Study & Practice News

In the complimentary Living in the Path module “Bodhichitta Mindfulness,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche shows students how to take the essence of our precious human life by transforming our normal daily activities—walking, washing, dressing, etc.—into a cause of enlightenment by doing them with a bodhichitta motivation to benefit all sentient beings.

“The sutra explains that in the morning when one wakes up, the very first thing to do when one wakes up from sleep is to think, ‘May all sentient beings achieve the dharmakaya.’ Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches. “The minute you wake up, you should think that. Maybe the eyes are still closed, the mind woke up but the eyes are still closed—I’m joking—remember that.”

“Then when you get dressed, think, ‘May all sentient beings wear the dress of shyness and shame.’ …

“When you put on a belt, think, ‘May sentient beings’ minds be bound by the three higher trainings.’ These are the higher trainings of morality, concentration, and special insight. Because that is what is said in sutra, when you release a belt, think, ‘May sentient beings be freed from the bondage of karma and delusions.’

“When you lay down to go to bed, ‘May sentient beings achieve the dharmakaya.’ Then the same thing when you see a stupa. When you see a stupa or other holy object, think, ‘May all sentient beings achieve the dharmakaya.’ When you see a holy object such as a Buddha statue, ‘May all sentient beings achieve enlightenment quickly.’ You can dedicate like that.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche cooking with Ven. Tharchin, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, June 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

“Bodhichitta Mindfulness” is available through the FPMT Online Learning Center:
https://onlinelearning.fpmt.org/course/view.php?id=120

Living in the Path is an online lamrim program taught by Lama Zopa Rinpoche available through the FPMT Online Learning Center:
https://onlinelearning.fpmt.org/course/index.php?categoryid=5

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche designed the Purifying the Cause of Samsara door card as an easy way for students to regularly purify negative karma.

To use the card, place it above your door in order to benefit from the two main mantras it features. The mantra “OM HANU PAHASHA BHARA HE YE SVAHA,” when seen, purifies 100,000 eons of negative karma and obscurations. The Wish-Granting Wheel mantra, “OM PADMO USHNISHA VIMALE HUM PHAT,” when passed under, purifies 1,000 eons of negative karma and obscurations.

Rinpoche teaches that beings only receive the benefit of these door blessing mantras if they walk directly underneath them. With this in mind, Rinpoche recommends that students acquire a sufficient number of mantra cards to take up the width of the door frame.

Find the Purifying the Cause of Samsara door card by donation in the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Purifying-the-Cause-of-Samsara–Above-the-Door-Mantra-Card_p_1752.html

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Composed and arranged by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Verses to Inspire Offerings is a frameable one-page offering prayer card that Lama Zopa Rinpoche suggests can be displayed in one’s gompa or home.

It reads in English and Tibetan:

While there is the Guru who is like a wish-granting jewel and the unimaginable wish-fulfilling tree,
And the ever-undeceiving Rare Sublime Ones who effortlessly fulfill all wishes,
Still to be dissatisfied and spend your body and wealth on what is non-virtuous and without meaning is so very foolish.

Dear Friends,
Once you have understood that wealth is like dew on the tip of a blade of grass
And that your friends, body and life are like a bubble,
Then you must engage in virtues such as making offerings to the Rare Sublime Ones while looking at them as the Guru
And extract the essence from your essenceless body and wealth.

Due to this merit may I and all others
Be able to make offerings to the Guru and the Three Jewels since they are our crown ornament.
By keeping my prayers and commitments,
And by means of listening, reflection and contemplation,
With Guru devotion and supreme bodhichitta,
May my life become fortunate, something meaningful and worthy of rejoicing,
And in this way, may I fulfill all the wishes of sentient beings.

Just as flies gather around dirty things,
Due to seeing samsara as pleasure,
So far I have accomplished only meaningless suffering,
Lacking any freedom to practice Dharma.
Now, with my body, speech and mind
I will engage in great meaningful actions for the welfare of others.
May the Guru please bless me to be able to do this.

Find the Verses to Inspire Offerings card by donation in the Foundation Store
https://shop.fpmt.org/Verses-to-Inspire-Offerings-Card-English-and-Tibetan_p_1737.html

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

The Liberation Card for a Dying Person includes images and mantras that by merely seeing them help a dying person to purify negative karma and be led to enlightenment. The front of the card features ten mantras and ten images especially chosen to benefit someone at the time of death.

On the back of the card is a moving letter by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to assist the dying person at this most critical time. It reads:

My most dear kindest brother and sister,

Please look at these mantras quite often; especially, look at these mantras when you are leaving from this old body. Dear one, please don’t cling to anything and let yourself become completely free. In this most important moment of life, you don’t need to be afraid at all of being born in the lower realms and so forth. I give all my merits of the past, present, and future to you, to have a happy journey and a happy, wonderful, sunshining future. I give my big love to you. All the buddhas and bodhisattvas love you, and you are in their care. May anyone who sees these mantras be immediately reborn in the pure land where one can become enlightened or receive a perfect human body by quickly actualizing the causal vehicle, the three principles of the path, and the result vehicle, the secret mantra Vajrayana, based on correctly devoting and only pleasing one’s own holy guru.

You can also pray in this way: “May I take rebirth in whatever place is most beneficial for sentient beings, no matter where it is.”

To think this thought again and again is extremely good.

The other choice is to think: “May I be born in Amitabha’s blissful field to quickly benefit all sentient beings.”

Thank you.
With much love and prayers,
Lama Zopa

Find the Liberation Card for a Dying Person in English, Chinese, French, and Spanish by donation in the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Liberation-Card-for-Dying-Person–English_p_409.html
https://shop.fpmt.org/Liberation-Card-for-Dying-Person–Chinese_p_445.html
https://shop.fpmt.org/Carte-de-libration-pour-les-mourants_p_781.html
https://shop.fpmt.org/Tarjeta-de-Liberacin-para-Moribundos_p_612.html

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Nuns take a pinch of chemar, a mixture of butter and roasted barley flour, in celebration of the new year, Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal, February 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The Fifteen Days of Miracles—from the first day of the Tibetan new year (Losar, February 5) until the fifteenth (February 19)—commemorate the special time when Guru Shakyamuni Buddha showed miraculous powers in order to subdue six Tirthika, or non-Buddhist teachers, who lacked faith in him, and to inspire more faith in his followers. It culminates on the full moon, the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, which is the actual day of Chotrul Duchen.

Losar is traditionally celebrated for three days, during which Tibetans spend time with friends and family, eat, play games, and relax. A number of rituals and customs have developed around it, such as the eating of a special soup called “guthug” on the 29th day of the last Tibetan month of the year, two days before Losar. In the monasteries, there is a Losar tradition to do the extensive Palden Lhamo puja before dawn.

The Fifteen Days of Miracles are also a time for pilgrimage and intensive Dharma practice. During this period, many Tibetan monasteries, including Kopan Monastery in Nepal, hold a Great Prayer Festival—Monlam Chenmo—for several days or even weeks during which the Sangha recite prayers from morning until evening.

This year, Losar falls on February 5. The Fifteen Days of Miracles continue through Chotrul Duchen on February 19.

All fifteen days are merit multiplying days, when the merit of virtuous actions performed on these days is multiplied by 100 million, as cited by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche presides over Lama Chopa after the Palden Lhamo puja on the first day of Losar, Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal, February 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Advice Specifically for Losar

For FPMT, Losar is a special time as it commemorates the anniversary of FPMT founder Lama Yeshe’s parinirvana at dawn of Losar in 1984. Lama Zopa Rinpoche asks centers to offer students the opportunity to offer extensive Lama Chopa with tsog in honor of this anniversary. Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that one generates incredible merit by offering tsog on that occasion every year. This Losar marks thirty-five years since the passing of Lama.

Rinpoche also recommends that centers host annual events to introduce new students to Lama Yeshe. These events might include students who knew Lama Yeshe sharing their favorite stories, watching videos of Lama teaching, or reading stories about Lama.

Lama Yeshe, Lake Arrowhead, California, United States, 1975. Photo by Carol Royce-Wilder, courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Advice for the Fifteen Days of Miracles

Advice for merit multiplying days in general can be found here. (Advice for merit multiplying days can also be found in French.)

If the members of your community decide to recite the Sutra of Golden Light on these special days, we invite them to report their recitations on the Sutra of Golden Light reporting page.

Losar Tashi Delek! Happy Tibetan New Year!

Please keep in mind: According to the late Ven. Choden Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers, observation of auspicious days should be according to the date in India, not the date in one’s home country. Therefore, when Lama Zopa Rinpoche is not in India, Rinpoche celebrates merit multiplying days and other auspicious dates according to the time in India.

Special thanks to the Liberation Prison Project for preparing this year’s Tibetan calendar. A limited view of the calendar is always available on “Dharma Practice Dates” as a courtesy to FPMT students around the world.

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche redesigned the Samantabhadra protection card in 2016. The card is available in PDF format through the Foundation Store. The 2010 design is still available in print.

“This Samantabhadra protection is from the great lama Thugyen Chokyi Nyima,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches. “It eliminates any bad things and creates both outer and inner success. The main deity is the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. Above are the three types of deities: Chenrezig, Vajrapani, and Manjushri. On one side is Hayagriva and the other side is Lion-Faced Dakini. Below are two kinds of Garuda (Multicolored and Black Garuda).

“It is said by Vajradharma, who is the all knowing one, that this instruction can stop any kind of harm. By displaying this protection in the house those activities which have no meaning will become meaningful, and virtue will be created in the house. In this way, having this protection in the home becomes good feng shui, a way of creating an auspicious environment.”

Find the Samantabhadra protection card by donation in the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Samantabhadra-for-Protection-PDF_p_2705.html
https://shop.fpmt.org/Samantabhadra-Card-for-Protection_p_889.html

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Students can now find The One Hundred and Eight Names of Arya Kshitigarbha and the Dharani Mantra in PDF and ebook formats in the Foundation Store.

The recitation of the 108 names of Kshitigarbha and the associated dharani bestows good qualities, removes obstacles, and ultimately acts as a cause for the attainment of liberation.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche recommended reciting this text in order to help pacify the wildfires in California in 2018.

Find The One Hundred and Eight Names of Arya Kshitigarbha and the Dharani Mantra by donation in the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/The-One-Hundred-and-Eight-Names-of-Arya-Kshitigarbha-and-the-Dharani-Mantra-eBook-PDF_p_3187.html

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche composed, translated, and drew the mantra calligraphy on the Buddha’s Teachings on Our Lives card as a reminder about the central role karma plays in our lives and experience.

The card reads: “As the Founder, the Omniscient One, Shakyamuni Buddha said in the Hundreds of Actions Sutra: ‘One who always becomes habituated and familiar with nonvirtue will in the future depend on nonvirtue, engage in nonvirtue, and be reborn following nonvirtue again.’ We should relate what Buddha said to the future effect of the virtuous karma we create also. Therefore please enjoy Dharma happiness all the time.”

The mantra at the bottom of the card comes from the sutra Phagpa Chulung Rolpai Do, and which just by seeing, purifies 100,000 eons of negative karma and obscurations. At the specific request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lhadri Gelek Sherpa designed the card’s frame using Rinpoche’s altar at Kopan Monastery in Nepal.

Find the Buddha’s Teachings on Our Lives card by donation in the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Buddhas-Teachings-on-Our-Lives-Card_p_1942.html

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Two introductory online FPMT education courses—Buddhist Meditation 101 and Buddhism in a Nutshell—have recently been revised and are now available to new students as well as to all current and past online course participants. The courses are taught by FPMT registered teachers Ven. Connie Miller and Ven. Amy Miller, respectively.

These online course materials are now available to be listened to or read directly online—whether on a smartphone, tablet, or computer—in addition to still being available as downloadable MP3 and PDF bundles.

Materials in Buddhist Meditation 101 have been reorganized to make them easier to navigate. Students begin the course with the session outline to get an overview of the topics and meditations covered in the session. Later, they can listen to the audio recordings or read the transcript of the teachings; listen to or read guided meditations; make some notes at the end of each meditation session in their meditation journal; and then contemplate the teachings more deeply by thinking about the questions found in the points for reflection. Students who wish to do so can share their comments on the points for reflection with a course elder and can also discuss their thoughts with other students on a discussion forum.

Buddhist Meditation 101 screenshot from the FPMT Online Learning Center

Buddhism in a Nutshell has also similarly been restructured. In addition, the teachings and guided meditations are also accompanied by readings and meditations from the book Buddhism in a Nutshell: Essentials for Practice and Study. This book, which includes many wonderful teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Thubten Yeshe, is available to all course participants.

Find more information about Buddhist Meditation 101 and Buddhism in a Nutshell in the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Buddhist-Meditation-101-Online_p_2332.html
https://shop.fpmt.org/Buddhism-in-a-Nutshell-Online_p_2596.html

FPMT centers, projects, and services are encouraged to host these two introductory courses using these online course materials. For more information about how this might work for your group, please contact the Foundational Program Coordinator at fpc@fpmt.org.

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche presiding over Lama Chöpa. The five dakinis are also shown with the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace in the background. The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Students can find audio and video recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Thubten Dechen chanting Lama Chöpa, an essential FPMT practice, on FPMT.org.

During a 2014 retreat in Australia, Rinpoche taught fast-paced, medium-paced, and slow-paced tunes for Lama Chöpa, all of which are available for download or to watch online.

Ven. Thubten Dechen’s audio recordings took place over two sessions during the retreat in Bendigo, Australia during March-May 2018 and are now available online. Page references within the recording refer to the FPMT Retreat Prayer Book, 2016 edition. Lama Zopa Rinpoche frequently recommends students to learn from these recordings.

Ven. Gyalten Wangmo and Ven. Thubten Dechen offering the long life prayer composed by Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khandro Namsel Drönme) to Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the long life puja, Bendigo, Australia, May 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Students can find Ven. Thubten Dechen’s audio recording of Lama Chöpa tunes and other Lama Chöpa resources in the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Lama-Chopa-Tunes–MP3-Download_p_1645.html
https://shop.fpmt.org/search.asp?keyword=lama+chopa&search=

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) is the founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism

Ganden Ngamchoe, literally “Ganden Offering of the Twenty-Fifth Day,” or Lama Tsongkhapa Day, is a celebration of the anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana. It is celebrated on the 25th day of the 10th month of the Tibetan calendar. This year, Lama Tsongkhapa Day falls on Sunday, December 2.

There are many practices you can organize to celebrate and create merit on this special day!

The main practice, recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, is Lama Chopa. If you are unable to arrange Lama Chopa, Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga is also recommended.

Here are some additional prayers and practices recommended by Rinpoche for students to recite as they are able:

English:

The Thousand Offerings to Lama Tsongkhapa

Extensive Offering Practice by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

“The Glorious One of the Three Worlds” (“Palden Sasumma”) by Ven. Gelek Pel Sangpo

“A Hymn of Experience” by Lama Tsongkhapa

“Destiny Fulfilled” by Lama Tsongkhapa

“Prayer for the Flourishing of Je Tsongkhapa’s Teachings” by Gungtang Tanpai Dronme

Lama Tsongkhapa’s Secret Biography by Khedrub Je

“Dependent Arising: A Praise to the Buddha” by Lama Tsongkhapa

“The Abbreviated Points of the Graded Path” by Lama Tsongkhapa

Statue of Lama Tsongkhapa at Kachoe Dechen Ling, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s home in California, 2015. Photo by Chris Majors.

French:

French materials, including “Prière pour le développement de Lama Tsongkhapa” and “Hymne au Bouddha Shakyamouni pour son enseignement sur la production dépendante,” are available through the Service de traduction de la FPMT.

Tibetan:

The Thousand Offerings to Lama Tsongkhapa

“Palden Sasumma” (“Glory of the Triple Ground”)

Lama Tsongkhapa’s Secret Biography

On FPMT.org, you can read a teaching by Lama Zopa Rinpoche about how to carry out these practices on Lama Tsongkhapa Day.

Learn about how to celebrate Lama Tsongkhapa Day on FPMT.org:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/advice/lamatsongkhapa/

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

In the complimentary Living in the Path module “Offering Food and Drink,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives teachings on taking the essence of a perfect human life by making offerings of whatever food and drink we consume.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is well known for the extensive visualizations, offering prayers, and dedications he does before eating and drinking. In fact, the actual eating and drinking seem of little importance to Rinpoche, whereas what is important to him is to use the food and drink he is about to consume as an opportunity to create the most extensive merit possible. In this teaching, Rinpoche begins with an extensive motivation based on the three principal aspects of the path. The actual visualization and prayers of the food offering practice are based on how Rinpoche himself does them, although apparently condensed, given that Rinpoche says, “Personally, I do like this, just to say a little bit.”

Watch “How I Offer Food – Motivation, Part 1” on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/FuYQhA3Cs_c

“Offering Food and Drink” is available through the FPMT Online Learning Center:
https://onlinelearning.fpmt.org/course/view.php?id=123

Living in the Path is an online lamrim course taught by Lama Zopa Rinpoche available through the FPMT Online Learning Center:
https://onlinelearning.fpmt.org/course/index.php?categoryid=5

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.