receive our newsletters
join Friends of FPMT
Group photo from the first meditation course held at Kopan Monastery, April, 1971. Left to right, front row: Zina Rachevsky, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Geshe Thubten Tashi, Age Delbanco (Babaji), Lama Yeshe, Gen Wangyal. Fred Von Allmen is at far left, Claudio Cipullo second from the end on the right, and Mark Shaneman is standing directly behind Babaji. Photo provided by Fred von Allmen, courtesy of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said, “Coming to a Kopan Course is the most important education of your Life.” On November 25, 2022, after a two year break due to the COVID restrictions and safety concerns, 175 students started the fifty-third course at Kopan Monastery with Geshe Tenzin Namdak serving as retreat teacher. A more restricted amount of attendees were admitted than usual due to ongoing concerns of contagion and risks.
The organizers report that the flow has been smooth and things are going well and harmoniously so far. Geshe Namdak has started the teachings with a scientific approach. His teaching manner has been described as relaxed yet enthusiastic. In attendance are a combination of senior students, including eight nuns, three monks, and complete beginners from all around the world, including a large group of Spanish speaking students and a smaller Portuguese group.
Many of FPMT’s senior students first met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche attending one of these retreats and over the years, thousands of students have made a connection with FPMT through the education they received at Kopan Monastery. For three years in the seventies, two courses were offered every year, and since then, the November Course—as it is affectionately referred to—was offered every year until 2020.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2017. Photo by Bill Kane
In 2017, Rinpoche told the 200+ attendees of the course, “So it is really of the utmost importance, you coming here to learn not just meditation but lamrim, lamrim meditation. … Only then, you can understand how to live life, how in the past how you live, and how you should live now, in a positive way to benefit not only yourself but all the numberless beings. So I want to say, your coming to Kopan to do meditation course, oh, this is the best! If you want to help the world, to bring peace, your coming here is the best. Your coming here to do the meditation course, to learn, that is the best. You have to bring peace in the world by your mind, by your good heart. You yourself have to have a good heart to bring perfect peace and happiness in the world. That is the best.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught that very first course in 1971 and has offered teachings at the courses almost every year since. In addition to Rinpoche’s teachings, which usually begin a couple of weeks into the course, Rinpoche selects a course teacher to lead the course every year. Geshe Namdak, who was requested this year, is resident teacher at Jamyang London Buddhist Center. Geshe Namdak is a Dutch senior monk who completed his Geshe Degree at Sera University in India in 2017. Geshe Namdak is the first Westerner to complete the full course of studies at Sera Je Monastery and also to sit for the final geshe examination there, a tremendous achievement.
Please read more about Geshe Tenzin Namdak in a recent in-depth story, ” Bringing the Teachings Alive: Geshe Tenzin Namdak Encourages Students with Innovation and Patience.”
You can read more details about the historic first Kopan Meditation Course.
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.