Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, July 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“Having a positive attitude, such as the altruistic thought to help other sentient beings and not harm them, is the cause of success in life,” said Lama Zopa Rinpoche in a 1991 teaching in Adelaide, Australia now available through the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

“Even though some people might not have much education, they have no difficulties in life; they are wealthy and have harmonious relationships, and whatever they wish for happens. The reason for this is the cause created in the past. This is the actual evolution; this is where their happiness comes from. But when we do not analyze, when we are not aware, it looks as if success came from outside and does not depend on their mind.

“It’s the opposite for people who are experiencing difficulties in their life. Their actions are motivated by ill will, jealousy, selfishness, dissatisfaction, desire, ignorance, anger and so forth, and their problems and difficulties result from that. Even though this is the actual evolution, when we do not understand or are not aware of karma, of action and result, it appears as if success and difficulties come from outside. We may have heard of karma and sometimes talk about it or meditate on it, but we are not aware of it in our everyday life.”

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.

Elephant statue with mantras offering to Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, December 2014. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Namgyal.

While Lama Zopa Rinpoche was in the Bendigo-area for the CPMT 2014 meeting and the retreat that followed, he added mantras to statues of an elephant and a kangaroo and wrote text for many signs to be placed next to those statues and others. The sign next to the elephant statue and his plush companions at right reads:

The purpose of my life is to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to the peerless state of OMNISCIENCE. Therefore I MUST ACHIEVE THE STATE OF OMNISCIENCE FOR THEM:

Anywhere with whomever I accompany
I look at myself lowest of all
And cherish others as supreme
Whether you like it or not this is my practice, sorry.

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.

Kadampa stupa at Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, US, July 2014. Photo by Chris Majors.

“When we give a party, we usually do it with attachment clinging to this life, to our own happiness and good reputation. That attitude is one of worldly concern, or worldly desire. When we give a party with that attitude, since our motivation is non-virtuous, all our actions become non-virtuous,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said during a series of talks given in New York City in 1990. These teachings are captured in How Things Exist: Teachings on Emptiness, a free publication from Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. 

“How do we transform the action of giving a party into something positive? How do we make it a true cause of happiness? Again, by remembering universal responsibility: ‘I’m responsible for pacifying the sufferings of all sentient beings and bringing them happiness. For that reason, I need to develop my mind in the path, especially in compassion and altruism. To develop my mind for the benefit of sentient beings, I need to create the necessary condition of merit, or good karma. Therefore, I’m going to make charity of this food and drink to my kind mother sentient beings, from whom I receive all my past, present, and future happiness.’ Giving a party in this way becomes Dharma.

“With an attitude of universal responsibility, from morning to night our actions become Dharma. They are virtuous, or positive, the unmistaken causes of happiness. Since everything – happiness and suffering – comes from our own mind, we have great freedom to stop suffering and to find happiness.”

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the retreat in Australia, where he gave the oral transmission of Sutra of Golden Light, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, October 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

In early January, Thubten Gyatso (Adrian Feldmann), a monk and the director of Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery (TSL) near Bendigo, Australia, wrote Lama Zopa Rinpoche a brief note explaining the success the monastery had with reciting the Sutra of Golden Light to help bring much needed rain to the region. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has taught that reading the sutra protects beings from experiencing natural disasters:

” … [I]n view of the severe drought that has been affecting our region, last week the TSL monks recited the Sutra of Golden Light with the the thought to help the farmers, birds, animals, and my flowers (mostly dead). Yesterday, we had a torrential downpour of 115 mm [4.5 inches] of rain. The large dam is completely full, and it’s going to continue raining for the next five days. Maybe we might have to recite the sutra again to stop the rain?

“We received 115 mm [4.5 inches] of rain but Bendigo airport, only 14 km [8.5 miles] away, received just 38 mm [1.5 inches].”

The regular recitation of the Sutra of Golden Light for world peace is part of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions, a collection of advice and commentary that sets forth Rinpoche’s “general plan for FPMT.” FPMT Education Services has created a resource page to help you learn more about and start reciting the Sutra of Golden Light. You can receive the oral transmission of the sutra, download the sutra in 12 languages, report completed recitations, share your experiences, and ask questions about the text itself.

The path leading to Thubten Shedrup Ling from the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion near Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, September 2014. Photo by Laura Miller.

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.

Elephant statue with mantras offering to Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, December 2014. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Namgyal.

While Lama Zopa Rinpoche was in the Bendigo-area for the CPMT 2014 meeting and the retreat that followed, he added mantras to statues of an elephant and a kangaroo and wrote text for many signs to be placed next to those statues and others. Ani Wy helped Rinpoche with the mantras on the elephant that is shared above.

The sign next to the large elephant offering flowers to the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion says:

If the merit of taking Refuge has form
even these three realms (desire, form, formless)
become a small container
The treasure of the water of the great ocean cannot be
counted by the handful

Even though I am an animal Elephant,
This is my most exciting happiest life in the world

In numberless eons this is the one opportunity
to make offerings and prostrations to the holy stupa
and all the numberless
Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, stupas and scriptures.

You human beings have a better form (body)
So you really have an amazing opportunity to
Benefit sentient beings.

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche decorated artwork, Bendigo, Australia, November 2014. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Namgyal.

After Lama Zopa Rinpoche manifested a stroke in 2011, he stayed in a hospital in Bendigo, Australia. While there Rinpoche bought a painting that was part of a fundraiser for the hospital. Rinpoche returned to Bendigo in September 2014 for the CPMT 2014 meeting and the retreat that followed. He stayed at Thubten Shedrup Ling through November 2014 and while there added mantras to the painting so it is of more benefit when people see it. 

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 Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, June 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Beginning today, all posts to the many news blogs on FPMT.org are now being distributed together in one email! If you have signed up in the past to receive one of our blogs like “Lama Zopa Rinpoche News,” “FPMT News Around the World,” “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Schedule” “FPMT Charitable Project News,” “Education News,” or “Mandala Today” by email, you will now receive all posts from all of the blogs, digested into one free email per day via Mailchimp.* This streamlines our ability to keep you up to date with the many aspects of FPMT’s beneficial activities and our international community’s work to fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Vision.

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This daily email of FPMT blogs is separate from our monthly FPMT eNewsletter, which highlights the activities and news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the FPMT organization and comes to you only once a month. There is also the monthly FPMT Foundation Store Newsletter, which shares news of special offers, new practice items and Dharma gifts. If you’d like to receive either of these free newsletters, you can sign up here.

*For those already receiving the email, today’s will have more stories than usual due to this change. Most days will only contain about two new posts.

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Lama Zopa Rinpoche blesses rabbits at Osel Labrang, Bylakuppe, India, December 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“It’s very important not only to have human rights, caring for and supporting humans, but also to be helping animals.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche, “Animal Welfare,” Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive

Read more “Advice for Non-harming” from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Choe Khor Sum Ling, Bangalore, India, March 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

After spending part of December at Gaden Monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka, in South India to attend the Jangchup Lamrim teachings with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche traveled to Sera Je Monastery, where he stayed at Osel Labrang. Then Rinpoche traveled to Bangalore to visit the students of Choe Khor Sum Ling, which recently transitioned from a study group to a full FPMT center.

On January 9, Rinpoche begins a week-long set of teachings, organized by Choe Khor Sum Ling, starting with a public talk entitled “Transforming Problems into Happiness.” The rest of the week will center on a Heruka Five Deities initiation.

After Bangalore, Rinpoche will go to Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre in Delhi to give a two-day teaching on how to apply Dharma in daily life. 

You can receive updates to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s schedule by email by subscribing today.

More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche speaking at 25th anniversary dinner at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, November 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC) in Singapore spent the last year celebrating its 25th anniversary. At the end of November 2014, Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited ABC and attended a special anniversary dinner attended by more than 600 people. The dinner included a talk by Rinpoche as well as speeches and entertainment. Hup Cheng Tan, director of ABC, was one of the featured speakers and gave a history of the center and described how it had evolved up to the present, including the history of the seven-story building that houses the center.

The dinner’s program “honored Rinpoche’s involvement,” Ven.  Roger Kunsang told Mandala, “because Rinpoche had been so much a part of ABC’s development. … Rinpoche had felt that Dharma could be very strong in Singapore. And the evening highlighted Rinpoche’s role in its development.”

ABC is a very successful center. More than 200 people are attending ABC’s Basic Program taught by Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, resident geshe at ABC and abbot of Kopan Monastery.

ABC also offered a long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche, which was attended by about 1,000 people.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi (to the right of Rinpoche) and Sangha in Singapore, November 2014

More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche after teaching in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, August 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote a letter to a student’s mother in September 2013, describing the benefits of reciting OM MANI PADME HUM:

“I just arrived from Mongolia [in September 2013], where they did a 108 million mani retreat. There were more than 60 Westerners, mostly nuns, and many Mongolians, who did extremely well. They recited 108 million OM MANI PADME HUM mantras.

“This is incredible, unbelievable purification, purifying negative karma collected from beginningless time. This is the way to collect most extensive merits up to enlightenment and particularly to purify many negative karmas, disease and problems. Many difficult things that are not easy to get rid of can be purified with this mantra, and particularly we can develop compassion for all living beings – numberless hell beings, numberless preta beings, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless suras, numberless asuras and numberless intermediate state beings. That compassion for all beings is what makes us achieve peerless happiness up to enlightenment, to be able to do perfect works for others. …”

One of Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT is to sponsor 100,000 100-million mani retreats around the world. FPMT Mongolia is one of several FPMT centers currently working towards this Vast Vision. The Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund has helped sponsor the Mongolia retreats as well as many others.

You can read more advice about mantra recitations in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book,” compiled by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in front of the stupa on the Harewood House estate, Leeds, UK, July 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

“Buddhism reveals the correct path to achieve happiness – all the happiness of future lives, especially ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara, and enlightenment – and all the realizations, and perfect cessation of all the mistakes and defilements of the mind,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote to a new student.

“Not only that, with this achievement you are able to liberate numberless hell beings, preta beings, animals, human beings, sura beings, and asura beings.

“With this achievement you are able to have happiness in all future lives, and, a more important service than that, you are able to bring each and every single being, from each realm, to everlasting liberation and full enlightenment.

“This is the ultimate goal of our life, why we took rebirth. This is just an introduction for you.”

Read more “Advice for New Students” from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Learn more about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his beneficial activities by visiting Rinpoche’s webpage, where you will find links to Rinpoche’s schedule, new advice, recent video, photos and more.