Buddha statue at Kachoe Dechen Ling, California, US. Photo by Chris Majors.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered this advice in a letter to a student who offered gold to 1,000 buddha statues at Kopan Monastery in Nepal:

I thought to tell of some benefits.

In the time of Buddha Kashyapa, one person offered gold to a cement elephant and was born having an elephant that was gold and had golden kaka. The king at that time confiscated the elephant, at which time the elephant dissolved into the ground, while for the man, his karma was to get another, similar elephant.

Another benefit of offering gold is to be born with golden colored skin. Like that, unbelievable benefits. Unbelievable like that.

If someone offers a small flower or rice to a Buddha statue, a stupa or scripture, then the benefit extends from then up to enlightenment. Amazing, amazing. It is said in the sutra Piled Flowers, on top of that benefit, you achieve ultimate happiness – liberation from the causes of delusion and karma – and on top of that, full enlightenment – all the realizations and omniscient mind. After this, then you liberate numberless hell beings, pretas, animals, humans, suras and asuras from the ocean of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment. When all beings are brought to enlightenment, only then are all the results of offering achieved. So by offering gold, then wow, wow, wow. Can you imagine the result! From only a tiny offering (of a flower or rice) so much benefit is received due to that statue, etc. So really, holy objects are wish-fulfilling gems – so unbelievably precious.

Another story: In ancient times in India, there were four fully ordained monks, fully ordained but not aryas with the direct realization of emptiness. One person offered food to these monks and was later reborn as King Kashika. But now you are offering gold so can you imagine the result. Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!

Another benefit, in order for you to get an idea, comes from the Sutra of the Mudra, Developing the Power of Devotion. In that it says that someone who merely sees the image of a Buddha, great or small, immediately creates numberless merits. The food of the devas is nectar and their cloth is extremely precious – all the wealth of the world is not enough to buy their ornaments. Compared to making an offering of devas’ food and cloth 100 times to solitary realizers equaling the sand grains of the universe for 100 eons, to just look at the statue of Buddha has unimaginably more benefits. Wow! Wow! So imagine now offering gold. And offering has far, far, far more merit than seeing Buddha.

Now you see why we build big statues that people from all over the world come to see. You see how the benefit is there.

Thank you very much for your understanding,

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Scribing, editing and any mistakes made belong to Tenzin Namdrol, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, December 2012.

You can find more advice from FPMT Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche on FPMT.org.