View and Search Online Advice Book
Below is a listing of advices in the Online Advice Book. They are sorted and grouped by the date posted on our website, with the most recent additions showing first. You can enter a keyword to search for advices containing that term.
Advices posted during the month of June 2023
A student believed their current partner would be unfaithful. The strong feelings of jealousy had a negative impact on the relationship and obscured their rational thinking. The student asked Rinpoche for guidance and practices.
Rinpoche wrote this letter to a monk who was helping at a Dharma center. Rinpoche had heard a lot of praise for how hard he was working.
A student wrote to Rinpoche confessing all their negative actions and asking what they could do to purify the karma. Rinpoche told the story of Milarepa, who purified all his past negative karma and became enlightened in one lifetime.
Rinpoche gave this advice to a long-time student who was going to do a long retreat and had asked for advice.
A student asked Rinpoche to check which tantric pure land would be most suitable for them and how they should prepare to go there.
A student had what appeared to be a harmless brain tumor. The tumor was not cancerous and was unlikely to cause the student’s death anytime soon, but if it continued to grow doctors would attempt to remove it.
A student wrote that their mother had been diagnosed with metastatic cancer in the lungs, liver and bones. She was in palliative care and was close to passing away.
A student had a great wish to do a three-year retreat and asked Rinpoche what practices they should do to prepare for the retreat.
Advices posted during the month of May 2023
Rinpoche sent this advice, reminding a student that when there is attachment, even the greatest pleasure is only in the nature of suffering. Written by Lama Zopa Rinpoche; lightly edited for ease of reading.
Rinpoche gave this advice to a student who was about to start a three-year retreat.
Rinpoche advised that the benefits of bodhicitta are limitless like the sky, in this letter sent to a student who was sick, hearing strange noises and experiencing pain and suffering.
This advice was given to a student who was in the hospital and was very sick with cancer. Rinpoche advised how to think at the time of death and how to experience sickness and death by taking the obstacles and suffering of others and giving away...
Rinpoche gave this advice to a student who was trying to control their anxiety, which seemed to be getting worse as they approached old age. The student, who was quite new to the Dharma, had also requested advice about life practices and their...
A student wrote that they had finished all the preliminaries received from Rinpoche and asked if they needed to do more.
Rinpoche advised the Thirty-five Buddhas and other practices for a student with Crohn’s Disease. The symptoms included inflammation of the small intestine, chronic pain, low-grade fevers, skin rashes, fatigue, etc. The student also felt stressed...
For the past twenty years a student had been unable to sleep and had many obstacles to their breathing, as well as other health issues, tumors in neck, breasts, etc. Doctors couldn’t find a reason for the insomnia and breathing difficulties.
Rinpoche advised that the curved banners adorning the top of a stupa are important and should not be omitted when the stupa is being constructed. Scribe: Ven. Holly, from an old enews.
Rinpoche advised these practices for an FPMT center that was struggling to find new premises. The students were no longer allowed to hold classes in their current place.
Advices posted during the month of April 2023
Rinpoche sent this long letter to a student who was overwhelmed by attachment. Rinpoche advised emptiness meditation and explained that long-lasting relationships are based on unconditional love and compassion, not samsaric desire.
This advice was sent to a student who was experiencing a lot of health and financial problems.
Rinpoche gave this advice to a student was experiencing a lot of obstacles and disharmony within their family. Rinpoche emphasized the importance of generating bodhicitta, the mind of enlightenment.
This message was sent to a monk who had been offering service at the Dharma center for many years.
A student confessed to criticizing Rinpoche and not following Rinpoche’s advice regarding bhikshuni ordination. She had tried to purify the negative karma by doing the Thirty-five Buddhas practice, and also by handwriting sutras and auspicious...
This message of thanks was given to all the people who prayed for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibet, as requested by Rinpoche in June 2018. Transcribed from video by Ven. Joan Nicell. Lightly edited by Sandra Smith.
Rinpoche gave this advice to a student who wrote that after buying a new property, they had some obstacles with money and with the building department.