Kopan Monastery, a well-known monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, is currently closed to visitors due to Covid-19. Since visitors cannot go to Kopan to study Buddhism, Kopan is coming to visitors.
Kopan Dharma Talks, YouTube.
Kopan Monastery Dharma Talks
Kopan Monastery shares on their website, "While you have time ... Check out the series of short teachings and meditations presented by lamas, geshes and teachers of Kopan Monastery. The topics of the talks are drawn from the Lam Rim teachings, the Graduated Path to Enlightenment.
"Each talk is followed by 30 minute meditation on the subject of the talk. The meditations are guided by Renato Unterberg. Teaching and meditation are best and most effective when taken together.
"Khenrinpoche Geshe Chonyi opens the series with a short introduction and motivation."
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche's ongoing teaching series given from Kopan Monastery on the FPMT YouTube channel.
Kopan Monastery
"Just north of the ancient Buddhist town of Boudhanath is the Kopan hill, which rises up out of the terraced fields of the Kathmandu valley and is visible for miles. Dominated by a magnificent bodhi tree, it was once the home of the astrologer to the king of Nepal. This same hill is now the home of Kopan Monastery, a monastery in the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism under the guidance of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The air is clean and the view across the valley magical.
"It is the home of 360 monks, lamas, teachers and workers. The monks come from all areas of Nepal and Tibet with ages ranging from seven to sixty years old. They have devoted their lives to the study and practice of the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni, with special emphasis on the teachings of Lama Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Gelug Lineage.
"Visitors from all over the world come here to attend courses and enjoy the spiritual atmosphere of the place for study and practice."
Continue reading about Kopan Monastery on www.kopanmonastery.com.
Saka Dawa is on June 5, 2020. A merit multiplying day, Lama Zopa Rinpoche says karmic results are multiplied by 100 million. Here are just five ways to make the most of Saka Dawa. These five events are listed in order of occurrence for those in PT zone.
Watch His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Livestream
Friday, June 5, 2020
(Thursday, June 4, 2020 in PT)
8:30 PM PT
His Holiness the Dalai Lama will confer the Ceremony for Generating Bodhichitta (semkye) on the occasion of the full moon day of Saka Dawa.
Those interested may watch the live webcast in Tibetan, English, Chinese and other languages on the official websites and Facebook pages of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Request a reminder for the livestream on the Dalai Lama Archive YouTube channel.
Read Geshe Tenzin Zopa's Advice for the Livestream
"🌹🙏Yesterday one student expressed that she wish to have meaningful life in dharma but her life is always busy with work and family responsibilities. Asking advice on how to turn all her ordinary life style in to most meaningful journey to accumulate vast merits and extensive purification of karma while continuing her ordinary responsibilities. She express that since long time she wanted to take one practical and most meaningful practice in her life that hopes to fulfills her spiritual wishes and highlight the meaning of her life as some one who met the Buddha dharma.
"🙏So my answer to her is:
"First of all I rejoice and congratulate to you for this precious aspirations.
"How wise and great of you to have an understanding and feel the urgency to turn your ordinary life in to most beneficial life for yourself your family members and all other sentient beings wellbeing.
"If you agree with me I humbly suggest you to take the bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama on coming Friday 5th June 2020 at 9am India time. You can find the link on https://www.dalailama.com/schedule
"If you able to make it then this would be most blessed most special and most fortunate for you in your life. His Holiness is not an ordinary teacher he is actual enlightened compassionate Buddha Chenrezig appears in human Guru form to liberate us from oceans of Samsaric sufferings through dharma transmissions. He is embodiment of all the past present and future Buddha’s compassion.
"Receiving the bodhisattva lineage blessings or seeding of altruistic mind (compassion/bodhichitta) directly from compassionate Buddha himself is greatest blessing and most effective seedling of altruism in our mind stream. Without any doubt this seedling of altruism in our mental continuum will grow to numberless virtues, sustainable inner peace leading up to the fruition of full enlightenment.
"Some more receiving the bodhisattva vows on full moon of Sakadawa month, the month Gautama Buddha chose to display major deeds of Buddha like birth in this southern world, renouncing the worldly life and manifesting in to Parinirvana etc. Siddhartha Gautama have chosen the full moon day to display the deeds of gaining full enlightenment (the ultimate cessation from all contaminations, afflictions and obscurations.)
"Accomplishing the full fruition of altruistic seed that he have inspired to stabilised in his mental continuum when he was as an ordinary like us in many live times a go.
"Such a blessed month and a day that every single virtues and meritorious prayers multiples 100 million times as stated in the Vinaya sutra.
"👍If you have decided to receive the bodhisattva vows then I have this humble suggestions to you. In order to create as much as meritorious interdependent conditions from our side to received the vows and blessing in most beneficial way as possible. It would be beneficial at-less this simple and basic preparatory protocol are present from our side for this visual platform for individual beginners like me and you to get ready to receive the dharma.
"🙏1. Fresh up both body and mind as if you would do when you physically go to attend dharma teaching from a guru.
"2. Do 3 prostrations and seat comfortably on cushion or chair or wherever is convenient or comfortable.
"3. Generate sincere respect and conviction towards preceptor HHDL.
"4. Generate genuine positive motivation of wanting to actualise full enlightenment for the benefits of all sentient beings.
"5. Make a sincere request in your heart to HHDL to grand the bodhisattva vows while offering the mandala practice if you know how to offer mandala offering. If not then just simply visualise and offer from depths of your heart the entire universe including your own body speech and mind, all virtues of past present and future in the form of wish granting jewels or immortal blissful nectar in infinite way to the preceptor and all Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
"6. While feeling how fortunate for this opportunity then follow the live stream of the granting of the bodhisattvas vows accordingly with full attention.
"🙏7. At the end on completion of the ceremony. Conclude with mandala offering practice as a gesture of appreciation on granting of the vows. Or just simply visualise and offer from depths of your heart the entire universe including your body speech and mind, all virtues of past present and future in the form of wish granting jewels or immortal blissful nectar in infinite way to the preceptor HHDL and all Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
"8. Then Rejoice (feel deeply happy) for being so fortunate to received the most precious blessing in my mental continuum the bodhisattva vows that which is more precious then entire material wealth of entire universe. Feel truly happy of becoming spiritual family member a child of all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
"Feel truly blessed to received spiritual lineage blessing of most precious mind of Buddhas and bodhisattvas from enlighten compassionate Buddha HHDL himself. Feel full confident with inner joy in knowing that from this present life to all future lives up to full enlightenment I will be fully guided by perfect enlighten mahayanic guru the compassionate Buddha chenrezig.
"9. Then with deep aspirations dedicate the vast merits accumulated in bodhicitta accordingly or simply think and dedicate the merits to be the complete cause of all sentient beings temporary happiness up to the ultimate happiness of full enlightenment.
"10. Then dedicate in emptiness accordingly. Or just simply thinking or understanding that the dedicator the self the substance the merits and the objective the fruition of the merits all in the nature of lacking of inherent existence which only exists in the nature of interdependent arising.
"11. Then move on with daily life with understanding and feeling much meaning in having the blessing of inner guru the practice of 6 perfections the virtues GPS to meaningful life, inner protection of oneself inseparable from compassionate guru, firm confident in virtues life, sustainable inspiration faith and conviction in freedom from all samsara and its causes, full of methods to help yourself and help all other through the tools of loving kindness compassion and wisdom.
"🙏I share this humble conversation and suggestions from ignorance person like me in the hope of some assistance to those of beginner like me in the pursuit of spiritual blessings in virtual platform.
"With lots of prayers and best wishes. Geshe Zopa, June 3, 2020"
Take the Eight Mahayana Precepts from Lama Zopa Rinpoche before dawn on June 5
Join a Guru Puja led by Yangsi Rinpoche and Maitripa College
Join the global Maitripa College Community on Saka Dawa, one of the most important holidays in the Tibetan calendar, remembering and rejoicing in the life and teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha.
Watch an Annual Interfaith Celebration on Facebook Live
Friday, June 5
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM PT
Kurkulla Center shared in an email newsletter, "In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, we call the month of the fourth full moon following Tibetan New Year 'Saka Dawa.' We believe that during Saka Dawa the result of all our actions -- positive and negative -- are greatly increased. Therefore it is a time to be especially virtuous and diligent in our activities, to practice our faith well, and to benefit others. The full moon of Saka Dawa is when the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and passing are observed.
"Friends from all faiths will join us for an evening of prayer and reflection, and we will particularly dedicate and pray for those who affected by the Covid-19 pandemic - those who have died, become ill, or have been affected adversely in other ways, both in the United States and around the world."
"We are very honored to announce that our special guests will include His Eminence Ling Rinpoche and Medford, Massachusetts Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn. Representatives from all four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and the Buddhist traditions of Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, China, Nepal, and Bangladesh will also participate, as well as community spiritual leaders from the Islamic, Christian, and Jewish faiths.
"Visit our Facebook page on Friday, June 5, shortly before 7:00 PM ET to watch the event live."
This teaching is part of an online course organized by Tibet House New Delhi and Choe Khor Sum Ling in Bangalore, Karnataka State, India "Two Truths in Four Buddhist Tenet Systems with Emphasis on the Ultimate Reality According to Prasangika Madhyamaka."
Schedule listed in IST:
Saturday, 6th June 2020 1st session: 10:30 am - 12:00 noon IST
Sunday, 7th June 2020 2nd session: 11:30 am - 1:00 pm IST 3rd session: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm IST
Monday, 8th June 2020 4th session: 11:30 am - 1:00 pm IST 5th session: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm IST
Download the text that will be used during the course, "Staircase to Emptiness" from "Blaze of Non-Dual Bodhicittas," from www.bodhiwisdom.org.
Rescued yaks being cared for by Ngawang Lapsum Rinpoche, 108 Yaks Facebook.
The thirty-three minute film 108 Yaks: A Journey of Love and Freedom tells the story of twenty-two people and 108 yaks. In 2011 they traveled together through rural Nepal at 18,000 feet elevation to save the yaks from slaughter.
It's a beautiful and inspiring film. The producer and director, Geshe Thubten Jinpa, is from Kopan Monastery.
108 Yaks: A Journey of Love and Freedom, 108 Yaks Facebook.
"'Animal liberation is our dharma, it can be instrumental in achieving enlightenment,' he emphasizes. The practise, according to him, epitomises perfection of giving or generosity, one of the six perfections of the Mahayana tradition which includes morality, patience, perseverance, concentration and wisdom. 'Saving a life or giving new life to a sentient being, is the best form of charity. We also believe that all sentient beings are kind and when they are in trouble, it is our duty to pay back their kindness.'
Three respected lamas have individually recommended reciting—and have given the oral transmission for—The Verses that Saved Sakya from Sickness: A Prayer for Pacifying the Fear of Disease composed by Thangthong Gyalpo to help stop the spread of Covid-19.
Oral Transmissions of the Prayer
Please note that FPMT, the office of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, one of the lamas who has recommended this prayer, has published on their website:
"Watching this video attentively can qualify as having received the oral
transmission of the following mantra and prayers, if viewed with the
intention of receiving the oral transmission from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Please note that, according to tradition, if one is taking an oral
transmission from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, this establishes a guru-disciple
relationship.
Those listening without intending to receive the oral transmission are not establishing a guru-disciple relationship and do not receive the oral transmission, but may still enjoy the teachings."
His Holiness the 41st Sakya Trichen
On March 12, 2020 The Sakya Tradition (the Sakya translation team) announced on Facebook that His Holiness the 41st Sakya Trichen recommends reciting this prayer.
His Holiness has recorded a video message in Tibetan and gave the oral transmission of the prayer. You can watch the video, which has English subtitles, on sakyatradition.org or Facebook.
His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje
On January 28 His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje asked everyone present at the 37th annual Kagyu Monlam to recite this prayer with the aspiration to benefit all sentient beings.
His Holiness the Karmapa was unable to attend the Kagyu Monlam but gave the oral transmission of the prayer over the loudspeaker.
To hear the announcement made in Tibetan translated into English watch this video.
His Holiness the Karmapa later added, "... when sentient beings have fear or danger, we have to do something to free them from that danger. For example, when there are natural disasters, predators, the dangers of war, famine, and plague, we need to do whatever we can to free them from that danger, support, and help them.
"The current example is the Covid-19 virus in China which has infected more than 75,000 people so far and killed more than 2,300. Just noting the news is not sufficient, we should ask ourselves, 'What can I do to help?' From one perspective, the situation is truly terrible but for a bodhisattva, it is a great opportunity to benefit other sentient beings. We have to work according to our own abilities and capacities."
His Holiness the Karmapa emphasized that, at the very least, we can make aspirations such as "May this disease come to an end," "May this epidemic be pacified," "May all sentient beings be freed from suffering," and "May all be cured from the illness."
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the spiritual director of FPMT, has recommended several prayers including The Verses that Saved Sakya from Sickness: A Prayer for Pacifying the Fear of Disease.
FPMT refers to the prayer by a different name: The Vajra Speech of Mahasiddha Thangton Gyalpo: The Blessed Prayer Known as "Libersating Sakya from Disease" and also shared a slightly different English translation.
This is one of four prayers Lama Zopa Rinpoche recommends to stop the spread of Covid-19. The five prayers and recommended mantra, the Vajra Armor mantra, have been compiled on the FPMT website.
Watch this video to receive the oral transmission of the mantra and the five prayers.
FPMT teachers Venerable Amy Miller and Venerable Tenzin Namjong are gathering people together online to recite the prayer and the other practices Lama Zopa Rinpoche recommends.
Venerable Amy Miller
Venerable Amy Miller is using Zoom to gather a group together to recite the prayer and the other practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. She did it on March 28 and April 1, and may continue to do so, with the dates April 4 and 8 confirmed. Details on the Shantideva Center website.
Watch her explain and lead the practice in this recording of the March 28 Zoom meeting.
Venerable Sarah Thresher, Venerable Tenzin Namjong, and a small group of other monastics are livestreaming on YouTube using the Choe Khor Sum Ling YouTube channel, gathering people together to recite the prayer and the other practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
They livestream daily from their location in Maratika, Nepal at 4:30 AM PT.
Watch them explain and lead the practice in this recording of the March 29 YouTube livestream.
Please note that updates may be made to the practice booklet over time. To ensure you are using the most current version please check the video description in the most recent video.
