Teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche given one evening during the Mahamudra Retreat at Buddha House in Adelaide, Australia during April-May, 2004. You can read along to the transcript here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Category Archives: Emptiness
A Meditation on Emptiness
Delusion and karma come from the mind; they don’t come from outside. The main cause is the mind, so we need to learn more about our own mind, about delusion and karma, and about the path.
-Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Like a star, a defective view, a butter lamp flame, an illusion. These classic teachings on emptiness are explained with great compassion by Lama Zopa Rinpoche during a retreat on the four Kadampa deities held at Institut Vajra Yogini, France in 2003. Read along with a lightly edited transcript at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/6-meditation-emptiness
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Emptiness of Sound
When we hear the sound, we will know what is the hallucination and what is the reality, what is false and what is the truth of our view of the sound.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
This short excerpt is from a series of teachings given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at a retreat held at Institut Vajra Yogini, France, from April 18 to May 11, 2003. A torrential rainstorm had begun and Rinpoche takes that opportunity to lead the students in a profound meditation on the emptiness of sound. Read the transcript of these teachings at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/3-emptiness-sound
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Cultivating the view of impermanence
Lama Zopa Rinpoche helps us understand how the wrong view of permanence is the cause of so much of our negative karma and creates so much fear. Rinpoche further explores how to realize gross and subtle impermanence which cultivates courage and is an essential part of realizing the Four Noble Truths. Rinpoche also gives profound teachings on how all things are merely imputed by the mind. These teachings were given during the 33rd Kopan Course held in 2000 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Read along with the transcript at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/day-5-four-noble-truths-karma
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Everything Depends on Your Mind
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
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Essence of the Dharma
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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
How Guru Shakyamuni Frees Sentient Beings
So, what is the way that Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, what is his way of freeing the sentient being from suffering? By revealing the absolute truth, by revealing the nature of the existence.
-Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how Guru Buddha Shakyamuni frees us from suffering by revealing the true nature of reality. But the Buddha cannot transplant his realizations of emptiness into our minds. It is up to each of us to apply the teachings so we may generate our own realization of emptiness. Rinpoche gave these teachings at the 14th Kopan Meditation Course at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1981. You can also follow along with the transcript on our website.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Vajrasattva Mantra and Heart Sutra
Oral transmission by Lama Zopa Rinpoche of the Vajrasattva mantra and the Heart Sutra. Excerpted from a series of teachings given in Malaysia in 1997. Listen to the rest of the series and follow along with the unedited transcript here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Meaning of Secret Mantra
The meaning of the word ‘mantra’ includes the whole path to enlightenment.
-Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses the use of mantra in highest yoga tantra and explains how our minds should approach the practice of the mantra of Chenrezig. These teachings were given at the Twenty-Eighth Kopan Meditation Course in November 1995. Read along with the transcript on our website here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subduing the Mind
If one practices mindfulness in the reality of these things, that which is impermanence, there is liberation from samsara.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
The mind is the source of all suffering and the source of all happiness. In this session Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how subduing the mind by meditating on the reality of impermanence is the method by which we can become liberated from samsara. Many of the powerful and poignant examples Rinpoche uses to illustrate impermanence are also used as classic illustrations of emptiness. These teachings were given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Sydney, Australia, in 1993. Read along with the transcript at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/subduing-mind-equanimity-meditation
Podcast: Play in new window | Download