Category Archives: Dharma in Daily Life

This Precious Human Rebirth

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Dharma in Daily Life, Introductory, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Perfect Human Rebirth

It is amazing how even within a minute, even in each second, eating, walking, sitting, sleeping, wow, what you can do with this precious human body by understanding and practicing the Dharma.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche celebrates our perfect human rebirth and encourages us to bring every single moment in our life into the path to enlightenment. Rinpoche gave these teachings prior to a chöd initiation at Maitripa College, Portland, Oregon, in June 2009. You can read along with the transcript on our website.

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Karma in Everyday Life

Dharma in Daily Life, Emptiness, Introductory, Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

We are released from confusion while we are aware of the reality of things.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche encourages us to live our life with a mind that is aware of the reality of things so that we avoid the confusion that leads to negative karma. Rinpoche also recites in English the Heart Sutra and Lama Tsongkhapa’s lamrim text The Foundation of All Good Qualities. These teachings were given by Rinpoche during a lamrim course hosted by Maitreya Instituut in August, 1990. You can read along with the transcript on our website.

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The Essence of the Dharma

Dharma in Daily Life, Emptiness, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Sutras, Mantras and Root Texts

The essence of the Dharma is to subdue one’s mind by taming the disturbing, obscuring, emotional thoughts that bring so much suffering to yourself and to others, from life to life.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

In this teaching from the 33rd Kopan Course in 2000, Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses the classic Buddhist instruction “Engage in the perfect wholesome action. Subdue one’s own mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha.” Rinpoche then leads us in the ultimate exercise to subdue the mind: a contemplation of emptiness. Read along with a transcript of these teachings on our website here.

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Everything Depends on Your Mind

Dharma in Daily Life, Emptiness, Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

As Buddha said, you are your own enemy or you are your own liberator. You can create a hell realm or you can create enlightenment. Everything depends on what you do with your mind.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

In these 2000 teachings given during the 33rd Kopan Course, Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how everything is merely imputed by the mind and then shows how this wisdom can enable us to transform all karmic appearances into happiness. You can read along with the full transcript at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/day-2-emptiness-everything-comes-mind

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The Urgency of Realizing Lamrim

Benefiting Animals, Compassion and Bodhicitta, Death and Transitions, Dharma in Daily Life, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Introductory, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lamrim (Path to Enlightenment), Perfect Human Rebirth, Renunciation

So we’re going to destroy, to totally cease, make it completely non-existent, this enemy, this inner enemy, this delusion, this demon, this self-cherishing thought that harms, that has been harming you, torturing you, and all the time, giving you problem all the time, even this life.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives this introductory teaching during a lamrim retreat at Vajrapani Institute in 2006. In this session Rinpoche impresses upon us the urgent importance of concentrating all our efforts on realizing the stages of the path to enlightenment for ourselves and all sentient beings. Read along with the transcript on our website.

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The Dharma Will Protect Us

Dharma in Daily Life, Introductory, Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

How to live the life? First your attitude becomes Dharma. Then with that attitude one lives the life, one does the works, one does the activities.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche observes that we think we can rely on purification practices to deal with our negative karma. Rinpoche warns us against relying too much on purification because it must be done perfectly to be effective. Rinpoche then directs our attention to the suffering realms around us and explains that in order to resist our karmic tendency to accumulate such causes of suffering, our main effort should be focused on living our lives according to the Dharma. These teachings were given by Rinpoche in Sydney, Australia in 1993. Follow along with the transcript on our website at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/purification-karma

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The Label Is Not Enough

Dharma in Daily Life, Introductory, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Renunciation

Do not be confused by people who try to disprove the existence of objects of faith like reincarnation or karma by simply labeling them as nonexistent.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche addresses how some people try to disprove the existence of reincarnation and other objects of Buddhist faith by labeling them as false views or heresy. Rinpoche demonstrates how labeling something cannot make the labeled phenomena function according to that label. In a similar way, we should not be confused by people who label our objects of faith as nonexistent. Instead we should rely on our faith and apply our wisdom in meditation to experience their functional phenomenal existence. Rinpoche gave these teachings during a lamrim course at Maitreya Instituut, Emst, in August 1990. You can read along with the transcript at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/benefits-understanding-karma

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The Enemy is the Kindest Person

Compassion and Bodhicitta, Dharma in Daily Life, Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lamrim (Path to Enlightenment)

By developing the mind in patience, whatever happens to you, whatever harm others give you, you will never get angry.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains the power of the mind of patience to bring happiness to all beings we encounter on the path to enlightenment. The most powerful way for us to develop stable patience is to practice when confronted by the anger of others. Thus the angry person is the most kind to us, kinder than the friends that love us and the strangers we ignore.

Rinpoche gave these teachings at the Thirty-third Kopan Meditation Course held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in 2000. Read along with the transcript at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/day-4-practicing-patience-enemy-kindest-person

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There is No Enlightenment Button

Dharma in Daily Life, Introductory, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

You can’t attain the path just by knowing the words. You have to practice.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche reminds us that we can’t expect to just press a button, say a few words and become enlightened. After all we have accumulated countless causes of suffering during countless lives over countless eons. Even Shakyamuni Buddha himself demonstrated facing many hardships for the sake of enlightenment. We must also expect hardships while practicing Dharma with all our heart.

Rinpoche gave these teachings in June 2008 at the White Eagle Conference Center in Crestone, Colorado. Read along with the transcript at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/day-three-part-b-bearing-hardships-lama-atisha

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The King of the Superstitious Mind

Dharma in Daily Life, Emptiness, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Nature of the Mind

The basic Buddhist philosophy is that everything comes from karma which comes from your mind, from your intention.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how imprints condition our mind to project karmic appearances upon everything we see, hear, smell, touch and taste. By changing our mind, we can change our experience. This short teaching by Rinpoche is excerpted from Lecture 10 of the 41st Kopan Course held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in December 2008. You can read along with the transcript on the LYWA website at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/basic-philosophy-buddhism-audio-and-unedited-transcripts

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