Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Joyful Parents, Successful Children
    Joyful Parents, Successful Children
    Joyful Parents, Successful Children
    Ebook96 pages1 hour

    Joyful Parents, Successful Children

    By Lama Zopa Rinpoche

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    So success is not about having money; success is about having a good heart.
    That is the main education you should give your children.
    -Lama Zopa Rinpoche

    This book contains perfect advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, not only providing the Dharma context for how our children should be brought up but also containing many helpful suggestions of how we can introduce simple Dharma practices for our children. Rinpoche emphasizes the responsibility that Buddhist parents have to educate their children in good qualities and behavior and to set a good example and practice the qualities Rinpoche outlines as essential for achieving every type of happiness, both short- and long-term.

    This ebook was designed & published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive for Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC). We are non-profit Buddhist organizations affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) and invite you to visit us online for more Dharma teachings.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
    Release dateDec 28, 2015
    ISBN9781891868665
    Joyful Parents, Successful Children
    Author

    Lama Zopa Rinpoche

    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.

    Read more from Lama Zopa Rinpoche

    Related authors

    Related to Joyful Parents, Successful Children

    Related ebooks

    Buddhism For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Looking Into Vajrayana Buddhism’s Future

      Mar 11, 2024

      Looking Into Vajrayana Buddhism’s Future
      20 min read

    • Article

      Glory That Endures

      Oct 30, 2021

      If there are two things that the Japanese have aced, it’s preserving traditions and ageing gracefully. Surprisingly, both are rather meaningfully connected. Ancient Japanese beauty rituals, carefully nurtured and passed down generations, are the subj

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Buddha Was Here

      Nov 20, 2018

      The Buddha Was Here
      11 min read

    • Article

      Ask The Teachers

      Mar 2, 2021

      ROXANNE DAULT: The body is at the heart of the Buddhist path. It is our guide within the experience of the present moment and an important vehicle for our awakening. One might think at times that the body is an obstacle, that we need to push it away,

      5 min read

    • Article

      Dr. Anouk Aimée Shambrook

      Sep 19, 2023

      I’M A BLACK BUDDHIST teacher in a troubled America. I was raised in a conservative white town in Southern California. My Haitian mother and Irish father raised my siblings and me Catholic. They also introduced us to Buddhist philosophy. Maman would l

      2 min read

    • Article

      Freda Bedi

      Jan 21, 2020

      FREDA BEDI WAS BORN Freda Houston above a quaint watchmaker’s shop in Derby, England, in 1911. Tall, blue-eyed, and with an imposing manner, she wore many hats: Oxford scholar, professor, social worker, champion of women’s rights, wife and mother of

      2 min read

    • Article

      Stepping Stones of Emptiness

      Mar 7, 2023

      Stepping Stones of Emptiness
      10 min read

    • Article

      Just Get Out of Your Own Way

      Sep 18, 2018

      If your mind is straightforward, without deviousness, then what difficulty is there to Buddhism? It is just because students do not rely on the straightforward mind that they erroneously produce judgments. This is why there are so many obstacles. —TO

      3 min read

    • Article

      Your Liberation Is On the Line

      Sep 27, 2022

      Your Liberation Is On the Line
      5 min read

    • Article

      Rama Speaks

      Sep 27, 2022

      This beautifully organized synthesis of Rama’s core teachings, with commentaries by long-time student Lawrence Borok, has just been published. American-born Rama – Dr. Frederick Lenz practiced and taught a radical pathway to Enlightenment. He adapted

      1 min read

    • Article

      A Short Guide to Key Buddhanature Texts

      Sep 20, 2023

      Buddhanature, or tathagatagarbha: some say it is not Buddhist, some say it is quintessentially so. I do not want to push either judgment upon you; there is more than one way to be a Buddhist! Instead, I want to provide a roundup of some formative bud

      3 min read

    • Article

      Buddhanature Beyond Mere Concept

      Sep 20, 2023

      Buddhist traditions express our potential for awakening in diverse ways: natural luminous mind; suchness; nondual awareness; basic goodness; dharmakaya; the unity of emptiness, self-existing wakefulness; unconfined capacity; and so forth, all under t

      3 min read

    • Article

      Beginner’s Mind

      Mar 19, 2019

      WITH SO MANY lineages, practices, and unique terms, the world of Tibetan Buddhism can be confusing. Here is a short primer on the four main schools and some of their key practices. Gelugpa: Established in the fifteenth century, the Gelugpas are the n

      4 min read

    • Article

      At The End Of The Rainbow

      Jan 28, 2020

      At The End Of The Rainbow
      6 min read

    • Article

      Motherhood Is More Than a Metaphor

      Jun 1, 2021

      Motherhood Is More Than a Metaphor
      12 min read

    • Article

      Ask The Teachers

      May 8, 2018

      CHAGDUD KHADRO: According to the teachings I have heard and the realized masters I have observed, emotions such as grief and sorrow—as well as disappointment, frustration, and fear—do arise. But such masters liberate emotions by recognizing their eph

      4 min read

    • Article

      Ask The Teachers

      Sep 27, 2022

      WILLA BLYTHE BAKER: First of all, yes, there are shadows, and the longer you practice in the Buddhist tradition, the more you know. The infighting, corruption, and abuse that you have learned about over the years is not new—it is not a thing of this

      5 min read

    • Article

      Editors’ Notes

      Jun 20, 2024

      IT’S A SAD MOMENT, because this is the final issue of Buddhadharma as a print journal. For the last twenty-two years, we at Lion’s Roar have been proud of Buddhadharma and loved working on it. We know that dedicated readers like you have appreciated

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Birth Of A Mother

      Jul 7, 2023

      The Birth Of A Mother
      3 min read

    • Article

      You Can Take Refuge Right Here

      Sep 14, 2021

      You Can Take Refuge Right Here
      12 min read

    • Article

      Advice to a Young Woman Teacher

      Jul 23, 2019

      Myokei Caine-Barrett (Bishop of the Nicheren Shu Order of North America): I would say to follow your heart, because we are all uniquely equipped. Rather than looking elsewhere, you’ll need to go deep into yourself, find your own strengths, and learn

      3 min read

    • Article

      Whatever YOU PREFER

      Oct 26, 2021

      Whatever YOU PREFER
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Heart Of A Buddha

      Nov 21, 2023

      UNSHAKEABLE: Trauma-Informed Mindfulness for Collective Awakening (Parallax) is a guide to cultivating stability of mind and resiliency. Author Jo-Ann Rosen is a mindfulness teacher and psychotherapist who worked for thirty years in marginalized comm

      4 min read

    • Article

      Tots Gone wild

      Jan 4, 2020

      Tots Gone wild
      4 min read

    • Article

      Sensei Roboto

      Sep 27, 2022

      Sensei Roboto
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Practice of Fierce Inner Heat

      Mar 11, 2024

      The Practice of Fierce Inner Heat
      9 min read

    • Article

      Just Sitting

      Nov 17, 2020

      Just Sitting
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Swift Path to Buddhahood

      Mar 11, 2024

      The Swift Path to Buddhahood
      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Joyful Parents, Successful Children

    5/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Joyful Parents, Successful Children - Lama Zopa Rinpoche

      DEDICATION

      Through the merit created by preparing, reading, thinking about and sharing this book with others, may all teachers of the Dharma live long and healthy lives, may the Dharma spread throughout the infinite reaches of space and may all sentient beings quickly attain enlightenment.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      JOYFUL PARENTS, SUCCESSFUL CHILDREN

      Dedication

      Publisher’s Acknowledgements

      Editor’s Preface and Acknowledgements

      Raising Children With Bodhicitta

      Making a Relationship Meaningful

      Generating the Good Heart

      Teaching the Seven Foundations

      -Kindness

      -Rejoicing

      -Patience

      -Forgiveness

      -Apologising

      -Contentment

      -Courage

      Making the Worry Worthwhile

      Helping Children Collect Merit

      Living an Inner Life

      Appendix 1. The 16 Human Dharmas

      Appendix 2. The 10 Powerful Mantras

      Appendix 3. A Practice for Children

      Appendix 4. A Letter to the Children of Maitreya School

      Appendix 5. A Prayer for Children

      Notes

      About Lama Zopa Rinpoche

      The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition

      Amitabha Buddhist Center

      Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive

      What to do with Dharma teachings

      Final Dedication

      PUBLISHER’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      Parenting is one of the most challenging undertakings in life for which nothing quite prepares us. At the same time, nurturing, guiding and raising children can be deeply joyful and fulfilling.

      As Buddhist parents, we have a special and very important responsibility to ensure that our offspring not only receive a good worldly education but are also educated to be good-hearted human beings.

      This book contains perfect advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. It not only provides the Dharma context for how our children should be brought up but also contains many helpful suggestions of how we can introduce simple Dharma practices to our children.

      We wish to thank Ven. Joan Nicell and vbook; Nick Ribush of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, Tom Truty of FPMT Education Services and Laura Miller of Mandala for providing additional editorial materials; and Lobsang Drolkar and Soh Seok Keim for their support and assistance.

      Ng Swee Kim

      Publications Group

      Amitabha Buddhist Centre

      April 2015

      EDITOR’S PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      In this little book, Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche speaks about the need for Buddhist parents to make a plan for raising their children. This plan involves giving meaning to the decision to bring children into the world, and after having given birth to them, ensuring that they do everything within their power to make their children’s lives as meaningful as possible. Otherwise, as Rinpoche says, Being born in a Buddhist family will be no different from being born in a non-Buddhist family.

      Rinpoche then explains exactly how parents should go about doing this—by teaching their children how to generate a good heart and the Seven Foundations for Happiness and Peace (kindness, rejoicing, patience, forgiveness, apologising, contentment and courage) and by guiding them in virtuous actions while they are still young.

      The main body of the book comes from two talks given at Institut Vajra Yogini in Lavaur, France, on 15 and 23 May 2009 respectively. The context of these talks was a month-long retreat related to Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig in Tibetan) who is revered as the embodiment of compassion.

      Students present at the retreat, as well as those participating in the retreat from their homes around the world, were encouraged to count their recitations of the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM, with the aim of reaching a combined total of 100 million mantras. Almost every day of the retreat, Rinpoche would join one or more sessions and give an explanation of some part of the practice.

      On one of these occasions, Rinpoche was inspired by the words mother and father sentient beings in the following request to Avalokiteshvara to talk about how Buddhist parents can best raise their children:

      Arya Avalokiteshvara, treasure of compassion,

      Together with your retinue, please pay attention to me.

      Please quickly free me and all mother and father sentient beings

      Of the six realms from the ocean of cyclic existence.

      Please enable profound and extensive peerless bodhicitta

      To quickly grow in our mindstreams.

      With the water of your compassion, please quickly cleanse

      Our delusions and actions accumulated since beginningless time,

      And with your compassionate hand,

      Lead me and all migrating beings to the blissful pure land. ¹

      By keeping in mind that their child is one of the numberless sentient beings—for whom they, as Buddhists, develop bodhicitta at the beginning of every practice—parents can avoid raising their children with the painful mind of attachment that thinks only of my child. By understanding that they receive every happiness, past, present and future, up to enlightenment from their child, parents will be able to rejoice in their opportunity to be of use to at least one sentient being. As Rinpoche says, Since you spend so many years of your life with your children, it is important to make them the focus of your Dharma practice and meditation.

      Just as parents can use their children to develop bodhicitta, so too can people use their partners, parents, other people in their care and even their pets, to develop this altruistic wish to achieve enlightenment.

      In these talks, Rinpoche emphasises the responsibility that Buddhist parents have to educate their children in good qualities and behaviour while they are still young; that is, when they are still willing to listen and do what their parents ask them to! Parents should also set a good example and practise the qualities Rinpoche outlines as essential for achieving every type of happiness, both short- and long-term.

      In addition, parents need to teach their children how to do simple Dharma practices like prostrating and giving offerings to holy objects. Even if children do not continue to do these practices when they grow older, because actions bring results, sooner or later, they will reap the results.

      Rinpoche sums up his advice saying, "Since as Buddhist parents, you can do so much

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1