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Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Sangha at Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014
More than 30 ordained Sangha attended the recent Light of the Path retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche. FPMT’s Sangha community, which comprise the International Mahayana Institute (IMI), has played a crucial role in the development of FPMT. To recognize this contribution, FPMT celebrates International Sangha Day on July 31 this year. This is the twelfth year of honoring Sangha with a special day, which falls on the Wheel Turning Day: Choe Khor Due Chen – The First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma.
You can celebrate Sangha by:
- Showing respect for and appreciation of Sangha
- Generating deeper awareness of the Sangha jewel
- Donatinh to the Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund
From the early days of the FPMT, monks and nuns have served tirelessly to help bring the benefit of the Buddha’s teachings to the far corners of this planet. The IMI community has approximately 280 monks and nuns who continue to serve throughout the FPMT in many capacities as registered teachers, directors, spiritual program coordinators, editors and more. Many of these Sangha members are able to attend retreats with Lama Zopa Rinpoche due to the support of the Lama Yeshe Sangha Fund and IMI.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Sangha at Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014
In 2007, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave a talk recognizing the enormous contributions of senior Tibetan Sangha to the development of FPMT Education programs as well as the importance of all Sangha:
“… [The West] has gradually been developing respect for Sangha, which didn’t exist for many years. But in Western society, the life and culture, it’s not easy. I think it’s a challenge being in such a country, where the culture and everything is dedicated to developing delusion. Everything is like that. I would say that it is incredibly heroic and brave to be able to stay as a monk or nun in such a country and culture. I think it is great – these beings are unbelievable heroes; in Tibetan it’s called pawo. Obviously, it is easier in a place where there are no obstacles, in an isolated place where there are only Sangha, no one else. By mixing with people who have a totally different culture, and then being able to live in your practice, in the vows, that’s really being a great hero, that’s a great challenge. That hero is unbelievable. That is a hero over delusions, not a hero from killing many millions of people, which is what worldly people regard as a hero. The real hero is a hero over the delusions, who is able to conquer the delusions. You have given freedom to yourself, not allowing delusions to have dictatorship over you: you become the controller, it’s the other way around, which brings liberation and enlightenment to yourself, and through that to others, to numberless sentient beings. I think that’s unbelievable; those beings are really heroes. …”
– Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from “Sangha and FPMT Education,” part of “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book”
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche making tukpa for Tenzin Ösel Hita with Vens. Tsering and Sangpo, Kachoe Dechen Ling, California, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“The initial reason why people come to a Dharma center is not for the food but for the teachings and meditations; they are a little bored with the lives they have and are looking for something new. However, the conditions at the center, and especially the food, are a very important support for the teachings and meditations. Sometimes in the past, for example, when I would teach on impermanence, the hells and the eight worldly dharmas people would get scared and leave; but if the food was good, they would stay. That’s one way to keep them!
“So I’ve been thinking for many days to come to the kitchen and explain a short meditation to the cooks. There is a short morning motivation I have put together with a direct meditation on the graduated path to the peerless happiness of full enlightenment followed by some verses explaining how precious and kind sentient beings are. …”
– Lama Zopa Rinpoche, from “How to Use Cooking in the Path,” advice given at Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala, India, June 2013.
Learn more about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his beneficial activities by visiting Rinpoche’s homepage, where you will find links to Rinpoche’s schedule, new advice, recent video, photos and more.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Light of the Path organizers, staff and volunteers, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
The Light of the Path, a two-week retreat in North Carolina, US, led by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, was by all accounts a huge success. The root text for Light of the Path is Lama Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. Rinpoche’s teachings were webcast live and now are available as recorded video. Participants were invigorated by Rinpoche’s enthusiasm and animated teachings. And the more than 200 participants from 20 countries created lasting personal connections with each other, engendering Lama Yeshe’s idea of “family feeling” and growing and strengthening the international FPMT mandala.
In addition, the teachings from the 2009 and 2010 Light of the Path retreats have been organized into the Living in the Path online education program. Module 01 “Motivation for Life,” Module 05 “Introduction to Atisha’s Text,” and Instruction 01 “Diamond Cutter Meditation” are freely available to all interested students. Also available are all of the materials from the three years of retreat, including the root text, audio and video of teachings and meditations, and recordings of Lama Chöpa tunes. This amazing resource makes the benefit of the retreat available to all.
Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Cristiano Cambresy.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche returning to Kachoe Dechen Ling after shopping for flower offerings, California, US, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche traveled to Kachoe Dechen Ling, his home in California, following the successful Light of the Path retreat. Within a week of returning, Rinpoche had gone flower shopping twice in order to have many beautiful flowers for offerings. Kachoe Dechen Ling is full of holy objects and extensive offerings, which are overseen by Rinpoche and made and maintained year round by the Sangha that live there.
Rinpoche has given much advice on making offerings, many of which can be found on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive page “Offering Practices.”
Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Spanish-speaking Light of the Path participants, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
FPMT has more than 20 centers and study groups in four Spanish-speaking countries. To meet the needs of these students, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings and advice have been translated into Spanish by FPMT Spanish Translation Services. Video recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings from the recent Light of the Path retreat are available for viewing with Spanish-language translation. In addition, FPMT education and practice materials, including advice from Rinpoche, are available in Spanish through the FPMT Foundation Store, FPMT Hispana, and Ediciones Mahayana. You can find links to Spanish-language books by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, published by Ediciones Dharma, on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. In addition, Spanish translations of many sutras can be found on fpmt.org via the search function.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organization dedicated to preserving Mahayana Buddhism through offering the Buddha’s authentic teachings and to facilitating reflection, meditation, practice and the opportunity to actualize and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings. Sign up to receive news and updates.
Flower offering at Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, US, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“… Once you have understood that wealth is like dew on the tip of a blade of grass
And that your friends, body and life are like a bubble,
Then you must engage in virtues such as making offerings to the Rare Sublime Ones while looking at them as the Guru
And extract the essence from your essenceless body and wealth. …”
– From “Verses to Inspire Offerings” by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The verses are also available as a frameable card from the FPMT Foundation Store.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche departing from the Light of the Path retreat, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“Even reciting OM MANI PADME HUM one time, the merit is unfathomable, even if every single drop of the Pacific Ocean is counted. The merits of reciting this mantra even just one time cannot be counted. Even if every single dust particle of the earth is counted, the merits of reciting this mantra cannot be counted; even if every single snow flake is counted, the merits of [reciting] this mantra cannot be counted; even if every single drop of rain is counted, the merits of this mantra cannot be counted. It purifies negative karma and the obscurations collected from beginningless rebirths, and it collects extensive merits and causes us to actualize the path to enlightenment. In particular it helps us to develop compassion towards all living beings and to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and its causes by ourselves, and bring them to full enlightenment.”
– Lama Zopa Rinpoche, recently posted to the page “Dharma Practice is Most Important” in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
Learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and Rinpoche’s vision for a better world. Sign up to receive news and updates.
Rinpoche choosing flowers for offerings, Aptos, California, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“The purpose of having this precious human body is not simply to achieve happiness for oneself, but to eliminate the suffering of all other beings and to bring them happiness as well,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche instructs in his book Transforming Problems Into Happiness, published by Wisdom Publications. “This is the purpose of each of our lives. This human body is precious because with it you have the capacity and opportunity to pursue spiritual development in order to serve other living beings.
“Everyone wants happiness; no one wants suffering. The happiness we need is not just ordinary, fleeting happiness; what we really need is ultimate happiness, the unsurpassed, unshakable happiness of enlightenment. When people go shopping, for example, they want the things that are the best, that will last the longest; in the same way, everyone wants the longest-lasting, highest happiness. According to their understanding of what level of happiness is achievable, everyone attempts to obtain whatever is, in their view, the highest happiness.
“The Buddha’s teachings, called the Dharma, tell us the highest happiness achievable is enlightenment. The only reason anyone would not want to achieve enlightenment is that they lack Dharma wisdom. Lacking Dharma wisdom means simply being unaware that there exists a happiness higher than ordinary happiness. Anyone who has encountered the Dharma and studied it sincerely knows that one can be liberated from the bondage of suffering and can experience peerless happiness, that one can put an end to all obscurations, and that one can attain all the realizations of a buddha. Of course a person who knows these things can be achieved wants to achieve them. …”
You can read more from this excerpt on Wisdom Publication’s website.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Roy Harvey.
“Every second of this human life is more precious than skies of wish-granting jewels.”
– Lama Zopa Rinpoche
From Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s Twitter page, posted on May 16, 2014, at Light of the Path retreat. You can watch Rinpoche’s teachings at Light of the Path online.
Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive shares Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s and Lama Yeshe’s pith sayings on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Twitter page. (You can also read them on their Facebook page.)
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Roy Harvey.
“Lama Zopa: cherishing one sentient being opens the door to all happiness.”
A quotation from Ven. Roger Kunsang’s Twitter page, posted on May 17, 2014, at the Light of the Path retreat. You can watch Rinpoche’s teachings at Light of the Path online.
Ven. Roger Kunsang, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s assistant and CEO of FPMT Inc., shares Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent pith sayings on Ven. Roger’s Twitter page. (You can also read them on Ven. Roger’s Facebook page.)
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Maitripa College, Portland, OR, April 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently offered a series of teachings at Maitripa College in Portland, OR. These teachings were streamed live and are now available to watch at any time.
Rinpoche was very inspired by the work being done at Maitripa College, which has a strong focus on community service in addition to an impressive academic program. To help Maitripa continue this valuable work, Rinpoche offered, through the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund, US$10,000 to the college.
Please rejoice in this offering and in the incredible work being done by Yangsi Rinpoche and his team at Maitripa College.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Light of the Path, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, May 2014. Photo by Roy Harvey.
“Life is like last night’s dream. Don’t hold on to it as too solid or inherently existent.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche
From Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s Twitter page, posted on May 16, 2014, at Light of the Path retreat. You can watch Rinpoche’s teachings at Light of the Path online.
Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive shares Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s and Lama Yeshe’s pith sayings on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Twitter page. (You can also read them on their Facebook page.)
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s homepage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.