Perseverance - (Wisdom Culture) by Lama Zopa Rinpoche (Paperback)

About the Book

"This is Lama Zopa Rinpoche's commentary on perseverance (virya in Sanskrit; tsèondrèu in Tibetan), the fourth of the six bodhisattva perfections and the subject of the seventh chapter of Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life (Bodhisattvacharyavatara), which was written about 1,300 years ago. Rinpoche would often use the text to emphasize how we need to overcome our attachment to the samsaric pleasures of this life-what are called the eight worldly dharmas or worldly concerns. These are our big addiction and the reason this realm we live in is called the desire realm. Our senses constantly reach out for pleasurable objects: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and so forth. As long as chasing our desires dominates our life, we not only have no freedom to become a better person but we are also assuring ourselves (and our planet) great suffering in the future. Breaking this addiction is not easy. We need great determination, great perseverance. This is the subject of Shantideva's seventh chapter, where he explores in detail the effort we need to move from a selfish nonvirtuous attitude to one that serves others. Of A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, Rinpoche says, "The whole of Shantideva's wonderful text is like an elaborated commentary on the lamrim [the graduated path to enlightenment]. In the monasteries, A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life is not used much as a text for debating, but students constantly refer back to it, quoting from it often. Many great teachers, such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, quote extensively from it for many different subjects. It is so practical that we can use whatever Shantideva says as everyday advice, showing us how to conduct our lives.""--

Book Synopsis

Dive deep into perseverance, one of the core practices of the bodhisattvas, with beloved teacher Lama Zopa Rinpoche as a guide.

Awakening depends on fortitude;
because, without fortitude there is no merit,
as there is no movement without wind.
--Shantideva, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life

Perseverance, or virya, is also translated as "energy," "fortitude," or "vigor." One of the six perfections, or paramitas, it is one of the trainings of the bodhisattvas and a deeply necessary quality for the Buddhist path. But it's far from the kind of head-down, stubborn determination the name could imply; instead, it's joyful energy that enables us to practice.

Rinpoche's commentary is structured around the fifth and seventh chapters of the beloved Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life by the eighth-century philosopher-poet Shantideva. Interweaving his teaching with Shantideva's verses, Rinpoche elucidates this prerequisite for enlightenment, explaining what it is and how to cultivate it: guard your mind, gather virtue, work for others--and find incredible joy in these things.

"When we have perseverance, we will have no obstacles, which means obstacles to any happiness, especially to ultimate happiness, the freedom from the oceans of samsaric suffering, and most importantly to peerless happiness, the state of the omniscience that is enlightenment."
--Lama Zopa Rinpoche

About the Author

Lama Zopa Rinpoche was one of the most internationally renowned masters of Tibetan Buddhism, working and teaching ceaselessly on almost every continent. He was the spiritual director and cofounder of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an international network of Buddhist projects, including monasteries in six countries and meditation centers in over thirty; health and nutrition clinics, and clinics specializing in the treatment of leprosy and polio; as well as hospices, schools, publishing activities, and prison outreach projects worldwide. He passed away in 2023.

Gordon McDougall was director of Cham Tse Ling, the FPMT's Hong Kong center, for two years in the 1980s and worked for Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London from 2000 to 2007. He helped develop the Foundation of Buddhist Thought study program and administered it for seven years. Since 2008 he has been editing Lama Zopa Rinpoche's lamrim teachings for Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive's FPMT Lineage series.