Naga King Retreat

Naga King Retreat

Date Posted:
November 2013

Rinpoche recommended the Naga King sadhana and mantra to a student with cancer.

The Naga King, one of the Thirty-five Buddhas.

Dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. You should do retreat on the Naga King [Skt: Naga Raja; Tib: lu wang gi gyäl po]. The sadhana was translated during the first Dharma Celebration by Ven. Jampa Chokyi, the Spanish nun. Do retreat on this sadhana and recite the mantra at least 60,000 times by doing sessions. Also, during the retreat take the eight Mahayana precepts every day or every other day if you can.

Then, do Vajrayogini self-initiation if you can. You can abbreviate the practice by doing the blessing of the mandala and leaving out the part with the extensive offerings and the long praises. You can just do the mantra part, which will make it short. Do Vajrayogini self-initiation daily if you can. This is the best thing, the ultimate solution. If you are living, this is the best thing to do, and if you are going to die, it is the best way to prepare for death, in order to stop rebirth in the lower realms and go to a pure realm.

Even though you are doing practices for healing, it is good in every hour of every day to think, “I am going to die.” These practices purify even very heavy karmas, including those that definitely cause us to experience the result of suffering in this life. These practices also purify degenerated vows.

It is said that even reciting the name and mantra of this buddha, the Naga King, only twenty-one times, purifies the heavy negative karmas and experiences in this life. Also, you will not receive harm from nagas and landlord spirits, you won’t receive dangerous sicknesses, or hindrances from burglaries or thefts, and you will receive great wealth. Even paralysis can be cured by reciting this mantra 100,000 times.

In the past, this Naga King created so much benefit for the nagas. He freed them from many sicknesses, then he dedicated these truths. He said, “May anybody who recites my name be free from sicknesses caused by nagas.” This includes cancer. That’s one of the external conditions that has not yet been discovered by Western medical science, without even mentioning the main causes, delusion and karma, which are the real causes of cancer.

So if you do this practice, you can use the recitation of this name and mantra to heal other people with cancer or leprosy, especially sicknesses caused by nagas. You can recite the name and mantra as you pray to this buddha to immediately cure other people from sickness. All this benefit is due to the truth of this buddha and the way he benefited other nagas.

If you can, arrange to sponsor a 100,000 offering Namgyalma puja. Discuss this with Geshe-la, and he can do a mo to see which khang tsen [monastic house] is best. If you are not able to sponsor the puja at a big monastery, it can be done by a smaller group of monks. Also you should do meditation and recitation of the long-life deities, White Tara or Namgyalma, both of which are very important practices for people with life obstacles who are experiencing the danger of imminent death. Also, ask Geshe-la to do the puja of hooking the life, called la küg tse küg in Tibetan. You should do the practice and retreat of the Naga King immediately.

You should know that this sickness means a challenge for your mind to do strong practice, especially with bodhicitta. So, as you are experiencing this sickness with compassion and bodhicitta toward all sentient beings, it becomes the quickest path for you to reach enlightenment. I will pray for you.

With much love and prayer...

[See also The benefits of the Naga King mantra for more advice and for the mantra.]