Dear Lama Zopa: Radical Solutions for Transforming Problems into Happiness

Unconventional wisdom, affirmation, and advice from one of Tibetan Buddhism's most influential living teachers.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche is a master at explaining Buddhism's radical but effective methods for transforming suffering into happiness, which have been practiced and taught by Tibetans for a thousand years. It's a challenging way to think - how can it be that the things that cause us pain are actually blessings?

In Dear Lama Zopa, Rinpoche applies that challenge to our everyday, real-life problems - from the littlest to the biggest. Every year he receives thousands of letters from people around the world asking for advice - on coping with everything from addiction, grief, and depression, to war, terrorism, and death.

In his detailed and deeply caring responses to these letters, reproduced here, Rinpoche shows again and again that the best method for solving our problems is to radically change the way we perceive them; that by emphasizing their inner causes we can even change the resulting outer circumstances.

Even people familiar with notions like karma and reincarnation, which imply that we are the creators of our own experiences, may find the advice difficult. Yet uncountable thousands of people of all backgrounds have put Rinpoche's loving guidance into practice - and have seen real and positive change in their lives. Now, with Dear Lama Zopa, you can see for yourself...

Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche is the Spiritual Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a worldwide network of Buddhist centers, monasteries, and affiliated projects, including Wisdom Publications. Rinpoche was born in 1946 in the village of Thami in the Solo Khumbu region of Nepal near Mount Everest. His books include Transforming Problems into Happiness, How to Be Happy, and Ultimate Healing. He lives in Aptos, California.