Acute Mental Illness
Eating Disorder
A student had problems with eating food and was very thin. She would like to eat more, but found this difficult, especially when she was nervous, fearful or tense with memories of the past. Occasionally, when she felt more relaxed and stable, she could eat a bit more, but this didn’t last long. She was concerned about her health and asked Rinpoche for advice and instructions.
My very dear one,
I am very, very happy that you are doing the Basic Program; you are unbelievable, the most fortunate being in the world, so it is important to remember this.
Regarding not eating food, that is ridiculous. Everything that we do in life, we must follow what does not cause harm to ourselves and others, and we must avoid doing anything that causes harm to ourselves and others. We have to eat food so that we can continue this precious human rebirth and have a long life. If we become sick and so thin, then our life will not last very long or it will not be good quality.
You already have a precious human rebirth, where you can learn the Dharma, as you are, so you can practice the Dharma and achieve happiness in this life and future lives. You can be reborn in a pure land where you can become enlightened or you can take another precious human rebirth in the next life. You can take a perfect human rebirth having the eight qualities or seven qualities, or the four Mahayana Dharma thoughts, where you can achieve liberation from samsara and then achieve peerless happiness, enlightenment, the complete cessation of all the subtle and gross defilements and you can complete all the realizations.
Of course if you eat too much, what you don’t need, this can also cause a short life. You are harming yourself and you become unhealthy. However, not eating food or eating too little is also not good, so you shouldn’t be too extreme either way.
We eat food to have a long, healthy life in order to benefit the numberless sentient beings—the numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless suras, numberless asuras and numberless intermediate state beings. There are numberless sentient beings in each realm, so we need to free them from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment. We need to save them from the lower realms so they can have higher rebirth.
Can you imagine what benefit you can give to them, now that you have a precious human rebirth, so you must eat food for other sentient beings. Please do it for other sentient beings.
If the reason you are not eating food is to harm yourself, this is totally wrong and also it is creating negative karma. I know some people don’t eat because they think they are fat, but actually they are not, so that is also creating negative karma. Eating should be done with the motivation to have a long and healthy life, so eat for the benefit of sentient beings; so you can benefit them.
Thank you very much. Again, I want to say that in your life do what benefits sentient beings and avoid doing what harms them. This includes yourself. Do what is beneficial to others and do not do what harms others. This is the path of the Buddha; what to follow.
Please write to me again if you change your mind about eating food.
With much love and prayers...
Mental Disturbances and Violent Rage
A student wrote to Rinpoche about a mental illness that had started about three years ago with imagined violent attacks, where she felt that her skin was being ripped off or her head chopped off. After that she developed emotional instability which led to episodes of intense, violent rage that caused great suffering for her and her husband. She saw psychologists and psychiatrists, and took medication for about a year, without success. Rinpoche sent the following advice.
My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind email. I am very sorry for the many eons of delay. I checked and you should listen to my chanting of the Sutra for Entering the Great City of Vaishali. [Find links to the audio recording of Lama Zopa Rinpoche reciting this sutra as well as other prayers and mantras, in Recitations for Alleviating Pain, in the FPMT Catalogue.] These recitations heal pain and release from spirit possession and harm.
Listen to the recording of the chanting eight times each day—in the car, the office and at home. It doesn't matter where you listen to it and it doesn't have to be in the same place.
Reciting Vajrayogini mantra comes out extremely good. You can request the lung from Geshe-la, or I can do it over the phone. Recite five malas with meditation. If you have not received the initiation for Vajrayogini yet, visualize the deity in front of you.
When reciting the first two malas of the mantra, visualize red light entering your body and mind and instantly purifying all your sickness, spirit harm, negative karma and defilements collected during beginningless rebirths. For the next two malas of the mantra, visualize receiving all of Vajrayogini's qualities, particularly omniscience, compassion and perfect power. Then think that your life is completely under the guidance and protection of Vajrayogini; that you are totally taken care of by Vajrayogini.
If possible, recite one mala of Lion-face Dakini. If you have not received the initiation, just visualize the deity in front of you and do not arise as the deity.
It came out very good if Geshe-la can recite a prayer from the large text Zungdu [Collection of Dharanis] a minimum of thirty times.
With much love and prayers...