receive our newsletters
join Friends of FPMT
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching on make offerings on the anniversary of the guru’s passing away, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2021. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Last year, Lama Zopa Rinpoche translated and commented on a short Tibetan text during his ongoing thought transformation teachings. The text explains the importance of making offerings on the anniversary of the passing away of one’s guru. Rinpoche’s translation and commentary have now been published in the booklet Advice for the Anniversary of the Guru’s Passing Away, available from the Foundation Store.
The new booklet is being offered to inspire students and centers to do practices, such as Lama Chopa with Tsog Offering, on Losar, the Tibetan New Year, in relation to Lama Yeshe, who founded the FPMT organization with his heart disciple Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Losar is of special significance to the FPMT community as it marks the anniversary of the passing of Lama Yeshe.
Rinpoche praised his beloved teacher last year from Kopan Monastery:
“Lama Yeshe, whose holy name is extremely difficult to mention and whose kindness is difficult to express, took the aspect of passing away early in the morning of the first day of the Tibetan New Year (Losar) in 1984. I was with Lama for many years and all the FPMT centers, as well as several schools and hospices, were started by him.
“I have been meaning to explain for some time what to do on the anniversary of Lama Yeshe’s passing away (gong dzog) but it didn’t happen until now. As explained in the text, A Hundred Clear Realizations of the Glorious One from Narthang by Namkha Drag, you should make offerings on that day by, for example, doing Lama Chopa and Tsog Offering. You can also do the same on the anniversary of the passing away of your other lamas, such as Choden Rinpoche and Ribur Rinpoche. Making offerings on the death anniversary of a guru is an incredible practice in that it brings about the greatest purification of negative karma and collects the most extensive merit.”
Tsog offering, India, February 2017. Photo by Paola Regis.
Rinpoche’s translation of Advice for the Anniversary of the Guru’s Passing Away sets out the benefits of making offerings, how to make offerings with six remembrances, and how to offer and dedicate the roots of virtue collected. Doing practices such as Lama Chopa with tsog is what is meant by “Making offerings on the anniversary of the guru’s passing away.” In other words, these offerings include offering tsog and are not just setting out a lot of water bowls, flowers, and so forth.
For more on Advice for the Anniversary of the Guru’s Passing Away, please see Rinpoche’s thought transformation teachings “Make Offerings on the Anniversary of Your Guru’s Passing Away” and “Make Offerings Thinking You Are Offering Them to Your Guru’s Pores.”
Rinpoche also recommends introducing new students to Lama Yeshe on Losar and taking time to remember him by watching videos of him teaching and reading stories about his life.
Find Advice for the Anniversary of the Guru’s Passing Away on the Foundation Store:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Advice-for-the-Anniversary-of-the-Gurus-Passing-Away-PDF-_p_3668.html
Find more advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on practices to do during Losar and the Fifteen Days of Miracles, please see:
https://fpmt.org/edu-news/practice-advice-and-rejoicing-for-losar-and-the-fifteen-days-of-miracles
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.