Kopan Monastery illuminated during the Heart Sutra Retreat. Photo by Kira Dane.

Following the commemoration activities at Kopan Monastery honoring the one-year anniversary of Lama Zopa Rinpoche showing the aspect of passing away, a Heart Sutra Retreat was held from April 15-20, 2024 with commentary by His Eminence the 104th Ganden Tripa, meditations led by Ven. Steve Carlier, and evening sessions with short extracted videos of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching a topic related to emptiness. Please read an inspiring overview of this joyous retreat provided by Kopan Monastery: 

The Heart Sutra Retreat began with a joyous welcome and introduction to Kopan and the event by Ven. Thubten Kalden, who had kindly stepped in to replace Ven. Thubten Khadro, Kopan’s SPC, while she is away taking care of her ailing father. After dinner, we were joined by Ven. Roger Kunsang who told us how pleased he was that so many people, a bit more than 200, were attending this retreat, which had been specifically organized to fulfill one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wishes. Ven. Steve Carlier then set the tone for the retreat with his opening remarks in his trademark laid-back style of presentation.

In accordance with Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s tradition for retreat, each day began at 5:30 a.m. with Lama Chopa. Ven. Thubten Dechen led the chanting and Ven. Joan Nicell led the parts in English. After breakfast, we were blessed to have two hours of teachings on the Heart Sutra by His Eminence the 104th Ganden Tripa. These teachings were expertly translated into English by Ven. Steve, and then into Italian and Spanish by respectively Ven. Siliana Bosa and Ven. Paloma Alba.

Ven. Joan and Ven. Dechen leading the chants during the Heart Sutra Retreat. Photo by Kira Dane.

The afternoons consisted of three sessions of meditation, each forty-five minutes in length. These were introduced by Ven. Steve, who provided us with profound nuggets to contemplate based on his many years of studying and teaching emptiness. A short series of preliminary prayers, including Praise to Manjushri, preceded the slow chanting in English of the Heart Sutra up to the point where we paused to meditate. Over the course of the four afternoons, we spent several sessions meditating first on “Form is emptiness,” then “Emptiness is form,” followed by “Emptiness is not other than form; form is also not other than emptiness.” Eventually we made it to “In the same way, feeling” where we paused to contemplate “Emptiness is not other than feeling” and so forth. The emptiness of discrimination, compositional factors, and consciousness, as well as the rest of phenomena, remains for us to contemplate in future retreats!

Ven. Steve Carlier teaching during the Heart Sutra Retreat at Kopan Monastery. Photo by Kira Dane.

Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, abbot of Kopan, kindly came to do a Q & A session one afternoon. The difficult questions posed by both old and new students gave us a glimpse of Khen Rinpoche’s great depth of knowledge and his skill in presenting the Dharma to a modern audience.

Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi offering a Q & A during the Heart Sutra Retreat at Kopan Monastery. Photo by Kira Dane.

The evening sessions began with a short subtitled video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching a topic related to emptiness. Rinpoche’s highly animated and expressive, and sometimes humorous, way of teaching topics such as the emptiness of red and green traffic lights made Rinpoche’s presence very much felt by all of us. (These videos will be released to the public soon.) Ven. Steve spent the rest of the session answering questions, generously sharing his extensive knowledge with us.

Heart Sutra Retreat participants viewing one of the extracted short videos of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching on emptiness. Photo by Kira Dane.

Unfortunately the retreat also gave many people a chance to contemplate the human suffering of sickness as a highly contagious stomach bug, also present in Kathmandu, swept through the group. For some it passed in twenty-four hours, but for others it even resulted in a visit to the hospital due to the resulting dehydration.

The retreat ended on the morning of April 20 with a final teaching on the Heart Sutra by Tri Rinpoche. It was followed by a group photo of the Heart Sutra retreat participants together with Tri Rinpoche.

Heart Sutra Retreat participants with His Eminence the 104th Ganden Tripa, April 2024. Photo courtesy of Kopan Monastery.

Afterward Khen Rinpoche took the opportunity to tell retreat participants about Kopan’s many charitable projects. Ven. Steve thanked everyone for their support during the retreat, and then led the group in final dedications, including the King of Prayers and the swift return prayer for Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Ven. Kalden then thanked everyone who contributed to making the retreat a success, including the cooks and kitchen staff who had gone out of their way to make sure we enjoyed good and healthy food throughout the retreat.

His Eminence the 104th Ganden Tripa teaching during the Heart Sutra Retreat at Kopan Monastery. Photo by Kira Dane.

The next morning a long life puja organized by Kopan was held in honor of Tri Rinpoche. Although, being based on the short Sixteen Arhat Puja, it was a relatively brief puja, all the traditional long life offerings were presented to Tri Rinpoche by the Kopan monks and nuns. As he had done during the teachings, Tri Rinpoche left the gompa in a wheelchair smiling and waving happily to the people on either side of the aisle.

Ven. Roger Kunsang offering to His Eminence the 104th Ganden Tripa during the long life puja held at Kopan Monastery, April 21, 2024. Photo courtesy of Kopan Monastery.

May we always be able to fulfill our holy guru’s holy wishes by studying, contemplating, and meditating on the holy Dharma!

Grateful thanks to Kopan Monastery for offering this inspiring report of the retreat.

A booklet with instructions by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for doing a retreat related to the Heart Sutra can be found here:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Heart-Sutra-Practices-and-Instructions-for-Retreat-PDF_p_1775.html

Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.