Circumambulation of Boudhanath Stupa
A student had completed 1,000 circumambulations of the Boudhanath Stupa, and four of her friends had become vegetarian after she told them about Rinpoche’s previous advice for his quick recovery. This is Rinpoche’s response.
My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling Jenny,
Thank you very, very much for your kind letter. A billion, zillion, trillion, numberless thanks from my heart and bones that you circumambulated Boudha Stupa 1,000 times. This is unbelievable, unbelievable. I wish I could do that. Dagri Rinpoche tries to circumambulate when he goes to Nepal, even to the extent of getting wounds on his feet, until blood comes.
The monk who is the leader of pujas at Kopan monastery, his mother lives at Boudha and circumambulates the stupa 100 times each day. Of course she is reciting mantras and going around the stupa with a mind having renounced this life, so that is the purest Dharma. Then you die with no problems; you die with the greatest happiness in the life.
Thank you very, very, very much. Also, a billion, zillion, trillion thanks to you for being the most beneficial, most practical clown at the center, to make the center beneficial for sentient beings.
And especially—wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, amazing, amazing, amazing—you and four other people becoming vegetarian. Thank you very much. I want to offer skies filled with wish-granting jewels to these four people, to thank them. Now the animals have less suffering as there are less people eating meat, so that means less animals are being killed. If there are no people eating meat, then there is no killing. Even though there is so much to say about the benefits, this is a simple thing that you can see.
Please continue to live your life with the thought of bodhicitta in every action that you do.
With much love and prayers...