Practices for Pacifying Sickness

If you can’t do the longer White Umbrella, then, of course, you can do the shorter one.

Regarding the previous prayers, keep the Lion-faced Dakini and the Dharani of Compassion.

If you can’t do anything, keep your faith in Buddha. By doing so, then even if you die, you will reborn in a pure land, not in the sufferings of the lower realms. Keep the mind in bodhicitta and emptiness.

My most dear one,
You should recite OM MANI PADME HUM and the Medicine Buddha mantra loudly in your mother’s ear. Recite these mantras many times each day, also by chanting.

Strongly pray: “May she never be reborn in the lower realms forever, and may she be reborn in the pure realm of the Buddha where she can become enlightened, or receive a perfect human rebirth and meet Mahayana Dharma, and meet a perfect guru revealing the unmistaken path to buddhahood.”

Request the nuns at Chenrezig Institute to recite Amitayus Long Life Sutra forty times for your mother. Explain to them what happened, and that it is for her long life and for her to be healthy, so that her life can be highly beneficial for sentient beings.

Of course, they can dedicate for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and for all other holy beings in this world to benefit others; for all the Sangha who preserve the holy Dharma and spread to other sentient beings; for the benefactors of Sangha and the teachings; and for the many sentient beings who have a good heart and are helping so many other sentient beings. Also dedicate for the evil beings to meet Buddhadharma, to renounce the cause of suffering, nonvirtue, and to create the cause of happiness, virtue, and especially to generate bodhicitta. Dedicate to not harming others at all and only benefiting them, causing their happiness up to full enlightenment. Dedicate for all sentient beings,but do not forget the particular benefactor who you should pray for—your mother.

There is one more puja, she nyin dü dog, for your mother. That is to be done by the nuns at Khari Nunnery, which is down below Lawudo [in Solu Khumbu, Nepal]. Ven. Tendar can ask them whether they can do it and then you would have to make a money offering. If you can offer lunch or ice cream in place of a money offering, then I think it is good. Or you can offer around ten dollars, which is probably about ten rupees for each nun, for example. Or just offer them food. 

If it is difficult for you to make this offering, I can make the offering for the Khari nuns. Thank you. Of course, I am making prayers.

With much love and prayers ...
 

Take these precious pills:

• Gur gum: Take one pill a day for five weeks
• Moon crystal: Take one pill every four days for five weeks.

Recite Chenrezig’s mantra. You must never miss a day, even when you are dying. Even in your last breath, recite OM MANI PADME HUM. Chenrezig’s compassion embraces all sentient beings. Never give this up. If there is any danger in your life, remember Chenrezig. In human form, it is His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Do Chenrezig practice purifying the six realms, composed by Thangtong Gyalpo—never give up this practice; you must do it. Otherwise, when you die you will realize your whole life is like an empty container, with no time to practice

Rinpoche checked and advised the following needs to be done to remove obstacles, etc.

• Reading of the Tengyur
• Reading of the zungdu [a collection of dharani] five times.

Rinpoche checked regarding your health and said there is no life danger.

The pujas that need to be done are:

• Gyab shi: The elder monks at Kopan Monastery need to do this puja once.
• She nyin dü dog: To be done twice by the monks at Chuwar Monastery. This monastery is in Boudha, Kathmandu, where they have the Milarepa statue.
• Go to the Tibetan lady doctor in Boudha; she comes out best to help you.
• Recite the White Umbrella Deity mantra, the Lion-face Dakini mantra and Tara mantras regularly, according to what you can manage. [You can find links to these practices in the FPMT Catalogue.]

My most dear, most precious, most kind, wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you for your kind email.

I checked and your daughter should do the practice of Black Garuda herself. If she can, she should recite the mantra three times a day, if possible—in the morning, in the afternoon and at night.

On the basis that she hasn’t received the initiation, she should visualize the deity in front of her. She should have a painting in order to be able visualize the deity. This is not Garuda the animal, but a buddha, manifesting as white, red, yellow, blue, yellow, green and black Garuda. The Buddha manifested like that as different-colored garudas mainly to stop the different diseases that are caused by nagas.

It could also be black magic, but for your daughter, this is caused by naga harm. She hasn’t received a great initiation or even a lower tantra initiation, so she can’t arise as the deity and she needs to visualize the deity in front of her.

Think that the deity is a buddha manifesting for us, for her, for sentient beings. Numberless buddhas manifest to purify things such as this disease, and many other diseases, spirit harm, naga harm and so forth. Where these diseases, sickness, naga and spirit harm came from is our negative karma and delusions collected from beginningless rebirths, so we need purify that. It’s very important to purify by reciting this mantra.

If she recites one mala or whatever number of mantras is half of the total that she will recite, she can think that for the first half she is purifying all the defilements and for the second half she is receiving all the qualities for herself and all sentient beings. When she stops reciting the mantra then Buddha Black Garuda absorbs into her.

At the end she can do this dedication:

“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 (that means every single hell being, hungry ghost, animal, human being, sura, asura and intermediate state being). May this be generated in my own heart and especially in the hearts of everybody in this world. 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, who exist in mere name, may I, who exists in mere name, achieve the state of full enlightenment, which exists in mere name, and lead all sentient beings, who exist in mere name, to that state, which exists in mere name, by myself alone, who exists in mere name.”

She can also say, “May I achieve the state of Buddha Black Garuda,” so you can change to that also.

I have heard of similar things like what is happening to your daughter. There was one Indian lady with a similar problem and I did the puja called ga gön (giving protection) for her at the airport. Since then I didn’t hear that she got sick again.

Sometimes it is not so easy. Normal hospitals and doctors often can’t properly heal it, but some Chinese doctors can. It usually needs some practice to be done or a puja.

There was another person I knew who was healed by a Chinese doctor—at least they were healed for over one year.

Then also there was one geshe who had been sick for many years. When he went to India he got better but every time he went back to Holland he got worse, so he met some healer, a black man, who helped him for one year. I don’t know the full story, but now he is completely recovered and it seems the healer helped him a lot. I will try to get more details of how he was healed.

Anyway, regardless, all these things are caused by naga harm.

The other practice that came out very beneficial for your daughter is water charity for the nagas. That practice came out very beneficial for her to do. It is a very simple practice, Offering Water Charity to the Pretas. The offering water is in a container and then you pour the water onto the ground. Visualize Mitukpa (the Immovable Buddha) above the water and think that nectar comes out from Mitukpa and purifies all the nagas, so you are making charity to all the nagas in the world. Visualize nectar coming from Mitukpa's heart and continuously recite Mitukpa mantra. While you are reciting one mala of Mitukpa mantra, at the same time you are pouring the water. Think that all the nagas are being purified. Then at the end do the dedication prayers.

Of course, at the beginning of both practices, your daughter must first generate refuge and bodhicitta. She should do that in English.

Regarding refuge:

The Buddha has overcome all the gross and subtle obscurations and has actualized all the realizations. Dharma is the actual path, the direct realization of the ultimate nature, emptiness. This direct realization ceases the seeds of delusion and karma, which are the cause of suffering.

The ultimate Sangha is an ordained or lay person who has that realization, who we can totally rely upon, who follows the scriptures, the Buddha’s teachings that explain the base, the two truths, and the path, method and wisdom. The Buddha’s holy body and holy mind, the rupakaya and dharmakaya, can be achieved for sentient beings. The conventional Sangha are four fully ordained monks and nuns who are living in full ordination. They are the ordinary Sangha who don’t have the realization of ultimate truth, but who are living in full ordination. So four members of the Sangha, by relying on them, that is also conventional Sangha.

Mahayana refuge is relying on Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in order for all sentient beings—numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless suras, numberless asuras and numberless intermediate state beings—to be liberated from the oceans of samsaric suffering, besides ourselves. Based on the Lesser Vehicle path—refuge for us to be free from samsara—then we go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Then generate bodhicitta.

“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 I achieve buddhahood in order to liberate sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to buddhahood by myself alone, therefore I am going to recite Black Garuda mantra.”

Also you need to have the same motivation when you do the practice Offering Water Charity to the Pretas.

There is a whole Black Garuda practice, but your daughter can just recite the mantra with refuge and bodhicitta and the dedication, as mentioned.

So please try this.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

[You can find these prayers and practices in the FPMT Catalogue. See also Rinpoche's advice Black Garuda Mantra and Visualization.]