Teachings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche shown on the big screen to participants of the 2023 Light of the Path retreat. Photo by Kira Dane.

We are delighted to share the below joyous report offered by Kopan Monastery at the conclusion of the Light of the Path 2023 retreat. Please join the entire FPMT community in rejoicing that students of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, old and new, completed this auspicious and profound retreat at the heart of the FPMT organization: Kopan Monastery. 

Originally meant to be a continuation of five teaching events with Lama Zopa Rinpoche that began in 2009 in North Carolina, US, the Light of the Path (LOP) 2023 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal became a retreat for Rinpoche’s students to honor his life and teachings as well as the practice lineage he had so carefully passed on to us over more than fifty years.

Approximately 160 people, including a core group of senior sangha and lay people, from 30 countries attended the retreat which occurred September 4-17 this year. 

Geshe Legtsok, the Light of the Path 2023 retreat leader. Photo by Kira Dane.

Ven. Siliana Bosa translated the entire event into Italian, Ven. Paloma Alba into Spanish, and Meida Cheng into Chinese. Several French speakers, including Ven. Chantal Dekyi, Ven. Tenzin Gendun, and Ven. Tenzin Kunzang, took turns translating for a French monk. Each day began with How to Make Your Lives Meaningful, a short lamrim and lojong practice Rinpoche has specifically compiled to help all his students begin the day with a bodhicitta motivation, followed by the practice of prostrations to the Thirty-Five Buddhas.

Large photo of Lama Zopa Rinpoche overlooking the 2023 Light of the Path retreat. Photo by Kira Dane.

During the second week of the retreat, we met a half hour earlier to take the eight Mahayana precepts dedicated to the pacification of war, famine, disease, and harm caused by the four elements. Geshe Tenzin Legtsok, the LOP retreat leader, and Vens. Amy Miller, Thubten Pema, and Ailsa Cameron kindly took turns leading us in these practices. The entire group then moved to the Chenrezig Gompa where the actual LOP retreat was being held in the presence of a huge photo of Rinpoche, in front of which beautiful offerings had been set out.

Before breaking for breakfast, we did Lama Chopa Jorcho up to and including the extensive bath offering with several groups of three taking turns to carefully enact the ritual offering to the figures in the merit field. Lama Chopa continued after breakfast with more beautiful chanting in Tibetan led by Ven. Thubten Dechen from Malaysia, whose voice was described by many as “heavenly,” while Ven. Joan Nicell lead parts of the practice in English and provided occasional comments on the practice based on Rinpoche’s teachings.

After lunch, retreat participants had time to rest, enjoy a cappuccino in the Kopan café, and spend time in Rinpoche’s room receiving the blessings of his holy body relic before meeting once again for the afternoon meditation sessions. Prior to the retreat, Ven. Joan and Ven. Ailsa Cameron had prepared a booklet of meditations extracted from Rinpoche’s teachings on the topics of bodhicitta mindfulness, guru devotion, perfect human rebirth, the lower realms, refuge, and karma. These written meditations along with short videos of Rinpoche, one of which was shown each day, formed the basis for the three meditation sessions.

Some participants of the Light of the Path 2023 retreat.

Geshe Legtsok began the first meditation session of the day by leading us in a short seven-limb practice and a glance meditation on the whole lamrim, before skillfully setting out the context of the actual meditation. Ven. Rene Feusi led the next two sessions, sometimes taking the opportunity to elaborate on topics close to his heart based on his many years of experience in meditation. Old and new students alike benefitted greatly from his gentle and inspiring guidance.

Ven. Pemba Sherpa during the 2023 Light of the Path retreat. Photo by Kira Dane.

The evening sessions alternated walking meditations based on Rinpoche’s teachings with traditional protector practices led by Ven. Angie Muir, and stories of Rinpoche shared by senior sangha, such as Gen Pemba, Ven. Dondrub, and FPMT board members, including Khen Rinpoche Chonyi, the abbot of Kopan; and Ven. Roger Kunsang, Rinpoche’s invaluable assistant and CEO of FPMT Inc.

These stories made us both laugh and cry as we remembered and celebrated the life and activities of our unique and beloved guru. The retreat concluded with a joyful tsog offering and heartfelt thanks from Ven. Thubten Khadro, SPC and organizer of the event, to all who had contributed to making the retreat a success.

Throughout the two-week retreat, participants remarked again and again how harmonious the retreat was and how they had felt the strong presence and blessings of Rinpoche. Ven Amy Miller said, “I think the blessings of coming together like this and doing the practices that Rinpoche wants, in the style that Rinpoche likes, was fantastic as well as a way to bring Rinpoche back quickly.”

Jim Hagan, who had done the 1973, 1976, and 1978 one-month Kopan courses, said, “The retreat was powerful. For me, Rinpoche was here. This is Rinpoche’s mandala. Everywhere you look, you see Rinpoche’s footprint.” He also urged everyone to come to the next LOP saying: “By coming here, your guru devotion is supporting Rinpoche. Because Rinpoche created this Light of the Path, I think it is important for people to come.”

From all of us at Kopan: We hope to see all those who came this year and many more of Rinpoche’s students at the next Light of the Path retreat at Kopan Monastery which will be held during the first two weeks of April 2025.

The retreat materials, recordings, and photos from the Light of the Path 2023 can be found here. If you would like to support the offering of these resources, you are welcome to make a donation here. 

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.