Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice

The light offerings at Osel Labrang, Sera Monastery, India, December 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

In December 1971, FPMT founder Lama Yeshe gave teachings to students at Kopan Monastery, which were collected into the book Silent Mind, Holy Mind, published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. Here’s the beginning of a short excerpt from the book:

“When we see each other again on Christmas Eve for the celebration of Holy Jesus’ birth, let us do so in peace and with a good vibration and a happy mind. I think it would be wonderful. To attend the celebration with an angry disposition would be so sad. Come instead with a beautiful motivation and much love. Have no discrimination, but see everything as a golden flower, even your worst enemy. Then Christmas, which so often produces an agitated mind, will become so beautiful.

“When you change your mental attitude, the external vision also changes. This is a true turning of the mind. There is no doubt about this. I am not special, but I have had experience of doing this, and it works. You people are so intelligent, so you can understand how the mind has this ability to change itself and its environment. There is no reason why this change cannot be for the better. …”

Read the complete excerpt from Silent Mind, Holy Mind on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: 
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/christmas-dharma

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.

After the day’s teachings with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, students gathered in the garden at Osel Labrang with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who talked to them before giving blessings, Sera Monastery, India, December 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

“On this very important occasion, not only will we have the opportunity to see all the Buddhas’ compassion, but we can see Avalokiteshvara in the dynamic human form of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a form that allows us to communicate with him directly, and we will receive blessings by hearing his holy speech,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote in 2009 in a message to a center that hosted an annual event with His Holiness.

“There is no question that this opportunity is an incredible miracle, like a dream, because it will definitely lead us to the end of samsara. It not only will bring about the elimination of all the dukkhas, the sufferings of samsara, but it also includes the elimination of the cause, which resides in our own minds: the delusions and karma. Even just seeing [His Holiness’s] holy body has the effect of liberating one from dukkha, planting the seed of liberation from samsara and the seed of full enlightenment. It is an unforgettable memory in this life.

“It is extremely beneficial to remember His Holiness the Dalai Lama (his holy body and holy speech) at the time of death, when the last breath ends. Remembering His Holiness definitely results in a positive reincarnation, where one is able to again practice Mahayana Buddhism and to meet His Holiness once again. This is a very good meditation to rely on at the time of death, rather than dying with sorrow. The moment of death is the most critical moment in our life; it determines our next reincarnation, whether it will be suffering or happy. Also, every moment in our life is important — how we live our life, with what attitude, whether goodhearted or egotistical. So, we should attempt as much as possible to put into practice the advice of His Holiness. This will make our life most productive.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche giving blessings to FPMT Sangha, Osel Labrang, Sera Monastery, India, December 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Read Rinpoche’s complete “Message to a Center” on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/message-center

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 and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Dagri Rinpoche and Khadro-la after lunch at a nice restaurant, South India, December 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is currently in South India and attending the Jangchup Lamrim teachings with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which commenced on Sunday, December 20, at the newly inaugurated Tashi Lhunpo Monastery.

The Janchup Lamrim teachings is a busy time for Rinpoche. In addition to receiving precious instruction on the 18 Great Stages of the Path Commentaries from His Holiness, Rinpoche meets with many high lamas,  young tulkus and old friends as well as FPMT geshes, students and benefactors who are also attending the teachings. 

Photos and a live webcast of the teachings, broadcast in eight languages, can be found on the Jangchup Lamrim website: https://www.jangchuplamrim.org/

Additional news and photos from the teaching event can be found on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s website: http://www.dalailama.com/

More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage (https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/). If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche doing a Tara fire puja at Kopan Monastery, November 2015. Photo by Bill Kane.

“You have to know that even though something is called Buddhist and Buddhism that doesn’t mean that every single thing people are practicing is necessarily correct. There is wrong conduct and wrong view even when people believe what they are practicing is Buddhism. When I say this I’m talking in general, not referring to the Nyingma, Kagyü or Gelug traditions,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche instructs in “Advice on Developing Bodhichitta,” published on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

“Even though bodhichitta comes much later; first of all there is renunciation of this life, then renunciation of future lives’ samsara, happiness and perfections, then comes actualizing bodhichitta, but for you, from the very beginning you must practice Dharma with the motivation of bodhichitta. Not only for your meditation but also when you are walking, sitting, sleeping, working and so forth. These should be done as much as possible with bodhichitta – to free others from suffering and bring them to the highest happiness of enlightenment.

“In this way, even if you don’t have the actual realization of bodhichitta but just the effortful motivation, still you live your life for others from the heart. Practice this way as much as possible, then you are living your life day and night with bodhichitta. If you have bodhichitta motivation most of your life becomes Dharma, the cause of happiness for your future lives. It’s also the cause for you to achieve nirvana, everlasting freedom from samsara, and the cause for you to achieve sang gyä or buddhahood – the total elimination of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations – for all sentient beings.

“Doing everything with a bodhichitta motivation is a very wise way of practicing Dharma, a quick way to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings. By practicing in this way as much as possible, not only your meditation but your whole life – even walking, sitting, sleeping, eating, working and so forth – becomes the cause of happiness for all sentient beings and especially enlightenment. That is incredible. It is the most beneficial life. When that happens your life is most beneficial and most meaningful. Thank you very much.”

You can read more of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice on compassion and bodhichitta in Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Online Advice Book on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/lama-zopa-rinpoches-online-advice-book

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 and FPMT via email, sign up to FPMT News.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with his old friend, respected Nyingma lama Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, during Guru Rinpoche puja at Kopan Nunnary, Nepal, December 2015. Photo by Bill Kane.

“Courage is so important,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche instructed a student worried about his father’s thoughts of suicide in the advice “Think About the Continuation of Life,” recently posted on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. “Perhaps you might know this, but committing suicide when some problem comes and you don’t know how to deal with it, when it’s mentally exaggerated – that’s a very ignorant thought. You are not thinking about the next life; you are not allowing yourself to think about the next life.

“There is continuation of consciousness, therefore even when the body stops, there is continuation of consciousness, because we are born with suffering. That means before this life there was another previous life, and this life is the result of that. [In the previous life] there was suffering, so now there is suffering. If the previous life was free from the oceans of samsaric suffering and its causes – delusions and karma – then in this life there would be no suffering, only ultimate happiness. So it goes back like this. We have been suffering for beginningless lifetimes. …

“… Whenever suicidal thoughts come, the remedy is to think about reincarnation, the continuation of life.”

Read the complete advice “Think About the Continuation of Life” at: 
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/think-about-continuation-life

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 blessing local Tibetans at the site of a new community hall for Tibetans Rinpoche has sponsored, South India, December 2015. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.

“We just cannot be sure which will come first, tomorrow or our next life,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught in July 2014 at Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London. “Because of that it is unbelievably worthwhile to work for the next life, to attend to the next life by accumulating merit to not be reborn in the lower realms. Then, if we were to die tomorrow, our work would have been done. And even if we do not die tomorrow, our work has still been done.

“This is what Lama Tsongkhapa said in Lamrim Chenmo: by practicing Dharma with the thought that we might die today, if we do die we have made the preparation, and if we don’t die then we have further opportunities to collect more merit. Therefore, thinking, ‘I’m going to die today’ and working for future lives, practicing Dharma to benefit our future lives, is most worthwhile. 

“One way that the Kadampa geshes defined Dharma was that it is something that benefits future lives; something that brings happiness in future lives. If what we are practicing does not do that, it is not Dharma. Another way they defined it was that if any action of our body, speech and mind becomes an antidote to delusion, it is Dharma; if it does not become an antidote to delusion, it is not Dharma. This is how the Kadampa geshes differentiated between what is Dharma and what is not.”

Find the full excerpt as part of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s November 2015 enewsletter: https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/e-letter-no-149-november-2015

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, South India, December 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

On December 13, Ven. Roger Kunsang shared on Twitter this photo of Lama Zopa Rinpoche “enjoying coconut juice on the way back from teachings in Gyurme Tantic College.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is currently at Osel Labrang at Sera Monastery in South India. Rinpoche will be attending His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Jangchup Lamrim Teachings from December 20 through January 1 at near-by Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. This special set of lam-rim teachings is organized by His Eminence the 7th Ling Rinpoche, whose predecessor was His Holiness’ senior tutor and one of Rinpoche’s gurus.

The Jangchup Lamrim Teachings will include a long life puja to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. You are welcome to make a contribution to FPMT’s official offering: https://fpmt.org/projects/fpmt/long-life-puja/

Ven. Roger Kunsang, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s assistant and CEO of FPMT Inc., shares Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent pith sayings on Ven. Roger’s Twitter page. (You can also read them on Ven. Roger’s Facebook page.)

More information, photos and updates about FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche can be found on Rinpoche’s webpage. If you’d like to receive news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche via email, sign up to receive FPMT News.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at Kopan Monastery, December 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“As I mentioned already one morning during one of the morning motivations, even heavy diseases like cancer and AIDS, all those heavy problems, become much more beneficial than a powerful retreat of many hundreds of thousands of Vajrasattva mantras, those luxury, comfortable retreats with ego,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche says in Cherishing Others: The Heart of Dharma, the fourth volume in a Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive series drawn from the 24th Kopan course in 1991. 

“… If we are experiencing the problem on behalf of even one sentient being, it becomes incredible purification. It purifies many eons, many lifetimes, so many lifetimes’ negative karma. The stronger compassion we feel for even one sentient being, that itself becomes like tantra, very quick – in that sense it’s like tantra – not so much by the sense of those particular tantric meditations, like the extremely subtle clear light and illusory body – not in the nature of those paths, but in the sense of, like the tantra path, it’s a quick path. In a short time we purify an unimaginable amount of obscurations and accumulate an unbelievable, extensive amount of merit.”

Find Cherishing Others: The Heart of Dharma on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: http://bit.ly/cherishing-others

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.

Very large Guru Rinpoche thangka at Kopan Nunnery, Nepal, December 4, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

On the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the monks and nuns of Kopan organized a spur-of-the-moment event, which included the display of a gigantic Guru Rinpoche thangka; 100,000 tsog offerings; and a puja and cham (ritual dance) of wrathful Guru Rinpoche. Lama Zopa Rinpoche invited Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, a long-time friend and a well-known Nyingma lama, to serve as ritual master for the event.

Despite not having time to send invitations, the puja and cham were very well attended. Word of mouth brought hundreds of Tibetans, Sherpas and Nepalis from the Kathmandu area to the event. Hundreds of Kopan’s monks and nuns attended as well. The energy at the event was very strong and moving.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche (center) with Kontsak Rinpoche (left) and Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi (right), Kopan Nunnery, Nepal, December 4, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche said this puja was extremely important for Nepal at this time. The country is facing incredible hardship due to an Indian blockade that is stopping fuel, medicines and some food from entering the country in combination with winter’s arrival and the continued recovery from the April earthquake.

Rinpoche had been at Kopan Monastery to teach at the Kopan course. The very large Guru Rinpoche thangka had just arrived in Kathmandu and Rinpoche unexpectedly decided to do the special puja. The thangka was hung at the nunnery, which was the only place that has enough room. Rinpoche was very pleased with the thangka, which is 75 feet (23 meters) high and 87 feet (27 meters) wide, and was sponsored by the Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhichitta Fund.

The puja was dedicated to remove all the obstacles in Nepal as well as stop all the conflicts in the world, especially in the Middle East. 

Thousands of Kopan monks and nuns as well as local Sherpas, Tibetans and Nepalis attended the event, Kathmandu, Nepal, December 4, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

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 teaching during the Kopan course, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“Developing the mind in the path to enlightenment, finding faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, in reincarnation and karma – even to have some faith in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, even to have some faith in reincarnation and karma, is a kind of realization. Comparatively, even to have some faith is a kind of realization,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche says in Cherishing Others: The Heart of Dharma, the fourth volume in a Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive series drawn from the 24th Kopan course in 1991. 

“It’s not easy. It takes time, and you need a lot of purification. You need to purify the obstacles. It depends on how many obstacles there are from the side of each sentient being, so it takes time.

“As I mentioned just before, I’m not sure about the Buddhadharma, but you can practice Dharma. I’m not sure about Buddhadharma, but you can practice Dharma. With this positive attitude of universal responsibility, which is the meaning of the life, it’s still practicing Dharma. If you can live life with this attitude, then so much of the work in that one day becomes Dharma, the cause of happiness.”

Find Cherishing Others: The Heart of Dharma on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: http://bit.ly/cherishing-others

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 teaching at the Kopan Course, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

“Whether you have time for practice or meditation or not, or to do prayers, mainly depends on your interest,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche says in Cherishing Others: The Heart of Dharma, the fourth volume in a Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive series drawn from the 24th Kopan course in 1991. “If your interest is more in parties or watching TV and other things like this, there’s a lot of time for those things. You find a lot of time for sleeping, for talking, for gossiping and things like this but you can’t find time to recite even one mala of a mantra or do one meditation on the lam-rim. It’s basically a question of which one you have more interest in.

“It’s not that time is truly existent. It’s not that it’s coming from the side of time. It’s a question of interest. It’s a question of how important you feel it is to help other sentient beings, with bodhichitta. It depends on how much you feel renunciation, renouncing the suffering of samsara, is important or how much you feel the meditations on impermanence and death, the lower realms and so on, are important. It depends on that.”

Find Cherishing Others: The Heart of Dharma on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: http://bit.ly/cherishing-others

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 cutting the cake offered for his 70th birthday at Kopan Nunnery, Nepal, December 3, 2015

All of Kopan Monastery and Nunnery’s monks and nuns offered Lama Zopa Rinpoche a cake and sang “Happy Birthday” to Rinpoche. Originally, they wanted to come up and offer a khata to Rinpoche, but Rinpoche said instead that he would go to Kopan Nunnery and offer an oral transmission to them. There, he offered an oral transmission of “Calling the Guru from Afar” and the “Four Mindfulnesses.”

Celebration of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s 70th birthday, Kopan Nunnery, December 3, 2015

The small monks also sang “Happy Birthday.” Rinpoche cut the cake, saying the knife was like a wisdom sword cutting ignorance. Rinpoche did extensive offering practice. Then all the Kopan monks and nuns were offered a piece of cake. All of the Kopan November course students also offered Rinpoche a birthday cake, but they could not have any as they all had taken precepts.

Rinpoche arriving at Kopan Nunnery for the birthday celebration, Nepal, December 3, 2015

Learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and Rinpoche’s vision for a better world. Sign up to receive news and updates.