receive our newsletters
join Friends of FPMT
Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice
Lama Zopa Rinpoche checking texts the night before departing for Nepal, Kachoe Dechen Ling, California, November 19, 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“The night before departure to Nepal, Lama Zopa Rinpoche is searching through his texts to make sure all is there,” said Ven. Roger Kunsang, Rinpoche’s assistant, describing the scene at Kachoe Dechen Ling. “These texts we have to pack, and there are more! Most of the luggage is texts – six suitcases – then ritual items for initiations and then miscellaneous items. We will be packing well into the early morning … when we leave.”
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 reads texts and meditates while flying, November 22, 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
A pilot once asked to have his photo taken with Lama Zopa Rinpoche. “I began to think about what [the pilot] could do for safety as he flies the plane, not only for his own safety but for the safety of the hundreds of passengers on the plane,” Rinpoche said. “I told the pilot that if you carry Buddha’s relics when you travel it has the power to stop any inauspicious thing that could cause danger and difficulties (such as it being the wrong astrological date, at the wrong time, etc.).
“I also suggested he carry the Diamond Cutter Sutra – it offers great protection. This sutra is the heart teaching of the 84,000 teachings of the Buddha, and is about realizing the perfection of wisdom, the teachings on emptiness. This realization is what liberates sentient beings from all the causes of samsara, which are delusion and karma, and even the subtle defilements. By eliminating these you can enlighten so many beings and liberate them from all the sufferings of samsara. All of this comes from this sutra, which teaches the path of wisdom realizing emptiness. So, it is a great blessing and protection to have this text on an airplane. …”
From “Advice for Flying,” posted on Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, November 2005.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Altar for 21 Taras, Kachoe Dechen Ling, November 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“This was once the dining room table until Lama Zopa Rinpoche thought it would be more beneficial for it to become an altar for the 21 Taras!” said Ven. Roger Kunsang, Rinpoche’s assistant, referring to one of the many altars at Kachoe Dechen Ling.
Red Tara at FPMT International Office, Portland, Oregon, US, June 2012. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
A short Tara practice composed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche has just been posted on Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. Rinpoche’s commentary “Tara the Liberator” is also available. You can download “Praises to Twenty-One Taras” as a free PDF from fpmt.org. In addition, FPMT Education Services recently published a free commentary on the “Praise to the Twenty-One Taras” by Ven. Geshe Dawö.
Rinpoche was in residence at Kachoe Dechen Ling in Aptos, California, from mid-September to mid-November. Rinpoche is currently at Kopan Monastery in Nepal and will travel to Sera Monastic University in South India in December. Visit “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Schedule” for details.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche being led by the Kopan disciplinarian as Rinpoche is greeted by Kopan monks, Nepal, November 22, 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Rinpoche arrived at Kopan Monastery in Nepal on November 22. Rinpoche visited the Kopan nunnery, Kachoe Ghakyil Ling, first. The nuns greeted Rinpoche, who went into the gompa at the nunnery to make prostrations. Then he went up Kopan hill, where he was greeted by a long line of monks and more than 200 Westerners, who are currently attending the Kopan November course.
The young monks are among the first to greet Rinpoche upon his return to Kopan Monastery, Nepal, November 22, 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“Without wasting a minute, [Rinpoche] walked straight into the gompa and started to give a talk to the November course people,” said Ven. Roger, Rinpoche’s assistant and CEO of FPMT.
Rinpoche talks to participants of the November course at Kopan Monastery, November 22, 2013. 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.
Rinpoche blowing the conch during the Lama Chöpa puja on a tsog day at Kachoe Dechen Ling. (Rinpoche is doing the tsog according to Indian time.), Aptos, California, US, November 12, 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lhabab Duchen, also known as Buddha’s Descent from Tushita, is one of the four great holy days of the Tibetan calendar and takes place this year on Sunday, November 24.
As a Buddha Multiplying Day, karmic results of actions on this day are multiplied one hundred million times. This amazing result is sourced by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.
You can find Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recommended practices for this special day here (on Rinpoche’s Advice page, under Buddha Multiplying Days), and a calendar of all the holy days here.
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 and Pacific Ocean, Aptos, California, November 13, 2013. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
You have to remember buddha nature. In the emptiness of your heart, remember you have buddha nature. Delusions are not permanent, they are not part of you, they are temporary. You can be free from delusions and negative karma. Like a mirror covered by dust, you can clean it. The more you clean it, the clearer the reflection becomes. Your mind becomes clearer the more the delusions are purified.
– Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from the letter “Depression, Karma and Delusions,” posted on “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book,” April 2011
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 doing animal liberation practice at Kachoe Dechen Ling, California, November 17, 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche regularly does animal liberation practice. At Kachoe Dechen Ling, Rinpoche’s home in California, animal liberation practice is done on a weekly basis even when Rinpoche is not there.
Rinpoche has given the following advice on how to benefit animals:
I started this particular tradition of liberating animals. The way we practice animal liberation causes the person who liberates them to have a long life, but that alone doesn’t ultimately help the animals, so the best thing to do is to circumambulate the animals around holy objects and bless them with mantras and prayers. You can carry animals around a table in the middle of a room with many holy objects on it, like tsa-tsas, pictures of buddhas, and texts.
If there are 1,000 statues and holy objects on a table, then if you take the animals and insects around the table once, it creates 1,000 causes to achieve enlightenment, liberation from samsara, a good rebirth, and happiness in future lives. Each time you carry or lead the animals around the table it creates that many causes for their happiness and long lives. So, if you carry a billion insects around holy objects, you are offering enlightenment each time you circumambulate to that many sentient beings. This is really fantastic, the most amazing benefit that you can offer to other beings. …
You can read the complete advice and more on practices for benefiting animals on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Online Advice Book.”
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and OM MANI PADME HUM mantra at Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, November 16, 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, while in the garden at Kachoe Dechen Ling, said, “Everywhere you look, you are reminded of Dharma … not samsara.”
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.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche after a trip to the local garden shop directing where the flowers go and creating beautiful offerings to all the gurus, buddhas and bodhisattvas and holy beings! Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, November 17, 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
[When] you go shopping, watch your motivation, prepare your motivation. When you are in the shop either fulfill the wishes of the guru or shop to benefit and serve other sentient beings. Think that the ultimate purpose is to fulfill the guru’s advice. So you buy these things to survive and to fulfill the wishes of the guru or benefit sentient beings. In this way shopping becomes the antidote to attachment, becomes virtuous activity, Dharma, and you collect extensive merit.
– Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from the advice “Making Ordinary Life Actions Meaningful,” 2007
More advice can be found on the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.”
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 on wharf near Kachoe Dechen Ling, California, September 2013. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche as he blesses all the sentient beings in the ocean. While Rinpoche has been staying in California, he frequently goes with Sangha and Namgyälma mantra boards to a wharf near Kachoe Dechen Ling or to the beach. The mantra boards are placed in the water and Rinpoche chants mantras, says prayers and pours blessed water into the ocean.
You can watch more videos of Rinpoche blessing all sentient beings in the ocean on the “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Video” page.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
One of the altars at Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, November 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“… All the suffering of samsara comes from the mind. Happiness, liberation and enlightenment come from the mind. Suffering comes from the unsubdued mind. Liberation and enlightenment come from the subdued mind, therefore, subduing the mind is essential. So what Buddha said is just an example, manifesting numberless forms naturally without effort – as impure forms to sentient beings who have an impure mind, and as pure forms to sentient beings with a pure mind,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote to a new student in a letter recently posted to Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Online Advice Book.”
The letter continues:
“In Buddhism, especially in Mahayana Buddhism, guru devotion is the root of the path to enlightenment. The Buddha’s 84,000 teachings have three levels. There are the Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle) teachings for the lower capable being. For those with greater intelligence and capacity, Buddha revealed the Mahayana Paramitayana teachings. Then for those with higher intelligence, merit or capacity, Buddha taught Mahayana Secret Mantra – Vajrayana.
“In Hinayana, we don’t look at the guru as a buddha, but we respect the guru as if he is a buddha and we obey the guru, the abbot who grants ordination and gives teachings. In Mahayana Paramitayana, we look at the guru as a buddha, having no mistakes but only qualities. In tantra, on that basis – seeing the guru as a buddha – we look at the guru in the pure form of a buddha, we look at the essence as a buddha.
“Obedience is most important, otherwise we cannot achieve realizations; we cannot achieve enlightenment. …”
You can read the entire letter on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website.
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 and Tenzin Ösel Hita, Santa Cruz, California, November 3, 2013. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
In early November, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Tenzin Ösel Hita ate at a vegan restaurant in Santa Cruz, California, where they discussed the menu. According to Rinpoche’s assistant Ven. Roger, Rinpoche is creating his own cook book.
Rinpoche has been strongly encouraging students to become vegetarian. In a letter published in the FPMT Annual Review 2011, Rinpoche reflected:
When I was in the hospital [after manifesting a stroke in April 2011], I saw a program about animals that were sold to be killed in Indonesia and other countries for live export … It didn’t show how they were killed, but it showed one cow that was on the platform, with the head tied, being pulled down to be killed. The cow didn’t want to go and the man was pulling it. I thought, ‘I don’t have power to stop all this killing, but what I can do is to try to inspire people to become vegetarian.’
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
For more on this topic, see Mandala’s archive stories on vegetarianism and veganism.