Kopan Courses

Between November 29 and December 13, 2019, Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught the students of the fifty-second Kopan course, the one-month intensive lamrim course given each year at Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, the principal monastery of the FPMT. The course was held in the newly finished Chenrezig Gompa and had a new record attendance of about two hundred and seventy people.This was just before COVID19 hit and the world went into lockdown for two years, which Rinpoche used to give daily thought transformation teachings from Kopan, with the aid of an ever-increasing number of soft toys. Here, however, his main emphasis is on emptiness. Using the wonderful verse, "A star, a defective view, a butter lamp flame" over several days he explores how the cause of all our problems stems from misreading reality. Rinpoche, a master at teaching emptiness, does so here in great depth and with great clarity.These teachings were simultaneously transcribed and then edited by Ven. Joan Nicell and simultaneously checked for errors by Tania Duratovic, Laura Haughey and Ven. Tenzin Tsomo. They have been subsequently lightly edited by Gordon McDougall.The Kopan courses began in April 1971 with a ten-day program attended by about a dozen people. From these early beginnings, the Kopan courses evolved to become an annual event with over two hundred attendees from all over the world. Kopan Monastery is the heart of the FPMT, the international organization founded by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche to preserve and spread Mahayana Buddhism worldwide. The Kopan meditation courses were life-changing for countless students, and this is where many students met the Lamas, received teachings and became Buddhist.

In this first volume of Lama Zopa Rinpoche's teachings given during the 24th Kopan lam-rim course in 1991, Rinpoche covers topics such as compassion and universal responsibility, the benefits of developing bodhicitta, the disadvantages of self-cherishing, and emptiness.The series offers lightly edited transcripts in four volumes that we hope will convey the feeling of being in Nepal for the one-month Kopan course. You can also find many other annual Kopan teaching course transcripts published on LamaYeshe.com for reading online or for downloading as a pdf for later study.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!

From December 618, 2018, Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught the students of the fifty-first Kopan course, the one-month intensive lamrim course given each year at Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, the principal monastery of the FPMT. This ebook presents twelve lectures given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche during this meditation course.In the teachings, Rinpoche gives an overview of the path to enlightenment, and explains that the antidote to the sufferings of samsara is meditation on emptiness. The meditation course concluded with a Vajrasattva initiation on December 18. Prior to the empowerment, Rinpoche taught on Vajrasattva and explained how to purify our negative karma.Rinpoche also discusses the importance of developing the good heart, and advises that with this precious human life we have a rare opportunity to practice Dharma and actualize the path. Other vital subjects covered in this course include the kindness of the mother, the ultimate nature of the mind, the twelve links and the Wheel of Life.These teachings were simultaneously transcribed and then edited by Ven. Joan Nicell and simultaneously checked for errors by Tania Duratovic and Laura Haughey. They have been subsequently lightly edited by Gordon McDougall.