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Lama Zopa Rinpoche 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 young Kopan monk washing his hands and letting us know that he is washing the stains of delusion from himself and all sentient beings. In this way, even the seemingly mundane task of washing the body can be utilized in the path to enlightenment for the benefit of all. Yes, even washing up can become a practice in bodhichitta mindfulness!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins this teaching remind us that if we wish to benefit all, if we wish for others to rely on us and trust us, we need bodhichitta.
What is bodhichitta?
Bodhichitta is a Sanskrit word meaning, as Rinpoche explains, “the precious thought of enlightenment”—the mind that wishes to achieve enlightenment in order to lead all other beings into that same state. It is the attitude of the bodhisattva, of the person who makes the compassionate vow to save others from suffering.
Rinpoche explains that to gain the trust of others, to be a virtuous friend to sentient beings, the best way to achieve this is through bodhichitta realization. To do this, one must learn and reflect on the bodhichittta teachings. At first, when one has a bodhichitta motivation, it might not be real, meaning, it might not be fully felt in the heart. However, through training the mind, this practice eventually leads to effortless bodhichitta. To begin on the path to bodhichitta, the key factor is a good heart. Then, slowly, slowly, one progresses toward bodhichitta.
The real purpose of life is to benefit others: to free them from oceans of samsaric suffering and to liberate them from the causes of that suffering—delusion and karma.
Due to this virus, the whole world is scared, Rinpoche observes. However, we do have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to transform this suffering into happiness. Rinpoche explains that he is not talking about short-term happiness, but rather, utilizing this crisis in the path to enlightenment for numberless sentient beings. One can use their own suffering—sickness or whatever problem one is having, as well as all pleasure one experiences—to achieve enlightenment for others. If you get the virus, for example, no matter how much pain you experience, you can make it worthwhile. You can experience it for sentient beings. When you are able to do that, this is the best life, according to Rinpoche. This is the greatest purification and the way to collect most extensive merit.
Rinpoche reminds us that Buddha was like us. He had problems and suffering the same as we do. But, he cherished others. He changed his mind and cherished others more than himself, despite hardships, and achieved enlightenment for you! This gives us courage to know we can achieve this ourselves, and it also gives us strength to know that Buddha is here for us, through his teachings.
Everything exists in mere name, but if one doesn’t have the merit to understand, one thinks this is nihilism, that nothing exists. Rinpoche says, This thinking is where suffering comes from. The root of all suffering that beings experience, including the coronavirus, is ignorance. By realizing emptiness, this stops ignorance. Therefore, Buddha taught about dependent arising.
Rinpoche warns that what the “I” is, is so unbelievably subtle that one needs to meditate to see it. What we think is real now, this is a hallucination. A worldly person can have so much education and science, but seeing the truth of “I” is so rare. So, what appears and what you believe, in reality, is not true.
Rinpoche asks that we pray for all people who are sick and particularly those who have the coronavirus.
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 Rinopche’s teaching “Use Pleasure and Suffering to Achieve Enlightenment and Experience the Virus for Numberless Sentient Beings”:
https://youtu.be/jSZCrZMrqdk
- Read the transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching “Use Pleasure and Suffering to Achieve Enlightenment and Experience the Virus for Numberless Sentient Beings.”
- Rinpoche quotes verses from Khunu Lama Rinpoche’s Verses in Praise of Bodhichitta, published in English as Vast as the Heavens, Deep at the Sea.
- Dedication verses for COVID-19 Crisis Teachings
Find more video teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery during the COVID-19 crisis:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/lama-zopa-rinpoche-teachings-in-kopan-2020-during-covid-19-crisis/
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.