Lama Zopa Rinpoche full length teachings

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how to do the meditation with the requesting prayer. The way to meditate is to realize Guru Vajradhara, the Dharmakaya Buddha, as the root virtuous friend that embodies and pervades all the manifested billions of mandalas or deities. Rinpoche highlights that the purpose of our life is to free all sentient beings from suffering and cause them happiness. He says that work...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that if you are only seeking the happiness of this life, then you haven’t reached any of the three capacities of the lamrim. The attitude of just seeking the power, reputation, and wealth of this life is an ordinary capable being, not a special capable being. This is not different from the animals and insects. Rinpoche emphasizes that the meditations for the graduate path o...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche emphasizes the importance of first becoming clear about the extremely subtle dependent arising view that things exist merely in name (the Middle Way view). If this view is clear in your mind, then the rest becomes easy. If not, then you may get confused or fall into nihilism. Rinpoche gives instructions on how to meditate on this view. He explains the meaning of “form is empty”...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives the oral transmission (lung) of the Guru Puja. He explains that taking the oral transmission is important because it has the continuity of blessings from Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen, who completed the path to enlightenment. Rinpoche says that he received the transmission from a few lamas—His Holiness, of course, and also Trijang Rinpoche and Ling Rinpoche. Rinpoche expl...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins with a recap of the previous session’s topic: to always live life with a bodhicitta motivation. He cites the Kadampa geshes, who say that if we don’t do this, life will be a never-ending confession. This is because without bodhicitta, our mind will be self-centered and this causes other negative emotional thoughts (anger, attachment, jealousy, etc.) to arise. Then, we wil...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins with a reminder about the previous session’s discussion of how beneficial it is to recite the Buddha’s past bodhisattva life stories. He also talks about Lupa Rinpoche, a Nepalese lama who inspired many people to do nyung-näs and made a Dharma law that people could not kill animals in his past life. Regarding the Buddha’s past bodhisattva life stories, Lama Zopa Rinpoche...

This session begins with the Guru Puja offering practice, prayers, and mantras. During the recitation of the tong-len prayer, Lama Zopa Rinpoche advises us to pause and go over the outline of the bodhicitta techniques (either the seven-point cause and effect method or equalizing and exchanging the self with others). Rinpoche says that since bodhicitta is the most precious wish-fulfilling thought f...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche defines each of the three capacities of lamrim practitioners: lower, middling, and upper capacity beings. He advises that if we are only seeking happiness for this life, then we haven’t even reached the first capacity. Rinpoche stresses that such a person is not different from animals. Even animals are expert at seeking the happiness of this life by killing or cheating to get fo...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains the Guru Puja prayers and offerings. He begins by reminding us to cultivate the special bodhicitta motivation and visualize offering all the extensive offerings in front of us as well as those in all the FPMT center gompas worldwide. By offering these on behalf of every sentient being to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, it becomes a very powerful puja for all sentient be...

In explaining the general confession, Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that there are two types of regret. One type is useless because it only brings suffering; the other is positive as it leads to happiness. For example, if you feel regret after having done a virtuous action, it decreases the merit. Conversely, if you feel regret about a non-virtuous action, it weakens the negative karma. So, one way to p...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains that any happiness—temporary or up to enlightenment—depends on merit. Therefore, merit is incredibly precious. Rinpoche urges us to rejoice and feel happiness in our heart by recollecting all our past, present, and future merits. Each time we rejoice, the merit doubles. We should also rejoice in others’ merit. If we rejoice in the merits of a being whose mind is lower t...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses the extensive offerings that are being made at FPMT centers around the world and explains how to make charity by offering these on behalf of all sentient beings. In this way, every single offering becomes an offering from every single sentient being and they all gain merit. So, this becomes a great puja for the happiness of all sentient beings. Rinpoche says that each...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains the Lama Chöpa prayers, visualizations, and offerings. He mentions that this sort of explanation is not common within the Tibetan tradition, but for Westerners, he wants to provide some detail. Rinpoche says that the essential point is faith. If the prayers are recited with deep devotion, they become powerful. In this way, any mantra or prayer contains the complete path...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche takes us through a meditation on emptiness. He explains how everything appears inherently existent but is merely labelled by the mind and doesn’t have even an atom of true existence from its own side. Using various examples (the self, the five aggregates, actions, objects, phenomena, forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangible objects, colors, samsara, nirvana, lower realms, upper r...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche outlines how the Gyalwa Gyatso initiation integrates the stages of the graduated path for beings of lower, middling, and greater capacity. Rinpoche shows the parallels between each initiation and the path to enlightenment. For example, he explains how achieving the second initiation (the secret initiation) helps to achieve the illusory body, and the third initiation (the wisdom...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche details the deep meaning of the mudras and explains that the essence of the merit field is the absolute guru. There’s no deity separate from the guru. He reminds us of how precious it is to be born human and to hear the teachings. Yet, even once we hear them, there are still a lot of hardships. To understand and have faith depends on how much merit we’ve collected. For some, it’...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains why the first of the four-point analysis of emptiness—recognizing the object to be refuted—has unbelievable importance and has to come first. Without first recognizing the object to be refuted, you cannot do the other analyses. It is like recognizing the thief who has been harming you. After you recognize them, you can unleash weapons on them. You won’t shoot the wrong...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche highlights the importance of practicing Guru Puja (Lama Chöpa), as it integrates many important practices. He cites Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo, who stated that the Guru Puja practice contains all the importance of the complete sutra and tantra. He also mentioned how His Holiness Song Rinpoche often praised the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition by expressing how Gyalwa Ensapa was different...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains that the meaning of our life or the purpose of our life is to benefit other sentient beings, to free others from suffering and to cause happiness to others. Bringing them ultimate happiness, liberation is the most important service for you to offer. This is the greatest service, the most important service to other sentient beings. There are an inconceivable number of se...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how, through making requests from your heart to the root guru and the three-time buddhas and receiving the blessing of the guru, it’s possible to see the conventional nature of the mind and achieve clarity. To see the ultimate nature of the mind, it depends on collecting merits and purifying defilements. That is the only direct method to liberate oneself from the unimag...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses the significance of engaging in wholesome actions that bring peace and happiness to oneself and others. The key to achieving this is by subduing and taming the mind, by protecting it from negative emotions such as self-cherishing, anger, jealousy, and pride. A selfish mind will not lead to happiness and success in life, but rather it will cause problems and make enemie...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses the significance of engaging in wholesome actions that bring peace and happiness to oneself and others. The key to achieving this is by subduing and taming the mind, by protecting it from negative emotions such as self-cherishing, anger, jealousy, and pride. A selfish mind will not lead to happiness and success in life, but rather it will cause problems and make enemie...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses the significance of engaging in wholesome actions that bring peace and happiness to oneself and others. The key to achieving this is by subduing and taming the mind, by protecting it from negative emotions such as self-cherishing, anger, jealousy, and pride. A selfish mind will not lead to happiness and success in life, but rather it will cause problems and make enemie...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave this teaching at Tara Institute, Melbourne on June 2, 2006. In this first part Lama Zopa Rinpoche touched on the topics such as emptiness according to Svatantrika view, the unification of emptiness and dependent arising and searching for real I. He recounted the history of how Lama Atisha came to Tibet and how to integrate three levels of teachings. You can see all the teac...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that if you are only seeking the happiness of this life, then you haven’t reached any of the three capacities of the lamrim. The attitude of just seeking the power, reputation, and wealth of this life is an ordinary capable being, not a special capable being. This is not different from the animals and insects. Rinpoche emphasizes that the meditations for the graduate path o...