When we arrived in the USA, I was waiting at the luggage collection and the pilot of the plane we had just flown on came up to me. He wanted to have a photo taken with me. I began to think about what he could do for safety as he flies the plane, not only for his own safety but for the safety of the hundreds of passengers on the plane. I told the pilot that if you carry Buddha’s relics when you travel it has the power to stop any inauspicious thing that could cause danger and difficulties (such as it being the wrong astrological date, at the wrong time, etc).

I also suggested he carry the Diamond Cutter Sutra—it offers great protection. This sutra is the heart teaching of the 84,000 teachings of the Buddha, and is about realizing the perfection of wisdom, the teachings on emptiness. This realization is what liberates sentient beings from all the causes of samsara, which are delusion and karma, and even the subtle defilements. By eliminating these you can enlighten so many beings and liberate them from all the sufferings of samaras. All of this comes from this sutra, which teaches the path of wisdom realizing emptiness. So, it is a great blessing and protection to have this text on an airplane.

Also, another text that helps to protect everyone is the Sutra of Golden Light. This sutra is a very powerful blessing and protection. At the beginning of the flight, before the plane takes off, I suggested that the pilot could recite the prayer Ngangja Ngang gye. This text is very powerful in pacifying obstacles to either building a house or traveling. It persuades other beings to be in harmony with your wishes. Reciting this text makes those beings who normally cause trouble or danger to you to be in harmony with you. I also suggested that the pilot could recite this Buddha’s name and mantra before flying:

Prostration to the Buddha Amoghasiddhi.
Prostration to the possessors of the days, momentary stars and momentary beings.
[Devas of the days, stars and moment—these are not ultimate objects of refuge.]

All the days are virtue, all the stars and planets are positive, all the arhats have eliminated delusions, and all the buddhas have great merit of power. May the whole earth not be disturbed.

Mantra:

CHOM DEN DE SHIN SHEGPA SANGYE DONYO CHAG TSA LO
TSETEN GYU KER YUT SAM GYE DAB A LA CHAG TSA LO
OM AG AH NEE, NGY AH NEE ACHILA MANDALI MANDHALI SOHA

Recite the mantra seven times. It can be recited more if there is a greater problem, or to reduce or eliminate problems connected with travel. The pilot could also recite the prayer to the Ten Buddhas, abiding in the ten directions. He could recite the Ten Buddhas’ names once or the whole text.

If problems occur during a flight, it is also enough to take refuge in these texts. Remembering these texts is enough to protect you. Also, you can take refuge in the Buddha. If there is danger then, with your whole heart relying on all the buddhas, put your life into the hands of the buddhas. If you also pray for everybody who is on the flight, then you are saving many hundreds of people’s lives.

It is also extremely good to have the Namgyälma mantra and mandala inside a plane, even very small copies of the mantra. This is very good for protection. White Umbrella mantra is also very good.

Another very powerful deity one can practice is called Blazing Pinnacle. One can recite the mantra, which is very powerful:

NAMO SAMANTA BUDDHANAM APARTHI HATTA SHAR TSA NA NAM OM KA KA KAHI KAHI HUNG HUNG ZORA ZORA BAZOLA BAZOLA THI TA THI TA SHAN TIN SARWA TULIN MITHA TU ZOBNA SHING TING KURU SOHA

Generally, one can pray to any aspect of the Buddha, especially the aspect of the Buddha that you feel closer to. It is very important to rely upon the Buddha with your whole heart. If one prays to Tara (the female aspect of Buddha who embodies all the Buddha’s actions), then you can visualize the Twenty-one Taras around the airplane, protecting it and dispelling all the interferences (the eight groups called degyä or worldly devas) and all the spirits who cause disturbances or dangers, who make the wind elements unbalanced, etc.

Another thing one can do is meditate on the bodhicitta mind by practicing tong-len. This means taking all sentient beings’ sufferings into one’s heart, which destroys the ego – the root of problems, obstacles, and suffering, not only temporal suffering but the great obstacles to achieving realizations, enlightenment, and being able to liberate sentient beings from all the sufferings, samsara, and to bring them to enlightenment.

Then, give all your past, present, and future happiness and its results – full enlightenment, all the realizations of the Mahayana path, all your future merits, and good karma, as well as your body and possessions, to all living beings. Think that by giving these things, all sentient beings receive whatever they want and need, and the environment is transformed into a pure land, which has all pure enjoyments and where all beings are bodhisattvas. There is no enemy, no suffering, no cause of suffering, and no obstacles to achieving the path, which come from defilements, and all beings become enlightened. During the meditation on taking all the sufferings, obstacles, and interferences of sentient beings into your own heart and destroying your ego, one should stay in emptiness, the absence of the emotional “I,” the truly existent “I.”

This is the special practice of bodhicitta, which is very powerful, satisfying, and fulfilling, and makes one’s life enjoyable and meaningful, bringing peace and happiness to all sentient beings. Each time you take on all the undesirable experiences of sentient beings into your heart, you collect vast amounts of merit. Each time that you do this sincerely, it becomes very powerful purification, and you can purify lifetimes of negative karma. It is like an atomic bomb destroying your negative karma and defilements. Each time you do this practice you become closer to liberation from samsara, closer to enlightenment, and closer to enlightening all sentient beings.

One time when His Holiness the Dalai Lama was flying from Ladakh, a part of the plane’s wing fell off. Everybody in the plane was screaming. His Holiness’s secretary, Tenzin Gyeche, was walking back and forth, very worried. His Holiness sat still, meditating, and the plane was able to land without any danger. This was because of His Holiness’s meditation.

When I was very young, maybe four or five years’ old, I was traveling from Lawudo, in the eastern part of Nepal, near Mount Everest, to Rolwaling. Rolwaling is recognized as a secret place where Padmasambhava stayed and there are a lot of caves with his footprints, handprints, and long life vases. These come from the power of the mind. They are not actually footprints and handprints that someone has carved or put there. To get there you had to cross many snow-covered mountains, including a very high mountain with a lake below. There was no road and it was very rocky, with waterfalls. Rocks would often fall down, making an incredibly loud noise. When we arrived at this place a lot of rocks had already fallen down. We were traveling with many yaks carrying our bags, and the yaks were terrified of crossing this dangerous place. We had to actually push the yaks. Before we crossed this area we all chanted prayers, with our full attention, totally relying on the Buddha and Padmasambhava. You could hear everybody chanting the Padmasambhava mantra. As we crossed I could hear rocks falling and I was sure that someone would be killed, but, instead, the rocks fell down just before our group reached the dangerous place. Then they stopped falling. So, our group was able to pass. No one was killed because we had prayed with our whole hearts to the Buddha, and we had definitely received some protection. It seems that in this part of the Himalayas many of the worldly spirits are under the orders of Padmasambhava, so praying to Padmasambhava helps with protection.

Also, I heard a story about an airplane crash. When the plane hit the ground it caught fire, and many people died. However, there were four people in the upper deck of the airplane who had prayed to Chenrezig, the Compassion Buddha, and nothing happened to them, they were safe. This shows the power of holy objects.

When I make prayers in an airplane, I try to remember to pray that everybody in the airplane will arrive safely and that anybody who ever travels by that plane will never experience any danger and will arrive at their destinations safely. This is how you can dedicate your journey. By making prayers like this you are performing a puja for all the millions of people who will ever fly on that plane.

*See also Rinpoche's advice on fear of flying.