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The stupas of Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup (left) and Geshe Lama Konchog at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, April 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his video teachings from Kopan Monastery in Nepal during the coronavirus pandemic.
This video begins with a brief biography of Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup, the former abbot of Kopan Monastery in Nepal, who arrived at Kopan in 1973 and oversaw the growth and development of the monastery and nunnery for almost forty years, until his passing in 2011. Ven. Thubten Kunkhen, who served as Khensur Rinpoche’s attendant for two decades, shares stories of the much loved abbot’s history, accomplishments, and qualities, and introduces seven-year-old Thubten Rigsel Rinpoche, the recognized reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins this teaching discussing the number of people who have died in the United States due to the coronavirus. He then asks why the number is going down. Rinpoche explains that this is because people don’t know what is true and what is false; they use their whole life to create the cause of suffering. The right view is karma. From virtuous thoughts and actions, the result is happiness. From non-virtuous thoughts and actions, the result is suffering and problems.
Those who have met the Dharma are unbelievably fortunate because they can use their precious human bodies to achieve enlightenment. Using the example of Milarepa—who who didn’t even have one rupee to his name, lived on nettles and water, and faced many hardships in life while practicing Dharma—Rinpoche explains that if one has the will, perseverance, and patience, one can achieve enlightenment in one lifetime. Even if you don’t meet the Dharma, one still can think that the human body is so precious because you can cause happiness to others.
We wake up in the morning clinging and grasping to the happiness of this life. We get up, get dressed, wash up, eat breakfast, and go to work with the motivation of attachment and non-virtue. We think: When can I be happy? Meanwhile, many Tibetans recite OM MANI PADME HUM and engage in other Dharma practices while doing daily activities. This makes life unbelievably meaningful with constant purification and collection of merit.
The most important thing to practice is compassion. Without it, your life becomes empty.
We have to be very careful. If from the beginning we practiced Dharma, we wouldn’t need to experience the virus. There are people all over the world who won’t get the virus or die from it, while thousands of others die every day. This is why we have to watch our mind all the time—to police the mind. You are the guru, mother, father, and bodyguard of your own mind. When you follow delusion, you harm yourself. When you follow virtue, such as renunciation, bodhichitta, and right view, you are benefiting yourself and therefore benefiting numberless sentient beings, especially with bodhichitta.
All of the harm we experience comes from harming others in the past; and all happiness depends on what we do with our mind. Everything we experience depends on our way of thinking right now. Therefore, continual purification is so important. There are many practices one can do for purification, including Vajrasattva practice and prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas, and so forth, but the most powerful thing one can do for purification is to follow your guru’s advice and make your guru’s mind most happy.
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 “If We Had Been Careful of Karma, There Would Be No Reason for the Virus to Happen”:
https://youtu.be/kbcjMW6kQ28
- Read the transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching “If We Had Been Careful of Karma, There Would Be No Reason for the Virus to Happen.”
- Dedication verses for COVID-19 Crisis Teachings
Find more advice and video teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery during the COVID-19 crisis:
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.