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Lama Zopa Rinpoche with some of this Dharma plushy toys, Kopan Monastery, 2020.
Introducing Rinpoche’s Dharma Plushy Toy Album!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the garden at Kopan Monastery with some Dharma plushy toys, 2020. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang. .
Around the beginning of 2020, when all the world was experiencing lockdowns and turmoil due to the covid pandemic, students of Lama Zopa Rinpoche were relieved to receive Rinpoche’s laughter, wisdom, humor, and orientation toward Dharma in the form of a series of video teachings from his room in Kopan Monastery. These teachings came to be known as the thought transformation teaching series, and for many of us, they were truly a lifeline in an extremely uncertain time.
When the fourth video of this series was released, students noticed something interesting coming into view on Rinpoche’s couch and desk. A stuffed monkey, hippo, and elephant; as well as a wooden elephant and model yak had joined Rinpoche for his teaching. As time went on, more and more stuffed friends began appearing in Rinpoche’s room, soon with mantras, embellishments such as eyelashes and eye-liner, and profound (and often hilarious!) Dharma messages.
We are so pleased to offer you this joyful new album of Rinpoche’s plushy animals with their quotations. Please take your time and click through each of these adorable stuffed friends to reveal profound wisdom from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. More of these toys, which have been offered to students around the world, will be added as they become available so check back for new additions!
Gallery of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Plushy Toys
History of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Toy Legacy
This wasn’t the first time Rinpoche turned toys or inanimate objects into Dharma. Rinpoche was known to offer creative and playful presentations of the Dharma including the utilization of cartoons, toys, and statues of animals.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Indonesia offering Dharma toys to students, 2010. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering Dharma toys to students at the airport, Switzerland, December 2018. Photo by Séverine Gondouin.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche shopping for stuffed toys in New York City, US, 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Dog with Dharma message written by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Deer Park, Wisconsin, USA.
At Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, in Washington State in the US, Rinpoche had many animal statues placed on the property with signs that share thoughts about practicing lamrim, or the graduated path to enlightenment.
A parrot on a fence says, “I have been waiting to see you from beginningless rebirths and I never have. That means I won’t see you again, because there is nothing to see.”
In Wisconsin, US, at Deer Park Buddhist Center, Rinpoche created many Dharma messages for animal statues on the premises. A dog, which is dated 1998, says, “I’m talking on behalf of my family, including the frog and my small brother the turtle. We are here to explain to you that no causative phenomenon is ever born from self, from other, from both or without cause. How fortunate we are! We can all be liberated by actualizing this. Ha! Ha!”
Rinpoche also enjoyed acquiring cute stuffed creatures and blessing them extensively with mantras before offering them to others.
These are just a few of many examples of Rinpoche’s unique, charming, and hilarious way to reach sentient beings by bringing Dharma where one might not expect to find it!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche writing a message on a stuffed monkey in 2010: “I have all sentient beings in my heart.”
A parrot with a Dharma message from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with animal statues at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, September 2018. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with toys that he blessed with mantras which were given to some kind volunteers in Germany, 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Ven. Tenzin Namdrol (also known affectionately as Ani Janne), a long-term resident of Kopan Monastery who has been offering service for many years, recalls receiving her first plushy toy from Rinpoche. “The advice was to carry it everywhere I went. I called it AH, and brought it with me to the dining room, café, gompa for puja, the bank, the visa office, korwa around Kopan, and everywhere. In retrospect, I think it was to bring a little lightness to the lockdown.” Ani Janne is one of many students who have taken delight in the whimsical nature of these Dharma toys which seem to bring a smile to the face of anyone who sees them.
Ven.Tendar and Ven.Tenzin Namdrol with Lama Zopa Rinpoche outside, Kopan Monastery. Rinpoche was sending a message to a student with the toys that have dharma messages on, Aug 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
One of Rinpoche’s Dharma plushy toys.
Before giving the toys away, Rinpoche would recite mantras and blow profusely on each plushy to bless it. One girl’s mother had seen the toys around Rinpoche while he was giving the thought transformation teachings on video. Rinpoche accepted her request for one, and after sending along the toy of her choice, the mother’s inability to sleep well at night disappeared.
A collection of some of Rinpoche’s plushy Dharma toys.
Those locked down at Kopan were the next recipients. Those doing water bowls, those who worked in the café, teachers at Kopan School who had been separated from their families during covid—all received a special plushy toy from Rinpoche. When the lockdown restrictions relaxed, guests and students of Rinpoche received these toys. As those he had were offered out, new ones would arrive.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery with young monks and Dharma toys, 2021. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Rinpoche offered the last group of plushy toys to the 2022 November Course participants. There were hundreds of people, and only a few toys, so Rinpoche had each person throw a dice at the end of the course, and if one dot came up, the plushy was theirs, creating a fun game for everyone.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery with some of his Dharma toys, 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
“Several times Rinpoche asked if I thought publishing the dolls pictures would make people happy,” Ven. Tenzin shares. ‘Would people enjoy?’ he’d ask? ‘Of course,’ I replied!
One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Dharma toys.
The toys that were given away before having their pictures taken are still being tracked down, but for now, we happily offer an album-in-progress of these precious, often humorous quotes from Rinpoche:
fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/lama-zopa-rinpoches-dharma-plushy-toys
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.