Education: The Heart of FPMT

Lama Zopa Rinpoche visiting the relics in the exhibition center at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion’s, Bendigo, Australia, October 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“The terms ‘renouncing this life’ or ‘renouncing suffering’ both mean renouncing the mind that is the cause of the problems, the thought of the eight worldly dharmas. Therefore ‘Dharma’ includes even pragmatic, transient techniques to stop attachment from arising. This is the actual Dharma, the method that immediately solves our confusion and mental illness. Bringing clarity and lack of confusion to our mind is the best way of bringing happiness to our life. Renouncing suffering doesn’t mean we’ll never have stomach or knee pain, a headache or a cold. It doesn’t mean wishing to be free of all pain but wishing to be free from the very cause of all suffering,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches in How to Practice Dharma: Teachings on the Eight Worldly Dharmas, published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. 

“It has been the experience of these great yogis that we don’t have to wait until our future lives to experience this happiness. As soon as we stop the dissatisfied mind, immediately – immediately – there’s the result, happiness.

“At first we might be nervous about letting go of desire because we normally equate desire with happiness. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. As soon as we let go of desire we achieve inner peace, satisfaction and happiness; we become independent. Before, we were dictated to and controlled by desire but now we have achieved real freedom.

“We can see in the biographies of the great yogis Tilopa, Marpa, Milarepa, Lama Tsongkhapa and many of those other highly realized beings whose holy minds passed into enlightenment how, even without material possessions, they generated great tranquility and peace and through that were able to realize the great achievements of the path. They didn’t have even the scent of the eight worldly dharmas about them but by completely renouncing desire for this life, they received everything – the best reputation, perfect surroundings and sufficient material comfort.

“In Milarepa’s Hundred Thousand Songs he often says how renouncing this life’s worldly activities automatically stops all the thousands of problems associated with the worldly life and brings great bliss. Without any possessions at all, he led an ascetic life in solitary places. Although he lived like an animal, he spent his life in great happiness, his mind always peaceful, without confusion or problems. He didn’t have even one sack of tsampa but lived on nettles alone. Living without food, clothing or reputation didn’t cause him any problems because of his Dharma practice. He achieved all the high realizations and then enlightenment in that one lifetime, all due to the power of his pure Dharma practice of renouncing suffering, renouncing this life. His mind was incomparably happier than that of the king who has great power and many bodyguards, soldiers and weapons.

“Therefore, it’s completely wrong to think that Dharma only brings happiness in future lifetimes but not in this one. We experience peace and happiness the very moment we begin to practice and live in the Dharma. We feel its effects immediately.”

From How to Practice Dharma: Teachings on the Eight Worldly Dharmas, pp. 144-5, edited by Gordon Gordon McDougall and published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Learn more about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his beneficial activities by visiting Rinpoche’s webpage, where you will find links to Rinpoche’s schedule, new advice, recent video, photos and more.

Gun Cissé and Erika Banszky presenting their Facilitator Training presentation. Foundation Service Seminar, Jamyang Buddhist Centre London, October 2013. Photo by Violette Pliot.

From January 23-28, 2015, Land of Medicine Buddha, located in Soquel, CA, will host a Foundation Service Seminar.

FPMT service seminars provide support and training to those offering service within FPMT centers, services, and projects. The seminars help develop a shared understanding of the FPMT mission set out by Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and a firm basis to serve effectively and joyfully within the organization.

This seminar will explore our relationship to resources – both material and human; communication skills and conflict resolution; teaching according to the level of the student; ways to maintain and develop one’s personal practice in the midst of service, and methods to prevent and cure burnout. “Service” will be discussed in terms of guru devotion, karma, compassion, and emptiness, and how to draw strength, inspiration, wisdom, and guidance from these practices.

The seminar uses the Inner Job Description, a tool for developing what Lama Zopa Rinpoche calls the “inner professional” (read a teaching on the inner professional), and integrate the Dharma into our daily lives. The training includes group discussion and sharing of experiences, and includes daily meditations as well as group practice as advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

To learn more about this training opportunity, please visit Land of Medicine Buddha’s website.

You can learn more about FPMT Service Seminars including Inner Job Description Service Seminar, Rituals Service Seminar, Spiritual Program Coordinator Service Seminar and 16 Guidelines Training Programs.

Lama Yeshe wearing a ceremonial crown of the five dhyani buddhas for the Tara statue procession, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1976. Photo courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (lamayeshe.com).

Share your love, your wisdom, and your wealth, and serve other beings as much as possible. Live in harmony with one another and be an example of peace, love, compassion, and wisdom. Try to be happy in your practice, to be satisfied with your life. Be reasonable in the way you grow, and don’t ever think that it is too late. 

And don’t be afraid of death.

Even if you are going to die tomorrow, at least for today keep yourself straight and clean-clear, and be a happy human being.

– Lama Yeshe, from When the Chocolate Runs Out, published by Wisdom Publications

Lama Yeshe was the founder 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 and Ian Green discussing the art and decorations for the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Bendigo, Australia, October 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered this advice to students on the benefits of building a stupa:

“By building a stupa, without words we are continually liberating so many sentient beings. Every day, the stupa plants the seed of enlightenment and purifies anybody who sees, touches, remembers, talks or dreams about the stupa. This includes insects that touch the stupa. The stupa is meaningful to behold, and it liberates many sentient beings, insects and humans, every day.

“When the wind touches a stupa—especially if it has the four dharmakaya relics inside—the wind becomes blessed. Then, wherever the wind goes and whoever it touches, it liberates them from the lower realms, by purifying their negative karma. When rain falls on the stupa, that water liberates any being it touches—all the worms in the ground etc, are liberated from the lower realms. It is similar with dust.

“We can build stupas to inspire people without even teaching Dharma. However many hundreds and billions of years the holy object lasts, it continues to liberate many sentient beings every day, freeing them from the lower realms, causing them to actualize the path, liberating them from samsara and bringing them to enlightenment. After we die, even if we are in another universe, in the hell realms or a pure land, wherever we are, the stupa that we built or helped to build, is continually benefiting sentient beings. It is incredible how we can continually benefit sentient beings by building a stupa.

“From the Flower Garland Sutra:

Whatever one offers [to a stupa], whether it is tiny or big, it causes happiness from beginningless rebirth up to now.

“This refers to temporary happiness and on top of that the cause of ultimate happiness—liberation from suffering and causes of suffering, and full enlightenment, for the sake of all sentient beings. Then we are able to liberate numberless sentient beings from suffering and bring them to enlightenment, so of course this includes achieving worldly people’s small happiness; it is all contained here.

“These are some of the benefits we get by helping to build this stupa.”

From the page on “Stupas” in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book,” part of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. 

Light offerings projected on to the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Australia, October 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

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 doing Dzambhala practice, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, August 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

FPMT Education Services is pleased to announce the release of The Method of Water Charity which is a compilation by Lama Zopa Rinpoche containing many valuable practices including “Water Offering to Dzambhala,” “Water Charity to Preta Beings,” “The Dharani of Swallowing Obstacles,” and “The Dharani Protecting the Preta Beings with Fire Blazing Out of Their Mouths.”

This collection is available from the FPMT Foundation Store as a downloadable PDF.

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 having tea with International Office staff, June 2012. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

FPMT Education Services is happy to announce the release of a newly available drink offering practice, The Words of Requesting and Offering to One’s Own Kind Root Guru (Garsha Drink Offering) available as a free PDF download from the FPMT Foundation Store.

This drink offering practice can be used when offering any drink such as chai, tea, coffee, juice, chang, etc. The first verse was composed by Kachen Yeshe Gyältsen and translated and amended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who felt that taking the Kachen Yeshe Gyältsen verses of offering to the Buddha and applying it to one’s own Guru and praising in that way would be beneficial for one’s mind. The second and third verses were composed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

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.

Sangha in procession leading Lama Zopa Rinpoche to the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, September 2014. Photo by Drolkar McCallum.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues to give the extremely rare lung (oral transmission) of the 21 chapter version of the Golden Light Sutra at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Australia. As part of the month-long Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa retreat, Rinpoche is offering the lung.

Rinpoche explained that even people listening to the video streaming of the lung can take it as an oral transmission. By having received an oral transmission of the sutra, it becomes 100 times more powerful when you recite it.  (You can find the Golden Light Sutra in 14 different languages here.)

You can watch the video recordings of the oral transmission of the Golden Light Sutra on FPMT’s Livestream page. (Click to watch Part 1 of the transmission, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.)

On Monday, September 29, Rinpoche was led to the Great Stupa in a procession of six Sangha members as a way of creating merit to be able to receive this incredible oral transmission. One nun walked around the gompa making billowing incense offerings throughout the transmission. There are 57 Sangha members in attendance at the retreat.

Live webcasts and recording of all the daily sessions with Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the retreat in Australia can be watched on the FPMT Livestream page. Audio MP3 recordings of the retreat sessions with Rinpoche are available for download with translation into French, Italian and Spanish.

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.

Students can obtain FPMT Education prayers and materials via downloadable PDF for their computer or digital device.

The FPMT Foundation Store just unveiled a new dana-based system for obtaining the majority of available PDFs. This new system will enable students around the world access to FPMT Education‘s plethora of prayers and practices by donating what they are able during check-out.

Beginning to advanced students can find the materials needed to strengthen their daily practice and Dharma education.

If you benefit from these texts, please remember that we depend on the generosity of students like you to support our publishing efforts.

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 giving teachings to Sangha and lay students at Chenrezig Institute, Eudlo, Australia, September 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has given much advice to Sangha, which you can find in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book. Here’s an excerpt of Rinpoche’s advice on living as a monk, given several years ago in Bodhgaya:

“Morality is the road to liberation from samsara. With morality, it’s easy. Without morality, life creates obstacles for realizations, and then it creates sufferings. It destroys realizations and causes rebirths in lower realms.

“People are looking for happiness, but the method is important. Hunting and killing animals is creating suffering. Other people commit suicide; they kill themselves while they are looking for happiness. The aim for everyone is reaching happiness.

“Maybe it’s not possible to do it every day, but at least once a week or every two or four days we should go over the sutra looking at the benefits of the vows. This is fuel and gives us energy. It is very important. It makes the mind strong, directs the mind to be strong, and strengthens the mind of renunciation. …”

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.

*12/17/2015 Update: Please note that this practice has now been revised and is entitled, The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment). 

An essential practice for all students, Daily Meditation by Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been updated, with advice from Rinpoche, several times and is now in its most final form. You can download this practice from the FPMT Foundation Store.

Every day we have the opportunity to set our aspirations clearly before we engage with the world. As Lama Zopa Rinpoche advises, “In everyday life after the eyes open [on waking] set a Dharma intention and especially bodhichitta [motivation] by thinking, ‘Until I achieve enlightenment and until I die, especially today, may the activities of my body, speech and mind—listening, reflecting, meditation practice, walking, sleeping, eating, sitting, working and so forth not become the cause of suffering and become the cause of happiness, especially the cause of full enlightenment, i.e. the method to bring happiness to sentient beings.’”

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 at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, April 2014. Photo Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“When you have in mind the thought that death can come today, if something suddenly happens, it is not a shock,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche instructs in his book Bodhisattva Attitude: How to Dedicate Your Life to Others. “It is not a shock at all because your mind is prepared. You have already trained your mind by thinking very strongly about death first thing every morning and keeping that awareness throughout the day. That helps you to be at peace and not have fear when you face a life-threatening problem or something similar.

“If your mind has not become Dharma because you haven’t trained in the thought of impermanence but instead have always thought, ‘I am going to live for a long time,’ and done all your activities with attachment to this life, then if something opposite to that suddenly happens and the reality of life – its impermanence – is shown, all of a sudden, while you are planning billions of things, you get an incredible shock.

“You may know Buddhism and have memorized the hundred volumes of the Buddha’s teachings (Kangyur) and the two hun­dred volumes of commentaries (Tengyur) and be able to explain and recite them by heart, but your mind has not thought about impermanence. You may know by heart all the root texts, the five great treatises, along with the tantric texts and commentar­ies and be able to explain them, but your mind has not thought of impermanence. Because you have been living your life with the concept of permanence, the day something happens and the reality of life is shown, it is a shock and there is incredible fear. Suddenly you see that you don’t want to die. It is not that you don’t want to die because you want to benefit sentient beings. I am not talking about that. You don’t want to die for fear of what will happen after death. You don’t want to die because of fear. You don’t want to lose this body. You don’t want to lose your possessions, property, belongings or family. Your mind is clinging to these things and because of that, there is great fear.

“Meditating on impermanence is the very beginning of Dharma, but look what happens if this meditation is left out or if you thought it wasn’t important because emptiness, shunyata or some tantric meditation was more important.”

You can read more from the chapter “The Teachings: Cutting the Concept of Permanence” from the book Bodhisattva Attitude: How to Dedicate Your Life to Others by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. 

Learn more about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his beneficial activities by visiting Rinpoche’s webpage, where you will find links to Rinpoche’s schedule, new advice, recent video, photos and more.