Epilepsy

a) I received your last emails and did a lot of checking to see what can be done now. I want to reiterate that this is not an easy situation, as I said in the beginning. Here are some more things to be done that can help. How much help they can do to resolve the situation, I cannot say for sure, but these things will help:

1. It’s very good if you can have a holy object that you can circumambulate with Emily. I am sure the monk you know or someone at the Dharma center can help to set up a holy object that you can circumambulate. Try to do this regularly with the baby. This can be a table piled high with stupa tsa-tsas, other tsa-tsas, photos, and texts, as many holy objects as you can.
2. You and your friend can do purification with Lama Tsongkhapa: Visualize Lama Tsongkhapa with the three deities (Chenrezig at the crown, Manjrushri at the throat, and Vajrapani at the heart of Lama Tsongkhapa), then visualize Lama Tsongkhapa on Emily’s crown. Then recite the mig-me mantra as many times as you can, and visualize three colored lights come from the three deities at the three places of Lama Tsongkhapa and go into Emily’s body, speech, and mind, purifying the four things (sickness, negative karma, sprit harm, and obscurations). Do this practice strongly, at least once each day with her.
3. Also, do strong purification practice with her with Vajrasattva. Visualize Vajrasattva above her crown. As you recite the mantra, nectar flows from Vajrasattva into her, and use the four remedies. If you are not familiar with this, the monk you know can help you.
4. Emily needs to wear Hayagriva protection. You may be able to get this from the Dharma center. If not we can send one to you, so let me know.
5. Ask a monk or lama who has done a lot of recitations of the “Mig-me” mantra, maybe one of the geshes at the Dharma center, to recite the “Mig-me” mantra and bless water for Emily to sip several times a day.
6. If you can, get the Nechung oracle’s grains, and have Emily wear them around her neck in a tiny container (or pouch). If you cannot get them, my assistant can send them to you.
7. Kopan monastery should do Palden Lhamo Kangsar for her. You can e-mail them to organize it.

b) Now there needs to be a very major puja performed at your house, called Wrathful Fire Puja. This is quite a difficult thing to organize. I am now checking whether the puja has to be done at your house or whether it can be done in India. I will call you tomorrow to let you know. We will also tell you who the Lama should be to do the puja.

c) This is also what came out beneficial for Emily:

1. Wear a Padmasambhava protection—I will send this, I have blessed it.
2. Burn some blessed substances that come from one of His Holiness’s retreats.

I will send you these things. I have to make the protections and bless them, so it will take a few days.

d) If you have some time, please try to take her around the Boudha stupa as much as possible, as this purifies a lot of negative karma from the past. There are extraordinary benefits from circumambulating this stupa in particular.

Also, making strong prayers for her can be very, very powerful. Please do these things as best you can, and if there is anything we can do to help, let us know.

e) The first thing that is important for both you and your friend is to just accept the situation in your mind, accept that this is going to be the way she will be. Also, understand there is a reason for her condition and now you have to accept your responsibility to take care of her, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t look for methods to help her. First, it is important to be able to accept her the way she is and that you may not be able to change that, and accept the responsibility that you will take care of her in this condition.

According to my observations, the best thing still seems to be doing the Shabdu, according to what the Nagkpa Lama originally said, so you should try to arrange to do at least 3,000 more of the Shabdu. Regarding the 3,000 Shabdu, we will let you know who comes out best to do them.

Also, I remember that a nun I know said that she has some methods that could help. When I am in contact with her, after her retreat, I will try to find out what she suggests.

Please think about this and we can discuss more.

With much love and prayers...

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your very kind letter.

I checked regarding your questions and you should practice Vajrapani Hayagriva Garuda practice [mantra: OM VAJRAPANI HAYAGRIVA GARUDA HUM PHET]. Please recite six malas a day, with meditation. If you haven't received any great initiation then you should visualize the deity in front of you and still do the meditation and recitation. If you have received a great initiation then you can still visualize the deity in front, and then generate yourself as the deity.

I am very sorry that I did not meet you when I visited your country, but hope to meet you next time.

I am making prayers for you and I also have asked the Sangha in my house to dedicate animal liberations and the making of long life tsa-tsas for you.

With much love and prayers...

Student: Our newborn daughter has been diagnosed with a serious illness. Last Monday, a friend of ours, who is a doctor, noticed that our daughter had a strange spasm, with a strange eye movement. I thought it was a reaction to stomach pains, so common among newborns. To reassure our friend, the day after, we took our daughter to the hospital for a check. The doctors decided to do an electroencephalogram. An hour afterwards, the neurologist told us that she suffers from West Syndrome, an infantile epilepsy that manifests with spasms. Each spasm is an epileptic seizure—a series of uncontrolled movements caused by excess of the normal electrical activity of the brain. It is a rare illness and each case varies from child to child in terms of consequences for the physical and cerebral development, which can be light or very severe. She is currently under treatment, which has side effects, and makes her seem as if she is far away from us. She has been submitted to so many examinations: brain scanning, metabolism, and so on, but, so far, the doctors cannot find a cause for her epilepsy. Organically, everything seems OK with her. However, the doctors want to do more exams, as they think that West Syndrome can be the sign of some other more serious neurological dysfunctioning.

Dear Lama Zopa Rinpoche, all this has happened so quickly and so strongly. My friend and I are in shock. We do not know what to do, what to think. We see how desperate we are in front of such suffering, in front of the suffering of our child. We would very much appreciate it if you could give us your advice to help our daughter.

Rinpoche's Response

Dear one,
I have checked a number of times, and the situation with your daughter does not look easy.

There is one lama here who may be able to help by doing a puja for her, but she needs to be at the puja. This means the lama goes to your house, or you come here. I am sure either way is not easy. I can’t guarantee it will work but in the mo it looks good. Also, with pujas, you can’t instantly expect a recovery, as partly it is to do with spirit interference, so it takes a little time, but gradually there is improvement.

The puja to be done is called ga gön, and has to be done seven times. In my mo it does make a difference who does the puja.

You need one Golden Light Drum text in each room of your house (in a respectful place), so I will mail you that text. I only have one copy, so please make copies and then place one in each room of your house.

It seems there is a naga harming her, as well a physical condition. It also seems there may be a little bit of a heart condition. In eight hours’ time a lama will do the pujas mentioned before, he said he can do them from a distance, and then tomorrow night I will check again how it looks.

The lama said the little girl looks like a "fortunate one" and this disease will over time gradually decrease.

He is asking this of you: Close the door on the eastern side of the house. He says there seems to be a pond or water that side of the house. So, keep this door closed tomorrow morning. It seems that is where the naga is situated. The door between the south and west should be open.

The pujas will last about one hour.

My very dear one,
I am very sorry it took a long time to reply.

According to my observation it comes out best for your son to recite Lama Tsongkhapa mantra (migme mantra) every day. The best would be four malas a day, if not then at least one mala a day, with meditation.

Then, request the geshe to perform ga gön puja. Geshe-la will do the meditation and short ritual for your son.

Regarding the Lama Tsongkhapa practice, you can ask Geshe-la to explain a little how to do this meditation. If possible, your son should visualize Lama Tsongkhapa while reciting the mantra. Beams of nectar emit from Lama Tsongkhapa and his two sons and the beams all become one beam. This enters his crown and blesses his body, speech, and mind. Think that it purifies all his negative karma, defilements, spirit harm, and sickness collected since beginningless rebirth.

The other thing that came out very beneficial is for your son to receive Rahula initiation. This initiation is mainly for paralysis, but it comes out very beneficial for your son. After he receives the initiation then he should do the torma offering practice and meditation. It may take some time for him to receive this initiation, so for now start with the two other things I’ve mentioned.

I am also making prayers for your son, and also the Sangha in my house are dedicating animal liberations and the making of long-life tsa tsas to him.

With much love and prayers...