Venerable Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
—Spiritual Director of the FPMT
 Rinpoche met His Holiness in Deer Park, USA. July 2008. Photographer Ven Roger Kunsang In Buddhism, we are not particularly interested in the quest for intellectual knowledge alone. We are much more interested in understanding what's happening here and now, in comprehending our present experience, what we are at this very moment, our fundamental nature. –Lama Zopa Rinpoche |
- Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Includes downloadable prayers and practices related to world events and FPMT current events
- Anecdotes about Lama Zopa Rinpoche (PDF)
- Biographies and Articles read more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Follow Rinpoche's activities on Facebook and Twitter
- Life on the Road with Lama Zopa Rinpoche – News and stories from on the road with Lama Zopa Rinpoche authored by Ven. Roger Kunsang, CEO of FPMT and attendant to Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
- How to Contact Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Mitrugpa Practice for
Rinpoche's Long Life (2009) - News about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Updated Monthly (News Archives)
- Photo Gallery, featuring photos of Lama Zopa Rinpoche past and present.
- Prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Rinpoche Laughing
- Schedule for Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
- Watch Recorded Video Webcasts from the 2010 Light of the Path Retreat on the FPMT Media Center from September 13th to September 26th 2010. Also watch, listen or read Rinpoche’s teachings during the 2009 Light of the Path Retreat.
- Watch Rinpoche - Short Video Clips
Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche was born in 1946 in the village of Thami in the Solo Khumbu region of Nepal near Mount Everest. While still a young boy, Zopa Rinpoche was taken on his uncle's back for a pilgrimage to Tibet. When he arrived north of Sikkim at the Dung-kar Monastery of Domo Geshe Rinpoche, he startled his uncle by declaring that he had no intention of returning home with him. Rather, he wanted to stay at this monastery and devote his life to studying and practising the dharma.
From that time onwards his diet was kept free of those foods considered unclean. His education would have continued at Sera Je in Lhasa, but these plans were also interrupted in 1959. Eventually he found his way to Baduar where he first became the disciple of Geshe Rabten and then of Lama Yeshe . Lama Yeshe and Zopa Rinpoche's contact with Westerners began in 1965 while they were visiting the Ghoom Monastery in Darjeeling.
From that time onwards his diet was kept free of those foods considered unclean. His education would have continued at Sera Je in Lhasa, but these plans were also interrupted in 1959. Eventually he found his way to Baduar where he first became the disciple of Geshe Rabten and then of Lama Yeshe . Lama Yeshe and Zopa Rinpoche's contact with Westerners began in 1965 while they were visiting the Ghoom Monastery in Darjeeling.
In 1967 the two lamas left India, not for Ceylon as originally planned, but for Nepal. After a few years, they were able to purchase land at the top of a nearby hill called Kopan. There they founded the Nepal Mahayana Gompa Center in 1969. The main building was constructed in 1971-2, funded almost exclusively by the lamas' increasing number of Western disciples. When the first meditation course was given there in 1971, it was attended by about twenty students. By the time of the seventh course, held in the autumn of 1974, interest was so great that attendance had to be restricted to 200 meditators, the limit of the local facilities. In December of 1973 Kopan became the home of the International Mahayana Institute, an organisation composed of Western monks and nuns. In 1972 they purchased land in Dharamsala, the North Indian hill station that for many years has been the headquarters of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and since 1971 the site of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. In a house formerly belonging to Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, they established Tushita Retreat Center.
After the passing away of Lama Yeshe in 1984, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche became the spiritual leader of the FPMT, a sizeable Buddhist organisation with over 100 centers world-wide.
Venerable Rilbur Rinpoche is known to have described Lama Zopa Rinpoche as, 'one of the hardest working tulkus (recognised reincarnations of teachers) I know'.
"Real peace and happiness has to come from the heart, from within.
So therefore, to eliminate wars and destroying each other,
to eliminate famine, disease and earthquakes,
and to eliminate all other disasters an unfavourable experiences,
all this can be stopped by having loving kindness toward each other.
From having a good heart with loving kindness, negative action cannot arise."
Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
So therefore, to eliminate wars and destroying each other,
to eliminate famine, disease and earthquakes,
and to eliminate all other disasters an unfavourable experiences,
all this can be stopped by having loving kindness toward each other.
From having a good heart with loving kindness, negative action cannot arise."
Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
 | Venerable Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FPMT's spiritual director, is the reincarnation of the Sherpa Nyingma yogi Kunsang Yeshe, the Lawudo Lama. Rinpoche was born in 1946 in Thami, not far from the cave Lawudo, in the Mount Everest region of Nepal, where his predecessor meditated for the last twenty years of his life. From time to time whilst giving teachings at various centers around the world, Rinpoche would tell stories of his childhood: in Thami, then in Tibet, where he went when he was ten, and finally India, where he first met Lama Thubten Yeshe, with whom he would remain as heart disciple until Lama passed a way in 1984. Spiritual Director of FPMT Venerable Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche's Website |
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