Advice for Monks and Nuns
Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa
Editor's Introduction
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Contents
The LAMA YESHE WISDOM ARCHIVE is delighted to collaborate with the International
Mahayana Institute in the production of this small collection of talks by Lama Yeshe
and Lama Zopa Rinpoche to their ordained students, the monks and nuns of the Foundation
for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. We hope to publish more of these talks
in future.
The first talk was given by Lama Yeshe at Kopan Monastery in December, 1973, to
a small group of Western students a few weeks prior to their ordination. This was
the beginning of the IMI. The second talk was given at Tushita Retreat Centre, Dharamsala,
over two nights in April, 1982, during the first Enlightened Experience Celebration.
Essentially, this was the beginning of Nalanda Monastery. The last two talks were
given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche quite recently. The first was actually an essay prepared
for publication in Mandala magazine in 1996; the second was given during teachings
at Vajrapani Institute, California, in 1997.
The continued existence of the Buddhadharma depends upon the continued existence
of the Sangha—the community of ordained practitioners, monks and nuns—one
of the three Buddhist Refuges. In these talks, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche explain
the great benefits of practicing Dharma as an ordained person, how to keep the ordination
pure, the purpose of the monastic community, how to live together as monks and nuns
and much more. The necessity for the lay community to support the Sangha is also made
clear, and not only monks and nuns but lay practitioners, too, will gain much by reading
this book.
I thank Ven. Connie Miller, Rand Engel and Wendy Cook for their editorial suggestions,
which greatly improved the readability of these talks, and Mark Gatter for so kindly
designing this book. May the Sangha flourish in the ten directions for the benefit
of all sentient beings.
Dr. Nicholas Ribush
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