My very dear one,
Thank you for your email. I’m very, very happy to hear how Medicine Buddha helped you to help yourself—to have less anger and to be able to stop intoxicants, and how it also affected your mother and father, and your friends. I’m very happy to hear that. Thank you a billion times, thank you.

What I want to request you to do, my big request, is for you to be able to stop drinking alcohol and taking drugs for this lifetime. It doesn’t mean one thousand years, because life can be stopped anytime—next year, next month, tomorrow or even today. In reality we can’t say; even in the next minute we could die. Death can happen anytime, life is too short, extremely short, so you don’t have to think that this is very difficult.

Stopping intoxicants will bring peace not only for this life, but it will also bring peace and happiness for many hundreds and thousands or millions of lifetimes, up to enlightenment, even for eons. You will not be reborn in the lower realms of samsara and you will always be reborn in the higher realms. Especially, you will be able to practice Dharma and you will not be separated from Dharma, from the perfect guru, and you will achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.

If you can stop, it would be incredible. It would be an unbelievable example and an inspiration for numberless others in the USA and in the world.

This means you have a karmic connection to Medicine Buddha and by stopping alcohol and drugs you can help so many people. That is your offering to Medicine Buddha. You are able to help many people by practicing Medicine Buddha every day.

With much love and prayers ...