Lama Zopa Rinpoche consecrating the new stupa in Thame, Solu Khumbu, Nepal, from afar, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, June 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his video teachings on thought transformation from Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Here is a summary of the most recent teaching:

Rinpoche begins this teaching by reminding us of the motivation he established last session, particularly for the Sangha. He emphasized requesting the guru for blessings to be able to generate a strong wish to be liberated from samsara, quoting verse 87 of Lama Chopa. Rinpoche adds that for this teaching’s motivation, we can look to verse 88 from Lama Chopa:

Having renounced the thought seeing samsara,
Which is difficult to bear like being in prison, as a beautiful park,
Please bless me to hold the three higher trainings, the treasure of the exalted beings’ wealth,
And then to uphold the victory banner of liberation.

In this way, the motivation is to renounce the thought of seeing samsara as a beautiful park. You don’t want to think like this even for a second.

People in the East look at life in the West as pleasurable, Rinpoche explains, but soon find out that the lifestyle is very expensive! Many Tibetans work hard all year to save money in order to make offerings to the monasteries. This is their way of collecting merit by doing something good each year. This is very different than the customs in the West, where people work hard just to support an expensive lifestyle. Rinpoche cautions that if your mind is not holy Dharma, your actions become nonvirtue. So even if you give all of your money to the monastery, your motivation is what determines whether this is worldly dharma, resulting in future suffering, or holy Dharma, which is the cause of happiness.

Rinpoche then discussed going on pilgrimage to Gyalwa Dromtonpa’s monastery in Tibet. Gyalwa Dromtonpa was Lama Atisha’s translator in Tibet. Lama Atisha asked Dromtonpa to establish a monastery [known as Reting Monastery]. Lama Tsongkhapa wrote Lamrim Chenmo in a hermitage above the monastery. It is a great monastery from where many Kadampa geshes came. This monastery also holds a very precious statue of Guhyasamaja Manjushri Vajra. This was Lama Atisha’s devotion holy object, which he gave Dromtonpa. If you drink the water there, you never get reborn in the lower realms. So everyone on the pilgrimage drank the water. Gold was offered to the statue, as well as a pearl mala and a bath (tru söl).

Gyalwa Dromtonpa said that practicing holy Dharma means you renounce this life. Renouncing this life means giving up attachment clinging to this life. All the sufferings, all the problems, all nonvirtue—all of this comes from the root, which is the eight worldly concerns, clinging to the pleasures of this life. So renouncing means giving this up. There is more and more dissatisfaction the more wealth you have. It is the worst suffering. Even though you have everything materially, the mind suffers unbelievably. Rich people look at poor people and think they are happier than them, but having that much wealth causes so many mental problems and so much suffering. Being in samsara is like being in the center of a fire, like sitting on top of a needle, like being in prison.

The essential path to become free from samsara is the practice of the three higher trainings: morality, concentration, and wisdom.

Rinpoche then discusses why it is so important to be Sangha. Lama Tsongkhapa explained in Lamrim Chenmo that being ordained makes it easy to practice the higher training of morality—which is the base of all realizations. Generally, Sangha have more time to practice Dharma than lay people. This is because many lay people get caught in family life and there is no time to practice and actualizing the path becomes very difficult. Due to having more freedom to practice, Sangha can develop renunciation and then compassion. This is why it is very important to have the motivation to request the guru for blessings to be able to uphold the three higher trainings and receive liberation.

Your view depends on how pure or impure your mind is. What you see on the outside is all according to your mind. The more impure your mind is, the more impure things appear outside. If your mind is more pure, you will see things outside as pure also. To a Buddha, whatever appears is only a pure appearance—negative imprints are totally removed, and there is no dualistic view.

Attachment and anger arise only after you discriminate “good” or “bad.” Lama Tsongkhapa mentioned this in Lamrim Chenmo:

Ignorance, which is in the nature of exaggeration, exaggerates the differentiation into
good and bad. Then attachment and anger arise. Therefore, the way of holding [objects] by these [wrong concepts] can also be gotten rid of by logic.

Real pleasure is a hallucination. You must recognize the nature of suffering in samsara. The renunciation of samsara is so important because you are constantly suffering until you are free from it. Rinpoche quotes a verse from Lama Tsongkhapa’s Foundation of All Good Qualities to support his point:

By recognizing the shortcomings of samsaric perfections—
There is no satisfaction in enjoying them, they are the door
to all sufferings,
And they cannot be trusted—
Please bless me to generate a strong wish for the happiness of liberation.

This is an incredible teaching, Rinpoche says. The more you enjoy samsaric pleasures, the more dissatisfied you become. Drinking alcohol, taking drugs, relationships, sex—all of this leads to more dissatisfaction. It all makes your life so difficult and after death then your new home is in the lower realms. This whole mistake is due to ignorance.

By thinking of others’ suffering you can’t relax! You have to practice Dharma; you have to at least recite OM MANI PADME HUM to purify them, free them from samsara, and bring them to enlightenment. Even if you don’t know anything or don’t accept Dharma, if you have a good heart you can help people and protect them from suffering.

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 “Practicing Morality Is Easy When You Know Real Pleasure Is a Hallucination“:
https://youtu.be/eYdfD_HLGKA

• Read the transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching
• Links to Lama Chopa practices and commentary
• Foundation of All Good Qualities (eBook & PDF) by Lama Tsongkhapa
• Find more resources for lamrim study, including links to Lamrim Chemno by Lama Tsongkhapa
• Find Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation translated into Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese, and Russian
• Dedication verses for COVID-19 Crisis Teachings

Watch more from 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/

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.