A student wrote about her teenage son who was experiencing negative thoughts, disturbed sleep, anxiety and depression. The family was working with a psychologist and psychiatrist, but the boy’s condition was deteriorating.
Rinpoche advised the following:
Rinpoche gave this advice to the parent of a child who showed signs of liver damage.
My very dear one,
I am sorry it took a long time to reply. I checked and according to my observation both your children should take precious pills [Tibetan medicine].
The pills should not be exposed to the light, so that means they should be opened either in the dark or under a cloth. The pills come wrapped in a cloth, so another way of taking them is to put the pill straight into one's mouth after cutting through the cloth, to avoid exposing the pill to light. Bite the pill and swallow it with warm water. As your children are young and the pills are hard, you can crush them, but do that in darkness.
Then for the next seven months, do the middle-length Medicine Buddha puja each month. This can be dedicated strongly for you and your children. The main thing is for purification, not only disease, spirit harm, negative karma and defilements. Most importantly, it’s so we don’t have to be reborn in the lower realms, but have a high rebirth, meet the Dharma and achieve enlightenment. Doing Medicine Buddha practice is extremely good for all of you.
Also you should read Liberation in the Palm of your Hand, by Pabongka Rinpoche. Study it from beginning to end by reading it mindfully. This becomes a kind of meditation, especially relating it to your own life. Anything you don’t understand, you can write down the questions in another book and discuss with someone who has studied lamrim and philosophy extremely well, or you can send your questions to me. If I know I can try to answer, but it may take a long time.
This is so important, more important than anything else in your life.
With much love and prayers ...
A student wrote that she was six months pregnant, however, at a recent checkup her baby was found to have a rare developmental abnormality. There are only fifty cases of this condition worldwide. The student asked Rinpoche if any prayers could be done to help the unborn baby.
My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
For children who have problems, there is a text/puja that comes out. It is called the Dharani for Pacifying the Fifteen Great Spirits that Possess Children (Tib: byis pa'i gdon chen bco lnga zhi bar byed pa'i gzungs).1 This needs to be read thirty-five times.
White Umbrella Deity prayer: to be recited one thousand times. The people at the center can gather together and recite this. Also, you can ask Ganden Shartse Monastery to recite the White Umbrella Deity prayer. That is a quick way to complete [the recitations] and also center people can recite it.
The nuns from Tsum can recite the Vajrasattva long mantra 1,300 times. Send them your name and advise the baby’s situation, what you told me. In order to purify the baby’s negative karma, they should strongly think and visualize Vajrasattva above the crown and in the heart, a lotus and moon disc, and all sentient beings and in particular the mother and baby. Nectar comes from Vajrasattva and purifies all sentient beings and in particular the mother and baby, so all the negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths and all the problems for a healthy body and healthy mind are totally purified, and they have a meaningful life by generating bodhicitta.
All the people at the center should do the same thing: reciting the Vajrasattva long mantra 1,300 times and also doing Vajrasattva tsog.
Geshe-la can recite the Prajnaparamita mantra one thousand times. It might be found in zungdu [Collection of Dharani, a text in the Kangyur]. There is the mantra of the twelve volume collection, the mantra of the three volume collection and the mantra of [one volume.]2 This is for the baby to not have physical and mental health problems and to have a meaningful life by generating bodhicitta.
When parents pray for their child it is very powerful because of the blood lineage and also when children pray for their parents it is very powerful because of the blood lineage. When the guru prays for the students it is very powerful and when students pray for the guru it is very powerful. Also, when those sharing the same house and material connection pray for each other it is more powerful. This is mentioned in the text.
Therefore, you (the mother) can pray for your baby to not have physical and mental health problems and to be healthy; to have a meaningful life by generating bodhicitta; to be free from samsara and to achieve buddhahood as quickly as possible. Pray like that.
1 A copy of the Tibetan text can be accessed as a PDF here. [Return to text]
2 The three Prajnaparamita texts are: the Prajnaparamita of 100,000 verses (Tib: bum; Wyl: 'bum), collected in twelve volumes; the Prajnaparamita in 25,000 verses (Tib: nyitri; Wyl: nyi khri), collected in three volumes, and the Prajnaparamita in 8,000 verses (Tib: gyetongpa; Wyl: brgyad stong pa), in one volume. Each of these three collections has a different mantra, according to the Collection of Dharani (Tib: zungdu; Wyl: gzungs bsdus). Click on the following links to access these three mantras in English and in Tibetan. [Return to text]
A student’s 14-year-old daughter had a potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmia that had been operated on twice, without success. A third operation was scheduled to try to treat the arrhythmia. A geshe had already advised the student to recite Green Tara mantras and to have Medicine Buddha pujas done at Nalanda and in Nepal. Rinpoche gave the following advice after a lot of checking.
A student wrote to Rinpoche explaining that her one-year-old child was not growing normally. Her letter and his response are below.
Student: Please grant me your blessings and advice on the matter of my small child. James, our second child, was born in 2005 (soon to be two years old). At that time everything was normal: weight, height, and all other standard parameters doctors look at. During the first six months he progressed OK, with no special events.
Several more months afterward we realized his progress almost stopped. During the second half of his first year he gained very little weight, height, etc. At about one year old, we were able to put him under the examination and observation of a special hospital for children. They did many tests and examined him for every fault they were able to think of. They categorized him as FTT = Failure to Thrive (a common category). This means there is a problem, but many times they don't know what it is.
Soon it will be one year since he had their tests, and so far there are no findings whatsoever. During this last year he did begin to gain some weight, at a slow pace – a few hundred grams every month, which made the doctors somewhat happy. However, during the last two months he gained no weight at all. He now weighs 8.5kg, which is the average weight of a one year old. His physical size is also of a one year old.
My very dear Lucy,
I checked and this is what came out best for James:
1. 100 Medicine Buddha pujas. It is best is if you can do them, also you can invite friends to join in. You can do these over a period of time.
2. Ask Sera Mey Monastery in South India to do the extensive long Medicine Buddha puja once. You need to make an offering for tea and bread for the monks who do the puja and, if you can, also a small money offering for the monks. I can give you their email address. If it’s difficult or you don’t hear from them, we can organize it, but maybe you try first. It is important to give your son’s name and specify you want the extensive Medicine Buddha puja.
3. Recite the long mantra of Medicine Buddha to purify James, to purify past negative karma, but also dedicate this for all sentient beings to be liberated from the lower realms, which has so much suffering.
I am also making prayers for James, and I asked the Sangha in my house to dedicate practices to him.
With much love and prayers...
A student’s 12-year-old son has type 1 diabetes and receives two shots a day of insulin. His parents asked advice as to what they could do for him.
My very dear Nick and Louise,
Thank you very much for your kind email, I am sorry for the long delay in replying. According to my divinations it would be best for your son to take Tibetan medicine and to see a Tibetan doctor.
I have found that the most effective thing to do for diabetes is circumambulating stupas and holy objects. You can set up a table with holy objects the same way as when you perform animal liberations, and then circumambulate it. Set up a large table full of holy objects, statues, stupas, scriptures, pictures of Buddha, etc. It is most important that the stupas have the four powerful mantras inside (like the stupas we make in my house). If you do not have any stupas that have the four powerful mantras inside you can ask my attendant to send you some. Then, your son and the whole family should circumambulate the objects as much as you can. The best would be five hours a day, but if that is not possible, then as much as he can. He doesn't have to constantly circumambulate it, he can have many breaks.
I am also making prayers for your son. Please make your life most meaningful with the thought of bodhicitta.
With much love and prayers...
