An ebook version of this title is available on GooglePlay. This book is drawn from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s graduated path to enlightenment teachings given over a four decade period, starting from the early 1970s, and deals with how rare and precious it is to receive not just a human rebirth but a perfect human rebirth, with eight freedoms and ten richnesses, the best possible conditions for practicing Dharma. FPMT Lineage is a series of books of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings on the graduated path to enlightenment (lam-rim). This series will be the most extensive contemporary lam-rim commentary available and comprises the essence of the FPMT’s education program. This book is made possible by kind supporters of the Archive who, like you, appreciate how we make these teachings freely available in so many ways, including in our website for instant reading, listening or downloading, and as printed and electronic books. Our website offers immediate access to thousands of pages of teachings and hundreds of audio recordings by some of the greatest lamas of our time. Our photo gallery and our ever-popular books are also freely accessible there. Please help us increase our efforts to spread the Dharma for the happiness and benefit of all beings. You can find out more about becoming a supporter of the Archive and see all we have to offer by visiting our website. Thank you so much, and please enjoy this book!

This is the second volume in a new series of Lama Zopa Rinpoche's teachings given during the 24th Kopan lam-rim course in 1991. The series will consist of four volumes of lightly edited transcripts that we hope will convey the feeling of being in Nepal for the one-month Kopan course. The first volume, Practicing the Unmistaken Path, covers topics such as compassion and universal responsibility, the benefits of developing bodhicitta, the disadvantages of self-cherishing, and emptiness. This second volume, Creating the Causes of Happiness, covers topics such as the nature of the mind, karma, death, reincarnation and emptiness. This book is made possible by kind supporters of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive who, like you, appreciate how we make these teachings available in so many ways, including in our website for instant reading, listening or downloading, and as printed and electronic books. Our website offers immediate access to thousands of pages of teachings and hundreds of audio recordings by some of the greatest lamas of our time. Our photo gallery and our ever-popular books are also freely accessible there. Please help us increase our efforts to spread the Dharma for the happiness and benefit of all beings. You can find out more about becoming a supporter of the Archive and see all we have to offer by visiting our website. Thank you so much, and please enjoy this e-book.

Lamrim Year is an essential guide for meditators who want to develop their mind in the graduated path to enlightenment. This unique study program provides a 365-day outline of the graduated path in a clear, practical format that is suitable for both individual and group practice. The daily quote and text have been selected from four decades of teachings by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, both published and unpublished, and offer a taste of their teaching style and scope. Each day's teaching concludes with a recap summarizing the main points for reflection. The interdependent elements of Lamrim Year are designed to support meditators of various capabilities in establishing and maintaining regular lamrim study and practice until stable realizations are achieved. The text closely follows the lamrim outline in the renowned book, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, by Pabongka Rinpoche.

In Lama Yeshe's and Lama Zopa Rinpoche's first trip to Europe in 1975 they offered a weekend seminar based on their famous month-long Kopan meditation courses. Preceded by Lama Yeshe's lecture on meditation at Kensington Town Hall, these teachings at Royal Holloway College, Surrey, encompass the entire Buddhist path to enlightenment.

What is meditation, and how do we practice it? In The Power of Meditation, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, beloved teacher and co-founder of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, offers clear explanations and instructions for the life-changing practice of meditation. From preparatory procedures, such as selecting a space and adopting the proper motivation, to the details of posture and how to focus the mind, Rinpoche offers step-by-step instruction that serves as both a starting point for beginners and a new vantage on familiar techniques for more experienced sitters. In his own direct and plain-spoken style, Rinpoche offers concise explanations for different kinds of meditation, such as shamatha, or calm abiding meditation, and vipashyana, or insight meditation, delineating their specific techniques and applications. And finally, Rinpoche presents tips for bringing our newfound clarity off of the cushion and into our daily lives, making each moment meaningful.

Back in the 1970s and ‘80s most of the great lamas to leave Tibet were still alive and teaching. Those of us who had the good fortune to be in India and Nepal at that time were able to benefit by sitting at their feet, drinking in the nectar of their holy speech. Many of the teachings in this book were given at Tushita Mahayana Meditation Center, New Delhi. Two of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings were published in a souvenir booklet issued for Tushita’s Second Dharma Celebration, November 1982, the first at which His Holiness spoke. Three of the others are from unpublished manuscripts. This compilation text contains teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, Khunu Lama Rinpoche, Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche, Song Rinpoche, Geshe Lhundub Sopa, Geshe Rabten, Gomchen Khampala, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, Gehlek Rinpoche, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. This book is made possible by kind supporters of the Archive who, like you, appreciate how we make these teachings available in so many ways, including in our website for instant reading, listening or downloading, and as printed and electronic books. Our website offers immediate access to thousands of pages of teachings and hundreds of audio recordings by some of the greatest lamas of our time. Our photo gallery and our ever-popular books are also freely accessible there. Please help us increase our efforts to spread the Dharma for the happiness and benefit of all beings. You can find out more about becoming a supporter of the Archive and see all we have to offer by visiting our website. Thank you so much, and please enjoy this book.

The Wish-Fulfilling Golden Sun of the Mahayana Thought Training was used as textbook for the third (October 1972) through seventh (November 1974) Kopan meditation courses and contains Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s summaries of and meditations on many important topics from the lam-rim. The textbook is currently recommended as part of FPMT Education Services’ Discovering Buddhism course. From the original preface, written by Lama Zopa Rinpoche: "This book has not been written because there is some new Dharma that was not shown by Guru Shakyamuni. And because of my limited-experience realizations, in no way I have deserved to write such a book, and there is scant hope that it can benefit others. "But in view of the remarkable fact that in this time, already beyond the period of the five degenerations and an age in which there is the great danger of atomic explosion, an increasing number of Westerners are finding the Buddhadharma as they seek like blind men opening their eye, and as it is extremely important to make meaningful this once-received Wisdom Eye, which analyses all dharmas, clearly discriminating between what to avoid and what to practise, my depthlessly kind venerable Guru, Thubten Yeshe, has given the Vajra instruction that it is necessary to write a book such as this in English." 2016 edition, 292 pages.

The key to happiness is the mind. With the mind, we can switch our life to suffering or we can switch it to happiness, just as we change television channels, choosing to watch programs about fighting and war, or peaceful things, like the nature programs people seem to enjoy. Experiencing happiness or suffering depends entirely on what we do with our mind. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Sun of Devotion, Stream of Blessings Sun of Devotion, Stream of Blessings is the record of a remarkable series of powerful and clear Dharma teachings given by Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 2014 to students at Leeds and London in the United Kingdom. Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive⿿s editor Gordon McDougall was present throughout these teachings and has now skillfully edited them into written form that retains the flavor of a great master giving precise instructions to the students sitting before him. In Sun of Devotion, Stream of Blessings, Rinpoche explains how to take care of our minds so that our happiness is in our own hands, gives profound teachings on the Buddhist philosophy of emptiness, discusses the need for ethics and a solid refuge, shows us how to cut the root of samsara, explores why practicing certain tantras is important and especially emphasizes how the guru is the most powerful object of our Dharma practice. Gordon has presented the subjects taught by Rinpoche in the order in which they were given, beginning with a deep commentary on the meaning of sang-gyä, the Tibetan term usually translated as "buddha," and retaining the powerful method by which Rinpoche would repeatedly reinforce and expand upon earlier topics. Rinpoche also spends much time discussing the great qualities of Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drolma), the incredible being who has become so important to Tibetan Buddhism, FPMT and the world.

The great Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo said, "Knowing Dharma is not enough; you must practice.” This collection, Heart Advice for Retreat, is a must-have for all practitioners, especially those engaging in longer retreats. Lama Zopa Rinpoche offers advice on the essential aspects of retreat and how to bring about the result of enlightenment. Additionally, Rinpoche provides compelling commentary to Pabongkha's text, Like a Female Cannibal Cheating, and on the rituals and necessary motivations required for entering into retreat. Advice, commentary and resources include “The Importance of Retreat,” “The Meaning of Retreat,” “Special Instructions,” “The Happiness of Dharma,” “Break-time Meditations,” “Dedication Prayers,” “Helpful Resources,” and much more. 176 pages, 2011 edition.

The Lamrim Chenmo, or Great Treatise on the Steps of the Path, by Je Tsongkhapa is a comprehensive overview of the process of individual enlightenment. Meditation on these steps has been a core practice of Tibetan Buddhists for centuries. The Lamrim Chenmo presents the Buddha's teachings along a continuum of three spiritual attitudes: the person who worries about rebirth, the person who wants to escape rebirth, and finally the person who strives for buddhahood in order to relieve the suffering of all beings--this is the supreme aspiration of the bodhisattva. Given over two months to a group of Western Students in Dharamsala, India, Yangsi Rinpoche's commentary revitalizes our understanding of Tsongkhapa's work, giving readers renewed inspiration.