Cancer and Weight Loss
Unable to Eat or Drink
A student wrote to Rinpoche about her sister, who had a cancerous tumor removed and returned to hospital two days later with a fever caused by infection. She was unable to eat or drink, and was fed by liquid IV. She was getting weaker and the doctors didn't seem to know what to do.
Dear Judy,
Please recite this text for your sister: The Dharani Called “Possessing the Attributes of All the Buddhas”. It's for prevention of life-threatening disease, and for those who already have one, such as cancer.
Also, you should do tonglen for her. Your sister should also do tonglen herself, if she can. This is the best for your sister.
Losing Weight Due to Cancer
A student who had cancer was losing weight and wrote to Rinpoche for advice. His letter and Rinpoche’s response are below.
Student: My health is deteriorating now due to a recent infection and I am also losing weight due to a narrowing of my duodenum (small intestine). This means that I can only be on a liquid diet. I may need to go for an operation to do a bypass from my stomach to the small intestine and this will involve major surgery. Secondly, I am on a vegetarian diet now, but the doctors have advised that it is important for me to put on weight to be ready for the operation. They have advised that chicken and other meat soup would be good for me. Can I do this due to my illness?
Rinpoche's Response
Dear one,
I have just finished doing a lot of checking and there are different things to do:
1) Regarding the operation, if it has to be done, the best day is 21 November. The second best day is 20 November.
2) Regarding eating some kind of meat soup, I checked, and the only kind of meat that came out OK was pork. So, I suggest some kind of pork bone soup, but only small quantities each time.
3) What comes out very good for you to take for building up strength and weight is Tibetan medicine, which also has a Chinese name: “Lang Wang Bao.” I don’t know if you can get it where you live, but we have it here and will courier it to you as quickly as possible first thing in the morning. There are three packets and they have capsules. Take four capsules a day and spread the four out through the day. These come out as very good for you. In fact, they are the best out of everything in terms of building strength and weight.
4) In addition we are couriering you logyönma pills. Take two to three in a day, spread out.
5) Ngang chu pills will also be in the courier package. Take two a day, spread out.
6) Mani pills—Take a few a day, spread out.
7) You need 150 recitations of the Diamond Cutter Sutra to be performed, also 50 recitations of the 8000 stanzas of the Prajnaparamita. This has to be done by Tsawa Khamtsen. The geshe can call Tsawa Khamtsen to arrange these for you as soon as possible. If this is hard, just let me know, and we can do it.
These are all my instructions. I hope everything goes well and, as I mentioned before, it is midnight here now, so we will courier the package in the fastest way in the morning.
If possible, your wife should recite the Golden Light Sutra at least eight times. This is for your health and long life. Also, she should dedicate it to everyone in the world, everyone for whom living is more beneficial than dying, also to all sentient beings to achieve enlightenment, liberation from samsara, etc. Others can also join in the recitation, friends, etc.
If you can, recite the Heart Sutra three times.
Also, if you can, recite the Parnashavari [mantra] seven times a day, with bodhicitta, and a strong visualization of nectar coming from Buddha Parnashavari (Tib: Loma Gyönma). [Find links to Loma Gyönma practice in the FPMT Catalogue.] We don’t have a picture, but we are looking for one. Nectar enters your body and mind and purifies the four things (spirit harm, negative karma, sickness, and defilements). Think that all of it comes out of you in the form of pus, black smoke, spiders, and scorpions, etc. Think that there is a crack in the earth and nine storeys below is the Lord of Death, with an open mouth. Think that all the black smoke, pus, animals, etc go inside the mouth of the Lord of Death and it becomes nectar in his mouth. His mouth closes, is sealed with a double Vajra, and then the earth closes. Think that you are completely purified.
Maybe with the last mala you can concentrate on purifying all sentient beings. At the end, think you have achieved all the qualities up to enlightenment, as well as that all sentient beings have achieved these qualities.