Big statue of Amida Buddha on the land of Amidaji temple

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Dear friends in the Dharma,
 
During my recent Nembutsu pilgrimage an older aspiration resurfaced with great power in my mind – to have a big outdoor statue of Amida Buddha (Amitabha/Amituofo) of at least 4 meters high on the land of Amidaji temple in Romania (see photos bellow), for the benefit of human and nonhuman beings.
 
As you might know, there is great merit and great karmic connection for those who see and show respect to Budha statues. Recently, I came across this sutra passage, quoted by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who also approved and supported the building of the Kadampa Stupa in my country, that I visited a few weeks ago,
 
“Manjushri asked Buddha, ‘One Gone Beyond, now you are the only object to whom sentient beings can make offering. After you pass into the sorrowless state, what will sentient beings do? How will they accumulate merit when they can’t see Buddha anymore? Please advise us.’
Buddha answered, ‘My four followers, there is not one single difference between making offerings to me now and in the future, with devotion, making offerings to my reflections. The merit is equal and the result is equal.’” 
The “four followers” are the Buddhist monks, nuns, lay men and lay women. “Reflections” are images and statues of various Buddhas[1]. Thus, one who sees an image or statue, but also a mantra or the Name of a Buddha actually enters into direct contact with that Buddha and it is introduced to Him. More than this, any offerings and gesture of respect to an image/statue or the written Name are actually received directly by the Buddha connected to them. Here is why I want a statue with Amida Buddha at Amidaji in Romania, and not only here, but in all countries where there are Amidaji members and followers.
 
Our Dharma work at Amidaji Sangha is direct and subtle in the same time. It is direct because we teach, write, translate, held Dharma meetings, answer questions to help people entrust to Amida Buddha in this life and say His Name in faith, and subtle or indirect, in the sense that we help them make any connection possible by at least seeing a statue or image of Amida or read and hear about His Name.
 
Especially in this dark Age of Mappo it is extremely important for beings to create even the smallest connection possible with Amida Buddha by simply seeing His reflection (statue, image or Name). By doing that, even if they don’t entrust to Him during this life, an indestructible seed is planted in their midstream that will, sooner or later, in this life or the next, bloom into an open state of mind towards accepting His helping hand. The same can be said about animals who make a connection with the statue by touching it, seeing it, being taken around it, or flying around. Invisible nonhuman beings that inhabit the place also create a connection and they might even become open and entrust to Amida during their present life as spirits and local deities, thus transforming themselves into our colleagues and worldly protectors.
 

The whole area where there is such a statue is blessed and transformed into a place where the good karma of beings is accelerated. Many benefits that are impossible to explain arise spontaneously.
 
For the moment, I am investigating various ways to make the statue, either by ordering one from abroad or build it in the country with local craftsmen and I will let you know how things unfold.
 
Meanwhile, I would like to ask all Amidaji members, as well as our Dharma friends, collaborators, readers and anybody who feels that he/she has a connection with Amidaji and my books, to write the Name of Amida Buddha 3 times on 3 sheets of paper. I prefer to receive sheets of A6 page-size with the Name. You can write in any language either in Chinese with Chinese characters, Japanese, English, Russian, or any language. You can use the six character Name of Namo Amida Bu, Namo Amida Butsu, Namo Amituofo, Namo Amitabha Buddha, Namo Adidapath, etc or the Name with ten characters KI MYO JIN JI PO MU GE KO NYO RAI or nine characters NA MO FU KA SHI GI KO NYO RAI.
It must be the NAME of Amida Buddha and NOT mantras associated with Amida or other mantras because in His Primal Vow Amida Buddha chose His Name alone to be said freely (without any initiation and empowerment) in order to enter His Pure Land,
 
“If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings of the ten quarters who sincerely entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and say my Name perhaps even ten times, should not be born there, may I not attain the supreme Enlightenment."  (The Primal Vow, Larger Sutra)
 
Please try to have a good quality sheet of paper but if you can’t afford it, then any piece of paper is ok.
 
Your state of mind in which you write the Name does NOT matter, and also it doesn’t matter who you are, a saint or the gravest sinner, a sage or an idiot, and even if you are a demon or evil spirit, you can simply send me the Name of Amida Buddha written by you. This is because the Power of the Name is not to be found in your samsaric personality but in Amida Buddha himself, so your mind or body cannot defile de Name. It is said that the lotus who appears in the mud is untouched by the mud – so it is with the Name of Amida Buddha written (or voiced) by deluded beings filled with blind passions. Although it is written by the hands of dirty beings or said by their defiled mouths, the true origin of the Name is in Amida Buddha himself and is imbued with His infinite merits and Power. This is why the Path of His Primal Vow is the universal and indestructible vehicle through which everybody can be saved quickly from the repeated births and deaths of samsaric existence. It is the Path that makes absolutely NO distinction between good and evil.
 

Even if one has no faith, he can also write the Name of Amida Buddha and send it to me, so I can inter it in the statue because in such a way he creates connections and receives great karmic benefits.  I actually encourage you to convince your nonBuddhist friends and relatives to write the Name of Amida (at least once) on a piece of paper and send it to me. Please have faith in Amida Buddha’s Power and don’t allow doubt to arise, as the person writing the Name is NOT creating nor influencing the Name which belongs only to Amida and is manifested by Amida himself. A sinner or a person without faith writing the Name is thus only transmitting the Name of Amida to others and in this process, he/she receives great blessings and makes great connections no matter who that person is in his daily life.
 
For the moment, I am not doing any fundraising for this project, as I am not yet sure how much it costs, how I will be able to get the statue (perhaps a sponsor will appear), or the type of statue I will chose (sitting,standing, etc), but I will come back soon with an update. Those who desire to participate in this project can write to me an email at josho_adrian@yahoo.com with the subject STATUE OF AMIDA BUDDHA and I will indicate to them the physical address where they can send me their 3 sheets of paper with the Name of Amida Buddha written by their own hand. I will also use their email address to inform them about the progress of the project. The sheets of paper with the Name of Amida will be held in a place of honor at Amidaji until they will be placed inside the statue.
 
Yours in Namo Amida Bu,
 
Josho Adrian Cirlea
 

The donation box bellow is not for the statue, but for Amidaji temple’s necessities related with the cold season, which are also very urgent (please help if you can!),

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[1] Stupas are also included here as great objects worthy of veneration.