Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching in Moscow, Russia, May 2017. Photo by Renat Alyaudinov.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches on “How to Develop Bodhicitta in the Modern World (a commentary on Khunu Lama Rinpoche’s The Jewel Lamp: A Praise of Bodhichitta)” this weekend. Rinpoche’s teachings in Moscow, Russia, begin on Friday, October 25, and continue through Sunday, October 27.

The planned schedule of teachings, which can be watched live, is as follows in local time (GMT+3):

• Friday , October 25 teachings with Lama Zopa Rinpoche begin at 19:30
• Saturday, October 26–Sunday, October 27:
  11:00 – 12:30 – practice session with Geshe Tenzin Zopa
  12:30 – 14:00 – lunch time
  14:00 – 15:30 – review and Q&A with Geshe Tenzin Zopa
  15:30 – 16:00 – tea break
  16:00 – 17:30 – Lama Zopa Rinpoche teachings
  17:30 – 18:30 – tea break
  18:30 – 20:00 – Lama Zopa Rinpoche teachings

The FPMT center in Moscow, Ganden Tendar Ling, organized these teachings. Rinpoche just concluded teaching in Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, where he led a 100 million mani retreat.

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach LIVE:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

More information on the teaching events in Moscow, Russia:
http://lamazoparussia.tilda.ws/#rec102195553

Find video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent teachings in Elista, Russia, and Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche arriving in Elista and being greeted by the abbot of the local monastery and the news media, Kalmykia, Russia, September 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

On September 30, Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived in Elista, the capital city of the Russian Republic of Kalmykia. Rinpoche was enthusiastically greeted as soon as he stepped out of the airplane. Rinpoche was welcomed by the abbot of the monastery in Elista. Rinpoche was offered traditional khaptse and tea on the tarmac, where reporters and TV cameras were also waiting for him.

Inside the airport, Rinpoche answered questions in a press conference, discussing the significance of doing a 100 million mani retreat. Rinpoche told reporters that doing the retreat cleanses your mind of the attachment that is responsible for all the problems of this life and future lives. He said that the retreat brings “unbelievable benefits.”

Kalmykia is located in southern Russia and is bordered on one side by the Caspian Sea. It is the only Buddhist country in Europe, which allowed Rinpoche many opportunities to speak to news media about the importance of Buddhist practice.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche received a warm welcome as he arrived at the house where he stayed in Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, September 2019. Photo by Ven. Losang Sherab.

A line of students offered khatas and recited Migtsema as Rinpoche arrived at the house where he was staying during his visit to Elista.

Rinpoche went to Elista to offer a Great Chenrezig initiation and lead a 100 million mani retreat. During a 100 million mani retreat, participants accumulate 100 million recitations of the Chenrezig mantra, also known as mani mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM.

Lodoi Rinpoche, Telo Rinpoche, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, October 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Telo Rinpoche is the spiritual leader of the Kalmyk people and helped organized Rinpoche’s visit and teachings in Elista. An American-born tulku, Telo Rinpoche has been active in the reestablishment of Buddhism in Kalmykia since being chosen as its head lama in 1992. He also serves as the honorary representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Russia.

The night of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s arrival, Telo Rinpoche offered a special dinner for Lama Zopa Rinpoche and for Lodoi Rinpoche, a high lama from the Russian Republic of Buryatia, another Buddhist area, located in Siberia. Lodoi Rinpoche had just concluded a series of practices and initiations in Elista. The elaborate dinner featured cultural singing and dancing.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lodoi Rinpoche at a special dinner honoring them, organized Telo Rinpoche, Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, October 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The following day Rinpoche did prayers with Telo Rinpoche, Lodoi Rinpoche, and the monastery monks at the Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni or the Golden Temple. Built in 2005, it is the largest Buddhist temple in Europe. After lunch, the three rinpoches took part in another press conference, where Rinpoche spoke again on the importance of doing the 100 million mani retreat.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered the 1000-Armed Chenrezig initiation over three days, beginning on Friday, October 4, at the Golden Temple. A thousand people attended, packing the temple. In addition to local people, many students traveled from Moscow and Saint Petersburg to attend the events with Rinpoche. There were also a handful of students from France, Spain, and Malaysia attending. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during 1000-Armed Chenrezig initiation, Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, October 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

On the following Monday, between 200 to 300 students began doing the 100 million mani retreat. In addition, students from all over the world followed the retreat online.

The 100 million mani retreat is not a common practice in Kalmykia. It comes from the nyung në lineage. Rinpoche acknowledged that because the retreat is only two weeks long, ending on Friday, October 18, participants would probably not accumulate the full 100 million mani recitations. Rinpoche, however, said it was very good for students to learn how to do the practice for future retreats. 

The retreat began every morning with a session blessing the speech and doing Lama Chopa. During the day there were sadhana recitation sessions. Geshe Tenzin Zopa led sessions and gave explanations on the practice to students. Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught during the final session of the day, covering topics such as guru devotion, bodhichitta and emptiness. Students attending the retreat appear very devoted and respectful, taking notes and carefully doing the practices. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during 1000-Armed Chenrezig initiation, Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, October 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche did an animal blessing on Saturday, October 19, in Elista and on Sunday visited a very large Maitreya statue located in the area. He then returns to Moscow to give teachings October 25-27 on “How to Develop Bodhicitta in the Modern World (a commentary on Khunu Lama Rinpoche’s The Jewel Lamp: A Praise of Bodhichitta).”

FPMT is grateful for the work of the retreat organizers, which include Telo Rinpoche and the monks from the Golden Temple. Students from Ganden Tendar Ling, the FPMT center in Moscow, also helped with arrangements. 

In October, watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings streamed live from Russia:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

Find video and audio recordings and transcripts of all of Rinpoche’s recent teachings:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-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.

A display created by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, August 2019. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.

FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche has done much to care for the animals at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land (BAPL), located in a remote area of Washington State, in the northwestern United States. One examples is creating a bird feeder where birds and other animals are blessed by mantras as they feed.

A chipmunk at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, July 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche has had many displays of animals statues with signs created on the retreat land, offering visitors short Dharma teachings. He also has had made many signs with mantras and images of deities that purify just by seeing.

In addition, BAPL has a 13-foot (4-meter) tall statue of Amitabha Buddha, which was created in Vietnam of white marble, as well as a smaller statue of Medicine Buddha. The statues are surrounded by beautiful gardens and flower offerings. Rinpoche has organized a yearly festival to honor the Amitabha statue and the retreat land.

A new video shows many of these statues, signs, and activities on the retreat land and features Rinpoche’s chanting.

Watch a video of tour of Buddha Amitabha Pure Land:
https://youtu.be/n6f2vNdL5PA

See photos from Rinpoche’s visit to Buddha Amitabha Pure Land and Pamtingpa Center in Washington State, US:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/washington-us-july-august-2019/

In October, watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings streamed live from Russia:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

Find video and audio recordings and transcripts of Rinpoche’s recent teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-singapore-2019/

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 Amitabha Buddha Festival, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, US, August 2019. Photo by Chris Majors.

In a phone conversation with a student, Lama Zopa Rinpoche made these comments on how to resolve conflicts with other disciples of one’s guru, giving this advice for ridding oneself of past and present grudges by changing one’s own mind.

I have been wanting to tell you this for some time. There may have been something between you and that person before, some time ago, but now I want you to change your view of her and become harmonious with her. Change your view from your old way of looking at her and instead look at her with an open heart, seeing her as one of the pores of the guru.

The expression “pore of the guru” refers to the way in which one should regard anyone related to the guru, that is, as an integral part that is indivisible from the guru, to which consequently one should pay the same respect as to the very guru. If you do that, then she will change her way of looking at you. She won’t see you in the old way any more either, and the problem will go away.

Then, in the future, when there are differences of opinion, of course it is OK to present your ideas to her so that she has many ways of looking at things. But do so with an open heart and with love, concern, and a wish to help, without getting upset. Always view her with an open heart, as one of the pores of the guru. Then there won’t be any problems.

It’s the same with people you may be upset with now. Remember they have been very kind to you in the past. They have helped you a lot. Because of them, you have been able to experience and finish up so much of your own negative karma from the past.

Therefore, you should view them as one of the pores, and with an open heart, apologize for any difficulties in the past and thank them for all their kindness to you. This way, when you change your view of others, they can also change.

This advice “Conflicts with Fellow Students” was originally published in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/conflicts-fellow-students

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings streaming live from Russia:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

Find video and audio recordings and transcripts of Rinpoche’s recent teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-singapore-2019/

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 inside the temple called the Golden Abode of Shakyamuni Buddha, Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, May 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

On September 30, Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived in Elista, the capital city of the Russian Republic of Kalmykia, which is the only region in Europe where Buddhism is the primary religion. Rinpoche traveled to Elista to offer a Great Chenrezig initiation and lead a 100 million mani retreat.

The events with Rinpoche begin on Friday, October 4, and run through October 20. Between 250-450 students are expected to attend, including many students from Ganden Tendar Ling, the FPMT center in Moscow.

Rinpoche then travels to Moscow to teach on “How to Develop Bodhicitta in the Modern World (a commentary on Khunu Lama Rinpoche’s The Jewel Lamp: A Praise of Bodhichitta),” October 25-27. Students from Ganden Tendar Ling are organizing the teachings in Moscow and also helping with the 100 million mani retreat in Elista.

Rinpoche’s teachings will be streamed live from Russia. For links to streaming video:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

The Golden Abode of Shakyamuni Buddha, Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, May 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Learn More about Ganden Tendar Ling Center:
https://fpmt.ru/

Find video and audio recordings and transcripts of Rinpoche’s recent teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-singapore-2019/

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 being offered a khata by Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, September 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche concluded a busy visit to Singapore last week. Three weeks earlier, Rinpoche landed in Singapore, where he was enthusiastically greeted by students at the airport, despite the late time of his arrival. 

During his visit at Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC), the FPMT center in Singapore, Rinpoche gave general teachings as well as commentary on Lama Chopa. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, September 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Students at ABC offered a long life puja to Rinpoche with Lama Chopa and the Sixteen Arhat Long Life Prayers on Sunday, September 22.

Many students around the world watched the live webstreaming of Rinpoche’s teachings from ABC, especially in Taiwan, due to Ven. Thubten Dechen’s simultaneous translation of the teachings into Chinese.

Rinpoche’s teachings from ABC are available as video and audio recordings, including Italian translations of the teachings and a Spanish translation of one day of teachings. A written English transcript is also being made available.

ABC is a vibrant and active center. According to Ven. Holly Ansett, it’s a very inspiring center for its high level of student involvement and the scale of offerings and holy objects there. While staying at ABC, Rinpoche also attended the center’s 30th anniversary celebration. 

Watch the Long Life Puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Lama Chopa and Sixteen Arhat Prayers from ABC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn3tyEXX43I

Learn more about Amitabha Buddhist Centre:
http://www.fpmtabc.org/

Find video and audio recordings and transcripts of Rinpoche’s recent teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-singapore-2019/

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.

Amitabha Buddha Festival at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, August 2019. Photo by Chris Majors.

In August, Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended the Amitabha Buddha Festival at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land (BAPL) in remote Washington State in the United States. This is the fourth time the festival has been held and the third time Rinpoche has attended. The festival was envisioned by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to honor the large Amitabha Buddha statue and retreat land at BAPL.

Rinpoche translated and created the text for the festival, which took place in front of the 13-foot (4-meter) tall Amitabha Buddha statue. Preparations for the festival took about a week and were done by the resident Sangha and the Sangha traveling with Rinpoche. Local students from the nearby Pamtingpa Center in Tonasket came for the festival.

Rinpoche, Sangha, and students did the offering prayers all morning. About forty to fifty people attended.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Amitabha Buddha Festival at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, August 2019. Photo by Chris Majors.

Neighbors of the retreat land were invited for the offered lunch with Rinpoche, Sangha, and local students. About fifteen neighbors attended and enjoyed the event. People in the area tend to be conservative, so creating a good connection with them is important. Rinpoche was pleased with the event and said he thought it was very nice.

Sunset at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, August 2019. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing all the beings in Palmer Lake in Washington State, US, August 2019. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.

While staying at BAPL, Rinpoche also took time to bless a local lake. Rinpoche, Sangha, and students spent two days preparing blessed food for the fish in the lake. Then the group took two small boats on to the water.

Rinpoche’s boat had flags on it that he designed. The flags say, “Wish granting boat—fufilling all the wishes of the fish and all others who live in or use this water,” and “We are liberating the fish from the cause of suffering and bringing them to peerless happiness—the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations.”

Rinpoche recited sutras and mantras. The fish and other beings in the water were also blessed with a relic and a mantra blessing wheel, and were offered blessed food and water.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche on Palmer Lake in Washington State, US, August 2019. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.

See more photos from Rinpoche’s visit to Buddha Amitabha Pure Land and Pamtingpa Center in Washington State, US:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/washington-us-july-august-2019/

Find video and audio recordings and transcripts of Rinpoche’s recent teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-singapore-2019/

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, September 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his commentary on Lama Chopa (Guru Puja) practice at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, the FPMT center in Singapore.

Rinpoche’s teachings begin on Friday, September 6, and run through Saturday, September 21. All non-restricted teachings by  Rinpoche will be webcast live. 

The planned schedule of teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in local time (GMT+8) is as follows:

• Friday, September 6, 7:30 p.m.–10 p.m.
• Saturday, September 7, 4 p.m.–6 p.m., 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
• Sunday, September 8, 4 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, September 11, 7:30 p.m.–10 p.m.
• Friday, September 13, 7:30 p.m.–10 p.m.
• Saturday, September 14, 4 p.m.–6 p.m., 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
• Sunday, September 15, 4 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, September 18, 7:30 p.m.–10 p.m.
• Saturday, September 21, 4 p.m.–6 p.m., 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

Following Rinpoche’s Lama Chopa commentary, Amitabha Buddhist Centre will be offering to Rinpoche the Sixteen Arhat Long Life Prayers on Sunday, September 22, 9:30 a.m.–12 p.m.

Useful links:

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach LIVE:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 2018 commentary on Lama Chopa taught at Amitabha Buddhist Centre:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/amitabha-buddhist-center-2018/

More information on the teaching event at Amitabha Buddhist Centre:
http://www.fpmtabc.org/2019/event/lzrvisit.php

Learn more about Lama Chopa practice and find FPMT Education Services materials:
https://fpmt.org/edu-news/it-is-all-there-in-lama-chopa/ 

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 Madrid, Spain, April 2019. Photo by Alexis Roitmann.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered advice to a studious former monk who wrote to Rinpoche about receiving criticism and abuse from people. Here’s an excerpt from Rinpoche’s advice:

Every day, in the morning, when you begin the day, please remember emptiness. Everything is empty: I, action, and object. You can recite the Heart Sutra and the quotations below.

If you can, remember them in your daily life again and again. When you open the door, when the day begins, while seeing the reality of phenomena or the reality of life, recite and meditate on the meaning of these words.

These are Buddha’s words from the Sutra of the King of Concentration:

As in the clear sky, the moon rises,
the reflection appears in the ocean,
but there is no transfer of the moon into the water:
All phenomena should be known to be of that nature.

The magician transforms the forms
Of various phenomena, like a horse carriage and an elephant,
but there is nothing there as it appears:
All phenomena should be known to be like that.

Exactly as when following sexual pleasure in a dream,
after the person wakes up, they cannot see it,
like an immature person who is extremely attached to sexual pleasures:
All phenomena should be known like that.

Exactly as in the dream of a young girl
Of giving birth to a son who died,
so happy to have given birth, but unhappy that he died:
All phenomena should be known like that.

Exactly like the nighttime moon
that appears in the water, calm and clear,
but the moon on the water is empty, you cannot catch it:
All phenomena should be known like that.

Exactly as at noon in autumn,
people tormented with thirst
see a mirage as water:
All phenomena should be known like this.

A mirage has no water.
Sentient beings are dying of thirst and desire to drink
but are unable to drink that water, which does not exist:
All phenomena should be known like that.

Exactly like the water tree:
even if a person wishes to take the essence from it,
a person splits that tree, there is no essence at all, no nectar inside or outside:
All phenomena should be known like that.

Also, it is good if you can recite the verses in the Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattva on emptiness, by the bodhisattva Thogme Zangpo.

Various sufferings appear in hallucinations, like a son who dies in a dream:
by holding it to be true, one suffers.
Therefore, when you encounter disharmonious conditions (that is, conditions not according to your wish, unfavorable conditions)
Looking at them as an illusion is the practice of the son of the bodhisattvas.

You are a very philosophical person. I am sure I don’t need to explain this to you. I am sure your mind is always this way, but I will explain it anyway.

The way to meditate on the first stanza is this: The meaning is that ignorance leaves imprints that are impure on the mental continuum. Like the moon reflecting on the ocean, those imprints project hallucinated appearances, truly existent appearances. They project all the hallucinations that appear, appearing as truly existent, on the merely labeled phenomena—I, action, object, happiness, suffering, virtue, non-virtue—whatever exists.

Including the mind as well as its object—the perceiver/knower, or mind, and its object—these look or appear like they are there, but they are not there. A truly existent real knower or perceiver, the mind and object, look like they are there, but they are not there.

In reality, everything is empty. Therefore, in reality all that is appearing as real is appearances, but is totally non-existent, empty.

All that appears to be real, inherently existent, in our daily life, this inherently existent phenomenon or real phenomenon, is totally non-existent. The way phenomena appear should be understood as non-existent, totally non-existent.

Therefore, all phenomena—I, action, object—all the phenomena that exist, are empty. They are empty from their own side. They are empty from their own side because all these phenomena exist by being merely labeled.

For the rest of the stanzas, you can get the basic idea from this explanation. Then all day you can laugh about your own life, your own beliefs, own fears, and grasping. You can laugh even when you are alone in your room. You can laugh twenty-four hours a day about your own life. You can laugh in the kitchen making tea. You can laugh in the shop. You can laugh in your bedroom, when you’re asleep, everywhere. You can laugh when you feel depressed. You can laugh when you feel excited.

The second part is thought transformation, how to meditate on emptiness during the meditation break and to look at all phenomena during break times like a dream. That means looking at the object of the knower as empty—not true: empty. Examining the nature of unborn wisdom—that is wisdom meditating on the emptiness of that—free even of the remedy itself.

Even the remedy, even emptiness itself, has no inherent existence, it is free of that. Look at emptiness itself as empty of inherent existence. This could also be related to the self, the person, the meditator, to oneself, as also empty.

Place the mind in the state of the base, which is the essence of the path. In the break time, be the illusory person. …

This advice “How to Use Criticism and Unfavorable Situations on the Path” was originally published in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/how-use-criticism-and-unfavorable-situations-path

Watch short video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/videos-of-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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the Amitabha Buddha festival at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, August 2019. Photo by Chris Majors.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave the following advice on the shortcomings of the self-cherishing thought and the benefits of cherishing others to a student and said it is applicable to anyone.

If you are my student, then you must do the morning motivation, The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment). Do not just read the words, but relate them to your life. You must recite these words and if after reciting the words your mind doesn’t change, then you are not doing it [correctly].

In addition, I want you to recite these two verses as a dedication and to memorize them:

Whenever someone has an angry or devotional thought arise
Just by looking at me,
May that attitude alone become a cause that always
Accomplishes all the temporary and ultimate purposes of that being.

Whenever others criticize me with their speech,
Harm me with their bodies,
Or likewise insult me behind my back,
May all of them be fortunate to achieve great enlightenment.

You must recite these two verses and if these don’t change your mind, then you are not thinking about the meaning. Therefore, use these two verses often as your dedication. This is most important to recite; it’s good to recite and to remember by heart.

You need to remember that you yourself have harmed numberless sentient beings from beginningless rebirths numberless times. You have given every kind of harm numberless times to the numberless sentient beings. Now what you experience—the way others harm you, the way they treat you, anything unpleasant—is the result of your negative karma. So you have to recognize the shortcomings of your self-cherishing thought.

As the Kadampa geshe says:

Put all the blame to one. Toward others, meditate on their kindness.

Put all the blame to one—this is the self-cherishing thought. Even if someone sees you and dislikes you, thinks you are bad, or if anyone criticizes you or kicks you out of a center and so on, think it is the result of past karma, because you harmed others, numberless sentient beings, numberless times from beginningless rebirth.

Anything unpleasant you receive back is the result of your bad karma, your self-cherishing thought. This is what is to be abandoned in order to actualize bodhicitta.

In my morning motivation, it mentions, May I be used by sentient beings. This means you dedicate yourself to be the servant of sentient beings, to be totally used by sentient beings. This is what makes you achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible. Otherwise if you have too much ego, then you go to hell. If that is what you want, if you want that, then it is a totally different situation; if you would like to go to hell. But if you don’t like to go to hell, then you need to change the mind, to renounce the ego.

As the Kadampa Geshe mentions, the self-cherishing thought is something to be thrown away—a long distance—immediately. But others are to be taken into your heart and cherished immediately.

With much love and prayers…

This advice “Renounce the Ego” was originally published in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/renounce-ego

Find links to the free practice booklet The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices in multiple languages and to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s commentary on it on FPMT Education Services “Prayers & Practices” page:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/#themethod

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 Geshe Lamsang at O.Sel.Ling Centro de Retiros, Spain, May 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered the following advice “Problems at a Dharma Center” to the director of a Dharma center who was having problems with his assistant and thinking about asking the assistant to leave. Here’s an excerpt from that advice:

One way you can look at the situation is to think that the center just cannot exist without these difficulties. There is collective karma, and without these difficulties, it would not be able to offer extensive benefits to so many sentient beings every year, giving Dharma education in sutra and tantra, and planting the seed of the four kayas, liberation, and enlightenment, and leading sentient beings to a good rebirth in their next life.

The center offers unbelievable benefits. The geshe, translator, director, assistant, secretary, bookkeeper, cook, and cleaner’s main function is to bring the teachings to others, making the center available for sentient beings to come there to practice, collect merit, and plant the seed of enlightenment. All the members of the center are offering this benefit to sentient beings. This cannot happen without collective karma. Problems occur because collective negative karma ripens and individual karma ripens, so we experience these things while we are offering extensive benefit to others.

You can make an analogy with the body and ornaments on the body. These difficulties are the ornaments. This means you can use these difficulties to overcome your own delusions, ego, and self-cherishing thought. These difficulties destroy one’s delusions and ego, like in chöd practice. In chöd, you invoke spirits to create violence, a disturbing violent environment, and that makes the thought of self-cherishing stronger, the feeling that something is going to happen to me, to the “I.” The main thing is to see the emotional “I,” the false “I,” the object to be refuted, the “I” which is a hallucination, the “I” which doesn’t exist, as the object of the root of samsara—the concept of inherent existence. The minute you recognize it is the minute to realize emptiness.

Why this is so important, such a big deal, and is talked about so much in the teachings of Buddha is that without this realization of emptiness, you have no way to escape the ocean of suffering. Humans, asura, sura, hell beings, animals, and pretas have all been reincarnating in these realms up to now, from beginningless time, because of delusion and karma. We are still wandering in the six realms, and suffer without end. That means we can’t liberate other sentient beings from the suffering of samsara, the suffering of contaminated aggregates.

All the problems of the center are the same as in chöd practice. Here, without your putting effort into it, it just happens, the disturbed violent environment arises. So, it is a very good opportunity to realize emptiness and destroy the ego, the self-cherishing thought.

It is the same as in the text The Wheel of Sharp Weapons, when you use difficulties to cut the demon of your self-cherishing thought. It is also mentioned in A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life that when people have scars from having fought in a war, they see those scars not as something ugly, but as an ornament, a special sign that they have been brave. They are proud of those scars. So, like that, you can use the problems in the center as a challenge to vanquish the self-cherishing thought and ignorance, the concept of true existence, the unknowing mind. …

Read the complete advice “Problems at a Dharma Center” in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/problems-dharma-center

Watch short video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/videos-of-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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche circumambulating the stupa at O.Sel.Ling Centro de Retiros, Spain, May 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave advice on how to utilize difficulties on the path to enlightenment to a student who had written to him about relationship problems.

All the problems are very good because they purify negative karma accumulated in the past. Those difficulties and problems in your life purify the very heavy negative karmas collected in many lifetimes in the past. By purifying that, you will experience much happiness in the future like the sun shining; therefore it’s positive.

Remember you have received many teachings for a long time and especially chöd practice. Chöd should not be just chanting, but the practice. It is especially for dealing with all these problems that you are experiencing, so you utilize the difficulties as the quickest way to achieve enlightenment for yourself and to free the numberless sentient beings from oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to peerless happiness, the state of omniscience.

Lama Chopa [v. 103]:

Should even all the beings of the three realms without exception
Become angry at me, humiliate, criticize, threaten, or even kill me,
I seek your blessings not to be agitated, but to complete the perfection of patience
That works for their benefit in response to their harm.

The essence is explained in Lama Chopa [v. 96]:

Even if the environment and beings are filled with the fruits of negativity,
And unwished for sufferings pour down like rain,
I seek your blessings to take these miserable conditions as a path
By seeing them as causes to exhaust the results of my negative karma.

Please take time to think about the meaning of these verses.

This advice “How Problems Purify Past Negative Karma” was originally published in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/how-problems-purify-past-negative-karma

Find complete videos of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent teachings:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-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.