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Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Nicholas Ribush and Wendy Cook of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, August 2016. Nick and Wendy are presenting Rinpoche with a copy of Rinpoche’s new book “Sun of Devotion, Stream of Blessings,” just published by the Archive. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“If we do some profound scientific analysis, some inner scientific analysis, we can see how much we believe in this totally real I that actually does not exist. It appears to be real from its own side, we believe it to be real one hundred percent, but it is not there. By doing this inner scientific analysis, this meditation, we can come to see this very subtle point, the nonexistence of this ‘real’ I,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches in the new book Sun of Devotion, Stream of Blessings, recently published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
“Otherwise, without checking, because of our belief in its reality there are all the worries, all the fears. Because of this this wrong projection, when somebody passes us with her nose in the air, looking down at as disdainfully, it hurts so much! Or when we do a good deed for somebody, such as giving a thirsty person a glass of water, and we don’t even get a simple thank you, that really hurts. Being shouted at, being complained about, hearing disrespectful words—all these things hurt us.
“Especially nowadays, with the world economy in recession, people are trying to find ways to make money, so they complain about any small thing somebody else does. I don’t know about England, but I’ve heard that in America you are supposed keep the front of your house clear of snow and if you don’t clear it away well enough and somebody falls over you will be sued, which in America means huge expenses.
“There is a good example from the FPMT center in Sicily, Centro Muni Gyana. Once, while I was giving a talk there a student explained how she had been sued. Her job was assisting in the births of babies, taking them from their mothers’ wombs, and one day one had died. I’m not sure whether the baby was dead in the womb or it died during delivery, but the mother blamed this girl, telling her she had killed the baby, that the baby died because she had made a mistake. The girl talked with all her friends and they confirmed what she did was right, that it wasn’t her fault, but the mother blamed her and wanted money from her. She was trying to make money out of the situation. This is just one example.
“Nowadays, with the downturn in the world economy, so many people are trying to make money in this way, trying to prove that somebody else has made a mistake, whether they have or not. The girl asked me what to do and I did my own Mickey Mouse divination and told her to recite the Vajra Cutter Sutra eight times. She did this immediately and later she told me that she won the court case.
“Just reading the Vajra Cutter Sutra is unbelievably powerful but, of course, the main thing is to realize emptiness, to eradicate the very root of samsara. That is what reading the Vajra Cutter Sutra eventually does. Then we become free from oceans of samsaric sufferings, achieving ultimate happiness. Without talking about enlightenment, just that is unbelievable.
“Our whole life is spent afraid of something happening to this I, to this real I that appears from there. We totally, a hundred percent believe it is real and we do everything we possibly can to protect this real I, which is not there. We see all the possibilities of being hurt. ‘This will make me sick. This will kill me. This will hurt me.’ We take every possible precaution to prevent this real I that doesn’t exist from being hurt. …
“If we were to meditate for just one day, analyzing, checking, going to a subtler level, we would see that this real I is not there! What appears as the real I, what we believe a hundred percent to be real, is not there. However, we don’t check and this labeling process goes on continuously. It has been going on since we were born and will continue up to death. …”
You can continue to read this excerpt from Sun of Devotion, Stream of Blessings, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, edited by Gordon McDougall in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive July 2015 Eletter:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/e-letter-no-146-july-2015
Links to video and audio of the current Light of the Path 2016 teachings with Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
- YouTube live video stream of teachings with links to interpretation in English, Français, Español and Italiano:
https://www.youtube.com/user/FPMTinc - NEW! Live English transcription of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings:
https://www.youtube.com/c/fpmtinc/live - Mandarin interpretation of teachings (audio only):
http://en.1000mikes.com/show/fpmtlopchinese_on_air - Backup Livestream video (in English) with occasional updates on schedule:
http://livestream.com/FPMT/LOP2016 - Facebook Live video on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/lamazoparinpoche - Recorded video, audio and transcripts of the Light of the Path teachings will be posted here as they become available:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/light-of-the-path-teachings-2016/
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at the Light of the Path retreat in Black Mountain, North Carolina, US, August 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
More than 300 people are attending the 2016 Light of the Path retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, currently taking place in North Carolina, US, now in its second week. In addition, many more people are watching Rinpoche teach live in English on YouTube with simultaneous interpretation into French, Spanish and Italian. Access to the live transcript in English is now available. Audio of Mandarin interpretation is also available. (More details on the live video and live transcript below.)
Of the 300 students in attendance more than 40 are ordained Sangha. In addition, many are long-time students and center directors and spiritual program coordinators. There are students from many FPMT centers in various countries including Australia, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. This is the fourth year of the Light of the Path retreat. The root text for the retreat is Lama Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.
Retreat organizers from Kadampa Center, located in Raleigh, a four-hour drive away, and volunteers have transformed the auditorium of a YMCA conference and retreat center into a Tibetan gompa with 21 Tara statues and an extensive altar, creating a wonderful environment for Rinpoche’s teachings.
So far, Rinpoche has yet to teach on the root text. Instead, Rinpoche has gone over the benefits of taking the eight Mahayana precepts on a number of days and gave the precepts early on so people could receive the lineage. In addition to doing precepts daily, Lama Chöpa is also being preformed daily. On one day, Rinpoche dedicated Lama Chöpa tsog to the quick return of one of Rinpoche’s gurus – Geshe Lhundup Sopa Rinpoche, who passed away two years ago.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche leading students in a walking meditation at the Light of the Path Retreat, North Carolina, US, August 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Rinpoche has also talked about the benefits of prostrations, which were covered in two sessions, and has explained two different ways to do walking meditation based on lam-rim meditations, such as walking while thinking about the incredible kindness of sentient beings. Silence is being observed from after the last teaching session in the evening until lunch on the following day.
According to Ven. Holly Ansett, the retreat has been organized extremely well by Kadampa Center. And the retreat venue, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, is very comfortable as well as being very beautiful and peaceful. Geshe Gelek, of Kadampa Center, has ensured that Rinpoche and all the retreatants are being well cared for by the team from Kadampa Center.
Ven. Holly also notes how missed Ven. Thubten Kunsang is at the retreat. For many years Ven. Kunsang, who passed away in July, was a familiar smiling face at retreats with Rinpoche, where he would record the audio of Rinpoche’s teachings and take photos. Rinpoche began this year’s retreat reminding students of impermanence and how anyone could die at any time.
The media team for the retreat has done amazing work setting up the live video streaming of the teachings and taking care of all the technical needs at the venue. Ven. Joan Nicell’s live transcription of the teachings is projected on a screen above Rinpoche and also is now viewable on FPMT’s YouTube channel.
Summary of links to video and audio options for the Light of the Path 2016 teachings:
YouTube live video stream of teachings with links to interpretation in English, Français, Español and Italiano:
https://www.youtube.com/user/FPMTinc
NEW! Live English transcription of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings (can be opened in a second window and watched along side the live teaching):
https://www.youtube.com/c/fpmtinc/live
Mandarin interpretation of teachings (audio only):
http://en.1000mikes.com/show/fpmtlopchinese_on_air
Backup Livestream video (in English) with occasional updates on schedule:
http://livestream.com/FPMT/LOP2016
Facebook Live video on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/lamazoparinpoche
Recorded video, audio and transcripts of the Light of the Path teachings will be posted here as they become available:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/light-of-the-path-teachings-2016/
Many additional resources and materials have been developed from the previous precious retreat teachings:
- All teachings from the 2009, 2010 and 2014 are available on the FPMT Online Learning Center.
- Together with many additional resources, the Living in the Path online program has been created from the Light of the Path retreat teachings. Organized into structured modules, you will find this program on the FPMT Online Learning Center.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Kadampa Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, US, before the beginning of the Light of the Path retreat, August 13, 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
The Light of the Path retreat is underway. Live video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching in English with interpretation into French, Spanish and Italian is now available! Live Mandarin interpretation is available in audio only. A second, backup, Livestream.com video stream of the teachings in English is available in case of technical difficulties. This link also will have occasional updates on the teaching schedule. A third video stream is available via Facebook Live at Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Facebook page.
The retreat began on Sunday, August 14, at 5 p.m. local time (UTC -5) and is the fourth in a series of teaching retreats led by Rinpoche based on Lama Atisha’s text Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. It concludes on August 28 and is taking place at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in rural Black Mountain, North Carolina, United States. Kadampa Center, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, organized the retreat.
Even if you miss the live streamed teachings, all video and audio recordings of the 2016 teachings, as well as transcripts, will be available on the “Rinpoche Available Now” page on FPMT.org soon after.
Summary of links to video and audio options for the Light of the Path 2016 teachings:
YouTube live video stream of teachings with links to interpretation in English, Français, Español and Italiano:
https://www.youtube.com/user/FPMTinc
Mandarin interpretation of teachings (audio only):
http://en.1000mikes.com/show/fpmtlopchinese_on_air
Backup Livestream video (in English) with occasional updates on schedule:
http://livestream.com/FPMT/LOP2016
Facebook Live video on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/lamazoparinpoche
Recorded video, audio and transcripts of the Light of the Path teachings will be posted here as they become available:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/light-of-the-path-teachings-2016/
Many additional resources and materials have been developed from the previous precious retreat teachings:
- All teachings from the 2009, 2010 and 2014 are available on the FPMT Online Learning Center.
- Together with many additional resources, the Living in the Path online program has been created from the Light of the Path retreat teachings. Organized into structured modules, you will find this program on the FPMT Online Learning Center.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche doing puja at a stop on the way to Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest) Monastery, Bhutan, May 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“Anybody who wants peace in the world should read the Golden Light Sutra (Ser.ö dam.päi do wang.gyi gyälpo,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised in 2007. “This is a very important practice to stop violence and wars in the world. The Golden Light Sutra is one of the most beneficial ways to bring peace. This is something that everyone can do, no matter how busy you are, even if you can read one page a day, or a few lines and in this way continually read the Golden Light Sutra.”
“The holy Golden Light Sutra is the king of the sutras. It 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 and for the protection of the country and the world. Also, it has great healing power for people in the country.
“For anyone who desires peace for themselves and for others this is the spiritual, or Dharma, way to bring peace that doesn’t require you to harm others, doesn’t require you to criticize others or even to demonstrate against others, yet can accomplish peace. Anyone can read this text, Buddhists and even non-Buddhists who desire world peace.
“This also protects individuals and the country from what are labeled natural disasters of the wind element, fire element, earth element and water element, such as earthquakes, floods, cyclones, fires, tornadoes, etc. They are not natural because they come from causes and conditions that make dangers happen. They come from past inner negative thoughts and actions of people, and from external conditions. …”
Read the complete advice from Rinpoche on the Sutra of Golden Light and visit FPMT.org’s page on the Sutra of Golden Light, where you can receive the oral transmission of the sutra via video and download audio recordings of the sutra as well as find the sutra text in 14 different languages:
https://fpmt.org/education/prayers-and-practice-materials/sutras/golden-light-sutra/
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org, including post on Rinpoche’s recent trip to Bhutan.
If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach live at the Light of the Path Retreat in August 2016 on FPMT’s YouTube channel. Streaming will be available in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Danish. Backup live streaming in English will also be available on Livestream.com. All video and audio recordings of the 2016 teachings, as well as transcripts, will be made available on the “Rinpoche Available Now” page on FPMT.org soon after the teaching
Lama Zopa Rinpoche explaining the amazing benefits of receiving the lung of “The Names of Manjushri” at a picnic organized by Shantideva Meditation Center in New York, NY, August 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
On July 31, Ven. Roger Kunsang, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s assistant and CEO of FPMT, Inc., shared on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Twitter page this very brief teaching from Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
Rinpoche quoting Shantideva; Whatever happens I should never disturb others happy mind … It only degenerates my good fortune/ my merit etc
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to receive FPMT News.
UPDATE: Due to technical difficulties at the retreat venue on Monday, August 15, live streaming of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teaching at the Light of the Path Retreat will be available only in English on Livestream.com.
For up-to-date information on streaming, check:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/light-of-the-path-teachings-2016/
All video and audio recordings (including in translation) of the 2016 teachings, as well as transcripts, will be made available on the “Rinpoche Available Now” page on FPMT.org soon after the teaching.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche giving advice at a picnic organized by Shantideva Meditation Center in a park next to the Hudson River in New York City. Rinpoche explained about the ancient Tara statue that he always carries, which he had in his previous life and kept all the time with him, August 2016. Photo by Roger Kunsang.
On July 31, Ven. Roger Kunsang shared on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Twitter page this very brief teaching from Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
Rinpoche; everything is in your hand, your happiness, your suffering, all up to you, up to your mind. Our potential is unbelievable!
Ven. Roger Kunsang, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s assistant and CEO of FPMT Inc., shares Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent pith sayings and activities on Rinpoche’s Twitter page.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to receive FPMT News.
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach live at the Light of the Path Retreat in August 2016 on FPMT’s YouTube channel. Streaming will be available in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Danish. Backup live streaming in English will also be available on Livestream.com. All video and audio recordings of the 2016 teachings, as well as transcripts, will be made available on the “Rinpoche Available Now” page on FPMT.org soon after the teaching.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at LOP 2014, Blue Ridge Assembly, NC, May 2014. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
Light of the Path Retreat 2016 with Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins on Sunday, August 14, at 5 p.m. local time (UTC -5). This retreat is the fourth in a series of teaching retreats led by Rinpoche based on Lama Atisha’s text Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.
You can enjoy all of these teachings in real time on FPMT’s YouTube channel. Streaming will be available in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Chinese. Backup live streaming in English will also be available on Livestream.com.
UPDATE, August 15: Due to technical difficulties, live streaming is currently only available in English on FPMT’s Livestream page. Check it for updates on live streaming:
http://livestream.com/FPMT/LOP2016
The retreat, which concludes on August 28, takes place at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in rural Black Mountain, North Carolina, United States. Kadampa Center, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, organized the retreat.
Even if you miss the live streamed teachings, all video and audio recording of the 2016 teachings, as well as transcripts, will be available on the “Rinpoche Available Now” page on FPMT.org soon after.
Many resources and materials have been developed from the previous precious retreat teachings:
- All teachings from the 2009, 2010 and 2014 are available on the FPMT Online Learning Center.
- Together with many additional resources, the Living in the Path online program has been created from the Light of the Path retreat teachings. Organized into structured modules, you will find this program on the FPMT Online Learning Center.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ven. Thubten Tendar offering an incense puja at Dongkarla Lhakhang, Bhutan, June 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“In America it sometimes happens that small schoolchildren kill many people. Not only small children but adults as well. This happened last year and, from time to time, it has happened before; suddenly, surprisingly. I’m sure it’s not only in America but in the rest of the world as well,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches in this excerpted from the forthcoming book Sun of Devotion, Stream of Blessings, published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
“For example, in America they have talked for years without ever deciding about the right to have guns. At present, everybody can have a gun, so if your enemy or somebody shoots at you, you can shoot back. That seems to be the ordinary mind in America. And so it has happened many times that even young children have killed many people.
“After such a shooting incident, people talk about it on TV and elsewhere for weeks and weeks and weeks. They wonder how a small child could kill so many people. They talk and talk and talk but there is no solution. Once, after a man had killed many people, they checked for insanity but found he was a normal person, or what they call a ‘normal’ person. He was just doing a normal job and living a normal life, like those who are regarded as sane by the government and other organizations. On that particular day, however, his way of thinking suddenly changed, he got a gun and killed many people. This happened.
“Everybody was very surprised. On CNN, Anderson Cooper demanded to know how this could happen, but at the same time said he knew people wouldn’t have an answer. To his mind there was no answer as to how to stop this kind of killing. I’m sorry to say this but he was wrong, there is a way. If the killer had met the Dharma and listened to the teachings of the Omniscient One, he would know there is a method to transform his mind so that such things wouldn’t happen. The method is to purify past negative karma, the obscurations, not just from this life but also from all the beginningless rebirths; to confess and purify. If he could have purified the obscurations that caused him to change his mind and kill all those people, that negative thought would not have arisen and the shooting would not have happened. People might be shocked at what I’m saying but this is the solution.
“Similarly, if the victims of the shooting had known the practice of purification then the result of being killed would not have happened. This is possible. In that way, both victim and perpetrator need purification.
“There is a method, there is something we can do, and that is to work with the mind, not simply to try to effect change from outside but to transform the mind. It’s a purely mental action. Just working with the mind can do that. But unfortunately, because these people have not met the Dharma, they don’t know the method, the solution.
“That is the reason I want to talk about the mind, about how to transform the mind, to stop thinking in unhealthy, nonvirtuous ways that brings problems to others and ourselves and to transform the mind into a positive way of thinking, to be able to live the happiest, most positive life. …”
Read this excerpt in its entirety in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive June 2016 E-letter:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/e-letter-no-156-june-2016
Sun of Devotion, Stream of Blessings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, edited by Gordon McDougall, contains teachings Rinpoche gave in the United Kingdom in July 2014. Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive publishes the new free book in August 2016. For more:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/shop/sun-devotion-stream-blessings
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org, including post on Rinpoche’s recent trip to Bhutan.
If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Tso Pema, India, January 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“Even if other people don’t practice the good heart, still we should practice the good heart because we want happiness and we don’t want suffering. Even if other sentient beings don’t practice the good heart or they try to harm us, cause us loss, kill us and so forth, if we practice only the good heart from our own side – if we are kind and only benefit others with our body, speech and mind or at the very least we don’t cause harm to other sentient beings, then we will experience happiness,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive E-Letter for August 2011.
“As a result of one act of kindness, the good heart, we will experience the result, happiness, for thousands of lifetimes. From that one act of kindness, benefiting someone with our body, speech and mind or at the least not harming another, the result is happiness. This is the result, even if we are looking only for our own happiness.
“Generating the good heart helps all sentient beings, and at least not harming sentient beings purifies instantly our negative karmas and defilements created from beginningless rebirth and we collect unbelievable merit.
“It is mentioned in the Bodhicaryavatara by the great holy being, the bodhisattva Shantideva, that even thinking about healing the headache of sentient beings has benefit. No question if we are actually working for the happiness of all sentient beings. There is no need to mention the benefit from that, the most unbelievable, unbelievable great benefit that has. …”
You can read this complete advice on having a good heart, which was given by Rinpoche in June 2011 at Kopan Monastery, in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive August 2011 E-Letter:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/e-letter-no-99-august-2011
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org, including posts on Rinpoche’s recent trip to Bhutan.
If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Bhutan, June 2016. Photo by Damien van Effenterre.
“The fourth limb of the seven-limb practice is rejoicing. This is a very important practice and we should do it each day as many times as possible. It is the easiest way to accumulate merit,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Eletter for May 2016. “By doing this practice we can accumulate merit as infinite as space. Rejoicing increases merit, like investing $100 and then constantly receiving interest until we have thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and then millions of dollars. When we rejoice, the merit increases greatly.
“It is said in the teachings that among the virtues, or good karmas, the best one to practice is rejoicing. In other words, if we want to create good luck, rejoicing is the best way. People usually think that luck is something that comes from its own side. That’s completely wrong. It is not that luck suddenly comes from outside, without our having to create it. Luck comes from our mind. If we experience good luck, it’s luck that we have created with our mind. If we are going to experience luck, we have to have created it. There is no way we can experience luck that other people have created or independent luck, which has no creator. We create our own luck by having faith in karma and by knowing how to practice Dharma. With the seven-limb practice, mandala offering, bodhicitta, meditation on emptiness and the various other practices, as well as with Vajrayana practice, we create so much good luck.
“Among the virtues, rejoicing is the best, because it is the easiest one to practice. It simply involves our mind thinking, and the merit we accumulate is infinite. If we rejoice in our own merit, we accumulate more merit than we actually accumulated by doing the virtuous action. When we rejoice in the merit of other sentient beings, if their level of mind is lower than ours, we accumulate more merit than they accumulated; but if their level of mind is higher than ours, we get half or a quarter of that merit. If we rejoice in the merit one bodhisattva accumulates in one day, we accumulate half or a quarter of that merit. If we were going to accumulate the merit that one bodhisattva accumulates in one day, it would take us 15,000 years without rejoicing, but by rejoicing we can accumulate in a few seconds the merit that would otherwise have taken us 15,000 years.
“Generally in our life we should practice rejoicing as much as possible. We should rejoice whenever we see good things happening to other people. When other people develop their Dharma practice and have realizations, have education, wealth, happy families or many friends, we should always think how wonderful it is. When somebody succeeds in business or any other good thing happens to them, we should always rejoice, thinking, ‘How good it is! How wonderful it is!’ It then becomes the best business for us. Why? Because by rejoicing we are creating the cause for success, success in our Dharma practice, success in benefiting sentient beings and the teachings, and success in even the ordinary activities of this life. By rejoicing, we are creating the best cause for success. But if we feel jealous of other people’s success, which is the opposite of rejoicing, we create obstacles for our own success. It is important to understand this and to practice rejoicing. …”
Read this entire teaching on rejoicing in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Eletter for May 2016:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/e-letter-no-155-may-2016
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org, including posts on Rinpoche’s recent trip to Bhutan.
If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest) Monastery in Bhutan, June 2016. Photo by Damien van Effenterre.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s definition of “holiday” is:
- The mind abiding in correctly following the virtuous friend.
- The mind abiding in renunciation of samsara.
- The mind abiding in bodhichitta.
- The mind abiding in emptiness.
- The mind abiding in tantra path – the two stages.
- The completion of your holiday is when you cease all the obscurations and complete all the realizations.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org, including posts on Rinpoche’s recent trip to Bhutan.
If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche reciting Arya Sanghata Sutra for Ven. Kunsang, July 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche sent recorded advice to the French monk Ven. Thubten Kunsang and his caregivers during the final days of Ven. Kunsang’s life. Ven. Kunsang passed away on July 24 in India. He had traveled in Rinpoche’s entourage for many years, recording Rinpoche’s talks, taking photographs of Rinpoche, and cooking for Rinpoche. Ven. Kunsang received a diagnosis of cancer in very early January 2016 while in India and remained there for treatment and to prepare for his death, receiving advice from Rinpoche and Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) and prayers from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
In his first recording for Ven. Kunsang, Rinpoche advised Ven. Kunsang to listen with full attention to Rinpoche reading lines from the Arya Sanghata Sutra. Rinpoche said that even listening to a few lines purifies and creates much merit.
“It purifies completely the heaviest negative karma – killing one’s father and mother, killing an arhat, drawing blood from a buddha and causing disunity amongst the Sangha,” Rinpoche said. “So that means, when that’s purified, there is no question about the normal 10 non-virtuous actions. They all get purified, okay?
“And then it is said, there is no returning from enlightenment, your life is always going towards enlightenment, no returning to [the] lower realm, at all. And it is said that by hearing Arya Sanghata Sutra, you don’t get reborn in lower realms for 3,000 eons, 30,000 eons, 30,000 and 1,000 eons, you don’t get reborn [in the] lower realm.
“So then you collect unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable merit, like making offerings of all the pleasures to as many buddhas as 12 times the sand grains in the River Ganga in India. Just by listening to the Arya Sanghata Sutra, you collect that much merit – unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable! So you need to rejoice!”
Rinpoche also told Ven. Kunsang that as Kyabje Choden Rinpoche has said, as a Buddhist, one doesn’t have to be afraid of being reborn in the lower realms, because you can take refuge with the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Rinpoche ended his messages to Ven. Kunsang with “See you soon!”
LISTEN TO “LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE’S ADVICE TO VEN. KUNSANG” ON YOUTUBE:
https://youtu.be/2gYRAaNjkd0
Unedited transcript of “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice to Ven. Kunsang”
Unedited transcript of “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice to Ven. Kunsang, Part 2”
Rinpoche also recorded a message for Ven. Kunsang’s caregivers. Rinpoche instructed them to say the name mantra of the buddha Rinchen Tsugtor Chän in the dying person’s ear loudly: CHOM DÄN DÄ DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PÄI SANG GYÄ RIN CHHEN TSUG TOR CHÄN LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO. As advised by the great bodhisattva Khunu Lama Rinpoche, this prevents rebirth in the lower realms. Rinpoche also advised reciting the names of the seven Medicine Buddhas, the Heart Sutra, lam-rim prayers, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s name mantra and other mantras and prayers.
Unedited transcript of “Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Advice for Helping People Who Are Dying”
More advice from Rinpoche on death is freely available on the page fpmt.org/death. Rinpoche’s recent book How to Enjoy Death, published by Wisdom Publications, also shares in detail the prayers and practices to be done in preparation for death and at time of death.
More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage on FPMT.org. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.