—and the four sects’ great enlightened beings—Chokyi Dorje, Gyalwa Ensapa, etc.—achieve enlightenment in a brief lifetime during degenerate times. He checked all the guru yogas that they practiced and put them together here in Lama Chopa. He put them together after checking them all. At the end of Lama Chopa is lamrim, the whole path to enlightenment; the essence of lamrim is there. There is lojong to transform the mind from an ordinary mind into the path of enlightenment. (Actually, the whole lamrim is lojong, but there is a particular part called ‘lojong’ that comes at the end.) By thinking of their benefits, you look at all the undesirable things as positive, using them in the path to achieve enlightenment quickly. It is all there in Lama Chopa. It is complete. Kyabje Phabongkha Rinpoche says, ‘Every day, if you get to practice Lama Chopa, then you are able to practice the condensed vital points of sutra and tantra, the complete path.’”
Watch the archival video of students doing Lama Chopa during the 2011 retreat at the Great Stupa: https://youtu.be/CuhCpc6UW_8
Lama Zopa Rinpoche during His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, February 8, 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama offered a teaching on February 8, 2021, at the request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the FPMT organization on Changkya Rölpai Dorjé’s Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View (tagur ama ngodzin).
The great compassion of all the ten-direction, three-time buddhas manifested in human form,
Chenrezig, Supreme Being, Compassionate-Eye-Looking One, the karmic deity of the Snow Land of Tibet,
The sole object of refuge of us transmigratory beings—human beings, devas, asuras, hell beings, pretas, and animals—every single one,
Your Eminence, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate for world peace and happiness,
The guide of devas and human beings, the refuge-savior, wish-granting jewel who is always extremely busy enacting holy activities,
Out of your great compassion, thank you for your kindness in granting us, the students of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, the teaching of the holy Dharma of Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View. For that, I, a humble disciple, Thubten Zopa, on behalf of the FPMT, wish to express the compassion of your incalculable kindness.
[A mandala offering is made.]
By the sound of the great drum of Dharma,
May you set suffering sentient beings free.
Please teach us the Dharma and live
For inconceivable tens of millions of eons.
Like Bodhisattva Always Crying One followed Cho Phag,
Without being distracted by all—our body, life, and possessions,
May we please our holy virtuous friend well
And never displease you even for a second.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Vens. Topgye and Tendar watching His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, February 8, 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Conclusion and Dedication
[A short thanksgiving mandala is offered.]
The wish-granting, wish-fulfilling jewel,
Source of every single benefit and happiness in this world,
The incomparably kind, supreme Tenzin Gyatso,
May your life be long and all your holy wishes be spontaneously fulfilled.
Today our refuge-savior, the omniscient one, has kindly granted us Recognizing My Mother: An Experiential Song of the View. Even if we FPMT students were to fill the whole sky with wish-granting jewels and offer them to you, our refuge-savior, the omniscient one, and even if we were to achieve full enlightenment, how could we ever repay your kindness? There is no way for us to ever repay it.
That in this world Buddhism is considered by scientists and scholars to be so precious and valuable, and that each year Tibetans are held in good regard by more and more people, as human beings who are sincere in nature with good thoughts to benefit others, is totally and solely due to your kindness, precious refuge-savior.
But I, an ignorant one, have explained this. If there are people who can’t accept it, then the Seventh Dalai Lama, Kelzang Gyatso, said:
“In the view of the mind stirred up by delusions and spirit possession,
Even though we feel it is right, it is like the dancing act of a crazy one.
However many multitudes of vices looked down upon by the holy beings have been done,
From the depths of the heart, confess them individually with fervent regret.”
It is like that, but the difference is that, in the view of the mind stirred up by delusion or by spirit possession, feeling that the Pure One is bad is like the dancing act of a crazy one. Whatever collection of vices have been done that are looked down upon by the holy beings, from the heart, with strong regretfulness, individually confess them.
In the Madhyamika philosophy: “A container full of that which is wet and moist appears as water to human beings. But for those of greater fortune, the devas, it appears as nectar, while for those who lack merit, the pretas, it appears as pus and blood. It is helpful to think in that way.”
The Seventh Dalai Lama also said:
“The old mother sentient beings who have guided us with kindness again and again
Have fallen into the midst of a blazing fire of suffering.
Since we don’t have the ability to save them now,
Please bless us to quickly achieve enlightenment.”
Precious refuge-savior, whatever holy actions you do with your body, speech, and mind, even breathing in and out, they are all only a method for us transmigratory beings to quickly achieve the state of buddhahood.
The sublime, precious refuge-savior is like the eye looking at and the heart inside the body of this southern world and, in particular, the Snow Land of Tibet. Please remain until our samsara ends.
In the past Your Holiness visited many FPMT centers and granted us your holy teachings, guiding us with great compassion. We thank you for your peerless kindness.
I one-pointedly request that you continue to guide Tibetans in general and the students of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition in all our lives, without separation.
Screenshot of Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Vens. Topgye and Tendar. Rinpoche is listening to His Holiness the Dalai Lama talk to him, February 8, 2021
His Holiness’s Response
After the dedication, His Holiness declared, “Zopa Rinpoche and I have known each other a long time. We are trusted friends. You and your teacher Lama Thubten Yeshe founded many centers around the world to help others. Rinpoche, you have done your best, thank you. Please be determined to keep up your efforts. What you have achieved cannot be overlooked. Thank you and Tashi Delek.”
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
A young Kopan monk making light offerings on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
“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 wrote to a student who offered 100,000 Vajrasattva mantras to Rinpoche. “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.”
“Vajrasattva practice is so important generally, and especially nowadays in the world, when there is not only global warming, but many other problems. There are so many other dangers—of war and sicknesses, cancer, and so many people whom you know are dying. There are so many sicknesses and other conditions for dying.”
“This Vajrasattva practice and other purification practices are the ultimate answer, so everything in the world—what you see, every situation—tells you to practice Vajrasattva. To purify and do Vajrasattva practice is the ultimate answer, to stop the cause to be reborn in the lower realms and the immediate [result] is to have a higher rebirth, to make preparation for death and then to meet the Dharma, to meet the virtuous friend who reveals the path to enlightenment. Then to achieve ultimate happiness, to be free from samsara and to achieve enlightenment for the numberless sentient beings and to free them from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment.”
The cover photo for Enjoy Life Liberated from the Inner Prison by Lama Zopa Rinpoche; Rinpoche is enjoying the flower offerings at the Jewel, Singapore, 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who serves as the spiritual director of the Liberation Prison Project, asked Ven. Robina Courtin, who ran the project until 2009, to compile the more than one hundered letters he had written over the years in response to people in prison who’d contacted him. She edited Rinpoche’s spiritual advice into a narrative that covers all points of the path to enlightenment.
About the book: “Direct and uncompromising, Rinpoche makes it crystal clear that being in prison is a perfect opportunity for developing the radical approach, perfected by all great Tibetan practitioners, of transforming despair and hopelessness into happiness and liberation.
“The extent of the heartfelt compassion and love that Rinpoche offers the people who write to him is incredible. He empowers them to never give up on the development of their potential and their ability to help others.
“This advice is not just for prisoners. It is for all of us.”
Here’s a short excerpt from Chapter 1:
Prison Is Not the Real Prison
Living one’s life under the control of ignorance is actually the heaviest prison—and everyone is living in it.
The inner prison
People who are not in prison think that only people like you are in prison, but they have no idea about all the prisons they themselves are in. Ordinary people, those who are not practicing Dharma—including people from the courts, the police, kings, and presidents—are actually living in prison. People who are free to travel around, going wherever they want, doing whatever they like, or billionaires who think they have everything, all the desire objects, are all living in prison. Your external prison, the building you live in, is nothing in comparison with their inner prisons! It is very important to look at other sentient beings in this world and see how much they are suffering. They are the real prisoners. There are so many examples of this, people who are suffering so much, their inner life is so miserable, they are crying and unhappy. Wealthy people, for example, having so many things but still not having found satisfaction, can be more unhappy than people who have very little. Even if they’re billionaires, trillionaires, zillionaires, living in a house made of diamonds, with billons of cars, swimming pools, millions of servants—they are not happy. Some years ago, the most successful person of the year was on the cover of Time magazine—successful in making money, that is. After he became rich he couldn’t even go outside, because he was so scared that people would kidnap him. So he stayed inside his whole life, which means it was exactly like living in prison, mentally living in prison, and mentally suffering even more than a person in prison. So much suffering!
The prison of wrong concepts
In fact, we are all in these inner prisons. We are trapped in the prison of wrong concepts: believing that impermanent phenomena are permanent; believing that samsaric temporal pleasure is happiness; believing that the body, which is only a container of dirty things, is clean. There are so many wrong concepts and views, and these prisons are from time without beginning.
The prison of attachment
We are living in the most harmful prison, the prison of attachment, of desire. Normally we live just for this life’s happiness. We look at samsara as if it’s a beautiful park, but in reality it is suffering. When we live with attachment—doing the things that attachment wants twenty-four hours a day, always working for attachment, always clinging to this life—all our actions become negative karma, the cause of samsara. Attachment traps us like a fly trapped in the hot wax of a burning candle. It overtakes us like a giant tidal wave. The result is so many problems, one after the other. Our heart is filled with misery. There is no peace. There is only confusion and dissatisfaction.
The prison of anger
And when we don’t succeed in getting what our attachment wants, anger arises and we harm other sentient beings, thus destroying the causes of our happiness, our merit and good karma. Our mind is wild, not only now but since beginningless rebirths. We are wild, out of control, like a mad elephant.
The prison of self-cherishing
We live in the prison of self-cherishing, living our life with self-cherishing thought. We feel this self is the most important one, more precious than others, the most precious one among all sentient beings. Perhaps we think that we are the most important one even among all the holy beings, the buddhas and bodhisattvas! When we follow the self- cherishing thought, whatever we do, all the actions of our body, speech, and mind, become an obstacle to achieving happiness and, eventually, enlightenment, and an obstacle to liberating numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and leading them to enlightenment. …
For more on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new book Enjoy Life Liberated from the Inner Prison and to read the complete first chapter: EnjoyLifeLiberatedFromTheInnerPrison.com
Enjoy Life Liberated from the Inner Prison has been published as a fundraiser for Liberation Prison Project by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive and sponsored by The Bodhichitta Trust. For the past twenty-five years the Liberation Prison Project has been a lifeline for people in prison worldwide, who turned to it for Buddhist books and spiritual advice in an effort to find meaning in life when everything else was lost.
Kopan monks making light offerings on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, December 10, 2020, Kopan Monastery. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Tsongkhapa Day, or Ganden Ngamchoe, is a celebration of the anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana. It is celebrated on the 25th day of the 10th month of the Tibetan calendar. This year, Lama Tsongkhapa Day fell on December 10.
Lama Tsongkhapa Day light offerings at Kopan Monastery, December 10, 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Kopan Monastery on Lama Tsongkhapa Day, December 10, 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Kopan Monastery offered a variety of auspicious activities on this occasion. We are pleased to share this short video of some of the events of the day, including a Heruka Lama Chopa in the morning, the Kopan Lama Gyupas taking Guhyasamaja self initiation, and a clip of Lama Zopa Rinpoche sharing this about light offerings: “Light offering is very important, in particular, by making light offerings you are able to dispel the darkness of ignorance and develop Dharma wisdom. Any light offering can dispel darkness, it doesn’t have to be just a butter lamp. You can offer electric lights and even the sun.”
The video ends with many monks making light offerings in the dark while circumambulating the stupas on the Kopan grounds. https://youtu.be/YT0cwI9PEoA
Please join us in rejoicing in all of the powerful and merit-making activities offered around the world in celebration of Lama Tsongkhapa.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation, and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching in the garden at Kopan Monastery, November 19, 2020. Photo by Lobsang Sherab.
Rinpoche with his giant birthday cake, which everyone enjoyed.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthday is celebrated on December 3. Rinpoche is at Kopan Monastery where he has been for most of the year due to COVID-19 restrictions. Celebrations for Rinpoche’s birthday began at 5:30 a.m. at Kopan with the offering of the Sixteen Arhats Puja. Rinpoche attended and Khadro-la joined the puja and the whole day celebrations. During the puja the body, speech, and mind mandala was offered by Venerable Roger Kunsang on behalf of the entire FPMT organization. What followed was a day of activities including traditional Tibetan dances and dharma sketches, and a large birthday cake offered for all in attendance to enjoy.
During the celebration, Rinpoche took time to explain that there are many ways to make one’s birthday most meaningful including Vajrasattva tsok or Medicine Buddha practice. Otherwise, it’s just a distraction and negative karma following attachment. You can invite your friends to do practice together, whatever is possible, even reciting OM MANI PADME HUM together with the strong thought of impermanence and bodhichitta. One can also think of the knife cutting the cake as cutting one’s ego. This makes even serving the delicious cake so meaningful! This way, you are not just wasting time.
Kopan Monstery monks looking on during Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthday celebration.
As Rinpoche is continually stressing: The purpose of life is to benefit sentient beings and not harm them. Rinpoche’s entire life has been an example of this: tirelessly benefiting others from the smallest and most vulnerable among us including insects or animals killed for meat or human pleasure; to the most feared and misunderstood including pretas, nagas, hell beings, and the most deluded and dangerous human beings among us. As Rinpoche explains: Every single happiness you have experienced since beginningless rebirths comes from them, including every ant you see on the road, mosquito flying around, person you don’t like, person who hates you—yes, even your enemy—every happiness comes from them. Numberless buddhas, Dharma, Sangha—they all came from every hell being, every hungry ghost, every animal, every human being, every sura and asura, every bug that bites you. So who you take refuge in—Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—they came from every sentient being, so every sentient being is so precious and so kind.
In 2018, Lama Zopa Rinpoche shared a video message from Switzerland on his birthday offering advice on how to best see one’s birthday and the practices that can be done that become the causes for total and complete enlightenment for oneself and for all sentient beings. https://youtu.be/ajT7srFuHw8
We look forward to sharing more details and photos from Rinpoche’s birthday celebration at Kopan Monastery.
Please join the entire FPMT community and students around the world in offering sincere prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long and healthy life, so that he may continue to show us by his perfect example how to live life to the best of our ability in order to be of most benefit and the least harm to others. You can download Long Life Prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
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.
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