Lama Zopa Rinpoche News

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Italy, June 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Each year Lama Zopa Rinpoche receives about 1,500 letters and emails. In his replies to these letters, Rinpoche may offer essential advice, thanks and, if requested, life practices. Here is one letter Rinpoche sent in 2014, thanking a student who had worked for many years at a number of FPMT centers:

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

Thank you billion times for your great support and service since you came to the center in 2007 and for the retreats you did — the Vajrasattva retreat and working at center — thank you billions of times. So this is working for all the sentient beings to educate them, to wake them up from ignorance, to enlighten them. Then by thinking of me as guru — then if working for center, then you collect the most extensive merit, most extensive and greatest purification every day, every hour, every minute and every second. Then also offering to numberless Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, statues, stupas and scriptures.

Sakya Pandita mentioned that thousands of eons of having practiced the paramita of charity — giving away one’s heads, legs and hands to the sentient beings for thousands of eons — all the merit collected like this is achieved in one second by the gurus path.

So that means when you work for the guru — following the gurus advice or fulfilling the gurus wishes — all that merit that has been collected for thousands of eons by making charity, in one second it gets done. So you have to understand this.

So please rejoice your whole life, unbelievable, most unbelievably happy, happy in Dharma, not happy with attachment and anger — this is totally different. It is happy to achieve enlightenment to benefit sentient beings. So like that there is no time for depression, day and night, even when you are sick … happy!

So please find attached — this is whole life time of practice, so you can die unbelievably in a most happy way, no worry. In this way nobody has to help you. You are guided by yourself and you are the happiest person in the world.

Thank you very much, with much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

Scribe: Ven. Holly Ansett, USA, 2014. Lightly edited by Mandala.

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 Yeshe teaching at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1974. Photo by Ursula Bernis, courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

On Losar morning last year, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave “a beautiful talk about the qualities of Lama Yeshe and the importance of the guru,” wrote Ven. Sarah Thresher, who was with Rinpoche at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India. “Rinpoche described some of the obvious qualities of Lama Yeshe – his always-loving aspect that attracted everyone to him, his humility, his wisdom – and explained that Lama was known by all to be a great scholar. …  Rinpoche said that whatever benefit the FPMT had been able to offer and however much we ourselves had been able to learn and practice, it was all due to Lama Yeshe’s kindness because it was Lama who set up the organization.” 

This Losar marks the 31st year since Lama Yeshe’s passing away. To remember Lama Yeshe’s great capacity for inspiring students and his boundless kindness, we offer an excerpt from a teaching Lama Yeshe gave in 1974 at Kopan Monastery during the seventh Kopan course: 

“From Lama’s point of view, Buddhism is about you. The subject of this meditation course is not Lama –Lama is not interested in talking about Lama – the subject of this meditation course is you; this course is about you.

“So, learning Buddhism – learning about yourself – is that simple. It really is such a simple thing. And Lama is not trying to be mystical, as written in some books, saying, ‘I am a magic lama.’ We don’t try to teach you that way. Actually, we don’t need to show you how to make magic – your mind is already magic, isn’t it? We’ve always made magic: for countless lives, and even from the time of our birth until now, we’ve been making magic, cheating ourselves. Nobody else has had to teach us – we’ve taught ourselves to cheat ourselves.

“Our schizophrenic mind always blames others for our problems. From its point of view, ‘He is causing my problems, she’s causing my problems, my parents are causing my problems, this society is causing my problems.’ From Lama’s point of view, these are completely wrong conceptions; this way of thinking is schizophrenia, this is mental disease; with these wrong beliefs, misconceptions, you will never be able to solve problems.

“We often think, ‘This is negative: that is negative.’ But we have a wrong conception about what causes negativity and the problems we experience are reactions to this wrong conception.

“Therefore, you have to be determined that during this meditation course you are going to realize completely that the problem is your misconception and that the blame definitely does not lie with others.

“We always think, ‘He makes my problems, she makes my problems,’ because our mind is not integrated. Our mind is split so we always blame this and that. We don’t have straight understanding, right understanding, right view, right wisdom – that’s why we’re always confused.

“But this time you have to decide clearly what really makes you happy and joyful and your life meaningful, and what makes you unhappy, sorrowful and depressed. If you come to this conclusion then your meditation course will have been worthwhile. …”

Read the entire teaching, “The First Clear Step,” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, where you can find a treasure trove of advice and inspiration from Lama Yeshe.

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, UK, July 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote the following letter in 2014 to a benefactor and said that this message could be given to others who are generous and in this way bringing sentient beings to enlightenment.

My very dear friend,

This is my heart message to you: Of course we put effort into the center, not just Dharma, but other areas such as social service, [areas] where people really need help. Also to have other Western Sangha there would be good, so we can help others and do consultation, like counseling. We need to research what is most needed in that area.

The Buddha’s teachings are priceless, their preservation according to Hinayana and Mahayana and within Mahayana Tantrayana (especially is very important) is really, really, really important. Even one sentient being just hearing the Buddha’s teaching not only causes higher rebirth, but liberates from samsara. There really is unimaginable benefit – unimaginable, unimaginable, unimaginable benefit. This is something really priceless, something hard to imagine, and this is the result of your kind contribution. That is the result of your compassion to sentient beings and that is the reality.

Skies of thanks! With my two small hands putting palms to together, with one hand in stroke aspect – my heartfelt thanks to you.

With much love and prayer,

Lama Zopa

Scribed by Ven. Roger Kunsang, 2014. Lightly edited by Mandala.

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 on a garden walk, UK, June 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote a letter, posted in 2012 on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, thanking a student for his concern regarding Rinpoche’s health and giving advice about the essence of lam-rim practice:

My dear Sam, 

Life is very short. We can’t say how short it is – we may die today or tomorrow, so take it easy and don’t worry so much. The main thing is to purify past negative karma and always collect extensive merits by chanting OM MANI PADME HUM and the Seven Medicine Buddhas’ names – doing this is the same as having done Medicine Buddha puja.

Then do lam-rim prayers, such as Calling the Guru from Afar, the short and long one, and other lam-rim prayers. Even if you can’t do other practices, just do this much. This is the best preparation for enlightenment, so that you can soon give happiness to all sentient beings – to the numberless sentient beings, numberless hell beings, numberless pretas, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless asuras, numberless suras and the numberless intermediate state beings.

This is the most important thing in the life; there is nothing more important than this. This is benefiting all sentient beings. 

Thank you very, very much for your concern for me – to go to mainland China and to receive the doctors’ suggestions, that you thought to do, etc. Hopefully I will still go in the future.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

You can find this letter and more advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on Impermanence and Death on 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 reading Lekshe Nyingpo while circumambulating the Mahabodhi Stupa, Bodhgaya, India, February 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India on February 2. Ven. Sarah Thresher recently shared some of Rinpoche’s beneficial activities with Mandala:

Much work has been done on improving Rinpoche’s house [at Root Institute]. A library has been constructed on the roof to house the entire Kangyur and Tengyur. It is a beautiful time of year weather wise; the Root Institute gardens are full of flowers, and it is very peaceful at the center and at the Mahabodhi Stupa.

The purpose of Rinpoche’s visit is to do some retreat, but the first week has been spent resting and going to the stupa. Usually, Rinpoche goes to the stupa just before closing time, but that doesn’t seem to bother the guards who pull back the big heavy gates to let Rinpoche and entourage enter. I have seen the soldiers respectfully saluting Rinpoche as he enters and leaves. Following him is a gathering of students, and we always seem to accumulate more.

Mahabodhi Stupa, Bodhgaya, India, February 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Rinpoche has been taking the opportunity to recite Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lekshe Nyingpo (Essence of Eloquence) while doing korwa (circumambulation). He started this last year, but didn’t finish. First we do bodhichitta motivation, then the circumambulation mantras and then we start walking while reciting mantras and prayers, trying to keep mindfulness that the stupa is all the ten directions buddhas and bodhisattvas whose essence is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. When we finish the korwa and leave the stupa, Rinpoche will very respectfully and deliberately offer 10 rupees to each beggar outside on the way to the car. Sometimes they grab at the money, but I’ve also seen them touch Rinpoche’s feet with respect and devotion. It’s obvious to everyone that Rinpoche is a holy being; ordinary actions become extraordinary in his presence.

A few days after arriving, Rinpoche was on the way to the gompa to make offerings to the holy objects when he saw the discussion group from the Introduction to Buddhism course. He asked if anyone had a question and then spent nearly an hour explaining emptiness and the essence of Buddhism.

Three days ago, Rinpoche started teaching on patience. On arrival at Root, he translated a text by the Kadampa masters with simple practical advice on patience. Then he announced he wanted to teach on the text. The gompa is full each day and so far we have not gone beyond an explanation of the Diamond Cutter verse which is in the preliminary prayers to the teaching: “Look at all phenomena like a star, a faulty vision, a butter lamp, etc.” Rinpoche has been using this to teach on emptiness and subtle dependent arising, giving techniques that can be applied continually in everyday life to meditate on emptiness. “We are living a totally false life till we realize emptiness … the whole world is hallucinating,” Rinpoche said. “Your whole day, your whole life is lived in total hallucination. You must know that. You must realize that. Then you can meditate on emptiness.”

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 on patience at Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, February 2015. Photo courtesy of Ven. Sarah Thresher.

“If you are patient, you don’t get angry at sentient beings,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote in a letter to a student who was experiencing the impact of his anger. “In that way, sentient beings only receive peace and happiness from you. Each time you stop being angry, by practicing patience, this becomes your most practical contribution to world peace. It brings so much peace and happiness to your own world, mind, and heart. For others, it brings peace and happiness, not only in this world, but for all living beings. If you are able to practice patience in this life, it will be much easier in future lives. By developing your mind in patience through the continuity of lives, you will bring happiness to all living beings.

“Also, each time you come closer to completing the perfection of patience, it means you are getting closer to enlightenment, and much closer to bringing all sentient beings to enlightenment. So, you can see that each time you practice patience, there are long-term results. This is the power of the mind. Not only can you bring sentient beings temporary peace, but also full enlightenment.

“… You have a great opportunity to gain experience in patience. Each time you wake up, you must plan this – especially today! And be mindful when a circumstance occurs that provokes anger. If you don’t make a firm plan in the morning, you won’t remember the teachings when anger comes up.”

You can read the complete teaching ‘Dealing with Anger’ and find links to other advice on “Anger” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. Other advice from Rinpoche can be found on the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche” 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.

Screen shot from “Lama Zopa Rinpoche – Lawudo – 1969” by Georges Luneau.

Alexis Benelhadj, an FPMT student at Institut Vajra Yogini in France, recently helped digitize an old roll of film donated by Georges Luneau, who in 1969 recorded Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the home of his previous incarnation in Lawudo, located in the Solo Khumbu region of Nepal. Georges’ silent 30-minute film is both haunting and transcendent, and is a precious and rare opportunity to see a 23-year-old Rinpoche, who is from the same area, visiting the meditation cave of the Lawudo Lama and the surrounding land. 

Watch “Lama Zopa Rinpoche – Lawudo – 1969” on YouTube.

In the present day, Lawudo Gompa and Retreat Centre offers serious students an opportunity to do retreat in the remote and rarefied beauty of the Himalayas.

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

“‘Calling the Guru from Afar’ was composed by Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo, the great yogi of Heruka Chakrasamvara, which is a manifestation of the kind, compassionate Shakyamuni Buddha,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche instructed during a teaching on guru devotion given in Singapore in 1992 and recently posted on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. “‘Calling the Guru from Afar’ combines guru yoga practice and lam-rim. It is a very effective way to do direct meditation on the three principal aspects of the path and the two stages of highest yoga tantra, because this prayer came from this great yogi Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo’s own experiences. …

“On the morning of the New Year I think it is very good, either with the family together in front of the Buddha or at the center, to read the prayer at the end of the Chöd practice. This prayer describes Buddha’s lives as a bodhisattva and his practice of the six paramitas. He gave his life to other sentient beings. When he was a king he gave his whole family and all his possessions to other sentient beings. He also made charity of his body to a family of starving tigers. He gave his life to blood-sucking spirits and made a prayer that the spirits become his disciples in their next life. This is why these spirits became the four monks to whom Buddha gave his first teaching, the four noble truths, in Sarnath. Before, they were spirits that sucked blood from the Buddha in his past life as a bodhisattva; he used that to dedicate that he would be able to give teachings to them in their next life.

“There are many stories there in that prayer. When there was an epidemic disease and many hundreds of thousands of people were dying, the bodhisattva manifested as a particular fish whose flesh became the medicine to cure that disease. By eating the fish, the people in that country then recovered from that epidemic. At another time, when many hundreds of thousands of fish were dying, in a past life as a bodhisattva, Buddha recited a particular buddha’s name and liberated them all.

“There are many different stories of the Buddha’s past lives as a bodhisattva, where other sentient beings with vicious attitudes harmed Buddha, but in return he only benefited them. It is very good for the family to read together such stories in front of Buddha together, and then to be able to live life with a sincere, open heart toward all other sentient beings, thus to make your life beneficial. That is the best way to make your life happy and to find satisfaction now and at the time of death. It benefits everybody – the family and all other sentient beings – for enlightenment and everything else.

“This practice is very beneficial and could either be done with the family or at the center. After taking refuge and generating bodhichitta, the four immeasurables, the seven-limb prayer, and a short mandala offering, you could then read these short bodhisattva life stories. It is a very good way of reminding us how to live our life. It reminds us of the purpose of life and how to make our life beneficial for all sentient beings. It then makes the New Year a very good new year and very meaningful.

You can read the complete teaching and find links to other advice on “Calling the Guru from Afar” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. FPMT Education Services offers an audio recording of Lama Zopa Rinpoche chanting the prayer as well as the practice text.

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 at Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre, New Dehli, India, January 2015. Photo courtesy of Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre’s Facebook page.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave teachings and an oral transmission of the Golden Light Sutra at Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre in New Dehli, India, between January 25-31. Ven. Sarah Thresher, who was there, shared the following:

“Rinpoche gave five teachings on the Golden Light Sutra. Ven. Kabir Saxena requested the transmission a few days after Rinpoche arrived, and Rinpoche immediately agreed. We were all very happy because of the enormous benefits the sutra has. In fact, Rinpoche was giving the transmission when US President Barack Obama was in Delhi attending Indian Republic Day. The idea was that Rinpoche would start the transmission and continue whenever he passes through Delhi. So far we reached into Chapter 7, ‘The Four Great Kings.’

“Attendance was very good, despite the late hours, and Rinpoche preceded each day of transmission with a teaching. The gompa [at Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre] has been newly painted and decorated and it was full with Indians, Westerners and Tibetans. Most of the people attending lived in Delhi and Rinpoche commented on the new surge of interest in Buddhism that is now taking place with more and more young educated Indians taking a serious interest in Buddhist studies as they look for answers to the problems they have in their lives.”

Recitation of the Golden Light Sutra is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT. FPMT Education Services has created a resource page to help you learn more about and start reciting the Golden Light Sutra.

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.

Altar detail at Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, 2014. Photo by Chris Majors.

“At the beginning, when the Sangha was flourishing, Lama Yeshe got all the monks and nuns to take turns to cook for the other Sangha members. Ven. Pemo didn’t know how to cook, so when it was her turn, she put some vegetables in oil and then served them raw,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said in November 2014 to Ven. Ailsa Cameron.

“If you know how to make food, it is very beneficial. The highest benefit – bringing great purification of negative karma and delusions and collecting merit – is to offer delicious food to the guru. You can also make so many people happy by making delicious food for them.

“So, bodhisattvas learn anything to benefit sentient beings.”

Scribed by Ven. Ailsa Cameron, November 2014, Bendigo, Australia. Lightly edited by Michael Jolliffe for inclusion on FPMT.org.

More advice from Rinpoche can be found on the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche” on FPMT.org. 

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.