FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

ANSWERS

Who is Guru Padmasambhava?

Guru Padmasambhava is the lotus-born tantric master (Padma means "lotus flower"; sambhava means "born from.") who established Vajrayana Buddhism. He manifested the attainment of the four vidyadhara levels and hid innumerable Dharma treasures throughout Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan to be revealed by destined disciples in the future. Currently Guru resides on the summit of the Copper-Colored Mountain on the southeastern continent. His appearance was foretold by Lord Buddha Shakyamuni in many sutras and tantras, as extracted and presented in the following:

From the Immaculate Goddess Sutra:
"The activity of all the victorious ones of the ten directions
Will gather into a single form,
A Buddha son, who will attain marvelous accomplishment,
A master who will embody Buddha activity,
Will appear to the northwest of Uddiyana."
Guru Padmasambhava was also prophesied in the Sutra of Inconceivable Secrets:
"A manifestation of the Buddhas of the three times,
With marvelous deeds in this Good Aeon,
Will appear as a vidyadhara
In the center of a wondrous lotus flower."
The Tantra of the Ocean of Ferocious Activity says:
"A holder of the secrets of all the Buddhas,
The king of the deeds of indestructible wrath,
A miraculous form without father or mother,
Will appear as a vidyadhara
In Lake Kosha of Uddiyana."
The Nirvana Sutra, the Buddha utters:
"Twelve years after I pass into nirvana,
A person who is superior to everyone
Will appear from the anthers of a lotus flower
In the immaculate Lake Kosha
On the northwestern border of the country of Uddiyana."
The Sutra of Predictions in Magadha, the Buddha also says:
"I will pass away to eradicate the view of permanence.
But twelve years from now, to clear away the view of nihilism,
I shall appear from a lotus in the immaculate Lake Kosha
As a noble son to delight the king
And turn the Dharma wheel of the unexcelled essential meaning."
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Why should I utilize the present human lifetime in terms of contributing to Buddha construction?

As expounded by the Buddha, there are eight conditions that could hinder you from obtaining a promising human life:
  1. Being born in the hell realm, you are continually afflicted with pain and fear.
  2. Being born in the hungry ghost realm, you are incessantly agitated with frustration and clinging.
  3. Being born into the animal realm, you helplessly live at the mercy of others.
  4. Being born in a barbaric place, you lead a life of savages and cruelty.
  5. Being born in the gods realm, you complacently drown yourself in pamper and luxuries without cultivating virtues.
  6. Being born in a place where the Buddha has not appeared and his teachings unavailable, you never realize how to liberate yourself from samsara.
  7. Being born with disabilities—being mentally retarded, deaf, dumb, blind, etc.—you encounter difficulties in learning the Buddha Dharma.
  8. Being born with instinctive wrong views, you perpetually engage yourself in negative causes.
If you look at your own life, haven't you been extremely fortunate to be "the you" now? However, life is full of uncertainty, you never know where you will go after this lifetime. What could be a safer act than to build virtues as much as you can at your present conducive human life?
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Building such a huge Buddha is not at all easy, how did you come up with this great idea?

Considering the far-reaching impact it can bring, Buddha Dordenma Project is not something ordinary human can come up with and take action on.
It is indeed an activity initiated to fulfill a former prophecy in a termaPrecious treasure hidden and destined to be revealed by future holy beings (tertons).
Could you be one of them? of Guru Padmasambhava, the immortal founder of Vajrayana Buddhism who was born from a lotus.
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I hear that Buddha Dordenma symbolizes peerless virility. What does it mean?

The Buddha Dordenma is not for display purpose as what people may think but rather for bestowing blessings, peace and happiness worldwide. This is evident from the unique structural configuration whereby over hundreds of thousands of Buddha statues are placed inside the interior of the 169-foot-tall Buddha in the interior.
All statues are gilded in 24K gold and each of them contain five kinds of sacred relics, mantras, and precious substances. The filling will prevent the statues from being occupied with ruling spirits and instead infuses the statues with auspicious energies of immeasurable Buddhas.
You may be interested to take a tour of the Buddha Dordenma structural configuration to learn more.
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Why do you devote enormous resources in building this gigantic Buddha? Isn't it just a statue?

To people who are skeptical about virtues and merits, it is just a statue. Nevertheless, the magnitude of impact to which the Buddha statue can bring—be it in the context of time or people—should be considered. They are the benefits which cannot be generated instead by other means but the Buddha Dordenma in its own right.
An intent must be purely focused on the outcome to completely manifest itself.
Generally, although perfection of an outcome is unattainable, undivided attention to an achievement can be given wholeheartedly and this is where the power of self-fulfilling prophecy lies.
The resources devoted in this undertaking are simply a manifestation of our aspiration for universal peace and happiness. Endless potentials await to be harnessed through this Buddha Dordenma; the Buddha's blessings can touch the lives of others in the most unexpected ways.
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What does Buddha Dordenma have to do with my purpose of life?

Every sentient being including you must aspire for happiness and the good news is the Buddha Dordenma can facilitate you and others to that goal. So often, we witness many of us in search of true and ultimate happiness taking up our entire lives yet arriving nowhere.
The truth is, throughout one's life, one is strongly encouraged to build as much virtues as possible. Uniquely, the Buddha Dordenma itself is both a seed and fruit of happiness. Thus the more sincere your heart in contributing to Buddha Dordenma, the more virtues you receive for both current and after life investment. And these virtues can be utilized to help others, be it through merits transference or other more concrete ways.
Be reminded that money or worldly possessions evidently are only a means to take us to a grander end. Too often wealth has been misinterpreted as happiness although it is just one of the many available means to achieve the latter. By contributing to the Buddha Dordenma, you are devoting a share of your resources to building a well-spring of happiness (of all sentient beings including yourself).
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I regularly support the needy financially, do I need to contribute to the Buddha Dordenma as well?

It depends on whether you intend to reach a higher level of existence. By contributing to the Buddha Dordenma, you are building your own well-spring of ever-multiplying virtues. Because after the completion of the Buddha Dordenma, enormous benefits will be resulted to endless entities and the positive impact is attributable to your support therefore your virtues will only multiply since benefits will constantly be generated afterwards.
Besides bringing benefits to worldwide people, the Buddha Dordenma will solve the core intractable issues that have been faced by Bhutan. Your support in Buddha Dordenma will surely affect not only the global lives in human realm but also most importantly of other realms as universe configures itself interdependently.

And the more intriguing part of your position is...
Virtues accumulation requires substantial precondition to make it happen. You may not realize that your support to a host of charitable activities has now fruited you another seed to further happiness which is contained in this golden opportunity in Buddha Dordenma—remember that timely opportunity never comes twice.
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I want to dedicate the merits to my entire family, why can't I place all their names on the copperplate engraving?

Without any space limitation, we would definitely like to put everyone's names if possible. You can place as many names you want as long as they do not exceed a total of 36 characters.
In order to standardize all works, a maximum of thirty-six characters can be placed congruently on each copperplate engraving.
For characters exceeding this limit, try to consider broader terms, for instance FULL NAME & FAMILY.
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Can the names of both the living and the deceased be placed on the copperplate engraving?

Absolutely yes. This is one reason why we separately display the names from the Buddha statues so that anyone can freely have their names carved and displayed in the throne.
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If I contribute fully to one of the contribution items and have my parents' names carved for that, does it guarantee they can be assisted in their after lives?

Reaching a destination or not depends on many variables. The human life is one of our countless journeys to a destination, preferably to the Ultimate Enlightenment (Buddha Pureland). Whether one can transcend to a better realm or not is contingent on his/her karma, intentions, and virtues possessed. If a good deed is done wholeheartedly with devotion, it will result in tremendous virtues. By internalizing the good intention, one is bound to create virtues whenever or wherever he/she is.

When this purity meets with an opportunity to cultivate great virtues, one is bound to be free from samsara. Contributing to the Buddha Dordenma is one of the most potent ways to cultivate virtues because the contributors are incessantly creating their well-spring of ever-multiplying virtues afterwards.
Since current life determines the after life, all of us are strongly encouraged to cultivate much virtues as to prepare our stock for the next transition because wealth, fame, siblings, family, or whatever we possess in this life cannot be brought with us after the time is done. Only virtues can follow us wherever we go.

The truth is it takes a lot of pre-existing virtues to facilitate our next favorable deeds. With heavy negative karmic force, one is not likely to succeed in any favorable transformation but on the other hand will devastate to another unfavorable one. Therefore we should not wait until the negative karmic forces get to us when we plan to cultivate virtues. By that time, we would find ourselves more helpless to change the situation.
Nobody can guarantee the final destination of other people; the Buddha can only show us the path to Enlightenment but whether we reach there or not depends on our determination to follow it through. Again, the arrival is contingent on many variables, one of it is our pre-existing condition. The more virtues one possesses, the smoother the journey one takes to arrive at the Ultimate Destination.

As a matter of fact, you can dedicate your virtues to other sentient beings. So, cultivate your virtues now while you still have the chance. Life is way too unexpected in nature for us to be overly complacent with the current condition.
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Everywhere in the world we see people building holy objects, what is so compelling about the Buddha Dordenma that I should secure my share in it?

You may be aware that Buddha building has left a longstanding legacy as been compiled in the Silk Road history. You can also figure out, how likely is it for you to meet an eighth wonder of the world that is going to be both the seed and fruit for all beings to attain happiness?

Yes, you are literally shaping the next generations worldwide by leaving a legacy of wisdom and love, the Buddha's Teachings, through this Buddha Dordenma Project.
Among other ways, the Buddha Dordenma is going to allow hundreds of thousands of people including those from 3,000 temples in Bhutan to convene and conduct grand prayer ceremonies benefiting all sentient beings.

As people tap into their spiritual selves, their inherent wisdom will unfold; coupled with substantial merits/virtues, attaining enlightenment is simply a matter of persistence.
With such massive number of participants, transference of merits could be shared impartially with countless others even beings from six different realms. Because it is the synergistic effort of Buddha Dordenma supporters that have made this all possible, any benefits or kindness resulted will inescapably add upWould you pass up this "once-in-many-lifetimes" opportunity?
Your virtues stay for good and nobody can take them away from you.
What could be a better choice than take advantage of it now? to their already immense virtues for infinite time ahead.
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How much should I contribute?

You can contribute as much as you desire. You don't have to select among the listed contribution items. What counts is sincerity and devotion. Any amount is bound to make a difference and is deeply appreciated. As a matter of fact, even your future self will be grateful to the current you for deciding to take part in this project.
Due to limited space however, only full contribution to any of the items listed on our website can be acknowledged with a name display in the meditation halls (copperplate engraving).
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Get your answer to, "How does Buddha Dordenma generate magnanimous transformation in my life and others?"
Any questions that you have while considering making a contribution to the Buddha Dordenma Project can be directed to us anytime by email.
We are here to help you achieve the ultimate vision of Everlasting Happiness, i.e. Enlightenment.