One Hundred Thousand Prayer Wheels

One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Vast Visions for FPMT is to build 100,000 prayer wheels around the world. The following advice was given by Rinpoche regarding this vision:

“[I would like] for the whole organization to build 100,000 prayer wheels in different parts of the world, a minimum height of six feet. Prayer wheels are a great blessing for each country.

"The prayer wheels should have a very beautiful painted roof, like a house or temple over the prayer wheel with Tibetan or Chinese art.  But not like Pizza Hut's or Kentucky Fried Chicken's roof and not like a jail.

"The reason why I'd like to build as many as possible is because it is said by Kadampa geshes, in the teachings in one of the Lojong texts:  If many people as a group kill an animal, then the negative karma is heavier.  But if the animal is killed by one person, that person’s negative karma is less powerful. If there are many people and as a group they kill the animal, then each person negative karma is heavier.

"So therefore, that is why in the texts it says: If you do prayers as a group, then it is a hundred times more powerful than doing it alone in the room.

"That is why I am suggesting that when we build a stupa etc, if as many people as possible can participate. This can mean by funding or giving time. People can do different ways, either with money or other ways.

"If we do it as the whole organization, as a project, then if everybody offers $10 or $5 pr even smaller thinking that you are contributing to building a stupa, then in this way it becomes everyone’s project. In this way the karma is very powerful if we do it with many people, all together.

"This is the same thing when building statues. If you do it like this it is amazing, it can be funded quite easily. The people think that this is also their project, and even if they only have $10 to offer, this way everybody gets benefit.

"It does not mean to build these in a time limit, I am just expressing here a general plan. There is no limit of time. I also don’t mean for the centers to do this, I don’t mean to be giving burden to the centers.

Roger commented that the cost of building 100,000  stupas would cost about one billion dollars.

"You shouldn’t think like that. There is no limit of time to build them. If you think of all the things that we have built and spent in the organization so far, if at the beginning you added it up, it would not have seemed possible. It doesn’t help to think like that. It is better to rejoice!

"A billion dollars is nothing when you compare to not being born in the lower realms, to have pure rebirth up to enlightenment. A million dollars, even a trillion dollars is nothing compared to the benefit. We are talking about liberation and enlightenment.  It has no meaning when compared to the benefits. Even temporary benefits of building a stupa.

"We need to have an organizer for each project. We should set this up before we put it in Mandala magazine, so it is more professional.

"The idea is to get as many people involved as possible. If you are personally going to build a one-storey stupa, you can’t afford it. But if many people, help by offering $100, $10 or $20, then also you become part of the building. It is incredible. Even children can help, each child donate $1 or $5. This is a very good way of doing it. This way it benefits so many sentient beings, liberates and brings them to enlightenment, even including the insects and mosquitoes landing on the stupa or the worms on the ground, because the rain comes, touches the stupa and flows down on the ground and purifies the worms.

"I would also like to build prayer wheels under the different oceans of the world, to bless all the sentient beings in the oceans.”

- Lama Zopa Rinpoche on his Vast Vision for FPMT, Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, CA, March 2007