Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Tenzin Phuntsok Rinpoche, who has just offered a khata, Losar celebrations, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, February 2017. Photo by Laura Miller.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived the night of February 25 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal to join in the Losar (Tibetan New Year) celebrations there. He had traveled from Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala, India, where he visited briefly. On his arrival at Kopan, monks lined up with khatas to welcome him, and he was also offered khatas by Tenzin Phuntsok Rinpoche, the reincarnation of Kopan’s beloved Geshe Lama Konchog, who had recently arrived from Sera Je Monastery; Western Sangha members; and Western students participating in Kopan’s three-month Vajrasattva retreat.

Waiting to welcome Lama Zopa Rinpoche to Kopan Monastery, Nepal, February 25, 2017. Photo by Laura Miller.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche congratulating monks from Kopan Monastery School, February 2017. Photo from Kopan Monastery School via Facebook.

On Sunday, February 26, Kopan Monastery School had its year-end ceremony and celebration, during which exam results were announced and the monks received recognition and awards for their performance during the 2016-7 school year. Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended as well as Kopan’s abbot Khen Rinpoche Geshe Thubten Chonyi. Rinpoche spoke to the monks, reminding them how fortunate they were to study the monastic texts and offering them encouragement to work hard on their studies.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended Lama Chöpa tsog on the morning of Losar, celebrating the beginning of the new year with all the Kopan monks and nuns. Rinpoche gave a talk to the monks and nuns in Tibetan during the puja. 

At Lama Chöpa puja, Losar celebrations, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, February 2017. Photo by Laura Miller.

After the puja, khatas were offered to the rinpoches attending the puja and Kopan’s abbot. Then a big community picnic lunch followed. Tenzin Rigsel Rinpoche, Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup‘s reincarnation, who will be enthroned next week at Kopan, also attended the picnic. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche blesses Kopan’s monks and nuns after the picnic, Losar celebrations, February 2017, Nepal. Photo by Bijaya R. Tuladhar via Facebook.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and everyone at FPMT International Office wish all of our readers a big Losar Tashi Delek—Happy Tibetan New Year—to all!

Lama Chöpa offerings at Losar, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, February 2017. Photo by Laura Miller.

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.

Incense offering puja dedicated to all beings who are sick, presided over by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at his house, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, USA, November 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche was asked for advice by a student who has cancer. His brother is taking care of him, including helping him go the bathroom and cleaning him afterward. Rinpoche typed up the following advice himself to send to the student:

Tell the person who has cancer that when I was with Lama Yeshe, Lama Yeshe cooked and took care of me, and I just sat and did prayers, and wandered around the world, looking like meditating.

So on the way to Los Angeles to check in at the hospital, Lama was meant to have an operation, but they did not operate because it was too late, they said. They hired a small airplane, on the way on the plane I had to clean Lama’s holy kaka, maybe two times. That made Lama very happy. It looked to me like Lama did that just for me, so that I could purify many eons of negative karma. Maybe this is why especially Lama was happy. So this is the quick path to enlightenment.

Tell the person who is cleaning up after the student who has cancer that also Buddha practiced charity, giving his life and his eyes and limbs numberless times for three countless eons. Then he practiced pure morality, all the hardships for three countless eons, then even cut his own limbs. He practiced perseverance, concentration, and wisdom for three countless eons then completed the two merits, the merit of wisdom and of method, and then achieved the two kayas, holy body and mind. So this was all for us sentient beings to be fully free from samsara and bring to full enlightenment.

So taking care of him, cleaning his kaka and pee-pee, is like this. It is for collecting the most extensive merits and for purification, and is a quick way to achieve enlightenment for numberless sentient beings. So is soooooooo precious, so kind for us. Thank you.

Also know that even if he is not cherishing numberless sentient beings, just even cherishing one sentient being brings one to enlightenment. For example Aryasanga (Asanga) did not see Maitreya Buddha even after twelve years of retreat. Then he left to come down on the road and he saw a black dog totally wounded, full of maggots. Aryasanga felt soooooooooooooo much compassion for the dog that he cut flesh from his thigh—not somebody else’s thigh—to put the maggots on. Then he stretched out his tongue, closing his eyes, but his tongue did not touch the maggots on the dog. So he then opened his eyes and he saw Maitreya Buddha, he grasped Maitreya Buddha. And he said, “How come for so long I did not see you when I was in retreat?” Maitreya Buddha said, “I was always there in the cave with you.” Then he showed Aryasanga where he, Aryasanga, had spit in the cave, and actually he had spit on Maitreya Buddha’s robe!

Then Maitreya Buddha asked him, “What do you want?” Aryasanga asked for teachings, then Maitreya Buddha took him in the pure land of Tushita. One morning there is like fifty years in the human realm. Maitreya Buddha gave teachings. When Aryasanga came down he wrote five treaties of teachings, like Abhisamayalamkara and so forth. A long time afterward, Lama Atisha wrote The Lamp of Path to Enlightenment, which contains the whole path. As a result, for soooo many years up to now, so many beings have achieved full enlightenment and are free from samsara and able to free so many other beings from samsara and bring them to full enlightenment.

So what I am saying is that numberless sentient beings have achieved full enlightenment from those teachings up to now and have actualized the whole path to full enlightenment. This came from Aryasanga generating great compassion to that wounded dog.

Another story is in the commentary on Vajrayogini. Getsul Tsembulwa was the disciple of a great yogi called Nakpo Chopawa. Getsul Tsembulwa was a monk living in thirty-six vows. So first his teacher came, he was going for his last conduct (tantric conduct) in Odi close to Buxa, where I lived eight years. So there was a big river. At the river’s edge, there a was totally poor lady, full of leprosy, and pus and blood coming out of her, she was so dirty. And she was asking, “Please take me to the other side of the river.” The great yogi Nakpo Chopawa did not listen; he went straight across the river without helping her. Then his disciple Getsul Tsembulwa came and she asked him the same thing. As soon as he saw her there arose unbelievable compassion in him. He did not care at all that by touching her he might also get leprosy, or that she was a woman and therefore, as a monk, he should not touch her. He immediately carried her across the river on his back. When he was only halfway across the river, because of the compassion he generated, he had purified soooooooo much negative karma and obscurations that the lady was no longer that dirty ordinary lady, but actually Dorje Pagmo (Vajrayogini). She was Dorje Pagmo from beginning but he could not see that. Now he saw Dorje Pagmo. Then without the need to leave this body, she took him in the pure land Thakpa Khachoe. There one can definitely become enlightened.

So you see, definitely you can be enlightened by generating compassion, such as toward that lady who was unbelievably dirty and sick. There are numberless stories that show this.

So now he should think that the person who he is caring for, cleaning up, is the most precious, kindest, wish-fulfilling gem. Even it is only one person. Destroy cherishing the I, which is the source of all the suffering of oneself and the source of all other sentient beings’ sufferings.

Please take care well and think about these teachings and understand them well. Generating compassion for people who are sick with cancer etc., cleaning their kaka and pee-pee, and serving them is extremely important, even for this life, for all the wishes to succeed, and then also for hundreds of thousands and millions of lives, to have unbelievable success and to quickly actualize the path and achieve enlightenment.

Bodhisattva Thogme Zangpo said, “All suffering comes from desiring happiness for oneself. The full completed realization, the total cessation of all the obscurations, comes from the thought of benefiting others.”

Kadampa Geshe Langri Tangpa said, “For profit offer the victory to sentient beings. Why? Because all the collection of goodness comes from that sentient being. All the loss take on yourself, because all the harms and sufferings came from cherishing the I. Take any defeat or loss on yourself.”

Incense offering puja with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, dedicated to all beings who are sick, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, USA, November 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Advice dated November 2016, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, WA, USA. Transcribed by Ven. Holly Ansett and 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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche chants blessings to rescued dogs in Bhutan, July 2016. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.

In 2016, Lama Zopa Rinpoche heard about a service that rescues stray dogs in Malaysia, and that had cared for more than a thousand of them. He was deeply touched to hear about this rescue effort.

Rinpoche wanted to make an offering of food to help the dogs and also support the woman who ran the rescue service. The local FPMT center, Losang Dragapa Centre, raised money and Rinpoche also contributed. Together, they offered enough money for six months’ worth of food. In addition, Rinpoche asked the center members to put Namgyalma mantras on the ceilings of each of the kennels where the rescued dogs stayed, which they did. Because of this, the dogs now receive purification and blessings from the mantra.

Afterward, Rinpoche sent the center the following letter of thanks.

Auntie Mee Fah’s Dogs’ Shelter, Malaysia

My most dear, most precious, most kind wish-fulfilling one and everyone,

Thank you very, very much billion, zillion, trillion times, to all the students and all the friends. Please tell everyone my billion, zillion, trillion on and on thanks for the support for the dogs.

Buddha said:

Any sentient being, who during the period of my teachings,
Makes charity well (even if the material is the size of hair)
For 80,000 eons there will be great result of great enjoyment.
No pain, no disease, and enjoyment of happiness.
Like that, one will be enriched with desirable things.
At the end you can actually achieve the result—the peerless cessation and completion (enlightenment) 
After hearing that there is the great result—who wouldn’t want to collect merit?

Please pass on this quote and my thanks to everyone. Also please give it to the lady who has the dogs, telling her it is from me.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Transcribed by Ven. Holly Ansett. Lightly edited by Ven. Holly Ansett and Mandala.

Auntie Mee Fah’s Dogs’ Shelter, Malaysia

Benefiting animals is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/vast-vision/#animals

Watch a short video about the benefits of the Namgyalma mantra:
https://fpmt.org/mandala-today/the-benefits-of-the-namgyalma-mantra-video/

For more about FPMT’s activities to benefit animals see:
https://fpmt.org/tag/animals/

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.

Mahabodhi Stupa, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Jane Seidlitz. Lama Zopa Rinpoche led groups of students to circumambulate this stupa many times while he was in Bodhgaya.

During his recent travels in Nepal and India, Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited stupas over and over.

In the book, Benefits and Practices Related to Statues and Stupas, he explains why: “Every day, when sentient beings see stupas and statues, this plants the seed of enlightenment. It is said that even dreaming of a stupa plants the seed of enlightenment.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching on how to circumambulate a stupa, Boudhanath Stupa, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

He adds: “Enlightenment doesn’t happen by a click of the fingers; but seeing holy objects plants the imprint to actualize the path and achieve enlightenment. Once you have holy objects, then every day they work for sentient beings, naturally, all the time. For beings such as animals or insects who merely touch a stupa with mantras inside—even if they are touched by just the shadow of the stupa—the negative karma in their minds of having killed their father or mother is purified. When water or rain touches the stupa, it becomes holy water. The rainwater that touches the stupa becomes blessed. So when it rains and the rainwater runs from the stupa and soaks into the ground, any insects, worms, any being living in the ground—whomever it touches—all their negative karma gets purified. They receive a higher rebirth and become liberated. It is the same with the wind. When the wind blows over and touches a stupa, it becomes blessed and then has the power to purify. When the wind then touches sentient beings—whomever it touches, animals or flies or insects or human beings—it purifies their negative karma … It is so unbelievably powerful!”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and others visiting the stupa (under construction) of Sakya master Kyabje Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In summary, Rinpoche teaches that the main purpose of building stupas is to make the lives of all beings, young and old, meaningful. For those who see them, stupas will:

• help purify their minds,
• help collect merit, which is the cause of all happiness and all success,
• help heal their bodies and minds through purification; and
• help to preserve Tibetan Mahayana culture.

Boudhanath Stupa, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Maitreya School children and teachers in front of the school, Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Root Institute via Facebook.

Rinpoche’s extensive activities in Bodhgaya, India, in January and February have left students overwhelmed with gratitude. Rinpoche recently left Bodhgaya, and Ven. Paldron, director of Root Institute for Wisdom Culture, the FPMT center and guesthouse in Bodhgaya, India, reports on his activities while there: 

It was an honor and a privilege to have Rinpoche visit Root Institute for just over a month. Rinpoche’s kind, wise, and compassionate presence has been wonderfully healing for all of us during this time.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche dines with dignitaries, including Tenzin Ösel Hita and Richard Gere, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

During the two weeks of Kalachakra teachings and initiations from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Rinpoche gave his time and energy without reservation to attend to the needs of visitors from around the world. He also visited with many lamas and dignitaries, and kindly found time to circumambulate the Mahabodhi Stupa with students on several occasions.

Khongla Rato Rinpoche (one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus), Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Khen Rinpoche Nicholas Vreeland, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche’s foresight had led him some time ago to request Dee Chandrashekhar, a student at Choe Khor Sum Ling in Bangalore, India, to come to Root Institute to teach the children of FPMT’s Maitreya School the Heart Sutra in Sanskrit. As a result of the students’ diligence in learning this, they had the incredible opportunity to recite it in front of His Holiness at the Kalachakra initiation. His Holiness was so pleased that he offered funds for all the children from the school to go on a picnic!

Maitreya School students recite the Heart Sutra in Sanskrit to His Holiness, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Bill Kane.

Due to Rinpoche’s great kindness the holy Maitreya land was blessed when Rinpoche requested the Sera Je monks to offer a long life puja there instead of at the Mahabodhi Stupa, as initially proposed. Rinpoche also advised the Kopan monks and nuns to offer Lama Chöpa tsog at the Maitreya land, thus providing immense blessings to help remove obstacles affecting the Maitreya Projects.   

Long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Maitreya Project land, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche kindly focused much attention on Root Institute and its projects. He blessed the Stupa Garden of Compassion first.

Root Institute’s new Kadampa stupa, blessed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in January 2017. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Then he visited with the children of Maitreya School and Tara Children’s Project, giving them an opportunity to recite the Twenty-One Tara praises in Sanskrit, and also blessing them with his holy speech. He distributed much needed shoes and socks to the children.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Maitrey School, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017, Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Rinpoche also kindly spent time at the Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic uplifting the patients with his sage advice and distributing funds and blankets to children with cerebral palsy. The staff of Root Institute, Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic, and Tara Children’s Project were all privileged to listen to Rinpoche’s teachings and advice and to offer him khatas. Our resident geshe, Lharampa Geshe Rabga, and the students of Root Institute’s Basic Program were also fortunate to receive Rinpoche’s blessings and words of wisdom.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche visits a patient at Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic, Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

We at Root Institute were blessed to receive a feast of teachings from Rinpoche each day for almost two weeks—on emptiness, on the importance of guru yoga, and on the bodhichitta motivation. Rinpoche stressed over and over again the importance of serving and benefiting others and working on eliminating the self-cherishing ego.

Rinpoche also kindly bestowed a Multicolored Garuda initiation, as well as two great initiations, the Great Chenrezig and Great Medicine Buddha initiations. Thanks to a request from two Nyingma monks, we also received the White Dzambhala oral transmission. Finally, at the request of our resident geshe, Rinpoche also gave the oral transmission of the seven-point mind training composed by Geshe Chekawa, along with a commentary. We were also fortunate to offer Rinpoche Lama Chöpa tsog on two occasions in our main gompa.

We truly rejoice from the bottom of our hearts for all that we received!

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Root Institute workers. Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang 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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) in Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Bill Kane.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited some of Buddhism’s most important holy sites in January 2017, including Bodhgaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment; Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first teaching; and the ruins of the ancient Buddhist university of Nalanda, where many of the great Buddhist teachers of the past studied, such as Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Chandrakirti, Shantideva, and Atisha. Nalanda is also considered to be the place of the birth and nirvana of Shariputra, a famous disciple of the Buddha. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche consecrating the new Kadampa stupa at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo from Root Institute via Facebook.

In Bodhgaya, Rinpoche led students in circumambulating the Mahabodhi Stupa, marking the spot where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment, and consecrated the very beautiful new Kadampa stupa in the Stupa Garden of Compassion at Root Institute for Wisdom Culture.

On pilgrimage with Rinpoche, India, January 2017. Photo by Jane Seidlitz.

Rinpoche invited the Kopan monks and nuns, as well as Western students staying at Root Institute, to join him on pilgrimage. Tenzin Ösel Hita; the abbot of Kopan Monastery, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi; and Kopan’s umdze (chant leader) Geshe Sherab also went on the trip to Sarnath. Several busloads of lay students, monks, and nuns accompanied Rinpoche.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and others circumambulating Dhamek Stupa in Sarnath, India, January 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In Sarnath, Rinpoche led the group in circumambulating the massive Dhamek Stupa, which commemorates the Buddha having given his first teachings in the area. Rinpoche led prayers and a seven-limb practice there, and gave a short talk. He also was offered a long life puja by nuns and sponsors at Tara Temple in Sarnath, a project of Kopan Nunnery, and visited Alice Project, a school run by long-time FPMT student Valentino Giacomin.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the ruins of the ancient Buddhist university of Nalanda. In the background is the stupa of the Buddha’s disciple Shariputra. India, January 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

While waiting for Rinpoche to arrive at Nalanda, several Kopan monks gave a demonstration of their debating skills—a very suitable pastime given that Nalanda was once a famous center for debating Buddhist philosophy. 

Kopan monks debate near the ruins of the ancient Buddhist university of Nalanda, India, January 2017. Photo by Kunchok Gyaltsen.

At Nalanda, Rinpoche toured the extensive ruins and gave an oral transmission from The Panchen Lama’s Debate Between Wisdom and the Reifying Habit by the renowned first Panchen Lama, Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen (1570-1662). In addition to several hundred people receiving this, a large group of crows gathered in the trees above, seemingly to take in the transmission!

Lama Zopa Rinpoche giving an oral transmission from a Mahamudra text by Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, Nalanda university, India, January 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Rinpoche recommends that students go on pilgrimage to Buddhist holy places, and has given the following advice: 

“Pilgrimage needs faith. The more faith, the more happiness. Otherwise, you are just like a tourist looking at ruins … When you go to these holy places it reminds you of impermanence. Once these places were great cities but now there are just stones. A thousand years ago these places were quite different. But even though there are just stones now these stones are so precious. Amazing. Can you imagine how blessed these places are? They are places where the Buddha was …  So do different lam-rim prayers at these holy places and make prayers to have realizations. At the beginning do prostrations. You can recite the preliminary prayers that we do traditionally at Kopan Monastery, which include prostrations by reciting Buddha’s name. Then do the seven-limb practice. Then recite the different praises to Buddha and lam-rim prayers. If you have time, you can carry the story of the holy places with you and read that story to the people who are doing pilgrimage in the different places. If you are going on pilgrimage, read a book describing the holy places. Read about what the Buddha did in those places … “

Mahabodhi stupa, Bodhgaya, India, February 2017. Photo Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Get the FPMT Retreat Prayer Book, containing many prayers for retreat, daily practices, and pilgrimage from the Foundation Store and support FPMT International Office: 
https://shop.fpmt.org/FPMT-Retreat-Prayer-Book-PDF-_p_1371.html.

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 giving a Great Chenrezig initiation, Bodhgaya, India, February 1, 2017. Photo from Root Institute for Wisdom Culture via Facebook.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been in Bodhgaya, India, since late December, attending the Kalachakra initiation offered by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and himself offering teachings and initiations, as well as going on pilgrimage to many of Buddhism’s holiest sites, meeting with students and other lamas, and visiting FPMT social projects: Maitreya School, Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic, and MAITRI Charitable Trust.

During the last few days of January and the first few days of February, Rinpoche gave teachings at Root Institute for Wisdom Culture and offered students a Great Chenrezig initiation and a Great Medicine Buddha initiation.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche preparing to prostrate prior to giving a Great Chenrezig initiation, Bodhgaya, India, February 1, 2017. Photo from Root Institute of Wisdom Culture via Facebook.

Rinpoche has also met with people in Bodhgaya, including His Holiness the Sakya Trizin, the supreme head of the Khon Sakya lineage and one of Rinpoche’s gurus.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche meeting with His Holiness the Sakya Trizin, Bodhgaya, India, February 2017. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Rinpoche also spent time with catching up with actor Richard Gere and visiting holy sites in Bodhgaya with him.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Richard Gere share a laugh, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

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 greeted in Bangalore, India, December 2016. Photo by Bill Kane.

Choe Khor Sum Ling (CKSL) members in Bangalore, India, are rejoicing in their recent good fortune: hosting extensive teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in December 2016. About 32 FPMT Sangha and 80 lay people from around the world attended the teachings. 

Ven. Tenzin Namjong of IMI House, Sera Je Monastery, acting as umdze (chant leader) during Rinpoche’s teachings, Bangalore, India, December 2016. Photo by Bill Kane.

Although the teachings were scheduled to be on Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, Rinpoche, seeing what would be most beneficial for the audience, taught on many of the key points of the path, including karma, the importance of motivation, the suffering nature of samsara, the Ten Innermost Jewels of the Kadampas, bodhichitta, emptiness, the importance and method of doing animal liberation practice, the meaning of the word “lama,” and how to practice the essence of guru yoga by seeing the guru as the manifestation of all the buddhas and remembering his kindness. Rinpoche also gave a White Tara long life initiation.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with CKSL Center members and Ven. Tenzin Namjong, Bangalore, India, December 2016. Photo by Bill Kane.

CKSL members report on how blessed they felt on December 23, Lama Tsongkhapa Day, to be able to perform the full Lama Chöpa (Guru Puja) with tsog offering in Rinpoche’s presence. This turned into a long life puja as well when they added prayers to the Sixteen Arhats and made the traditional long life offerings to Rinpoche. In addition, for the sake of Rinpoche’s long life, Sangha and lay people attending the teachings gathered together most days and did the Sixteen Arhats puja, recited the Vajra Cutter Sutra, and recited Whita Tara and Medicine Buddha mantras. 

CKSL organizers report that Rinpoche seemed pleased: the teachings were originally scheduled to be four days, but Rinpoche, through his kindness and compassion, extended them to a full ten days. He also spoke extensively about the importance of the center, giving encouragement to students to continue to do work for sentient beings and to fulfill the wishes of the guru. Rinpoche also treated the Sangha and the CKSL volunteer team to lunches and made a generous donation to CKSL’s new building project.

Rinpoche joked that although the teachings were scheduled to be on “Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga,” he had only touched on the meaning of the first word, “Lama.” Rinpoche said he would try to return next year to continue. In the meantime, CKSL members expressed the hope that they could put into practice the teachings and advice they received in order to create the causes for the kind and compassionate guru to return to Bangalore to teach again and again.

The first half of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings in Bangalore can be seen on YouTube by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd3YWIA0vLx_8xqXdpEIyz-2GCVHyRi2S. The remaining teachings will also be available soon, so stay posted!

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with volunteers and staff of CKSL, Bangalore, India, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

With special thanks to Shanti Yajnik, Deepthy Chandrashekhar, and others at Choe Khor Sum Ling in Bangalore for reporting on this event.

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.

Jangtse Chöje Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Bodhgaya on January 2, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

A long life puja was offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on behalf of Sera Je Monastery on the Maitreya Project land in Bodhgaya on January 2, 2017. The puja was to thank Rinpoche for twenty-six years of support offered through the Sera Je Food Fund, which provides three vegetarian meals every day to the monks studying at Sera Je Monastery.

During the puja, the head of monastic discipline, who had been at Sera Je Monastery since before the Sera Je Food Fund was established, spontaneously praised Rinpoche for about thirty minutes, noting all the ways Rinpoche had helped the monastery. He explained what it was like at the monastery before food was regularly offered and how the monks have benefited after the fund’s creation. He said Rinpoche has cared for all the thousands of monks for the last twenty-six years like a mother does for her child.

Sangha participating in the long life puja offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Thousands of monks attended the puja as well as Jangtse Chöje; the new abbot of Sera Je Monastery; the past abbot of Sera Je Monastery; the past abbot of Namgyal Monastery, Jhado Rinpoche; and the past abbot of Gyurme Monastery, Khensur Geshe Tashi Tsering. 

The abbot of Sera Je Monastery making offerings to Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The Sera Je Food Fund has provided millions of meals since 1991. It currently offers approximately 700,000 meals per year, 2,900 meals per day. There are, on average, 1,600 monks benefiting from the food fund.

Please rejoice in the offering of this puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long life and in Sera Je Food Fund’s twenty-six years of food offerings to the monks of Sera Je Monastery. 

You can learn more about the Sera Je Food Fund, read an overview of the food offered daily, or support this project with a donation of any amount.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche wearing his mantra hat and holding tea offered to him by Kunsang Yeshe Retreat Centre in the Blue Mountains of Australia. Washington State, USA. November 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche was offered tea recently by Kunsang Yeshe Retreat Centre in Australia, which was selling the tea as a fundraiser. He responded with the following advice on how to “really” bless the tea.

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

Thank you so much for the tea you offered. I have been thinking about the tea. Many different centers only survive by donations, but in the past I did think about whether there could be a small business of selling tea that could help generate support for centers. At that time I was told that the outer packaging is also important. For example, tea packaged in the Japanese way looks very expensive. I was told that the packaging is important.

So thank you very much, I enjoyed the tea. I thought that even without milk this tea would be very good.

When I was thinking about the tea business in the past, I had the thought that I would request Khensur Denma Lochö Rinpoche, a very high Lama in Dharamsala, to bless 100 packets of tea. I thought that with Rinpoche’s prayers on the tea it could really benefit people. But Rinpoche passed away.

Anyway, regarding the tea you are producing, this is how I suggest to bless it.

It would be so good if the tea could be blessed by a group of Sangha, or can just be one or two Sangha. The first day of the blessing could be a Medicine Buddha puja at the center. It would be so good to bless the tea for one week before it is sold. That way many prayers can be done on the tea.

So to do seven days of strong prayers could have a lot of effect and bring benefit to the mind and not only the body. That would help a lot of people, especially those who drink with faith, but generally anyone who drinks it.

How to Pray:

To specifically pray to Medicine Buddha: For anyone who drinks this tea, may it help heal all depression, all those with physical sicknesses and mental sicknesses, cancer, diabetes, and curable and incurable sicknesses of the mind and body. May anybody who drinks this tea be healed immediately.

Then for anyone who drinks the tea, pray for them to be able to correctly follow the virtuous friend, to have all the realizations up to enlightenment, omniscient mind, and especially to develop loving kindness, compassion, and bodhichitta.

For anyone who drinks the tea, may it totally change their mind from harming others to cherishing and benefitting others.

So this is for the Sangha to know, how to pray and to make strong prayers. And not only Sangha but anyone who blesses the tea.

The Actual Prayers to Use:

Best would be to start with the extensive Medicine Buddha puja, this is very long and extensive so may not be possible, but you can keep in mind any time the center does do the extensive Medicine Buddha puja to bless the tea at the same time.

So if not the extensive Medicine Buddha puja, then, to start with, do the middle-length Medicine Buddha puja (this is the normal Medicine Buddha puja that is done in the centers) and make strong prayers to Medicine Buddha to bless the tea as mentioned above.

Then for the following six days you can either do the mid-length Medicine Buddha puja each day to bless the tea, OR you can do the Medicine Buddha Sadhana (that is a shorter practice, but it contains the recitation of the seven Medicine Buddha names) OR  if there is only a short amount of time, then you can do the “Blessing Medicine” prayer that I have put together.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche surrounded by “friends”, holding tea offered by Kunsang Yeshe Retreat Centre in Australia. Washington State, USA, November 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Transcribed by Ven. Holly Ansett, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, USA, October, 2016.  Edited by Mandala for inclusion on FPMT.org.

Get copies of the Medicine Buddha pujas and prayers recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from the Foundation Store.

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.

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

Enormous Padmasambhava thangka at Kopan Nunnery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.

While at Kopan Monastery in Nepal in late 2016, Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended a puja at Kopan Nunnery organized by the Kopan monks and nuns, making 100,000 tsog offerings to the great Indian yogi and teacher Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), who was instrumental in establishing the Dharma in Tibet.

Monks and nuns perform a puja making 100,000 tsog offerings to Padmasambhava, Kopan Nunnery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

The puja included the display of a gigantic Padmasambhava thangka. This thangka, made according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s instructions, is stitched in appliqué and is 75 feet (23 meters) high and 87 feet (27 meters) wide. Sponsored by the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, it took two years to create and was completed in 2013. It was then blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended a similar 100,000 tsog offering puja in December 2015 that was dedicated to the people of Nepal after the massive earthquake of April 2015.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama blessing the thangka, Sera Monastery, India, December 29, 2013. Photo copyright Rio Helmi/Jangchup Lamrim Teaching Organizing Committee.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has lauded Padmasambhava’s contributions to Buddhism and humanity: “Due to Padmasambhava’s great compassion, Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism flourished in Tibet and now has spread throughout the entire world. Because of that, so many people have experienced the path to enlightenment and achieved enlightenment. Due to his great compassion, the lives of infinite number of sentient beings have become meaningful.”

Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the 100,000 tsog offerings to Guru Rinpoche puja, Kopan Nunnery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT is to create large thangkas. “My wish is for the big centers in FPMT to have these large thangkas.” Rinpoche explained. “This is a way to leave imprints for all these people [who see them], for enlightenment.”

Another of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT is to build many large statues of Padmasambhava around the world in order to create the cause for peace for all beings. The Padmasambhava Project for Peace was established to fund the creation of these statues:
https://fpmt.org/projects/fpmt/padmasambhava/

The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund supports Rinpoche’s compassionate service to others. More information can be found at https://fpmt.org/projects/fpmt/lzrbf/.

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 holds up a statue of Tibetan master Thangtong Gyalpo while explaining his life story, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

While at Kopan Monastery in Nepal recently, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was shown a precious relic from the great Tibetan yogi Thangtong Gyalpo by Chusang Rinpoche, the spiritual head of Chusang Gompa, a Gelug monastery in Boudhanath, Nepal.

Chusang Rinpoche was born in Tibet in 1959 and is the son Bardok Chusang Rinpoche. The family took refuge in Nepal in the early 1960s, and the younger Rinpoche went on to become a lharampa geshe. He visited Lama Zopa Rinpoche this past December and showed him the relic, which self-emanated from a dog bone.

Relic from Thangtong Gyalpo, self-emanating from dog bone, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche took the opportunity to give a talk about Thangtong Gyalpo and show students the relic.

Thangtong Gyalpo (1385–1464) was not just a great yogi but also a skilled engineer and artist, famous for building bridges across rivers to help the people of Tibet in very practical ways. He is said to have built 58 iron bridges, 60 wooden bridges, 118 ferries, 120 assembly halls and temples, 111 stupas and many hundreds of large and small statues, as well as creating innumerable paintings.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has recommended that students of FPMT living in areas threatened by earthquakes post an image of Thangtong Gyalpo to help mitigate the effects of possible quakes. 

Chusang Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

For more advice from Rinpoche on earthquakes, please see the page “Tsunami and Earthquakes”:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/advice/tsunami-and-earthquakes/

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.