Education Prayers and Practice Materials

Lama Zopa Rinpoche: Compendium of Precious Instructions

It is common knowledge that Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche had scant regard or need for sleep or rest. Twenty-four hours a day were never enough for Rinpoche to carry out his vast and unceasing array of activities to benefit sentient beings, and much of those were devoted to preserving and disseminating the Dharma. Famously, Rinpoche’s teachings could last throughout the night to daybreak, with barely a break before resuming again. The first Kopan course Rinpoche led was in November 1971, and he had started teaching before then. By the time he manifested passing away in 2023, Rinpoche had taught for more than 60 years.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore. Photo by Ven Lobsang Sherab.

But that’s not all. When not teaching before an audience, Rinpoche was imparting both personal and general advice to students and friends, or composing, compiling and translating practices and commentaries. In between, Rinpoche also drew and painted holy images, and copied the sutras in impeccable, luminous calligraphy. Thus, Rinpoche bequeathed to us a prodigious amount of invaluable teachings and artwork, preserved in his original hand, in audio and audiovisual recordings, and also in manuscripts scribed by various disciples acting as his amanuenses.

Over the years, the extent and mode of preserving Rinpoche’s works inevitably evolved. His publishers—mainly FPMT, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, and Wisdom Publications—also developed different approaches to effectively engage different audiences, varying their editorial treatment, presentation and distribution of Rinpoche’s voluminous materials. For these reasons, the vocabulary and authorial voice attributed to Rinpoche sound different in different literary publications, but the authenticity of content is unfailing. 

Here is a growing list of Rinpoche’s literary and graphic works available on paper and/ or electronically, with particular emphasis on key teachings that Rinpoche especially wanted his students to take note of and put into practice, as well as a guide on where to find the audio and video productions.

Publications

FPMT Booklets and PDFs

6_session_guru_yogaThis collection consists of materials that came from Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche. It consists of sadhanas, practices, dharanis, and texts as well as related instructions. They are either translated or compiled or rearranged by Rinpoche. Included are also practices extracted from a commentary or an explanation by Rinpoche where the Tibetan source text is not available. This huge collection of materials will all eventually be subsumed under Lama Zopa Rinpoche Practice Series and Lama Zopa Rinpoche Teaching Archive.

Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (LYWA)

The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive offers teachings, discourses, photos, and advice from Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and other great lamas in a variety of multimedia formats, prepared by highly qualified editors with decades of experience. The Archive was founded in 1996 by Lama Zopa Rinpoche who chose the name “Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive” out of humility and in honor of his teacher.  The following are published books for free distribution, and are also available as ebooks on a wide range of readers.

Kopan eBook Series

Tantra

For Monastics

Wisdom Publications

Wisdom Publications is a non-profit publishing company dedicated to making authentic Buddhist works available for the benefit of all. Wisdom publishes translations of the sutras and tantras, commentaries and teachings of past and contemporary Buddhist masters, and original works by the world’s leading Buddhist scholars.

Online Materials

Articles Online and Blog Posts: Advice, Messages, and Instructions
Highlights (Themed Collections)

Life Practice Advice

One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s highest priorities was responding to students’ inquiries on daily practice and preliminary practice advice from him. For 25+ years, Rinpoche refined this advice, referring to it as “Life Practices.”
View the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Life Practice Advice homepage.

Thought Transformation

Starting in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Lama Zopa Rinpoche began offering teachings on thought transformation (lojong). While offering advice, oral transmissions, and instruction on practice, Rinpoche emphasizes the opportunities available to us to transform our minds using the Buddha’s teachings.
View the collection of Teachings on Thought Transformation During the Time of Covid-19.

Online Advice Book

A collection of advice published online by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive taken from short talks and the thousands of letters Rinpoche wrote personally to students. Categorized by topics, with new advice added to the online book each month.

Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive

LYWA prepares materials for publication through various avenues including books for free distribution, ebooks on a wide range of readers, social media, multimedia, audiobooks, podcasts, videos on our YouTube channel, lightly edited transcripts and free audio on our website, and a monthly e-letter. We also support the translation of LYWA publications into more than eighteen languages.

Artwork

Cards

Many beautiful digital cards and posters have been designed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, which are available to download and display in appropriate areas on one’s altar or in one’s home.

Gallery of Rinpoche's Artwork

A beautiful collection of Rinpoche’s drawings of smiley faces, calligraphy writings of mantras on beautiful cards, and other artwork on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. All items available for download:

Mantras

Rinpoche’s beautiful calligraphy is available in the form of many mantras.

Quotation Cards

These are inspiring quotations by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, or important and useful sayings by the great masters personally selected and translated by Rinpoche.

Other Holy Objects Created by Rinpoche

The following are holy objects created by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to benefit sentient beings in various ways

  • Lama Tsongkhapa Prayer Flag

    Altar of cards for insects – a stack of cards of various deities, printed on both sides, to circumambulate insects around, that you find in your house for before putting them out.
  • Liberation Box – rename Liberation Tools Set
  • LIberation Cloth
  • Lama Tsong Khapa Prayer flag – a beautiful prayer flag was designed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.  In 2007, Lama Zopa Rinpoche recommended all FPMT centers, projects and services to fly this flag for auspiciousness and protection.
  • The prayers on the flag include the Refuge Prayer, the Prayer for the Flourishing of Lama Tsongkhapa‘s Teachings, the prayer Accomplishing the Auspiciousness which includes prayers to the Five Dhyani Buddhas, Lama Tsongkhapa‘s Prayer, dedication prayers, and prayers to avert war, earthquakes, and natural disasters in this universe and especially in the places that the flag is flown.
  • Mantra Hat designed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche that is covered with embroidered mantras, so that when you go out in public wearing it, you benefit others, who see the mantra, and yourself.

  • Padmasambhava Crystal – crystal glass etched with Padmasambhava mantra for blessing water

Audio

Mantras, Prayers and Practices, and Sutras

Listen to Lama Zopa Rinpoche reciting and chanting:

Mantras

Prayers and Practices

Sutras

Oral Transmissions (lung)

A lung (pronounced “loong”) is the oral transmission of a text, mantra, or practice by an authorized lineage holder. Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave permission to take these online. If you consciously decide to listen to the recordings as oral transmissions (lung), then you are able to take them as such. Please be aware that if you decide to do this, it means you are creating a guru-disciple relationship. 

Sutras

  • The Array of Sukhavati Pure Land: A Concise Mahayana Sutra | Audio | Video
  • Sutra of Great Liberation | Audio | Videos
  • Sutra of Golden Light | Audio | Video

Mantras

Prayers and Practices

Podcast

FPMT International Office produces two podcasts:

Recordings from LYWA

Go to the Teaching menu on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website. Under the the “refine search” section, select “teachings with audio.” Some transcripts are accompanied by audio recordings.

Videos and Transcripts

Full-Length Teachings (Rinpoche Available Now)

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered teachings regularly at FPMT centers around the world. Many of these teachings are available as video and audio recordings together with other resources as a part of our Rinpoche Available Now (RAN) project.

Essential Extracts

Essential Extracts are focused teachings by Rinpoche, excerpted from longer teachings that Rinpoche has offered in videos and at retreats and other teaching events. The essence of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings are continuously being extracted into stand-alone short videos focused on a specific topic. Most of these video extracts are available both as video only and also as video with transcript overlay.

Short Video Clips

This is a collection of miscellaneous video clips of advice, talks, and short teachings given on the road by Lama Zopa Rinpoche as he travels and engages in meritorious activities around the world.

FPMT Youtube Channel

The FPMT YouTube channel contains hundreds of videos, playlists, and short video clips of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

LYWA Youtube Channel

The LYWA YouTube channel offers archival video footage of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, as well as audio of many books published by LYWA.

 

Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive

The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive—an FPMT archive—publishes materials through various avenues including books for free distribution and sale, ebooks on a wide range of readers, social media, multimedia, audiobooks, podcasts, videos on our YouTube channel, lightly edited transcripts and free audio on our website, and a monthly e-letter.