Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, the abbot of Kopan Monastery and Nunnery, at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, May 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his video teachings from Kopan Monastery in Nepal during the coronavirus pandemic. Here is a summary of the most recent teaching:

This video begins with more scenes from Kopan Nunnery and a short talk by the nunnery’s Geshema Jangchub Gyalmo, who along with Kopan nun Geshema Namdol Phuntsok was part of the first group of female geshes. Geshema Jangchub Gyalmo shares a little about her history and offers advice on how to think during the pandemic.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins this teaching by reminding us that when we don’t think of death, the mind becomes totally distracted by the outside five sense objects—occupied by friends, enemies, and the pleasures of this life. Even if you know some Dharma, when you hold the “I” as real, your life is still under the control of the self-cherishing thought and ignorance, and you are a slave to attachment and anger.

If you think of your death—if you remember that your death can happen this year, this month, this week, today—then the mind goes inside, and you examine your life. At the time of death, there is no more time to think about and transform your life and mind. When your life has been under the control of the self-cherishing thought and attachment to this life, at the time of death, you have not only wasted this precious life, but your actions have become negative karma.

At this time when everyone is in isolation, we have the opportunity to practice Dharma and meditate more seriously. You collect so much merit by doing Dharma practice, reciting Buddha’s teachings, and meditating on bodhichitta and emptiness. In this way, the virus helps you do continual purification and collect the merit needed to achieve enlightenment more quickly.

Those who haven’t met Dharma are full of fear and worry about the virus. But if you do know Dharma, you can use the fear to practice and get a higher rebirth, purify negative karma, and be free from samsara, free from nirvana, lower nirvana, and achieve great nirvana for sentient beings. Thinking about death for a Dharma practitioner is so useful. Being afraid of death and the fear of suffering in samsara is so useful.

Those who haven’t met Dharma exaggerate every problem. They have all of the fear and worry, but nothing to do about it. Due to that, even more fear and worry come. Even if there is no problems, they make it into a huge problem like a mountain. You must have compassion for people like this, for so many people who have died like this.

Even if you haven’t met Dharma, you still need to subdue the mind. All of these sufferings look like they come from the outside, but it is not like that at all. They come from your own mind. Nothing, including this virus, comes from the outside; it comes from the mind. Therefore, the main work in life is to subdue the mind—to work on it and change it from bad to good. This is why we need to meditate, not just for peace of mind, or to be quiet, or achieve serenity. You have to have a brave mind and think: By my experiencing whatever problems, may all sentient beings be free from diseases, spirit harm, negative karmas, obscurations, and achieve enlightenment.  

Even if a person doesn’t have bodhichitta, if they have a good heart for everyone—including animals, insects, and people without discriminating based on color, nationality, and so forth—that person makes everyone happy everywhere they go, and everyone loves them, including animals. For bodhisattvas, being born in hell and experiencing suffering for numberless sentient beings is the greatest pleasure.

If we have a good heart, everything is pleasant. If a person dedicates their life and offers service to everyone with a good heart, not in a forced way but happily, then everything appears to that person as happy, everything appears as good.

Happiness comes from the way you think. Even if you get the virus, you can have a happy mind by having a good heart toward every sentient being. This is the best thing.

We invite you to go deeper into the topics presented here, plus many others, by watching Rinpoche’s video and reading the full transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching.

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teaching “Everyone Needs to Take Care of and Subdue Their Mind”:
https://youtu.be/B8njxXDSeHU

• Read the transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching “Everyone Needs to Take Care of and Subdue Their Mind.”
• Dedication Verses from Nagarjuna’s Jewel Garland, v. 483–485 (Updated May 13, 2020)
• Dedication Verses for COVID-19 Crisis Teachings (Updated May 13, 2020)

Find more advice and video teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery during the COVID-19 crisis and also links to videos in translation, transcripts, MP3s, and more:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/

Practice advice from our teachers, Dharma study-from-home opportunities, and more can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”

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.