Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching into the evening on Vulture’s Peak, Bihar, India, February 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive makes available transcripts of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings at the annual month-long Kopan courses going back to the first years of the course. The following is an excerpt from the 15th Kopan course, given in 1982. Here Rinpoche offers instruction on the Heart Sutra:

“It says in the Heart Sutra, ‘There is no this and that,’ saying so many ‘no’s.’ Sometimes when you meditate like this, sometimes meditate that yourself, the ‘I,’ the listener to the teaching, and the aggregates, the general and particular aggregates and the objects of the senses, are merely labeled. And then sometimes, as you hear the words, look at them. As you hear the words, whatever appears to your ‘I,’ your aggregates, your parts – the eyes, nose, those parts – without the mind wandering, as you hear the words, look at the appearance of your own particular aggregates, your own object of the senses. Also, you can think of others. Think where it says ‘no,’ ‘no,’ ‘no;’ apply that to this – on the thing that appears to your mind, apply the word ‘no.’

“Think, ‘All this is illusory.’ Like when you have taken LSD, you get visions of mandalas or going to the planets, and then at the same time the mind is aware that it is not real, it is just a hallucination. Similarly, while you are dreaming, at the same time, you are conscious of the dream, you recognized that this is a dream. Similar to this. At least you can meditate sometimes in this way.

“Then each time you do like this, it plants seeds, and the mind gets trained and can soon realize the meaning of emptiness, the absolute nature, the emptiness that is so much emphasized in Buddhadharma. It is emphasized so much how important it is to realize – there are so many volumes of teachings that explain about it in detail. There are the root texts and so many commentaries written by many realized lamas and by Indian pandits. So, soon that experience comes. What is in the books, what you talk about in the teachings, what you meditate on, becomes real. In other words, it becomes reality. Now it is just words, you know, imitating – when we are meditating, we are imitating, just repeating the words. It is like this in reality, but we don’t see it in this way. So now, one doesn’t see it as a reality for one’s own mind, as a kind of philosophy, but something that you cannot feel, or something that has no relation to the fact of existence. However, at that time, when the understanding and experience comes in your mind, it becomes normal reality, it becomes reality for your mind. Then in this way, one can be swiftly liberated from all the true suffering and the true cause of suffering.”

Visit the Archive to read the complete transcript.

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

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Land of Medicine Buddha, September 2013. Photo by Chris Majors.

“First I want to say numberless thanks to all the FPMT family for your continual dedication and study, and for all your effort put into developing the centers by improving the conditions to receive teachers so that sentient beings can receive teachings, as well as all the FPMT projects and services that benefit sentient beings in so many different ways,” FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote in the FPMT Annual Review 2013. “It’s amazing, really fantastic. Thank you very, very much. Because of this, more and more good results have been happening and we have been able to bring greater benefit to others. This is something we can all see, enjoy and rejoice in. …”

You can read all of Rinpoche’s inspirational letter to the FPMT family in the just published FPMT Annual Review 2013 “Please Rejoice with Us.” 

FPMT Annual Review 2013 cover

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche giving the oral transmission for Lama Tsongkhapa’s ”In Praise of Dependent Arising” at Nalanda, Bihar, India, February 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Losar, the celebration of the Tibetan Buddhist new year, falls on Sunday, March 2 this year. And the first two weeks of the new year are called Mönlam and are a very powerful time to practice and increase one’s commitment to both practice and study. Karmic results are multiplied by one hundred million, as cited by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the Vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

You can find Rinpoche’s advice on Mönlam collected here (on Rinpoche’s Advice page, under Buddha Multiplying Days), specific advice for practices to do on the Buddha Multiplying days here, and a calendar of all the dates here.

Please keep in mind: According to Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, observation of auspicious days should be according to the date in India, not the date in one’s home country. Therefore, when Lama Zopa Rinpoche is not in India, Rinpoche celebrates Buddha Days and other auspicious dates according to the time in India.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche walking up to Vulture’s Peak, Rajgir, Bihar, India, February 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The walk up to Vulture’s Peak, where the Buddha taught, is a long gradual climb. Ven. Roger Kunsang, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s assistant reported, ”Rinpoche did well,” while walking up to the top of the peak in early February. Rinpoche gave teachings into the evening at the sacred location.

Rinpoche, while staying at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, visited several holy pilgrimage sites in Bihar state, including the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, Vulture’s Peak and also Nalanda.

Driving to Nalanda, Bihar, India, February, 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche does prostrations at Vulture’s Peak, the site of Buddha’s first teaching, India, February 2, 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The most important thing for this life’s happiness, especially for the sentient beings you meet, is to have the thought:

I am the servant and they are the masters. I am the servant and they are the kings. They are the masters and I am like the dog. Sentient beings are the ones from whom I have received all my happiness. They are the dearest and most kind.

They are the ones from who all opportunities come, in relation to whom I have the opportunity to purify all my negative karma, create all the merit, and attain enlightenment. So they are the kindest of all. I should use my body, speech and mind to serve others, especially the people of the [Dharma] center, as well as all the animals and insects.

This is also the attitude one should have with one’s family, or if you are a teacher or the leader of a company, etc.

– Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from Service as a Path to Enlightenment, from FPMT Education Services

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering money to the beggars on the way up to Vulture’s Peak. Rinpoche asks them to recite OM MANI PADME HUM, India, February 2, 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kusang.

“Normally, worldly business people think that the best way to invest is by doing business. But that is only certain when you make a profit. Until then, it’s uncertain. My own feeling is the most reliable investment is to offer money to monasteries and offer charity to sentient beings. This way, even though the result of the investment, the income, doesn’t appear right now, it is 100% certain that it will be received in the near future.

“The result of karma is that not only do you receive the income back, but the result manifests in various forms, various instances of happiness. The karmic result is so much more than the profit you would get from business. The result of karma is expandable, not just in one lifetime, but hundreds of thousands of lifetimes, and can also expand up to enlightenment.

“This way, there is no loss at all. In the case of business, there is uncertainty until you actually make a profit. I feel this way, investing by making charity or offerings, is more satisfying. Then, not only do you get the result of whatever you achieve, but others get the benefit also. This is something to think about.”

– Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from “Investing for Real Profit,” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.

“The whole point of our FPMT education programs is not to produce ‘sharp minds’ but to ‘subdue the mind.’ Between an intelligent, sharp mind and a good heart, a good heart is the most important. Without a good heart it is only possible to become an arhat. Good heart means subduing the mind.

Subduing the mind is the whole essence, as then enlightenment is possible. The ultimate purpose of life, the reason for living, why we eat and drink, sleep, work, and do listening, reflecting, and meditating is to free the numberless suffering sentient beings from each suffering realm and bring them not only to ultimate happiness, liberation, but to full enlightenment. “

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering his breakfast on the backside patio of Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India. In the background, all the mustard seed plants are in bloom, February 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“Just seeing a portrait or statue of Buddha purifies our mind and plants the seed of enlightenment. Whether we are believers or non-believers, we get that benefit, to be free from oceans of samsaric suffering. We have never been free from suffering, since beginningless rebirth up till now, so it gives us that incredibly precious opportunity,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said during a teaching, given at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, March 2013, on the benefits of making offerings to holy objects and how to create skies of merit by reciting the Offering Cloud Mantra.

“If we offer one grain of rice, no matter how small the picture, the statue, stupa or scripture is, the incredible benefit we achieve is the happiness of samsara. We will get that much happiness, from beginningless rebirth until now, and that much will be experienced in the future. This is the benefit we will get by offering one grain of rice or one tiny flower. …”

You can read the entire teaching, “The Benefits of Making Offerings,” on Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, where it has recently been posted. 

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

As the sun starts to disappear on Rajgir, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teaching continues, February 2, 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The Heart Sutra, a teaching on the nature of emptiness set at Vulture’s Peak, is the most widely known sutra of the Mahayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It is part of the Prajñaparamita Sutras, which is a collection of about 40 sutras composed between 100 BCE and 500 CE. FPMT Education Services offers an electronic version of the Heart Sutra for download as well as a Spanish version and other resources on their “Heart Sutra” page.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.

His Holiness the Karmapa and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Maitreya School, Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, January 31, 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

His Holiness the Karmapa and Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited the Maitreya School at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India. His Holiness the Karmapa spoke to the children of the school.

“Root Institute is an oasis of peace and tranquility, like a pure land within the environmental chaos of Bodhgaya,” reported kagyuoffice.org, the Karmapa’s official website. “His Holiness the Karmapa’s teaching after the Monlam at the Institute, established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, has become an annual tradition, a special event eagerly awaited by his Western students. When His Holiness enters the cozy shrine room, it feels like the Buddha has come home to his sitting room, in marked contrast to the vast space of the Monlam Pavilion which seats 10,000.” You can read the entire article “Mahamudra Arises Spontaneously” on the Karmapa’s website.

His Holiness the Karmapa greeting Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, January 31, 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.

The Mahabodhi Stupa with gold offering on the pinnacle, Bodhgaya, India, January 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“Every time you look at holy objects – pictures of the Buddha, statues, scriptures, stupas – they plant the seed of liberation and enlightenment in your mental continuum. So every time you look at them they purify your mind. They plant the seed of enlightenment, which includes all the causes to achieve enlightenment. How? When you look at them they plant a seed or positive imprint on your mental continuum so that later when you meet Buddhadharma, either in this life or in future lives, you are able to understand the words and the meaning of the teachings. From that, you are able to practice the meaning of the Dharma you have understood, which causes you to cease the gross and subtle defilements by actualizing the path and then your mental continuum becomes omniscient mind. This is what is meant when we say that by seeing holy objects it plants the seed of enlightenment on the mind – it contains the whole path from guru devotion and the three principles up to the two stages of tantra and enlightenment. Seeing holy objects makes us actualize all of this as a result. This is the effect we get from seeing them and this is how they cause us to achieve enlightenment.”

– Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from “Why Holy Object Are Precious and Wish-fulfilling,” posted on fpmt.org

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

Lama Zopa Rinpoche arriving at Maitreya School, a project of Root Institute, Bodhgaya, January 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one, 

“… You are so precious, so kind, so dear and so wish-fulfilling just like a flower bud about to gradually blossom and to shine, giving great happiness and peace to your family and your parents, who are most kind and precious to you. Not only that, but also giving happiness to your neighbors, society, country, and to the whole world and universe.

“There is not only this universe; there are numberless universes. This is even mentioned by scientists, as well as by Buddha. So you are bringing great happiness and peace to all the beings in the numberless universes – to the numberless human beings and the numberless animals in the numberless universes. So there are all kinds of beings that we don’t see at this moment. They have their own world according to their mind, but some people can see them – especially omniscient ones and those with clairvoyance, who can see the different worlds and the different beings, according to their view and also through meditation.

“Besides the future, even now you are giving so much happiness to your family by not harming others and not giving problems, and by giving happiness to others, who are numberless. This is the best way to fulfill all your wishes and bring happiness. Even if you don’t think that way, it just happens.

“This is the real purpose of living. This is the best meaning of life and this is the root of our happiness. In this way you can fill up the world with happiness – not only your own family, but the whole world. So you are in this school to bring happiness to the world; you are in this school to learn to make the whole world happy, besides your family.

“Thank you very much. I hope to see you soon.

“With big love and prayer…”

– Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from a letter written to the children of Tara Redwood School in Soquel, California, recently posted on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive

Learn more about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his beneficial activities by visiting Rinpoche’s homepage, where you will find links to Rinpoche’s schedule, new advice, recent video, photos and more.