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Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery, Nepal, October 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
For many years, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has called on students around the world to recite the Sutra of Golden Light for world peace. “For anyone who desires peace for themselves and for others this is a powerful way to bring peace that doesn’t require you to harm others, doesn’t require you to criticize others, or even to demonstrate against others. Anyone can read this text, Buddhists and even non-Buddhists who desire world peace,” Rinpoche says in “Recite the Golden Light Sutra for World Peace.”
In a letter to a European MP, Rinpoche wrote about the importance of spiritual power to help difficult situations in countries. Rinpoche says that praying, for example, is such a simple thing that can make things better. Rinpoche also recommended reciting the Sutra of Golden Light.
“For instance, the precious teaching of the Buddha called the Golden Light Sutra could be read in Iraq month after month (not just once). That text has the power to bring world peace and also becomes a healing practice for all the sick people in the city where it is read,” Rinpoche wrote.
“By reading this sutra your life only gets better and better, only goes up, never down, right up to enlightenment. Reading it becomes an incredible protection for the country where it is read and gives incredible power to its king or president. It also enables you to defeat a country’s enemy by making them lose power and unable to attack the country and its leader. If you read this text with mindfulness, you will see there is so much there. It can also help against terrorist attacks—this is all through the spiritual power of the Buddha’s holy words. It fulfills the wishes for happiness of everybody who reads it, now and forever. Their problems are taken care of naturally, with the help of so many devas and protectors who are around to help. This is just what I think and I am expressing it to you, that is all.”
You can find links to the sutra text as well as video of Rinpoche offering the sutra as an oral transmission on FPMT.org’s “Sutra of Golden Light” page. This resource page also has more on the benefits of reciting the sutra and links for reporting sutra recitations and stories from students who have seen the benefits of reciting the sutra:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/sutras/golden-light-sutra/
To see more advice offered by Rinpoche to politicians, visit “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book”:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/advice-politicians
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.