Tumors

Practices for Brain Tumor
A 31-year-old student wrote that they had a brain tumor. Rinpoche offered this advice.
My very dear one,
Mantra water to drink came out best for you. I will send it to you. You also need to do the following:
- Liberate seven animals. If you have money, you can liberate goats in Nepal (i.e. bigger animals). If you don't have money then you can liberate insects and you can do many more than seven, or you can do fishing bait and go around holy objects before you liberate them. If you will do this, then please do it according to my book, Liberating Animals. Or I can ask the Sangha at my house to do the animal liberations for you, as they do animal liberation every week. If you would like the Sangha to do it in Aptos then karmically it is good to make a small offering towards the cost of the animals. [See Animal Liberation Fund.]
- Have four namgyal tse chog pujas done by Osel Labrang [monastic house at Sera Je Monastery, India.]
- Take five pills from Maratika.
- Recite the mantra Liberating Body, Speech and Mind from Bondage a few times each day. Recite this with bodhicitta. [Find links to the Dharani Extremely Conquering from Bondage in the FPMT Catalogue.]
I am also making prayers for you.
With much love and prayers ...
Advice for Brain Tumors and Lung Cancer
Rinpoche gave the following advice to a student with brain tumors and lung cancer.
- Motivate very well, then have five extensive Medicine Buddha pujas done at Nalanda Monastery.
- Take the mantra blessed water from Rinpoche.
- Take Black Garuda initiation.
- Do Black Garuda mantras every day.
- lü dang sadag gi don drol [Liberating from the harm of the naga and landlord]. It’s very important for this puja to be done.
Water Blessed by Chenrezig
A student asked Rinpoche about the best treatment and practices for his wife, who was seriously ill with a brain tumor. A tumor detected three years ago had disappeared after radiation therapy, but a second tumor had now appeared and the doctors advised more radiation therapy.
Your wife should bless a container of water with the recitation of manis [OM MANI PADME HUM mantras], visualizing Thousand-arm Chenrezig above the container. Nectar flows from the heart of Chenrezig into the container of water, thus blessing the water very powerfully. Visualize that the water becomes completely blessed by Chenrezig.
Visualize this after every mala of mani recitations and do at least three malas blessing the water each day—not less, more is better. With the visualization, she must strongly believe that Chenrezig is blessing the water with nectar that purifies the four things, negative karma, spirit harms, obstacles and disease (the tumor).
When the visualization is finished, concentrate for a while on the water , thinking, “Now it is nectar.” She should sip the water several times during the day, taking several sips each time.
Keep doing this every day. When the water is finished, refill the container with water and keep blessing it.
With much love and prayers ...
Brain Tumor
A longtime FPMT student had a brain tumor and wrote to Rinpoche asking for his advice. The tumor was a benign meningioma, about two cm in size on the right side of her brain. The doctors said if it increased in size, it could cause seizures or a stroke.
My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter, and sorry for the long delay in replying.
According to my observations you should:
- Do Black Manjrushri practice. Chant one mala every day.
- Recite the Om Padmo mantra. Recite six malas a day.
- Read the Long Life Sutra eleven times. Print it out a few times or photocopy it on very nice paper.
- It is very good if you can offer naga torma and do the naga incense puja. You can get this practice from the FPMT Education Office. However, it is very important to do this only on the special naga days. It cannot be done on any day, so you need to check a Tibetan calendar before to make sure it is a good day. It would be very good if you could do the naga practice at a beach or near a spring. At Chenrezig Institute, a little bit up from Geshe-la’s house, on the right side, there is a place where water comes out of the ground. You can do it there and at other places at Chenrezig.
- It is very good if you can take the eight Mahayana precepts more frequently. Taking them collects extensive merit and purifies negative karma, It would be very good if you can take them as much as you can.
- It is important that you start doing Samayavajra practice.
- Also, do one longlife practice every day. You can choose—it could be White Tara, Amitayus, etc.
Try to live your life as much as possible with a bodhicitta motivation and do lamrim meditation. If you can, try to spend one month mainly focusing on guru devotion. Follow the outline according to the lamrim texts and try to meditate until you achieve stable realizations.
After one month, continue circling through the lamrim outlines—renouncing this life and future lives, realizing bodhicitta and emptiness—until you attain stable realizations. In this way, continue through the lamrim every day. Your main practice is the lamrim for now and later tantra.
With much love and prayers...
Tumor in Hip
A nun wrote saying she had a large tumor in her hip that was almost certainly cancer. An invasive operation would be required to remove the tumor and the nun said she also needed to find a knowledgeable doctor.
Dear Ven Fiona,
I was able to check extensively about your situation and I am doing pujas for you tonight. It is extremely important that you do Medicine Buddha puja as soon as possible. If possible, your mother can also do this for you and also students in the area.
Attached is the visualization to do and link for the correct puja. Basically, you visualize the seven Medicine Buddhas above your crown and one by one they absorb into you and purify the four things (in the attached document). This is also the visualization your mother and others should do for you.
You need to recite the Long Life Sutra 60 times. Do as many as you can, then, if you are able, arrange for someone else to do the recitations (the best would be your Mum because of the karmic connection, but if that is not appropriate then friends).
If you can email your postal address I want to send you some blessed water to sip.
You need 300 long-life tsa-tsas made for you. I can arrange for this to be done in my house.
Read and study the five powers at the time of death. This is something I have just finished. It is something we all should be familiar with.
Now you should do tong-len practice, as much as you can.
I am making prayers for you and send you my love and prayers.
Brain Tumor Operation
A student suddenly had a brain tumor and was in hospital for an emergency operation. Rinpoche sent the following advice.
I checked for some time about your situation, and what has to be done urgently is:
- Extensive Medicine Buddha puja. This can be done with students at the center.
- Offer paint to the Boudha stupa. You can ask Kopan Monastery to organize that.
I am making prayers.