Practice Advice for Cancer

My very dear June,
In my observations, it would be very good for you to recite 40 Black Manjushri mantras every day. See if you can try this. Visualize Black Manjushri above your crown. As you recite the mantra, beams are emitted from the mantra and enter you, purifying all your sickness, harm from spirits, negative karma, and defilements. Then, beams are emitted again and you receive all the qualities of enlightened body, speech, and mind. Focus on purification for 20 recitations and then focus on receiving the enlightened qualities for the next 20 recitations.

My observations also showed that it would be most effective for you to practice Medicine Buddha. This practice is extremely powerful for achieving success, for everything. It also helps prevent being reborn in the lower realms.

On the next eighth day of the Tibetan calendar, make 20 long life tsa-tsas and develop eight photos of White Tara. Have them blessed by a geshe on the same day.

You need to liberate 3000 animals. This can be done for you at the houses in Aptos and Washington. They will dedicate the practice to you. If you can cover the cost of buying some of the animals, as many as you can, that would be good. You should make strong dedications of this merit.

You need to take a long life initiation.

I will do Sur practice for you. According to my observations, Sur practice was the most beneficial for you. It involves offering smells to the smell eaters. I do this every night, so I will dedicate it to you.

I am still working on the text of the “Five Powers at the Time of Death” for you, it is nearly finished. I will send it to you as soon as it is done, or even before, so you can start practicing it. According to my observations, this was also the most beneficial practice for you.

Charity
Visualize giving away one’s body, possessions, all one’s merit up to enlightenment, and one’s family. Offer charity in any way, including giving things away mentally. The whole point is to let go of being attached.

Also, offer charity to the Guru, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, as well as to sentient beings. You can also offer this charity mentally. Again, the main point is to let go and not to cling.

Morality
If you have taken bodhisattva vows, then take them again. You can take the tantric vows again by taking your initiation again; that is best, or you can perform self-initiation. Reviving the vows comes within the self-initiation. Even if you don’t actually perform self-initiation, you can still retake the vows to restore them. Retaking the vows helps you to not commit any root downfalls, by helping you to determine to abstain from breaking the vows again. Any root vow that is broken creates the karma of being reborn in the hot hells for one eon, as each second passes, until you retake the tantric vows. You stop that process by retaking them.

You can confess and take samaya vows again—that is how they become pure.

If you have done the deity’s retreat, then you can do a short self-initiation. There is a short version, middle version, and long version. You can do the short version if you are unable to do the other versions. Of course, the most extensive one is the best one to do at the time of death.

The negative karma of the degeneration of the samaya vows creates obstacles to being reborn in a pure land and achieving a higher rebirth, and creates the cause to be reborn in the lower realms. Self-initiation is the best way to revive the vows. Also, you can do other forms of confession.

Patience
Don’t hold grudges against anybody who has harmed you, who has treated you badly, or has hurt you. Just let go and practice patience, because being angry with them doesn’t help you, doesn’t help others, and only makes you be reborn in the lower realms. Now, you have this human body, and in this life you can go to the pure land of the Buddha, or to a higher rebirth. If you get angry or hold grudges, it is very foolish and creates the cause to be reborn in the lower realms. By reflecting on these things, just let go and offer forgiveness to those people who have harmed you.

Perseverance
Continue to practice purification and collecting merit, especially bodhicitta, letting go of the “I” and cherishing others, and tong len—taking and giving. Also, continue with these practices:

• Praying to the Guru.
• Po-wa practice (transference of consciousness), based on bodhicitta.
• Reviving vows, making them pure.
• Practicing purification. If you can do self-initiation or tsog offerings, that is very good for purifying degenerated samaya vows. You can do this based on the Guru Puja or any Guru Yoga practice. Within this, take the tantric vows and perform the tsog offering. This purifies degenerated samayavows and gathers the realizations for a successful rebirth in a pure land or a higher rebirth.

Also, you can practice samayavajra, Vajrasattva, and prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas. It is very good if you can actually perform the prostrations, but if you are not able to, hold your hands in the mudra of prostration as you recite the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas.

When you prostrate, visualize hundreds of your bodies prostrating, as tall as mountains. Also, visualize yourself as Chenrezig with 1,000 arms and 1,000 eyes, and then make prostrations to the merit field, reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names.

Also, you can recite the five powerful deity mantras (such as Namgyalma, etc). This causes you never to be reborn in the lower realms.

If you have an altar, then make many offerings on it to Medicine Buddha, thinking he is one with the guru.

Dedicate all the merits.

Concentration
When performing any practice, keep your concentration, awareness, mindfulness, and mind in virtue and in meditation.

Wisdom
Dedicate your practice with emptiness. Regard the subject, action, and object as empty.

Please try to do these practices as much as you can. I will send you the Five Powers when I have finished translating them for you.

With much love and prayers...