Thubten Zopa - Dear Lama Zopa: Radical Solutions for Transforming Problems into Happiness

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2007 Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thubten Zopa, Rinpoche, 1946

Dear Lama Zopa : radical solutions for transforming problems into happiness / Lama Zopa Rinpoche ; illustrations and calligraphy by the Lama Zopa Rinpoche ; edited by Robina Courtin, with Diana Finnegan and Michelle Bernard of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-86171-289-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 0-86171-823-8 (ebook)

1. Religious lifeBuddhism. 2. Thubten Zopa, Rinpoche, 1946Correspondence. I. Courtin, Robina. II. Finnegan, Diana. III. Bernard, Michelle. IV. Title.

BQ7775.T49 2007

294.3444dc22

2007010095

ISBN 0-86171-289-7

11 10 09 08 07

5 4 3 2 1

Designed by Arnoud Smits, Naropa Graphic Design | www.naropa.nl

Set in Minion Pro 11/14 and Avenir fonts.

Cover photograph by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

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This is a book of letters to people all over the world from Lama Zopa Rinpoche in response to requests for advice about their problems (all except four, which are letters Rinpoche wrote in response to various events).

Every word of advice Rinpoche gives is based on the teachings of the Buddha. In order to know how to use the advice in this book, therefore, its necessary to understand the Buddhas views. In many cases, these views are radically different from those we commonly hold as unquestioned assumptions, both religious and materialist. In particular, it is useful to understand:

1. What is the mind?

2. Why good and bad things happen: karma

3. How to welcome the bad things: transforming problems into happiness

4. Compassion: working for others

5. Prayers and mantras

A Buddhist monk since his childhood in the mountains of Nepal, Rinpoches expertise is the mindthe human heart and how to heal it. He is a master of the techniques that enable us to achieve what Buddha asserts is our innate potential for perfection, enlightenment.

The development of the mind in this way is not a mystical process, a hit-and-miss affair,

which is often the way spiritual development is depicted. According to Buddha,

It is a logical, rigorous, step-by-step procedure,

Doable by everyone,

That brings genuine, stable results: huge affection and empathy for others and the yearning to benefit them, and the unfailing ability to do so.

Every word of advice Rinpoche gives is based on the teachings of the Buddha.

Rinpoche is the spiritual director of a worldwide network of Buddhist centers and activities devoted to helping others in this way, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). He travels throughout the year, teaching at his centers and overseeing his projects, such as the building of the five-hundred-foot statue of Maitreya, the future Buddha, in northern India or the revitalizing of Mongolias native Buddhist culture following its decay under decades of Communist rule. He also spends several months a year in meditation retreat.

Rinpoche receives more than three thousand letters a year at his office in Aptos, California, according to one of his secretaries, Australian nun Venerable Holly Ansett. A third of the letters are requests from the directors of his centers and projects; the rest are personal, from his students, requesting advice about their spiritual practice, their lives, their health, their familiesand their problems.

Rinpoche often doesnt start dictating until after midnight, Ven. Holly says. (Remarkably, Rinpoche does not seem to need sleep. When he is not traveling or teaching or dealing with his students and centers, he is meditating.) Rinpoche takes the folder of correspondence, which contains at least two hundred letters at any one time, and chooses the letters to reply to that evening. The letters that are urgent, such as those about the persons health, always go to the top of the pile.

Like many great masters, Rinpoche is skilled at recommending appropriate Tibetan herbal medicine. He often illustrates his letters with smiling faces or animals or sayings, or he may spend a long time writing out mantras in immaculate calligraphy, reproductions of some of which are included in these pages. Along with the appropriate practices and advice, Rinpoche often sends a book, blessed pills, a calendar, a Buddhist image, or other gift as well.

Rinpoche receives more than three thousand letters a year.

Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. Ha! Ha!

Lama Zopa Rinpoche writing in gold one of hundreds of folios of The Sanghatasutra, which will be put into the five-hundred-foot statue of Maitreya Buddha that he is building in northern India

Letters rarely take less than two hours to answer, and sometimes they can be as long as thirty pages, written over several days. Well often leave the folder downstairs in the living room or in Rinpoches room at night, says Ven. Holly. Next day well find handwritten notes attached to letters, which Ill then transcribe.

Rinpoche is always moved by the kindness of others. On flights, Rinpoche often remarks how kind the crew are, Ven. Holly says. He thanks them, offers them gifts, writes out mantras for them and explains their meaning. In restaurants, he may offer the waitress a gift. They are always charmed by him!