Practices for Lung Cancer

Practices for Lung Cancer

Date of Advice:
September 2017
Date Posted:
December 2018

A student with lung cancer wrote to Rinpoche for advice. The prognosis was poor, with a small chance of survival.

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you very much your kind letter.

Even if you have a disease of the body, the most important thing is that your mind is OK. That is the most powerful and most important thing. If your mind is OK, that means you are practicing Dharma, it is the sign you are practicing Dharma. If you are not practicing Dharma, then your mind can be more painful than your physical body.

For your health, to help the sickness and for purification, you need to have the Prajnaparamita read—all three versions—the twelve volumes, the three volumes and the shortest is one volume. This needs to be read at Shelkar Monastery, a branch of Sera Mey Monastery in Nepal. This is most important for your healing and purification.

If this is difficult for you, due to the cost of sponsoring the reading, and if you can’t afford it, then you can recite the mantras from the Prajnaparamita. Recite these mantras quite a bit, or recite them every day if you can. But it’s best if you can sponsor the puja, if possible.

You need to recite Guhyasamaja root text. Unfortunately this is not translated yet, but if someone can at least do the phonetics, you could recite that. You need to recite it every day.  

You should do the short Medicine Buddha practice every day.

You need to receive the long-life initiation for Buddha Amitayus.  

During the long-life initiation, when the lama recites DZA HUM BAM HO this is absorbing Buddha Amitayus, so if this can be done five or ten times for you, then you receive that many number of initiations.

On the Tibetan 8th —you can check when that is—you need to have someone draw a White Tara thangka. The drawing of the body of White Tara has to be completely done in one day. You can check at your center, or outside the center, if there is someone who can draw White Tara on that day. Just roughly finish the body on that day. It also has to be consecrated by a geshe on the same day. That’s the practice. This is to be dedicated for your long life.

You should read my book How to Enjoy Death and my advice on Practicing the Five Powers Near the Time of Death, and practice that.

I am also making prayers for you.

With much love and prayers ...