Skip to main content

Kopan Course No. 19 (1986)

By Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1976
(Archive #398)

A transcript of teachings given by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche at the Nineteenth Kopan Meditation Course, held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in 1986. The transcript is lightly edited by Gordon McDougall, June 2011. You may also download the entire contents of these teachings as a PDF file.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at the Ninth Meditation Course, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1976.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at the Ninth Meditation Course, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1976.

Kopan Course No. 19 Index Page

The Index Page provides an outline of the topics discussed in each of the lectures. 

SECTION ONE

Lecture 1

  • Introduction
  • Lama Zopa and the Buddha are labeled by the mind
  • The universe you experience comes from karma
  • The label and the base
  • Not believing in inherent existence brings peace

Lecture 2 

  • The “no” of the Heart Sutra destroys what doesn’t exist
  • The refuge prayer
  • Material wealth, Dharma poverty
  • The Buddha does not wash away negative karma with water 

SECTION TWO

Lecture 3

  • World peace comes from inner peace
  • The importance of the three principal aspects of the path
  • Question and answer: Dreams, love and Dharmakaya
  • Question and answer: No Karin existing from her own side
  • The benefits of refuge

Lecture 4

  • The Heart Sutra
  • The importance of understanding suffering
  • The twelve links
  • Everything comes from the mind
  • Relate everything back to your karma

SECTION THREE

Lecture 5 

  • The Heart Sutra
  • Meditate that everything comes from karma and ignorance
  • A dollar is a piece of paper before the label is applied
  • Letting go of clinging to appearances is freedom
  • The Buddha subdues Chungawa’s attachment
  • The drawing of the Wheel of Life

Lecture 6

  • The Wheel of Life shows you should observe your karma
  • An irreligious king is subdued by a painting of the Buddha
  • The illustrations in the Wheel of Life
  • The illustrations of the twelve links in the Wheel of Life
  • Observe your karma each moment

SECTION FOUR

Lecture 7

  • The causes and results within the twelve links
  • Putting the teachings into practice
  • You have two choices: to cherish yourself and be miserable or to cherish others and be happy
  • Only with this human body can we practice Dharma
  • If you want happiness, just do it!
  • You only have to eliminate the cause of suffering once

Lecture 8

  • Nepali music is the soundtrack of samsara
  • Seeking enjoyment is the door to all suffering
  • Leaving the body again and again
  • Samsara is only in the nature of suffering

SECTION FIVE

Lecture 9

  • Happiness depends entirely on others
  • The inner enemy only harms
  • The six perfections
  • Charity
  • Purification and vows
  • Studying the lamrim

Lecture 10

  • Meditation on the emptiness of the I
  • The four analyses

SECTION SIX

Lecture 11

  • Questions and answers on refuge
  • The refuge ceremony

Lecture 12

  • The bodhisattva vows

SECTION SEVEN

Lecture 13

  • Chenrezig Initiation