Who is Guru Rinpoche?

Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambhava was a fully enlightened being who went to Tibet from India in the 8^th century and established Buddhism there.  The coming of Guru Rinpoche was prophesized by Buddha himself in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra.

According to the Mahaparinirvana-sutra, when Buddha Sakyamuni was about to pass away, at Kushinagar in Nepal, he said:

“Impermanence is the nature of all created phenomena. Death being inevitable, the time for my passing into Nirvana has arrived. Of this you should not grieve. Twelve [hundred] years after my passing, there shall come forth a man, the Lake-born Lotus, from north-west Uddiyana, who shall be yet wiser and more powerful than myself. It shall be he who will promulgate the way of Secret Mantra.”

In the Manjusri-nama-sangiti we read:

A glorious Lotus-born Buddha, omniscient, possess­ing the treasury of Transcendental Wisdom, shall come: He is the sovereign manipulator of Illusion, the great Buddha who teaches the way of Secret Mantra.

Prayers to Padmasambhava remove obstacles on the path, prevent harm, create peace in the world, and help us accomplish all we wish on the spiritual path.

The benefits of constructing statues of Guru Rinpoche

On a general level, the construction of any image of any Buddha or Bodhisattva will bring immense benefits.

Buddha was once questioned by a close attendant on the merits of making statues, stupas and building monasteries.  In response Buddha said:

If someone were to build a large temple that would house hundreds of thousands of sangha members and the same person were to then make offerings to the sangha day after day for years.  And by comparison if that person were to make a small stupa the size of a Myrobalan fruit, and a statue of the Buddha the size of the fruit, the creation of these last two would be more beneficial for they represent the Buddha’s mind and body respectively. As Buddha has limitless qualities, any worship or offering made to these two miniatures would be more precious.

Building statues of Padmasambhava is a long time tradition in Tibetan Buddhism.

We currently live in an era called the age of degeneration in which on a global scale sickness, famine, war and conflict continue to intensify, while individually our well-being and contentment diminish. In a well-known prayer of supplication, Padmasambhava or Guru Rinpoche is called the “Precious, supreme protector in these degenerate times.”

Through the strength of his loving kindness, paintings, statues and other images of Guru Rinpoche pacifies negativities and exert a beneficial influence wherever they are placed.  By participating in their construction, individuals directly help to bring peace and well-being to the world as well as creating immense good karma and merit.

Padmasambhava himself said to Yeshe Tsogyal:

Listen, beautiful one having the form of a goddess,
For those sentient beings who have not met me,
Statues of me in the future
Will become the light eliminating the darkness of ignorance.

Whoever builds such statues of me,
Which become objects of offering and so forth,
All their future lives will become meaningful
And they will establish the banner of the teachings.

On a personal level, offering to Guru Rinpoche will also help to clear out all sorts of obstacles on the spiritual path and we will receive his blessings to experience the true nature of mind. Guru Rinpoche said that whoever prays to him with single-pointed devotion will receive his blessings and have their wishes granted swiftly especially in these degenerate times.

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