Travel Day 648 – Kopan Monastery, NEPAL
It was already our last day of the Buddhist introduction course and I joined only the morning meditation…
Long Life Puja for Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Afterwards a special long life puja happened in the main Gompa, in order to pray for good health and a long life of the slowly recovering Lama Zopa, one of the founders of Kopan Monastery. After the early departure of senior Lama Thubten Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche was the only remaining founder of the monastery and he recently suffered a stroke during his trip to Australia. After spending some time in a hospital, he came back to Kopan a few days ago and we were already able to see the ceremony of his arrival…
On this very special day, the main Gompa was nicely decorated, other high lamas came to visit and the oracle of the Dalai Lama was even present, as were the three reincarnations of some previous lamas. One of the boys was actually the “Unmistaken Child” from the documentary we watched the other night and so we felt quite fortunate to be able to participate in the whole ceremony as well…
Dalai Lama Oracle and Reincarnations
Actually I didn’t understand a lot of the procedures of the long life puja, but just listening to the prayers and the chanting with the drums, trumpets and horns was simply amazing. I personally loved the deep sound of the chanting in combination with the drums by far the most and we got to enjoy that for a couple of hours, before it was time to say good-bye. Most of the class participants were leaving, but I had decided to stay behind and spend my remaining time rather at the monastery than in Thamel. It seemed like a great decision, because the whole Kopan Monastery campus turned back into a peaceful oasis after all the people had left…
For me it was now finally time to check my emails, to talk to some people who also stayed behind and to catch up on my diary. It really had been some eventful days at Kopan Monastery and I felt that I had learned quite a lot…
Find all Kopan Monastery 2011 Photos here.
It is November 10. Please may I be updated on the Rinpoche’s health. I have been a student of his — along with Geshela Sopa & Lama Yeshe — for 35 years.
Dear Jean,
This puja happened in June of 2011 and I am unfortunately not aware of Lama Zopa’s current health condition. The last time I saw him was in July of 2013 and he seemed to have recovered quite well…