Beneficial Practices for the Sick
Rinpoche gave the following advice regarding practices for those who are ill.
It is better to ask for beneficial practices to perform than cures for sickness, unless, of course, the person’s attitude is to serve others. In that case, if the person has some sickness, if you heal him or her it has meaning, because it is in order to help others. If the person is practicing Dharma, to eliminate delusions and become qualified to liberate others and bring them to enlightenment, to get better in order to do this work, then this person needs to receive advice. Otherwise, the cure is just aimed at achieving happiness in this life, and with this motivation action can be non-virtuous. That means all the expense, effort, and years of treatment are non-virtue, leading to suffering, not just pain and sickness, but more suffering in the future. The normal practice is to purify your negative karma and delusions in order to help others, seeking this long-term benefit.