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Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice
Lama Zopa Rinpoche during a Padmasambhava incense puja, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
In a new video, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives advice and an oral transmission (lung) of the Verses for the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones to stop the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and to bring success.
After a brief introduction from young Kopan Monastery monks, Rinpoche begins with an extensive motivational teaching for receiving the lung. “Now this virus is happening, so then now an examination is happening to you,” Rinpoche says in the 50-minute video (transcript here).
“You have to check your mind. An examination is happening as to whether you are afraid of death, whether you are afraid of sicknesses, or you don’t mind, [whether] for you it is not important, not something that you are scared of, a kind of a huge thing like a mountain, a kind of obstacle to you. Now it is really interesting to examine your mind. Really, very interesting. So that shows how much Dharma practice you normally do, day and night how much your mind becomes Dharma, how much your mind has become Dharma. So that is very interesting.”
The Verses for the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones is by the “great, great, great holy being Je Miphampa,” Rinpoche explains. It is often recited to bring success to a project.
“The biggest project, of course, is for yourself to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible because numberless sentient beings are suffering—most unbelievable—in samsara. They have been experiencing that from beginningless rebirths—wow, wow, wow, you can’t imagine it—in the six realms, over and over, without beginning. Wow, already it is like that—not just suffering. Bah, bah, bah. So, to free them from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment, for their success, what else is a greater project than that? For the success of this: I mean not just only the virus to stop it bringing sickness, the coronavirus. Not just that. Okay. …”
Rinpoche concludes the video by offering the oral transmission of the Verses for the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones in English.
Watch the new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche—”Motivation and Oral Transmission for Success”:
https://youtu.be/GKJ-K3_Btdc
- Read a transcript of this video.
- Follow the oral transmission of the Verses for the Eight Noble Auspicious Ones.
Find more video teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery during the COVID-19 crisis.
Practice advice from our teachers, Dharma study-from-home opportunities, and more can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
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, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and senior Kopan monks during Padmasambhava incense puja, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and senior Kopan Monastery monks performed a Padmasambhava incense puja to benefit beings affected by COVID-19 and to help mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche consulted with Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la) about what pujas to do to help the pandemic, and it came out that the Padmasambhava incense puja was best at this time.
The coordinated incense puja was done by about ten high lamas around Kathmandu. Originally the puja was planned to be done in various holy places in Nepal, but due to the current situation, it was changed so that the puja would be done by each lama at the same time in their respective monasteries.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and senior Kopan monks during Padmasambhava incense puja, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
During the puja at Kopan, prayers and practices were offered in the four directions.
Rinpoche continues to discuss with Khadro-la other practices that can be done to help people who are sick and stop the spread of COVID-19 and for the benefit of beings who are affected by the coronavirus.
Watch a short video of scenes from the Padmasambhaba incense puja at Kopan Monastery:
https://youtu.be/pyXORzZ_rmU
For detailed advice on the practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
Additional resources, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
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 watching a teaching with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on a tablet. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Dharma practitioners around the world have been advised to isolate themselves from others as much as possible to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. This can be a challenge to those wishing to study without access to their local centers.
We are offering several FPMT Online Learning Center programs to any student or center who would like to use them. (Please note: Students who are new to the Online Learning Center will need to create an account. For details, see “Getting Started Guide.”)
- Discovering Buddhism: Module 11, Transforming Problems
Enrollment key: tonglen33 - Basic Program: Mahayana Mind Training, Wheel of Sharp Weapons
Enrollment key: lojong100 - Living in the Path
We have made this entire program available for free. Find the enrollment keys for the individual modules here. - Living in the Path (Spanish)
This program is also in Spanish and is available for free. Find the enrollment keys for individual modules here. - Discovering Buddhism (French)
All of the modules of Discovering Buddhism in French are available for free and do not require enrollment keys.
Additionally, students are welcome to access complete teachings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via Rinpoche Available Now. Find video of recent and archive teachings from Nepal, Russia, Singapore, Latvia, France, and many other teaching events.
Please also visit the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive for freely available teachings by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche in a variety of digital formats.
We hope that students will take full advantage of these opportunities during this isolating time of uncertainty.
For detailed advice on the practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
A new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche focuses on advice for students supporting someone who is dying. Rinpoche recorded this video in March 2020 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal.
In the video, Lama Zopa Rinpoche recites various mantras and teaches on their benefits. These mantras can be used to support a person who is dying.
Rinpoche teaches on:
- Buddha’s Name Mantra (Rinchhen Tsugtorchen Name Mantra)
- the short Chenrezig mantra
- Lotus Pinnacle of Amoghaspasha Mantra
- Celestial Mansion Extremely Secret Sublime Success
- Maitreya Buddha mantras (root mantra, heart mantra, and close heart mantra)
- the short Medicine Buddha mantra
- the short Namgyalma mantra
- Mantra from “The Sutra of Great Liberation”
Watch “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice to a Person Who is Dying” on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/wmIVjkVDyVE
- Read the transcript of this teaching.
- Find the mantras to recite for the dying discussed in this video.
- Find additional resources for the dying and other mantras on FPMT.org.
For detailed advice on the practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
Additional resources, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
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.
Thangtong Gyalpo
We recently shared a new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche in which Rinpoche shares his advice for practices concerning protection and healing from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as well as oral transmissions of the Vajra Armor mantra and four other recommended prayers.
FPMT Education Services is pleased to share a draft transcript of this advice. All are welcome to download this to your device or read online.
For more detailed advice on the practices recommended by Rinpoche, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
Additional resources for this difficult time, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
There is a new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on his advice for practices for coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Rinpoche recorded this video in March 2020 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal.
The new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins with a teaching and motivation for doing the practices. Then Rinpoche gives additional advice along with the oral transmission of a mantra and four prayers.
Watching this video attentively can qualify as having received the oral transmission of the following mantra and prayers, if viewed with the intention of receiving the oral transmission from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Watch video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19):
https://youtu.be/O7oTHLEQn6Y
In this video Rinpoche gives the following oral transmission:
- Vajra Armor mantra (this mantra is recommended in “Advice to Protect Yourself and Others from the Coronavirus” from Rinpoche.)
- Swift Fulfillment of Wishes in Dependence on the Great Jetsun Tsongkhapa
- The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: The Blessed Prayer Known as “Liberating Sakya from Disease” (This prayer is recommended in “Advice to Protect Yourself and Others from the Coronavirus” from Rinpoche.)
- The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: Words of Truth Pacifying the Danger of Weapons
- The Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: A Request to Pacify the Fear of Famine
Read the transcript of this video.
For more detailed advice on the practices recommended by Rinpoche, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
Additional resources for this difficult time, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
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 Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
In these challenging and anxious times, FPMT International Office offers our prayers and best wishes to all who are navigating uncertainty and change during the coronavirus pandemic.
We have created a page of resources and advice related to this crisis in order to make it as easy as possible for you to find recommended practices, prayers, online study and practice resources, and news about Lama Zopa Rinpoche and from around the FPMT organization.
This page will be updated as new advice and news become available and should be consulted as an up-to-date resource for Dharma practice during the time of this pandemic.
Find advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Dharma study materials, and other updates on “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic” page on FPMT.org:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/
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 doing incense puja at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Losang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and ordained Sangha offered a Padmasambhava incense puja at Kopan Monastery in Nepal in response to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Watch a Short Video of the Incense Puja at Kopan Monastery:
https://youtu.be/5-hPIH5xAlI
Advice from Rinpoche on Coronavirus
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has offered the following advice to protect from harm by the novel coronavirus:
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche Offers Advice to Protect from the Coronavirus
- Additional Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche to Protect from the Coronavirus
Lama Zopa Rinpoche doing incense puja at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Losang Sherab.
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.
Find links to recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent teachings from Nepal, Russia, Singapore, Latvia, France, and more:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2019. Photo by Neal Patrick.
The Six Perfections: The Practice of the Bodhisattvas is a new book from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In it, Rinpoche walks us through the six perfections, a key Mahayana Buddhist training. Here’s an excerpt from Rinpoche’s teaching on the perfection of wisdom:
Everything, even subtle things, should appear merely labeled by the mind, but that doesn’t happen for us sentient beings. Whatever we experience is colored by this wrong view of inherent existence. From the object to be refuted according to the lower schools all the way to that asserted by Svatantrika and finally by Prasangika, we need to recognize these different degrees of subtlety of wrong view.
Things do exist, but they exist because they are empty. That is why the I exists; why phenomena exist; why birth, aging, and death exist; why suffering and the cessation of suffering exist. All these exist in mere name. For ordinary people like us, however, everything that is false in life appears true. Whether something exists or is a fantasy, we believe it to be 100 percent true. On the other hand, ultimate reality, which does exist, appears to us as nonexistent.
Cover of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new book
A verse in the Vajra Cutter Sutra says:
A star, a defective view, the butter lamp flame,
an illusion, a dew drop, or a water bubble,
a dream, lightning, a cloud—
see all causative phenomena like this.
Each of these similes is a pointed reminder that we cannot trust the appearance of things.
Learn more about The Six Perfections: The Practice of the Bodhisattvas, including order information, on Wisdom Publication’s website:
https://wisdomexperience.org/product/the-six-perfections/
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, Russia, October 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Due to the risk from the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa Retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, has been postponed. Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s other teaching events in Australia in March and April 2020 have also been postponed.
The postponement of the retreat is the result of observations by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) on the implications of the coronavirus.
In these observations it was repeatedly noted that:
- The coronavirus is moving fast.
- The coronavirus is easily transferred.
- There is at present no cure for the virus.
- There is a danger for the group to gather at this time at the retreat.
We regret that this postponement will cause financial and logistical difficulties for many people. The organizers of the retreat at the Great Stupa have already reached out to those who have booked for the retreat.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has indicated that the retreat, and other teaching events in Australia, will be rescheduled as soon as the risk from coronavirus is under control, and as soon as a suitable alternative time can be found in Rinpoche’s teaching schedule.
We know that many other centers are affected by the spread of coronavirus and encourage you to continue to take all sensible precautions to help ensure the safety of those using FPMT centers, projects, services, and study groups.
Advice from Rinpoche on Coronavirus
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has offered the following advice to protect from harm by the novel coronavirus:
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche Offers Advice to Protect from the Coronavirus, posted January 25, 2020
- Additional Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche to Protect from the Coronavirus, posted January 28, 2020
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 and Kopan abbot Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi doing Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
On Monday, March 2, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, joined by the monks and nuns of Kopan Monastery, did a Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong puja to remove the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as well as to remove all obstacles for the year and to bring success to the entire FPMT organization and its projects, and to all sentient beings.
Hayagriva is the wrathful manifestation of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. The puja done by Rinpoche and the Kopan Sangha is regarded as very powerful and can be performed to remove large obstacles (such as heavy illness), to repair damage to commitments, and to increase merits.
Rinpoche has given advice and additional advice on practices to be done to protect from the coronavirus.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the Sangha of Kopan Monastery doing Most Secret Hayagriva tsog kong, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Find Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice on the coronavirus (COVID-19) and other illnesses on Rinpoche’s advice page under the category “sickness”:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/advice/
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 Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
The Six Perfections: The Practice of the Bodhisattvas is a new book from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In it, Rinpoche offers instruction on the six perfections, a key Mahayana Buddhist teaching. Here’s an excerpt from the book’s “Introduction”:
The Sanskrit for perfection is paramita, which literally means “gone beyond.” The perfections are the practices of bodhisattvas, holy beings who have completely renounced the self; they have transcended selfish concerns and cherish only others.
Each perfection is perfect, flawless. Each arises from bodhichitta and is supported by the other perfections, including the wisdom of emptiness. Because of that, a bodhisattva generates infinite merit every moment, whether outwardly engaged in working for others or not. A bodhisattva’s bodhichitta never stops. Even sleeping, there is no self-cherishing; even in a coma, infinite merit is still created.
Cover of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new book
The six perfections are as follows:
- Charity (dana)
- Morality (shila)
- Patience (kshanti)
- Perseverance (virya)
- Concentration (dhyana)
- Wisdom (prajna)
The first perfection is the perfection of charity. Its nature is the virtuous thought of giving. With that thought we perform the three types of charity: giving material objects, giving fearlessness, and giving the Dharma. These encompass all our actions of body, speech, and mind, such as giving material objects, protecting from fear, and giving the Dharma.
The second perfection is the perfection of morality, of which there are three types: refraining from nonvirtue, gathering virtuous deeds, and working for others. The first, refraining from nonvirtue, is abstaining from actions that harm sentient beings. The second, gathering virtuous deeds, means completely giving up the thought of seeking happiness for the self, including seeking self-liberation. The third, working for others, means just that—protecting sentient beings from harm as well as helping them in any way we can.
Then there is the perfection of patience. The nature of patience is keeping the mind in virtue whenever we encounter disturbance and harm. (We could endure these with a nonvirtuous mind as well, which is why the distinction is made.) There are three types of patience: not retaliating when harmed, accepting suffering, and having certainty about the Dharma. Accepting suffering means our mind remains calm and undisturbed whenever we receive harm from either sentient beings or nonliving things. Having certainty about the Dharma means always abiding in the wish to continuously practice the Dharma no matter what the circumstance.
The perfection of perseverance means being happy to practice virtue—specifically, being happy to practice each of the perfections—and doing work for all sentient beings. This includes virtuous actions of the body and speech, such as doing prostrations and reciting mantras.
With the fifth perfection, concentration, through both analytical meditation and single-pointed concentration we constantly reflect on the meaning of the teachings and put them into practice. For instance, when we do a shamatha, or calm-abiding meditation, using Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the Buddha is the object of meditation; if we are meditating on bodhichitta, the mind of enlightenment, when we place our mind single-pointedly on bodhichitta, that is the object of meditation.
The last perfection is the perfection of wisdom, of which there are two types. One type realizes the conventional (or all-obscuring) truth, which includes the nature of impermanence or the law of cause and effect. The other type realizes the ultimate truth, the emptiness of all phenomena. Generally, the perfection of wisdom refers to realizing emptiness.
Excerpted from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new book The Six Perfections: The Practice of the Bodhisattvas, edited by Gordon McDougall and published by Wisdom Publications.
Learn more about the book, including information on ordering, on Wisdom Publication’s website:
https://wisdomexperience.org/product/the-six-perfections/
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.