Benefits of Relic Tour

My very dear ones,
From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you all very, very much, billion, zillion and trillions of times.

I do understand that people have a very strong interest in seeing the relics more than one time. I know it is not easy to accept the change, but this is like our body during the life—the body is small then we become teenagers, then we gradually get older, wrinkles form, so our body changes and we get very old. This is something we have to accept.

As Shantideva said: If there is something you can change then do it; if you can’t then no need to be unhappy, accept it.

In the West generally this is often what causes depression etc—not accepting change.

All of you created unbelievable skies of merits for months and years. Wow, wow, wow! You planted the seed of enlightenment in the continuum of many, many sentient beings, also you helped by developing devotion to the Buddha in the minds of sentient beings. I heard stories from people who in the beginning didn’t want to see the relics, but saw them later and were very happy.

We don’t have karma to see the Buddha now, but we do in the form of relics. All of you created unbelievable benefit, so please rejoice and feel great happiness and think of the benefits of the relics, as it is mentioned in the Golden Light Sutra.

Thank you again from the bottom of my heart.

With much love and prayer...

My dear one,
Thank you very, very much for your kind letter and photos, and thank you so much for supporting the relics. It becomes great purification, and it’s a way to collect extensive merits for sentient beings and to plant the seed of the path to enlightenment. That makes it more possible to achieve enlightenment and to free all the sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment.

With much love and prayers...

Highly devoted brave-hearted bodhisattva, carrying the task of liberating sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bringing them to full enlightenment, Dharma friend, __ Rinpoche,

First let me express my gratitude for your unbelievable hard work and kindness towards the Maitreya Project and the relic tour. This is a great help to me and also to all the people of Kalmyk.

I am extremely happy that many people took the opportunity to see the relics and to hear that there was great benefit. I guess it shows how much devotion people there have towards the Buddha. This means there is an incredible opportunity to develop Buddhism in this country, to actualize the graduated path to enlightenment. If there is great devotion everything can happen.

In the sutra Konchog Tala, it is said by Buddha:

Devotion is like the mother
Which generates or gives birth to all the qualities,
Protects all the qualities and makes all the qualities to increase.

Devotion signifies like the city of happiness and goodness,
Devotion makes very calm and clear the water without distortion,
Devotion is like the wealth treasure and supreme leg,
Like a hand collecting, it is the root of the collection of virtue.

Also it is said that people who do not have devotion have no white dharma arising.

Abandoning pride becomes the root of respect,
Abandoning pride and doubt liberates from the four great rivers,
The rivers of wrong views, craving and desire and ignorance.

In the Sutra of Ten Dharmas it is said: “The person who doesn’t have devotion is like the burnt seed; the blue stem doesn’t arise.”

I see people with so much devotion to the guru, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. These people are incredibly lucky and will have all the success, not only temporal but up to complete enlightenment. It is an incredible thing for you to help with. Your help has been a great support in bringing the people to enlightenment. This becomes the basis to do many good things. It helps them and the country and the world as well as all sentient beings. They will be so happy.

So, yes, I definitely would like to come and visit. I just wanted to mention this and we can see what can be done in the future.

I think you may have heard that some of the relics radiated light —the Lama Tsongkhapa relics, as well as some others and also the relics of Geshe Lama Konchog, the highly attained teacher from Kopan.

Thank you for all your great kindness. I highly appreciate your activities in Russia.

With greetings and numberless thanks from my heart...

• Refuge and bodhicitta prayer
• Four Immeasurables
• Seven-limb prayer
• Long mandala prayer
• Praise to Shakyamuni Buddha
• Lamrim prayer
• Dedication prayers

Dedication:
1. May the realization of the whole path to enlightenment, from guru devotion up to enlightenment, be generated in the minds of all students, benefactors of the FPMT, as well as in the minds of those who sacrifice their life and time, bearing so much hardship to work for the FPMT organization, as well as the minds of all sentient beings in this life, without delaying a second, especially the realizations of loving kindness, compassion, and bodhicitta.

May the realizations of loving kindness, compassion, and bodhicitta be generated in the minds of all religious leaders, including in the minds of the leaders of Islam…, etc.

2. May all of the projects within the FPMT receive all of the necessary conditions and be actualized as soon as possible, to benefit all sentient beings, without delaying for a second.

3. May the projects of building two big Maitreya statues in Bodhgaya and Kushinagar receive all of the necessary conditions, including sufficient funds, and be actualized as soon as possible, without delaying for a second.

4. May His Holiness the Dalai Lama live a long life, may all of his holy wishes to benefit all sentient beings be actualized immediately (recite seven times).

5. May the extensive wishes of Lama Zopa Rinpoche be actualized immediately to benefit all sentient beings extensively.

Buddha emanates in the form of relics and communicates with us through their illumination, just like talking to us. All of the relics illuminating at the same time shows they are the same in their essence, they are all the emanations of the absolute guru – the Dharmakaya. Relics illuminate in the presence of people who have special karma to see that. It’s very powerful to pray when relics illuminate.

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...

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.