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Lama Zopa Rinpoche during an online teaching, holding a stuffed toy with a Dharma message written on it, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, November 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his video teachings on thought transformation from Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Here is a summary of the most recent teaching:
Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins this teaching explaining that not only Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha come from every sentient being, but every holy object does as well. There are numberless holy objects, and they all come from sentient beings. We receive unbelievable merit by just seeing a holy object such as a stupa, statue, or scripture. Any by putting our hands together and making offerings to a holy object, we collect numberless, greater merits than by just seeing it. Making offerings to a painting or statue of Buddha is the same as making offerings to Buddha himself.
All the merit we receive comes from all sentient beings—every insect, every ant, mosquito, hell being, hungry ghost, animal, human being, sura being, asura being—every single sentient being. They are the most precious for you. The happiness that comes from money is nothing compared to the happiness that comes from sentient beings. Because of this, every happiness you experience, you offer to even the tiniest insect. Doing every activity in the service of other sentient beings is so important. Then, your life is so happy. You live your life and die without regret.
Even if your mind is not Dharma, every single action you do with your body—whether circumambulating, prostrating, making offerings, and so forth—toward a holy object becomes a cause for enlightenment.
Rinpoche then offers commentary, along with discussion with Ven. Tenzin Gache, on some verses from “Hymns of the Seventh Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Kalsang Gyatso” in the context of recognizing the gag ja (object to be refuted) through the Madyamaka Prasangika point of view. We encourage you to watch this section on the video and follow along in the transcript provided. (This section begins at 35:16 in video, page 8 in the transcript.)
Rinpoche then explains, again, that you enter the path pleasing the buddhas when the I that you have been holding as so precious since beginningless rebirths, causing suffering, disappears. When you have the experience that there is no I existing from its own side, you have to go through the fear that arises. You may think you are falling into nihilism and believing that no I exists at all. But if you follow the lamrim’s analysis of the four vital points, starting with recognizing the object to be refuted, then you won’t fall into nihilism. So you have to cross that fear, like you have to cross a big river or the ocean. You cross it and then you are where you need to be. You have to go through this experience. Whether you are falling into nihilism or not depends on whether you started your meditation on emptiness by correctly recognizing the object to be refuted. The more you meditate and see that the I does not exist from its own side, the more you see that the I exists in mere name and vice versa.
Rinpoche concludes the teaching saying that there is a creator of virtue and nonvirtue—the I that exists in mere name. And the action of creating virtue and nonvirtue exists in mere name. And the result—happiness and suffering—you experience in mere name. Similarly, you experience the suffering of samsara in mere name. You experience nirvana in mere name. You experience the hell realm in mere name. You experience enlightenment in mere name.
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 “When the Real I Is Totally Gone, You Have Entered the Path Pleasing the Buddhas“:
https://youtu.be/6sOWsiJKx4Y
- Read the transcript of Rinpoche’s teaching
- For more from Rinpoche on the object to be refuted, please see Recognizing the False I
- 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.