In Training for Buddhahood Ven. Tenzin Chonyi talks about the lam-rim, the genre of Tibetan Buddhist literature the serves as a step-by-step manual for spiritual and psychological development. “If you want to become an Olympic athlete,” Ven. Tenzin Chonyi points out, “you train your body. You find out how your body works, how it can be trained, and what to expect as you keep up your training schedule. And you would need to know what not to do.
“What if you want to train your mind? What if you want to train your mind? How do you join the ranks of the great spiritual teachers, yogis and saints? Is it really possible for an ordinary person to become fully enlightened? All these questions, and more, are answered in the lam-rim teachings.”
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Mandala recommends the content in the August 2010 issue. On page 21, Lama Zopa Rinpoche provides instruction on how to visualize and think while reciting the abbreviated version of Calling the Guru from Afar.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Nalanda Monastery, France, October 2011. Photo by Philippe Garric.
In his letter for the entire FPMT community published in the Annual Review 2011: Cherishing Life, Lama Zopa Rinpoche connects his experience of manifesting a stroke to learning the lam-rim and understanding karma. As Rinpoche explains, “karma is expandable – even if what is created is very small, the result is expandable. For example, according to King Ashoka’s life story, when he was a child playing in the sand, he offered a handful of sand to the Buddha, but he visualized that it was gold and he actually received the merit of having actually offered gold in Buddha’s beggar bowl. In his next life, he was born as a Dharma King, he was very wealthy and was able to build ten million stupas in one day. So that is amazing, amazing, amazing, unbelievable merits he was able to collect. So this is the same in regards to negative karma.
“This means it is very important to abandon even small negative karma as much as possible and to practice even small good karma as much as possible. To really put effort in this way,” Rinpoche writes.
Rinpoche’s Annual Review letter is meant to be read as widely as possible and is available in English, Chinese, French, Italian and Spanish.
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In “You Can, You Must,” Mandala editor Laura Miller interviews Thubten Gyatso (Adrian Feldmann), Australian senior student and author, ordained 35 years ago by Lama Yeshe. Gyatso discusses experiences from the beginning, middle and end of retreat, and provides some valuable advice and encouragement for those considering retreat.
Although directed at the nuns and monks of Kopan, Geshe Jampa Gyatso’s advice is pertinent to anyone, covers a broad range of topics and includes some interesting comparisons between how Westerners and Easterners approach the Dharma.
In Remember the Guru’s Kindness, Rinpoche talks about how to best prolong the life of the guru, and how to avoid obstacles that can cause him sickness and a shortened life.