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Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, April 2011. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche discussed reincarnation in this archival video clip. During a quiet moment at the April 2011 retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion near Bendigo, Australia, Rinpoche gave an informal talk that was recorded by Ven. Thubten Kunsang, who traveled with Rinpoche, recording Rinpoche’s teachings and taking photos. The video was recorded before Rinpoche manifested a stroke at the retreat. Here’s a summary of the video:
Rinpoche began this teaching by explaining that when someone dies, their body disintegrates and becomes dust, but their mind doesn’t stop. Their mind continues.
Rinpoche then offered the example of a family with children from the same mother. Some of the children in the family may be very intelligent or very compassionate, but sometimes there might also be a child who is very foolish and ignorant. One child may cry if they see someone else being beaten or even an insect being killed. That child can’t stand seeing others hurt and cries because of their compassion. And then, from the same mother, there may be one child who doesn’t care about this and maybe themselves want to kill.
Rinpoche explained that this shows that the minds of the different children didn’t come from the mother’s mind. The mind has its own continuity and is settled upon the body. The body of a child comes from their parents. But their mind doesn’t come from the parents. The mind has its own conditions from before.
So if in a past life one was more compassionate, the mind was trained in that, and the result is that in this life, they are compassionate, Rinpoche explains. Similarly if one was more angry in a past life, then the mind was trained or habituated to anger, which describes the result in this life. So there’s a cause from before a child takes birth in the mother’s womb that has a consequence in the present life. In past lives there were certain negative actions done, which polluted the mind. And so then there’s the result of that.
Rinpoche then talked about a book that he has in which a professor collected examples of children and older people who could remember their past lives. These are people in the West, but their stories are hidden and not part of the culture. They were discouraged from sharing their stories. Then there are people who can see other people’s past and future lives.
However, Rinpoche explained, there’s nobody who discovered or who realized that there’s no past and future lives and that there’s no reincarnation and karma. There’s nobody who has discovered or realized there is only one life. Many people have just assumed this or were taught this, but there’s nobody who realized this. Rinpoche concluded by explaining that those who have realized past and future lives are numberless.
You can watch the video “Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the Topic of Reincarnation, April 2011”:
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is 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 in Kathmandu, Nepal, November 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
No matter where we live in the world, facing severe conditions resulting from the weather or natural disaster effects us all. Every year, hundreds of disasters of the elements occur around the world due to drought, floods, extreme weather, extreme temperature, landslides, dry mass movements, wildfires, volcanic activity, and earthquakes.
For example, recently Centro Muni Gyana, the FPMT center in Palermo, Italy, was surrounded by flames due to wildfires in Sicily at the end of July. Incredibly, the fire was burning around the center but stopped right before the stupas that had been built on the center’s property according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recommendation.
As another example of the universality of natural disasters, severe flooding in Vermont, US, devasted several towns close to Milarepa Center but fortunately the center suffered only minor damage including fallen trees.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche discussed this in a letter to a student who lived in an area prone to hurricanes:
“Whatever problems there are can be made less, and even completely stopped, if someone takes strong refuge and prays to even just one buddha. The weather can change in that very hour by the power of one person making prayers. There is no question that if the person who makes the prayers has realizations, such as the realization of bodhicitta, which is actually the best realization, then every single prayer has incredible power. There are stories of many bodhisattvas and great saints in the past who were able to prevent floods, change the direction of rivers, stop them altogether, and walk across them to the other side.”
And further, Rinpoche explained in advice for dealing with intensely hot conditions:
“The foundation of Buddhism is that happiness and suffering come from the mind, from your mind. So your mind is the creator. It’s explained in Abidharmakosha, this is one important subject to study. The various worlds came from the mind, born from the mind. It’s either so hot, or there are landslides or earthquakes. These outside conditions are caused by non-human beings. But that’s not the main cause. The main cause is karma. Karma is the mind; it is not the body.”
Centro Muni Gyana, the FPMT center in Palermo, Italy, was surrounded by flames due to wildfires in Sicily at the end of July. Thankfully, while a terrifying image, the center did not suffer considerable damage in this disaster.
The following practices have been advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for mitigating severe weather conditions:
1. Protector prayers, especially “Tea Offering to the Eight Classes” (Degye Serkyem) (page 28)
2. The Prayer to Guru Rinpoche that Spontaneously Fulfills All Wishes (Sampa Lhundrupma)
Additionally advice for various types of natural disasters from Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on the advice page on FPMT.org
and on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is 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 many of his stuffed Dharma animal friends, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, November 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Rinpoche began this teaching, given on November 6, 2020, reminding us that the I does not exist from its own side, because it is a dependent arising. The I has been appearing to our minds as if it exists from its own side since beginningless rebirths, and we have held on to that mistaken view. But it does not exist at all like this, it’s a total hallucination.
In fact, Rinpoche added, all phenomena of samsara and nirvana do not exist from their own side because they are dependent arisings.
Rinpoche discussed the meaning of ten drel and ten jung. Ten means “depends on” or “depends to” so this eliminates eternalism. Jung is “arising,” drel is “connected.” “By depending on others, it arises.” So, “there is no existence at all from its own side.” Because it arises, this eliminates nihilism.
Rinpoche stressed that we have to practice mindfulness all day and night to see that what appears to be real has actually never existed from its own side. When we are not aware of this mistaken view, then the I and all other phenomena appear to us as real. When you believe that those appearances are true, then the self-cherishing thought—the ignorance holding the I as real—and all the delusions arise. Then we create karma and suffer in samsara. We have done that already from beginningless rebirths up to now. And so far, we haven’t become free from samsara. So we need to have the awareness that without depending on the base to be labeled, objects do not exist from their own side, not even an atom exists from its own side.
Following Phabongkha Rinpoche’s commentary, Rinpoche explained that an imputed phenomenon needs to have three attributes:
- It is renowned to a conventional mind;
- It is not harmed by another conventional valid mind; and
- It also is not harmed by the reasoning analyzing the ultimate.
Rinpoche then explained the three attributes, beginning at 44:42 in the video.
We invite you to go deeper into the topics presented here, plus many others, by watching Rinpoche’s video and reading the full transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching.
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teaching “The Whole World Exists in Nothing More Than Mere Name”:
Watch more videos from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s thought transformation teaching series and find Rinpoche’s teachings translated into Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese, and Russian
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is 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 during the November Course, Kopan Monastery, December 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
During the 2018 November Course at Kopan Monastery, Lama Zopa Rinpoche outlined how to reach enlightenment based on the lamrim and the importance of studying it. Rinpoche emphasized that merely knowing the lamrim is not enough; it needs to be applied in daily life. Here’s an excerpt from Rinpoche’s teachings.
Practice mindfulness and the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment—renunciation, bodhicitta, and right view. Then everything done with renunciation becomes the cause of liberation and does not become the cause of samsara. Then everything done with bodhichitta becomes the cause of enlightenment. Then with right view, everything becomes a remedy to samsara, a remedy to ignorance, which is the root of all your suffering, your samsara, the root of all your sufferings of samsara. It eliminates that; that’s what you need.
If you don’t like suffering, you have to put in effort to actualize emptiness, if you don’t like suffering. If you don’t like depression, if you don’t like any suffering, even diarrhea, whatever you don’t like, then you need to meditate on emptiness, and in particular you have to put effort into realizing emptiness. Study emptiness, all the extensive philosophy teachings, then lamrim, the essence, the short teachings, very important teachings.
You need to not only study—you leave it up to the intellect, you leave it up to the tape recorder, you invest so much information, you put in a tape recorder or computer—not like that. You invest in your brain so much information, but no practice, you only discuss, only to be an important professor—not like that. You need to actualize. So everything becomes practice, and through practice, you actualize. Everything becomes the antidote to your samsara, to your ignorance, which is the root of your samsara. So it eliminates the root of oceans of suffering of samsara. That’s what you need. If you don’t like suffering, you need to put effort in that. It’s extremely worthwhile.
Not only that, not only to free yourself from oceans of suffering of samsara, not only that, but with the help of bodhichitta, you collect inconceivable, inconceivable, inconceivable merits, with that support. Then with the wisdom realizing emptiness, you directly cease the obscuration, not only gross but subtle obscuration. Then you achieve enlightenment for sentient beings, and you are able to liberate all sentient beings from oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring everyone to buddhahood.
If you don’t like suffering, if you have problems—a relationship problem, a problem with the family, with the husband, with the wife or children, with friends, whatever—you should know that. The antidote—to be free from the suffering of samsara—you need to be free from delusion and karma; you need to be free from ignorance, the root of samsara. So you need to meditate on emptiness. That is what you need.
Otherwise, your problems have no end. Then you rely on psychology. It has no end, relying on psychology or psychiatry. It has no end. Your going to hospital has no end; it’s endless. Your going to hospital, having an operation on your brain, it’s endless. It becomes endless. That is the nature of samsara.
When you have problems, think: “Oh, this is a sign that I’m in samsara. This shows me. This proves it to me. It is sign that I’m in samsara. So, oh, I need to be free from samsara, so then I should practice Dharma.” It should have that as a conclusion.
The conclusion you should come to is that. To actualize Dharma, the heart of Buddhadharma—renunciation, bodhichitta, right view—you should come to the conclusion to practice lamrim. You should come to that conclusion, then that is the best.
You have something to do that is most worthwhile for you and every sentient being—every hell being, they are numberless, for everyone, to benefit every ant, every fish, every chicken, every goat, sheep, what we eat, to benefit every mosquito, every small ant, small flies, so tiny, but numberless, to everyone, to benefit, especially with bodhichitta, then, every human being, every sura being, every asura being, every intermediate state being. Then instead of depression, you have so much happiness in life, because you know what to do, you know what you should do. You know the meaning of life!
Watch the 24-minute video of Rinpoche teaching at Kopan Monastery from which this excerpt is taken:
Colophon: Excerpted from Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 12, 2018. Simultaneously transcribed by Ven. Joan Nicell. Lightly edited by Laura Miller, July 2019. (Complete unedited transcript here.)
Lamrim Year is an essential guide for meditators who want to develop their mind in the graduated path to enlightenment (lamrim). This unique study program provides a 365-day outline of the graduated path in a clear, practical format that is suitable for both individual and group practice. The daily quotes and text have been selected from four decades of teachings by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and offer a taste of their teaching style and scope: lamrimyear.com
You can access all the video teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the 2018 Kopan lamrim meditation course:
fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/kopan-november-course-2018
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, July 2020. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
In 2020 on Chokhor Duchen (celebrated this year on July 21, 2023), Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered a video teaching from Kopan Monastery as part of his thought transformation series entitled, “Wake Up– Don’t Waste the Four Holy Days of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha.”
Chokhor Duchen commemorates the anniversary of Shakyamuni Buddha’s first teaching after showing the aspect of attaining enlightenment, and is one of the holy days of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, when the power of any meritorious action is multiplied 100 million times.
Rinpoche begins this teaching discussing the twelve deeds done by Shakyamuni Buddha, which reveal why we need to practice Dharma.
Shakyamuni Buddha gave three turnings of the wheel of Dharma: the four noble truth teachings in Sarnath; the Prajnaparamita teachings in Rajgir; and the Chittamatra view. On wheel-turning days, because merit is multiplied by 100 million, Rinpoche is asking us to “wake up” and not waste the opportunity by being distracted by worldly pleasures and worldly concerns. For example, writing sutras in gold ink is a way to collect skies of merit.
Rinpoche shares more about the benefits of the Sutra of Great Liberation, including that if you read it just before you die you are immediately rescued from the lower realms.
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teaching “Wake Up—Don’t Waste the Four Holy Days of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha“:
A full transcript of this teaching is also available.
You can learn more about the “unimaginable benefits of the Sutra of Great Liberation which is now available in English:
https://fpmt.org/edu-news/unimaginable-benefits-the-sutra-of-great-liberation-is-now-available-in-english/
You can follow Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice on beneficial practices to do on Chokhor Duchen:
https://fpmt.org/edu-news/celebrate-chokhor-duchen-and-international-sangha-day-on-july-21-2023/
Read about the vast array of pujas and practices being offered by over ten thousand ordained sangha on this special day:
https://fpmt.org/charitable-activities/projects/retreats-and-practices/pf-news/offering-to-ten-thousand-sangha-and-pujas-sponsored-on-chokhor-duchen/
Watch more from the video series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation and find links to videos in transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing mice, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, USA, November 2016.
Over the years, while traveling continuously with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Ven. Roger Kunsang, CEO of FPMT and Rinpoche’s long-time attendant, would share stories of what it was like to be on the road with Rinpoche, and to witness and participate in Rinpoche’s enlightened activity.
In 2011, Ven. Roger shared this story about a very fortunate snake: It was dark, maybe 9 p.m., and there was something wriggling on the path going around Bouddha Stupa. It was a baby jet black snake! We got it onto an open piece of cardboard with a little difficulty. Rinpoche wanted it to come with us around the stupa. Rinpoche gave it the name, “Thubten Tharpkye.” For the next 10 circumambulations of the stupa the snake got some really good karma. At the end, after dedications (ending around midnight — almost no one is around at that time), we had to say good bye to Thubten Tharpkye. We placed him safely in the drainage system from where he must have come and will spend the rest of his life.
In 2016, a young snake was discovered at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, struggling to escape after getting stuck to some adhesive left on the wall of a retreat cabin. Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Sangha members freed the unhappy sentient being—apparently a harmless gopher snake—with a combination of water and mantras, Rinpoche named him “Jangsem,” Tibetan for “bodhichitta.” Rinpoche also decided to keep Jangsem in his own house for a while in the hope of improving his future rebirths. Thus the small snake entered into retreat, in a large plastic box, comfortably resting on an old towel! You can listen to Rinpoche reciting mantras for Jangsem the snake at this time:
Wish-fulfillment for all Animals
Lama Zopa Rinpoche compiled a list of mantras and buddhas’ names that are powerful for benefiting animals, Wish-fulfillment for all Animals: Their Happiness and
Additional Resources for Benefiting Animals
Liberating Animals from the Danger of Death: This short version of Liberating Animals is a profound method to prolong life and cure sickness. Relying on the truth of cause and effect, practitioners make special effort to give life and benefit to helpless creatures that are on the verge of being killed. By performing this powerful practice, we not only save these beings from immediate suffering, we also create the cause for their attainment of better future lives, from life to life to full enlightenment. The book also contains many practices and mantras that can be done to benefit living and sick animals.
Blessing the Animals in the Ocean: This practice can be done to bless the animals in any body of water, such as oceans, seas, lakes, and ponds. The blessing is done by reciting powerful mantras of Chenrezig and Namgyalma, plus other mantras, then blowing into the clean water before pouring the blessed water into the body of water with animals. Mantra boards such as Namgyalma Mantra board, if available, can be put into the body of water during the practice.
Animal Liberation Tool: This animal liberation tool can be used to catch small insects and remove them compassionately from your house. Designed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and covered with mantras that benefit bugs, as well as quotes that benefit humans, these bug catchers are not your ordinary bug catching jar!
Please also visit our webpage, Benefiting Animals: Practices and Advice, which contains many resources for those wishing to benefit animals in the most extensive ways possible: https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/benefiting-animals-practices-and-advice
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is 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 in the stupa garden at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, October 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered a teaching on October 30, 2020 from Kopan Monastery as the eightieth teaching from his Thought Transformation teaching series entitled, “Whatever You Are Doing, It Should Become Meditation on Emptiness.”
The “I” exists, but only in mere name, Rinpoche explained in this teaching. How the “I” exists is extremely subtle; so subtle it is as if it doesn’t exist at all. Whatever is happening, it is not true. As His Holiness has said, “What exists is something else” from what ordinary people believe.
Our mind has been habituated—like a waterfall, so heavily since beginningless rebirths—with ignorance. Everything that has appeared to us has appeared as truly existent—and you 100% believed it! From that, all the delusions, karma, and the oceans of suffering of hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals arise. Everything appears real, but what is there is only existing in mere name. This is unbelievably subtle.
To counter this wrong habituation, we need to train in meditating on emptiness. Whatever you are doing, it should become a meditation on emptiness. Rinpoche emphasizes that it is not that you can only meditate on emptiness while you are sitting on a cushion! There are three ways that you can meditate on emptiness while going about your daily activities.
1. Meditate on everything as a hallucination: In every activity you do, look at the “I,” action, and object as a total hallucination, as they are a total hallucination. Whatever you do—such as shopping, using the toilet, eating food, or going to work—transform it into a meditation on emptiness by looking at it as a hallucination or as like a dream.
2. Meditate on everything as merely labeled: Another method to meditate on emptiness in daily life is to think that the merely labeled “I” is doing the actions of your day. For example, when you are eating, think that the merely labeled “I” is doing the merely labeled action of eating merely labeled food.
3. Meditate on everything as empty of true existence: Whatever you are doing, meditate that the real “I” that is doing the activity is not there, the real action you are doing is not there, and the real object of your action is not there. They are all empty of true existence; they are not there at all.
Of these three meditations, do a different one each day, or each week, or each month, Rinpoche recommended. This is the way to develop a positive habituation with emptiness and counter the wrong habituation with holding everything as real. Whether you know a lot about emptiness or just a little, this daily meditation on emptiness is the most important thing to do.
Rinpoche concluded the teaching by citing two verses from Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way. If you destroy ignorance, you destroy the delusions. When you see dependent arising, ignorance doesn’t arise. Therefore, Rinpoche said we should try to realize the meaning of dependent arising.
- Read the full transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching
- For more from Rinpoche on the object to be refuted, please see Recognizing the False I
- Find Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation translated into Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese, and Russian
Please enjoy this video of Rinpoche’s full teaching recorded on October 30, 2020:
Watch more from the video series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation and find links to videos in transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche leading a Guru Puja in celebration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday, July 6, 2022, in Singapore. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Today, July 6, the world celebrates His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 88th birthday. You can watch the message His Holiness shared earlier today, on the occasion of his birthday.
A few hours after his discharge from a hospital in Singapore last year for a medical procedure, Lama Zopa Rinpoche joined the Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) community in Singapore for their special celebration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 87th birthday on July 6, 2022. Rinpoche offered incredibly powerful and precious words about His Holiness’s qualities, guru devotion, and impermanence.
We invite you to watch and hear the full message Rinpoche offered on His Holiness’s birthday last year. You may also read a full transcript of Rinpoche’s words.
“Definitely in your heart, rely on His Holiness and often do requests,” Rinpoche advised us. “Request the success of realizations and to grant blessings in your heart and to bless your heart to transform it into the path to enlightenment. As His Holiness often emphasizes, bodhicitta and emptiness. Often when he talks, every time, that is kind of the basis, the foundation. So you practice like that from your heart. From your side, you rely on him, you request and rely on His Holiness, then definitely from His Holiness’s side, definitely he will all the time guide you from life to life, up to enlightenment.”
“You might think His Holiness is not there,” Rinpoche explained, “But in reality, His Holiness is there. You have to know that. His Holiness sees you all the time. His Holiness sees you day and night. Whatever you are doing, His Holiness sees you all the time. Because the past numberless buddhas, present numberless buddhas, and future numberless buddhas see you all the time, without break even for a second, never distracted away from that, even for a second.”
We have many practices related to His Holiness the Dalai Lama for students to use on this special day: fpmt.org/charitable-activities/projects/supporting-our-lamas/celebrating-his-holiness-the-dalai-lamas-88th-birthday-on-july-6/
Through comprehensive study programs and practice materials, FPMT Education Services nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Australia, June 2006. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
FPMT International Office has begun to process archived teachings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche that were not previously available on our Rinpoche Available Now page or on our YouTube channel.
We started this project with teachings from June 2—3, 2006 at Tara Institute, Australia. Those teachings, previously available on DVD only, were entitled, “The Need For Wisdom And Compassion” and “Why We Need a Spiritual Path.” These teachings were part of a longer tour through Australia including a month long retreat in Adelaide.
In September we shared four of the seven videos from this teaching, and today we are pleased to share the remaining three.
We will continue to publish these legacy teachings and will share information as new teachings from the archive become available.
As a reminder, the Rinpoche Available Now page contains video teachings from over sixty teaching events with Lama Zopa Rinpoche going back to 2009, including the most recent teachings given at the fifty-third November Course at Kopan Monastery (26 November 26—December 26, 2022); and the Thought Transformation Teachings Rinpoche gave at Kopan Monastery, Nepal and Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, between 2020-2022. Also, please visit the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive for many more videos of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche dating back to the 1970s!
Please enjoy the fourth video in this teaching series, from June 3, 2006:
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is 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 leaving Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, March 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
We are very pleased to share two compositions by Lama Zopa Rinpoche that have been recently made available.
Extensively referencing the words of the past masters to illustrate his point, Lama Zopa Rinpoche stresses in How This Human Life Becomes the Method for Achieving Complete Buddhahood through Buddhist Study and Service that “the fastest way of achieving the state of buddhahood” is by offering your gurus service and practice with the faith that every single one of your gurus is the Buddha. Rinpoche adds that, by the wish to benefit others and serving the guru, one’s actions “become the holy Dharma.” And from that comes the joyful thought, “In this entire world there is no one who has greater fortune or merit than me.”
Heruka Lama Chopa puja seven days after Lama Zopa Rinpoche showed aspect passing at Kopan Monastery, April 20, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
An Abbreviated Chakrasamvara Tsog is a beautiful condensed tsog practice composed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, with offerings and request made to all the deities of the Heruka Chakrasamvara mandala. Extensive tsog offering was made during the Heruka Lama Chopa at the seventh day pujas for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s swift return. This prayer, An Abbreviated Chakrasamvara Tsog, was recited many times to offer the tsog to the deities of the mandala, along with other tsog offering prayers. This practice is suitable for those who have received the Heruka initiation.
Through comprehensive study programs and practice materials, FPMT Education Services nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.
An outdoor puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’ swift return in front of Lawudo Gompa. Photo by Alison Murdoch.
Two weeks after Lama Zopa Rinpoche entered his final meditation, FPMT students Paula Chichester and Alison Murdoch took the opportunity to return to Lawudo and join with Rinpoche’s family in some of the ceremonies taking place there. A week later Ven. Amy Miller arrived with a pilgrimage group, and subsequently returned alone for a period of practice and retreat. Here is a brief overview of what took place during this unique and profound time, from Alison Murdoch:
As soon as the sad news reached Lawudo, Ani Ngawang Samten, Rinpoche’s sister, started making plans to go down to the Kathmandu valley. Her grief at suddenly losing her guru and brother in this way has to be unimaginable, especially as it is eight years since Rinpoche was last able to visit in person. She left the next day by helicopter and reached Kopan about an hour before Rinpoche finished his meditation. “It felt as if he would open his eyes and speak to me at any moment,” she said later. Ven. Tsultrim, a Swiss nun who has been at Lawudo since Spring 2022, generously agreed to stay behind to look after Ashan (Rinpoche’s uncle, aged 98) and Tsultrim Norbu, who is now in his 70s. Without this kind offer, it would probably have been impossible for Ani Ngawang Samten to leave at such short notice. At Kopan she was joined by her brother Sangay and his wife, by Geshema Thubten Zangmo, and by other members of the family who had immediately flown over from the USA.
Ani Samten at Heruka Lama Chopa, Kopan, Nepal, April 19 2023. Photo by Capucine Redon.
The first week at Lawudo after Rinpoche showed the aspect of leaving his body was relatively quiet. Ven. Tsultrim welcomed the arrival of Ven Trinley from Tenboche Monastery, who joined her in carrying out daily Cittamani Tara pujas. On the fourteenth day after Rinpoche’s passing Ven. Ngawang Nyendak came to lead a Chenrezig puja. Ven. Nyendak is a highly accomplished tantric practitioner who at Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s request carries out regular practices at Lawudo dedicated to the flourishing of the FPMT. By this time Rinpoche’s cousin Nyima Tashi had arrived and started making preparations for more extensive prayers and practices. The weather turned unseasonably cold, with a light snow falling all day like a blessing.
Light offerings in Lawudo Gompa. Photo by Alison Murdoch.
On the twenty-first day, the monks from Thame Monastery came to lead an extensive all-day Chenrezig puja in the gompa, joined by Tenzin Trinley the resident lama at nearby Charok Hermitage. The weather suddenly cleared, and day after day there were radiant blue skies. The monks returned again on the 28th day for a two-day puja, presided over by the young Thame Rinpoche. Ashan offered the mandala on the first day, and Anila Ngawang Samten on the second day. It was an unforgettable sight to see the gompa packed with sangha, lights and offerings, and an even more extraordinary sound when all its drums, cymbals, horns, oboes, conch shells and thigh bone trumpets echoed out over the valley. On the 35th day, the nuns from Thamo carried out a Vajrayogini self-initiation, and on the forty-second and forty-ninth days there were extensive pujas dedicated to Rinpoche in the gompas at Thame and Tenboche. (The Thame monks weren’t permitted to return to Lawudo for these final pujas due to the imminent Mani Rimdu celebrations). On each of the other six days of the week, Ven Tsultrim led a Cittamani Tara puja in either the gompa or the cave.
Anila Ngawang Samten joins the puja with the Thame monks. Photo by Alison Murdoch.
Despite the challenges of Lawudo Gompa being so remote, over two hours’ walk from the nearest shop, in true Sherpa style these pujas involved extensive tsog offerings. For the main puja on the twenty-eighth day, huge bags of tsog were distributed not only to everyone who attended but also hand-delivered to every family in the valley. In addition to bottles of fizzy drinks, packets of crisps and biscuits and fresh fruit (all rare delicacies at an elevation of 14,000 feet) the bags of tsog included the traditional deep-fried khapse and individual tormas made of tsampa, butter and sugar. Nyima Tashi’s numerous shopping trips to Namche Bazaar would be followed the next day by a train of animals and porters carrying heavy sacks of offerings up the mountainside, and he organized five teams of Sherpa volunteers to make the khapse and tormas and to fill and distribute the mountain of tsog. Other volunteers made extensive water bowl offerings or rolled cotton wool into wicks for the hundreds of silver and copper butter lamps, while a team of smiling nuns kept everyone supplied with butter and sweet tea. The space under the library was rapidly converted into an additional kitchen and a chef was hired to cook copious meals for all the volunteers and visitors. Ven. Nyendak also led extra practices in the courtyard for all the Sherpas who couldn’t fit into the gompa.
Teams of local Sherpas assemble the bags of tsog. Photo by Ven. Alison Murdoch.
This was a historic occasion, never to be repeated. One of the most moving moments was when Anila Ngawang Samten and her brother Sangay returned by helicopter with a set of Rinpoche’s robes, which were carried ceremoniously up the juniper-lined path from Mende and installed with prayers and offerings on His throne in the gompa. Now that the crowds of mourners have departed, please keep the family in your prayers as they begin to come to terms with their immense personal loss.
Please read previously published articles about Lawudo Gompa and Retreat Center.
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Image of Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the altar in Kopan Monastery Gompa during the 49 Day Heruka Lama Chopa Puja. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Tsomo.
We are pleased to share this moving account from Kopan about the Heruka Lama Chopa puja offered at Kopan Monastery on May 31 during the 49th day of Lama Zopa Rinpoche showing the aspect of passing away.
Round-the-clock practices and prayers in the presence of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s kudung (holy body relic) and a weekly offered puja culminated on May 31 with an extensive Heruka Lama Chopa puja. The day began with the usual 5:00 a.m. purification puja offered to Rinpoche’s holy body. It was followed by a morning visit from H.E. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche who joined the prayers in Rinpoche’s room. Lamas, geshes, monks, nuns, and hundreds of lay students from around the world began to gather in the main gompa of Kopan Monastery at 8 a.m.
Huge and beautifully decorated tormas, butter lamps and LED lights, bowls of colorful and exotic fruit, vases and garlands of fresh and artificial flowers, bowls of saffron water, and rows of incense were set out on tables across the width of the gompa. A huge photo of Lama Zopa Rinpoche (with an impish grin as if he had just played a huge joke on all of us!) beamed down upon us, as it had for most of the 49 days.
The puja was presided over by Khenrinpoche Thubten Chonyi, the abbot of Kopan, and graced by the presence of Rangjung Neljorma Khandro Tseringma (Khadro-la); FPMT resident geshes and teachers; FPMT board members Ven. Roger Kunsang, Dale Davis, Paula de Wys, and Karuna Cayton; and various FPMT center directors and SPCs. As the puja progressed, lay students from many FPMT centers, Sherpas and Nepalis dressed in traditional clothing, and a long line of children from Dicky Tsering Children’s Home filed into the gompa to pay their respects and offer katas on the central throne bearing Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s photo.
Heruka Lama Chopa Puja on the 49th day of Lama Zopa Rinpoche showing the aspect of passing away, Kopan Monasatery, May 31, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Led by Umdze-la, Geshe Losang Sherab, the puja began with a heartrending chant of Calling the Guru from Afar. This was followed by Heruka Lama Chopa, a puja characterized by verse after verse of offerings chanted with intricate tunes. Copious amounts of tea and other drinks were served to keep everyone hydrated in the hot weather. A delicious catered lunch served in shiny copper pots was offered to everyone present. Generous money offerings were made again and again to the many sangha present by the Hong Kong center, the IMI Sangha, and many other groups and individuals. After the lunch break, the puja resumed at 2:00 p.m. and concluded at 5:00 p.m. with one more recitation of the swift return prayers followed by Lama Atisha’s light offering prayer.
In the meantime, outside in the debate courtyard various groups of Nepali lay practitioners and the children of Dicky Tsering Children’s Home took turns reciting prayers. Upstairs in the presence of Rinpoche’s holy body, the daily round of practices continued until late at night, including the self-initiations of Yamantaka and Vajrayogini and many other prayers. After dinner, the Kopan monks gathered in the debate courtyard to recite the root texts of Ornament of Clear Realization and Entering the Middle Way.
Altogether these 49 days were a huge Dharma celebration of continuous prayers and practices day and night, pilgrimages to some of the most holy places in Nepal, and extensive offerings set up in Rinpoche’s rooms, the monastery and nunnery gompas, and the debate courtyard. It was a time of great sadness and shared grief but also a celebration of Rinpoche’s life and legacy as we rejoiced in the “unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable good fortune” we had to not only receive a perfect human rebirth but to meet with such a perfectly qualified Mahayana guru who taught the unmistaken path to enlightenment for more than fifty years!
Khatas on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s throne at the end of the 49th Day puja, Kopan Monastery, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Tsomo.
Due to all the past, present, and future merits collected by each one of us and all the three-time merits collected by numberless sentient beings and numberless buddhas, may Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s unmistaken, perfect incarnation quickly return to this world and be recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at a young age. May there be no obstacles to the incarnation’s long life and holy activities for the benefit of the Buddhadharma and sentient beings. May all of Rinpoche’s past and present disciples once again meet their holy guru, hear the nectar of his holy speech, and never be separated from him in this and all their future lives. May all the sentient beings who did not have the fortune to meet with Lama Zopa Rinpoche in this life be able to encounter his new incarnation and be guided by him (or perhaps her!) in all their future lives.
With love, prayers, and a billion, zillion, trillion thanks for all you are doing to fulfill Rinpoche’s holy wishes,
The monks and nuns of Ogmin Jangchub Choling and Kachoe Ghakyil Ling—Kopan Monastery and Nunnery
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.