My dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter, and I am very sorry for the delay in replying.

It came out beneficial in my observations for you to do Medicine Buddha puja for your son, for his future rebirth and for this life. During the puja, make strong prayers for him to actualize the Three Principal Aspects of the Path and the Two Stages. Make prayers that whenever death comes, that he be reborn in the pure land, where he can be enlightened or achieve a perfect human rebirth and then achieve enlightenment quickly.

Chant the Medicine Buddha mantra so that he can hear it. Also, if you can, recite Maitreya Buddha mantra, Namgyalma mantra, and the Celestial Mansion Extremely Secret Sublime Success Mantra, for actualizing supreme success. [Find links to these practices in the FPMT Catalogue.]

Also, chant OM MANI PADME HUM mantra. Don’t just chant the mantras once a day, but two, three, or four times a day. Each time chant them a few times. These mantras have benefits of never ever being reborn in the lower realms.

Then, there is another Buddha’s name that is very good for you to chant:

CHOM DÄN DÄ DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PÄI SAN GYÄ RINCHHEN TSUG TOR CHEN LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

(Translation: TO THE DESTROYER QUALIFIED GONE BEYOND, GONE AS IT IS, FOE DESTROYER PERFECT AND COMPLETE BUDDHA WITH THE JEWEL PINNACLE I PROSTRATE)

This is a very powerful mantra, and is the best one to be recited when a person is dying. It should be recited before the sense of hearing ceases and until it ceases. You can also recite it before then, I am just mentioning one of the benefits, but this is for you to recite each day so your son can hear it.

Also, try to get an audio tape or CD of the recitation of the Arya Sanghata Sutra and play it in the house, one, two, or three times, however many times you can, so that it purifies him just by his hearing it. It purifies the heavy negative karmas, the five uninterrupted negative karmas, which cause, without a break, for one to be reborn in the lowest hells, where the duration of the suffering is one intermediate eon. The five uninterrupted negative karmas are: having killed one’s father and mother, causing blood to flow from a Buddha, causing disunity in the Sangha, and killing an Arhat.

So, that is one method: to play the Arya Sanghata Sutra CD or tape. This not only helps and purifies your son and you, but anybody in the house – cats, dogs, anybody who hears it. You can get the CD from the shop at the Dharma center.

Also, if you can, chant the Three Principle Aspects of the Path, the Heart Sutra, the Foundation of All Good Qualities, and any of the short lam-rim prayers that contain the essence of the entire path and leave positive imprints in his mind and in the minds of those that hear them.

If you have holy objects, statues, stupas, and texts (such as lam-rim prayers, the Diamond Cutter Sutra, etc.) you can put them on a table, as many as possible, as well as tsa-tsas, and then take your son around them and let him circumambulate the table with all the holy objects on it. At the same time, chant mantras. If he can manage this, do it two or three times: in the morning after washing and before going to bed. Also, you and anyone else in the house can go around the table, and also the animals.

This is for purification. Then, depending on how many holy objects are on the table, they create that many causes for enlightenment, which means, that many causes for liberation and a good rebirth in the next life.

The other thing is to let him practice kindness, a good heart, tolerance, and contentment every day, in a skilful way. He can be content or rejoice at the good things that happen for others, practice forgiveness, compassion, being kind to others, etc. In this way, you are not just waiting for the next life to help him be a better person, you are able to make your son a good, kind, compassionate, and happier person in this life.

A mother praying for her child and a child praying for its mother is very powerful for success, to bring success. A disciple praying for his or her teacher and a teacher praying for the disciple is also very powerful. It is the same for roommates and people sharing the same household.

So, pray to Medicine Buddha, as I mentioned above, when you do the puja. It is very powerful for success.

Then, I have two protections that I have blessed, which I will mail to you, with some photos of Buddhas and other things that you can put on the table, or put so your son can see them. The protections are for your son to wear, you put them around his neck, but he has to take them off when he showers so they don’t get wet.

It is also very important for you not to think that your son’s sickness has been created by spirits. Spirits are not the creator of his problems or your problems. The creator of the problems is negative actions performed with ignorance, anger, attachment, and the self-cherishing thought. The result of this is problems such as schizophrenia, paranoid delusions, etc. The cause is the negative karma created. The spirit harm is the condition.

If one has not created the cause, then the spirit cannot harm you. If one has created negative karma, then the spirit can harm you. So, then one hallucinates, sees things or hears things, maybe even hears plants talking, or dogs and cats talking, also hears people saying bad things, etc. It is good to recognize that this is the result of one’s own negative karma, and to recognize the hallucination as a hallucination; this is extremely important. When one hears some voices, criticism, or whatever, then you don’t believe it. If you believe it, then it is a problem. Sometimes it can get very bad and makes the person want to commit suicide. The spirit can influence the person so that he or she jumps off a building. An example is thinking a person is talking badly about you. If you are able to check with the person to see if he or she is doing that, ask him or her, and find out that he or she is not actually doing this, then that can help you to see that maybe you cannot believe what your mind is saying. This then becomes a great protection. If you believe and follow what you are hearing, then that can become unbelievably dangerous, can cause harm to yourself, to your family, and other people.

There is one puja called lü dang sadag gi don drol. If you are able, ask the geshe to do this. This puja is for protection and to dispel spirit harm.

Also, if you can, recite Most Secret Hayagriva mantra.

I am also mailing you some blessed water from my recent retreat, so you can add this to a big bottle of water and your son can sip a little each day.

I am also making prayers for your son and your whole family.

With much love and prayers...