Geshe Tenzin Zopa delivered Buddhist teachings in Wagga last month. Photo: Erin Hee.
Geshe Tenzin Zopa is a world-famous monk who was ordained by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Every year, he travels from his home in the Himalayas to Wagga to share his Buddhist teachings, with his latest visit being last month.
There’s one thing in particular that he loves about our Riverina food bowl.
“They don’t grow rice in the Himalaya, so they need to buy from the city. So for us, rice is more rare than gold,” Geshe Zopa said.
“But here, I found so much rice. There’s South Indian biryani, fried rice, plain rice, then the Sri Lankan rice.”
Geshe Zopa’s devotion to Buddhist teachings started with a fascination for two pantry staples.
“I become monk because I want to eat rice and taste sugar,” he said.
A new documentary on his life story, due out next year, is tentatively titled Rice and Sugar, a nod to his love for the two items that led him on his spiritual journey.
There were more than 200 hours of filming, and Geshe Zopa said seeing his face on the big screen after many years was uncanny.
“The editing is all done,” he said.
“I become monk because I want to be happy, I want to eat rice and taste sugar.
“That’s something many people take for granted.”
Geshe Zopa became a household name after he featured in the award-winning film Unmistaken Child in 2008, which documents his five-year journey searching for the reincarnation of his master, Geshe Lama Konchog.
His next film, focusing on his turbulent relationship with his father, will hit the big screen next year.
The 50-year-old did not get along with his father growing up, but Geshe Zopa has now shifted his perspective and views everything he went through in his childhood as a blessing.
“The worst person in your life now become the best person,” he said.
“Because I change my way of looking at him, changing my perspective, I change whole world.
“So he’s now like a guru, so precious.”
Geshe Zopa completed his studies at Sera Jey Monastic University and was awarded the title of Geshe in 2007. The Tibetan Buddhist academic title is awarded to monks and nuns after about two decades of study at monastic universities.
Geshe Zopa is now a visiting and resident teacher of Buddhism teachings at the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an organisation that preserves and teaches Tibetan Buddhism to Western students.
Geshe Zopa was in Wagga in August to hold Buddhism classes.
“I am in Wagga to enjoy life,” he joked.
“My father’s scolding, all the nasty things, put me into this position. Otherwise, I may be struggling in the field, plant a potato, and I need to wait one year to even just eat that potato.
“Because of his torture me, I found happiness and I found the Dharma.”
Ever since he was ordained as a monk in 1984, Geshe Zopa has been meeting new people and enjoying different types of rice.
“I feel wonderful because of no time to develop attachment to one particular kind of person, or particular kind of place, food, environment,” he said.
“But at the same time, the enjoyment is something much greater than anything to do with desire.”
