Category Archives: Karma

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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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 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 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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Karma and Purification

Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Practice Commentary, Purification

By being aware, by knowing about negative karma and all the suffering results, we are persuaded to practice purification.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

These teachings were given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the 36th Kopan Meditation Course at Kopan Monastery, Nepal in 2003. In this session, Rinpoche reminds us of the many kinds of negative karma we constantly accumulate and why it is so vitally important to practice purification every single day.  Read along with the transcript of these teachings at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/lecture-18-how-vajrasattva-practice-purifies-negative-karma 

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The Shortcomings of Desire

Dharma in Daily Life, Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Desire will be there all the time, but on top of that there is more anger. So much of the problem is desire; it is really the whole world’s problem.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

These teachings were given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the 36th Kopan Meditation Course, held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in 2003. In this session, Rinpoche discusses how we must understand how pervasive compounding suffering permeates everything we experience. Without understanding this, we can never remove our suffering completely and instead will wander mindlessly in ignorant darkness driven by endless desire and dissatisfaction. But with Dharma wisdom, you are a success no matter what happens. Read along with the lighted edited transcript of these teachings at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/lecture-4-shortcomings-desire

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The Path of Universal Responsibility

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

Just by lecturing that we need compassion, that alone cannot generate compassion in the hearts of the people in this world. We need to learn how to develop compassion. Compassion, like rain falling, doesn’t just happen.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

These teachings were given by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche at the 36th Kopan Meditation Course, held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in 2003. In this first lecture, Rinpoche begins by describing universal responsibility and illustrates this practice by telling the story of the four harmonious brothers. Rinpoche explains how living in harmony is the cause of inner and outer peace and powerful beauty. Rinpoche also gives commentary on the eight Mahayana precepts and ends with a guided meditation on universal responsibility. You can read along with a lightly edited transcript on our website at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/lecture-1-universal-responsibility

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Integrating What You Have Heard

Dharma in Daily Life, Introductory, Karma, Lama Yeshe, Lamrim (Path to Enlightenment)

I know you people understand something, have discovered something; but many things are only intellectual and not yet realization, therefore, I think you need something more.

Lama Yeshe

In the early 70s, Lama Yeshe used to give Sunday afternoon lectures at the location of Kopan Monastery and people would come from all around to listen. This month’s podcast is the earliest known recording of Lama Yeshe teaching to Westerners. In this talk, Lama emphasizes the importance of actually practicing the teachings, ending with a lively question and answer session with the students. We warmly invite you to read along with the transcript of Lama’s talk on our website: https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/integrating-what-youve-heard-audio-and-unedited-transcript

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The Benefits of Purification

Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Practice Commentary

There’s no other way to do this perfect work for others, so therefore one must actualize the steps of the path to enlightenment; to do that one must purify the obstacles, the negative karmas, obscurations, so therefore then one must do Vajrasattva practice which is the most powerful one by which any negative karma can be purified.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave these profound teachings before a Vajrasattva initiation at Jinsiu Farlin Center in Taiwan in 1994. In these teachings Rinpoche explains the suffering realms of samsara and the benefits of immediately ending all our non-virtuous activities and working quickly to purify all past negative karma so that we may avoid the suffering realms while we practice the path and attain enlightenment for the sake of all. You can also read along with the transcript on our website-https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/benefits-purification-practice-audio-and-unedited-transcript

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How to Purify Negative Karma

Karma, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lamrim (Path to Enlightenment)

So now you have to understand, purified completely one negative karma. What does it mean? What does it mean? Now, it means a lot to you. Do you understand? Unbelievable. The four suffering results. You don’t experience at all. Wow! Can imagine? So, like that we have to understand what it means.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches about all the aspects of our karma including its emptiness at a Mani retreat held at the Institut Vajra Yogini, France, in May 2009. Read along with the transcript at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/how-purify-negative-karma

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