Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice

Lama Zopa Rinpoche giving a Medicine Buddha initiation in Vienna, Austria, September 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In the Medicine Buddha sadhana published by FPMT Education Services, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offers advice on doing Medicine Buddha practice. Mantra recitation as part of the practice is very powerful, as Rinpoche explains:

The Medicine Buddha encompasses all the buddhas. This means that when we practice the seven-limb prayer and make offerings with the seven limbs, we receive the same merit as we would if we had made offerings to all the buddhas. Similarly, when we recite the mantra of Medicine Buddha, we collect unbelievable merit just as when we offer the seven-limb practice to Medicine Buddha.

To recite the Medicine Buddha mantra brings inconceivable merit. Manjushri requested the eight tathagatas (Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and the seven Medicine Buddhas) to reveal a special mantra that would make the prayers they (the eight tathagatas) made in the past (prayers to be able to actualize the happiness of sentient beings by attaining the path to enlightenment and pacifying various problems, to be able to see all the buddhas, and for all wishes to be quickly realized) to quickly come to pass, especially for those sentient beings born in the time of the five degenerations who have small merit and who are possessed and overwhelmed by various diseases and spirit harms.

During that time, all the eight tathagatas, in one voice, taught the Medicine Buddha mantra. Therefore, if you recite the mantra every day, the buddhas and bodhisattvas will always pay attention to you, and they will guide you. Vajrapani, owner of the secrets, and the four guardians will always protect and guide you. All your negative karmas will be pacified, and you will never be born in the three lower realms. Even just hearing a recitation of the names of the eight tathagatas pacifies all diseases and spirit harms—even spirit harms that arise as a condition of disease—and all your wishes are fulfilled.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche circumambulates the Medicine Buddha statue at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, August 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

This is just a brief explanation of the benefits of the Medicine Buddha practice. This practice is especially beneficial if you are helping others, especially if you are doing healing work. It helps you to be more accurate and beneficial. You will receive much support, not only from the eight tathagatas, but from the four clairvoyant devas as well. These devas can help you to diagnose and understand the right method to heal, as they are associated with the eight tathagatas.

Excerpted from Medicine Buddha Sadhana by Ngawang Losang Tenpa Gyältsän, translated by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, and prepared by Ven. Thubten Gyatso. Published by FPMT Education Services. Students can find the practice and mantra in this sadhana:
https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/education/prayers/medicine_buddha_sadhana_c5.pdf

More prayers and practices can be found on FPMT.org:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/

FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, accompanied by attendants and students, circumambulates Boudhanath Stupa. Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Bill Kane.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has stressed the importance of circumambulating holy objects like stupas and has given specific advice for how to do that. In March 2017, when he led a large group of students in a late-night circumambulation of the great stupa at Boudhanath in Nepal those present were referred to a short printout based on advice from Rinpoche that appears on Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s website.

In brief, Rinpoche recommends the following steps:

FIRST, generate a strong motivation of bodhichitta.

SECOND, think that you have manifested numberless bodies yourself and that you are leading all sentient beings in the circumambulation.

THIRD, recite the special mantras and Buddha’s names:

CHOM DÄN DÄ DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PÄI SANG GYÄ PÄL GYÄL WA SHAKYA THUB PA LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

OM NAMO DASHA DEKA TRI KALA SARVA RATNA TRAYAYA MAMA PRADAKSHA SU PRA DAKSHA SARVA PAPAM BISHODHANI SVAHA (7X)

Reciting the second Buddha’s name and mantra increases the power of circumambulation or prostration ten million times:

CHOM DÄN DÄ DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PÄI SANG GYÄ RIN CHHEN GYÄL TSHÄN LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO (7X)

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, along with Sangha and other students, circumambulates the Dhamek stupa in Sarnath, India. January 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

FOURTH, visualize and always keep in mind that all the holy objects you are circumambulating (and all other holy objects) are manifestations of your root guru. 

FIFTH, as you walk, recite mantras and prayers or texts you have memorized such as OM MANI PADME HUM, Vajrasattva mantra, Mitukpa mantra, the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas, Vajra Cutter Sutra, Praises to Buddha (Shakyamuni Buddha, Praise by Way of the Twelve Deeds) and Buddha’s mantra, Praises to the Twenty-one Taras and Tara’s mantra, Chanting the Names of Manjushri, Lama Tsongkhapa’s Guru Yoga prayer (migtsema) or In Praise of Dependent Origination (Dependent Arising: A Praise of the Buddha from The Splendor Of An Autumn Moon), the prayer for refuge and bodhichitta, the five powerful mantras* and so on. If you haven’t memorized these, you can read the texts as you go around.

SIXTH, as you do each circumambulation, dedicate it and give away the merit.

SEVENTH, rejoice in this unbelievable practice! Now dedicate the merit by reciting the dedication prayers, long life prayers, and mantras to increase the merit. Dedicate well and extensively in order to generate bodhichitta. Give away all the merits to all sentient beings and think they have achieved enlightenment.

Crowds circumambulate Boudhanath Stupa on Chokor Duchen (the Day of Miracles). Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Bill Kane.

*  The five powerful mantras are Kunrig (Vairochana); Mitukpa (Akshobya); Namgyalma (Ushnishavijaya); Stainless Pinnacle (Ushnishavimala); and Wish-Granting Wheel. 

This advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on circumambulation appears in greater detail on Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/kyabje-zopa-rinpoches-advice-circumambulation

To learn more about practices related to stupas, visit Stupas: A Resource Guide:
https://fpmt.org/education/practice/holy-objects/stupas-resources/

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.

Ven. Roger Kunsang driving Rinpoche to the teaching hall in one of the “bodhichitta buses” at Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, August 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The month-long 2017 Light of the Path retreat in North Carolina, US, concluded on September 17. Recorded video and audio of the teachings in English as well as in translation to Chinese, French, Italian, and Spanish are all available from FPMT.org, where you can also find the unedited English transcript of Rinpoche’s teachings.

Photos from Rinpoche’s visit to North Carolina have been posted in a new photo album.

From Light of the Path, Rinpoche traveled to Vienna, Austria, where he will be teaching September 29-October 1 at Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelugzentrum.

Then, on October 4, Rinpoche begins the month-long 100 Million Mani Retreat at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy.

Details on live streaming these events will be announced soon.

Links to resources in this post

Light of the Path 2017 video, audio, and transcript:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/light-of-the-path-teachings-2017/

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in North Carolina photo album:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mv5XcRHpnRbuSgnc7

Information on the 100 Million Mani Retreat at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy:
https://www.iltk.org/en/lama-zopa-rinpoche-2017/

Live streaming video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teachings:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

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 Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, September 2017. Photo by Kalleen Mortensen.

During a session on September 4 at the Light on the Path retreat, Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught on several topics, including continuing a translation of Nagarjuna’s Praise to Satisfy Sentient Beings. From that, Rinpoche spoke to participants about the importance of working at Dharma centers. What follows is an edited version of Rinpoche’s advice on serving sentient being through working for an FPMT center.

You can see that working for the FPMT organization, working for the Dharma center wherever you are, is not just physical work—making a road or building a house or something. (Although even that can be for sentient beings!) Do you understand how bringing the wisdom light of Dharma to the minds of sentient beings—which are like a dark room where they have suffered continuously without end since beginningless rebirths—is so important? How bringing the light of Dharma to the darkness of their hearts and minds is so important?

In the center, whatever you are doing—whether you are the director, the assistant director, the bookkeeper, the cook, the cleaner—is for sentient beings. You are working for sentient beings. You have to keep your mind as Buddha explained and as Nagarjuna explained in Praise to Satisfying Sentient Beings. What you are doing and what has been explained is the same, not opposite.

So, think in your heart about sentient beings. Then, work and benefit sentient beings through whatever work you do. That is what is most pleasing to Buddha’s holy mind. That is what is most pleasing to numberless buddhas and bodhisattvas. It is most pleasing to the guru—His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Yeshe, and so forth. Do you understand? Working for sentient beings is most pleasing to them. Do you see now what is being talked about here in Praise to Satisfying Sentient Beings?

You have to realize that you are not wasting your time, your life. If you go to the beach, you lay your naked body down and spend hours and hours—all day long—there. Then you get into the water, like the sharks. Before, many of those sharks were naked people on the beach. The sharks have been naked people on the beach numberless times. (As I told you, the fish and fishermen trade places, the animals and butchers trade places.) Each person has his own trip of what “pleasure” means. There are all kinds in the world. So now think: “Do I prefer that, or, helping the FPMT Dharma organization and the FPMT centers?”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Light of the Path, September 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In an FPMT center, there is a resident teacher who teaches lamrim philosophy—either simply or complexly—whatever is needed. If he or she doesn’t speak English, then a translator is provided. And nowadays, even the Western students themselves are able to explain and teach. Before, we needed geshes. Now that the Masters Program and Basic Program are running, lay students teach philosophy, even in centers where there are geshes. FPMT developed this. But to have all that, you need facilities—you need many things. So, you provide those things. And you need all that to help sentient beings, to help yourself and to help others.

Between the body and mind, everyone at the Dharma center is there to help the minds of sentient beings. By running the center with the mind of Dharma—correctly following the virtuous friend, renunciation, bodhichitta, and emptiness (without even talking about tantra)—whatever you are doing there, whatever the center does becomes virtue. Everything becomes the cause of achieving nirvana and nothing becomes the cause of achieving samsara. Everything becomes the cause of enlightenment. Everything becomes the cause of enlightenment if the main effort of everyone working in the center is put into cultivating a bodhichitta motivation. This is the best way to benefit sentient beings.

To bring about world peace, the basic thing needed is for people to learn about and develop compassion. Basic Dharma is compassion. If you create negative karma, if you harm other sentient beings, the result is that you will be harmed for hundreds, thousands, and millions of lifetimes. If you benefit others, then you will have success in your life for hundreds, thousands, millions, and billions of lifetimes—it goes on and on. All happiness comes.

At the Dharma center, you teach basic Buddhism: compassion and wisdom. Therefore, students come to know about karma. They abandon negative karma, which causes suffering, and create good karma, which brings happiness. Dharma centers bring so much peace and compassion to the world. They teach compassion and wisdom. They teach what is right and what is wrong. From that which is right, comes all happiness up to enlightenment. From that which is wrong, comes all the sufferings. That is why students need to learn Dharma. And not only lamrim, but philosophy too.

At Light of the Path, Ven. Chantal Carrerot, Paula Chichester, and Alexis Benelhadj request Rinpoche to give a Vajrayogini retreat at Institut Vajra Yogini in France, September 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

So, the centers are sooooo important. The centers are where sentient beings are allowed to learn Dharma and to meditate. Centers are where there are facilities, teachers, translators. They are so, so, so important for sentient beings. You cannot imagine how important they are, how needed they are. In the centers, everything that is done is for sentient beings. Can you imagine? It’s so important, so important, so important.

By remembering that you are involved in this, you should always be happy. As I often say, I thought people who had won at soccer were angry—because they weren’t smiling; their veins pop out they raise up their arms! Later, I realized it meant that they were unbelievably happy. But that’s nothing. That happiness is nothing because it doesn’t protect them from the lower realms.

For us, we have to be joyous nonstop like a soccer player who has won a match. We have to express our joy—with our arms raised—day and night, all the time, every second. People might think you are crazy because you aren’t playing soccer! If you are defeating other people in a match, it’s OK for you to raise your arms, but because you aren’t defeating other people in a match, they think you are crazy and should go to an institution. In reality, you are making so much merit, so much happiness in every second—it’s unbelievable, unbelievable. You are following the guru’s advice and fulfilling the guru’s holy wishes, which collects the highest merit. Whatever you are doing while working for the center collects the highest merit and is the greatest purification of negative karma collected since beginning rebirths. You have to recognize that. 

Excerpted from Light of the Path 2017, Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina, United States, September 4, 2017. Edited by Mandala for FPMT.org.

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 recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching around the world, including at the Light of the Path retreat at https://fpmt.org/RinpocheNow/.

Join Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 100 Million Mani Retreat at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy: October 4-November 5, 2017. Find out more at:
https://www.iltk.org/en/lama-zopa-rinpoche-2017/

Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing a very sick patient of Shakyamuni Health Clinic; Rinpoche did short Medicine Buddha practice for her and all the patients there, Bodhgaya, India, April 2017. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche sent the following advice to a person who fell down and was injured, and is still very sick as well as worried because he hasn’t gotten better.

Think that I am the most fortunate one, that I have this sickness, I am the most fortunate one. Why? Because by having this sickness now I can practice pure Dharma. I have been given the opportunity to practice pure Dharma. So I can experience all sentient beings’ pain, disease, spirit harm, negative karma, and obscurations, and they can all achieve the dharmakaya.

Also you can meditate that you receive all sentient beings’ pain, disease, negative karma, and obscurations. Think that you have received these in your heart in the form of darkness, like smoke, like black fog, and they destroy the self-cherishing thought, where all the sufferings come from. They are brought into the heart and received there, like throwing an atomic bomb on the enemy, so self-cherishing thoughts are totally smashed. So here you give this to the self-cherishing thought that has caused you beginningless oceans of samsara in the six realms up to the present, as well as the present and endless future oceans of suffering—not only your suffering but has also given suffering to numberless sentient beings from beginningless lives up to now—and as long as you don’t generate bodhichitta, it will bring endless suffering to numberless sentient beings again. So destroy the one enemy, this self-cherishing thought, so it is totally destroyed. And think that all sentient beings receive dharmakaya.

You can do tonglen, if you can, taking on others’ suffering and with compassion giving your body, possessions, and merits to other sentient beings, with loving kindness, so they all receive enlightenment, achieve rupakaya.

[If you can listen to the teachings that Rinpoche recently gave at the Light of the Path retreat in North Carolina, it is all online. If you can watch that or listen to that, it would be very good].

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Shakyamuni Health Clinic, Bodhgaya, India, April 2017. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.

Then much of your day you can recite this, like a mantra but instead of a mantra. If you can, do at least a few malas a day of this:

“By my having to experience this sickness, may all sentient beings be free immediately from all the diseases, spirit harm, negative karma, and defilements.”

So pray like this and recite this each day and do a few malas. This prayer is from the great yogi Choje Götsangpa.

So you can see this sickness is helping you. That is why I said how fortunate you are. You can collect more than skies of merit and purify negative karma and defilements collected from beginningless rebirth. This brings you to enlightenment quickly. This is why I said in the beginning how fortunate you are to think in this way.

It is very, very, very good, in reality it is like this. This is a gain, not a loss for you, the highest gain, so please do this.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Transcribed by Ven. Holly Ansett, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, USA, November 2016. Lightly edited by Mandala.

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 recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching around the world, including at the Light of the Path retreat at https://fpmt.org/RinpocheNow/.

Join Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 100 Million Mani Retreat at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy: October 4-November 5, 2017. Find out more at:
https://www.iltk.org/en/lama-zopa-rinpoche-2017/

Sangha from Australia and New Zealand leading Lama Zopa Rinpoche to the teaching hall at the Light of the Path retreat, North Carolina, US, September 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In the video below, Lama Zopa Rinpoche talks about the impact of keeping vows on the power of prayer. He says that the more vows we have, and keep purely, the more power our prayers will have. Therefore, when monastics pray for others, their prayers “have so much power”!

Whatever monks and nuns pray for will have more success because of their vows, says Rinpoche in the video, which was recorded at the Light of the Path 2016 retreat. Making offerings to monks and nuns is also very meritorious because their many vows help make them more pure; such offerings have enormous future karmic benefits for whoever makes them.

Watch Rinpoche talk on YouTube about the relationship between vows, merit, and effective prayers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XULE495JKZ0&feature=youtu.be

Watch more video from the 2016 Light of the Path Retreat and find links to translations, MP3s, and the complete transcript:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/light-of-the-path-teachings-2016/

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach LIVE at the Light of the Path retreat August 20-September 17, 2017: 
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

It’s not too late to join Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 100 Million Mani Retreat at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy: October 4-November 5, 2017. Find out more at:
https://www.iltk.org/en/lama-zopa-rinpoche-2017/

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 Australia 2014 retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, October 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Registration is now open for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia, March 30-May 12, 2018! This six-week retreat is the third in series of retreats given in Australia by Rinpoche.

“This retreat came about because the late Khunu Lama Rinpoche requested Lama Zopa Rinpoche to translate Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara (A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life),” explained Ven. Roger Kunsang, Rinpoche’s assistant and CEO of FPMT. “Khunu Lama Rinpoche made this request after he gave Lama Zopa Rinpoche the commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara at Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s request. So Lama Zopa Rinpoche is teaching the Bodhicaryavatara at the same time as translating it. (A small team led by Ven. Ailsa Cameron is carefully noting Rinpoche’s translation as he teaches.)

“Then Lama Zopa Rinpoche was requested by Ven. Gyatso (director of Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery in Bendigo) to give the Rinjung Gyatsa set of initiations, which is quite rare. Rinpoche commented that it is common in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition to organize initiations into ‘sets.’ Also that different deities have different purposes and benefits, and that once you receive the permission to practice that deity, you have more potential to help others and are also helping to preserve Buddhism.

“Lama Zopa Rinpoche has combined both into one retreat. The first installment of this retreat was in April 2011 and the second installment took place in September-October 2014.”

Rinpoche teaching at the Australia 2014 retreat. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

You can register for the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat 2018 at the Great Stupa and find additional information on the retreat website:
http://lamazoparetreat2018.org.au/

An early-bird discount is offered on registration before October 31, 2017.

Read about the April 2011 retreat in the Mandala story “The Retreat of a Life Time.” The September-October 2014 retreat was covered in many FPMT news blog posts, which include links to video from Rinpoche’s teachings there. You can also access video recordings of Rinpoche’s teachings from the Australia 2014 retreat on FPMT’s Rinpoche Available Now page (fpmt.org/rinpochenow/).

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach LIVE at the Light of the Path retreat August 20-September 17, 2017: 
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

It’s not too late to join Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 100 Million Mani Retreat at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy: October 4-November 5, 2017. Find out more at:
https://www.iltk.org/en/lama-zopa-rinpoche-2017/

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 before mantra balloon release at Light of the Path retreat, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, August 2017. Photos by Kalleen Mortensen.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche released balloons with mantras he had written on them to bless all the sentient beings who pass underneath them. During a break between sessions at the Light of the Path in North Carolina, Rinpoche had the retreatants gather and explained the meanings of some of the mantras written on the balloons before they were released.

Mantra balloons before being released to spread blessing to all sentient beings who pass underneath them

The mantras included OM MANI PADME HUM (the mantra of the Buddha of Compassion), the “Just by Seeing” mantra, “Six Syllables of Clairvoyance” mantra, and the “Lotus Pinnacle” mantra. The balloons also had extensive dedications written on them, which were read aloud. Rinpoche’s explanation, the dedications, and the balloon release were captured in a five-minute video.  

WATCH Rinpoche Explain the Benefits of Mantra Balloons on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/aL_UfDb3B6Y

Find more resources on mantras on FPMT Education Services’ mantra page:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/mantras/

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach LIVE at the Light of the Path 2017 retreat August 20-September 17: 
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

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 Ven. Sangpo Sherpa watch balloons with mantras written on them float up into the sky and spread blessings, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, August 2017. Photo by Kalleen Mortensen.

“How does taking vows or Mahayana precepts helps end famine and war?” a student asked Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the Light of the Path 2016 retreat. Rinpoche’s reply was captured in the video below.

Rinpoche responds by saying, “those vows have power!” He then talks about the positive impact of taking vows and precepts.Vows, he says, have power because the mind has power, and vows help make the mind positive.

The four harmonious friends. Photo FPMT.

Rinpoche briefly tells the story of the four harmonious friends, who all live in the five precepts. Due to the power of these vows, everything in their area is “auspicious”: rains come and crops flourish. The natural world, the environment, and the economy thrive. This, Rinpoche explains, is due to the power of positive mental states.

Because our experiences arise from the power of mind, the positivity created by vows has an effect, including stopping wars and so on. Thus, Rinpoche declares, “living in vows affects the world through the power of mind.”

Watch Rinpoche talk on YouTube about the power of vows and precepts:
https://youtu.be/kyYq8y3PqWo

Watch more video from the 2016 Light of the Path Retreat and find links to translations, MP3s, and the complete transcript:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/light-of-the-path-teachings-2016/

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach LIVE at the Light of the Path 2017 retreat August 20-September 17: 
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

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 Thubten Norbu Ling, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US, August 2017. Photo courtesy of Thubten Norbu Ling.

From August 9-14, Thubten Norbu Ling in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, hosted Lama Zopa Rinpoche for a series of teachings, jenangs, and an initiation. Spiritual program coordinator Bonnie Povolny shared news about the visit:

The initial session on August 9 began with a two-hour teaching prior to a White Manjushri jenang. His comments peppered with laughter, Lama Zopa greeted the audience saying, “Thank you very much! … For some, the first time to meet, and some, we met in the past. Some long time ago and some recent. Lama Yeshe says, ‘When you meet friends, a benefit to not being dead is to meet again.’ So like here, we meet again. ‘Again’ is two things: first one is that we met in a past life, so ‘again.’ The second one, [we’ve met] many times in this life, ‘again.’  ‘Again’ has two different meanings.” He continued by reminding us that we may have met in many different sentient forms: animals, insects, humans, ants, pigs, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, and enemies.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Max Mathews, Thubten Norbu Ling, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US, August 2017. Photo courtesy of Thubten Norbu Ling.

Prior to the Vajrasattva jenang on August 10, Lama Zopa fielded a question about the title of his book, How to Enjoy Death, emphasizing in a joyful way that death is something we all will experience, should not fear, and that we have absolutely no idea when it will occur.

On August 11, the day when Lama Zopa was not teaching, the group met for a recitation of the Vajra Cutter Sutra, dedicated to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life.

The schedule was rearranged to accommodate an extended teaching on August 12 in which Lama Zopa Rinpoche helped us to develop a more clear view of reality. There was an emphasis on the problems caused by the belief in the inherent “I” and how even one person can cause long-term, worldwide problems. Both the preparation for and the initiation into the Great Medicine Buddha were conducted the following day.

The teachings were dedicated to Lama Zopa’s long life, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s long life, and to a successful capital campaign for a new center for Thubten Norbu Ling.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche met for lunch with the board of Thubten Norbu Ling on August 14 to further discuss the capital campaign for a new center. Afterward, he returned to bless the center and give a transmission, the lung of Chanting the Names of Manjushri. Later in the afternoon, he met with and blessed the volunteers.

All of us at Thubten Norbu Ling feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be in the presence of and receive teachings from Lama Zopa. His teachings and presence in Santa Fe opened the hearts and minds of so many people. May his health be strong and his life be long for the benefit of all sentient beings!

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Geshe Sherab, and Don Handrick, who are the resident geshe and resident teacher, respectively, at Thubten Norbu Ling, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US, August 2017. Photo courtesy of Thubten Norbu Ling.

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach LIVE at the Light of the Path 2017 retreat August 20-September 17: 
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

Watch video recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Thubten Norbu Ling:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/lama-zopa-rinpoche-teachings-in-Santa-Fe-USA-2017/

Read more about the teachings, educational programs, and events at Thubten Norbu Ling:
http://www.tnlsf.org

FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.

Rinpoche meeting local dignitaries at Root Institute. Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

While he was in Bodhgaya, India, in January this year, Lama Zopa Rinpoche invited some influential people onto the roof of the FPMT center, Root Institute, for a small party. Included were actor Richard Gere as well as a number of local politicians and dignitaries.

During the event, Rinpoche spoke briefly about why he wants to build statues of Maitreya Buddha. The statues, he said, help people develop a good heart. That good heart in turn will help create peace and happiness in the world. 

Listen to Rinpoche discuss the role of Maitreya Buddha statues in creating a peaceful and happy world on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/AYVk1VrRsek

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach LIVE at the Light of the Path 2017 retreat, August 20-September 17: 
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

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.