Prayer wheel crafting is not what you think…

Maybe, you never thought about what it means to do this for a living, how does that effect your life, you daily life, your choices and so on… after all it is something very holy and it needs to be addressed in the humblest way possible.

To understand what it means for us you need to take a moment and understand how we got to do what we do.

For most prayer wheel makers, of course talking about the ones who craft real authentic prayer wheels like prayer wheels should be build, it was a master or teacher that told them: "you should make prayer wheels", but for us this was a whole different occurrence.

Most of you probably already heard our story of how we came to be prayer wheel makers and if not, there is a post here somewhere on how we came to be prayer wheel makers and the whole story, but for those who know it already you need to understand that we were not told by anyone to be prayer wheel makers. We saw H.E. Garchen Rinpoche for the first time and we know that this is what we want to do for the rest of our lives.

One of the most amazing men that I have ever had a chance to meet was Jim McCann, even though we never met in real life, we had exchanged many many many emails in which Jim was so kind as to introduce us to this world of prayer wheel making and what comes with it.

A few days ago, in a very hard day energetically where things seem to explode with emotions, I remembered an email of Jim's from the very first beginning of our prayer wheel making journey, looked it up and found it, and Funny enough it was sent to me on the same day (of the high energy and emotions), same date, only 16 years ago… talk about synchronicity! Holy moly… in that email Jim was so kind as to explain to us the following:

"It's great that you would like to build prayer wheels! The more the better. The best advice I can give you is, if possible, in the beginning - work as closely with a Lama as you can. I know this can be often difficult since many travel and it's hard sometimes just to get an interview but it should be said despite this. Lama Zopa has told me that it takes an extraordinary amount of merit just to spin a prayer wheel.

Therefore, it could be surmised that it may take even more to create them.  Keep in mind that creating a large prayer wheel is an extreme form of purification for the creators. Therefore, karma ripening is like an egg that is cooking. You cannot un-cook an egg and you are calling for karmic obscurations to clear.

In other words, be ready for obstacles and as long as you approach them with loving kindness, humility and non-aggression you should be all right."

To read all this, on that day, 16 years later… just blew my little mind.

Jim hit the nail on the head right on the starting point.

Be ready, you will have massive Karma clearing and that will not be easy, but very beneficial (as Rinpoche keeps telling me!)

So, back to my starting point, being a prayer wheel maker is not what you think.

It is not a "job" where you come to work even if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed and today will be just a bad day… here? No. that will not work.

If there is Karma manifesting and ripening, where life takes an unexpected turn and we feel that, we will not go to craft today.

Crafting these prayer wheels can only (and should only) be done with the right mind set, the right motivation and so on.

We need to be on top of our game, to serve you all as we think you all should be served.

As things get heated up here in the not so holy land the prices of EVERYTHING keeps just sky rocketing we find ourselves in a constant battel what to do... how to continue crafting prayer wheels?

not long ago we sat with friends for lunch, one of them works in a job where he travels the entire globe, it was rare he was here and we loved seeing him. We were all talking about his job and where he is flying next and he said: "Singapore." We all said: "that is a very expensive country no?"

His reply left us all in shock.

"I have traveled much. Been in almost all countries. I have very bad news and you will not like it. This country you all live in? Israel? Is the second most expensive country to live in coming in second only after Switzerland, and trust me when I tell you, it is WAY more expensive there!, but, you get what you pay for. Not like here where all your money is stolen by your corrupted government"

I must say I did not expect that! Second most expensive country in the world? That surely explain why everything is so expensive here… ☹ 

One day, hopefully if our karma allows it, we will find a better place to craft prayer wheels and maybe make them more affordable for more people who find our craft very expensive. We totally understand. Our real dream is to be so rich (from some unknown source) that we can craft prayer wheels all day long and just give them away to anyone who wants them without the need to "make a living" from selling them.

Maybe one day.

Who knows?

So, when you spin your prayer wheel, know it was crafted with the outmost attention and love by two little people who felt a fire burning in them to craft prayer wheels, the best prayer wheels they can craft, and that just by "being" prayer wheel makers or rather by choosing to be prayer wheel makers they, those two little people (me and Ayelet) went through the waves of the karma that comes with being prayer wheel makers, and trust me when I tell you, it was one heck of a ride! At least till now…

We are heading out to the USA to take a very deserved vacation, to see nature in its most beautiful glory, to look at our lives from a distance so we can re-evaluate them to see if something needs changing so we can become more efficient in being the prayer wheel makers that we are for y'all.

Because in the end, that is what we chose. To serve y'all till we can't anymore and who knows when that will arrive at our door step?

Not I