Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered teachings and advice to a group of Vajrasattva retreaters at Kopan Monastery on April 7, 8, and 9, 2023. In his first teaching from this series, Rinpoche overviewed some of the many benefits of purification practice and began offering the lung of The Essential Nectar. This was one of the last teaching events Rinpoche offered before showing the aspect of passing away on April 13, 2023.

A long life puja was offered by the entire FPMT organization to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on December 21, 2022 at Kopan Monastery during the fifty-third Kopan lamrim meditation course. This puja was offered in accordance with the advice of Khandro Kunga Bhuma (Khandro-la), and is part of a collection of practices offered for Rinpoche’s health and the well-being of the entire FPMT organization.

During this puja, Rinpoche spoke about the meaning and benefits of the long life puja and how to visualize all the offerings to make it most beneficial.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche began a refuge ceremony on December 25, 2022 from the fifty-third lamrim meditation course at Kopan Monastery by explaining the importance of relying on Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. By protecting our karma we are able to be free from samsara.

Before the refuge ceremony begins (at 13:33), Rinpoche explained the Lesser Vehicle refuge and also Mahayana refuge and shared the motivation for taking refuge.

While guiding those in attendance in prostrations, Rinpoche discussed the significance of holding one’s hands in the mudra of prostration at the crown of the head, throat, and heart, explaining that this purifies the negative karmas collected with body, speech, and mind from beginningless rebirths and creates the cause to achieve Buddha’s holy body, speech, and mind. Rinpoche also discussed what to visualize when doing prostrations and the benefits of this practice.

Rinpoche then offered refuge and lay vows.

Please note, the video recording stops just before Rinpoche begins a jenang ritual of Vajrasattva.

Put all of your effort into realizing dependent arising, Lama Zopa Rinpoche urges in his December 25, 2022 teaching from the fifty-third lamrim meditation course at Kopan Monastery, Nepal. It is childish to believe that things exist from their own side, Rinpoche explains, so don’t cling to hallucinated appearances.

Whatever you are doing, meditate on how the I came into existence. Why? Because all problems come from believing that the I exists from its own side. The more you meditate, the more you realize that what exists from its own side does not exist at all.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered the complete oral transmission (lung) of The Essential Nectar of Holy Doctrine, also known as the Essence of Nectar, one of the eighteen great lamrim texts by Yeshe Tsondro. It was given over two teachings from the fifty-third lamrim meditation course at Kopan Monastery on December 22 and 23, 2022.

This recording is the second teaching from December 23.

This is one of the most important texts for anyone sincerely studying the lamrim or who receives lamrim preliminaries from Rinpoche. All are welcome to take this oral transmission from the videos and receive it. As Rinpoche has explained, even if you don’t understand the words at all, even hearing the sound of Buddha’s teachings becomes a great purification and collection of merit. It is very important not to distract your mind or let it wander.

Anyone with interest may receive this very previous oral transmission from Rinpoche by listening to the two videos as Rinpoche has instructed.

Rinpoche begins offering the oral transmission at 1:33:02.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered the complete oral transmission (lung) of The Essential Nectar of Holy Doctrine, also known as the Essence of Nectar, one of the eighteen great lamrim texts by Yeshe Tsondro. It was given over two teachings from the fifty-third lamrim meditation course at Kopan Monastery on December 22 and 23, 2022.

This recording is the first teaching from December 22.

This is one of the most important texts for anyone sincerely studying the lamrim or who receives lamrim preliminaries from Rinpoche. All are welcome to take this oral transmission from the videos and receive it. As Rinpoche has explained, even if you don’t understand the words at all, even hearing the sound of Buddha’s teachings becomes a great purification and collection of merit. It is very important not to distract your mind or let it wander.

Anyone with interest may receive this very previous oral transmission from Rinpoche by listening to the two videos as Rinpoche has instructed.

Rinpoche begins offering the oral transmission at 1:31:40.

In this world, there are so many ways to help others, Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains in this teaching given on December 20, 2022 from the fifty-third lamrim meditation course at Kopan Monastery, Nepal. With a bodhicitta motivation, we receive more than skies of merit, and then we can benefit so many sentient beings.

First, we need to equalize ourselves with others, we must cherish others like we cherish ourselves. Secondly, we exchange ourselves with others. Rather than working for ourselves alone which is just one person, we can work for others—eat for others, sleep for others, help for others, be healthy so we can help others, do business for others, shopping and daily life—everything we can do for others.

It is most important to help others. Even a small service like offering your seat to someone who needs it, offering any small benefit to help someone else, this is so important. This is so important. It is great pleasure to serve others, to take care of others. Serving others is what makes life meaningful. This is how to develop bodhicitta—from each service you offer to someone else, you achieve enlightenment.

On the occasion of Lama Tsongkhapa Day, December 18, 2022, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered a teaching at the fifty-third Kopan November Course about the very special qualities of Lama Tsongkhapa's teachings.

One of the qualities is how Lama Tsongkhapa clearly explained the lamrim. This makes it possible for us to not make mistakes on the path to enlightenment.

Rinpoche explains that Lama Tsongkhapa received teachings directly from Manjushri, like a guru and disciple in the same room. The essence of what Manjushri taught Lama Tsongkhapa are the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment.

Another special quality of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings is his clarification of the Prasangika-Madhyamaka view of emptiness. These teachings were so clear and extensive, “the finest,” Rinpoche explains.

This view is very important—to believe that things truly exist from their own side, or to believe that nothing exists at all—both of these wrong beliefs prevent us from abandoning the root of samsara, the ignorance holding the I as truly existent.

We bear unbelievable hardships for this body that we cherish more than anything. We keep it clean, spend lots of money on clothes and food for it, spend time exercising, doing hard work for money, and so much worry and fears taking care of the body. This is the same for billionaires and poor people, there is so much discontentment and dissatisfaction, we try to get everything we can from the world, we try to find happiness but we experience continual physical and mental problems, relationship, and business problems. In spite of all these hardships we bear for the body, one day we will die, Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains in this teaching given on December 17 from Kopan Monastery during the fifty-third lamrim meditation course. All of these efforts and hardships we undertake for our body, if done with attachment to this life, becomes negative karma. It is so difficult to think of future lives, we can’t bear it. We don’t think of impermanence-death in everyday life. Every day we think we are going to live many years. Even on the same morning that we die, we may think this. We cheat ourselves bearing hardships for this body, which we only have for this one life.

Rather than using this body to obtain things that have no meaning, we can use it and bear all hardships to practice Dharma, for the happiness of future lives. If we postpone our Dharma practice, we have no way of knowing how long we are going to live. Some people think they will practice Dharma only when they are old. But there’s no guarantee we will ever become old.

Rinpoche explains the benefits of receiving lungs (oral transmissions) and the motivation for receiving them. Rinpoche then offers those in attendance the oral transmissions of “Calling the Guru from Afar,” and the Dorje Khadro fire puja (at 1:30:52 in the video).

Any action stained by the eight worldly dharmas becomes nonvirtue, Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains in his teaching given on December 16 at Kopan Monastery during the fifty-third lamrim meditation course. Even spending one’s whole life in retreat in a cave in the Himalayan mountains or in Africa somewhere; even if you teach Dharma your whole life, if you do these things with attachment to the happiness and comfort of this life, it becomes negative. To practice Dharma means to renounce the eight worldly dharmas.

We can look at problems as positive, as hallucinations like in a dream. When problems are appearing, instead of believing that appearance is real, which causes so much suffering and torture from believing that it is real, analyze how whatever appears is a hallucination. This is the answer to anger, attachment, pride, it helps with everything. It is like an atomic bomb over delusion, it is the bodhisattva practice.

If we think about how the I exits, as a dependent arising, you destroy the delusions. We can be the best psychologist, teacher, doctor, and police — this provides a solution to every problem, when we don’t cling to hallucinated appearances but see them as empty. Ignorance fabricates a truly existent I and cheats us. This is an important mindfulness practice, to look at the hallucination as a hallucination. The I is merely imputed by the mind, action is merely imputed by the mind, the object is merely imputed by the mind, so everything is merely imputed by the mind — that’s what we must think to eliminate problems.