Dear Jack,Try to do everything with bodhicitta motivation as much as possible, with yourself as the servant and sentient beings as the master.

A student wrote to Rinpoche about a mental illness that had started about three years ago with imagined violent attacks, where she felt that her skin was being ripped off or her head chopped off. After that she developed emotional instability which led to episodes of intense, violent rage that caused great suffering for her and her husband. She saw psychologists and psychiatrists, and took medication for about a year, without success. Rinpoche sent the following advice.

When nothing works, and you don’t have the necessary power, you must rely on higher beings: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Rinpoche sent this letter to someone who was an alcoholic.

My very dear Manu,Sorry I did not recollect clearly your complete name; I’m very sorry about that.I am extremely happy to hear that you have stopped drinking alcohol (chang).

Student: My son is in a very dark and dangerous place in his life. He is in a rehabilitation center for drugs and alcohol, and he is very confused, from what I gather. He has a wife and two beautiful little boys that he may lose.

As far as the drugs are concerned, I did a divination and it came out very good for your daughter to come to Nepal and do a lamrim course.

My very dear Madeline,Thank you very much for your kind letter. I am very happy you have reduced your smoking, as smoking is very harmful to your body and life. It can cause obstacles to your life, shorten your life, and cause cancer.

My very dear Polly,How are you? I am very happy to hear from you. In regards to your problem, this is my advice (below).

Ga-gön puja, done by a good lamaSutra of Golden Light: recite onceArya Sanghata Sutra: recite five timesVajrayogini mantra: recite one mala every day. Have a nice picture of Vajrayogini above your daughter’s bed, near her head.