Dear Sangha and Friends,
Tashi delek! I want you to know about a project that my son, Tulku Jigme Tromge Rinpoche is undertaking, a project to create a magnificent, very large statue of Guru Padmasambhava, the enlightened buddha whom we revere as the source of incomparable blessing in our Vajrayana practice.
Padmasambhava-Guru Rinpoche-arose as the enlightened manifestation of the gathered wisdom of all the Buddhas. Specifically, the Buddha Amitabha emanated a seed-syllable HRI into the center of a lotus in Dhanakosha Lake, in Uddiyana, in the northwest region of the Indian subcontinent. From this HRI syllable, Padmasambha miraculously emanated as an eight-year-old boy.
In his lifetime he accomplished the various deeds of a buddha emanation, first in India and then in Tibet. He was requested to come to Tibet by the dharma king, Trisong Detsen, to help fulfill the aspiration of the king to construct Samye, a great temple complex dedicated to Buddhism. Previous to Padmasambhava's arrival, the king had invited the Indian scholar Santaraksita to Tibet, hoping that his presence would enable the accomplishment this project. However, they found their intentions thwarted by malevolent local deities who tore down at night whatever had been built in the day. Santaraksita advised the king to summon Padmasambhava, as his was the only power that could tame the obstructing spirits.
Not only did Padmasambhava tame them; he harnessed their energy so that their nocturnal activity was not to destroy but to continue the daytime construction. The successful completion of the Samye temple complex signaled the beginning of Guru Rinpoche's immeasurable dharma activities in Tibet. His outer activities manifested in the establishment of monasteries; his inner activities manifested as the superb body dharma texts-sutras, tantras, and commentaries-that were translated or recorded, and were at times hidden as treasures to be revealed later.
His secret activities manifested as the teachings, trainings, and powerful blessings that fostered realization in the mindstreams of those fortunate enough to receive and practice them. These realization holders then emanated their own succession of rebirths, sometime as revealers of the treasures that had been hidden by Guru Rinpoche in order to refresh, maintain, and protect the heart-essence lineages of Vajrayana.
When Padmasambhava departed from this human realm for his pureland of Copper Mountain, he did not abandon the beings here. He promised to protect the Tibetan people as his own children, and he assured them that he would be always be present on
the tenth day of each lunar month, wherever in the world practitioners prayed to him and invoked his blessings. He also promised that whenever an image of him was being consecrated in ceremonies on this earth, simultaneously he would consecrate the image in Copper Mountain.
So it happened in the middle of the twentieth century that Tibet came under extreme duress by forces utterly opposed to religion. At that time a famous Nyingma lama, revered throughout Tibet, urged that a three-story-high statue of Padmasambhava should be built near the sacred Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. According to Guru Rinpoche's own prophecy, the merit and wisdom generated by the creation of such a statue would preserve the nation of Tibet and its religion for sixty more years.
Unfortunately, due to internal stresses during those turbulent and uncertain years, the Padmasambhava statue that was built was only one-story high. Yet even the
diminished merit of creating a smaller statue allowed some lamas, with their precious texts and their sacred dharma relics, to escape and establish dharma centers throughout the world.
Now Tulku Jigme Tromge has chosen to fulfill Guru Rinpoche's prophesy. In Guru Rinpoche's time, he was the fervent, stubborn practitioner, Yudra Nyingpo, the foremost disciple of the translator Vairocana.
Yudra Nyingpo's own obvious realization and his steadfast devotion to his guru resulted in King Trison Detsen's bringing Vairocana back to Central Tibet from his exile in Kham. I have confidence that my son's tenacity, which served the dharma so well centuries ago, will serve it well again in the accomplishment of this splendid project.
Originally, Tulku Jigme thought to build a truly colossal statue in Nepal near the holy Guru Rinpoche caves in Parping. Land was acquired as well as the funding to initiate the work. However, the political situation in Nepal has become extremely volatile and it is now doubtful that the statue could be completed without interference, so he has decided to transfer the project to the United States. The size of the statue will be somewhat reduced, reflecting the increased expense of creating an artwork in the US.
As I write this, the United States remains the supreme world power, amazingly prosperous and almost invulnerable. This statue of Padmasambhava can be created as a joyful endeavor, generating merit amidst the fruits of merit. In the future, however, should the nation's merit be depleted, should violence and chaos threaten the well-being of its population, then the powerful blessing of the Guru Rinpoche's manifest form will become even more evident. Whoever beholds it, or touches it, or makes offerings before it-whoever remembers it in life, at the moment of death, and in the after-death bardos-will be blessed with the potential for liberation. The blessings are immediate and will also endure for generations to come. In the infinite interdependence of all phenomena, the very wind that blows over the surface of the statue will carry Guru Rinpoche's sacred essence to the furthest reaches of the universe, blessing beings everywhere.
In Tibet, His Holiness Jigme P'huntsog has expressed his joy that such noble dharma activity can be undertaken at this time and he has offered to help. I encourage you to join him, and me, and Tulku Jigme by offering your support. Nothing will be wasted; incalculable benefit will be gained.

In the dharma,
His Eminence Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche