One student cured her severe arthritis by drinking her own urine.
Arthritis
Arthritis
Date of Advice:
January 2017
Date Posted:
April 2024
Rinpoche asked for this treatment for severe arthritis to be posted in the Online Advice Book.
Date Posted:
October 2011
Rinpoche gave the following advice to a student with severe arthritis.
My dear one,
I have done quite a bit of checking and this is what you need to focus on for now:
- Recite the Heart Sutra five times every day
- Recite the prayer that comes after the Heart Sutra five times every day
Also do the following pujas:
- Chag sum: three times
- Lu zong: five times
- Incense Puja: nine times
Date Posted:
August 2011
A student ;had started menopause and developed arthritis in her back, which produced neuralgia in her arms and legs. The pain was very strong and difficult for her to bear, and doctors advised that she could either have surgery or live with the pain. The student asked Rinpoche what she could do to live with the suffering, and if there were any practices or any other solution to help reduce the pain.
My dear one,
Sorry for the delay. Rinpoche was only able to check last night regarding your letter, and he said it is better not to have the operation.
It would be good to listen to or recite the sutra Entering the Great City of Vaishali.*
You need to do a puja called che trul. Rinpoche said to request Dagyab Rinpoche, who is based in Germany, to do it.
You should also do this practice: the Mantra of Thirteen Chakras.
[*You can find the audio for this sutra on the MP3 file Recitations for Alleviating Pain. Go to the FPMT Catalogue and scroll down to Audio Materials, then click on “Sadhanas, Prayers and Practices.” To find the PDF file go to "Sutras and Dharanis" in the PDFs and Ebooks section of the FPMT Catalogue.]
Date Posted:
August 2009
A student with very bad arthritis wrote to Rinpoche asking what practices to do to help his condition.
Initial Advice for Long Life and Dispelling Life Obstacles
- Take a Long Life Initiation this year.
- Have the puja ‘Betraying the Death’ performed – this is a method to promote a long life.
- Make 50 long-life tsa-tsas (or ask the nuns in Aptos to make them on your behalf).
- Read the Long-life Sutra 100 times.
Advice for Reading the Long-life Sutra
You don’t need to read the evolution part of the sutra every time or the benefits. Read the whole sutra once and then recite the mantras for the subsequent readings. After some time, read the whole sutra again to refresh it in your mind and to rejoice in the benefits of being so fortunate to read it.
When reading visualize that Buddha Amitayus is granting you the mantra and that long life nectar flows from Buddha Amitayus and enters into your crown, purifying your delusions and karma, causes of death, obstacles to life, an untimely death, etc. Visualize your whole body filled with nectar and that you receive a perfect understanding of omniscience, compassion, and immortal realizations.
In your heart visualize a moon disc and Chenrezig or White Tara on the disc. There is a lotus and a BRUM syllable.
Then, visualize all your gurus there and other holy beings who are in this world only to benefit others, and that they all receive the nectar also.
Visualize all the Sangha also, and down below them your family members and all the people who do good things for others. All these also receive nectar. So, this practice is not only done for yourself but for others.
Before practicing, generate the attitude of bodhicitta: that the purpose of your life is to benefit others and that you should benefit all the other numberless sentient beings.
Generate the attitude that you need a long life in order to benefit others, to do service in the teachings of the Buddha.
Advice for Healing
- Take one of Geshe Lama Konchog’s Inner Offering pills every day for four months.
- Take two of Lama Yeshe’s Hayagriva Pills – break each pill into eight portions, as they are now very rare. Take these with water.
- Recite the Vajra Claw Sutra three times every day. Leave out the beginning part and the benefits – recite the mantras and prayers every day until your arthritis is better. Do this for four months. This will be very beneficial for you. Remember, Western medicine cannot see everything e.g spirit harm and karma.
- Recite half a mala of Black Garuda mantra for one week. Take the initiation first.
Purification also seems to be important; in particular, recite Vajrasattva mantra.
Advice for Following Your Dharma Path and Not Doing What Your Family Expects
(The student’s family did not know he was a Buddhist)
It’s important to tell your family that you are happy. See that your service is also a preliminary practice.
Date Posted:
January 2006
Rinpoche gave the following advice to someone suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.
My very dear Helen,
I am very sorry to hear about your unbearable pain. I think it must be some very heavy karma created in the past, which would have made you be reborn in the hell realms. You would have had to experience many lifetimes of suffering, because karma is expandable, but instead you are experiencing the karma in this life. So, this karma is finishing in this life, so that it is easy for you to go to the pure land when you die, and be quickly free from samsara. Even though it may be unbearable now, it is good to rejoice that it is finishing in this life, making it very easy in your next life.
According to my observations, it would be very bad to take the medicine you asked about. From my observations, this is what I advise you to do:
- Eat chu len pills twice a day for three weeks.
- If the doctor suggests you take painkillers you should take them, so your pain is less.
- Take kurkyen pills five times a day for four weeks.
There is a Tibetan doctor you should see if you can. I will give you his name. I also have a student who is a healer who you should see. I will give you her details.
Then, there is a puja that you need to have done: Che-trul (liberating from harm). You can ask the geshe at your Dharma center to do this for you.
I need to send you a protection to wear called the six-syllable protection.
With much love and prayers,
Lama Zopa
PS. Think that whatever you are experiencing is for the sake of all sentient beings, on their behalf. There are so many sentient beings who are experiencing some sickness now, and will be experiencing it in the future, as well as all the other sufferings.
Also, a Rinpoche I know recently took the aspect of having cancer. He had all the chemotherapy treatment, but when I saw him recently he said that even though he had all the treatments, the ultimate one, the one that had such a miraculous result, was tong-len practice. This Rinpoche has the aspect of old age, and usually it would be very difficult for him to recover as well as he has. He said the heart practice is tong-len.
Since the “I” that exists is merely imputed, there is nothing to cherish, nothing to cling to. Goodbye to depression, worries, and fears.
Date Posted:
October 2005
Rinpoche gave the following remedy for arthritis.
Taking cod liver oil two or three times every day cures arthritis. Swimming also helps.
