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Lama Zopa Rinpoche News and Advice
Lama Zopa Rinpoche doing morning prayers in Moscow, Russia, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
On July 1, Ven. Roger Kunsang shared this from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who was at the time teaching in Moscow, on his Twitter page:
“Lama Zopa; the chronic disease we have had since beginning less time is the self cherishing mind, put the blame on it and destroy this demon.”
Recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings from Moscow, Russia, organized by Ganden Tendar Ling, can be watched on FPMT’s Livestream page as can Rinpoche’s upcoming teachings from the Netherlands.
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.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking during celebrations honoring his 80th birthday at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, HP, India on June 21, 2015. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL via dalailama.com.
An inspiring number of celebrations of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday are taking place around the world.
On June 21 in Dharamsala, India, a huge long-life ceremony was offered to His Holiness. Dalailama.com wrote, “At 8 o’clock His Holiness was escorted from the gates of his residence up to the Tsuglagkhang [the main Tibetan temple], where he greeted the assembled guests and took his seat on the throne. Seated before on a line of thrones were the leaders of the Tibetan spiritual traditions: to the right, Sakya Daktri Rinpoche, Menri Khen Rinpoche, Gyalwang Karmapa, Drikung Chetsang Rinpoche, Taglung Shabdrung Rinpoche, and to the left Ganden Tri Rinpoche, Katok Getse Rinpoche and a representative of the Drukchen Rinpoche. Behind them sat abbots and retired abbots of the great monasteries.”
Drolkar McCallum, FPMT North America regional coordinator, waits with others to be part of the procession of offerings during the long life ceremony for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dharamsala, India, June 21, 2015
The long-life offering was presented by the Central Tibetan Administration, the Domay Community and the Gelug International Foundation and presided over by Sakya Daktri Rinpoche. “During the ceremony the Tse-ring Che-nga and Nechung Oracles appeared separately in trance. They each paid their respects to His Holiness and gathered spiritual and political leaders together in front of him to say prayers,” Dalailama.com reported.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended the ceremony. FPMT North America regional coordinator Drolkar McCallum was also there and was part of the procession of offerings. Drolkar shared that she “had the honor of offering texts to His Holiness! What a thrill!”
Following the long-life ceremony in Dharamsala, there was the 1st Gelug International Conference, of which Lama Zopa Rinpoche attended the first day. Delegates to the meeting, which included many high lamas and other representatives of the Gelug tradition, discussed preserving the Gelug tradition in the future. His Holiness attended the final session of the conference.
Photos of the Gelug International Conference are on Dalailama.com. Radio Free Asia has a report on the conference in Tibetan and you can see video from the conference on Tibet Online TV.
Beginning of the Gelug international Conference in Dharamsala. Ganden Tri Rinpoche in the center, Ganden Jangtse Choje Rinpoche and Ganden Shartse Rinpoche to left, and Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay to the right, Dharamsala, India, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Tibetan prime minister Lobsang Sangay addressing the Gelug conference, Dharamsala, India, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
On June 28, His Holiness was in the UK and attended the Glastonbury Music Festival. His Holiness gave a talk to 8,500 and participated in a panel on climate change. He then went on the main stage with American singer Patti Smith and had a crowd of more than 120,000 sing him “Happy Birthday.” Geshe Tashi, the resident teacher at Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London, accompanied His Holiness on stage.
The International Campaign for Tibet is reporting that Tibetans in Tibet are also celebrating His Holiness’ birthday despite Chinese repression.
They report Tibetan man in Amdo saying: “In the summer, Tibetans often take picnics out to the grasslands, away from the urban areas where they are more easily observed by the authorities. So most of the celebrations of the birthday took place in these areas, with friends, family, the local community gathering with large photographs of His Holiness or thangkas of the Bodhisattva of compassion displayed on makeshift thrones with offerings of seasonal fruit, with songs and dances connected to the 80th birthday year.” For more, including photos, see ITC’s report.
ITC also reports that Germany has issued a commemorative postage stamp recognizing His Holiness’ 80th birthday.
Former U.S. President George W. Bush offered His Holiness a birthday cake during a luncheon, which was part of His Holiness’ visit to Texas, U.S., on July 1.
Many video tributes have been created for His Holiness’ birthday, including a short video by the Central Tibetan Administration and the Cambodian Children’s Fund.
Shambala Sun magazine is creating a commemorative issue for His Holiness’ 80th birthday. And there are many more activities and event schedule for this weekend and the following weeks and months of the next year.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, along with Patti Smith, waving to the crowd of over 120,000 at the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in Glastonbury, Somerset, UK on June 28, 2015. Photo/Jeremy Russell/OHHDL via dalailama.com.
Next week, we’ll share stories on how FPMT centers, projects and services are celebrating His Holiness’ 80th birthday. We’ll also look back at the history of His Holiness and FPMT.
FPMT.org shares news of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like our news updates, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching in a park in Moscow, Russia, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Many Russian FPMT students are meeting Lama Zopa Rinpoche for the first time, while he is in Moscow. Others are only seeing him again after many years. Rinpoche’s teachings there, which began on June 30, have been well attended.
As interest in Buddhism continues to grow in Russia, resources in Russian are also increasing. The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive offers several teachings by Lama Yeshe and other Tibetan Buddhist masters translated into Russian. Links to these free PDFs can be found on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Russian translations page. FPMT currently offers Russian translations of the Vajra Cutter Sutra and also the Sutra of Golden Light.
Live streaming and recordings of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings from Moscow, organized by Ganden Tendar Ling, can be found on FPMT’s Livestream 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 Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching in Moscow, Russia, June 30, 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
On June 27, Ven. Roger Kunsang shared this from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who is currently teaching in Moscow, on his Twitter page:
“Lama Zopa; Kadampa geshes say … Think far, long term, very extensive study with big mind, at same time relaxed, not squeezed.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings from Moscow, Russia, organized by Ganden Tendar Ling, can be watch live and recorded on FPMT’s Livestream page.
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 Lama Zopa Rinpoche News.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering impromptu teaching to students in park, Moscow, Russia, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is teaching at Ganden Tendar Ling, the FPMT center in Moscow, Russia, beginning with a public talk “How to Find Peace” on June 30.
You can watch Rinpoche teach live on FPMT’s Livestream page for the teachings in Russia:
http://livestream.com/FPMT/russia2015
Rinpoche’s teaching on July 1-2 on the “Three Principles of the Path” will also be webcast live. And the preliminary teachings before the Great Medicine Buddha initiation on July 3-5 are also tentatively planned to be webcast.
Details on the specific schedule for these teachings will be posted as soon as possbile on the FPMT Livestream page for the Russia events.
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 praying in front of a statue of Buddha at a Hindu holy place near Rajgir, India, March 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
“… Problems in life arise because we look at things in a way that is opposite to reality, to the way things actually exist. This itself is the problem,” Lama Zopa Rinpoche said in a teaching on mind training in Switzerland in 1990, recently posted on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. “Our view, in which we believe, is a projection that is not the reality. We create our own view of everything: subject, action, object; friend, enemy, stranger; possessions, friends, our body. Our view is the opposite to reality, and this is our basic problem. Our way of looking at everything is the fundamental problem, and this then brings many other problems and much confusion into our life.
“Looking at everything in the wrong way, not being aware of the way in which things actually exist, is the basic cause of confusion in life. On the basis of this, all our many problems are built up, such as relationship problems—or, even if you live alone, you then have problems of loneliness and depression. Meditation is the real psychological method to stop wrong conceptions and to bring the correct way of thinking that leads to peace, happiness, and harmony. Meditation is a profound psychological technique. Meditating on lam-rim—on bodhichitta or emptiness, for example—is like destroying the root of a poisonous plant so that it cannot produce seeds and grow again and again, and cause a lot of harm. Or like eradicating the HIV-virus before it manifests as AIDS, in the form of more and more infections. Meditating on the path in order to achieve the fully awakened state of enlightenment is a profound psychological method.
“Meditation sounds like some kind of religious term, but actually it is the deepest practice of psychology. Meditation protects the mind from wrong ways of thinking and keeps it aware of reality. Meditation keeps the mind in method and wisdom. Method means loving kindness, compassion, and so forth. You keep your mind in a state of loving kindness by being aware of how others are kind and in a state of compassion by being aware of how others are suffering. Wisdom means being aware of reality. The practice of meditation is actually the best psychology. …”
You can read the complete teaching “Thought Transformation in Daily Life” at:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/thought-transformation-daily-life
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.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche chatting with Richard Gere, during His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to the Blue Mountains, Australia, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has had a busy month of travel. Rinpoche visited and taught at several FPMT centers in Australia before traveling to Dharamsala, India, to attend the long life puja for His Holiness the Dalai Lama on June 21. The long life puja was part of a celebration of His Holiness’ 80th Birthday.
Rinpoche has now arrived in Russia, where he will be teaching at Ganden Tendar Ling in Moscow through July 6. From Russia, Rinpoche travels to The Netherlands, where he will teach at Maitreya Institute, Loenen.
You can watch Rinpoche’s teachings from Australia in June at:
http://livestream.com/FPMT/au2015
Rinpoche’s teachings from his visit to New Zealand in May are available on our Rinpoche Available Now page:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/
You can learn more about Rinpoche’s schedule at:
https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/schedule/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Khadro-la, Lama Yeshe’s room, Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamsala, India, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived in Dharamsala, India last week for the long life puja and celebration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday. The long life puja was on June 21.
Before the events, Rinpoche met with Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) at Tushita Meditation Centre. During the visit, Rinpoche showed Khadro-la his implements for saving insects. Ven. Roger Kunsang shared that Khadro-la was really thrilled seeing the attention put into saving insects compassionately and thoughtfully. The insect are not only saved, but blessed by the mantras on the insect liberation tools.
The FPMT Foundation Store sells a slightly different cardstock version of these animal liberation tools. You can find advice from Rinpoche on insects on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with canine friend, Adelaide, Australia, May 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
During a teaching in Florence, Italy, in 1990, Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught on tong-len and other topics. Here’s an excerpt from this teaching, recently published on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.
“… Everyone wants happiness and does not want suffering. It is for this reason that some people spend their life doing retreat or studying the path, or going to school and then university to get a degree in order to find a job and have a comfortable, happy life without any problems. These things are done with the aim to have a happy life with wealth, power, reputation and so forth. Looking for happiness, you may sit in meditation in your house at certain times each day. However, when there is a problem in our life we have to apply the real meditation, the real Dharma, the real spiritual practice. When we have a problem, that is the time we really have to use meditation. The purpose of doing all these things, sitting in meditation every day, is to help us when we meet difficulties in our life. It benefits us at that time.
“Now, problems don’t come from outside, but from your own mind. From your own side you have looked at the situation as a problem, so it appears to you as a problem. First you look at the situation as a problem, so it then appears to be a problem. How does this happen? You look at the situation as a problem by labeling it, ‘This is a problem.’ When you interpret the situation as a problem and then label it as such, your life situation appears to be a problem. Because you see it as difficult, it appears to be difficult. That is how the problem comes from your own mind. There is no external problem. You made up the problem.
“When you have a problem, for example, some disease, think of all the other people with much greater problems than you, with more serious diseases. By thinking of others with greater problems, you don’t feel so much depression and fear. You feel happier because you don’t have such a heavy disease as those others. Even if you are poor and cannot afford a luxurious, comfortable life, think of those who have a much harder life, who are dying of starvation. You then feel very fortunate that you don’t have such great problems. When you compare your situation with the problems of others like this, you feel happier. When you look only at your present problem, you think it is so great. Even though it is actually a small problem, you make it big. You think, ‘This is unbearable!’ and make it huge. In this way it makes you depressed, more and more unhappy, with more worry and fear. You can see that with an unskillful way of thinking there is unhappiness; with a skillful way of thinking, there is immediate happiness. So, your own mind creates the happiness; your own mind stops the worry, depression and so forth. With your own mind you can do that. …”
You can find the teaching “Taking the Suffering of Others” at:
https://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=1055&chid=2599#sthash.L3atZABj.dpuf
Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Geshe Samten, the resident teacher at Vajrayana Institute, Sydney, Australia, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave the following advice to a student who had written to him about having hypothyroidism and a food addiction and needing to loss weight.
“… If you want to benefit other sentient beings, to free them from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to peerless happiness and omniscient mind, then you have to reveal Dharma to them. So you need to learn Dharma and practice Dharma, and for that you need a long life and to be healthy, so don’t eat sugar. You know it is harming your health, so why do you eat sugar? That’s ridiculous. If possible, abandon sugar for awhile. If not, then at least cut it down to a very small amount. Make the amount of sugar very, very small or don’t eat it for some years.
“Then about meat, I would like to say, please reduce eating meat, as it does so much harm to others and even to one’s own body. This is not just belief, it’s now even accepted scientifically. If you can avoid meat, it’s so good. Wow, wow, wow! All the buddhas and bodhisattvas will be so happy with you, just as a mother loves her beloved child, cherishing her child so much. When her child does something good that makes the mother so unbelievable happy.
“So if possible, abandon meat or cut down eating meat. The conclusion is that if less people eat meat, that means more animals won’t suffer from being killed. That’s the benefit, so please think about this. Don’t think about the pleasure of eating [meat] without thinking about reincarnation, karma and the lower realms. Instead of just thinking about the pleasure of eating meat, think about the suffering of the animals when they are being killed, and think of yourself being at the butcher’s place, about to be killed. How does that feel? If you’re about to be killed, like the animals, how does that feel? Do you like that?
“So if you really think Dharma is to not harm sentient beings, then don’t eat meat, or at least eat very little. Not eating meat is OK. So many young people in the West don’t eat meat and are still healthy; they can supplement their diet with other things. So many people [are vegetarian] now, young and old, and its increasing more and more. …”
In Rinpoche’s letter he also gave advice on taking tsog offerings and purification practices that can be done. You can read Rinpoche’s complete advice on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: http://bit.ly/a-healthy-diet
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.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche and a cute canine friend, Adelaide, Australia, May 2015. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunsang.
On May 31, Ven. Roger Kunsang shared this from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings at Buddha House in Adelaide, Australia, on his Twitter page:
Lama Zopa: The main thing for resolving problems is to stop thinking they come from outside, they come from inside … wrong way of thinking.
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.)
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings at Buddha House and at several other Australian FPMT centers can be watched now on FPMT’s Livestream page.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at a Minh Dang Quang Temple, a Vietnamese temple in Sydney Western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, June 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote this letter to a student who had just become a nun:
My most dear, precious, kind, wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you for your kind email, I am sorry for the long delay.
You becoming a nun is unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable … thank you a billion, zillion times. Thank you very much. Try to know the vows and live in the vows – that is the foundation for all the path to enlightenment. That is the basis for the bodhisattva vows and the bodhisattva vows are the foundation for the tantric vows. The bodhisattva vows are to achieve enlightenment for numberless sentient beings, to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to full enlightenment. The tantric vows are to achieve full enlightenment as quickly as possible, even in one lifetime in degenerate times, and so you can enjoy life. This is the way to make life most happy and beneficial for all sentient beings.
Thank you very much.
With much love and prayers,
Lama Zopa
Scribed by Ven. Sarah Thresher, Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, March 2015. Edited by Mandala for inclusion on FPMT.org.
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.