Acute Mental Illness

Acute Mental Illness

Hallucinations and Bizarre Behavior
Date of Advice:
January 2017
Date Posted:
December 2017

A student wrote about a relative who had suddenly started acting strangely. He had tried to pull up floor boards and was hallucinating. Rinpoche checked for a long time and advise the following.

You should recite Lion-face Dakini practice dedicated for him.

You need to burn a Hayagriva torma pill from Sera Je Monastery. Crush it up and sprinkle it on incense, and then he smells the smoke. This would be very helpful. I will send Hayagriva torma pills from Kopan. I will get these sent to you and you can burn them many times a day for him to smell.

There is a big puja called jang ga or Lion-face Dakini wrathful fire puja, where you throw a big torma in the fire puja. If possible, this can be done. This one is very difficult to do or even to be accepted to be done by anyone, so this may not be possible. Best to do this is Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. Doing this puja is quite a big expense, but I will request and see if they will accept first, and let you know.

He also needs to wear Hayagriva protection.

Insomnia, Mood Swings, Irrational Speech
Date of Advice:
January 2017
Date Posted:
October 2017

A student wrote that a relative couldn’t sleep at night and felt an energy going up and down her spine. The relative’s mind was unstable, with mood swings and irrational speech.

Rinpoche spent some time checking and advised these practices:

  • Geg tor [torma offering for harmful spirits] and chag sum puja need to be done for her.
  • She should recite Liberating from Bondage. There’s no need to recite the benefits; the main thing is the mantra and some prayers in between. [You can find links to the Dharani Extremely Conquering from Bondage in the FPMT Catalogue.]
  • She should wear the Ten Wrathful Deities protection amulet.
Paranoia and Hearing Voices
Date of Advice:
February 2017
Date Posted:
September 2017

A student wrote to Rinpoche about a mental illness, which included paranoia and hearing voices. Rinpoche advised these practices.

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
I checked and you can try to study Buddhism, if possible at a center, at the same time as taking medicine. But I can’t say for sure if you can complete the study course, as you have to create the cause. Therefore pray to Medicine Buddha for success and healing, and do the Medicine Buddha practice.

I am making one short Medicine Buddha practice —later, it’s not done yet—so you can practice that. In the meantime, until it’s finished you can do the Medicine Buddha sadhana.

For two weeks try to read Chanting the Names of Manjushri three times each day—in the morning, afternoon and evening. Recite this three times each day for two weeks. This seems very, very important for you, so please try to do it as soon as possible. You could also try to do it for a longer time, but first start with two weeks.

The other thing is to read the Golden Light Sutra. Read a little each day and complete it. Then read the Arya Sanghata Sutra. Read a little each day and slowly finish it, or if you have time read it all in one day. Then start the Golden Light Sutra again and when you finish that, read Arya Sanghata Sutra. In this way continue reading these sutras.

Read the sutras with bodhicitta motivation:

“The purpose of my life is not just to achieve liberation for me—everlasting happiness and ultimate happiness and to be free from samsara—but it is to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsara and to bring them to happiness, buddhahood, as quickly as possible. Therefore, I have to achieve buddhahood as quickly as possible, therefore I am going to read this text.”  

That means you are dedicating the recitation of these texts for the benefit of every sentient being, and in particular for those who need the texts to be read, and also for numberless sentient beings who have a similar problem. You are reciting these texts to benefit them.

In the early morning do the motivation, The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment), then do Lama Chöpa, but for the actual practice you need a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation first, either Guhyasamaja, Heruka, Yamantaka or Kalachakra.

Also do Chenrezig practice. Soon I am going to produce a Chenrezig book on how to recite OM MANI PADME HUM, with different prayers every day and requests to Chenrezig. When it’s done you can follow that.

In order to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering quickly and bring them to enlightenment quickly, you need to achieve buddhahood in this lifetime, quickly, in one brief lifetime of degenerate time. Therefore, you need to take Highest Yoga Tantra initiation. Later you can take the initiation when the opportunity comes.

I checked for you and the deities you have the most connection with are Yamantaka and Most Secret Hayagriva. Of these two, your main deity is the one you have the strongest feeling for, the strongest connection with. You can practice every day and of course you can take both initiations and do retreat, but the main retreat is the deity you feel closest to and have the strongest feeling for.

Later you can check again if you want to do more practices or preliminary practices. At that time you can send me what [advice] I have sent already, and then I will know what I have to tell you. This should be in a few years, if you get better and have the wish to do more.

The morning motivation [Method to Transform] is like the water for all the food, so you need to do that when you get up in the morning.

You also need to wear two protections:

  • Namgyalma protection and
  • Celestial Mansion protection.

You should wear [these amulets] all the time, but take them off if you sleep on them. If they stay on top of your body it’s OK to leave them on, but if you roll on them and they go under your body then take them off at night and keep them next to you. Also take them off when you shower or swim, as they should not get wet.

It is very good for you to recite the Heart Sutra. When you recite this, do it mindfully, being mindful of the ultimate truth, because I, action, object, whole phenomena exist in mere name. That is how everything exists, but of course things don’t appear to us [like that.] From beginningless rebirth everything, including I, appears to exist from its own side, even very subtly. It appears that there is something from its own side, but in reality there is nothing, even the size of an atom.

On top of that we believe that this is correct, we are one hundred percent sure. This ignorance—believing this is most correct, believing one hundred percent this concept, relating to the I—is the root of all our suffering.

Why we have to die, why we have to be reborn, why we have to get old, why we have to be sick—all that is the suffering of pain. Now all the samsaric pleasures that human beings, as well as suras and asuras have, all these are the suffering of change. That’s why [samsaric pleasures] don’t last, they don’t continue, they cannot increase. However, Dharma happiness can increase when we achieve enlightenment. These two sufferings come from the third suffering, pervasive compounding suffering. The aggregates are in the nature of suffering, pervaded by suffering, because they are under the control of delusion and karma.

Often His Holiness the Dalai Lama says that these aggregates are the contaminated seed of delusion and karma. So when it meets the condition, from that seed, suffering and delusion arise again. From compounded suffering, then these aggregates come. From the imprint, the cause, delusion and karma [arise.] That is why we suffer; that is the main suffering. That is what Buddhists try to be free from, then we can be free forever from the suffering of pain and the suffering of change.

Generally, you should not believe paranoia. Don’t believe it immediately, otherwise if you do, it is very dangerous. It can lead you into danger and you can die or hurt yourself, or do anything. The spirits control your mind and let you think this; they give all sorts of information and make you think strange things. That is paranoia, like hearing sounds that general people in the world don’t know [or hear.] If you believe and follow this, then you may do all kinds of things.

For example, in Japan it has happened many times. In one example a person was standing [on the platform] and when the train came, a spirit told that person to push someone next to them in front of the train. So all kinds of things can happen. You hear all kinds of things. Anyway, generally regarding paranoia, you should check, don’t believe it immediately. Check if it is really happening or not, don’t just believe it. If you believe it then you become crazy.

Sometimes you hear the person that you want to see, that you have so much attachment to. You hear the voice of the person around, but actually they are not there. When you ask other people, they say that person never came around.

This is news for you, for the time being .

Most importantly, try to live your life as much as possible with bodhicitta in every action that you do.

With much love and prayers...

Mental Illness and the Chenrezig Mantra
Date of Advice:
January 2016
Date Posted:
December 2016

A student wrote that he had suffered from a torturing mental illness for eight years and he was unable to control his mind to think positively. He had seen doctors and counselors, but nothing had helped.

My most dear, most kind, most precious wish-fulfilling one,
I am very sorry you have this. I am also very sorry for the delay in replying to your email.

If you really want to listen to me, then do this attached practice every day. It shows the meaning of life and how to transform life—like iron into gold, like kaka into gold, like poison into medicine. This is the best medicine for the mind and through that, it cures all the physical problems. I am also doing some practices specifically for you.

Have you met Tibetan Buddhism? Are you familiar with it? I checked and you should recite the Compassion Buddha (Chenrezig) mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM. Here are some links that have some of the benefits of OM MANI PADME HUM. You can read the benefits.

I will be producing a book in English and Tibetan that has different prayers to recite every day to Chenrezig when you recite the mantra. You can get that when it is finished, but in the meantime, do this.

Reciting OM MANI PADME HUM purifies negative karma—all the obscurations—collected from beginningless rebirths. It is unbelievable. Even by reciting the mantra one time, a fully ordained monk who has broken the four root vows (to not have sexual intercourse, steal what belongs to others, kill a human being or tell lies that he has realizations while he doesn’t have them) is purified.

Just reciting OM MANI PADME HUM purifies the five heavy negative karmas (it saves from being born in the lower realms) of even having killed this life’s parents; caused blood to flow from a buddha; killed an arhat, who is free from samsara, who has removed the causes of samsara—delusion and karma; and caused disunity among the Sangha. If somebody commits all of these five heavy negative karmas without break (or even just one of these), the ripening of all other negative karmas gets delayed and then immediately, as soon as death happens, that person is reborn in the eighth hot hell of unbearable suffering. There, one’s body is in the shape of a rock, but on fire, and the only way you can tell it is a sentient being is by hearing the screaming. This heaviest suffering lasts one intermediate eon, but even if this world becomes empty there are numberless other universes and so there are other universes’ hell realms where you get reborn until the karma is finished. This gets purified not only by reciting this mantra, but even just by seeing the syllables OM MANI PADME HUM. It is so powerful. Wow, wow, wow!

The ten nonvirtuous actions are also easily  purified by reciting this mantra. That means we are unbelievably, most unbelievably fortunate to be able to recite OM MANI PADME HUM. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!

Even to recite it without bodhicitta, which is the purest motivation, the ultimate good heart, even without that, if you recite this mantra you collect unbelievable good luck, more than the drops of water in the Pacific Ocean. Good luck is something that comes from the mind. There is no good luck from the outside, existing without the mind, even though this is what normal people believe—that good luck is something that really exists by itself and does not comes from the mind, is not created by the mind. You collect merit, the cause of happiness and success, and not just the happiness of this life, but the happiness of future lives: good rebirth as a deva or human, or rebirth in a pure land. It is unbelievable, unbelievable! Also, ultimate happiness—total liberation from oceans of samsaric suffering and their causes. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!

This means forever, not just for a few days or a few years and then you come back to suffering realms, samsara. It’s not like that. Here you can achieve full enlightenment; it plants the seed of enlightenment.

Enlightenment is a word commonly used by Buddhist people and non-Buddhists as well. It means “buddhahood” or in Tibetan the word is sang-gye—the total cessation of all the gross and subtle obscurations and the completion of all the realizations. That means there is no suffering at all; so that’s the first thing you achieve.

You collect good luck and merit, more than the number of sand grains in the Pacific Ocean, more than the number of drops of water when there is rain.

If you recite OM MANI PADME HUM even one time with the purest motivation, the ultimate good heart, bodhicitta, the precious thought of enlightenment, the thought to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to full enlightenment—wishing to achieve buddhahood, the cessation of all the obscurations and the completion of all the realizations—oneself, you collect merit more than the sky. To recite one mala of OM MANI PADME HUM—wow, wow, wow! With each mantra you collect more merit than the sky! Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! You should feel so unbelievably lucky with the opportunity you have.

I want to send you a picture of Chenrezig so you can look at it when you recite the mantra. When you get the photo, if it has no brocade you can put two-colored yellow cloth around the borders and then frame it. The two-colored cloth is like offering a dress to the holy object. Also, it looks very beautiful.

Thank you very much, thank you so much. I think you should know that what you are experiencing is due to your past karma, having harmed others, and things like that. That is the main cause. There is an outside spirit influencing your mind, making you think this and that harms you. You don’t have to listen. Only listen to worthwhile things that don’t harm you and aren’t harmful to others. Only listen if what you are hearing is for the peace and happiness of others. You have to check whether it’s worthwhile or not. If it is harmful, then don’t do it, don’t trust it. You have to check. Otherwise, if you do whatever your mind thinks, then it can be very dangerous and you could commit suicide. Many people’s minds are influenced by spirits due to past negative karma done with delusion—ignorance, anger, attachment and so forth.

The very wrong concept, ignorance—holding the “I” as truly existent, existing from its own side, or existing by nature, or, in ordinary language, as “real,” as it appears—is a total hallucination. It is not that there is no I there. There is I, but it is on the merely labeled valid aggregates, which are the basis to be labeled I. I is what is merely labeled by the valid mind, relating to the aggregates. That’s all; that’s reality. But for us ordinary people who haven’t developed the mind in shunyata, emptiness, it looks like this I really exists. It exists in mere name; it’s so subtle, like it doesn’t exist for our mind. The I is a total hallucination, like a dream, it never exists anywhere, even for one second since beginningless time as it has never been real. When this hallucination appears, we believe it really exists and that’s why hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, asuras and suras suffer in the six realms of samsara.

Thank you very much. I’m happy you sent what you think and told me the difficulties you have, as it gives me a chance to be able to talk to you.

Thank you very much.

With much love and prayers...

Heavy Obstacles
Date of Advice:
January 2012
Date Posted:
January 2014

A student was experiencing many obstacles, severe anxiety and fear. His medications included anti-depressants, mood stabilizers, tranquillizers, stimulants for ADHD and anti-psychotics. Rinpoche checked and advised that it was important to do the following practices.

  • Diamond Cutter Sutra: recite this a minimum of one time
  • Sanghata Sutra: recite this a minimum of two times
  • Kangyur: to be recited five times at Kopan Monastery
  • Wrathful Fire Puja: to be done at Namgyal Monastery
  • Controlling Fire Puja: Lama Zopa Rinpoche will do this
Paranoia, Depression and Psychosis
Date Posted:
August 2012

A man suffering from a complex mental illness was being treated with medication and occasional hospitalization. He still had severe paranoia, depression and psychosis, and for the past two years he had believed that someone was going to kill him. He and his wife were tired, weak and scared.

Dear one,
Rinpoche spent a long time checking for your husband and this is what came out:

1) Do the wrathful puja throwing the torma of Most Secret Hayagriva. This is what came out most beneficial, but it is a very big puja that takes a few days to prepare and the puja is for a day or more. It is best if you are going to sponsor this puja, to combine it so the monks dedicate for others who are sick. Maybe there are others you know in a similar situation or having spirit harm, so please also include their names in the dedication. Can you please include one girl called ___. She is also in hospital and in a very difficult situation, similar to your husband. This puja needs to be done by Sera Je Monastery.

2) Releasing from the harm of naga and landlord (lü dang sa dag gi don drol). It comes out best for Geshe-la to do this puja for him.

3) Gyal der puja (puja of spirit king). This puja is not common in the Gelug tradition. Rinpoche will do this puja for him.

4) Your husband needs to take a long-life initiation. This could be requested from Geshe-la, but it means he would need to take Geshe-la as his guru, so that part is a personal decision.

5) Release 140 animals—you and your husband can do this yourselves

6) Nolsang incense puja (Padmasambhava incense puja). This is translated into English and it comes out best if you and your husband do this yourselves.

7) Make 150 long-life tsa tsas (the tsa tsa that has three long-life deities on one mold). You can do the small size. It comes out best for you and your husband to do this yourselves.

8) Long-life puja namgyal tse chog. Request Tsawa Khangsten to do this for your husband.

9) Lu zong puja. Request Geshe-la to do this puja for your husband.

So this is Rinpoche's advice for your husband. Let me know if you need any help on any of these.

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