Category Archives: Compassion and Bodhicitta

The Importance of Compassion

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Introductory, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

There are many different kinds of Dharma practice— hundreds of different mantras to recite, all kinds of meditation—but the most important of them all is the practice of compassion.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses how no matter how you lead your daily life—in retreat, studying Dharma, chanting sadhanas, reciting mantras or putting in long hours at the office—if you never let compassion leave your mind, if you constantly keep in mind the thought of benefiting others, everything you do becomes work for the welfare of others. These teachings were given during a four-day course at Tilopa Center, Decatur, Illinois, in August, 1997 and published in the LYWA free book, Virtue and Reality, edited by Nicholas Ribush.

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Why Are There Different Instructions?

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lamrim (Path to Enlightenment)

When you read different teachings, you might get confused because they look contradictory. One teaching says you must never do something, then another teaching says you must do that. The difference is in the level of development of the mind.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how karma becomes negative or positive based not on the action but on the mind. A bodhisattva whose mind cherishes others can take actions that appear negative because they are motivated by the mind of enlightenment. But when we are motivated by self-cherishing, we must abandon such negative actions. Rinpoche gave these teachings during a lamrim course at Maitreya Instituut, Emst, in August 1990. You can read along with the transcript on our website.

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Practicing Compassion

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Compassion makes everything sweet, rich, meaningful, worthwhile, and the cause of enlightenment.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

This month on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive podcast, Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses the all-pervasive importance of compassion. These teachings were given by Rinpoche at Deer Park Buddhist Center in Madison, Wisconsin, July, 1999. You can also listen along with the transcript on our website.

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Ignore Karma at Your Own Peril

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Dharma in Daily Life, Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

When the subject of karma is missing, there’s no understanding that harming others means harming oneself. 

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche considers how Western psychology lacks an understanding of karma and discusses how it is not enough for a patient to attain superficial happiness if the deeper cause of suffering remains untreated. These teachings were given during a lamrim course led by Rinpoche at Maitreya Instituut, Emst, The Netherlands, in August 1990. You can also read along with the transcript on our website.

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How to Deal with Difficult Situations

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Dharma in Daily Life, Emptiness, Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The minute you accept your own karma, you cut the problem. You have to accept your own karma.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

As Lama Yeshe once said, “Once a situation has manifested, the best thing to do is to accept the fact and deal with it.” Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how we can use such challenging situations to develop compassion and to cut the root of concepts. These teachings were given at the Thirty-third Kopan Meditation Course, held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in 2000.

Please note: Personal safety and self-care are paramount, and if you or someone you know is experiencing any form of violence and abuse, please seek help from a suitable service in your region to develop a safety plan. If engagement with these teachings brings underlying issues in relation to past abuse to the surface, we recommend that you seek professional support.

 

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The Meaning of OM MANI PADME HUM

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Oral Transmission, Sutras, Mantras and Root Texts

All existence are condensed into two truths. MANI signifies the truth for all-obscuring mind, the dependent arising, and PADME is the truth for the absolute wisdom, the emptiness. Then HUM is the unification of dependent arising and emptiness.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

In this month’s podcast, Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains the meaning of the mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM, and then offers an oral transmission of the Long Chenrezig Mantra. These teachings were given in Singapore, in January 1993. You can read along with the transcript on our website.

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Covering The Whole Earth

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Once your inner enemy of delusion is destroyed, it is the same as if all outside enemies have been destroyed in one instant.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

This month on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive podcast, Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how to protect ourselves from anger and expands upon the mind of loving kindness. These teachings were given by Rinpoche at the Thirty-third Kopan Meditation Course, held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in 2000. You can follow along with the transcript on our website.

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Where to Find Happiness

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Dharma in Daily Life, Introductory, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Nature of the Mind

Happiness comes from a positive attitude and action motivated by that.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

This month on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive podcast, Lama Zopa Rinpoche answers a student’s question about the relationship between the mind and the heart when practicing bodhichitta, how to be authentic in the practice of compassion, and where to locate happiness. This teaching was given by Rinpoche in 1990 in Boston, Massachusetts and was hosted by Kurukulla Center. You can also watch Rinpoche give these teachings on the LYWA YouTube channel.

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Our Practice Is Like A Seed

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lamrim (Path to Enlightenment), Purification

The meditation practice is like the seed. The actual body of meditation, the practice, that is like the seed and purifying the hindrances and the accumulation of merit are like the soil and water.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains why we must prepare the ground of our mind with merit accumulation and karmic purification so that the seeds of our practice of listening, contemplation, and meditation can grow into realizations on the path to attain enlightenment for the sake of all mother sentient beings. These teachings were given by Rinpoche at Manjushri Institute, Cumbria, England, August 16-24, 1979.

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The Loving Compassionate Precious Thought for Enlightenment

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Even giving just one single tiny grain of rice to one single sentient being will accumulate infinite merit when you are motivated to give by the precious wish to attain enlightenment to benefit numberless sentient beings.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses the power and importance of the precious bodhicitta during teachings on Geshe Langri Tangpa’s Eight Verses of Thought Transformation, given at Manjushri Institute, Cumbria, England, August 16-24, 1979. Read along with the transcript on the LYWA website.

 

 

 

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