Abortion

Abortion

Practices After an Abortion
Date of Advice:
May 2014
Date Posted:
September 2023

This advice was given to a student who had an abortion and asked what she needed to do to purify the karma.

Rinpoche checked and said you should order a few buddha statues, whatever size you can afford. Order very good art, like the statues in Rinpoche’s room at Kopan.

Then when you get the statues, make offerings every day of water, flowers, light, fruit. Then every day do prostrations, reciting three malas of Shakyamuni Buddha’s name mantra:

[LA MA] TÖN PA CHOM DÄN DÄ DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PÄI SANG GYÄ PÄL GYÄL WA SHA KYA THUB PA LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

[Guru], Teacher, Bhagavān, Tathāgata, Arhat, Perfectly Complete Buddha, Glorious Conqueror Śākyamuni Buddha, I prostrate.

Then recite one mala of the Buddha’s mantra:

TADYATHĀ OṂ MUNE MUNE MAHĀ MUNAYE SVĀHĀ

Then dedicate, especially for the sentient being that was aborted. This is Rinpoche’s advice.

Purifying the Karma of Abortion
Date of Advice:
February 2017
Date Posted:
October 2017

A student had an abortion many years ago and wished to purify the bad karma. She had read the advice Rinpoche gave other women and had recited the Vajra Cutter Sutra 500 times, as well as the King of Prayers and other Buddhist texts. She was going to do nyung nä, and she was reciting Vajrasattva mantra seven times each night and contemplating the four opponent powers. The student asked Rinpoche if that was enough to purify the negative karma created by the abortion or should she be doing something else?

My dear one,
It is very good what you are doing, however, five thousand prostrations by reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas is extremely powerful.

When you collect merit, when you do practice, always dedicate the merits. At the end of the day dedicate the merits collected that day for the baby. 

This is my advice to you.

Purifying the Negative Karma of Abortion
Date of Advice:
May 2014
Date Posted:
April 2015

A student wrote that she’d had two abortions and could not stop thinking that she had killed her unborn babies. She was very regretful and worried about what had happened to her babies. She also suffered from depression and had attempted suicide. Rinpoche gave the following advice.

My very dear one,
I checked regarding your question. For purification read the Sutra of Golden Light 300 times. There are three versions—elaborate, medium and short. You can recite the short version, but also the middle and long one. Whichever version you read, you can count.

The other thing that came out to purify negative karma is going for pilgrimage to Nepal and circumambulating the Swayambhunath mountain. This is [the mandala of] Heruka, the enlightened being, the deity mandala; it is regarded as the Heruka mandala and it contains a stupa that appeared when Kathmandu was covered by a lake. Buddha predicted that there would be a naturally appearing stupa—not made by hand—coming on the mountain. It is the manifestation of all the buddhas’ holy mind, the dharmakaya, in the form of a stupa. It came on the lake, then that stupa was covered by dust over time and became a mountain.

That stupa is all the buddhas’ wisdom and it is in that mountain, so when you circumambulate, you are circumambulating all the buddhas’ holy mind, the dharmakaya, in the form of the stupa. Not only that, you are circumambulating all the stupas and statues, however many there are on the mountain, from original time, hundreds and thousands of years ago, then also the new ones. All the prayer wheels are supposed to have a hundred thousand mantras inside, then there are many stupas and in each stupa there are so many tsa-tsas and mantras, so it is unbelievable. So circumambulating the mountain collects huge merit and becomes very powerful purification. This is only if you can come to Nepal.

Also, recite the Vajra Cutter Sutra 500 times. When I am in Nepal you can come and I can give you the lung, the oral transmission of the Vajra Cutter Sutra. If you receive the oral transmission, then if you recite the sutra one time it is like reciting it 100 times. Or if I am Hong Kong, then I can do it there.

So that is unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, most unbelievable purification of all the negative karmas and collecting so much merits, so you should be always rejoicing reading the Vajra Cutter Sutra and the Golden Light Sutra.

If you can, try to recite the Vajra Cutter Sutra each day. If you can, finish at least one each day, or if you can, do more, like two or three, if not then do one. If that is difficult you can do half and then do half the next day, so you can finish within two days. So you can count, keep count in a notebook and write down how many you have done.

The main meditation for you to study is Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. When you travel, carry it with you. This is the main book for you.

It’s also very important to do Vajrasattva practice with the remedy of the four [opponent] powers. Then every day one’s negative karma gets purified, it doesn’t multiply the next day. If some heavy negative karma doesn’t get purified, then it multiplies day by day. When it gets purified, then the karma becomes smaller.

With much love and prayers...

Purifying Abortions and Helping Some-one on Death Row
Date Posted:
December 2011

A student wrote to Rinpoche asking how to purify three abortions. Also, her husband had been killed and she had petitioned for the man who murdered her husband to be executed. She was also in a lot of physical pain. Rinpoche gave the following advice.

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I checked and it seems that if you ask the judge not to kill the man who is on death row, then it seems possible to change his mind. It comes out very good if you are able to put effort that way. If you do this, you get the merit of saving one human being.

I checked and if you are able to give that man in prison the new small booklet on cherishing others, that Ven. Sarah edited, and also my book on Practicing the Five Powers Near the Time of Death, as well as Liberation in the Palm of your Hand—if you are able to pass these books to that man on death row and see if he is willing to study these, this came out very, very beneficial.

According to my observation what comes out best for you, for purification, is four nyung näs, but you must do them very well.

I am extremely happy that you have met the Buddha’s teachings and on that basis you are able to purify all your negative karma. This makes your life very easy, so you don’t have to be reborn in the lower realms. You are able to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings, to free the numberless sentient beings from the six realms—from the oceans of samsaric sufferings, and bring them to full enlightenment.

It’s most amazing how it has turned out. Now you have this incredible opportunity to learn lamrim teachings, which are the very heart of all Buddha’s teachings, and it is most amazing that you have met tantra. If you haven’t taken a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation, you will have the opportunity to take one in the near future, so this makes it quicker to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings.

Regarding the four nyung näs—doing just one nyung nä is like the sun shining in our life. There is only one sun shining in the world, but it dispels all the darkness. There is one sun that is reflected in every ocean, every puddle, even in a drop of water on a leaf. Doing one nyung nä is like that in terms of purification; by doing one nyung nä we don’t have to be reborn in the lower realms in our next life.

Even by reciting one mala of the long Chenrezig mantra we are able to purify 40,000 eons of negative karma, so all this depends on how much compassion we generate to other sentient beings. Strong bodhicitta is what purifies many hundreds of millions of eons of negative karma, if we have realized bodhicitta and emptiness, so to realize bodhicitta as strongly as possible is the best. If you can do four nyung näs as perfectly as possible, it would be very, very good, so lucky.

Also do at least 20,000 Vajrasattva mantras, but more is very good. This is to purify negative karma. Many students do 100,000 Vajrasattva mantras; this takes three months. Every year we have a group Vajrasattva retreat in Nepal and Dharamsala, so if you can join one when you are able to, that would be very good.

If you can, make 60 Mitukpa tsa tsas, for purification. Mitukpa is extremely powerful to purify negative karma. This is very important to do if this person is going to be killed.

It is very good to do 100 prostrations every day by reciting the Thirty-five Buddha’s names. There are different commentaries and teachings on how to do prostrations. If you read these, you will know how to do them correctly. If you could do this 100 times every day, that would be so good. Normally people do this very early in the morning, but some people do it before going to bed. Lama Tsongkhapa did the Thirty-five Buddha prostrations 35 times every day. As you prostate, keep reciting the Buddha’s name. Don’t say it once, but repeat it as you prostrate, rather than just saying the name once and then keeping quiet until the next prostration. Keep reciting each name again and again as you do the prostration.

Reciting one name, such as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, just one time, has the power to purify ten hundred million eons of negative karma. Reciting each of the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names has the power to purify so many eons of negative karma. So if we keep repeating the name, can you imagine how many negative karmas get purified? Can you imagine? So many eons of negative karma get purified. You can record the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names in order to memorize them, so if you do that recording, saying the names fast, you can recite more times with each prostration. After doing this practice, when you go to bed you can really think, “I have made my life meaningful.”

Also, before bed do one mala or half a mala of Vajrasattva, or do the long mantra 21 times, with the remedy of the four powers.

Regarding the number of months for the lamrim meditations, [Note: an outline was sent to the student], that means the topic is your main focus for that time, but the main aim is to have the realizations, so before that, it’s important to be familiar with the whole lamrim. So, it is important to read lamrim books such as Liberation in the Palm of your Hand. Then, please go through the cycle of months three full times, and after completing the first cycle, start again from the beginning. Do that three times.

After that, start from whatever realization you didn’t have and keep going through until you have stable realizations.

It is important to do one meditation on guru yoga every day until you get the stable realization that one guru is all the buddhas and one buddha is all the gurus. There is no separation. For the realization to be stable, it doesn’t just last a short time— it is not just for a few hours or a few days, but it is stable, then from this you can have all the realizations up to enlightenment.

In this way, train your mind on lamrim topics one-by-one, no matter how long it takes, no matter how many years it takes. Go through the lamrim, first having the realization of renouncing this life and future lives, then bodhicitta and then emptiness. Again, do some meditation on emptiness every day. At the end of the day, it’s important to dedicate the merit created, sealing it with emptiness. This is how to plan your life. The main thing is to realize the lamrim; to have one or two realizations or as many as you can. In this way, it makes it easier to have the realizations in this life or the next life, as all these meditations leave imprints that will bring you to enlightenment.

Regarding your health, I checked and you need to have the puja called chag sum done. I will try to do this for you, but it is also very beneficial if you request Geshe Ngawang Drakpa to do it for you as soon as possible.

Also recite the Most Secret Hayagriva mantra. This is ok for you to do even though you may not have the initiation yet. Just visualize the deity in front of you and do not arise as the deity. Visualize the deity above your head and as you recite, nectar descends into you, purifying you of all sickness, spirit harm, negative karma and defilements collected since beginningless time. Then recite again, thinking you are purifying all sentient beings. Please recite three malas a day like this.

Thank you very much for all your service at the center , which is for the benefit all sentient beings.

With much love and prayers...

Purification Practices after an Abortion
Date Posted:
November 2011

Several years ago, a student and her partner decided to have an abortion. After the abortion, she drank too much and cheated on her partner, but she deeply regretted these actions and had made a strong determination not to do them again. She had taken refuge and vows not to kill, cheat or steal, and had also recited about 20,000 Vajrasattva mantras and written out the Sanghata Sutra twice. The student asked Rinpoche if there was anything else she could do to purify these negative actions from her past.

My very dear one,
Thank you for your kind letter and I am very sorry for the long delay in replying. Regarding your question, I checked and it came out very beneficial to do these things, to purify the karma:

  1. Read the Sanghata Sutra twelve times.
  2. Read the Diamond Cutter Sutra once. To read it more than this is very, very good, but the minimum is once.
  3. Every morning, do 100 prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas, while reciting their names, then at the end do the confession prayers.
  4. Every evening, recite the long Vajrasattva mantra 21 times, or do half a mala, with meditation on the four opponent powers.
  5. Then if you can, do lam-rim meditations. If you can, spend one month on each subject of the lam-rim. So, for instance, spend one month on the perfect human rebirth, then one month on its usefulness etc, in this way spending a month on each part of the lam-rim up to bodhicitta. Do this by using the lam-rim outline. You can use the The Essential Nectar book and also Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. I hope you have these books. It would be so good to develop your mind on the path to enlightenment. After you finish the lam-rim, go back to the beginning and start again. Do this over three years, trying to actualize the realizations and stabilize them.

Thank you from my heart for all the practice that you have already done. Please live your life with the thought of bodhicitta, this is what makes your life most meaningful.

With much love and prayers... 

Purifying Negative Karma After Abortion
Date Posted:
October 2009

A student, who had had an abortion, received the following advice from Rinpoche.

According to my divinations, it comes out best for you to work for whichever guru you have a Dharma connection with. Hard work is best. You have to purify not only this negative karma, but also many other negative karmas. If you know how to serve your guru correctly, this is a unique way to purify negative karma and collect a lot of merit, and it is also the quickest way to achieve realizations, all the way up to enlightenment. This is how Milarepa and the lineage lamas achieved their realizations. Serving the guru contains all the other preliminary practices. This means that the other preliminary practices are not separate but included in service. This is why it is unique.

Please understand that this advice is not only for this life’s negative karma, but for numberless lifetimes in the past. We must purify all of our negative karma in order to have realizations and to reach enlightenment. But it doesn’t stop there. Our main aim in performing purification practice is to enlighten all sentient beings. This means we are doing purification practices to help others reach enlightenment.

You should study explanations of the benefits of making holy objects. There are so many benefits. Making tsa-tsas is also one of the nine preliminary practices. The holy beings who benefited so many people in Tibet, Lama Atisha and Lama Tsongkhapa, as well as the Kadampa geshes, made tsa-tsas between retreat sessions. They became enlightened not so much from retreat, but from daily practice.

This will not be a burden for you. You will be excited and enjoy doing it very much. The more you see the benefits, the more you will learn. Thank you very much for doing this. I appreciate your change of attitude and your determination to purify your karma. I’m sure all the buddhas and bodhisattvas are happy.

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