In October?November 1972 and March?April 1973 Lama Zopa Rinpoche led the third and fourth meditation courses at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. The third course was attended by about fifty people and the fourth course had around 120 participants. These historic courses from Kopan Monastery's formative years were life-changing for many students and helped lay the foundation for the worldwide FPMT community.

This ebook presents a lightly edited compilation of Rinpoche's teachings from these two courses, primarily drawn from the fourth. The transcript has been lightly edited by Gordon McDougall for clarity, while preserving the flavor of these two historic courses. These historic courses from Kopan Monastery's formative years were life-changing for many students and helped lay the foundation for the worldwide FPMT community.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist scholar and meditator who for 30 years has overseen the spiritual activities of the worldwide network of 160-plus centers, projects and social services that form the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) which he founded with Lama Thubten Yeshe.

Born in the Mount Everest region of Thami in 1946, Rinpoche was recognized soon afterwards by His Holiness Tulshig Rinpoche and five other lamas as the reincarnation of the great yogi Kunsang Yeshe. Rinpoche was taken under the care of FPMT's founder Lama Thubten Yeshe, soon after leaving Tibet, in Buxa Duar, India, in the early 1960's. Rinpoche was with Lama Yeshe until 1984 when Lama Yeshe passed away and Lama Zopa Rinpoche took over as spiritual guide of FPMT.