How to Be Happy

by Thubten Zopa, Josh Bartok (Editor), Ailsa Cameron (Editor)

In How to Be Happy , Lama Zopa Rinpoche helps us find our good heart, the heart that rejoices in the happiness of others.

How to transform problems into happiness, how to find compassion for our "enemies", how to treat ourselves with kindness; it is on these persistent and universal challenges that Lama Zopa offers his wise and warm teachings. Including three wonderfully rich and evocative guided meditations, How to Be Happy works with the reader to show that happiness in this present moment is dependent on the wisdom of a truly open and generous heart.

Anyone looking for advice on how to be happy - truly, meaningfully happy - will find Lama Zopa Rinpoche to be a trustworthy and skillful guide. He is a tireless teacher of methods that work for us when all is well, and also when life's troubles, big and small, seem unmanageable.

Genres: Buddhism, Nonfiction, Self Help

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (Tibetan: ཐུབ་བསྟན་བཟོད་པ་, Wylie: Thub-bstan Bzod-pa, often published as Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the spiritual director of The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, is held to be the reincarnation of the Sherpa Nyingma yogi Kunsang Yeshe, the Lawudo Lama. Rinpoche was born in 1946 in Thami, not far from the cave Lawudo, in the Mount Everest region of Nepal, where his predecessor meditated for the last twenty years of his life. While his predecessor had belonged to the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the Lawudo Lama himself had been a great master of the complete tantric teachings of the Nyingma tradition.

Rinpoche left Thami when he was about 4 years old and was put in a Monastery that was very close to the border of Nepal and Tibet. Rinpoche stayed at this Monastery for several years until he went to Tibet and took getsul ordination in 1958, and continued his studies in Domo Geshe's monastery in Phagri, Tibet.

In 1959 Rinpoche escaped from Tibet and continued his studies in Sera Jhe monastery in Buxa Duar, in the north of India. This is where the Indian Government housed the monks from Sera, Ganden and Drepung Monasteries who wanted to continue their studies, along with monks from the other sects. It was at Bux a Duar that Rinpoche became the disciple of Geshe Rabten Rinpoche and then of Lama Thubten Yeshe. Frida Bedi then invited him to join her school for incarnate lamas in Dalhousie where they were given the chance to learn English for 6 months. Upon the completion returned to Buxa Duar and his studies.

Lama Yeshe and Zopa Rinpoche's contact with Westerners began in 1965 in Darjeeling, when they met Princess Zina Rachevsky from Russia. She became the Lamas' first Western student. In 1969 they founded the Nepal Mahayana Gompa Center at Kopan, above Boudhnath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal. At the insistence of Zina Rachevsky the Lamas started to teach courses on Buddhism for Westerns at Kopan.

In 1971 Rinpoche took gelong ordination from His Holiness Ling Rinpoche in Bodh Gaya. By 1975, twelve centers had started. In 1976, the growing worldwide organization was named by Lama Yeshe 'the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition'(FPMT). The FPMT is an organization devoted to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and service.

There are 147 FPMT centers and projects worldwide as of March 2007.

FPMT currently has 8 standard Buddhist education programs that are taught in many of the centers. Two of these, the Masters Program and the Basic Program are committed courses of 6 and 5 years of study respectively. Based on the great philosophical texts studied in the monasteries of Tibet, FPMT holds to rigid standards of translation and has a passion for authentic texts to ensure that complete accuracy of the meaning found within these profound texts is not forfeited in the transmission from East to West.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has many other projects around the world; one of the most important is the 500ft Maitreya Statue that Rinpoche is building in Bodh Gaya that will include schools, hospitals and other social projects such as Leprosy clinics (these social projects are already in existence and have been functioning for the last
15 years). Some of the other projects that Rinpoche has founded are Sera Jhe food fund – which offers breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday to 2700 monks. The Lama Tsong Khapa Teacher Fund offers an allowance to the
main 100 teachers in the Gelukpa tradition from various monasteries. Rinpoche also has a number of other funds that are for building holy objects, such as Stupas, prayer wheels etc. Rinpoche has a very strong interest in collecting texts from all the different traditions.

Reviews

[Producervan · Rating 5 out of 5]

How To Be Happy by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Hardcover. © 2008. 130 pages. This book seems very basic and simple, but that I think is deceptive. Practice in all situations is necessary, and life is a never ending project! I have heard many of these concepts before, however my search and study continue.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

So there were little nuggets of things I loved in this book but overall I wasn't over the moon for this. I really loved the portions focused on compassion in this but I didn't love some of the stuff in this.

[Ruby Jusoh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too thin and on-the-surface. However, that is the purpose of the book, I think. Each chapter serves as a good summary of Buddhist aspects such as compassion, desire, mind and others. Due to its simplicity, a lot of the values here feel rather preachy. The book is so so so cute and small, though. I feel like it is a good thing to just have around if one needs an overview. The book is obviously written for the western audience because everything looks so palatable, if you get what I mean.

[Lavanial · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought of my father and how he has a good heart, then I found this book which shared the same.

[Katrīna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kaut kur pa vidu sis palika parak divaini

[Tony Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe books like this are meant really only for people with a lose grip on their Self. It has good intentions though sometimes may come off a little naive especially in today's world. A little too basic, I feel.

[Tony Jarewal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing book, Explain things to the point. Must read

[Will Daly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly good, though I cannot decide if Buddhism is about self-mortification (Nirvana), or the Middle Way.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't care much for this book. I found it boring and not very enlightening. I wouldn't recommend it.