If you don’t practice Dharma, don’t learn Dharma, don’t meditate, if you don’t pray to have realization of the path to enlightenment, at least even the path to liberation, if you don’t do that then so many sentient beings have to suffer for you to live, for your happiness, it is so unimaginable, unbearable, so … Continue reading The Power of the Object of Merit →

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 … Continue reading Make Your Life Worthwhile →

You have to develop perfect power, so that you can reveal to all sentient beings the appropriate methods according to their level of mind. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains why practicing the good heart is so extremely important, the basis of all action. Recognizing the workaday world reality in which most of his … Continue reading Practicing the Good Heart →

Manjushri bodhisattva is the highest manifestation of being, the embodiment of all knowledge. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche The Manjushri-nama-samgiti (Chanting the Names of Manjushri) consists of 160 verses and mantra sentences, condensing an enormous tantric lore. Listen to Lama Zopa Rinpoche reciting the Manjushri nama samgiti in Tibetan. Rinpoche recorded this recitation in 2006, and asked … Continue reading Chanting the Names of Manjushri →

You have no enemy when you don’t have anger. Only when you have anger you have enemy in your life. So it’s all to do with your concept. It’s all in your mind. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche These teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the power of our perfect human rebirth are from a commentary Rinpoche … Continue reading It’s all in your mind →

The incredible, unbelievable, most unbelievable, no words, how most important to generate bodhicitta, can you imagine? -Lama Zopa Rinpoche Lama Zopa Rinpoche celebrates the power of bodhicitta during teachings given by Rinpoche at the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive home office in October 2012. Rinpoche was in town to attend the visit of His Holiness the … Continue reading Imagine the Power of Bodhicitta →

If we don’t create good karma again, we cannot predict what will happen to us after this minute, after this hour, tonight, tomorrow, next year. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche From extensive teachings on karma excerpted from a lamrim course led by Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Maitreya Instituut, Emst, in August 1990. Read along with the … Continue reading Contemplate Karmic Appearance →

One must understand that by hurting others, you are also creating the cause to be hurt by others. To really solve the problem one has to do something with the cause, which is within your mind. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how the self-cherishing thought seeking happiness negatively affects our karma. But the … Continue reading Renouncing the Self-cherishing Thought →

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 … Continue reading How Guru Shakyamuni Frees Sentient Beings →

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 … Continue reading This Precious Human Rebirth →

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 … Continue reading Karma in Everyday Life →

All our suffering is caused by our belief that even though the I is merely labeled on the aggregates, it exists from its own side. This sickness is the root of all our suffering and our cure is our wisdom. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives a short vivid explanation about how we circle … Continue reading We Are the Cure of Our Own Samsara →

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 … Continue reading The Essence of the Dharma →

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 … Continue reading Everything Depends on Your Mind →

As long as you don’t drop the burning fire, the fire that burns your hand, the burning cannot be stopped. So like that, as long as one doesn’t abandon the self, the I, one cannot abandon suffering, one cannot be free from the suffering. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche Lama Zopa Rinpoche guides us through the preciousness … Continue reading Let Go of Suffering for the Sake of Others →

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 … Continue reading The Urgency of Realizing Lamrim →

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 … Continue reading The Meaning of Secret Mantra →

The particular nature of the Dharma is that the more you study the teachings, the more the Dharma becomes deep and clear. And the holy beings, those who work for sentient beings, those who have accomplished the path, these holy beings are who bring the Dharma teachings to us. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche Lama Zopa Rinpoche … Continue reading The Qualities of the Dharma and Its Teachers →

The Buddha of Compassion is the embodiment of all the buddhas’ great compassion that embraces and never lets go, never gives up on sentient beings even for one second. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche These teachings on the benefits of reciting the Compassion Buddha’s mantra were given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the Twenty-Eighth Kopan Meditation Course … Continue reading Buddha’s Compassion Never Gives Up →

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 … Continue reading The Dharma Will Protect Us →

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 … Continue reading The Label Is Not Enough →

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 … Continue reading The Enemy is the Kindest Person →

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 … Continue reading There is No Enlightenment Button →

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 … Continue reading The King of the Superstitious Mind →

Those sentient beings who accumulate merit, especially the sentient beings who know how to accumulate merit, if they have long life you see, then the longer they live then they are able to make their life more meaningful. They are able to create more cause of happiness, so there is sense in living long. -Lama … Continue reading The Long-Life Mantra of White Tara →

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 … Continue reading Subduing the Mind →

Even if we feel we are only capable of doing small things to help others right now, don’t feel hopeless or depressed. Instead rejoice because even the smallest attempt to help others should fill our hearts with happiness and joy. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche Lama Zopa Rinpoche encourages us to examine whether our attempts to help … Continue reading The Power of Cherishing Others →

Be very clever. “I should be very skillful with my life from now on. I should be very careful with my life. I must make it, without wasting the precious human body which I have received now, without wasting it, I must make it meaningful, highly meaningful as much as I can.” Lama Zopa Rinpoche … Continue reading Making This Precious Human Rebirth Meaningful →

One must have the wisdom and method simultaneously developing. -Lama Yeshe Lama Yeshe gave a series of introductory talks in Los Angeles in 1975. In this excerpt from these talks Lama describes the difference between Hinayana and Mahayana motivation and impresses upon us the importance of developing our wisdom in order to generate bodhicitta without … Continue reading Compassion and Emptiness Together →

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 … Continue reading Karma and Purification →

With that continual thought of benefiting other sentient beings, then with every single morsel of food or drop of drink, you collect limitless skies of merit. -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 teaches how … Continue reading The Yoga of Offering Food →

We hope you enjoy listening to a radio interview with Lama Yeshe on the “What’s Cooking?” radio show with Judy O. This wide-ranging interview took place in Boulder Creek, California on July 22, 1983, just before Lama offered public talks at UC Santa Cruz on the subject of “Anxiety in the Nuclear Age.” Please also … Continue reading Lama Yeshe Rides the Radio Waves →

Once we are free from delusion and karma, there is no cause for fear, so we are free from fear forever. 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 explains how to use our fear … Continue reading The Useful Fear of Death →

So this time I must receive full enlightenment, that which is free forever from samsara, for the sake of the sentient beings. Lama Zopa Rinpoche From teachings given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche prior to a refuge ceremony at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, London, November 6, 1992. In this session, Rinpoche explains the eight benefits of practicing … Continue reading The Eight Benefits of Practicing Refuge →

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 … Continue reading A Meditation on Emptiness →

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 … Continue reading The Emptiness of Sound →

Letting go of desire is not losing; it is only gaining. It is freeing ourselves from the prison of samsara. We are put in the prison in chains but by letting go of desire we are released; we are free. Lama Zopa Rinpoche These teachings were given by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche at the 36th … Continue reading Pervasive Compounding Suffering →

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 … Continue reading The Shortcomings of Desire →

The minute our anger arises, we find an enemy in our life. We see a person that we hate or we want to hurt, or a person harms us and we see them as an enemy. But the minute our anger is gone, we don’t see them as an enemy. Lama Zopa Rinpoche These teachings … Continue reading The Kindness of the Enemy →

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 … Continue reading The Path of Universal Responsibility →

When we protect our mind, we protect our life. Lama Zopa Rinpoche These teachings were given in June 2008 at the White Eagle Conference Center in Crestone, Colorado. Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains that when we practice a positive attitude, the good heart, we cause ourselves and everyone around us to be happy and healthy. Rinpoche … Continue reading The Power of Positive Attitude →

All the hindrances of life, all the hindrances of meditation, of practicing Dharma, by practicing Mahayana thought training, all those hindrances of meditation, of Dharma practice, all those become helpers, beneficial conditions to practice Dharma. Lama Zopa Rinpoche When we face so many obstacles and challenges to our practice, it can be helpful to listen … Continue reading The Benefits of Thought Transformation →

So whatever happens, whatever is happening around, around you, your heart has peace. Lama Zopa Rinpoche In this month’s podcast, Lama Zopa Rinpoche leads us in the vajra practice of Chenrezig. Rinpoche begins by chanting Om Mani Padme Hum slowly and powerfully. Within that resonance Rinpoche teaches on how to maintain the vajra visualization of … Continue reading Making Your Mind Vajrayana →

Taking refuge, now, becomes a very serious matter or serious practice, very fundamental, like the earth is used for many things, roads, houses, to grow food, crops, plants and so forth; the earth is used for so many things, for happiness. Lama Zopa Rinpoche These teachings on the nature of the mind and the stages … Continue reading The Nature of the Mind on the Path →

When you look at people, when you relate with them, if you look at their mind and how their life is motivated, you can see how much they’re suffering and you feel unbearable. Lama Zopa Rinpoche Please enjoy another extract from a series of teachings prior to a chöd initiation given by Kyabje Lama Zopa … Continue reading Dharma in Daily Life →

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. … Continue reading Integrating What You Have Heard →

Devotion is like the mother. From the mother comes many children, then grandchildren, then all the generations. Like that, from devotion all the qualities come, the realizations and all the qualities. From devotion comes the understanding of Dharma words and then the realization of their meaning. From devotion so many qualities come, and also with … Continue reading The Meaning of Guru Devotion →

Our meeting the spiritual friend, the spiritual master, who reveals the right path, is like the stick that meets the gong. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche In this talk Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how the nature of our mind is the source of our freedom. It is simply a matter of gathering the causes and conditions to … Continue reading The Power and Potential of the Mind →

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 … Continue reading The Benefits of Purification →

Because uncontrolled, undisciplined mind is opposite of knowledge-wisdom and happy, that nature is dissatisfaction. So your mind put such way, control, with your own wisdom, there is space, you can discover peace and joyful. So your life is becomes joyful, peaceful, no matter the outside world is up and down, up and down. -Lama Yeshe … Continue reading The Purpose of Meditation →

On August 11th, 2019, Tenzin Ösel Hita participated in the ongoing series “Taste of Buddhism” offered by FPMT center Tse Chen Ling in San Francisco. Tse Chen Ling describes Ösel as “a radical free-thinker, former monk, filmmaker, and musician who is highly gifted at sharing the essence of the Dharma and how it can be … Continue reading My Life as a Tulku →

It is huge, it is most profound meditation, of the most important meditation, just thinking meaning of existing, or just thinking meaning of dependent arising, just that word, think meaning, meditate on meaning of dependent, then meditate on meaning of arising without many words, that’s just, say, the two truths are there. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche … Continue reading The Prajnaparamita, the Wisdom Gone Beyond →

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 … Continue reading How to Purify Negative Karma →

May the good heart, altruism, source of all the happiness, may it be generated within my mind, in the mind of the family, all sentient beings; those who have this altruism, bodhicitta, thought of full enlightenment to benefit others, to be developed due to all these merits, positive actions that one did in the past, … Continue reading The Source of All Happiness →

Tenzin Ösel Hita gives a talk on “How to overcome limitations to find our real potential” at the Center for Wisdom and Compassion in Copenhagen, Denmark on February 11, 2017. Read the talk at http://www.lamayeshe.com/article/how-find-our-real-potential Learn more about Ösel at http://www.lamayeshe.com/teacher/tenzin-osel-hita