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Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching during the retreat in Australia at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, October 2014. Photo by Cynthia Karena.
Friday, October 3, was a tsog day and at the Australia retreat, Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended the 9 a.m. session and offered tsog with all the retreat participants in the gompa of the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion. Three senior monks went up and made the tsog offering to Rinpoche.
Rinpoche then taught about the 10 benefits of the Offering Cloud mantra and gave a very short commentary on the Song of Spring Queen, which you can watch on video.
Ven. Robina Courtin is attending the retreat and shared on her Facebook page, “Glad to be here at Atisha Buddhist Centre Bendigo and the Great Stupa for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s retreat, along with the other 250 people. Rinpoche is scheduled to come at 4 p.m., but so far by now, the eighth day, he’s been here morning, noon, and night. Masses of instructions, and much laughter — but Rinpoche’s also so much more fierce these days! Keeps us on our toes.”
Live webcasts and recording of all the daily sessions with Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the retreat in Australia can be watched on the FPMT Livestream page. Audio MP3 recordings of the retreat sessions with Rinpoche are available for download with translation into French, Italian and Spanish.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
During the ongoing retreat in Australia, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been teaching in the unfinished gompa at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion. The Great Stupa, modeled on the stupa at Gyantse, Tibet, is one of three FPMT centers in the Bendigo, Victoria, area. (The others are Atisha Centre and Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery.)
The inspiring story of the stupa’s creation, which started as an idea drawn in the sand by Lama Yeshe, illustrates how a lama’s vision can be brought to life. Mandala April-June 2014 featured an article on the progress that has been made on the the Great Stupa in the last few years. Ian Green, who serves as director of the Great Stupa, has been the primary driving force of the project since its inception. You can read an interview with Ian Green from 2011 about how he came to be involved. Ian also talks about the Jade Buddha of Universal Peace, another large holy object that he’s helped create, which will eventually find its permanent home in the Great Stupa.
To get a sense of the scale of the Great Stupa, you can watch this short new video of the site taken in September 2014 and released this week. And you can rejoice in this amazing project!
You can read more stories from Mandala about the Great Stupa and the Jade Buddha online.
Live webcasts and recording of all the daily sessions with Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the retreat in Australia can be watched on the FPMT Livestream page. Audio MP3 recordings of the retreat sessions with Rinpoche are available for download with translation into French, Italian and Spanish.
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 retreat at Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, October 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
On Wednesday, October 1, about 40 center directors and spiritual program coordinators (SPCs) from FPMT centers, projects and services around the world led FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery to the gompa in the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, where Rinpoche continued to give the extraordinary oral transmission of the Golden Light Sutra at the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat.
Rinpoche said that the oral transmission of the 21 Chapter Golden Light Sutra that he is giving is an incredible puja for the whole world. Rinpoche explained earlier in the week that even people watching as the video recording can take it as an oral transmission. (You can find the text of the Golden Light Sutra in 14 different languages here.)
About 40 directors and SPC from FPMT centers, projects and services lined up to lead Rinpoche from Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery to the Great Stupa to continue the oral transmission of the Golden Light Sutra, Australia, October 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
Everyone in the long procession held an offering — incense, one of the auspicious offerings, flowers, or playing cymbals or conchs. “It was a very beautiful, slow procession,” Ven. Holly Ansett shared. “The procession is because in the Golden Light Sutra it actually says that however many steps you walk to invite the lama who gives the oral transmission of Golden Light Sutra, you create that many causes of enlightenment.”
In the evening session on October 1, Rinpoche gave a brief commentary on Lama Chopa. Rinpoche attended the 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. sessions on October 2. He continued his commentary on Lama Chopa in the 9 a.m. session, which you can watch online.
Live webcasts and recording of all the daily sessions with Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the retreat in Australia can be watched on the FPMT Livestream page. Audio MP3 recordings of the retreat sessions with Rinpoche are available for download with translation into French, Italian and Spanish.
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.
Flowers falling from above on Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Roger Kunsang following the public talk with Rinpoche, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 20, 2014. Photo by Kunchok Gyaltsen.
“Lama Zopa: The great peace and happiness comes from inside. The real enemy is inside … Attachment to worldly pleasures of this life.”
– From Ven. Roger Kunsang’s Twitter page, posted on October 1, 2014,
during Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and flower falling from above, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 20, 2014. Photos by Tom Truty.
Ven. Roger Kunsang, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s assistant and CEO of FPMT Inc., shares Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent pith sayings on Ven. Roger’s Twitter page. (You can also read them on Ven. Roger’s Facebook page.)
Live webcasts and recording of all the daily sessions with Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the retreat in Australia can be watched on the FPMT Livestream page. Audio MP3 recordings of the retreat sessions with Rinpoche are available for download with translation into French, Italian and Spanish.
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 with Ven. Sangpo on brick path from Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery to Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been staying at Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery very near the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion while leading the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat. Ven. Holly Ansett, who is at the retreat, recently reported, “A few nights ago when walking back from the stupa in the evening, one ant was mistakenly injured on the path. Rinpoche spent about 10 minutes reciting mantras and blowing on the ant. When he got back to the room, Rinpoche was visibly upset about the ant, requesting that immediately four stupas be made and dedicated for the ant. So we requested Ven. Anet, the nun at Kachoe Dechen Ling in California who makes tsa-tsas, to immediately make the stupas and fill them with the four dharmayaka relic mantras and dedicate that for the ant. Then before dinner, Rinpoche recited ‘A Prayer for the Beginning, Middle, and End of Practice’ by Je Tsongkhapa, which is a prayer to meet Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings, and dedicated for the ant.
“This evening,” Ven. Holly continued, “Rinpoche called out ‘darling ant’ every time he encountered an ant on the path to indicate to others to be careful not to tread on the ant. So all the way up to the monastery, Rinpoche was yelling out ‘darling ant.’ It was extremely precious and sweet.”
Live webcasts and recording of all the daily sessions with Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the retreat in Australia can be watched on the FPMT Livestream page. Audio MP3 recordings of the retreat sessions with Rinpoche are available for download with translation into French, Italian and Spanish.
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 Great Stupa of Universal Compassion for long life puja, Australia, September 19, 2014. Photo by Kunchok Gyaltsen.
On the second day of the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Rinpoche attended the 9 a.m. session for Lama Chöpa Jorchö. You can watch a video recording of most of the Lama Chöpa Jorchö with Rinpoche. At the end of the practice, Rinpoche gave some advice about specific tunes and what’s most essential to think when doing the Lama Thubwang Dorje Chang prayer at the end. Rinpoche also praised Ven. Tenzin Tsapel, resident teacher at Golden Light Sutra Center in Mongolia, for her beautiful chanting of the tunes as she led the puja.
Live webcasts and recording of all the daily sessions with Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the retreat in Australia can be watched on the FPMT Livestream page. Audio MP3 recordings of the retreat sessions with Rinpoche are available for download with translation into French, Italian and Spanish.
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.
Sangha in procession leading Lama Zopa Rinpoche to the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, September 2014. Photo by Drolkar McCallum.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues to give the extremely rare lung (oral transmission) of the 21 chapter version of the Golden Light Sutra at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Australia. As part of the month-long Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat, Rinpoche is offering the lung.
Rinpoche explained that even people listening to the video streaming of the lung can take it as an oral transmission. By having received an oral transmission of the sutra, it becomes 100 times more powerful when you recite it. (You can find the Golden Light Sutra in 14 different languages here.)
You can watch the video recordings of the oral transmission of the Golden Light Sutra on FPMT’s Livestream page. (Click to watch Part 1 of the transmission, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.)
On Monday, September 29, Rinpoche was led to the Great Stupa in a procession of six Sangha members as a way of creating merit to be able to receive this incredible oral transmission. One nun walked around the gompa making billowing incense offerings throughout the transmission. There are 57 Sangha members in attendance at the retreat.
Live webcasts and recording of all the daily sessions with Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the retreat in Australia can be watched on the FPMT Livestream page. Audio MP3 recordings of the retreat sessions with Rinpoche are available for download with translation into French, Italian and Spanish.
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 spontaneous teaching on making offerings in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, September 21, 2014. Photo by Laura Miller.
FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave his first teaching for the month-long Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat on Friday, September 26, at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion near Bendigo, Australia. About 250 people are attending the beginning of the retreat, including many long-time students and Sangha as well as FPMT center directors.
Rinpoche began the afternoon session on Friday doing gegtor, a short puja to dispel interferences, for the retreat and also for any sentient being who needed it. Then Rinpoche said the elaborate Golden Light Sutra needed to be recited and decided to do it in the gompa (in the Great Stupa) so all present would receive the oral transmission of it.
Before giving the transmission, Rinpoche thanked FPMT International Office and especially Merry Colony, former director of FPMT Education Services, for arranging all the various translations of the sutra. (You can find the Golden Light Sutra in 14 different languages here.) Rinpoche said that creating these translations and making them available was an incredible service to the world. Rinpoche next gave a moving motivation on bodhichitta and then began the oral transmission of the elaborate Golden Light Sutra as far as the first chapter.
A video recording of the afternoon teaching as well as live webcasts and recording of all the daily sessions with Rinpoche can be watched on the Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Australia Livestream page.
Rinpoche also came to the evening session on Friday, leading retreatants in the protector prayers. Rinpoche explained the way to motivate before every prayer, led a cymbal offering and made strong dedications, illustrating the essence of how to think before and after every practice.
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 during public talk at Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 20, 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
More than 600 people came to the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion on Saturday, September 20, to attend Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s public teaching. In additional to attendees of the CPMT 2014 meeting, many people traveled from Melbourne and other parts of Australia to see Rinpoche at the Great Stupa, which is near Bendigo, Victoria.
Videos of the talk are available for streaming. Rinpoche taught in two sessions on the “Bodhisattva Attitude.”
Rinpoche took audience questions at the beginning of the second section. One question was: “What is the relationship between study and practice? Can the two occur simultaneously?”
Rinpoche replied, “When you are receiving teachings on Buddhist philosophy, such as studying the Basic Program or Masters Program, the programs that the FPMT centers have, the extensive subjects, Buddha’s teachings and the extensive commentaries by Indian pandits, Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti, Asanga, and so forth, and the enlightened beings of Tibet such as Lama Tsongkhapa and so forth, what they taught and what they experienced, even you are studying a very big subject, but you integrate it into lam-rim. When you are practicing lam-rim — correctly devoting to the virtuous friend, renunciation, bodhichitta, right view — when you practice those, the essence of those great philosophy teachings is practiced. If you don’t practice lam-rim, then your life is like [an empty] supermarket — building is there, but there is no food at all there to sell, no fruits, no vegetables, no cheese, no meat. Everything is empty; there is nothing to buy. It is like that, like an empty can or an empty purse — no money in the purse — or an empty stomach. …
“So therefore I think study lam-rim, essence of Dharma, first. Then either with that or after that, study philosophy. Then you know how to listen to teachings and make them effective for your mind. Otherwise if you don’t understand lam-rim, it doesn’t become that. The teachings that you listen to you don’t know how to make useful for your mind. Even reading Dharma texts becomes difficult to make useful for your mind without knowing lam-rim.”
Copies of Rinpoche’s book Bodhisattva Attitude: How to Dedicate Your Life to Others were offered to all in attendance by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
After a brief interlude, Lama Zopa Rinpoche will be leading the month-long Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat, September 25-October 23, at the Great Stupa. Rinpoche’s teachings will be webcast live on the retreat Livestream page.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition(FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche arriving at the long life puja at Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 19, 2014. Photo by Laura Miller.
To close the CPMT 2014 meeting, a long life puja with the five dakinis was offered to FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche on Friday, September 19, in the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion. A video recording of the puja is available on the CPMT livestream page.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche during long life puja with Geshe Doga, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 19, 2014. Photo by Laura Miller.
Four FPMT resident geshes were present for the puja: Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, abbot of Kopan Monastery and resident geshe at Amitabha Buddhist Centre; Geshe Lobsang Doga, Tara Institute; Geshe Ngawang Samten, Vajrayana Institute; and Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrem, Chenrezig Institute. In addition, more than 40 Sangha members and 130 lay students attended.
Geshe Ngawang Samten, Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrem, Vens. Roger Kunsang, Gyatso and Michael Yeshe during long life puja, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 2014. Photo by Laura Miller.
Ven. Tenzin Tsapel, resident teacher of the Golden Light Sutra Center in Mongolia, beautifully led the chanting in her role as umze. The five dakinis made a dramatic entrance into the gompa, performing the traditional dance. Praises to Lama Zopa Rinpoche from FPMT centers around the world were read by Helen Patrin, coordinator of FPMT Australia; Drolkar McCallum, FPMT North America regional coordinator; and Tara Melwani, FPMT South East Asia regional coordinator.
Five dakini dancers entering the gompa, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 19, 2014. Photo by Laura Miller.
Drolkar McCallum reading the praises for Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Tara Melwani and Helen Patrin (not pictured), Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 19, 2014. Photo by Laura Miller.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche did an extensive dedication at the end of the puja, including all the people working within the FPMT mandala and all FPMT centers, projects and services. After the puja, a lunch was served for all present.
Steve Lin from FPMT Taiwan offering the eight royal emblems during long life puja, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 19, 2014. Photo by Laura Miller.
For more on the CPMT 2014 meeting, including photos and daily summaries, visit Mandala‘s blog.
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 giving the preliminary teaching before the long life initiation during the CPMT 2014 meeting, Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, September 17, 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave an exhilarating teaching on the merely labeled ‘I’ and emptiness during the preliminary teachings for the Amitayus long life initiation given during the CPMT 2014 meeting in Australia. A recording of the teaching is now available on the CPMT livestream page.
Rinpoche will be webcast live giving the concluding talk and dedication of the CPMT 2014 meeting on Thursday, September 18, at 4 p.m. AEST (UTC+10).
Here’s an excerpt from a long letter Rinpoche dictated to Ven. Holly Ansett in 2008, published on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, with extensive advice on emptiness and the merely imputed ‘I’. Rinpoche advised:
“… The I, or the self, action and object are dependent arisings. The I exists being imputed in dependence upon its base, the aggregates. Here aggregates refers to form, feeling, recognition, compounded aggregates and consciousness. The I exists in dependence upon the aggregates; the I is merely imputed to the base, the aggregates, which exist in mere name. So, the I is empty of existing from its own side, empty of existing by its nature; it does not exist inherently.
“It is the same with any action. How an action actually exists is as a dependent arising. It is not independent, but a dependent arising. ‘Action’ is labeled on what the body, speech or mind does. It exists, but dependently. Any action, no matter what name it is given, is merely imputed by the mind. It is not independent, but a dependent arising. Action does not exist from its own side; it does not exist by its nature; it does not exist inherently, or truly.
“It is the same with any object. In dependence upon the base and the thought, something is labeled ‘object.’ The object came from the mind, not from the base. You could say that it exists from the side of the mind, or in dependence upon the mind, which imputes, or designates, it. But it also exists in relation to its base. So, it is the same with an object: it does not exist from its own side.
“Therefore, I, action and object are all totally empty. They are not nonexistent, which is nihilism, but they do not exist from their own side. They do exist from the side of the mind in relation to the base, but they do not exist from their own side. Therefore, they are totally empty from their own side. This is the same with all the rest of phenomena. Nothing exists from its own side. While they exist, all phenomena are totally empty of existing from their own side. They exist in mere name and function in mere name, but that doesn’t mean that they are nonexistent.
“This is a very subtle explanation of how the I, action, object and all other phenomena exist. It can be explained in a gross way, but here this is an extremely subtle explanation. Phenomena exist in mere name, being merely imputed by the mind. Here one needs to study and one needs to analyze, which means really check how things exist. …”
The complete advice “The Merely Imputed I” is part of “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book” on the website of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Mandala will be covering the CPMT meeting with daily updates and new photos.
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 leaving the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion after the morning motivation, Victoria, Australia, September 16, 2014. Photo by Laura Miller.
The video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s morning motivation for Day 4 of CPMT 2014 meeting, September 16, is now available to watch online. Rinpoche has been attending many of the session of the CPMT 2014 meeting currently taking place at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion near Bendigo, Australia.
On Day 5, September 17, Rinpoche’s teaching before the long life initiation will be webcast live at 9 a.m. local time (AEST, UTC+10, click here for time zone conversions).
On Day 6, September 18, Rinpoche’s closing remarks for the CPMT 2014 meeting will also be webcast live at 4 p.m. local time (AEST, UTC+10, click here for time zone conversions).
On Day 7, September 19, Rinpoche’s teaching for the long life puja will be webcast live at 9 a.m. local time (AEST, UTC+10, click here for time zone conversions). All these sessions will be made available after the webcast as recorded video at the same link.
CPMT 2014 participant listening as Lama Zopa Rinpoche offers the morning meditation.
Then on September 20, Rinpoche’s public talk at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion will be webcast live and available afterwards as video for streaming. Following that, the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat, September 25-October 23, will also have Rinpoche’s teachings webcast live.
Mandala will be covering the CPMT meeting with daily updates and new photos.
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