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 July 2006
Buddhist Practices > General Practice Advice > General Practice Advice from Rinpoche
A nun had an interview with Rinpoche about which practices she should do. The student explained that she worked all the time, cares for her parents, so had very little time to practice, and needed to know what to do. She explained that she had a...
Buddhist Practices > General Practice Advice > General Practice Advice from Rinpoche
A student wrote to Rinpoche asking for advice on which practices to do.
Contemporary Issues > Religious Tolerance > Buddhism and Christianity
A woman who is a Christian minister wrote to Rinpoche asking if she could be his student.
Buddhist Practices > General Practice Advice > General Practice Advice from Rinpoche
Rinpoche wrote the following response to a woman who had written asking for practice advice.
Buddhist Practices > General Practice Advice > General Practice Advice from Rinpoche
A student wrote to Rinpoche requesting practices.
Advices posted during the month of June 2006
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > Advice on Guru Devotion
A nun wrote seeking help adjusting her mind to the sickness of one of her gurus. Here is her letter, followed by Rinpoche’s reply to her.
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > Advice on Guru Devotion
A student had been hosting a Rinpoche, who was very elderly, in her home for some time. She was taking care of his health, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche sent her this letter after she had come to visit him in his own home.
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > The Guru/Disciple Relationship
Rinpoche wrote the following letter to a student in Singapore, with cautionary advice on making Dharma connections with other gurus.
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > The Guru/Disciple Relationship
A woman who came to visit Rinpoche had been living in a place where many teachers from different lineages and traditions came to give teachings and initiations, and where quite a few students had the habit of going to receive initiations whenever...
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > Obstacles to Guru Devotion
During a phone call from his house in California, Rinpoche gave the following words of encouragement to a student who was striving to develop her guru devotion, but encountering some obstacles.
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > Obstacles to Guru Devotion
A student came to Rinpoche to discuss her guru and his behavior. Here is Rinpoche’s answer:
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > Obstacles to Guru Devotion
A student approached Rinpoche after one of her gurus had directly and blatantly criticized another one, saying to her that she should not bring others to that lama for advice. Her faith was still quite strong toward the lama that had been...
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > Obstacles to Guru Devotion
A nun came to see Rinpoche about a difficult time she was having in relation to her guru. She felt she was generating negative karma, not too negative, but still she wanted to discuss it. Her teacher had suddenly stopped teaching her, and her...
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > Obstacles to Guru Devotion
A student wrote confessing that she had given up going to teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa after having become very attached to another lama. Rinpoche wrote her back as follows.
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > Obstacles to Guru Devotion
A woman was having difficulties with one of her gurus. Negative thoughts were arising in her mind toward him, and she asked Rinpoche for advice about this.
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > Obstacles to Guru Devotion
A monk wrote to Rinpoche saying that while he had been doing prostrations, the thought came to him of Rinpoche having an ordinary thought, an ordinary attitude. The monk said it wasn’t his wish. It wasn’t negative but it wasn’t positive either....
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > Obstacles to Guru Devotion
A student was having a very hard time. When Rinpoche wrote this letter, the student had just completed a retreat that had been extremely painful and difficult.
Buddhist Practices > Preliminary Practices > Preliminary Practice Advice
A student wrote to Rinpoche saying she had decided to do another lama’s ngön-dro [preliminary practices] and wanted to be clear about her commitments regarding the preliminary practices that Rinpoche had given her. She had asked for some...
Buddhist Practices > Preliminary Practices > Preliminary Practice Advice
A student wrote asking Rinpoche for advice about her preliminary practices. In the past, Rinpoche had given her preliminary practices to do throughout her life, but she started practicing with another lama, who asked her to finish particular...
Holy Objects > Making Offerings > Offering Practices
Rinpoche advises the benefits of offering musical sounds to the Buddha, and explains how to create the most extensive merit possible by first generating a bodhicitta motivation, then making the offering while reflecting on the emptiness of...
Emptiness > Advice on Emptiness Practice > Emptiness Meditation
A student doing shi-nä retreat asked Rinpoche why he sometimes felt depressed after meditating on emptiness. The dialogue of question and answer between Rinpoche and the student was as follows:
Meditation and Retreat Advice > Calm Abiding Practice > Calm Abiding (Shi-nä) Practice
Rinpoche gave the following advice to a student doing shi-nä retreat at a retreat center. The student had recently disrobed.
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Lamrim Study and Practice > Training the Mind in Lamrim
Rinpoche gave the following advice to a student who asked what should be his core practice.
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Lamrim Study and Practice > Training the Mind in Lamrim
A student who had done many preliminary practices wrote to Rinpoche asking for more direction in life.
Path to Enlightenment (lamrim) > Guru Devotion > Advice on Guru Devotion
Rinpoche and a student were conversing about another teacher, whose good qualities Rinpoche was praising.
