Lama Zopa Rinpoche dictating a response letter to a student asking for practice advice.

One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s highest priorities was providing guidance to students’ requests for advice on daily and lifetime practices. We are so happy to let you know we have created a new page that is based on Rinpoche’s essential daily practice and lifetime practice advice.

This is his essential advice and by following this advice, students can feel confident they are following and practicing according to Rinpoche’s heart advice.

“Rejoice! This is a happy thing, to get these practices, to benefit every sentient being, to free every sentient being from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and to bring them to enlightenment. So for that reason this advice is for you to achieve enlightenment.”  – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

When Rinpoche gave life advice he gave a brief overview of the practice:

“Please find my advice for your practice, what you should focus on for your life. One practice to do every day is the morning motivation, How to Make My Lives Wish-fulfilling, along with blessing the speech and daily mantras.

“It is very important to meditate every day on the lamrim and to recite a lamrim prayer every day, such as The Foundation of all Good Qualities or The Three Principal Aspects of the Path. Read it slowly while thinking about the meaning. Lamrim is what you need to actualize, no matter how long it takes. Please put all your effort there. “Probably you are doing Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga every day. If so, this is excellent. If not, now you can start. Before the guru absorbs into you, stop and meditate on whatever section of the lamrim you are up to.

“One meditation that you must try to do every day is on the topic of guru devotion. If you sometimes miss doing it, that’s okay but then continue the next day. There is no question of a certain length of time for the meditation; it is up to you. Do whatever fits your schedule. Then do whatever lamrim topic you are on. Do it every day, slowly going through each of the subjects. Whatever meditation you did in the morning, keep it in mind during the day so that your mind remains in the lamrim all day long.”

These are the additional practices that one can do everyday:

• Prostrations by reciting the Thirty-Five Buddhas’ names in the morning.
• Recite the Vajrasattva mantra at night.
• Recite Medicine Buddha mantra.
• Practice Chenrezig and recite the mantra.
• Recite the Golden Light Sutra for world peace.

“Please practice as much as you can,” Rinpoche advised us. “Life is not long and the nature of this life is that it is impermanent; death can happen at any time. Impermanence is the foundation of Buddha’s teachings, and was the last advice Buddha gave by showing the aspect of passing away.

We hope this page will be useful for everyone who wants to know what is Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s essential heart advice on what to practice in your daily life and in one’s whole life:
fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/lama-zopa-rinpoche-life-practice-advice

“Please try to meditate on the lamrim based on guru yoga. On this basis, you will get all the realizations and have the most success in your life. It is important to try to achieve all the realizations in order to actualize enlightenment in order to liberate the numberless sentient beings from samsara and bring them to enlightenment. That’s the real project or the real goal of your life.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche (1945-2023) was 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. 

Manjushri painted by Peter Iseli.

In October we shared the very precious advice we received from His Holiness the Dalai Lama to recite Chanting the Names of Noble Manjushri continuously for a few months, for the swift return of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s reincarnation.

Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement in Kollegal, India reciting prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s swift return.

With great rejoicing we share that the FPMT Puja Fund sponsored over 10,000 recitations of this text on Lhabab Duchen by sangha of the great monasteries (Sera Lachi, Gaden Lachi, Drepung Lachi, Gyuto Tantric College, and Gyudmed Tantric University) in India as well as by the monks and nuns of Kopan Monastery.

Additionally, as an example of some of the other activities happening around the world for Rinpoche’s swift return, Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement in Kollegal, India, arranged two days whereby all residents of the settlement recited the text continuously for two days in the community hall which was sponsored by the FPMT Social Services Fund. This settlement has a heartfelt connection to Rinpoche due to the ongoing support offered to their residents, including sponsorship of their elderly home.

Also with rejoicing we share that IMI has arranged continual recitations of this text for Rinpoche’s swift return by students around the world in all the various time zones! Please read about how to sign up to join.

We encourage individuals to continue their own recitations—whether done alone, as a group, at one’s local center, or online. 

May all the prayers be actualized!

Chanting the Names of Noble Manjushri Materials

As a reminder, the prayer is available for all to download Chanting the Names of Noble Manjushri.

 Additionally, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive also offers Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s own commentary and oral transmission of Chanting the Names of Noble Manjushri which is available to all.

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.

Consecration of the Victory Stupa built for Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lawudo, Nepal, November 4, 2023. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

Lhabab Duchen, one of the four great holy days of the Buddhist calendar, took place this year on November 4 and meritorious activities took place around the world.

At Lawudo Gompa, Nepal, an incredible day of auspicious activities occurred and we share details of these events for great rejoicing.

Ven. Roger Kunsang offering body, speech, and mind mandala to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s holy tooth relic in the Lawudo gompa, Lhabab Duchen, November 4, 2023. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

In the morning, fifty-five monks and nuns as well as the three main lamas in the valley—Thame Rinpoche, Charok Lama, and Kyarok Lama—along with locals and foreign guests gathered in the main gompa (with many lay people outside) to welcome a 15-inch gold stupa containing the most precious tooth relic from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s holy body, which arrived with a procession from the blessed mountain cave. Ven. Roger Kunsang carried the relic led by the three lamas and accompanied by monks playing gyaling. Rinpoche’s relic arriving to Lawudo was an unbelievably auspicious event to occur on Lhabab Duchen.

Ven. Roger, Sangay (Rinpoche’s brother), and Anila Ngawang Samten (Rinpoche’s sister) each offered a body, speech, and mind mandala to Rinpoche’s holy relic.

Ven. Roger made a brief speech thanking everyone for coming and saying that there was no need to talk much about Rinpoche because everyone present knew that he was a great ascetic lama, completely selfless, who had made an enormous contribution and been very influential in spreading and preserving the Buddha’s teaching all around the world. Then he made offering to all the sangha and especially thanked Anila Ngawang Samten and Sangay and those who helped at Lawudo along with the artists who had completed the amazing 31-foot Amoghapasha painting on Drak Karma Cliff.

Ven. Roger Kunsang making offerings in the Lawudo gompa, Lhabab Duchen, November 4, 2023. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

Next was an elaborate tsog puja led by the three lamas and Thame monks.

Tsog puja in the Lawudo gompa on Lhabab Duchen. November 4, 2023. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Michael.

After lunch, the incredibly special holy objects were consecrated.

The Victory Stupa built for Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lawudo. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Michael.

15-inch gold stupa containing Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s holy tooth relic. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Michael.

31-foot Amoghapasha painting on Drak Karma Cliff, Lawudo.

First, the Victory Stupa organized by Anila Ngawang Samten with the help of others for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s swift return was consecrated by all three lamas.

Then, the consecration of Rinpoche’s holy tooth relic which resides in a 15-inch gold stupa.

Next, the Lawudo Lama Stupa, which was recently renovated, was consecrated by Charok Lama and monks.

At the same time, Kyarok Lama and younger monks consecrated the Amoghapasha painting on the cliff.

This magnificent painting was the expressed wish of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and is a truly remarkable achievement involving great risk and also great effort by many. To be completed in time for Lhabab Duchen, is simply remarkable.

Consecration of the new Victory Stupa for Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lawudo, November 4, 2023. Thame Lama, Charok Lama, and Kyarok Lama join
the Thame monks. Photo by Ven. Tenzin Michael

Once the consecrations were complete, all of the lamas and monks returned to the gompa for prayers and dedications.

Following this, the local community offered mandala to Rinpoche’s throne and expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the entire FPMT organization for the contribution of aid offered during the earthquake of 2015 when many houses and ancient holy sites were damaged and destroyed.

Lhabab Duchen puja inside Lawudo gompa with Sangay Sherpa and Anila Ngawang Samten. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

The day’s activities concluded with Anila Ngawang Samten thanking those in attendance and Ven. Roger making offerings on behalf of the FPMT organization to those who had been helping actualize these unbelievably precious projects.

Please rejoice that these unimaginably auspicious activities were completed on Lhabab Duchen, such a powerful and holy day for these these unimaginably auspicious activities.

View from the Lawudo Lama’s cave, looking toward Thamserku. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.

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.

31-foot high Amoghapasha painting on Drak Karma cliff above Lawudo, Nepal.

Twenty-five years ago, Lama Zopa Rinpoche began expressing the wish for a large painting of 1,000-Armed Chenrezig to be painted on a 100-foot high cliff named Drak Karma above Lawudo in Nepal, approximately 4,200 meters above sea level (over 13,000 feet) so everyone in proximity could see it. In the last few years Rinpoche specifically said for the painting to be of Amoghapasha—an emanation of Chenrezig.

With huge rejoicing, we share that this 31-foot high by 21-foot wide (9.5 meters high by 6.4 meters wide) painting is now complete! It has been painted directly on the cliff face overseeing the whole area. Funds for this project were raised by the Thamichowa community; Anila Ngawang Samten (Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s sister) provided all the necessary materials and tools needed for painting; and Ven. Nyima Tashi, Ven. Thubten Tendar, and Pasang Dekyi helped to actualize this incredible project. 

Painting set up of the large Amoghapasha on a cliff above Lawudo.

As one can imagine, this was an incredible feat, an unbelievable task to complete. The whole project started a couple of months ago and it took ten days to get the scaffolding up to the site where the conditions were freezing and windy making the scaffolding and painting quite dangerous. The actual painting took seven days by Nepali artists, finished the day before Lhabab Duchen, and consecrated on the day of this merit-multiplying occasion. 

Please watch this incredible video of the painting as it occurred, by Ven. Tenzin Michael:

The unbelievable benefits of merely seeing the painted holy body of Amoghapasha are mentioned in the
Amoghapasha Tantra:

Close up of the exquisite painting of Amoghapasha on a cliff above Lawudo.

Merely by directly seeing the Compassionate Eye Looking Enriched One (Amoghapasha) and the Potala Mountain with the celestial mansion, you become free from the eight great hells and the eight great fears. It even liberates you from all the suffering of having committed the five heavy negative karmas without break (having killed one’s father, mother, or an arhat; having caused blood to flow from a buddha; having caused disunity among the Sangha). It completely purifies even the very heavy negative karma of having abandoned the holy Dharma, all the obscurations, and so forth. Just seeing this deity totally purifies all the negative karmas and obscurations from having criticized buddhas and bodhisattvas. Just seeing this painted holy body totally purifies even those who are to be reborn in the lowest hot hell, Inexhaustible Suffering. You collect hundreds of thousands of times more merit than Brahma and other worldly gods. You achieve the sublime merits (good luck or good karma) of all worldly beings.

Even when you die, the Compassionate Eye Looking Enriched One directly shows his face to you and frees your breath (which means frees you from lower realms). Even after death you will be born in Amitabha’s blissful realm. You become free from obscurations and are able to remember up to fifty thousand past lives. This will be your last life in samsara (you will be freed from samsaric rebirth) and your next life only goes toward the ultimate heart of enlightenment. Just by seeing this holy body one time, you collect inconceivable merit. If you continually see this holy body, there is no question of turning back from enlightenment. You achieve the peerless happiness of buddhahood with the cessation of all obscurations and the completion of all realizations.

 Rinpoche encouraged students to have an image of Amoghapasha printed as large as possible and displayed publicly due to the benefit.

Ven. Roger Kunsang joining others at the 100-foot high cliff that now is blessed with the 31-foot painting of Amoghapasha.

We are so happy to be able to accomplish this wish of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and pray that we may we be able to fulfill all of his holy wishes. Ven. Roger Kunsang, after visiting the finished work commented with great joy that, “Rinpoche would be so pleased” to see this completed.

In a speech from the Thamichowa community, they expressed the following:

“From the depths of our hearts, we pray that the merit accumulated from our pure thoughts to complete Rinpoche’s holy wishes and benefit sentient beings will be a cause for Rinpoche to quickly be reborn in our area recognized as the unmistaken incarnation!”

Please find practice materials, mantras, and other resources related to Amoghapasha to download from the FPMT Foundation Store. 

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.

portrait of Lama Zopa Rinpoche taken by Ven. Lobsang Sherab in 2018.

As we all are now very aware, on April 13, 2023, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, our most precious guru and spiritual director, entered his final meditation at Kopan Monastery.

Although it is difficult to convey the extraordinariness of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s life, Ven. Robina Courtin has written a deeply moving tribute to Rinpoche’s many accomplishments, teachings, blessings, and activities.

We share it with the hopes that those who read it will be inspired to follow in Rinpoche’s footsteps, and continue to help fulfil all of Rinpoche’s wishes for the FPMT organization and the world. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche (1945-2023) was 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, June 2005. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

In June 2005 Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave a three hour long interview to Christina Lundberg on the benefits of Universal Education. In 1983 Lama Thubten Yeshe began formulating the idea of Universal Education. “The world needs a new system of education because the old one is too dated for the intelligent people of today and produces a great deal of conflict and dissatisfaction in the present generation. […] We have to get rid of people’s old concepts and give them a new imagination; a new, broad way of looking at themselves and the world. That’s what I mean by ‘universal.’” 

“Everything comes from the mind and to transform the mind from negative (from where all the suffering comes), into positive (from where all the happiness comes), is not only for your happiness but for all other living beings’ happiness,” Rinpoche says in this interview. In addition to providing instructive advice for the advancement of Universal Education,  which is now carried forth by The Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW), Rinpoche also shares a plethora of practical advice for students who wish to cultivate the good heart—an attitude of loving-kindness and compassion.

We are so happy to share this interview in three one-hour parts.

Please note that a live translation of the subtitles included in these videos is available in any language offered by Google. Just click on the settings icon on the video and choose “subtitles” then “auto-translate” and your preferred language.

Over the course of this interview, Rinpoche advised that the best way to take care of one’s mind is through an attitude of loving-kindness and compassion toward others in daily life. Rinpoche emphasized the importance of practicing: patience, tolerance, rejoicing, contentment, forgiveness, and apologizing. “Any religions advise these,” Rinpoche explained. “And they are universal because everybody needs to practice like this.”

FDCW was founded to fulfil this vision of Universal Education by creating programs, resources and training based on universal values and how to develop compassion and wisdom. In October FDCW organized a two-day online conference called Growing Compassionate Hearts Conference. Educators from around the world shared their methods and experience of how they encourage inner values, compassion and mindfulness in our children and young people.

Each session was carefully curated to inspire ways to navigate the complexities and joys of teaching children about compassion, empathy, and the importance of universal human values. Each session included a practical exercise that can be shared with young people. Re-framing negative behaviors, the importance of teacher modeling values, inner garden guided meditation, mandala explanation of interconnection and sense of belonging, 7 Steps for Transformation, Peace Corner, children teaching values to parents, 7 colors rainbow guided meditation, tuning in to children before teaching, inquiry-based methods of teaching, inclusivity, neurodiversity, listening skills and holding boundaries were some of the topics covered by our speakers.

If you weren’t able to attend or would like to revisit any part of the conference, recordings of each session are available on YouTube as well as on the FDCW website

For more video teachings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche please visit:
fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche (1945-2023) was 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, November 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered extensive precious advice on how to start each day with the best motivation to be of most benefit to others and ourselves. 

In this collection of prayers and advice, Morning Prayers and Motivation, Rinpoche places particular emphasis on the importance of taking refuge in His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the guru embodying the Three Jewels; and of cherishing every mother sentient being as they are the source of our temporal and ultimate happiness. Rinpoche’s advice includes every living being, “… from the smallest sentient being that can be seen only with a microscope to the largest, who lives in the ocean and is as big as a mountain, all sentient beings are extremely kind, most beloved, most precious—they are the bestowers of all happiness for my mind.” 

A more extensive set of similar reflections and prayers complied by Rinpoche is published under the title, How to Make My Lives Wish-Fulfilling: The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness. It has a companion piece in The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment) with Additional Practices: A Commentary.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche was 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.

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

Lama Zopa Rinpoche meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodhgaya, India, January, 2023. Photo courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has offered us all the precious advice to recite Chanting the Names of Noble Manjushri continuously for a few months, for the swift return of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s reincarnation.

We request all students of Lama Zopa Rinpoche to please recite this as much as you can continuously, starting now. 

In a few months’ time, His Holiness will be consulted again.

The prayer can be found here: Chanting the Names of Noble Manjushri. 

We also share an audio recording of Lama Zopa Rinpoche reciting the Chanting the Names of Noble Manjushri. 

Letter from His Holiness’ Private Office:

As requested by the devotees of FPMT centers for observation regarding the quick return of the late Zopa Rinpoche’s reincarnation, the result of the observation as follows:

Please recite Names of Manjushri (Jampal Tshen Jo) continuously for now and in a few months’ time observation will be performed again. 

From His Holiness the Dalai Lama
October 18, 2023

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the oral transmission of the Sutra of Golden Light, Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre, Delhi, India, March 2018. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said about the Sutra of Golden Light, “This text is very precious; it brings peace and happiness and is very powerful to stop violence. By hearing this text, one’s karma is purified.” Rinpoche made a personal vow to propagate the Sutra of Golden Light and give oral transmissions of it in many parts of the world. Having the sutra recited as much as possible was also one of Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for FPMT. Rinpoche has said, “I would like to make this request with my two palms together, to please recite the Sutra of Golden Light for world peace as much as you can.”

At this time, with the world in trouble in many ways, actions taken toward world peace are desperately needed. 

Please visit our webpage dedicated to the recitation of the Sutra of Golden Light where you will find many resources and links, including:

• PDFs of the sutra in fifteen different languages
• Audio and video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering an oral transmission of the sutra
• Advice from Rinpoche on the benefits of reciting the sutra
• Instructions on how to dedicate your recitations and how to report them
• Stories from students about experiences reciting the sutra

“The holy Sutra of Golden Light is extremely powerful and fulfills all one’s wishes, as well as bringing peace and happiness for all sentient beings, up to enlightenment. It is also extremely powerful for world peace, for your own protection, the protection of your country, and the world. Also, it has great healing power for living beings in the area in which you are reciting.” — Lama Zopa Rinpoche

A year ago, IMI Sangha asked Rinpoche for advice on prayers and practices they could do in response to the difficult situation in the Ukraine. You can read all of this advice here: fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/lama-zopa-rinpoches-recent-advice-for-generating-peace-in-the-world

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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, January 2017. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave a series of teachings in January-February 2017 at Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, with great emphasis on lojong (thought transformation). This entire video series is available to you! 

Rinpoche gave a full commentary on the Seven Point Mind Training by Kadampa Geshe Chekhawa in the February 5, 2017 video, and this teaching was condensed and turned into a course on the Online Learning Center: Living in the Path, Lojong, “Transforming Kaka into Gold.”

Root Institute, Bodhgaya, February 2017. Excerpted from a video recording.

Other topics discussed in this series includes:

• Dzambhala and purification practice
• How to properly offer service
• Dangers of the self-cherishing thought
• The importance of patience
• The downfalls of anger
• How to practice the generation of bodhicitta

We invite you to peruse the summaries of these videos and find topics of interest to you, or simply watch each video in order to benefit from the entire series: fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/lzr-in-root-institute-january-2017

Lama Zopa Rinpoche (1945-2023) was 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 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.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Germany, December 2018. Photo by Harald Weichhart.

Our time to practice Dharma is fleeting and we don’t know when we will die. Lama Zopa Rinpoche regularly encouraged us to think  about impermanence and death so we don’t procrastinate doing our Dharma practice.

Although death is definite, the time of our death is uncertain. We are unbelievably fortunate to still be alive today. So many people died last night, but we are still alive. Although we can die at anytime, we can remember that we could die today or, at most, we could die tomorrow. In this way, we can use every moment we have left to practice Dharma.

“At the time of death nothing can benefit us other than Dharma,” Rinpoche has explained. The family and friends that we love can’t come with us, nor can our wealth or possessions—not even our precious body that we cherish so much. We can’t carry even one atom with us. It is only our Dharma practice that can benefit us at the time of death, nothing else.

Remembering death and impermanence encourages us to practice right now. There is no time to waste. We don’t think about death to develop a fear of dying—we do it to encourage ourselves to practice Dharma without delay, to not put it off until we get old. 

“Among all the things to remember, the best is remembering impermanence-death. It reminds you to practice Dharma. Not just to practice Dharma in this life, but to practice Dharma—since when death will occur is not definite,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised.

We have many practices and resources available for the death and dying of ourselves and our loved ones (and pets!). 

All are welcome to explore all that is available, collected and compiled over time on advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche: 
fpmt.org/death

Please explore recent teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on death and impermanence:
fpmt.org/tag/death-and-dying

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.