Teachings from the 52nd Kopan Meditation Course: Lamrim Teachings from Kopan 2019

Book excerpt: At the fifty-second Kopan course, the one-month intensive lamrim course given each year at Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, Lama Zopa Rinpoche uses the wonderful verse, "A star, a defective view, a butter lamp flame…" to explore in great depth and with great clarity how the cause of all our problems stems from misreading reality. 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. 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.