The turning point for Jamdrak was a fishing trip to Orkney with a friend. With his Buddhist upbringing, he was uncomfortable with the idea of fishing but he went along with it to please his friend and soon caught many fish, which his friend killed with a blow to the head. His friend took a proud picture of all the dead fish and showed this to Akong Rinpoche on their return. Akong Rinpoche was deeply sad at seeing this picture—killing is against all the tenets of Buddhism—and lamented how he had promised their parents he would look after his younger brother and felt that he had failed.