Category Archives: Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Teachings From the Medicine Buddha Retreat



This talk by Lama Zopa Rinpoche about the Medicine Buddha practice was given in 2001 during the Medicine Buddha Retreat held in California, 2001. Follow along with the unedited transcript here and the entire teachings were published as a book in October 2009.

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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


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


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.


33rd Kopan Meditation Course: Introduction



This is the opening talk by Lama Zopa Rinpoche during the 33rd Kopan Meditation Course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal, 2000. Listen to the rest of the series and follow along with the unedited transcripts here.

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Make Your Life Worthwhile



Don’t cheat yourself. Don’t deceive yourself. Don’t be distracted by sense pleasures. Exist where you are right now. Make your life worthwhile.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

This month’s LYWA podcast is a short spontaneous Dharma talk by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the importance of making this life worthwhile, given on April 20, 2000 while Rinpoche was traveling in a car through San Francisco on the way to FPMT’s Tse Chen Ling Center.


The Enemy is the Kindest Person



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


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.


The Importance of Compassion in Daily Life



If you have compassion for others, then that gives meaning to everything, all the expenses that we do, all the hard works that we do, including studying, doing job, many hours of job—it gives meaning to everything.

Listen to a talk given by Kyabje Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche on the beneficial results of practicing compassion for others during all our actions. This talk was given during a three-day series of teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New York, in August 1999. Follow along with the transcript at https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/talk-guru-devotion-audio-and-unedited-transcripts


Fulfilling Life’s Purpose



If we take care of others, work for their happiness, we are automatically taking care of ourselves. Trying to make others happy is the best way of loving ourselves.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Listen to this profound teaching by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on transforming everyday actions into the cause of enlightenment. Given during a four-day course at FPMT’s Tilopa Center in Decatur, Illinois, August, 1997, these teachings detail practical methods for developing compassion and wisdom in our everyday lives. The teachings in this podcast were ultimately published as Chapter 1 in Virtue and Reality bit.ly/Fulfilling-Lifes-Purpose