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Lama Zopa Rinpoche showing one of the plush toys that has had mantras and drawings added to it, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, June 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his video teachings from Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Here is a summary of the most recent teaching:
At the start of this video, Lama Zopa Rinpoche shows us how to visualize conventional and ultimate bodhichitta while making momos!
Rinpoche begins the teaching explaining that we can turn every action we engage in into a bodhichitta motivation by cultivating the thought of cherishing others. By doing this you not only create skies of merit, every action becomes a cause for enlightenment.
This perfect human rebirth is so precious. We can offer Dharma teachings to sentient beings. By giving one verse of teachings to a sentient being with compassion, you collect more merit than offering a great-thousand-fold universe filled with the seven types of jewels or gold to buddhas. And teaching Dharma to two sentient beings? Double that! Imagine those who are busy going around the world giving teachings to many—the human rebirth provides incredible opportunities. Even reciting a mantra to an animal such as a dog one time, this is priceless. Your Dharma practice is not only for yourself, it is so important for numberless sentient beings.
Human beings, from presidents and billionaires to beggars, do not understand the feelings of other sentient beings. Thousands of animals are killed every day for food, people not only eat them, but also make money off of this. People have the mistaken view that this is a good thing, that there is nothing wrong, that these beings are for their pleasure. They never think about the suffering of the animals and that they also want happiness. They don’t realize that these beings, who have been their mother sentient beings for eons, are objects of compassion, not simply objects of pleasure.
This perfect human rebirth is so precious. We can use it for prostrations. Every time you prostrate, however many atoms are covered by your body—from your feet to the length of your hair—that many times you create the karma to be born as a wheel-turning king for one thousand lifetimes. You can achieve supreme enlightenment even by prostrating with one hand, bowing your head or body, and prostrating with a distracted mind. There are eight benefits to putting your hands together in prostration to a holy object. You will receive a perfect body, have perfect surrounding people (those who do not cause obstacles or troubles for you), live in pure morality, have devotion, have a brave mind, achieve the arya path, and achieve enlightenment. This is just from putting your palms together when you see a holy object such as a stupa, statue, your guru, and so forth. There is no difference between making offerings to an actual buddha and making offerings to a statue of a buddha. Putting your palms together in the prostration mudra when you see a holy object is an incredible way to be free from the problems of samsara.
If you understand Dharma, you can make your human body most beneficial.
Rinpoche then continues giving the lung for Sutra of Great Liberation up to page 29.
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 “This Perfect Human Body Is So Precious Because You Can Use It to Do Prostrations”:
https://youtu.be/dskazWzEhXE
- Read the transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching “This Perfect Human Body Is So Precious Because You Can Use It to Do Prostrations”
- Cultivating Mindfulness of Bodhichitta in Daily Activities by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Advice for Prostrations from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Resources on Holy Objects
- Dedication verses for COVID-19 Crisis Teachings
Find more advice and video teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery 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.