Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, April 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In a new video from Kopan Monastery in Nepal, Lama Zopa Rinpoche reminds us that the coronavirus, and the suffering that is being experienced from this, can be used to motivate us to practice Dharma, to purify as much as possible, and to practice virtue. Regardless of the method we use, Rinpoche emphasizes that we should do everything with bodhichitta.

Rinpoche explains how to do tonglen practice and how to use this situation to meditate on emptiness, reminding us not just to recite the words, but to think about the meaning. Rinpoche says to not delay even a second the development of our realization of emptiness. Also, we should do our meditations on emptiness, or whatever practice we are undertaking, thinking of the numberless sentient beings, from whom we have received all our happiness from beginningless rebirths, and thinking of how all sentient beings are suffering and have been suffering from beginningless rebirths, by being in samsara. 

Rinpoche also talks about the general practice advice for these times, which includes His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s advice to recite the short Tara mantra (OṂ TĀRE TUTTĀRE TURE SVĀHĀ), and the advice from Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la) that includes doing the Padmasambhava incense puja and reciting the short Chenrezig mantra (OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ) on the basis of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Avalokiteshvara Guru Yoga.

Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s video “Tonglen and Emptiness”:
https://youtu.be/EAVzCNa7tng

• Read the transcript of “Tonglen and Emptiness.”
• Practices mentioned in this teaching include His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Avalokiteshvara Guru Yoga and Nölsang (Incense Ritual by the Great Master Padmasambhava Called “The Divine Blue Water Clearing Away Contamination).

Find more video teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery during the COVID-19 crisis.

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with “friends,” Kopan Monastery, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In a new video from Kopan Monastery in Nepal, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offers an introduction to lojong and tonglen practices. Rinpoche teaches on how to approach these practices in this hour-and-fifteen-minute-long video.

Rinpoche emphasizes the importance of the guru and the importance of having a strong foundation in lamrim practice. In particular, Rinpoche points to teachings on death and impermanence, and how we have had much time but haven’t used it to practice Dharma.

Rinpoche also explains the advice that he received from Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la), including her advice on doing His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s (Avalokiteshvara) Guru Yoga and the original plan for the Padmasambhava incense puja at Nepal’s holy sites. 

Rinpoche talks about the importance of keeping a healthy and satisfied mind, and of seeing the coronavirus in the context of Dharma:

“What I’m saying is the answer is that you see the mistakes of being in samsara. To get this virus, whatever it is, cancer or anything in the world, to get this, this is the mistakes of being in samsara. From beginningless rebirths up to now we didn’t try anything to get liberated from that. So that is the mistakes of being in samsara. Then, practice Dharma. The answer is—practice Dharma. In that way you keep the mind in a state of happiness, … compassion for living beings, as well as satisfaction.”

Rinpoche concludes the video saying, “So the condition, the virus or whatever it is, is helping you to practice more Dharma. To practice more Dharma. To practice more Dharma—to purify more all the sufferings, all the obstacles, and then to develop the mind in the path to enlightenment.”

Watch Lama Zopa Rinoche’s Introduction to Lojong and Tonglen:
https://youtu.be/5lqAqnxtTw4

• Read the transcript for the teaching “Introduction to Lojong and Tonglen.”
• Practices mentioned in this teaching include His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Avalokiteshvara Guru Yoga and Nölsang (Incense Ritual by the Great Master Padmasambhava Called “The Divine Blue Water Clearing Away Contamination).

Find more video teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery during the COVID-19 crisis.

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche going to do a Padmasambhava incense puja, Kopan Monastery, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

A student wrote to Lama Zopa Rinpoche about his anger and its impact on other people. The following is an extract of Rinpoche’s reply to the student.

This is really an opportunity to practice the path of patience. The purpose of practicing patience is to have immediate peace and happiness within you. That moment when you don’t get angry means you don’t harm yourself, you don’t cause yourself unhappiness. When the mind becomes negative, it is like a bomb inside you.

Even if you are killed in a war by a bomb, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be born in the lower realms; you can be born in the upper realms. The bomb of anger is billions of times worse for you than any external bomb. When it arises, you create negative karma and throw yourself into the three lower realms, where you have to experience terrible suffering for an incredibly long time—for eons!

It is said by Shantideva in A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life that the negative karma created by one second of anger causes us to experience the three lower realms for eons—one can’t be reborn in the realm of a happy transmigratory being. There is no need to mention the negative karma collected from infinite past lives.

Another quote is that the merit collected for one thousand years by making charity and offerings to Those Gone to Bliss and so forth is destroyed by one second of anger.

The first quote is saying how much anger causes you to suffer in the three lower realms. The second one is concerned with destroying eons of merit. The third disadvantage is that anger delays realizations, depending on who you get angry with and who you create the negative karma with. Then, anger also causes you to have an ugly body in your future lives. Practicing patience brings you a beautiful body in future lives.

In this way, anger is unbelievably harmful to oneself. Being angry just one time is so harmful, so you can imagine if it happens all day long or for weeks, months, or years. It is terrifying to think about. Just being angry one time brings so much suffering.

If you are angry you can’t really work with others. They get upset and leave, because they are so unhappy with you, and seeing this also makes you unhappy. Also, if you get angry, it makes others angry, and then this makes you angry again! You make yourself the target for others to get angry at you and harm you with harsh speech and dislike. If anger gets worse, it can even cause physical harm.

If you are patient, you don’t get angry at sentient beings. In that way, sentient beings only receive peace and happiness from you. Each time you stop being angry, by practicing patience, this becomes your most practical contribution to world peace. It brings so much peace and happiness to your own world, mind, and heart. For others, it brings peace and happiness, not only in this world, but for all living beings. If you are able to practice patience in this life, it will be much easier in future lives. By developing your mind in patience through the continuity of lives, you will bring happiness to all living beings.

Also, each time you come closer to completing the perfection of patience, it means you are getting closer to enlightenment, and much closer to bringing all sentient beings to enlightenment. So, you can see that each time you practice patience, there are long-term results. This is the power of the mind. Not only can you bring sentient beings temporary peace, but also full enlightenment.

This advice “Dealing with Anger” was originally published in “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/dealing-anger

For detailed advice on the practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/

Additional resources, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during a Padmasambhava incense puja, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In a new video, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives advice and an oral transmission (lung) of the Verses for the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones to stop the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and to bring success.

After a brief introduction from young Kopan Monastery monks, Rinpoche begins with an extensive motivational teaching for receiving the lung. “Now this virus is happening, so then now an examination is happening to you,” Rinpoche says in the 50-minute video (transcript here).

“You have to check your mind. An examination is happening as to whether you are afraid of death, whether you are afraid of sicknesses, or you don’t mind, [whether] for you it is not important, not something that you are scared of, a kind of a huge thing like a mountain, a kind of obstacle to you. Now it is really interesting to examine your mind. Really, very interesting. So that shows how much Dharma practice you normally do, day and night how much your mind becomes Dharma, how much your mind has become Dharma. So that is very interesting.”

The Verses for the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones is by the “great, great, great holy being Je Miphampa,” Rinpoche explains. It is often recited to bring success to a project.

“The biggest project, of course, is for yourself to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible because numberless sentient beings are suffering—most unbelievable—in samsara. They have been experiencing that from beginningless rebirths—wow, wow, wow, you can’t imagine it—in the six realms, over and over, without beginning. Wow, already it is like that—not just suffering. Bah, bah, bah. So, to free them from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment, for their success, what else is a greater project than that? For the success of this: I mean not just only the virus to stop it bringing sickness, the coronavirus. Not just that. Okay. …”

Rinpoche concludes the video by offering the oral transmission of the Verses for the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones in English.

Watch the new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche—”Motivation and Oral Transmission for Success”:
https://youtu.be/GKJ-K3_Btdc

• Read a transcript of this video. 
• Follow the oral transmission of the Verses for the Eight Noble Auspicious Ones.

Find more video teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from Kopan Monastery during the COVID-19 crisis.

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and senior Kopan monks during Padmasambhava incense puja, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and senior Kopan Monastery monks performed a Padmasambhava incense puja to benefit beings affected by COVID-19 and to help mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche consulted with Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme (Khadro-la) about what pujas to do to help the pandemic, and it came out that the Padmasambhava incense puja was best at this time.

The coordinated incense puja was done by about ten high lamas around Kathmandu. Originally the puja was planned to be done in various holy places in Nepal, but due to the current situation, it was changed so that the puja would be done by each lama at the same time in their respective monasteries. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and senior Kopan monks during Padmasambhava incense puja, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

During the puja at Kopan, prayers and practices were offered in the four directions.

Rinpoche continues to discuss with Khadro-la other practices that can be done to help people who are sick and stop the spread of COVID-19 and for the benefit of beings who are affected by the coronavirus.

Watch a short video of scenes from the Padmasambhaba incense puja at Kopan Monastery:
https://youtu.be/pyXORzZ_rmU

For detailed advice on the practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/

Additional resources, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche watching a teaching with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on a tablet. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Dharma practitioners around the world have been advised to isolate themselves from others as much as possible to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. This can be a challenge to those wishing to study without access to their local centers.

We are offering several FPMT Online Learning Center programs to any student or center who would like to use them. (Please note: Students who are new to the Online Learning Center will need to create an account. For details, see “Getting Started Guide.”)

• Discovering Buddhism: Module 11, Transforming Problems
  Enrollment key: tonglen33
• Basic Program: Mahayana Mind Training, Wheel of Sharp Weapons 
  Enrollment key: lojong100
• Living in the Path
  We have made this entire program available for free. Find the enrollment keys for the individual modules here.
• Living in the Path (Spanish)
  This program is also in Spanish and is available for free. Find the enrollment keys for individual modules here. 
• Discovering Buddhism (French)
  All of the modules of Discovering Buddhism in French are available for free and do not require enrollment keys. 

Additionally, students are welcome to access complete teachings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via Rinpoche Available Now. Find video of recent and archive teachings from Nepal, Russia, Singapore, Latvia, France, and many other teaching events.

Please also visit the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive for freely available teachings by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche in a variety of digital formats.

We hope that students will take full advantage of these opportunities during this isolating time of uncertainty. 

For detailed advice on the practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-coronavirus-pandemic/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche-for-coronavirus/

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

A new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche focuses on advice for students supporting someone who is dying. Rinpoche recorded this video in March 2020 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. 

In the video, Lama Zopa Rinpoche recites various mantras and teaches on their benefits. These mantras can be used to support a person who is dying.

Rinpoche teaches on:

• Buddha’s Name Mantra (Rinchhen Tsugtorchen Name Mantra)
• the short Chenrezig mantra
• Lotus Pinnacle of Amoghaspasha Mantra
• Celestial Mansion Extremely Secret Sublime Success
• Maitreya Buddha mantras (root mantra, heart mantra, and close heart mantra)
• the short Medicine Buddha mantra 
• the short Namgyalma mantra
• Mantra from “The Sutra of Great Liberation”

Watch “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice to a Person Who is Dying” on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/wmIVjkVDyVE

• Read the transcript of this teaching.
• Find the mantras to recite for the dying discussed in this video.
• Find additional resources for the dying and other mantras on FPMT.org.

For detailed advice on the practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”

Additional resources, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, 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.

Thangtong Gyalpo

We recently shared a new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche in which Rinpoche shares his advice for practices concerning protection and healing from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as well as oral transmissions of the Vajra Armor mantra and four other recommended prayers. 

FPMT Education Services is pleased to share a draft transcript of this advice. All are welcome to download this to your device or read online. 

For more detailed advice on the practices recommended by Rinpoche, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”

Additional resources for this difficult time, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, can be found on the page “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic.”

Through comprehensive study programs, practice materials, and training seminars, FPMT Education nourishes the development of compassion, wisdom, kindness, and true happiness in individuals of all ages.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

There is a new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on his advice for practices for coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Rinpoche recorded this video in March 2020 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. 

The new video from Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins with a teaching and motivation for doing the practices. Then Rinpoche gives additional advice along with the oral transmission of a mantra and four prayers. 

Watching this video attentively can qualify as having received the oral transmission of the following mantra and prayers, if viewed with the intention of receiving the oral transmission from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Watch video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19):
https://youtu.be/O7oTHLEQn6Y

In this video Rinpoche gives the following oral transmission:

• Vajra Armor mantra (this mantra is recommended in “Advice to Protect Yourself and Others from the Coronavirus” from Rinpoche.)
• Swift Fulfillment of Wishes in Dependence on the Great Jetsun Tsongkhapa
• The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: The Blessed Prayer Known as “Liberating Sakya from Disease” (This prayer is recommended in “Advice to Protect Yourself and Others from the Coronavirus” from Rinpoche.)
• The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: Words of Truth Pacifying the Danger of Weapons
• The Speech of Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo: A Request to Pacify the Fear of Famine 

Read the transcript of this video.

For more detailed advice on the practices recommended by Rinpoche, please visit the page “Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for Coronavirus.”

Additional resources for this difficult time, including Dharma study-from-home opportunities, 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. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

In these challenging and anxious times, FPMT International Office offers our prayers and best wishes to all who are navigating uncertainty and change during the coronavirus pandemic. 

We have created a page of resources and advice related to this crisis in order to make it as easy as possible for you to find recommended practices, prayers, online study and practice resources, and news about Lama Zopa Rinpoche and from around the FPMT organization.

This page will be updated as new advice and news become available and should be consulted as an up-to-date resource for Dharma practice during the time of this pandemic. 

Find advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Dharma study materials, and other updates on “Resources for the Coronavirus Pandemic” page on FPMT.org:
https://fpmt.org/fpmt/announcements/resources-for-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. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche doing incense puja at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Losang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and ordained Sangha offered a Padmasambhava incense puja at Kopan Monastery in Nepal in response to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Watch a Short Video of the Incense Puja at Kopan Monastery:
https://youtu.be/5-hPIH5xAlI

Advice from Rinpoche on Coronavirus

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has offered the following advice to protect from harm by the novel coronavirus:

• Lama Zopa Rinpoche Offers Advice to Protect from the Coronavirus
  
• Additional Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche to Protect from the Coronavirus
  

Lama Zopa Rinpoche doing incense puja at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, March 2020. Photo by Ven. Losang Sherab.

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. 

Find links to recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent teachings from Nepal, Russia, Singapore, Latvia, France, and more:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2019. Photo by Neal Patrick.

The Six Perfections: The Practice of the Bodhisattvas is a new book from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In it, Rinpoche walks us through the six perfections, a key Mahayana Buddhist training. Here’s an excerpt from Rinpoche’s teaching on the perfection of wisdom:

Everything, even subtle things, should appear merely labeled by the mind, but that doesn’t happen for us sentient beings. Whatever we experience is colored by this wrong view of inherent existence. From the object to be refuted according to the lower schools all the way to that asserted by Svatantrika and finally by Prasangika, we need to recognize these different degrees of subtlety of wrong view. 

Things do exist, but they exist because they are empty. That is why the I exists; why phenomena exist; why birth, aging, and death exist; why suffering and the cessation of suffering exist. All these exist in mere name. For ordinary people like us, however, everything that is false in life appears true. Whether something exists or is a fantasy, we believe it to be 100 percent true. On the other hand, ultimate reality, which does exist, appears to us as nonexistent. 

Cover of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s new book

A verse in the Vajra Cutter Sutra says: 

A star, a defective view, the butter lamp flame, 
an illusion, a dew drop, or a water bubble, 
a dream, lightning, a cloud— 
see all causative phenomena like this.

Each of these similes is a pointed reminder that we cannot trust the appearance of things. 

Learn more about The Six Perfections: The Practice of the Bodhisattvas, including order information, on Wisdom Publication’s website:
https://wisdomexperience.org/product/the-six-perfections/

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.