Addictions: Drugs and Alcohol

My most dear, most precious, most kind, wish-fulfilling one,
I’m very happy that the FPMT center helped and you were able to stop using drugs, smoking, drinking and all that. That’s great, great, great. It not only benefits you but it also helps numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, suras, asuras and intermediate state beings. Wow, wow, wow. No question, it’s not only for yourself. It’s the basis of everything, the basis of your path to enlightenment. Thank you very much. I hope everyone in the world, or at least the students, becomes like you.

One student became a monk maybe three times, I’m not sure, but then he became a lay person again. He took drugs and he died in bed with his wife. He took a lot of drugs and the next morning his wife saw him dead. I want to tell you this information.

It’s great, great, great that you’ve been a serious practitioner. That’s really great. I jump from the bed onto the floor; I jump up and I jump down. That’s it. You did a very good job and the FPMT centers need you as an example to help and encourage others.

You’re like a hero in the war who runs toward the enemy to kill them. You’re a practitioner, a hero for other people. Wow, wow, wow. You can tell many people about this, especially tell the people who do drugs, who take to smoking and drinking. These [habits] are not easy to remove or to abandon.

You might be interested, so I’ll send you a book with a long quotation by Padmasambhava about all the catastrophes happening in the countries and in the world due to smoking cigarettes. Basically, it also means snuff since all [the products] come from the same materials, but mainly it’s about smoking, which makes the place impure, polluted, and makes the environment very impure, polluted and dirty.

It harms the nagas and landlords so the protectors go away and the evil beings come back and increase, harming you and other people. Then the landlords and nagas become upset and the country has very heavy violence of fire, water, air and earth. All these things have happened in recent times in America, China and many countries. We always hear about that.

All these things come from smoking cigarettes, and not only that, it destroys the environment and makes it impure and dirty. The beings who help the Dharma, [the Dharma protectors], the white side beings, run away, they go away, so it’s very, very bad. And the evil ones, all those that are bad for the country, come.

I’m sure this is not the only thing. The main thing is causing so much harm to human beings and animals. In one day in the world so many billions, billions, billions of chickens are killed, so many pigs are killed and even more fish are killed. Wow, wow, wow. This also causes violence in the country.

Smoking is the worst thing because it’s destroying the environment, making it impure and causing all these problems. This is one thing. Padmasambhava explained this, so I will send you the book. There are the root text and the commentaries and then from that you can explain to others. Of course, what you explain has to be whatever fits others’ [minds]. Not everyone will accept what is said there, so you have to explain it carefully.

Yes, I will try to be your guru but I’m not qualified. Maybe you are a qualified student but I am not a qualified guru. I will try with prayers and you can create good karma, you can pray.

Please do the morning meditation practice, How to Make My Lives Wish-Fulfilling: The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness, which makes your life beneficial for every hell being, every hungry ghost, every animal, every human, every sura and every asura being, every sentient being. That means every animal, every ant—scientists say there are 13,000 different kinds of ants—every mosquito, every tiny fly, every sentient being in the water, even those that you can only see with a machine, the numberless beings under the ground, in the trees and the bushes, and in the bodies of humans and animals. [This practice makes your life] most beneficial for every sentient being and that’s why it’s most beneficial for you.

It’s important to read the explanation of why we need to practice Highest Yoga Tantra, remembering that the whole point is to lead sentient beings to enlightenment as quickly as possible—to free them from samsara and lead them to enlightenment as quickly as possible. This is the main point, the ultimate aim.

According to my observation your main deity is Cittamani Tara, the Highest Yoga Tantra deity. In order to receive the initiation of this, you need to receive another great initiation before Cittamani Tara. It is an extremely blessed and powerful practice, it’s extraordinarily blessed, also there are teachings on the practice. [A Cittamani Tara commentary by Lama Yeshe is available from LYWA] You can do a retreat after receiving the initiation. You can do an enabling retreat, then there’s a one-year retreat that you can do later. Study the commentaries and then you can do a longer retreat.

Every day recite the Praises to the Twenty-one Taras for all the success, to achieve enlightenment in order to free sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment by yourself. To achieve enlightenment, is the main thing. Do this practice at least four times each day. That’s the main thing, and by the way, [dedicate for] all the needs to help your family and for yourself to be able to practice Dharma and benefit others. Recite the Praises to the Twenty-one Taras at least four times each day and more if you can.

Also make offerings to Tara every day as much as possible, do the seven-limb practice, refuge, bodhicitta, the four immeasurables and the mandala practice. This helps very much. And especially rejoice, which is the most unbelievable way [to collect merit] just by using the mind.

I think in one Guru Shakyamuni Buddha meditation there is a good explanation of the seven limbs, or you may find more explanation in another place. So that will help.

Reciting the Praises to the Twenty-one Taras is very, very important for everything.

Also live your life with bodhicitta motivation. When you are going to sleep, sleep with bodhicitta, and when you eat, eat with bodhicitta. Even when you go to the toilet, for pipi and kaka, do it with bodhicitta, thinking all sentient beings are in your heart and all their negativities and obscurations come out.

When you’re doing Vajrasattva practice, visualize sentient beings in your heart, then nectar comes and purifies all of their negativity collected from beginningless lives. So it’s not only your negativity being purified; you’re helping everyone—numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts numberless animals, numberless humans, numberless sura and asura beings. This is great, great, great, the best thing you can do for your life.

The text for you to study and practice is the Middle-Length Lamrim. Of course, you can read other texts and then when you meditate, you bring the knowledge from the other texts to your meditation and that makes it clearer. Read the text from beginning to end three times.

You can study calm abiding, but this zhi nä practice is something you can do later when everything is set up for you, the place and everything. You can do it then, not now. Read mindfully so that it becomes a meditation. This will help you to actualize the path to enlightenment.

In terms of effortful meditation practice, use The Essential Nectar or the outlines of the Middle-Length Lamrim as your guide. Do effortful lamrim meditation following the outlines three times.

Regarding the preliminaries, do the following:

• 105,000 tsa tsas, shared between Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the Thirty-five Buddhas, Mitukpa and White Mahakala, who is an extremely powerful wealth-giving deity. Divide the number between those four but do more of the Thirty-five Buddhas.
• 105,000 mandala offerings. You can do the long mandala offering once, twice or three times and then visualize the seven heaps or piles, and as much as you can, do the elaborate offering. There’s an extensive commentary which I gave twice and there’s a recent one I gave in Taiwan. You can get that, although the last part is not yet complete. That’s a good one for you to read, if you can get that one.
• Nyung nä. Do as many you can each year. That’s most powerful. It’s just two days but it’s a most powerful purification and you collect extensive merit. By generating compassion embracing all sentient beings, it becomes a quick way to be reborn in the pure lands and to achieve enlightenment.

Live your life with bodhicitta motivation as much as possible in order to become free from samsara. This is the best life.

Thank you very much. Welcome to enlightenment and goodbye samsara.

With much love and prayers ...

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,

Thank you very much for your kind letter. I did prayers for your son as soon as I heard and also for your daughter.

Now what you should do is pray to Medicine Buddha, not with any doubt but with total belief. Leave it up to Medicine Buddha; it is totally in Medicine Buddha’s hands. Pray for your daughter to be protected and to have a most meaningful life—not just to stop taking drugs but to have a meaningful life, to generate bodhicitta, to stop giving harm to others, to cause their happiness up to enlightenment and to enlighten all sentient beings. Pray for her to generate renunciation, bodhicitta and right view, and also the tantric stages. Then if she is not enlightened in this life, for her to be born in a pure land where she can be enlightened or at least receive a perfect human body, meet the Mahayana teachings, meet a perfectly qualified guru and by only pleasing the guru’s mind, achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.

Pray like that to Medicine Buddha, one hundred percent with total faith, as if you can talk to Medicine Buddha. So, you can do like that. It is only the obscurations in our mind that prevent us from seeing that there are numberless buddhas around us. We can’t see them, but the Buddha’s omniscient mind sees everything about us and everything about sentient beings, all the time. So you can speak to Medicine Buddha every day and you can also pray every day for your son to be free from the lower realms and to immediately be born in a pure land and then to achieve enlightenment. The same prayer that I suggested for your daughter, you can also do that for your son.

A mother praying for her children is very powerful and children praying for their parents is so powerful. It is very important because of blood generation, so then the prayers are very powerful. Also, the guru praying for the disciple and the disciple praying for the guru is so powerful because of the Dharma connection. Even people who live in the same house, if they are praying for each other that also has power because of the material connection.

You should also put paintings or drawings of the eight auspicious signs in the house where your daughter lives and also in your own house. This stops inauspicious things, bad things. Also put images of the four harmonious animals in the house for harmony.

If your daughter can, she should read the Golden Light Sutra.

In The Foundation of All Good Qualities, Lama Tsongkhapa mentions two of the six shortcomings of samsara. Regarding dissatisfaction, however much we enjoy something, we become dissatisfied. We are habituated in a negative way in this life and since beginningless rebirths, not only with drugs which are destroying the life. So that attachment is like opening the door for suffering and dissatisfaction.

The other thing is that nothing is definite, so however much we want to be with our family or we want everyone to love us and we never want to be separated from them, it is definite that we will be separated from them at any time. The second thing is not wanting to be separated from things like comfortable houses, beddings, etc. We don’t ever want to be separated from those things, but death can happen at any time, separation can happen at any time, so we need to not have attachment.

The third thing is desire and enjoyments. Even though we never want to be separated from those things, death can happen at any time, so then we will be separated and that can happen any time, so it is wise to not have attachment. Of course if we can use the things that we have to benefit sentient beings, then that is a very wise thing—to benefit every sentient being, to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsara and bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible. For that we need to achieve enlightenment, so in this way, we can use everything and do all our actions with bodhicitta.

Please read my message to your daughter. The most important thing is to be away from the object which causes the problems, so to be away from that, to renounce that, to renounce the desire. Desire is in our own mind and what makes us suffer is desire, so we have to renounce what causes our problems, now and in the future. Also it causes suffering to other sentient beings because then we can’t benefit them. So it destroys this precious life and this comes from desire and attachment, therefore we must renounce attachment—that is our main enemy.

To be away from drugs is to be away from desire, so she needs to discipline herself. That is actually gaining inner happiness and peace, not only temporary but ultimate happiness, the blissful state of peace; to achieve the peerless happiness, the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations for sentient beings. Try to avoid attachment and renounce ignorance, anger and the self-cherishing thought. By renouncing them this brings us to enlightenment, then we achieve the highest happiness forever.

Thank you very much. Please understand this, otherwise you will destroy your life completely; you are not dead but you can’t do anything, you can’t even do mundane works that ordinary people do. You can’t even do that, so you destroy this most precious human life that you received just one time, where you can achieve all the realizations up to enlightenment for sentient beings and you can free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment. 

Your daughter could also look at a painting of the Buddha. She should think that beams are emitted from the Buddha, who is looking at her with loving kindness and compassion. Beams are emitted to her and to all sentient beings, purifying her and all beings and liberating them from all the sufferings, negative karmas and defilements. Then every sentient being, as well as herself, become in the nature of light, become Buddha, having received all the qualities of Buddha. Then at the end Buddha absorbs into her and into all sentient beings. Then she can recite Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s name and mantra:

LA MA ToN PA CHOM DAN DA / DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PAI SANG GYA / PAL GYAL WA SHA KYA THUB PA LA CHHAG TSHAL LO

To Guru, Teacher, Bhagavan, Tathagata, Arhat, Perfectly Complete Buddha, Glorious Conqueror Shakyamuni Buddha, I prostrate.

TADYATHA OM MUNE MUNE MAHA MUNAYE SVAHA

If she can, she should please try this.

As you know what makes our life most meaningful is meditation on the lamrim and to live our life with bodhicitta motivation. This is the best.

I am also attaching my daily motivation, The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment). It is very good to do this if you are not doing so already, and also for your daughter, if she wishes.

With much love and prayers ...

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,

I checked and you need to take the inner offering pill twice a day for eight weeks.

You should do Vajrasattva practice and recite the long mantra 200,000 times. If you can do this in retreat, or some parts that would be very good.

To begin with, in the sessions read lamrim and at the beginning generate bodhicitta motivation. First read Calling the Guru from Afar by Pabongka Rinpoche. In the next session recite the Foundation of All Good Qualities, then in the next session the Three Principal Aspects of the Path, then Lama Tsongkhapa’s Hymn of Experience. In the next session recite the short Calling the Guru from Afar.

In the evening time dedicate the merits by reciting the King of Prayers. You can add other prayers and do different ones, for example, one time you could recite the Prayer for the Beginning, Middle and End of Practice, by Lama Tsongkhapa, or the prayer from the Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, or on another night do the Prayer to Be Reborn in the Land of Bliss. You can find these prayers in the Eight Prayers to Benefit the Dead. So do different prayers like that and if you want to you can do protector prayers, otherwise just recite whatever you feel to do of the protector prayers. At the end, do the prayer For Lama Tsongkhapa’s Teachings to Spread in the Hearts of All Sentient Beings, or the Final Lamrim Dedication at the very end.

Of course, every session must dedicate the merits by sealing with emptiness:

Due to all the past, present, and future merits collected by me and all the merits of the three times collected by numberless buddhas and numberless sentient beings, may bodhicitta, the source of all happiness and success for all sentient beings, be generated in the hearts of all the sentient beings of the six realms, and especially in the hearts of everybody in this world, especially those in your country and particularly your family and then yourself, as well as all the students, center benefactors, and volunteers in the FPMT organization. May it be generated in the hearts of all those who rely upon me, all those for whom I have promised to pray, and all those whose names have been given to me. May it be generated in my heart and in the hearts of all my family members, those who are living and those who have died. May the bodhicitta that has already been generated increase.

Due to all the past, present, and future merits collected by me and all the merits of the three times collected by the numberless buddhas and numberless sentient beings, which are completely empty of existing from their own side, may I, who am completely empty of existing from my own side, achieve the state of full enlightenment, which is completely empty of existing from its own side, and lead all sentient beings, who are completely empty of existing from their own side, to that state, which is completely empty of existing from its own side, by myself alone, who is completely empty of existing from my own side.

So please follow this advice.

With much love and prayers ...

Dear one,
How are you? I hear that you may have an addiction to alcohol. You are not the only one; there are so many people all over the world who experience suffering from this. It is one of the major kinds of suffering. Not only do you suffer, but your family also suffers. Many family problems can come from this, and poor relations with neighbors and problems with outside people as well, and not only that, car accidents also happen. Also some families lose all their wealth from drinking—even those who don’t have much money. All their money goes on alcohol, but there are other things that don’t have this effect that they can enjoy instead. If their money is not spent this way there are many other ways to enjoy, with no danger, with no need for danger to the life. Thinking like that, we should think that it harms other people and likewise it harms the world.

The purpose of our life is not just to eliminate problems and achieve happiness for ourselves, because our past, present and future happiness is all achieved due to the kindness of others. Everything we receive is due to the kindness of other living beings. For example, for the protection of our life—even when the house that protects us from heat and cold is being built, so many living beings are killed. So many insects have to be killed when the land is prepared, and also the people are so hot and experience so many hardships. So our happiness of even living in a house is due the kindness of sentient beings; the suffering of sentient beings.

Numberless sentient beings died, even insects; so many insects died. Each day that we live longer—each day, each hour, by eating food and drinking—for example, in order for one grain of rice to grow in the field, by preparing the land, using fertilizer etc, then so many ants and so many insects have to die. They have to be killed in order to grow rice, then having to grow the rice again, so many insects and living beings are killed again; and again to grow the rice, so many insects are killed again. Many insects have to die, numberless beings die. One grain of rice came about because of this, and another grain of rice, and another grain of rice; it all came about from this. So for thousands, hundreds of thousands, or a million eons, or if you think back, for years and years and so forth, numberless sentient beings have died for this. Numberless sentient beings and humans have died for this; they have suffered for this. Just for the rice.

Who eats the rice? We eat the rice. Think, “My happiness and my comfort comes from this rice. Every day, every hour that I live longer completely comes from this, numberless sentient beings died from this one grain of rice.” On one plate there are so many grains of rice. Wow, wow, wow. Numberless sentient beings died for this rice and for the vegetables too. Think, “All my happiness and comfort comes from numberless sentient beings, because of their kindness.” Also, everything we drink—if we put our water through a purifying machine, even though we can’t see how many bugs are harmed, but we boil the water etc, wow. So our past, present and future comfort and happiness comes from them.

Therefore it’s important to think, “I must benefit everybody; I must do something for them. I must do something for them. I can’t live my life just for myself, for my own contentment and happiness, it’s impossible. It’s crazy. I must do something to benefit them. My life should be of benefit to them. To do that, I must live long, and for that, I must stop drinking. Also, I should be healthy to be able to benefit them; to help them I need to be healthy. Alcohol brings about a short life and brings many diseases. If I am sick I can’t benefit them, so that’s it. I can’t benefit them. All this comfort and happiness comes from them, but I’ve destroyed my life. Not only does alcohol harm me; it harms the numberless sentient beings. I must live a long life and be healthy to benefit them, therefore I should not drink.”

Think, “I should not drink, for the happiness of all sentient beings, for the numberless beings. Not only for my happiness, but also for peace in this world.” Peace has to start one-by-one [with one person]. Start with the family —start by giving peace to your husband and peace to your children. Peace starts within your family, then the neighbors, and then it spreads out to other people. But it starts like that—giving peace to the world starts one-by-one. Therefore, in order to bring peace to the world, it’s good not to drink alcohol and also it’s good to live carefully, not carelessly. That’s it, I think that’s the essence. And you must have courage.

If you can think that way, then your life becomes so precious, because you are benefiting others. You stop harming and start benefiting others. If you don’t stop harming others, you can’t benefit others. Benefiting others is based on stopping harm to others. From this, you can see life becomes so precious, you can see that; you don’t see life as hopeless, without meaning. Life has great meaning, the human life in particular. Don’t see life as hopeless; it has great meaning, to bring happiness to numberless sentient beings.

So it’s best to stop drinking alcohol. There are many books on the shortcomings of alcohol. Also, there is not only this life; there are future lives, therefore you have a great responsibility in this life to prepare [for the future lives.] And not only that, you have been my dear mother numberless times.

Thank you, thank you.

With my love...

My very dear Manu,
Sorry I did not recollect clearly your complete name; I’m very sorry about that.

I am extremely happy to hear that you have stopped drinking alcohol (chang). Remember that each time a strong wish or greed to drink chang arises, without delay think that this means you are giving up your most precious human life, which has eight freedoms and ten richnesses.

This human life is most precious, like the sky filled with numberless wish-fulfilling jewels, but with the wish-granting jewels alone all you can achieve is material enjoyment. You can only achieve that; you can’t stop rebirth in the lower realms or achieve a higher rebirth, and you can’t be born with the good body of a happy migrator being. You can't be liberated from the oceans of samsaric suffering and its cause, delusion, and you can't achieve ultimate happiness, liberation, nirvana. You can’t be free from the subtle defilements, the subtle negative imprints of delusions, and you can’t achieve great compassion for sentient beings. That means you can't achieve full enlightenment, even if you won that many wish-granting jewels.

Milarepa, for example, totally renounced this life—he did not have even one rupee, one dollar or one jewel, but he had a human body, with the opportunity to practice Dharma. He practiced Dharma and achieved the highest peerless happiness, enlightenment, in that very lifetime, in a brief lifetime of degenerate time, and he has already enlightened numberless sentient beings.

Your body is the same, having the opportunity to practice Dharma, like Milarepa. So you can see how this human body is most, most, most wish-fulfilling and precious, so when the strong greed arises to drink chang, that means you are giving up this most precious wish-fulfilling human life.

With much love and prayers...

Student: My son is in a very dark and dangerous place in his life. He is in a rehabilitation center for drugs and alcohol, and he is very confused, from what I gather. He has a wife and two beautiful little boys that he may lose. I am concerned that if he does not get proper help, he will lose his life. Would you mind recommending practices for me that I can do on his behalf? Thank you so much.

Rinpoche's Response

My dear one,
Regarding your son, there is a prayer called Auspicious Prayer for Healing Sickness. This needs to be translated, it is only in Tibetan at present. It comes out very good if you recite this prayer three times every day, with strong prayers for your son. Then, also, you can think of all sentient beings who need prayers.

As this has not been translated yet—this is hard to do—maybe you can discuss this with someone who could translate it.

There is a mantra to recite. While reciting the mantra, visualize Buddha and strongly rely on and take refuge in Buddha. Beams emit from Buddha to your son. Think he is completely under the protection of the Buddha, then also think of all sentient beings. Next, think your son and all sentient beings are totally purified of the four things (disease, spirit harm, negative karma, and defilements). Mainly focus on your son, then all sentient beings and yourself as well. This is a very powerful healing method.

The mantra is:

NAMO RATNA TRAYAYA OM YE DHARMA HETU PRABHAVA HETUN TESHAN TATHAGATO HYAVADAT TESHAÑ CHA YO ¹ / NIRODHA EVAM VADI MAHA SHRAMANA YE SVAHA

This mantra is extremely powerful for purification of all negative karma, particularly obstacles. Everything becomes auspicious for success. If you can, recite one mala a day. At the beginning, take refuge and generate bodhicitta.

Start with Praise to Shakyamuni Buddha (this is usually the prayer you recite at the beginning of teachings starting with “Tonpa chom den de…”).

Then, recite the mantra above. Visualize Buddha above your son’s head, and make strong prayers for your son to generate the whole path to enlightenment.

So, for two to three malas, think your son is being purified of the four things, then for the rest of the mala think he is receiving all the qualities of Buddha, especially renunciation of samara, renouncing samsara’s pleasures, such as drugs, etc, which are in the nature of suffering and cause so much suffering.

These are other prayers that that you could do, when they have been translated, that will benefit your son:

1) Piles of Auspiciousness
Again, this has not yet been translated. It would be so good if it were translated. This prayer makes inauspicious things end. This prayer is often recited at the beginning of big projects, to bring success. Then there is another prayer:

2) Verses of Auspicious Prayers to Buddha
This expresses auspiciousness in verses. This is to the trader KunKon, from the chapter Sangpo, from the sutra called Manifested in Exalted Extensiveness. If this one is translated, it comes out very good for you to recite this every day.

It also comes out very good for you to make strong prayers to Padmasambhava. You can do the same meditation as I described above with Buddha. Make strong prayers and requests to Padmasambhava. Think that nectar emits from Padmasambhava and enters your son’s body and mind. Think also of all young people who are in the same situation, as well as all sentient beings who are suffering. Recite three malas of Padmasambhava mantra:

OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM

With strong faith, nectar flows down and purifies your son. At the end, think your son and all sentient beings receive all the qualities of Padmasambhava: perfect understanding, perfect wisdom, omniscience, perfect compassion, perfect renunciation, particularly renunciation.

Also, you can recite the prayer Sampa Lhundrupma. Recite the short version two to three times a day.

This comes out very good for your son. This advice can be used for other people who have similar problems, especially young people, who have problems and difficulties in their lives. This is something that one can try. In general, this will help. Of course, there is karma, and people have different karma, but it good to use some methods rather than nothing.

Notes

¹ From the instructions of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, “It is important to stop between YO and NI or the mantra has a different meaning.  [Return to text]