Lama Zopa Rinpoche News

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and a cute canine friend, Adelaide, Australia, May 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

On May 31, Ven. Roger Kunsang shared this from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings at Buddha House in Adelaide, Australia, on his Twitter page: 

Lama Zopa: The main thing for resolving problems is to stop thinking they come from outside, they come from inside … wrong way of thinking.

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.)

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings at Buddha House and at several other Australian FPMT centers can be watched now on FPMT’s Livestream page.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama being greeted by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been invited to attend the long life puja (tenshuk) for His Holiness the Dalai Lama in honor of His Holiness’ 80th birthday in Dharamsala, India, on June 21. The long life ceremony has been organized by the Gelug Tenshuk and Gratitude Celebration Organizing Committee with the Tibetan Government in Exlie and the Tibetan Do-med Association. 

As part of the Gratitude Celebration, the first ever international Gelug conference will follow the long life ceremony on June 23-24. The conference will be attended by the Gaden Tri Rinpoche, Jangtse Chöje Rinpoche, Sharpa Chöje Rinpoche, Samdhong Rinpoche, and present and former abbots of all the major Gelug monasteries and nunneries, as well as many other great masters, lamas, dignitaries and representatives from Gelug centers, nunneries and monasteries. 

As a result of Lama Zopa Rinpoche traveling to India, the following changes have been made to his Australia tour schedule:

• Rinpoche’s teachings at Kunsang Yeshe Retreat Centre on June 17-18 have been cancelled;
• The June 19 teaching on Karma has been rescheduled to June 14, 10 a.m.-noon at Minh Dang Quang Temple;
• The long life puja at Vajrayana Institute on June 21 has been cancelled.

Rinpoche’s teachings at Vajrayana Institute June 13-15 are unchanged and will be webcast live.

After Dharamsala, Rinpoche will resume his teaching tour in Russia with the scheduled public talk “How to Find Peace” on June 30 at Ganden Tendar Ling in Moscow.

For details, see Rinpoche’s schedule.

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 with attendants and FPMT Australia students in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings at Vajrayana Institute in Sydney, Australia, June 13-15 will be webcast LIVE on FPMT’s Livestream page:

• June 13: Teaching on “How to Apply Dharma in Daily Life,” Vajrayana Institute, scheduled 7 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)
• June 14: Teaching on “The Joy of Compassion,” Vajrayana Institute, scheduled 7 p.m. AEST
• June 15: motivation for White Mahakala initiation (tentative), Vajrayana Institute, scheduled 7 p.m. AEST

This past week, Rinpoche has been in the Blue Mountains, outside of Sydney, where His Holiness the Dalai Lama just concluded five days of teachings.

Higher quality recordings of all the teachings from Australia will be made available at a later date on FPMT’s Rinpoche Available Now page. Recordings of Rinpoche’s May 2015 teachings in New Zealand are now available.

More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his teaching schedule 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, De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre, Australia, May 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

During a 1991 talk in Adelaide, Australia, Lama Zopa Rinpoche responded to a question about low self-esteem with a teaching on the nature of the mind. Here’s a short excerpt from this talk, published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive:

“… What is the mind? It is nothing other than what is merely imputed by the mind, by the thought. In other words, because of the reason that the base – this formless phenomenon that is clear and perceives objects – exists, mind is merely labeled by the thought, and believed in. Because of this, thought makes up the idea, the concept, the label, ‘mind,’ and then believes in what is merely imputed by thought. Therefore, what the mind is, is extremely subtle. It does not exist in the way it normally appears to us. In reality, the mind that exists does not exist in the way that it normally appears to us, in the way we normally apprehend it, as a real mind existing from its own side, an inherently existent mind. It is not that. 

“This formless phenomenon whose nature is clear and able to perceive objects, this is the base. Depending on this base, mind is labeled, so ‘mind’ is the label and that phenomenon is the base to be labeled. Therefore, the base and the label ‘mind’ have to be different; they cannot be one thing. There is no way that the base to be labeled and the label can be one. If this particular formless phenomenon that is clear and able to perceive objects were the label ‘mind,’ there would be no point in labeling mind. Why would you label ‘mind’? There is no reason to label ‘mind’ on the mind. This would become endless. You would label ‘mind’ on the mind, then you would have to label ‘mind’ on that mind, then again you would have to label ‘mind’ on that mind. It would become endless. There is no purpose in doing this.

“Generally, you apply a label to something that is not that. There is some purpose in doing this. For example, when you see your mother among a group of your relatives – your brother, sister, father, aunt, uncle, and so forth – what is the reason that makes you create the label ‘mother’? First you have to think about this. A reason comes in your mind before you make up the label ‘mother.’ Some reason makes you choose this particular label. …”

Read the entire teaching from Rinpoche at:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/ultimate-nature-mind

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 with Ven. Dhundrup and Dale, the architect, going over the plans for a group retreat facility at Detong Ling Retreat Centre, Kangaroo Island, Australia.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave this translation of a Tibetan text on how to build a retreat house, published in November 2013 on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: 

As requested by Pungsang, Buddha states how to make a meditation room:

On that land, dig the earth and purify the place. If the house depends on heat and warmth, put a mud wall around it. The door of the meditation house should face east, north or west, but never south. If there is downstairs and upstairs, at least one door should not face south. Put a window towards the south or the east.

A dedicated meditation room is auspicious for a good retreat and helps the mind remain undisturbed, as outer and inner conditions are dependent arisings. Having a dedicated room qualifies the place as suitable for abiding in the retreat. If it is not possible to find all the conditions, at least arrange what is most comfortable for the yogi to do retreat.

The second chapter of the Guhyasamaja Tantra states that in all the directions of the earth, in places of great isolation that are adorned with flowers and fruits; in the isolation of the mountain, all realizations will be achieved.

You can find more advice on retreat in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book,” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website (https://www.lamayeshe.com/).

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 doing preparation for Medicine Buddha jenang, Buddha House, Australia, May 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

“The seven Medicine Buddhas, attainers of bliss, strongly prayed for the temporal and ultimate happiness of yourself and all sentient beings. They vowed that their prayers would be actualized during these degenerate times when the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha are in decline. As the buddhas’ holy speech is irrevocable, you can wholly trust in their power to quickly grant blessings to help all sentient beings in these degenerate times,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche instructs in “The Benefits of Medicine Buddha Mantra and Practice,” a free PDF created by FPMT Education Services. “If you pray to Guru Medicine Buddha, you will quickly accomplish all that you wish. Just hearing the holy name of Guru Medicine Buddha and the sound of his mantra closes the door to rebirth in the suffering lower realms. It is written in the scriptures that you should not have a two-pointed mind (doubt) with regard to these benefits. …”

“Therefore, at the time of death, it is excellent to recite both Tathagata Medicine Buddha’s holy name and his mantra in the ear of the dying person. It is extremely beneficial to recite the mantra and blow it upon meat that you are eating, or even on old bones or the dead bodies of animals or humans. This action purifies the karmic obscurations of those sentient beings. It can cause someone who has been reborn in the suffering lower realms to immediately pass away and be reborn in a pure realm or amongst happy transmigrators. At the very least, it will shorten the duration of their suffering in the lower realms. It is excellent if this is done with bodhichitta, renouncing self and cherishing others.

“Also, by reciting this mantra, you will greatly enhance the power of the medicine that you are taking or giving to others. …”

You can read the complete advice in the short booklet “The Benefits of Medicine Buddha Mantra and Practice,” a free PDF of FPMT Education Services.

FPMT Education Services has created many resources pages to help FPMT students learn more on these topics, including ones for “Mantras” and “Death and Dying: Heart Advice and Practices.”

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 on lojong in Auckland, New Zealand, at an event organized by Dorje Chang Institute, May 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

“There’s a big difference between those who have met Dharma and those who have not met Dharma,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche says in a teaching in the just published Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive May E-letter. “By having met Dharma, you are full of inspiration. It’s a question of thinking, a question of meditating. Life is full of hope. Rather than feeling very down and hopeless, you feel your life is full of inspiration.

“Even if you are experiencing very heavy karma – you are missing limbs or something like that – even if in your mind you want to do something else but due to karma you don’t have the freedom to do it now, even if your life is not what you want, even if there is such a big problem, think, ‘This is temporary. What is happening to me won’t last forever. This is a causative phenomenon; it happened in dependence upon cause and conditions. This difficulty in my life happened due to cause and conditions, and due to another cause and conditions it will go away.’

“No matter how heavy the karma in your life is, no matter how much heavy karma you have created;  even if you have created some negative action that means you will be born in the hells for many billions of eons – according to their time, not human time, which is an incredible length of time – don’t just be sad about it. Just being sad about any problem or mistake that happens in your life is of no use. Remember your buddha nature, which is pure, which is not oneness with the mistakes. Remember that, and that you have all the potential, all the hope to develop your mind. Remember that you can be better, and then attempt the method to be better. …” 

Read this month’s E-letter and the complete teaching online at: http://bit.ly/may-2015-e-letter

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 looking around the De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre land with ex-director Kimball Cuddihy and present director Will Abram, Kangaroo Island, Australia, May 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has arrived in Australia, starting his tour of the country with a visit to De-Tong Ling Retreat Centre on Kangaroo Island where he consecrated the Enlightenment Stupa and Padmasambhava statue there. Rinpoche will continue his tour teaching at Buddha House in Adelaide, Vajrayana Institute in Sydney, and Kusang Yeshe Retreat Centre in Katoomba.

These teachings will be webcast LIVE on FPMT’s Livestream page:

• May 30: Teaching on “Making the Most of your Life,” Buddha House, schedule to start at 7 p.m. Australian Central Standard Time (ACST)
• May 31: motivation for Medicine Buddha initiation (tentative), Buddha House, schedule to start at 7 p.m. ACST
• June 13: Teaching on “How to Apply Dharma in Daily Life,” Vajrayana Institute, scheduled 7 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)
• June 14: Teaching on “The Joy of Compassion,” Vajrayana Institute, scheduled 7 p.m. AEST
• June 15: motivation for White Mahakala initiation (tentative), Vajrayana Institute, scheduled 7 p.m. AEST
• June 21: Long life puja, Vajrayana Institute, morning

Recordings of Rinpoche’s recent teachings in New Zealand are available as part of Rinpoche Available Now.

Higher quality recordings of all the teachings from Australia (including those from Kusang Yeshe Retreat Centre where livestreaming is impossible) will be made available at a later date on Rinpoche Available Now.

See Rinpoche’s Schedule for more details on upcoming teachings.

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, Chandrakirti Centre, Nelson, New Zealand, May 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

On May 16, Ven. Roger Kunsang shared this from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings at Chandrakirti Centre on his Twitter page: 

Lama Zopa: Our self-cherishing mind is a dictator, like a guru we serve constantly.

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.)

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings at Chandrakirti Centre can be watched now on FPMT’s Livestream page. 

For continuing updates and news from Kopan Monastery and other FPMT centers and projects in Nepal affected by the earthquake, please visit our “Updates from Nepal after the Earthquake” page: 
https://fpmt.org/nepal-earthquake/

To learn more and offer support to the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund visit: 
https://fpmt.org/support/socialservices/

For “Prayers and Practice for Earthquake in Nepal,” see: 
https://fpmt.org/edu-news/prayers-and-practices-for-earthquake-in-nepal/

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.

Incense puja at Mount Taranaki in New Zealand, May 2015. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been wanting to do puja here for some years as is a special place. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“So, why do we take refuge?,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche asked during a 2013 refuge ceremony at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore. “To be free from pervasive compounding suffering, from where the suffering of pain and the suffering of change arises – to be totally free from that, forever.

“To be able to help sentient beings, we have to be free from suffering. For example, if we are drowning in mud, how can we help others? If we are drowning in water, how can we help others? If we have no arms, how can we save others? To free ourselves from this suffering is not to achieve blissful peace for ourselves, but to help other sentient beings. The most important thing is to be able to help other sentient beings. We need to be free from suffering to do this.

“Just to be free from the lower realms, we don’t need to take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. We don’t need these three. Even if we just remember a monk or nun – somebody we have devotion to – when we die, we will never get reborn in the lower realms at the time of death. Even if we remember one Sangha to whom we feel devotion, or if we think of the Heart Sutra, for example, or some mantra or prayer that we remember, we will never get reborn in lower realms.

“But to be free from samsara – from the pervasive compounding suffering – we need to take refuge. We need to take refuge in Buddha who revealed the path, who revealed the teaching, and the actual refuge. Buddha is like the doctor and Dharma is like the medicine. The actual refuge is Dharma, like the medicine for sickness. Then, the Sangha is like the nurse. The Sangha becomes an example, helping us actualize refuge, Dharma, within our heart. That is Sangha. We need all three to have refuge, to be free from the pervasive compounding suffering from where true suffering arises. Until we are free from this, we suffer in samsara constantly, endlessly, from beginningless rebirth. We can’t help sentient beings perfectly; we cannot help others perfectly without mistakes.”

Excerpted from “The Real Refuge” section of “Seeing How the I Exists” (http://bit.ly/seeing-how-the-i-exists) made available 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 with Geshe Thubten Wangchen and Geshe Jampa Tharchin at Chandrakirti Centre for the consecration of a Guru Rinpoche statue, Nelson, New Zealand, May 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“The wisdom realizing emptiness gives us the possibility to escape from problems forever,” said Lama Zopa Rinpoche in a 1990 teaching in Florence, Italy. “Achieving this ultimate happiness mainly depends on this realization. As I mentioned before, only the wisdom realizing emptiness can directly eradicate the ignorance which is the root of the whole samsaric suffering.Therefore, we should feel extremely fortunate and attempt to learn more, to listen, reflect and meditate more. As much as possible, in our everyday life we should attempt to meditate on emptiness even for a minute or a few seconds, especially once we have heard teachings that reveal the unmistaken view and we have some basic understanding of what ultimate nature means. Realizing emptiness gives us the opportunity to be free from the whole of samsara and all suffering.

“So, we should not waste time, we should not waste the opportunity. We must meditate as often as possible, even for a few seconds. We must meditate. Not meditating on emptiness, or not even remembering it for even one day is a great loss. Meditating on emptiness itself becomes great purification. For example, when it comes to purification methods in tantra and sutra, reading the Prajñaparamita teachings is one of the methods. Meditating on emptiness is one of the most powerful purifications.

“Even if you are doing Vajrasattva meditation, you are still advised to remember emptiness. The Vajrasattva recitation-purification becomes very powerful by remembering emptiness. Making offerings to these scriptures or copying them and meditating on them, are all regarded as very powerful purification practices. Anyway, you should not waste the opportunity, especially if you have studied these teachings and have some basic understanding of them. Even rising doubts about emptiness has a great effect – it shatters samsara into pieces.”

Excerpted from “Meditation on Emptiness and Tong-len (Taking and Giving)” (http://bit.ly/meditation-on-emptiness-and-tong-len) made available 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 with Geshe Thubten Wangchen from Dorje Chang Institute blessing water with students to pour from the boat into the strait between the north and south islands of New Zealand, May 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche returns to New Zealand’s North Island to continue his teaching tour. Rinpoche’s teachings in Auckland at Dorje Chang Institute will be webcast LIVE on FPMT’s Livestream page:

• May 22: Teaching on How to Have a Happy, Meaningful Life, schedule to start at 7 p.m. New Zealand time
• May 23: Teaching on How to Have a Happy, Meaningful Life, scheduled 4 – 7 p.m. New Zealand time
• May 25: A Chat about Death, approximately 3 – 5 p.m. New Zealand time

Recordings of Rinpoche’s teachings at Mahamudra Centre and Chandrakirti Centre can be watched now on Livestream.

Higher quality recordings will be made available at a later date on Rinpoche Available Now.

See Rinpoche’s Schedule for more details on upcoming teachings.

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.