Study & Practice News

In the Living in the Path module “The Happiness of Dharma,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives teachings on the topic of the precious, or perfect, human rebirth and shows us how all our happiness comes from practicing Dharma.

“When constantly the mind is living in Dharma, you are constantly creating the cause of happiness, enlightenment,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches. “Then the happiness of future lives comes by the way. Even though you are not looking for that, the cause of that naturally happens. Even if you are totally detached from this life, but if you are practicing Dharma, then, by the way, the happiness of this life comes. It comes from Dharma.”

In this introductory video to the module, Ven. Thubten Dondrub provides a brief presentation of the importance of a perfect human rebirth and how real and lasting happiness comes from Dharma.

Watch “The Happiness of Dharma—An Introduction” on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/8HOK5rF9d4I

Ven. Thubten Dondrub attended his first Buddhist courses at Chenrezig Institute in Australia in 1976 and ordained in 1977. Since then he has offered service in a variety of FPMT centers and has taught extensively around the world, including leading the one-month November Course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal many times. He is currently resident teacher at Buddha House in Adelaide, Australia. Ven. Dondrub is an FPMT registered teacher.

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, training seminars, and scholarships, 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 “Cutting the Concept of Permanence,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche shows students that by living their lives with the wrong concept that thinks they are going to live forever, they will experience “a whole package of problems” and never practice Dharma, the cause of every happiness.

On the other hand, by getting rid of this “one mistake,” students can make their lives meaningful by generating bodhichitta and engaging in the practice of tonglen, a meditation that involves visualizing taking others’ suffering upon one’s self-cherishing and giving others all one’s happiness.

In this short introductory video to the module, Ven. René Feusi provides a brief presentation of the importance of understanding and reflecting upon the reality of impermanence—the fact that each one of us, everyone around us, and everything we come into contact with is impermanent, that is, changing moment by moment.

Watch “Cutting the Concept of Permanence—The Reality of Death” on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/SkZ3F1v_Gyc

Ven. René Feusi attended the one-month lamrim November course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal at the age of twenty and ordained six years later. From 1988-1992, he lived at Nalanda Monastery in France where he studied with Khensur Jampa Tegchok and also completed the nine traditional preliminary practices. From 1993 to 1995 he did a two-and-a-half year solitary retreat in Spain. He was resident teacher of Vajrapani Institute in California from 2002-2008. Ven. René is an FPMT registered teacher.

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, training seminars, and scholarships, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

FPMT Education Services offers over thirty ebooks in EPUB and MOBI formats through the Foundation Store and through the Kindle Store, with four ebook titles added recently: A Short Practice of Green Tara; A Daily Meditation on Shakyamuni Buddha; The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices; and The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices: A Commentary.

A Short Practice of Green Tara includes a short sadhana of Green Tara, commentary from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and three versions of “Praises to the Twenty-One Taras.” While cultivating the wish that all of our endeavors ultimately benefit others, students can call upon the power of Tara to accomplish mundane and spiritual goals quickly. Whether you are looking for the right partner in a relationship or wishing to find the conditions for entering into a life of solitary retreat, the practice of Tara can help.

A Daily Meditation on Shakyamuni Buddha was specifically compiled by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for beginner Buddhist practitioners. Last year, Lama Zopa Rinpoche reviewed and updated the previous edition with the help of Ven. Ailsa Cameron, a long-time editor for Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. In this revised version, Rinpoche has reorganized some of the prayers and, in particular, has added an extensive explanation of the visualizations to be done while taking refuge. Drawn from Phabongkha Rinpoche’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, for each of the objects of refuge—Guru, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—there are visualizations for purifying negative karma, increasing qualities, and coming under the guidance of that object of refuge.

The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices was specifically compiled by Lama Zopa Rinpoche as an essential daily practice for his students and anyone else wishing to start their day, and all their activities, with a perfect Dharma intention and bodhichitta motivation. In addition to the motivation called “The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment),” the text includes a practice for blessing the speech and mantras to help students generate extensive merit and engage in deep purification throughout the day. Students will also benefit from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s commentary on the practice.

Find all of FPMT Education Services’ ebooks in the Foundation Store and the Kindle Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/FPMT-eBooks-_c_631.html
https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-eBooks/

Watch Rinpoche teach from Bendigo, Australia, during the retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, March 30-May 12. For details on the livestream:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

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

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Katoomba, Blue Mountains, Australia, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

On March 30, the Australia 2018 retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins. The retreat, which takes place at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, will attract hundreds of FPMT students from around the world eager to receive teachings on Shantideva’s seminal text Bodhicaryavatara.

Two texts published by FPMT Education Services will be used in particular by retreatants: FPMT Retreat Prayer Book and The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices.

FPMT Retreat Prayer Book (available in ebook and PDF formats) was originally compiled in 2008 in preparation for the first Light of the Path retreat and has become a critical resource for those attending longer teaching events and retreats with Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Many students have also found it to be very useful when attending other teaching events, going on pilgrimage, and for their own personal daily practices and retreats. The collection is made up of prayers and practices drawn from various FPMT materials.

The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices (available in ebook and PDF formats) was specifically compiled by Lama Zopa Rinpoche as an essential daily practice for his students and anyone else wishing to start their day, and all their activities, with a perfect Dharma intention and bodhichitta motivation. In addition to the motivation called “The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment),” the text includes a practice for blessing the speech and mantras to help students generate extensive merit and engage in deep purification throughout the day.

The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, October 2014. Photo by Tom Kennedy.

Find FPMT Retreat Prayer Book and The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices in the Foundation Store:
shop.fpmt.org/

Watch Rinpoche teach from Bendigo, Australia, during the retreat at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, March 30-May 12. For details on the livestream:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/lama-zopa-rinpoche-live/

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

Lama Zopa Rinpoche ascending the stairs of the Maratika Caves, Nepal, February 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In Cultivating Mindfulness of Bodhichitta in Daily Activities, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offers students prayers, visualizations, and advice to help transform daily activities—such as standing up, using the toilet, brushing one’s teeth, dressing, or ascending a staircase—into causes for enlightenment.

For example, Rinpoche teaches in the text: “When you go up a flight of stairs or up a hill (including on a roller coaster!), think: I am bringing all sentient beings to enlightenment.”

“Anyone who is seeking the state of omniscience needs to attend to the many methods for collecting merits and purifying delusions,” Rinpoche reminds students. “The Omniscient One, who was very skillful and had great compassion for us sentient beings, explained that even the activities that we normally do—such as eating, sleeping, sitting, walking, and doing our jobs—can become ways to collect unfathomable virtue and skies of merit. With mindfulness of bodhichitta, they can become not only beneficial to oneself, but beneficial to all sentient beings. The Buddha explained this to us who do not have a bodhichitta realization. This is how everything we do can be dedicated to become a cause of happiness for all sentient beings. This is something that we can practice immediately.”

Students can go deeper in to the topic of transforming daily activities into Dharma practice by studying “Bodhichitta Mindfulness,” a module within the Living in the Path course “Taking the Essence,” on the FPMT Online Learning Center.

“Bodhichitta Mindfulness” includes video teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche as well as an introduction to the topic by Ven. Sarah Thresher, additional readings, access to a discussion forum, and other helpful resources.

Find Cultivating Mindfulness of Bodhichitta in Daily Activities on the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Cultivating-Mindfulness-of-Bodhichitta-in-Daily-Activities-PDF_p_2695.html

Living in the Path is an FPMT education program available through the FPMT Online Learning Center:
https://onlinelearning.fpmt.org/course/index.php?categoryid=5

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

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said very strongly on many occasions that The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices is a practice that he would like all his students to do every day. In this updated edition, the sections “Blessing the Speech” and “Daily Mantras” have been revised based on Rinpoche’s commentaries and the original Tibetan texts from which they are drawn. A new section—“Mantras for Specific Occasions”—includes mantras for increasing the power of sutra recitations and for blessing the feet and the wheels of a car. All the mantras in this edition have been written using a modified version of the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) system that accords with the way Rinpoche would like these specific mantras pronounced. This updated practice is now available through the Foundation Store (hard copies forthcoming).

In addition, the many oral commentaries that Rinpoche has given on this practice have now been compiled and edited into a second booklet—The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices: A Commentary—to help students do these practices in the most meaningful way possible. In the commentary on The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment), Rinpoche explains how and why it is important to transform our life into Dharma by generating a bodhichitta motivation. In the commentaries to “Blessing the Speech,” “Daily Mantras,” and “Mantras for Specific Occasions,” Rinpoche explains the benefits of doing these practices and how to do them. We hope the commentaries will help inspire all of Rinpoche’s students to take up these practices in their daily lives! The commentary is now available through the Foundation Store.

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

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering Most Secret Hayagriva oral transmissions, Drati Khangtsen, Sera Je Monastery, Bylakuppe, India, November 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

On various occasions, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has taught that receiving the oral transmission (lung) of prayers, practices, and texts is very beneficial. In addition to multiplying the benefits of one’s own recitations of the text by one hundred, the oral transmission creates positive imprints on one’s mind that lead to enlightenment.

“Kyabje Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, [one of my teachers,] once gave the oral transmission of the Vajra Cutter Sutra at Land of Medicine Buddha in the United States,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche shared at the 100 Million Mani Retreat at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Pomaia, Italy, in October 2017. “At that time, Rinpoche said that if you have received the lung of the Vajra Cutter Sutra and then you recite it, you get the benefit of having recited it one hundred times.”

“The words leave a positive imprint on the mind and that brings you to enlightenment,” Rinpoche continued. “That brings realizations; that brings you to enlightenment. The lung doesn’t take much time, but the positive imprint left on the mind brings you to enlightenment. Then, you can do perfect work for sentient beings and are able to bring them to enlightenment. You have to know that. That is the basic thing; that is the main thing.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche writing a daily motivation in a monk’s diary, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Rinpoche also said that by keeping track of the oral transmissions one has received, one will know in the future if one is able to help support the continuity of the tradition by passing on the lung to someone else, should that be necessary.

“If you get any lung, long or short, write it down,” Rinpoche advised during the 2017 Light of the Path retreat in North Carolina in the United States. “It is very important to write it down so in the future you know which lungs you have received. In the future, some teachings may become very rare and other people will need that lung. At that time, you may have the karma to give the lung to other people, but if you didn’t receive the lineage, you can’t give them the lung because you have to have received the blessings—Buddha’s teachings from the Buddha. So write it down! It is very important for Sangha and lay people to write it down—every teaching, every lung you have received. Otherwise, you won’t know whether you have received it or not and so you won’t be able to help.”

Although most oral transmissions within FPMT must occur in person, you can receive the oral transmission of the Sutra of Golden Light online. Lama Zopa Rinpoche urges us to recite the Sutra of Golden Light every day. The benefits from reciting, listening to, or even hearing the name of the sutra are immeasurable, from eliminating conflict, terrorism, torture, and famine to achieving full enlightenment.

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.

A Daily Meditation on Shakyamuni Buddha was specifically compiled by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for beginner Buddhist practitioners. Last year, Lama Zopa Rinpoche reviewed and updated the previous edition with the help of Ven. Ailsa Cameron, a long-time editor for Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. The updated practice is now available through the Foundation Store (hard copies forthcoming).

Lama Zopa Rinpoche reorganized many of the prayers based on his current way of doing them and, in particular, added an extensive explanation of the visualizations to be done while taking refuge. Drawn from Phabongkha Rinpoche’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, for each of the objects of refuge—Guru, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—there are visualizations for purifying negative karma, increasing qualities, and coming under the guidance of that object of refuge.

Subtitled “How to Meditate on the Graduated Path to Enlightenment,” the practices contained in this booklet prepare the mind for lamrim meditation by purifying negative karma and collecting extensive merit—the two main causes for attaining realizations.

This practice can also be used as a basis for engaging in the preliminary practices of accumulating 100,000 prostrations, mandala offerings, and so forth.

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

Lama Zopa Rinpoche doing prostrations before giving Hayagriva oral transmissions, Drati Khangsten, Sera Je Monastery, Bylakuppe, India, November 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

FPMT Education Services has recently published a short text with updated advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on how to do the practice of prostrations. In Advice for Prostrations from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, you can find holy names and mantras to recite before prostrations; advice for the practice of making prostrations to the Thirty-Five Buddhas; a meditation to use while making prostrations to the Thirty-Five Buddhas; the meaning behind “touching the four places” while prostrating, and more!

Advice for Prostrations from Lama Zopa Rinpoche comes from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. There, Rinpoche provided some new instructions regarding prostrations, including some changes to the preliminary holy name mantras, and also dictated a new meditation.

Rinpoche asked that these instructions be integrated into the FPMT booklets on the practice of prostrations. They will be included in forthcoming updated versions of the booklets The Practice of Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas and The Preliminary Practice of Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas, both available through the Foundation Store.

During a retreat in Bendigo, Australia, 2014, Lama Zopa Rinpoche made extensive changes to many practices including Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas. Rinpoche advised that preliminary prayers be done before doing the practice of prostrations and that at the end of the practice the “Mantra of Pure Morality” and “Prayer to Keep Pure Morality” be recited. These changes can be found in the FPMT Retreat Prayer Book, 2016 edition.

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

Lama Chöpa puja on the morning of Losar, Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal, February 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The Fifteen Days of Miracles—from the first day of the Tibetan new year (Losar, February 16) until the fifteenth (March 1)—commemorate the special time when Guru Shakyamuni Buddha showed miraculous powers in order to subdue the Six Founders, 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 called 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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessed all 800 monks and nuns of Kopan Monastery and Nunnery as well as guests during lunch on Losar, Kathmandu, Nepal, February 2017. Photo by Lobsang Sherab.

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 16. The Fifteen Days of Miracles continue through Chotrul Duchen on March 1.

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.

Students visit the public display of thangkas and butter sculptures on Chotrul Duchen, Kopan Monstery, Kathmandu, Nepal, March 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Advice Specifically for Losar

For the 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 students to offer extensive Lama Chöpa 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-four years since the passing of Lama. 

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

Lama Yeshe, Yucca Valley, California, US, 1977. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Advice for the Fifteen Days of Miracles

Advice for merit-multiplying days in general can be found here.

If you decide to recite the Sutra of Golden Light on these special days, we invite you to report your 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, training seminars, and scholarships, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche does prostrations at Vulture’s Peak, the site of Buddha’s first teaching, Rajgir, India, February 2, 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lunar and solar eclipses are auspicious days for practice and provide opportunities for accumulating increased merit. Lama Zopa Rinpoche advises that the merit generated on lunar eclipses is multiplied by 700,000 and by 100 million on solar eclipses.

Upcoming lunar eclipses: January 31, July 27

Upcoming solar eclipses: February 15, July 13, and August 11

On these multiplying days, any beneficial practices can be done. In particular, Rinpoche recommends:

• Recitation of the names of the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas
• Vajrasattva mantras

Any other meritorious activities advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche are also good to do on these days, such as recitations of the Vajra Cutter Sutra, Sutra of Golden Light, and Sanghata Sutra, with extensive dedications. These texts are available on the “Sutras” page on FPMT.org.

January 31 is a lunar eclipse and all are invited to participate in generating 700,000 times the merit than what would be accumulated on a non-multiplying day. 

You can read more about practices specifically recommended by Rinpoche for lunar and solar eclipses, and other Buddha Multiplying Days:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/advice/practice-on-the-four-great-holy-days/

Check “Dharma Practice Dates” for information on auspicious days for practice:
https://fpmt.org/media/resources/dharma-dates/

Acquire your own copy of the Liberation Prison Project calendar through the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/2018-Liberation-Tibetan-Calendar-HARDCOPY_p_3017.html

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