Lama Zopa Rinpoche full length teachings

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:00 Rinpoche explains the benefits and meanings of several mantras: mantras for blessing the speech, Chenrezig mantra, and other mantras. By reciting these mantras, the negative karma of anyone who sees, touches oneself or hears one's voice gets purified.

01:05:35 Rinpoche leads the practice of Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga.

Find out more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, his teachings and projects at https://fpmt.org/

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:00 Lama Zopa Rinpoche leads the motivation for the practice of Confession of a Bodhisattva's Downfalls to the Thirty-Five Buddhas.

00:10:45 Rinpoche does the practice of Confession of a Bodhisattva's Downfalls to the Thirty-Five Buddhas with students.

Find out more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, his teachings and projects at https://fpmt.org/

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:01:45 Rinpoche leads a reflection on the nature of samsara and three types of suffering.

00:08:03 Why do we need to take refuge in the Three Jewels? Guru, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha have the perfect power and qualities to liberate oneself and all sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and its causes.

00:27:22 The four immeasurable thoughts - equanimity, loving kindness, compassion and joy - is a preliminary practice...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:59 Reading Lamrim prayer leaves a positive imprint of the whole path to enlightenment in a few minutes.

00:27:45 Rinpoche tells how deity retreats have been set up. Rinpoche included certain prayers and specific dedications to be recited at the end of each session. The most common prayers recited during deity retreats are King of Prayers, Prayer to Be Reborn in the Land of Bliss, Prayer for the Flourishing of Je Tsongkhapa’s...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:01 Rinpoche tells about the meaning of negation in the Heart Sutra. "No" doesn't mean that things do not exist, it is negating the way phenomena appear - as truly existent from their own side. Understanding this point helps not to fall into extremes of nihilism and eternalism.

00:10:05 How to avoid the mistake from the very beginning of your analysis by identifying the correct object of refutation - gak-cha.

00:33:00...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:01 To receive the jenang (permission to practice) of a deity from the four-class Tantra, one needs to first receive the initiation of that class of Tantra.

00:06:31 Even though one has received a precious human body, it can be stained by desire, carelessness, laziness, sleep, gossiping, and seeking offerings and respect. This leads to wasting the precious human body on meaningless activities.

00:10:34 To take the essence of the perfect...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:01 The Migtsema prayer, composed by Lama Tsongkhapa, is the king of prayers that embodies the essence of the 84,000 teachings of the Buddha.

00:33:40 At Lama Tsongkhapa's birthplace Kumbum, a tree grew from his birth blood with 100,000 images of Manjushri and mantras on its leaves, indicating he is the emanation of Manjushri.

00:37:44 Before Lama Tsongkhapa's birth, his mother dreamt of a Chinese monk from Wutai Shan (Manjushri's holy place) dissolving...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:01 Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains the meaning of protector prayers and the motivation for doing protector prayers dedicating them for success in Dharma activities around the world for benefiting sentient beings.

00:11:04 The fundamental Buddhist philosophy is that happiness and suffering are created by one's own mind, not by others. One has complete freedom to stop suffering and achieve happiness up to enlightenment by changing how one thinks.

00:23:05 Dharma centers...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:01 The mind is obscured by many superstitious thoughts, like attachment, anger, and self-cherishing, which are based on grasping at an exaggerated object.

00:06:47 While everything is empty of true existence, the ignorance projects true existence onto phenomena, like wearing colored glasses that make everything appear a certain color. We then allow our mind to believe this hallucination is real.

00:14:52 Realizing emptiness helps generate strong compassion for sentient beings, seeing...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:07 Lama Tsongkhapa practiced Dharma and completed the path, unstained by the three types of worldly dharma: black worldly dharma, mixed worldly dharma, and white worldly dharma. This means unstained by attachment clinging to this life, unstained by self-cherishing thought, and unstained by ignorance, the concept holding true existence. Each time we rejoice, we create the cause to have Lama Tsongkhapa's qualities.

00:21:32 When saying "Lama Tsongkhapa", one must remember it refers...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:00 Rinpoche gives an extensive teaching on benefits of offerings. As taught by Manjushri to Lama Tsongkhapa, the quick path to enlightenment involves purifying obstacles, collecting merit, and one-pointedly requesting the guru’s blessings, and even offering one flower to a Buddha leads to the entire path to enlightenment and continues to bring benefit endlessly.

00:46:33 A life without compassion, even with a human body, is empty. Therefore, regardless of one’s leve...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:01 Our delusions have no beginning, so we cannot expect to achieve realizations or enlightenment quickly or easily. No one achieved enlightenment without hardships, without practicing three types of patience. We must plan to practice for many lifetimes.

00:42:38 There is a big difference between experiencing hardships to practice Dharma, which leads to happiness, versus experiencing temporary pleasure that results in future suffering.

00:45:44 We have died numberless times working for...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:01 Lama Zopa Rinpoche guides Lama Chopa practice.

00:09:15 Rinpoche guides taking refuge in the Guru and three precious gems to be protected from the sufferings of samsara and the lower realms. One should generate bodhicitta to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.

00:13:02 Rinpoche leads the motivation for the practice of Lama Chopa.

00:26:25 The prostration section of the seven limbs involves guru devotion meditation. The...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:01 Generate strong regretfulness to make negative karma thinner and limit its power. The more regretfulness generated, the more negative karma is purified.

00:01:09 Phenomena affect each other through dependent arising. Reciting the names of the 35 Buddhas has the power to purify many eons of negative karma due to the Buddhas' compassion and prayers.

00:04:12 The purpose of one's life is to free all sentient beings from suffering and its causes...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:01 Before beginning a deity retreat, generate the proper motivation. Remember the impermanence of life by reflecting on how great beings of the past have passed away, leaving only their teachings and stories behind.

00:16:57 No matter who we are, we will definitely die, perhaps even today. Use this awareness of impermanence and death to abandon negative karma and practice virtue.

00:37:00 If we died last night without having purified our...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:00 Preliminary prayers by students.

00:15:25 As realizations of the three principal aspects of the path are dependent on the root, the realization of the guru devotion, the guru yoga, Rinpoche will teach on Calling the Guru from Afar before going over the commentary to the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga.

00:28:48 Rinpoche mentions how important it is to correctly devote oneself to the guru and refers to the eight advantages of...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:36 Rinpoche emphasizes the urgent need to receive funding to complete the Maitreya Project statue and benefit sentient beings.

00:02:24 Rinpoche discusses the importance of supporting Sangha in various monasteries around the world by providing facilities, education, and food.

00:03:19 Building holy objects in different parts of the world is as an easy way to help sentient beings purify negative karma, collect merit, and achieve realizations on the path to enlightenment.<...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:54 Lama Zopa Rinpoche introduces Calling the Guru from Afar, a profound text by Phabongka Rinpoche that contains lamrim and tantric path.

00:02:53 Without a guru, one cannot achieve realizations and enlightenment, even if one knows many texts by heart. Devotion to the guru is the cause of receiving blessings and attaining realizations.

00:11:51 When devotion is lost, it becomes difficult to benefit the mind and have realizations, even from hearing...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:01:57 It is extremely important to practice Guru Yoga, which involves developing compassion, power, and wisdom. This enables one to do perfect work for all sentient beings.

00:27:23 By doing Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga practice, one establishes the root of all goodness and collections of merit in this and future lives up to enlightenment. It makes one's listening, reflecting and meditation practice very effective.

00:48:45 The Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga practice...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:00:00 Rinpoche leads the motivation and protector prayers.

00:26:00 Rinpoche gives a commentary on a quote from Lama Tsongkhapa about giving up the essenceless activities, like casting the husk, and practicing Dharma.

00:51:00 Rinpoche explains the meaning dag nyen - all sentient beings being one's kin.

00:57:35 From beginningless rebirths, every sentient being has cherished us more than themselves, especially when being our mother, suffering numberless times for our well-being...

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.

00:04:23 Lama Zopa Rinpoche thanks the organization and Lama Tsongkhapa Institute for providing the facilities and course.

00:08:46 To achieve enlightenment, we need to engage in both study and retreat. Dromtonpa explained, “While I am listening, I am reflecting. While I am reflecting, I meditate.” Listening, reflecting, and meditating should be practiced without separation.

00:16:15 Without learning and explanation, there is nothing to meditate on, except delusions. The more we practice, the...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continued his video teachings on thought  transformation from Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore in August.  Here is a summary Thought Transformation video #132, offered on August  14, 2022: Make your suffering into the best happiness, Rinpoche urges us. All of  the pain we face in life came from our mind—our self-cherishing thought  with attachment, anger, and ignorance harmed others and now we  experience the evolution of that. We can use our pain as a cause to  achieve enlightenment, not only for ourselves like taking drugs for our  benefit alone, but for all sentient beings. This is so important to  write down and...

The purpose of our life is not just to accumulate wealth or power. These pursuits alone cannot bring true satisfaction or happiness. In fact, the more we chase after material wealth without a good heart, the more we experience inner misery and dissatisfaction. Power, without the intention to benefit others, can be dangerous and lead to harm for oneself and others.

Fame and reputation also do not fulfil the purpose of human life. Despite achieving fame, many individuals experience unhappiness and even resort to suicide. This shows that fame alone does not bring inner peace and happiness...

Guru Puja (Lama Chöpa) encompasses the essence of both sutra and tantra. This practice is the quickest way to achieve enlightenment. Lama Zopa Rinpoche recommends studying His Holiness the Dalai Lama's commentary on Guru Puja, which provides a clear and effective explanation of this essential practice.

Taking vows, specifically the bodhisattva vow and tantric vows, helps eliminate obstacles and create conducive conditions for spiritual progress. While many people recite prayers and perform various practices, it is crucial to target the root of suffering, which is the delusions and, especially, the self-cherishing thought. All practices should aim t...

There is great positive transformation through the power of mantras, holy objects, and moral conduct. This power comes from the compassion of Buddha, who provided these methods for sentient beings to purify negative karma, accumulate merit, and progress on the path to enlightenment quickly. The more we understand the suffering of samsara, the more we can appreciate the kindness of Buddha in offering such methods for liberation.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains the power and benefits of various mantras, their ability to purify negative karma and lead beings towards enlightenment and the power of holy objects like statues...

The great bodhisattva Khunu Lama Rinpoche, a profound scholar and yogi had extensive knowledge of Buddhist scriptures and teachings. His Holiness the Dalai Lama received extensive commentary on the Bodhicharyavatara from him. Lama Zopa Rinpoche attributes the origins of FPMT chanting practices to Khunu Lama Rinpoche.

Khunu Lama Rinpoche's teachings became widely known, with people seeking blessings from him. His teachings for the monks at Kopan Monastery emphasized the need to tame their minds and the importance of lam-rim teachings in this process.

All teachings in Buddhism are meant to help us actualize wisdom, and...

We can precede the Chenrezig visualization by calming techniques and breathing exercises, reciting prayers and reflecting on the kindness of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. Buddha made immense sacrifices for the benefit of all sentient beings, practicing morality, charity, perseverance, concentration, and wisdom for three countless great eons.

Integrating Lam Rim meditation with deity meditation and mantra recitation can make the practice more powerful. Chanting serves as a form of meditation, giving us time to reflect and meditate on the teachings and carries blessings from enlightened beings and supports the arising of devotion, renunciation, compassion, and bodhicitta.

...

Our current bodies carry the seeds of disturbing thoughts and defilements, and they perpetuate samsara. The continuity of these aggregates, including consciousness, never breaks, constantly circling from one life to the next. The general suffering of samsara includes the impermanence of everything, the unsatisfactory nature of desires, and the inevitability of leaving our bodies behind.

Sentient beings have never experienced even a moment of true happiness in samsara because even samsaric pleasures are suffering. The overwhelming suffering experienced in samsara is due to misconceptions about the self and the attachment to impermanent and contaminated phenomena. These misconceptions...

Everything we perceive, from objects to colours, is a result of the mind labelling and imputing meanings onto them. By recognizing the imputed nature of phenomena and the contradiction between appearance and reality, we can prevent the mind from solidifying mistaken beliefs and contributing to delusion, attachment, and other negative emotions.

By focusing on wisdom and understanding the ultimate nature of things we can overcome the ignorance that perpetuates delusions and cultivate a more peaceful and compassionate mind. We should consistently cultivate the motivation to benefit others, similar to a loving mother caring for her child. This...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continued his video teachings on thought transformation from Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore in August and September, 2022. Here is a summary of the most recent teaching recorded on September 14, 2022:

By not harming others, we are creating the cause for peace in the future, Rinpoche explains. If we fight those who harm us in this life, it creates the cause to fight them again in future lives. This can go on for eons with no peace. Those who win create the cause to lose in the future, and those who lose create the case to win...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continued his video teachings on thought transformation from Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore in August and September. Here is a summary of the teaching offered on September 10, 2022:

During Rinpoche's September 3 teaching (#134: In Your Life as a Couple, Practice Good Heart), Rinpoche offered the oral transmission for Lama Tsongkhapa's Utilizing Suffering in the Path to Enlightenment. Rinpoche began giving commentary on this important thought transformation text in the September 7 teaching (#135: The Great Difference Between Taking and Not Taking Vows).

In this latest teaching from September 10, Rinpoche continues the commentary on Utilizing Suffering in th...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continued his video teachings on thought transformation from Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore in August and September. Here is a summary of the teaching offered on September 7, 2022:

The most important Dharma, Rinpoche teaches us, is compassion. If you are becoming kinder and more compassionate, this means you are practicing Dharma.

Rinpoche discusses the importance of taking vows. Our virtue is much more extensive after having taken vows than if we have not taken any. This is also true for the non-virtues: it is heavier negative karma for someone ordained to commit a...

For those of us living as a couple in relationships, we need to practice having a good heart. With body, speech, and mind, we have incredible opportunities to collect good karma. If we dedicate our own lives to serving others, to create happiness and reduce suffering in others, then we influence our companions to gradually do the same. This is really offering so much help to them, helping them to be free from samsara and attain enlightenment more quickly. Even if not thinking about enlightenment, even if not Buddhist, it is still very logical to practice a good heart...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continued his video teachings on thought transformation from Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore in August. Here is a summary of the teaching offered on August 16, 2022:

Rinpoche offers some of the history of how he began teaching courses at Kopan Monastery in Nepal and how the FPMT organization began (starting at 28:12).

Real happiness comes from a good heart, Rinpoche reminds us, not come from the outside. Using the example of Milarepa, who externally had nothing but had incredible realizations and inner peace and happiness, we can see that happiness comes from the mind...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continued his video teachings on thought transformation from Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore in August. Here is a summary of the teaching offered on August 13, 2022:

To live life as a couple, you need wisdom and compassion, Rinpoche teaches us. If we don't have this, life together is so much suffering, so many problems. This is due to thinking in the wrong way—with the self-cherishing thought and ignorance, which are the opposite of compassion and wisdom. Depending on how much compassion and wisdom a couple has developed is the degree to which they will be...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continued his video teachings on thought

transformation from Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore in August.

Here is a summary of the teaching offered on August 10, 2022:

It is very important to understand how anger destroys your happiness. By

getting angry at a bodhisattva, our merits are destroyed, we will be

reborn in hell, and realizations will be delayed. And by getting angry

at a buddha, even more merit is destroyed. Since we cannot tell who is a

bodhisattva and who is a buddha...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his video teachings on thought transformation from Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore at the request of Telo Tulku Rinpoche, Ganden Tendar Ling FPMT Buddhist Center, Aryadeva FPMT Study Group, and the Save Tibet Foundation in Russia. Here is a summary of his August 6, 2022 teaching:

Most of the world is suffering, Rinpoche reminds us. Whether rich or poor, there is suffering from disease; dangers of the elements such as earthquakes, floods, or fires; violence - the suffering of samsara is constant. Even science cannot stop these dangers. Dharma is the only way to be...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his video teachings on thought transformation. Here is a summary of a teaching given on June 26 from Kopan Monastery, Nepal, at the request of Telo Tulku Rinpoche, Ganden Tendar Ling FPMT Buddhist Center, Aryadeva FPMT Study Group, and the Save Tibet Foundation in Russia. 

The first kindness of sentient beings is that they are the source of all past, present, and future happiness including enlightenment, Lama Zopa Rinpoche reminds us. They are from whom we receive Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha and in whom we take refuge. A buddha comes from a bodhisattva. A b...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his video teachings on thought

transformation. Here is a summary of a teaching given on June 25 from

Kopan Monastery, Nepal, at the request of Telo Tulku Rinpoche, Ganden

Tendar Ling FPMT Buddhist Center, Aryadeva FPMT Study Group, and the

Save Tibet Foundation in Russia.

The foundation of thought transformation is to stop harming others,

Rinpoche explains. When anything undesirable happens to us, we believe

it came from outside, we never relate it to our own mind. If we didn’t

...

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his video teachings on thought

transformation from Kopan Monastery in Nepal, offered to students from

China and Malaysia via Zoom on June 13.

All of the 84,000 teachings of Buddha are included in the advice to not

harm sentient beings and to benefit them, Rinpoche explains. If we harm

sentient beings, we can’t benefit them. All of the suffering we

experience ourselves, as well as the suffering we cause others to

experience, is caused by our self-cherishing thought. Our worst enemy is