Presenting the Project to Sponsors

Presenting the Project to Sponsors

Date Posted:
May 2008

Rinpoche gave the following advice to a student who was a director of the Maitreya Project, on how to approach and bring up the project with potential benefactors. The student had recently had a knee operation.

How are you? I hope you had a great and successful operation. Now maybe you don’t even need to put your feet on the ground, you can just fly or walk in space. There are eight common siddhis and one of these is walking in space by the power of the wind. This means you can go to a place that takes many months to travel to in just a few hours. Maybe now you don’t need to rely on airplanes to go to Bodhgaya. This is just a joke, sorry. But it would be very nice if it happened that way.

I was wondering how things are going with the plan for the project? Here, I have one very important thing to mention. I heard that there are some people who may help the project. I am wondering if you are able to meet this family and present the project. In my observation, it comes out better if you meet them than if I go there to meet them. So, I wanted to see if you would go and meet the family and present the project.

You can explain the incredible social services that this project will offer. Bihar is a poor state, and by building the statue, so many thousands of people will get jobs and be able to feed their families, go to school, etc., and that is without even mentioning the limitless skies of benefit that are received because it is a holy object. Because of the power of the holy object, it can purify all the negative karmas, and one can accumulate merit. This is how one can achieve enlightenment, by collecting inconceivable merits. This is what plants the seed of enlightenment, ceases all the sufferings, and creates the cause to achieve full enlightenment. Through this, realizations come in their hearts, and this is how numberless beings are able to achieve enlightenment.

Every day, so many tens of thousands of people will come. Just from India alone, many buses will come, and all these people will have the unbelievable opportunity to create the cause of happiness not only for this life, but more importantly, for all the coming future lives, all success, and ultimate happiness—liberation and enlightenment. Also, people will come from all over the world.

People who help to sponsor this project will have their family names written where all the people can see, so everyone can rejoice, regardless of how much they have sponsored or helped the project, the whole, entire project or half, for whatever they have offered.

This is a great, unbelievable contribution to the Indian nation and Indian people, a great gift to the world, especially India, and is something in which to rejoice. It is the most important thing in which to rejoice in one’s whole life, especially at the end of one’s life. This is really something that one has done to benefit the world, to bring peace for all living beings, to spread peace in the world. This project can really help against war, famine, disease, torture, poverty, sickness, and the dangers of fire, water, earth, and wind.

This is because peace and happiness for the world and for all sentient beings depend on loving kindness and compassion. Loving kindness and compassion cannot be created by machines or tablets, they are an attainment, a realization, something which has to be developed from the mind. They are things which have to come from the mind and from one’s heart. For this, you need to purify negative karma, the obstacles and defilements, and to receive the conditions to collect merits to be able to study the path to enlightenment, see how to develop compassion and loving kindness, and then practice this. Just praying is not enough to actualize this. This project helps you to actualize the prayers.

These are some basic reasons for how important it is. You need a lot of merit to develop the education of loving kindness and compassion, to develop the good heart. This is the root of all happiness for oneself, now, and in the future, and ultimate happiness, liberation and enlightenment, for oneself. This is also the root of all other living beings’ temporary and ultimate happiness, as well as liberation and enlightenment.

This project makes it possible for this education to happen. This is how you can present it to the family and to others, to inspire them, and to explain the benefits and reasons why it is so important.

I meant to send this information to you one or two weeks ago but it just didn’t happen, so before I completely forget I would like to send this message to you. It would be very kind if you could meet them, pass on this message, and educate them regarding the benefits of this project—how it benefits not only them but the whole of mankind, the whole world, all living beings, who are also numberless in other universes.

With much love and prayers...