Lama Zopa Rinpoche News

Medicine Buddha, Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, US, July 2014. Photo by Chris Majors.

A student wrote Lama Zopa Rinpoche and asked for advice about blessing food as the student’s family owns a factory that makes food that is later sold in shops. 

My most dear, most kind, most precious wish-fulfilling student,

Regarding your question about blessing the food, you recite OM AH HUM and visualize all the buddhas and bodhisattvas blessing the food with the qualities of holy body, speech and mind. This absorbs into the food where the food is. It is all absorbed into the food.

Then recite OM AH HUM.

Visualize that then every grain and part of the food is a blue HUM and into that numberless buddhas’ and bodhisattvas’ holy body, speech and mind all absorb into that. Then do that quite a number of malas of the mantra (OM AH HUM); the more you do, the better. The HUMs become the grains or food particles.

Then make a prayer to the merit field, Medicine Buddha, Tara and Chenrezig (but particularly Medicine Buddha) and pray that all the buddhas and bodhisattvas bless the food and that there never comes from it any side effects; it immediately purifies, the minute the food goes inside the mouth, it immediately purifies all the negative karmas collected from beginningless rebirths, not only that envy, but all diseases and spirit harms are purified. Also, pray that all realizations from guru devotion up to enlightenment are actualized, all the realizations are generated, especially bodhichitta, and it brings to all sentient beings perfect peace and happiness in this world. Then all the wishes of happiness and all successes – according to holy Dharma – are immediately received. All the wishes up to enlightenment are actualized.

That is what you should pray. You and everyone can do that meditation.

You can do the meditation and practice in the factory. You can also do it from home as long as all the food is piled up in one place and you know exactly where it is.

Please continue to make your life most meaningful with the thought of bodhichitta night and day and in every action that you do.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

Scribed by Ven. Holly Ansett, Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, United States, October 2013. Lightly edited by Mandala for inclusion on FPMT.org.

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 reading Lama Tsongkhapa’s “Lekshe Nyingpo,” Bodhgaya, India, March 2015. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

While Lama Zopa Rinpoche was staying at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India, he engaged in round the clock meritorious activities and offered blessings to many people and animals during the first 15 days of Tibetan New Year. Ven. Sarah Thresher recently shared news of some of Rinpoche’s beneficial activities:

This morning we completed the Tara initiation that began three days ago. Our days have been so busy. Rinpoche would come in the middle of the night to do preparation for the initiation and we would begin around 3 or 4 a.m., taking it until breakfast. These are the last few days of the Losar merit increasing days and Rinpoche has inspired us to practice continually day and night. Even working in shifts, it is impossible to keep up with the endless and effortless flow of virtue and we have all been operating on very few hours of sleep!

The past few days Rinpoche has been going to the Mahabodhi Stupa to practice during and take advantage of the merit increasing days. Rinpoche especially wanted to complete the reading of Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lekshe Nyingpo, a profound text clarifying all the subtle points of the view of emptiness according to the four schools of Buddhist philosophical tenets, which he started to read last year. When he arrived in Bodhgaya, Rinpoche would go in the evenings to make offerings and circumambulate the stupa while reciting the text, but since there were still many pages left, the past two days Rinpoche has been sitting in the shade at the small stupa, where Buddha gazed unblinkingly at the Bodhi tree during the third week after enlightenment, focusing on the recitation. When he finishes, Rinpoche sits in meditation on emptiness for a while. Around us the sound of chanting and pujas from all different traditions of Buddhism harmonize as Rinpoche sits in a state of deep absorption.

Since Rinpoche arrived at Root, we have been fortunate to receive so many teachings and pieces of advice on emptiness. In fact, a series of teachings on patience focused mainly on emptiness. “The most powerful practice for patience is emptiness,” Rinpoche explained.

On Day of Miracles, March 5, Rinpoche spent four hours reciting and meditating on Lekshe Nyingpo in the morning and then returned in the evening to lead 2,000 tsog offerings. We sat under the Bodhi tree for the tsog offering and in front of us was Sogyal Rinpoche leading prayers with a group of students from Rigpa. At the end of the prayers, Sogyal Rinpoche came up to greet Rinpoche, offering a khata and remarking how beautifully Rinpoche had been chanting Calling the Guru from Afar. He asked Rinpoche to live long because Rinpoche does so many activities to benefit others.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche leaving the Mahabodhi Stupa complex, Bodhgaya, India, March 2015. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

The day before Day of Miracles, we offered a simple long life offering to Rinpoche. Since there have been so many pujas over the recent days, we checked with Rinpoche which puja would be best and Rinpoche said he would like to do the long Sixteen Arhats puja, which is very powerful for preserving the Dharma as well as for the gurus’ long lives. We were fortunate that Keutsang Rinpoche happily accepted to come and present the offerings to Rinpoche. At the beginning of the puja, Rinpoche dedicated the puja to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, all his gurus, all the FPMT center directors and staff, all the students and all sentient beings who are creating virtue. Rinpoche quoted President Obama’s recent description of His Holiness as “a powerful example of what it means to practice compassion” and emphasized how important it is that world leaders are able to meet and be inspired by His Holiness. The puja was quite simple but Rinpoche expressed at the end that he enjoyed it and joked that he and Keutsang Rinpoche could now go on holiday to Goa or Tahiti with all the money offerings we had made! But then Rinpoche promptly donated back all the money to Root Institute’s projects and to help build a new Maitreya statue at the institute.

Rinpoche was supposed to leave immediately after March 5, but is now delaying a few more days.

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.

Statues of Padmasambhava, Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, US, November 2104. Photo by Chris Majors.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India, on February 2, where he engaged in round the clock meritorious activities and offered blessings to many people and animals. On March 2, Ven. Roger Kunsang shared this on his Twitter page: 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, teaching very energetically: our own mind is always deceiving us all the time, hiding the reality of how things exist.

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.)

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.

Kuan Yin, Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, November 2014. Photo by Chris Majors.

“Even concerning having harmonious relationships, it’s also beneficial to remember impermanence and death,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said in Creating the Causes of Happiness, the second volume in Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s four-part ebook series taken from the lightly edited transcripts of the 24th Kopan lam-rim course in 1991.

“… When the mind is completely occupied, completely overtaken by the dissatisfied mind, by strong attachment, it doesn’t leave space for compassion. There’s no space. The self-cherishing thought has completely taken over the mind, and then this second great dissatisfied mind, attachment, takes over, so there’s no space to feel concern for the other person, to feel the other person’s need, to have concern for the other person’s happiness, to cherish the other person. There’s no space for these positive thoughts, no space for compassion to arise for that other person. The mind is completely overtaken by the self-cherishing thought, by this great dissatisfied mind, attachment. We are only thinking of my happiness, my happiness, my happiness, like reciting a mantra, except we don’t use a mala to count. We don’t use a mala to count how many times we think ‘my happiness, my happiness, my happiness,’ but it’s like reciting a mantra, or like a computer or something, like a calculator.

“Reflecting of impermanence and death is the solution. It’s extremely powerful. It’s easy to understand, but it’s extremely powerful. It immediately stops the problem. [Rinpoche snaps his fingers.] It cuts off the dissatisfied mind, attachment. It gives our mind a rest; it’s a holiday for our mind from those great dissatisfactory minds, attachment and so forth, from all those other disturbing thoughts, all those other emotional, painful minds. It gives our mind a rest, a holiday, which is the most important thing. When that happens, as I mentioned at other times, then physical rest also comes, a healthy body comes.

“It gives a lot of space for the other positive minds to arise. This way, it also makes us understand the other person more. By making our own mind clear, we understand the other person’s needs better, and how kind and precious the other person is. We understand how all our comfort and things came from this person, from this person’s effort and support. Even just talking about the kindness of this life, let alone thinking about all the past lives’ kindness of this person, there are many ways our life has been made easier because of this person.”

Creating the Causes of Happiness (http://bit.ly/Creating-The-Causes-Of-Happiness) is available from Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive through a variety of ebook distributors. 

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.

Tsa-tsa of Chenrezig, Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, November 2014. Photo by Chris Majors.

“Just because a person recites the Mahayana prayers, just because he recites mantras or does a sadhana, visualizing deities, enlightened beings, those secret aspect buddhas, just because he does sadhanas that contain the tantric path, that alone doesn’t mean the person is a Mahayanist,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said in Creating the Cause of Happiness, the second volume in Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s four-part ebook series taken from the lightly edited transcripts of the 24th Kopan lam-rim course in 1991. “He is not if his mind is not in that experience, renouncing himself and cherishing only other sentient beings, having this altruism, this wish to achieve enlightenment to be able to do perfect work for all sentient beings. If the person’s mind is not in that experience, even if the words he recites are very high tantric teachings, even if his meditation is a very high tantric practice, since the person is not a bodhisattva, he is not a Mahayanist.

“The meditator who enters this path, the Mahayana path, the path of the Great Vehicle, then proceeds through the five paths and the ten bhumis according to sutra. If he is practicing tantra, highest yoga tantra, there are the five paths, but he doesn’t have to proceed through the ten bhumis, accumulating merit for three countless great eons, as explained in the Paramitayana path.

“You can understand from this what the term ‘bodhisattva’ means. Even the bodhisattva who first enters into the path of the Great Vehicle, the Mahayana path, even that practitioner’s attitude is to completely renounce himself and only cherish other sentient beings. This is true for even the new bodhisattva who has just entered the path, who has just actualized bodhichitta.

“Therefore, even if we don’t have time to do those practices or offerings to the Triple Gem, the Buddha Dharma and Sangha – and of course it’s best if we are able to practice everything – but even if we are unable to do it, as we live our everyday life the practice we must do is this one. The best one is to cherish others, to treat others as more precious than ourselves. Even if we can’t respect others, treat others, serve others, with the attitude that they are more precious than we ourselves are, at least we should see others as being as important as ourselves. They should be equal. Other are also as precious as we ourselves are. At least we should have the thought of equanimity, and with the thought of equanimity then we serve others. We respect, serve, help, benefit others.”

Creating the Cause of Happiness is available from Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive through a variety of ebook distributors.

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.

Up close photo of the relics altar at Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, 2014. Photo by Chris Majors.

In late November and early December 2014, Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught as part of the annual month-long Kopan course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Rinpoche’s teachings covered a variety of subjects. What follows is an excerpt from a lightly edited transcript and video extract:

So you can see now – your life came from your mind. In essence, your life, happiness, problems, whatever happiness, whatever problems, how much problems and how much happiness you have, the whole thing came from your mind. It came from your mind.

Others who are angry with you, who kill you, who steal your possessions, who cheat you, who do the ten nonvirtuous actions, those who do those to you, those who harm you, they are purely, purely objects of compassion, your objects of compassion, because if you hadn’t harmed them in the past, if you hadn’t done those different harms, there would be no reason AT ALL for them to harm you in this life. There is no reason AT ALL! So it is a dependent arising; it all depends on how you treated them in the past. So it is the result… How they treat you, good or bad, it is the result of how you treated them in the past.

So whatever harm they give you, they are just a condition, they are purely an object of your compassion. You treated them badly in a past life, so as a result, the karmic result is that they cheat you, that they harm you. It is just the result of your past negative karma of harming them. So it all comes from your mind, it comes from your negative mind in the past, so they are just objects of your compassion. …

Watch “Others Are Only Objects of Compassion” on YouTube.

You can find more MP3 recordings, transcripts and short video excerpts of Rinpoche’s teachings from the Kopan course on FPMT.org.

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 talks to staff and patients of Shakyamuni Buddhist Health Care Centre, Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, March 2015. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India, on February 2. Ven. Sarah Thresher recently shared news of some of Rinpoche’s beneficial activities during the first 15 days of Tibetan New Year:

Following another all-night prayer session, Rinpoche went early to bless the patients in the Shakyamuni Buddha Community Health Care Centre, Root Institute’s free clinic that takes care of over 3,300 patients a month and provides a mobile clinic to serve the poor villages around Bodhgaya.

Invited by clinic coordinator Dr. Sanjay to bless all the clinic’s medicines, Rinpoche brought with him a short medicine blessing prayer by Panchen Lama Chokyi Gyaltsen that he has recently translated. Rinpoche began with a talk to the patients and workers at the clinic, made prayers for all those who come to the clinic now or will come in the future, and then blessed each person present with powerful mantras and prayers while blessed water and protection cords were distributed.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche holds a bag filled used to bless the chickens at Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, March 2015. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

Dr. Sanjay expressed how very excellent Rinpoche’s visit was and described how delighted the patients were to have seen him: “In my 20 years at the clinic, I have come to see how heartfelt is Rinpoche’s wish and caring to help others. Many people come to this clinic as a last resort. They have been suffering for a long time and already seen other doctors, but when they come here, they get the help they need and recover. We believe this is because Rinpoche has blessed the medicine.

“Today, Rinpoche explained to the people how all their problems can be solved by having a good mind and a good heart. Often people think their suffering comes from outside, but Rinpoche explained how by purifying and collecting merit they can achieve happiness. When we are happy, we can make others happy, so it is very important to think positively. If we hurt others, this only results in suffering for ourselves and is not the purpose of this human life, which is to bring happiness to others. The patients who came today expressed how fortunate they felt to have come to the clinic today, to see Rinpoche and receive his blessing.”

Behind the clinic is the new chicken house with over 60 chickens. After exiting the clinic, Rinpoche went to bless all the birds. Following Rinpoche’s instruction, mantras have been pasted all over the roof of the chicken coop so that the birds are continually being blessed. Both the clinic and animal houses on the property have sutras and mantras playing aloud round the clock as an additional continual blessing. Each bird was blessed with a bag full of mantras while Rinpoche recited powerful mantras and prayers.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche spent time blessing the chickens at Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, March 2015. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

FPMT Education Services offers many prayers and practices that can be done during Monlam, which continues through March 5 this year, as free PDF downloads. You can find Rinpoche’s advice on Monlam collected here (on Rinpoche’s Advice page, under Buddha Multiplying Days), specific advice for practices to do on the Buddha Multiplying days here, and a calendar of all the dates here.

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 monks and nuns, Choe Khor Sum Ling, Bangalore, India, January 2015. Photo by Deepthy Shekhar.

“Choe Khor Sum Ling in Bangalore, India welcomed the new year with showers of blessings from Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his retinue of venerable monks and nun,” wrote student Deepthy Shekhar. “Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited our little center and taught students in Bangalore January 9-17. The center transformed into a hub of festive activity with prayers, pujas and sutra readings in the auspicious presence of our esteemed precious and pure guru. Choe Khor Sum Ling welcomed students of Rinpoche from South Africa, Singapore, Sweden, Argentina and other states in India. 

“Rinpoche’s teachings began with a public talk on the topic of ‘Transforming Problems into Happiness.’ During this talk, Rinpoche advised all students to develop an attitude of bodhichitta, which was crucial for transforming any problem with a positive attitude: 

“‘Even if you don’t believe in reincarnation and karma, if you want to have success in this life and all future lives up to liberation and enlightenment, don’t harm others and instead fulfill others’ wishes as much as you can in everyday life. Fulfilling others’ wishes, whether humans or animals, should be our main practice.

“‘In Buddhism, happiness comes from the mind; suffering also comes from the mind. If you want to change your reality, change your mind. This is the most important thing. Not external change, but changing the mind. Meditation means keeping the mind positive and pure. Do those things that bring happiness to others. This is the essence of the Buddha’s message to numberless beings from his own omniscient wisdom and compassion: subdue your mind. If that is happening, you are practicing Dharma.’

“On the same day, Rinpoche released a publication of Praises to 21 Taras in Sanskrit. This was published by Choe Khor Sum Ling as a two-part book containing The Heart Sutra and Praises to the 21 Taras. The publication of the text completed one of many pieces of advice that Choe Khor Sum Ling had received from Rinpoche. Choe Khor Sum Ling was also able to fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wish for the installation of statues of the Twenty-One Taras, Guru Padmasambhava, Manjushri and Four-Arm Chenrezig in the center. These statues came to our center through the benevolent donations of its many students, teachers and friends from all over the world. They were filled with mantras, sutras and other holy objects. Rinpoche expressed his happiness at these accomplishments. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the students of Choe Khor Sum Ling, Bangalore, India, January 2015. Photo by Deepthy Shekhar.

“Rinpoche also conferred the Five Deity Heruka initiation to some of his students at Choe Khor Sum Ling, over seven days. During these teachings, Rinpoche explained the need for students to practice the three principal aspects of the path and gave us good advice on the actual tantric path. During the mornings of these teachings, the assembled monks and nuns organized the collective reading of the Sutra of Golden Light, the Sixteen Arhat puja and a Medicine Buddha puja. They encouraged all members in participating in collectively writing out the Arya Sanghata Sutra and Amitayus Long Life Sutra for the long and healthy life of Rinpoche. 

“During the second public teaching – ‘How to Make Life Happy’ – Rinpoche encouraged students to complete the path, saying, ‘Only Buddha doesn’t make mistakes, right? That’s why we need to become Buddha!’

“Choe Khor Sum Ling celebrated the harvest festival of Sankranti, which coincided with one of the days Rinpoche was in the center and the night of the tsog, by decorating the center with sugar cane and plantain leaves and flowers. The center bore a festive look and spirit during the teachings. Choe Khor Sum Ling prays and hopes Rinpoche comes to the center again and again and again.”

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.

Mahabodhi Stupa, Bodhgaya, India, February 2015. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India on February 2. Ven. Sarah Thresher recently shared some of Rinpoche’s advice for practice during the first 15 days of Tibetan New Year:

We are now in the 15 days of Tibetan New Year, Losar, when Buddha performed miracles and any virtue created increases 100 million times. Rinpoche has been reminding us daily how important it is to use this opportunity to create merit.

“One prostration is 100 million prostrations, one light offering is 100 million light offerings, one flower offering is 100 million flower offerings, one Tara puja is 100 million Tara pujas!” Rinpoche will say raising his voice to stress the enormity of the increase. “This is the best business.” Why do we need to create extensive merit? “The more merit we have, it is that much quicker to achieve enlightenment and free all sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to peerless happiness, enlightenment.”

For more than two weeks now, days and nights at the center have been filled with prayers, pujas, practices and offerings, offerings, offerings. This is the time of Root Institute’s Festival of Lights and Merit when the center decorates the Mahabodhi Stupa with close to 100,000 multi-colored lights every night in addition to the 50,000 lights offered on a daily basis at the center throughout the year. Supplementing these offerings are hundreds of water bowls surrounding the Nagarjuna statue and on Rinpoche’s roof, where even Rinpoche’s prostration board has become a makeshift altar. Since every water bowl offering becomes 100 million, how is it possible to leave even one bowl empty?

In the evenings, when we go to circumambulate the stupa, Rinpoche will buy trays of heaped-up flowers and flower garlands to offer to the stupa in addition to the lights, and robes for the statue of Buddha inside the stupa. “First dedicate for all His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s holy wishes to be fulfilled immediately,” Rinpoche explains, “that is the most important dedication.” Then Rinpoche guides us in developing a bodhichitta motivation and offering mantras, prayers and extensive dedications for all the centers, students and six realm sentient beings as incense burns and the sound of the gyaling music plays. “Think that all the holy objects are in essence the manifestation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” Rinpoche explains. “By offering to the guru we collect the most extensive merit.”

FPMT Education Services offers many prayers and practices that can be done during Monlam, which continues through March 5 this year, as free PDF downloads. You can find Rinpoche’s advice on Monlam collected here (on Rinpoche’s Advice page, under Buddha Multiplying Days), specific advice for practices to do on the Buddha Multiplying days here, and a calendar of all the dates here. 

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 teaching at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In late November and early December 2014, Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught as part of the annual month-long Kopan course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Rinpoche’s teachings covered a variety of subjects. What follows is an excerpt from a lightly edited transcript and video extract:

Everything, every trouble, is due to something that you did wrong in the past. You harmed others in the past, so it is the result of that. Whatever you experience in this life, any problem, any problem from other sentient beings, all is the result of how you treated sentient beings in the past. It is all a result of that: you harmed sentient beings. You didn’t practice good heart, you harmed them. You didn’t practice good heart to free them from suffering and cause them happiness. You didn’t practice that and instead you harmed others in the past.

So whatever problem you experience in life, it aaaaaaaaaaaall came from your own negative karma, the harm that was done in the past to other sentient beings, which came from your own mind. So aaaaaaaaaaaall the happiness that you experience in this life and aaaaaaaaaaaall the suffering that you experience in this life, aaaaaaaaaaaall came from your own mind. You see?

We think, “Oh, others did harm to me, destroyed me. Oh, oh, oh, it came from others.” No, that is tooooooooootally, that is toootally wrong. Because you never think, either you don’t know reincarnation and karma or you even if you know them intellectually, so when problems come, “Oh, they come from outside. Oh, I have to kill and smash others. Oh, suffering came from others.” You don’t think of past lives, you don’t think of your negative karma, that it came from your negative karma. You don’t think of karma. You don’t know karma, you don’t think of karma.

Even if you know it intellectually, but when problems come, you don’t think of it. So all the blame goes to others; the blame doesn’t go to the selfish mind.

Watch “Protecting Your Mind by Protecting Karma” on YouTube.

You can find more MP3 recordings, transcripts and short video excerpts of Rinpoche’s teachings from the Kopan course on FPMT.org.

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 Sangha doing a blessing for all the sentient beings in the water, Italy, June 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

As Lama Zopa Rinpoche travels throughout the world, he always takes time to emphasize the activities we can do to benefit animals, which is one of Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT. In an excerpt from “Liberating Animals from the Dangers of Death,” Rinpoche offers the motivation we should hold as we work to help animals:

First reflect that all these creatures have been human beings, just like you. But because they did not practice Dharma and subdue their minds, they have been reborn as animals. Their present suffering bodies are the result of their unsubdued minds. We would not want their body for even a second. We get upset when we see some small sign of aging in our body, such as one more wrinkle on our face. So how could we stand to have the body of one of these animals? There is no way we could stand it.

It is vital that we feel some connection with the animals. We should not look at them and think that their bodies have nothing to do with us. We should not think that the bodies of these animals are permanent or truly existent and have no relationship with their mind. And, most important, we should not think that our own minds could not create such bodies.

Reflect on the fact that every one of these animals has been your own mother. When they were human beings, they were extremely kind in giving you your body and in saving you from danger hundreds of times each day. Later, they bore many hardships to educate you in the ways of the world; they taught you how to speak, how to walk, and how to behave. They also created much negative karma to ensure your happiness.

Not only have they been kind to you numberless times as a human mother, but they have also been kind to you numberless times as an animal mother. As a mother dog they gave you milk and food. As a mother bird they fed you with many worms every day. Each time they have been your mother they have taken care of you selflessly, sacrificing their comfort – and even their lives – numberless times to protect you and bring you happiness. As animals, they have guarded and protected you numberless times from the attacks of other animals. They have been unbelievably kind like this many times.

Not only has each of these animals been your mother, they have been your father, brother, and sister numberless times. We are all the same; we are all one family – it’s just that we have different bodies at the moment. We should feel as close to these animals as we do to our present family. We should hold them in our hearts.

Think, “I must free all the hell beings from all their suffering and its causes and lead them to enlightenment. I must free all the hungry ghosts from all their suffering and its causes and lead them to enlightenment. I must free all the animal beings from all their suffering and its causes and lead them to enlightenment.” …

You can read Rinpoche’s complete instructions for developing the bodhichitta mind to do animal liberation in the short version of “Liberating Animals from the Dangers of Death.” This practice is also available in an expanded form in the book Liberating Animals. Both the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund and the Animal Liberation Fund support animal liberation activities around the world. 

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 Dagri Rinpoche and others at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Italy, June 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave the following advice to a student who said he felt like a magnet for bad situations, people and environments:

I’m going to tell you what Kadampa Geshe Khamlungpa said in regards to attracting bad situations like a magnet: “Even this present small suffering finishes past negative karma and there will be happiness in the future, therefore meditate on rejoicing in the suffering.”

That is thought transformation; looking at suffering as happiness. You transform the suffering into happiness, instead of worrying. If your mind is trained in thought transformation, then the more you suffer, the greater the happiness you can experience.

For example, Geshe Lama Konchog was a great teacher and meditator at Kopan Monastery. In the summer time, the rainy season, he fell down and as he fell it made a huge sound. Immediately he thought he received all his obstacles and his mind was so happy, even though he fell down so heavily on the stone step.

Kadampa Geshe Chengawa prayed all the time to be born in the hells, as a practice against the self-cherishing thought. That’s what he did instead of being a friend of the self-cherishing thought, instead of working for that. When he was dying he said, “Oh, I didn’t fulfill my wishes!” As he was dying he saw a vision of the pure lands, so he left the suffering world and was born in Buddha’s pure land. This is the result of the good heart wishing to experience suffering for the benefit of sentient beings. When we don’t practice, especially when we follow the self-cherishing thought, we wish happiness for self and suffering for others.

When we follow bodhichitta, we wish to suffer for others and for others to have all our happiness. So it’s very, very important to understand Dharma and particularly thought transformation, then we are able to transform suffering into happiness. That means even when we face suffering, we can transform it into happiness. …

You can read the complete advice, “A Magnet for Bad Situations,” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. Rinpoche also suggested to the student to read Rinpoche’s book Transforming Problems into 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.