receive our newsletters
join Friends of FPMT
Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the “teaching couch” in his room at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
We’re happy to announce the new digital issue of Mandala! In it, we explore Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 teaching series.
This PDF issue provides a detailed summary of the key points Rinpoche has been emphasizing so far in the series; an overview of the practice advice, oral transmissions, and practice materials Rinpoche has recommended for this critical time; and a behind the scenes look at how the teachings are made and disseminated to students in various languages.
Also included in the new issue is an overview of how the international FPMT community has responded to the coronavirus pandemic; and some timeless wisdom from Lama Yeshe and inspiration from His Eminence Choden Rinpoche’s recent posthumous book Mastering Meditation: Instructions on Calm Abiding and Mahamudra.
As an offering to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s students and the international FPMT community, we are making this issue’s cover story, “The Time to Practice Is Now,” available as a separate free downloadable PDF. This 22-page story covers the main points of Rinpoche’s thought transformation teachings so far and includes links to video clips of key moments.
Mandala, as well as all the news on FPMT.org, is made possible by the support of the Friends of FPMT program. If you would like to receive a PDF of the complete new issue of Mandala 2021, consider becoming a Friends of FPMT supporter. You may also find Mandala 2021 in the FPMT Foundation Store.
Stuffed rabbit with Dharma message composed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, November 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Here’s an excerpt from the “The Time to Practice Is Now”:
All Happiness and All Suffering Come from Our Mind
Throughout the thought transformation teaching series, Rinpoche emphasizes that however much samsaric suffering we experience and whether we become enlightened or not all comes from our mind. We are responsible for our mind and therefore, our life. Every day, every hour, every minute, every second, we have the opportunity to decide if we want to be enlightened or continue to suffer. This all depends on how we take care of our mind.
A non-virtuous mind leads to negative actions, the cause of suffering, and a virtuous, healthy mind results in positive actions, the cause of happiness. Because of this, Rinpoche says, we should come to the conclusion that we must work on improving our own minds. This is why we need to listen to the teachings of the Buddha, study, and meditate. It is not just for peace of mind, to have a quiet life, or to achieve serenity, but to transform our mind into the path to enlightenment.
If we have the karma to get the coronavirus, Rinpoche says, it is not possible to escape it—not even by hiding ourselves in the depths of the ocean or under a huge mountain—because it is our own obscured mind that created the cause to get this sickness due to negative karma. We typically have the mistaken view that anything that pleases or harms us comes from outside. We, therefore, believe that the methods to stop harm and to achieve happiness are to deal with and change the outside world, forgetting about the mind. However, the main work we need to do is to change our own mind.
We need hardships in order to overcome our delusions and gain realizations, Rinpoche explains. Buddhism is not easy.
To go deep into Buddhism, we have to dedicate our life to it and make sacrifices. Without self-discipline, our life is filled with so much suffering. There’s no peace and unbelievable dissatisfaction. We have to practice contentment, patience, compassion, and loving-kindness—all qualities of a good human being. Without doing this, our whole life is filled with suffering.
If we don’t know Dharma, particularly the lamrim, we can become angry, give rise to heresy, and commit the heaviest negative karma of criticizing and losing faith in the guru, Rinpoche explains. If we know lamrim and are practicing it well, we are so fortunate. Without Dharma, even worldly activities that look good at the beginning will fail in the end, including the homes we buy, the bodies we cherish, and the careers we cultivate. However, with Dharma, the result never decreases, it always increases until we achieve enlightenment.
Buddha taught a method to become free from sickness, old age, and death, which is the whole path to enlightenment. Without Dharma, we have no method to become free from dissatisfaction; but by knowing that everything comes from our mind, we have great freedom because everything is in our hands.
Rinpoche emphasizes how fortunate we are to have met the Mahayana teachings, and to learn and practice Dharma. However, we don’t take advantage of the opportunities we have and get carried away by wave upon wave of attachment, anger, and ignorance, and are completely under their control, so much so that we waste our human life. Therefore, it is so important for us to use our perfect human rebirth to practice Dharma before it’s too late.
By practicing the lamrim, with morality as the basis, we develop the inspiration and energy to stop our habit of non-virtue. Instead of becoming habituated to negative karma, we develop the habit of living our life with bodhichitta and the awareness of emptiness. So, if possible, we should get into the habit of meditating on emptiness no matter what we are doing. And by developing the habit of bodhichitta, the good heart—wow—this is like making our life into a priceless diamond. …
Read the complete story “The Time to Practice Is Now: Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19” as a PDF:
https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/mandala/archives/mandala-for-2021/mandala-2021/The-Time-to-Practice-Is-Now-from-Mandala-2021.pdf
Learn more about Mandala 2021:
https://fpmt.org/mandala/archives/mandala-for-2021/mandala-2021/
Watch the video series Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and find links to videos in transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/
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.