Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Nicholas Ribush and Wendy Cook of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, August 2016. Nick and Wendy are presenting Rinpoche with a copy of Rinpoche’s new book “Sun of Devotion, Stream of Blessings,” just published by the Archive. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“If we do some profound scientific analysis, some inner scientific analysis, we can see how much we believe in this totally real I that actually does not exist. It appears to be real from its own side, we believe it to be real one hundred percent, but it is not there. By doing this inner scientific analysis, this meditation, we can come to see this very subtle point, the nonexistence of this ‘real’ I,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches in the new book Sun of Devotion, Stream of Blessings, recently published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

“Otherwise, without checking, because of our belief in its reality there are all the worries, all the fears. Because of this this wrong projection, when somebody passes us with her nose in the air, looking down at as disdainfully, it hurts so much! Or when we do a good deed for somebody, such as giving a thirsty person a glass of water, and we don’t even get a simple thank you, that really hurts. Being shouted at, being complained about, hearing disrespectful words—all these things hurt us.

“Especially nowadays, with the world economy in recession, people are trying to find ways to make money, so they complain about any small thing somebody else does. I don’t know about England, but I’ve heard that in America you are supposed keep the front of your house clear of snow and if you don’t clear it away well enough and somebody falls over you will be sued, which in America means huge expenses.

“There is a good example from the FPMT center in Sicily, Centro Muni Gyana. Once, while I was giving a talk there a student explained how she had been sued. Her job was assisting in the births of babies, taking them from their mothers’ wombs, and one day one had died. I’m not sure whether the baby was dead in the womb or it died during delivery, but the mother blamed this girl, telling her she had killed the baby, that the baby died because she had made a mistake. The girl talked with all her friends and they confirmed what she did was right, that it wasn’t her fault, but the mother blamed her and wanted money from her. She was trying to make money out of the situation. This is just one example.

“Nowadays, with the downturn in the world economy, so many people are trying to make money in this way, trying to prove that somebody else has made a mistake, whether they have or not. The girl asked me what to do and I did my own Mickey Mouse divination and told her to recite the Vajra Cutter Sutra eight times. She did this immediately and later she told me that she won the court case.

“Just reading the Vajra Cutter Sutra is unbelievably powerful but, of course, the main thing is to realize emptiness, to eradicate the very root of samsara. That is what reading the Vajra Cutter Sutra eventually does. Then we become free from oceans of samsaric sufferings, achieving ultimate happiness. Without talking about enlightenment, just that is unbelievable.

“Our whole life is spent afraid of something happening to this I, to this real I that appears from there. We totally, a hundred percent believe it is real and we do everything we possibly can to protect this real I, which is not there. We see all the possibilities of being hurt. ‘This will make me sick. This will kill me. This will hurt me.’ We take every possible precaution to prevent this real I that doesn’t exist from being hurt. …

“If we were to meditate for just one day, analyzing, checking, going to a subtler level, we would see that this real I is not there! What appears as the real I, what we believe a hundred percent to be real, is not there. However, we don’t check and this labeling process goes on continuously. It has been going on since we were born and will continue up to death. …”

You can continue to read this excerpt from Sun of Devotion, Stream of Blessings, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, edited by Gordon McDougall in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive July 2015 Eletter:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/e-letter-no-146-july-2015

Links to video and audio of the current Light of the Path 2016 teachings with Lama Zopa Rinpoche:

• YouTube live video stream of teachings with links to interpretation in English, Français, Español and Italiano:
  https://www.youtube.com/user/FPMTinc
• NEW! Live English transcription of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings:
  https://www.youtube.com/c/fpmtinc/live
• Mandarin interpretation of teachings (audio only):
  http://en.1000mikes.com/show/fpmtlopchinese_on_air
• Backup Livestream video (in English) with occasional updates on schedule:
  http://livestream.com/FPMT/LOP2016
• Facebook Live video on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Facebook page:
  https://www.facebook.com/lamazoparinpoche
• Recorded video, audio and transcripts of the Light of the Path teachings will be posted here as they become available:
  https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/light-of-the-path-teachings-2016/

More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.