Member of the FPMT

My most kind wish-fulfilling benefactor,
I am extremely happy with your help and service. Thank you for very kindly taking this responsibility and taking such strong interest in building this most exciting, most glowing, most liberating, most powerful statue.

This statue not only brings peace, happiness, and freedom but also it will affect the whole world. Already His Holiness the Dalai Lama gives so much guidance and compassion to the world. He has an immeasurable impact on the rest of the world, especially through the education he gives about Buddhism, which has the complete path to enlightenment and offers complete wisdom, understanding, what brings happiness and what brings suffering, as well as understanding the ultimate nature of phenomena and the “I.” This wisdom relieves all sufferings, such as the suffering of birth and death, of never being satisfied, as well as all the fears that arise around desirable objects. When the mental continuum is free from delusion and karma and their seeds, then we are totally free from all suffering. This is what Buddha has shown in order to benefit all sentient beings, who are as many as the stars in the sky at night. So, it is right now that we can practice the path and attain enlightenment. Our own experience is that when we meditate correctly all the negative emotional thoughts are freed – this is the proof that we can be free of all suffering; it is not just blind faith.

Buddhism says you are the creator, you are the guide, you are your own enemy, in essence you are your own guide to enlightenment, you are also your own enemy creating problems and suffering. So, the need is to change one’s own mind. Sorry I am talking for a long time; this is a bit of a side talk on Buddhism. The main thing is that your help with this project makes it possible to accomplish this and be of unbelievable benefit. I would like to mention here how we could also create a Pure Land temple – this would be fantastic.

If you can accomplish this project it would be so, so, so pleasing to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Buddha of Compassion. For yourself, there would be incredible purification and in all your lives you would be guided by Chenrezig, you would be under the care of Chenrezig, so this is an unbelievable opportunity. What else is there to do in this life? This would be an incredible legacy that you would leave behind and that would exist for at least 1000 years. Over time, millions, perhaps billions, of people would come to this place, and there would be incredible benefit for them – so much negative karma and defilements would be purified. Millions of people would have the opportunity to create unbelievable merit. When you think about it, this is such a great thing. It is incredible!

Wherever you are in different lives in the future you would continue to receive the benefit and you would be continuously bringing peace and happiness to others.

My prayers to you and your family and my deepest heartfelt thanks and appreciation.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche

PS: If there is going to be a restaurant, I would very much like it to be vegetarian. This is my request. I don’t want animals to suffer in this situation, and I do think the people who visit the park will understand and it will be suitable for them. They will respect this philosophy and we can, I am sure, offer the most delicious vegetarian food. Again, from my heart, I thank you.

In the Arya Golden Light, the Holy King of the Sutras, it says the following:

The Destroyer Qualified Gone Beyond (Bhagawan), the Mighty Shakya (Shakya thubpa), Gone As it Is (Tathagata) took birth, born at the time of human beings in the world experiencing five aspects of degeneration with a lifespan of 100 years. In order to benefit those sentient beings who had lower faith, smaller roots of merit and devotion, and who were looking at the self, sentient beings, life, being alive, and the person as truly existent, looking at things perversely; those who were holding onto the “I” and mine; the underdeveloped beings who believe in eternalism and nihilism; and also those whose religion has no foundational steps (anti-Buddhists), in order for them to generate the right view and quickly achieve peerless full enlightenment, that Tathagata, the mighty Shakya showed a short lifespan of the holy body.

Also, aside from that, child of the race, by that Tathagata showing passing away into the sorrowless state, sentient beings generate the recognition that the Tathagata Buddha is rare and very difficult to meet and they generate the recognition and so forth of sorrow and suffering, and then these sutras taught by the Buddha Bhagawan will be quickly preserved, kept, read, and fully understood, and also there will be no criticism about extensively revealing them to others. Therefore, the Tathagata has shown a short lifespan of the holy body.

Furthermore, if the buddhas always abide and do not pass away into the sorrowless state, sentient beings will not generate respect and will not even have awareness that the Tathagata is difficult to meet, and therefore the holy profound sutras taught by the Tathagatha will not be preserved, read, fully learned, and also will not be purely and extensively revealed to others. Why? Because that sentient being believes that the Destroyer Qualified Gone Beyond One always abides in this world.

Child of the race, for example, anyone who sees that their parents have many jewels will not have any recognition that wealth is rare and wonderful. Why? They will recognize their parent’s wealth as existing all the time. Like that, if the Buddha Bhagawans do not always pass away into the sorrowless state, the recognition that they are rare and difficult to meet will not occur.

Child of the race, aside from that example, when anyone whose parents are poor and have no wealth goes to the home of a king or a great minister, if that person sees many stores, wealth, jewels, and so forth, that person has the recognition of this as being rare and difficult to find and attempts to obtain the means for seeking wealth. That person will abandon being poor and destitute and will wish to achieve happiness and wealth.

Child of the race, like that, the Tathagata is seen passing away into the sorrowless state to generate the recognition that a Tathagata is rare and difficult to meet, and of sorrow and suffering. The Bhagawan Tathagata descends into this world only a few times in countless eons, just as an udumbara flower appears only a few times in this world. Sentient beings recognize that it is rare and difficult to find a buddha and they generate faith in the Destroyer Qualified Gone Beyond (Buddha) and also generate the recognition to complete, preserve, and not criticize the sutras taught from the holy mouth. Child of the race, therefore, due to this cause and condition the Tathagatas do not abide in the world for a long time and quickly pass away. Like that, with perfect skillful means, the Tathagata ripens completely the minds of sentient beings.

Also, in the Golden Light Sutra it says the following on the benefits of relics:

Also, the activity of passing away and leaving relics in the world in other time periods shows the skillful means (of Buddha). Sentient beings who make offerings and also who offer service to the relics should look at them as due to the Tathagata’s compassion and root of virtue. That being who makes offerings and offers service to the relic will completely abandon the eight non-freedoms and will meet a Tathagata, will have a virtuous friend, will not give up bodhicitta, will increase his or her merit, and will quickly go beyond from samsara. This is one of the holy deeds and one will not get lost through bondage in samsara. Therefore, you should practice precisely and without distraction, making offerings to relics and offering service.

My very dear Patricia,
I'm sorry for the long delay in replying. I have received your letter and information. What a great success, that you got approval from the city for the peace park, through it being cultural and not religious. That is a great thing. I very much like the universal peace wheel. Actually, this title is even better because it fits with all the traditions in the world.

Regarding the offer of help that you received, it is great he offered to help, but I would prefer it to be made of copper. The prayer wheel should be extremely nicely designed. The mantras and design on the outside should be gold leaf or gilded with gold. The top part of the prayer wheel should have the painted animals holding jewels (see most prayer wheel designs to see what I am referring to. I can also send you photos).

Regarding the mantra on the outside of the prayer wheel, this should be in English, as well in Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, Korean, and Vietnamese. Then, it’s up to you; it doesn't have to be in every language, otherwise the letters would become very small. All the letters should be done extremely well.

I will send you some advice regarding different mantras and texts to go inside prayer wheels. If you can please make yours like this as well. The largest amount of mantras should be “mani” mantras. It would be great to be able to have 1000 billion mani mantras inside.

This is my advice regarding the art: at the bottom of each of the steps in the four directions, leading to the prayer wheel, have two snow lions (Chinese Fu dogs), like the ones they have outside monasteries. I don’t mean African lions, I mean snow lions. Make sure they are facing out.

On the different roofs you can have garlands of different colored Christmas lights hanging, bright, nice ones in the shape of a garland. I can send you a photo if you are not sure. On the tips of the corners of the roofs have different colored lights, a bit pointed at the end, but round in the middle.

It would be good to have a canopy of five colors around the top of the first roof, made from Chinese silk (not a thick material). It can be hanging up so it does not distract from the view of the prayer wheel. Also you can have five different wide scarves, each a different one of the five colors, so they hang down from the prayer wheel (my attendant can send photos or explain if any of this is not clear).

On top of the canopy can be a garland of fake (or real) pearls, that have two hanging strings at the end of each garland (this is traditional on most prayer wheels).

It is good to have more “mani” mantras, because it is wish-fulfilling, especially for developing compassion for all sentient beings, to bring peace and happiness, temporal and ultimate happiness, for all sentient beings in the whole world.

You could have different statues in the park, like:

St. Francis—to inspire contentment (the opposite of desire), and to inspire loving kindness for others

Mahatma Gandhi—to inspire patience, how to solve problems with patience in a peaceful way, and how to solve global problems

Mother Mary and baby Jesus—to inspire loving kindness

Jesus on the cross (you could include the words of compassion he was saying when he was being crucified)

White Tara—an extremely beautiful one, for long life, so people can come and make prayers for a long life

Green Tara—for success

Medicine Buddha—for healing

Maitreya Buddha—for loving kindness, a smiling one

Mother Teresa

You can think of other people who inspire patience, etc.

You can have different messages in the park from the Dharma, from Jesus, and other traditions, such as quotes from A Bodhisattva’s Way of Life and sayings of the Buddha. In this way, people who come to the park can find solutions to their problems: relationship problems, business problems, all sorts of problems, and find peace and happiness.

Also, you could have the picture of the Buddha giving his body to the tigress, offering charity.

These are just ideas, so you can think about them. It is important to think how the weather will affect things and try to do it all in the best way.

It would be very good before you build the prayer wheel to bless the ground first, so maybe I can do this. I could go there and perform the puja.

It is great. I am very happy with your success. See what happens, and if there are things that you need help with or want to discuss, then contact me.

With much love and prayers...

My Most Dear Janine,
I am extremely happy. I highly appreciate your devotion, your inspiring mind that wants to benefit the world, to liberate sentient beings through various means, not only teaching Dharma, but with the relics.

First of all, thank you very much for the very first relic of the first Karmapa – the first of the first (just a little joke). Now, there is the second, which I have here now. It will go on the tour. The relics have been an unbelievable benefit to the world, to sentient beings. I didn’t think that there would be such incredible benefit. Partially, the tour was to generate income for the Maitreya Project, but it has been unbelievably beneficial to the world. The minds of so many people are moved and very strong devotion arises. Some see light. Definitely, there is so much benefit to people’s minds, because there is so much devotion. That is exactly what we need to happen in the hearts of sentient beings. Without devotion and a transformation of the mind, we cannot receive blessings. When there is no transformation in the mind, then we cannot achieve realizations, and can’t reach liberation and enlightenment.

From devotion, then practice comes; otherwise, there is no practice. We have to purify the defilements, negative karma, and collect the necessary conditions, merits, then also study the path and meditate on the path. Also, I saw in the text that by seeing Buddha’s relic, it purifies 1000 eons of negative karma, also just by remembering it. It also plants the seed of enlightenment from the root – guru devotion – then renunciation, bodhicitta, right view, and the two stages of tantra.

All this inspiration and these blessings come from your offering the relics. So many sentient beings in this world are able to see them. So, please rejoice and enjoy this incredible opportunity for sentient beings to achieve enlightenment.

Again, thank you very, very, very much.
With big love and prayers...

Padmasambhava said:

Listen, beautiful one having the form of a goddess,
Those sentient beings who have not met me,
Then statues of me in the future,
Will become the light, eliminating the darkness of ignorance.

Whoever builds such statues of me,
That becomes an object of offering.
All their future lives will become meaningful,
And they will establish the banner of the teachings.

Whoever generates the wish of devotional respect,
All their wishes will come true, like piles of jewels.
There is no increasing or decreasing, unchangeable, filled with bliss.

One who daily recites the heart mantra,
Exactly all goodness will flow,
How wonderful, Em Ah !

My very dear June and Nick,
Thank you very much for all your efforts in making statues.

What a great thing that you can make so many statues of enlightened beings. Thank you very much. Making statues liberates sentient beings from samsara and from defilements, and brings them to full enlightenment.

When the statue is made, it works for sentient beings by itself, so that sentient beings can achieve liberation from samsara and be brought to full enlightenment.
With much love and prayers...

My most dear Kristen,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. All your thoughts are the best thoughts: to live according to the refuge precepts and later to become a nun. I can give you the precepts by telephone, or later when we meet, once you have an understanding of the precepts.

I like this prayer wheel very much, and since I like you very much and am very happy with you, it is exactly the same if you have it. I especially appreciate your dedication to benefiting others, reciting Vajrasattva while you are doing cashier work, and memorizing the Diamond Cutter Sutra, as I have asked. I asked you seriously to do this and already you have memorized part of it. That is amazing, and it means that in the future you might be able to recite the Diamond Cutter’s Sutra while you are at the checkout.

This prayer wheel, besides making you happy, can make many people happy. Seeing the prayer wheel liberates so many people from the lower realms, by purifying even very heavy negative karma, the five uninterrupted negative karmas of killing one’s father or mother, harming a buddha, killing an arhat (one who has completed the five paths, has removed delusion and karma, and is free from the sufferings of samsara), or causing disunity among the sangha. So, there is no question about it purifying the ten non-virtuous actions.

Many people will remember being at Wal-Mart and seeing this prayer wheel. Each time they remember, it will purify their mind and plant the seed of enlightenment. That means it causes them to achieve all the realizations from guru devotion, the three principles of the path (renunciation, bodhicitta, and wisdom correctly realizing emptiness), the two stages, and full enlightenment, the two kayas. That means you are liberating all those sentient beings every day and bringing them to enlightenment. That is why, when I travel with my prayer wheels, especially the hand prayer wheels, I carry them through the airport so that many people can see and I turn them from time to time. Also, the prayer wheel is beautiful, with a crystal on top, so people really get attracted to it and stop and look at it, and while they are looking at it, it purifies them. Isn’t that a great business!

I am also sending you a text on some of the benefits of prayer wheels, which I have translated.
With much love and prayers...

I have brought many buddhas’ relics and tsa-tsas to your house. You should attempt to circumambulate them as much as possible. The benefits of circumambulation are vast; it is extremely important to circumambulate holy objects. Maybe you have not heard about this.

It would be a pity if you don’t take time to circumambulate all the holy objects, especially the relics. This could be the only opportunity you have; we cannot be sure about our next lives, it could be very difficult to have the chance again to circumambulate holy objects. Who can say when we will have this opportunity again? It may not happen for an incredible length of time. It is such an easy way to purify negative karma and collect extensive merit, the cause of enlightenment, liberation from samsara, happiness in future lives, and a good rebirth. You should take the opportunity as much as you can, even if you can’t walk much, to do one, two, three, or four circumambulations.

Now we are able to see holy objects such as Buddha’s pictures, statues, stupas, and scriptures but even that may be extremely difficult in the next life. Animals cannot see these holy objects and even human beings don’t all have the opportunity to see them. Many human beings have no karma to see holy objects their entire life. They work so hard, experiencing one problem after another, just to survive, and then die, just like that. Then the body is burned or buried and that’s it. The body and skeleton disintegrate, and the mind is somewhere else.

As it is mentioned in the teachings, and as you can tell, our motivation or attitude during a day is mostly attachment, seeking happiness in this life. That is totally non-virtuous, and the result will be your own suffering. Then, there is anger, jealousy, and other delusions from which actions become non-virtue. Even for new practitioners, who believe they are practicing Dharma, it is very rare that a virtuous thought arises in one day, it needs a lot of effort. Only by putting effort into thinking about impermanence and death, and so forth, can you cut the thought of the eight worldly dharmas, attachment clinging to this life; then only do actions become virtue. Or when anger arises and you practice patience, it becomes virtue. So, it is not easy.

Therefore, this is one time you can see holy objects of the Buddha—these statues, stupas, and scriptures—it is not certain that you will be able to see them again for eons, let alone collect merit from them.

Knowing this helps not to take for granted being able to see so many buddha pictures and statues, so that you don’t become careless, so that every day you think how precious it is. You recognize this rare opportunity, feeling how fortunate it is to be able to see these holy objects, being inspired to collect merit by making offerings and prostrations to the objects, even putting your palms together many times a day, as you see the holy objects in your room.

By making offerings to holy objects and just by merely seeing them you collect infinitely greater merit than by offering divine food of a hundred tastes (much higher quality than human food) every day to solitary realizer arhats. Solitary realizers are freed from samsara, delusions, and karma by having completed the five paths, based on seeing the entirety of samsara in the nature of suffering, like a prison, like a nest of poisonous snakes, not finding attraction to samsaric pleasures for even a second. On the basis of that realization they entered the path and completed all the five paths; within each path there are many branches, realizations, and qualities to be achieved.

Merely seeing Buddha’s form in a statue or painting collects far greater merit than offering divine food of a hundred tastes to solitary realizer arhats equaling the number of atoms of all the worlds. How much is “all the worlds?” They are equal in number to the grains of sand in the Pacific Ocean. Offering food every day for how long? For one eon. So, the merit of making that many offerings every day for that long is small compared to just seeing a holy drawing or statue. The merit is many times greater if one puts one’s palms together in front of the holy object; so there is no question about the merit of making offerings of flowers, incense, and light.

This is the method to increase merits, from the scriptures of Buddha.

My very dear Barbara,
Thank you very much for your kind letter, which I was very happy to receive. It is a great thing that the relic tour exists in this world; it is benefiting many people. There have been many amazing stories from people who came to see the relics. Even non-Buddhists have had such strong feelings and seen light coming out from the relics. They feel deep peace in their minds. Your experience is extremely precious.

This is really what we are looking for—that those who come to visit the relics experience a change in their minds, as well as the relics benefiting the whole world, so there are no more wars, poverty, and sickness. All of this can be eliminated and one can achieve perfect peace and happiness in this world, as well as perfect enjoyment, with everyone’s hearts filled with love, compassion, patience, and kindness. People can actualize bodhicitta—the thought of enlightenment and right view. They can achieve great outer and inner prosperity and complete the realizations of the path to enlightenment.

This is why Buddha left relics for us, so that we can complete the merit of wisdom and method and actualize the whole path to enlightenment.

I will send you one small relic of the Buddha so you can worship it every day, with prostrations, circumambulations, and offerings, so as to pacify all sufferings and to only have peace, happiness, compassion, and loving kindness.

With much love and prayers,
Lama Zopa

P.S. I am also sending you a picture of the very precious Buddha statue inside the temple in Bodhgaya—where the Buddha attained enlightenment.

More talks by Lama Zopa on this topic:
Refer to Lama Zopa's Commentary on Tsa Tsa Practice.
See also Lama Zopa's talks on The Benefits of the Existence of Statues and of Making Statues and The Benefits of Prayer Wheels.