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Lama Zopa Rinpoche News
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.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Boudhanath Stupa, Nepal, December, 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
“If we want to develop Dharma wisdom, then offer light.”
Offering lights at Kopan Monastery, November, 2016. Photo by Laura Miller.
So said Lama Zopa Rinpoche during a teaching in Singapore in 2013. What are the results of offering lights? Rinpoche explained, “It is mentioned that if we make offerings of light or incense, do prostrations and so forth, we collect numberless great merits … By making light offerings, you are able to dispel the darkness of ignorance and achieve wisdom. By offering light, you are never in darkness while you are circling in samsara. There will always be light. And offering light just one time to Buddha creates the karma to have great wealth for many hundreds or thousands of lifetimes … [We also attain] a higher rebirth, in a pure land. We quickly achieve nirvana, and not only nirvana but also the great nirvana, enlightenment. These are the benefits of offering light.”
Rinpoche also made clear that all lights can be offered. “Many people might think if you are offering light, it should be just a butter lamp, a candle or an oil lamp. Thinking that you can’t offer the other lights in the house, for example, electric lights, is a very limited idea. Thinking that you can only offer candles is wrong. Whatever light is more clear and dispels darkness, that is the better light, so you can offer all the lights in the house.”
Offered lights at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, November, 2016. Photo by Laura Miller.
Read Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teaching on light offerings in The Benefits of Making Offerings in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Learn more about how to make light offerings and other offerings in the book Extensive Offering Practices by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, available in 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.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Sangha offering incense to benefit beings at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, USA, November 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
How many ways are there to benefit other living beings?
At Buddha Amitabha Pure Land (BAPL) in Washington State, USA, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, resident Sangha, and visiting students take many measures to benefit the living beings—animals, insects, snakes, birds, and fish—who share the land and water there.
Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, October, 2016
Rinpoche is always thinking of new ways to spread blessings, take away suffering, and help even the smallest creatures. These include the recitation of mantras, sutras, and prayers, as well as other activities. Many of these are described by Ven. Tharchin, a resident of BAPL, in a 25-minute YouTube video on FPMT’s YouTube channel (see below).
According to Rinpoche in his book Liberating Animals from the Danger of Death, sentient beings can experience purification of their karma and avoid the lower realms in the future as a result of such practices. Rinpoche says: “When the Buddha gave teachings to 500 swans in a field, in their next life they were born as human beings. They became monks and all became arya beings, able to achieve the cessation of suffering and the true path. So the result is unbelievable, just by hearing Dharma words.”
Watch Ven. Tharchin, a resident of Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, explain the many measures that are taken there to benefit living beings:
https://youtu.be/aqORZkZoAqQ
Benefiting animals is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/vast-vision/#animals
For more about FPMT’s activities to benefit animals see:
https://fpmt.org/tag/animals/
Get Liberating Animals from the Danger of Death as an e-book or in a print copy from the Foundation Store and support FPMT International Office:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Liberating-Animals-eBook_p_2334.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 pours blessed water into the Atlantic Ocean off New York, USA, August 2016. Ven. Sangpo is holding a laminated Namgyalma mantra in his hand in preparation for putting it into the ocean. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
When Lama Zopa Rinpoche was in New York this past summer, he took the time to go out onto the Atlantic to bless the ocean. A kind friend offered his boat for a ride, and amid rough waves, Rinpoche and a few supporters took to the water. While some on the boat got seasick, Rinpoche did not.
Rinpoche poured blessed water from a Guru Rinpoche holy place in Bhutan into the ocean and held a mantra wheel filled with mantras on microfilm out over the ocean to help purify the negative karma of beings living in the water. As well, Namgyalma mantras were placed on the surface; some floated and some sank. The Namgyalma mantras had been prepared under Rinpoche’s instructions, and each has mantras in Tibetan on one side, while the other side has a description in English of what the mantras are so that anyone finding them does not throw them away. They are laminated in plastic to withstand the water. Once in the ocean, the mantras continually bless all the living beings that come into contact with the water.
One of the Namgyalma mantras floating on the Atlantic ocean off New York, August 2016
What are the benefits of the Namgyalma mantra? Says Lama Zopa Rinpoche: “There are unbelievable, unbelievable benefits to this mantra.” He explains, “Namgyalma is a deity for long life and purification. The mantra has infinite benefits; it is so powerful. It is said that for anyone who hears this mantra, this will be the last time that person is born in the womb. If animals hear it, they will not be reborn in the lower realms ….” Wind or water that touch the mantra, he says, will bless and purify sentient beings.
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche describe the motivation for blessing beings in the ocean and the ways of blessing them on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/vex–9nBBBY
Read more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessing living beings around the world with the Namgyalma mantra:
https://fpmt.org/tag/namgyalma-mantra/
Watch a short video about the benefits of the Namgyalma mantra:
https://fpmt.org/mandala-today/the-benefits-of-the-namgyalma-mantra-video/
Or, read an article about the benefits of the Namgyalma mantra:
https://fpmt.org/mandala/archives/mandala-issues-for-2008/august/the-benefits-of-namgyalma-mantra/
For more about FPMT’s activities to benefit animals see:
https://fpmt.org/tag/animals/
Get Liberating Animals from the Danger of Death as an e-book or in a print copy from the Foundation Store and support FPMT International Office:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Liberating-Animals-eBook_p_2334.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 meets some new friends in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on his way to Nepal, November 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
“[It would be good] for the centers to arrange regular interfaith dialogues with religious leaders in their local community,” encouraged Lama Zopa Rinpoche when he developed his Vast Visions for FPMT, noting that this is one way FPMT can offer service to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and support his aims.
On the subject of other religions, Rinpoche wrote in a letter to a student in 2013, “As His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, all religions that have conduct and views as their main instruction are telling people to have a good heart and love and compassion for the living beings. That is the main focus, and it is the same for many religions. So the conclusion is the same, to generate loving kindness and compassion to others, to not harm and to benefit others. It’s the same in Buddhism and the other major religions … I want to say the most important thing is to develop compassion for all living beings.”
Elsewhere, Rinpoche has explained, “There are many religions in the world, such as Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and so forth. These different religions are needed. It’s like having different clothes or different kinds of food in a restaurant; we need variety for different people. Christianity is needed for people who have the karma to devote themselves to Christianity and Hinduism is needed for those who have the karma to devote themselves to Hinduism and so forth. We must respect other religions … because many people in the world need Christianity and the other religions for their happiness. Therefore we must respect that.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche greets Korean Sangha in New York, USA, July 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
While we need to have deep respect for all religions, Buddhism—since we have the karma for it—is still tremendously precious. On the subject of Buddhist practice, Lama Zopa Rinpoche explained in 2012, “From the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment we can realize all the paths of Buddhism. We can achieve not only temporary happiness but also the happiness of future lives and ultimate happiness: liberation from samsara and full enlightenment. We are so lucky that we have met these teachings.”
Read more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast visions for FPMT at:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/vast-vision/
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 Rinoche enjoying himself at a restaurant, Washington State, USA, September 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Should we be happy?
In a letter to a student, Lama Zopa Rinpoche once wrote,” I think the most important thing is that you’re happy … I’m talking about the happiness that you can develop from life to life, up to enlightenment. This happiness can be completed; it is so meaningful. Whatever you do in the world, this is the essence. This happiness is Dharma.”
In his book The Heart of the Path: Seeing the Guru as Buddha, Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains one reason to be happy: that we have genuine teachers to guide us. “Even though we may not recognize it, all our happiness comes from our gurus. Every single good thing—past, present, and future—comes from our gurus. There is no doubt that the more we learn and practice Dharma, the more we develop our compassion and our wisdom and the more we are able to benefit other sentient beings. We are able to bring deeper and deeper benefit to others. All this comes from the kindness of the guru.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche wearing his mantra hat and joking with Sangha at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, USA, November 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
He adds, “In this life, we can not only achieve any happiness we want—the happiness of future lives, liberation from samsara, and enlightenment—but we can achieve all of these three great meanings in each second. For example, if even without bodhichitta motivation we circumambulate or make offerings or prostrate to a statue, stupa, or scripture of Buddha, just through the power of the holy object we create the cause of enlightenment and, by the way, liberation from samsara and all the happiness of future lives. All this comes about through the kindness of the guru.”
“Without our gurus,” Rinpoche concludes, “there is no way that we could even leave an imprint on our mind by hearing the words of Dharma let alone meditate on the path to enlightenment or attain realizations. Not everyone has this chance—in fact, only a very small number do … Even though we might not now be able to attain realizations, sooner or later, because of the imprints, we will be able to have complete understanding of the words and their meaning and be able to actualize the path. Through this, we will then achieve enlightenment.” Isn’t that a reason to be happy?
A happy new year of joy and rejoicing to all!
Sangha jumping for joy at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, USA, November 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Get the e-book or a print copy of The Heart of the Path: Seeing the Guru as Buddha from the Foundation Store and support FPMT International Office:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Heart-of-the-Path-eBook_p_2360.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 with the new abbot of Sera Je Monastery, Khen Rinpoche.
A long life puja will be offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on behalf of Sera Je Monastery as requested by Abbot Khen Rinpoche, on the Maitreya Project land in Bodhgaya on January 2, 2017 starting in the afternoon.
You can watch a beautiful video of the 2012 long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered in Bodhgaya by Sera Je Monastery:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLbfQjE4rRU
Those in Bodhgaya are welcome to attend this long life puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the Maitreya Project land. And those unable to attend, please rejoice in the auspicious occasion to ceremoniously gather, pray, and request Rinpoche to live among us for a very long time.
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 recites mantras to bless a skeleton, New York, USA, August 2016
When he visited New York this past summer, Lama Zopa Rinpoche encountered a skeleton. To benefit the person whose the skeleton it had been, he offered blessings and mantras (see video below). The skeleton, he pointed out, should remind everyone of the inescapability of impermanence and death.
“It’s not certain which will come first—tomorrow or the next life,” Rinpoche says in his book Kadampa Teachings, quoting from Shantideva’s A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, explaining that, “rather than working for tomorrow, it is better to work for the next life.” He adds, “Tomorrow is uncertain, but our next life will definitely happen, and it could happen at any time. Therefore, we should work for the happiness of that future life. This is why it’s so important to practice Dharma.”
“You can’t just relax, saying ‘I’m not going to die today,’” he comments, quoting again from A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. “You can’t sign a guarantee that you’re not going to die today. You can’t really see what is going to happen to you, not even in the next hour or the next minute. It’s totally dark. Since you can’t see what’s going to happen, how could you guarantee that you’re not going to die today? The thought that you’re going to live for a long time continues even to the day of your death … It’s not true, and it cheats you.”
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche reciting mantras to the skeleton on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/y1hKN9VioaQ
Read more from Kadampa Teachings on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/kadampa-teachings
Get the e-book or a print copy of Kadampa Teachings from the Foundation Store and support FPMT International Office:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Kadampa-Teachings–Hard-Copy_p_1283.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 teaching during a picnic in the park, New York, USA, August 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
While he was in New York this past summer, Lama Zopa Rinpoche took a few minutes to explain the six-syllable mantra AH AAH SHA SA MA HA.
In an informal conversation, Rinpoche held up a card on which he had written this mantra in Tibetan. The front of the card has a cat picture and reads, “I’m the incarnation of all your cats who have died—that’s why OM MANI PADME HUM comes from my mouth!” Rinpoche reads this and then the AH AAH SHA SA MA HA mantra he has inscribed below it, then the inside of the card in which he has written, “It’s all over Solu Khumbu carved on the rocks and it’s called the ‘six syllables of clairvoyance.’ And if you see this mantra, after fifteen days, the heavy negative karmas get purified, so it has a very profound meaning.”
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche explain the six-syllable mantra of clairvoyance on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/o11zaq5Q1VY
The six-syllable mantra, which has also been called the mantra that “just by seeing you become enlightened,” is explained as having the potential to liberate those born in the lower realms and to bless and purify the environment. Lama Zopa Rinpoche advises the following: “Put this mantra in your house where people can see it—in the dining room or kitchen, inside or outside. You can also put it by the road or on signposts. Just by seeing this mantra, sentient beings move closer to enlightenment and their negative karma is purified, even without their knowledge.”
The mantra of the six syllables of clairvoyance, written by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Rinpoche asked for this sign to be displayed indoors and outdoors to leave imprints on the beings that see it. Washington State, USA, 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Read more about this mantra on Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/new-mantra-and-its-benefits
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.
Medicine Buddha. Photo courtesy of FPMT Education Services.
There is starvation in Nigeria, and people are dying.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently checked on what is best to be done in Nigeria, where so many people are dying of hunger. It seems that this is due in part to extremists preventing food and aid from reaching people in need. According to Save the Children, up to half of all children under five are acutely malnourished in some areas of north-east Nigeria, where it is feared 200 children could die every day.
While Rinpoche considered making a donation to help the starving people, he then did a divination to check what was best. The result? Students of Rinpoche who are concerned about Nigeria should do the extensive Medicine Buddha puja, making strong prayers to Medicine Buddha for those affected to be free of hunger and oppression.
Get the e-book or a print copy of the puja recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, called The Wish-Granting Sovereign, from the Foundation Store :
https://shop.fpmt.org/Medicine-Buddha–The-Wish-Granting-Sovereign-PDF_p_1901.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 enjoying a vegetarian lunch with Ven. Thupten Wongmo, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, USA, October 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
How can we save animals?
Ven. Thupten Wongmo, a nun who lives at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land (BAPL), is a vegetarian because of what Lama Zopa Rinpoche told her many years ago: “It’s best to avoid eating meat out of compassion. Before eating the meat, think of where it came from, through cutting an animal’s neck, against its will, and how much suffering the animal experienced. After thinking about that, you can’t eat the meat! Meat may be nice for the person eating it, but not for the animal who suffered so much and didn’t die naturally. You can say prayers for the animal that was killed, but if you eat the meat, you are still playing a small part in the death of the animal. If everyone stopped eating meat, then no more animals would be killed for that purpose.”
Rinpoche prefers to avoid eating meat and has often spoken in favor of vegetarianism. Ven. Wongmo reports that some time ago Rinpoche said that she could one day cook him “some rice.” Finally, in October 2016, she mustered up her courage—not being a confident cook—and prepared him a vegetarian lunch.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche says prayers, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington State, USA, November 2016. Photo by Ven. Wongmo.
After enjoying the meatless meal, Rinpoche took another action to save animals: he kindly blessed “her mouse”—one of hundreds she has captured at BAPL and one of countless animals, birds, fish, and insects that have been been blessed there by the recitation of mantras, sutras, and prayers, as well as other activities. The mouse, which was inside a large plastic container with food, water, and a soft cloth, was able to listen while Rinpoche recited at length various mantras, including the Chenrezig mantra, the Medicine Buddha mantra, the short Namgyalma mantra, the Lotus Pinnacle mantra, and others, as well as various prayers. Ven. Wongmo also played Recitations for Animals and Sanghata Sutra CDs for the mouse, as she does for all the mice she catches.
All of these are among the many, many actions that are taken at BAPL by Rinpoche when he is present and by the Sangha and visitors on a regular basis to help animals, birds, fish, and insects. These include Ven. Wongmo’s mice and a recent visitor—a snake Rinpoche named Jangsem (Tibetan for “Bodhichitta”).
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche on YouTube as he recites prayers to benefit Jangsem the snake and all other sentient beings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ-WoBgM6eg
Benefiting animals is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/vast-vision/#animals
Read more about FPMT’s activities to encourage vegetarianism on FPMT.org:
https://fpmt.org/tag/vegetarianism/
For more about FPMT’s activities to benefit animals see:
https://fpmt.org/tag/animals/
Get Liberating Animals from the Danger of Death as an e-book or in a print copy from the Foundation Store and support FPMT International Office:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Liberating-Animals-eBook_p_2334.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.