Website of the Arya Sanghata Sutra


Stories and Experiences

Winning the Lottery

Article reprinted from June/July 2005 issue of Mandala 

The following article was published in Mandala, a Tibetan Buddhist journal. It is reprinted for you here with their kind permission.

Reciting Sanghāta Sūtra is like winning the lottery – for real

By Bruce Farley [in a letter to Lama Zopa Rinpoche]

Somewhere in the Sanghāta Sūtra it says that “one who preaches the Dharma in this world is the best virtuous companion that is hard to find.”

It seems a miracle to me that one as defiled and ignorant as myself has stumbled upon a virtuous friend and found a worldwide Dharma connection within the FPMT family.

Rinpoche, you are indeed the inspirational thread to which I cling to in this seducing world of wants, lusts and deceptive appearances that form an endless merry go round of suffering.

I have heard that you wish to hear stories regarding the potency of the Sanghāta Sūtra. I wish to share the following tale.

I remember some time ago Phillipa [Rutherford, co-director with Bruce of Chandrakirti Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre in New Zealand] saying that we had been asked to read a certain number of Sanghāta Sūtras. She got a few copies printed off for the core members of our center. She told me at the time that reading this Sutra had a very powerful effect on her. Others in our group said they found it difficult to understand and did not persist in reading it. When I was told it is eighty pages long, and takes three hours to read, I convinced myself I was too busy at work to read and left it up to the others.

More recently we were asked to read the Sanghata Sutra, both for creating merit for the Maitreya Project and for the well being of Chenrezig Institute.

The dedicated core at Chandrakirti Centre has read the Sutra together some evenings in the hall. Because I work most evenings, and because I am particularly lazy and tell myself that sitting for hours reading is too hard, I usually leave this up to “the others” and rejoice in their merits – in short, a total cop out!

Back in June 2004 we were asked to read the Sanghata Sutra to benefit Chenrezig Institute’s financial situation. That particular evening I think I simply ran out of excuses not to attend, and also I was influenced by our close relationship with Geshe Tashi Tsering, and felt a commitment. Besides, the original plan was to read for one and half hours, and then continue again tomorrow night.

But once we got started, we were like racehorses. No one stopped! And just over three hours later we had completed a full reading.

I had never read one line of this sutra before. Despite the reading being quite fast, and half the effort was struggling with the big words, the reading of the Sanghāta Sūtra had an immediate effect on me. I talked about it with Ven. Youdon, our resident nun. It’s hard to explain, but it cemented the obvious things that we hear and read all the time but never really inculcate.

Particularly the following –
    a) That it is possible for ordinary – very ordinary – beings like myself to create huge merit. It doesn’t necessarily feel like we are doing so because nothing dramatic happens, but if the Buddha himself says it as in this sutra how can it be doubted.
    b) That there really is nothing else in this life worthwhile other than Dharma.
    c) That the whole path is based on morality and to waste this life is a complete tragedy.

Suddenly it was like this Sutra had hooked me – hauled me in like a helpless fish. So I started reading the sutra again. This time paragraph by paragraph, page by page.

Often I had to go back over the same pages again and again. The second reading took three months to complete!

At CPMT in Holland [August-September 2004] I heard loud and clear that even though great things are being achieved, one of the major obstacles is of course money.

So at one of the free topic sessions I gave a talk on how I think FPMT needs to create long term investments in property to create future wealth and passive income. (This topic is a whole essay in itself).

After CPMT, Phillipa went onto Italy to the retreat, and I caught a 24-hour flight back to New Zealand. All the way home I thought about all the money needed for centers and projects, and obviously our own plans with Chandrakirti Centre. I thought, if no one else does it I am going to do it by myself alone. As I drifted in and out of a fitful sleep I made fervent prayers to be a Dharma king and a benefactor so I can help others achieve results in their projects. I unashamedly prayed to get rich!

I already had the method. Phillipa and I have been slowly building up a property portfolio, and studying the New Zealand property investment market quite intensely. We have no doubt that over time we can create wealth to support our Dharma aspirations.

I was so intense when I got home that I stunned Ven. Youdon by arriving in the meditation hall each morning before her. I’d do some simple prayers, and read a page or two of the Sanghata Sutra, and inspired by Rinpoche I would make extensive dedications.

I would pray fervently that all our Dharma aspirations would bear fruit and our investing would be successful so we can become useful in helping others.

I had arrived home from Holland late on a Friday. The following Tuesday afternoon I was talking to Ven. Youdon on the deck. She was on her way to set up for our weekly Medicine Buddha Puja, when the phone rang.

After establishing that I was indeed Mr. Bruce Wayne Farley, the lady said she was calling from Boystown Lotteries in Australia, and that I had won a prize in their draw that morning. I wasn’t really concentrating – still talking and listening to Youdon with one ear – and said, “That’s nice.” She chatted for a minute before I asked, “What have I won?” She said, “Mr. Farley, you have won first prize.” I asked, “What is first prize?”

She replied, “First prize is a luxury Balinese style house situated in Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast in Australia, complete with $AUD83,000 of interior furnishings and $AUD10,000 gold bullion, with a total value of $AUD1,070,000..

A few minutes later she sent an official confirmation letter by fax with the ticket number. I found the ticket in my drawer. I have supported Boystown Lotteries for several years because they are a great organization helping Australian youth, and I always thought of it as a donation. Every five weeks they raffle a luxury house – this is how they get 85% of their funding.

I was shocked by this news of course, I said to Youdon, “I’ve only been making these prayers for four days, and I’ve won a million dollar house!”

But there’s more. Boystown sent me some brochures so I could see the house. Out the back is a swimming pool with a waterfall, cabana and a patio. The feature in a special enclosure is a buddha statue. As you walk through the house the entrance hall has special enclaves lit up with spotlights, each of which has a buddha head in it. It all seems quite cosmic to me!

The house is situated about a 40-minute drive from Chenrezig Institute – and the first time I recited the Sanghāta Sūtra was for Chenrezig Institute.

I did not tell Phillipa of my win when she returned home from Italy. It was very hard. Instead I told her we had to go away for ten days on a secret trip. I wouldn’t tell her anymore. Having just been away for a month, she was hesitant to come but played along.

In the meantime I arranged to fly all my kids and their girlfriends and wives plus my mother to Australia; they arrived a few hours before us and were at the house when we arrived. We made Phillipa read out the winning letter. We had a great family holiday together. For the last weekend Geshe Tashi Tsering came to stay with us and we offered the house to Geshe-la for a holiday whenever he wishes.

Rinpoche, there is not an ounce of doubt in my mind that reading and developing faith in the Sanghāta Sūtra created the conditions for this prosperity to arise. I also believe that it has had other major effects on aspects of my mind.

We have decided to sell the house and use the money to continue our investment strategy in New Zealand. We are determined to create prosperity for Chandrakirti Centre and beyond. We will also use some money to actualize Holy Objects, particularly more Twenty-One Tara statues.

Please live long, Rinpoche, and please return again and again to lead your students and all beings to enlightenment.


To download the sutra in English, click here.

top