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Essential Extracts
There is a new episode of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast. You can listen to the new episode on our website or find it in your favorite podcast app by searching for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts.” New episodes are released every other Monday.
Click to play this episode on FPMT.org or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app
Episode 8: From Birth to Death We Believe in the Hallucination Projected by Ignorance
In this week’s episode we listen to a teaching that Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave June 30, 2019, at Ganden Buddhist Centre, Latvia.
What would it be like to experience the world without the hallucination of true existence being projected onto everything? We need to become a buddha for this to happen, Rinpoche explains. Right now the gross negative imprints left by ignorance from beginningless rebirths decorate whatever appears to us—form, sound, smell, taste, tangible object—making it appear real, but it is actually a total hallucination. In reality, it is merely imputed by the mind. From birth to death everything that appears to us is a total hallucination, like watching a movie produced by our karma and then believing everything, including the I, is real. All of the problems of life arise on the basis of this hallucination. Our ignorance creates suffering, this is why we need to eliminate it. A buddha does not have this. Practicing mindfulness of emptiness in daily life is the most important awareness. After one realizes emptiness, all that has been appearing as real, including the I, is understood to not have even an atom of true existence.
Listen to the podcast now on our website or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app.
Learn more about our podcasts, including the ongoing Lama Zopa Rinpoche Full-length Teachings podcast, by visiting our Podcasts page: fpmt.org/media/podcasts/. You will be able to find new episodes of the Essential Extracts podcast on FPMT.org when they are released.
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.
There is a new episode of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast. You can listen to the new episode on our website or find it in your favorite podcast app by searching for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts.” New episodes are released every other Monday.
Click to play this episode on FPMT.org or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app
Episode 7: The Real Enemy Is Our Self-Cherishing Thought
In this week’s episode we listen to a teaching that Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave December 10, 2017, at Kopan Monastery, Nepal.
All of our failures, problems, illnesses, and suffering from beginningless rebirths come from cherishing ourselves, Rinpoche warns. If we want happiness, we must start cherishing others. If someone harms us, instead of blaming them, direct the anger toward the real enemy—self-cherishing. This way, there is no anger toward others, no external enemy for us to harm and kill, and we can put the blame where it belongs, our own mind. This is like shooting a long-range missile exactly on target, causing the enemy (the self-cherishing thought) to burst into a thousand pieces. Less anger means more happiness, more peace. Cherishing others is the root cause of happiness for ourselves and others, all the way up to enlightenment.
Listen to the podcast now on our website or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app.
Learn more about our podcasts, including the ongoing Lama Zopa Rinpoche Full-length Teachings podcast, by visiting our Podcasts page: fpmt.org/media/podcasts/. You will be able to find new episodes of the Essential Extracts podcast on FPMT.org when they are released.
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.
There is a new episode of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast. You can listen to the new episode on our website or find it in your favorite podcast app by searching for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts.” New episodes are released every other Monday.
Click to play this episode on FPMT.org or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app
Episode 6: Disrespecting the Virtuous Friend Brings Eons of Suffering, Devotion to the Virtuous Friend Brings Enlightenment
In this week’s episode we listen to a teaching that Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave April 6, 2018, at the Great Stupa Of Universal Compassion, Australia.
What is the “virtuous friend?” Rinpoche explains that the virtuous friend is all the holy actions of all the buddhas. These manifest in our own guru, therefore, to disrespect our guru—with anger, heresy, complaints, negative thoughts, and so forth—is to disrespect every single buddha. There is no suffering result heavier than this. Likewise, belittling our guru causes us to suffer for eons. On the other hand, without a guru, we cannot receive the blessings of the buddhas. Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are embodied in the guru to whom we go for refuge. By pleasing our guru, we please all the buddhas. The more we correctly follow our virtuous friend with strong devotion, the fewer obstacles we will encounter and the more quickly we will achieve enlightenment.
Listen to the podcast now on our website or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app.
Learn more about our podcasts, including the ongoing Lama Zopa Rinpoche Full-length Teachings podcast, by visiting our Podcasts page: fpmt.org/media/podcasts/. You will be able to find new episodes of the Essential Extracts podcast on FPMT.org when they are released.
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.
There is a new episode of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast. You can listen to the new episode on our website or find it in your favorite podcast app by searching for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts.” New episodes will be released every other Monday.
Click to play this episode on FPMT.org or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app
Episode 5: The Real Meaning of Practicing Dharma Is to Renounce This Life
In this week’s episode we listen to a teaching that Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave October 21, 2018, at Nagarjuna C E T Madrid, Spain.
What does it mean to practice Dharma? Renouncing this life, Rinpoche says. Anger, ignorance, pride, relationship issues—all of these problems come from attachment to this life. Practicing Dharma means renouncing this attachment like throwing out poison because of all the harm it can cause us. People who don’t understand might think, “I’m giving up my happiness if I give up attachment. Giving up attachment is worse than being in prison.” However, what actually happens is we are giving up the root of all our problems in order to experience much happiness. Dharma practice is not just reading texts, reciting mantras, meditating, circumambulating, doing retreat, or living in a monastery—we have to renounce our attachment to the pleasures of this life. If we don’t understand this, nothing we do will become Dharma.
Listen to the podcast now on our website or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app.
Learn more about our podcasts, including the ongoing Lama Zopa Rinpoche Full-length Teachings podcast, by visiting our Podcasts page: fpmt.org/media/podcasts/. You will be able to find new episodes of the Essential Extracts podcast on FPMT.org when they are released.
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.
There is a new episode of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast. You can listen to the new episode on our website or find it in your favorite podcast app by searching for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts.” New episodes are released every other Monday.
Click to play this episode on FPMT.org or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app
Episode 4: Any Activity Can Be a Mindfulness Meditation on Emptiness
In this week’s episode we listen to a teaching that Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave on August 12, 2017, at Thubten Norbu Ling Center, United States.
Whatever we are doing, even while at the beach or the supermarket, we can engage in one of three mindfulness meditations on emptiness, Rinpoche suggests. For example, we can be mindful that everything we are experiencing is a total hallucination, like a dream in which things appear but are not there. Or we can be mindful that everything that appears to us as real is totally empty of existing from its own side. Or we can be mindful that everything exists in mere name and is merely labeled by the mind. In this way, there is nothing to cling to or get angry at. We suffer so much and so many delusions arise on the basis of believing that the hallucination we experience is real. By realizing that everything is empty, we destroy our delusions.
Listen to the podcast now on our website or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app.
Learn more about our podcasts, including the ongoing Lama Zopa Rinpoche Full-length Teachings podcast, by visiting our Podcasts page: fpmt.org/media/podcasts/. You will be able to find new episodes of the Essential Extracts podcast on FPMT.org when they are released.
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.
There is a new episode of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast. You can listen to the new episode on our website or find it in your favorite podcast app by searching for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts.” New episodes are released every other Monday.
Click to play this episode on FPMT.org or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app
Episode 3: Every Single Thing Comes from Your Mind
In this week’s episode we listen to a teaching that Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave May 10, 2018, at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia.
Hell, enlightenment, samsara, nirvana, and what is true and false—all come from our mind. Whatever we see and hear, whatever we touch and smell, if someone likes us or is angry with us, whether we experience anything as good or bad from birth to death—all of this started with our mind. It came from our karma, the mental factor intention, Rinpoche says. On top of that, our mind imputes good and bad, and the next second there is the appearance of good or bad, and then we believe it is real good or bad. This is why Buddha said, “The mind is the creator.” Normally people think that everything they experience came from outside, from others, and has nothing to do with the mind, and so anger and attachment arise creating karma over and over. This is a total hallucination. What we experience as good or bad is our interpretation, from our mind.
Listen to the podcast now on our website or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app.
Learn more about our podcasts, including the ongoing Lama Zopa Rinpoche Full-length Teachings podcast, by visiting our Podcasts page: fpmt.org/media/podcasts/. You will be able to find new episodes of the Essential Extracts podcast on FPMT.org when they are released.
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.
There is a new episode of the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast. You can listen to the new episode on our website or find it in your favorite podcast app by searching for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts.” New episodes are released every other Monday.
Click to play this episode on FPMT.org or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app
Episode 2: See the Guru’s Ordinary Aspect as One’s Own Lack of Merit
In this week’s episode we listen to a teaching that Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave September 1, 2017, at Light of the Path Retreat, United States.
If we want more profit in our lives and less loss, we must see the guru as a buddha. In order to do this, the thought seeing their qualities as pure must be so powerful that it overwhelms the thought seeing their shortcomings or mistakes. When our guru seems to make mistakes, Rinpoche teaches, one way to view this is to think that due to our own lack of merit, we cannot be subdued by a guru showing a pure aspect, so they must show an ordinary aspect having mistakes to benefit us. This is more precious than the whole sky filled with wish-granting jewels because it becomes a cause for not only stabilizing our devotion but for developing it further.
Listen to the podcast now on our website or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app.
Learn more about our podcasts, including the ongoing Lama Zopa Rinpoche Full-length Teachings podcast, by visiting our Podcasts page: fpmt.org/media/podcasts/. You will be able to find new episodes of the Essential Extracts podcast on FPMT.org when they are released.
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.
Welcome to the new Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast series. We’re happy to share the first episode with you. You can listen to the new episode on our website or find the show in your podcast app, search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts.” New episodes will be released every other Monday.
Click to play this episode on FPMT.org or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app
Episode 1: By Changing the Channel of Your Mind, You Can Stop Problems
In this week’s episode we listen to a teaching that Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave November 16, 2018, at Gendun Drupa Centre, Switzerland.
We can change our minds in a positive way to mitigate problems; or we can follow negative thoughts, our ordinary mind, to experience more problems. Using the analogy of the mind being like a television, Rinpoche says that we can change the channel of our mind to enlightenment or to hell, to samsara or to nirvana, to happiness or to problems. Rinpoche explains how the mind and body are totally different phenomena. The mind has no beginning; it continues from life to life. “Mind” is merely labeled on that which is clear and perceives objects; therefore, there is no real mind. The emptiness of a real mind is buddha nature. Because of this ultimate nature of the mind, the obscurations are not one with the mind and can be removed. In this way, all sentient beings can become free from suffering forever and achieve enlightenment.
Listen to the podcast now on our website or search for “Lama Zopa Rinpoche Essential Extracts Podcast” in your podcast app.
Learn more about our podcasts, including the ongoing Lama Zopa Rinpoche Full-length Teachings podcast, by visiting our Podcasts page: fpmt.org/media/podcasts/. You will be able to find new episodes of the Essential Extracts podcast on FPMT.org when they are released.
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.