My dear one,
I heard this morning that you got COVID-19, so you should think, wow, you found a wish-granting jewel. Diamonds and gold, or even skies of gold and diamonds are nothing; a wish-granting jewel is more precious than that. And not just one but filling the sky. Getting COVID is more precious than a wish-granting jewel. 

Even if we have skies of wish-granting jewels that doesn’t stop our rebirth in the lower realms. It doesn’t stop rebirth in samsara; we cannot be free from samsara; we cannot be free from lower nirvana; that alone can’t bring us to enlightenment. So it is nothing. 

But COVID destroys the self-cherishing thought. Then it becomes possible to generate bodhicitta, then you can become free from samsara, free from lower realms. That is the main cause for you to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings, then you can liberate the numberless sentient beings from the lower realms, from samsara, from lower nirvana, and you can bring all the sentient beings to enlightenment. It’s unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, what COVID does for you, the benefit that you get from COVID. So with bodhicitta, you should feel unbelievable great, great, great happiness to have COVID. 

Why? Because you can experience all sentient beings’ COVID now. You can experience and dedicate it; you can experience all the sentient beings’ COVID—the numberless human beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless suras and numberless asuras in different universes. You can experience all the numberless sentient beings’ COVID and you can dedicate [for them.] You can experience all the sentient beings’ COVID, all their suffering and its causes, their negative karma and defilements, then you can let the sentient beings achieve enlightenment. 

The great Kagyu lama Choje Gotsangpa advised this, 

By my experiencing this sickness, 
May sentient beings be free from all the sufferings of samsara and its causes. 
May they be free from all sickness, negative karma and defilements, 
And may they become enlightened. 

You can recite this prayer like a mantra, like OM MANI PADME HUM. Reciting this prayer is incredibly precious. Because of this, you can take all the sentient beings’ COVID. It’s so, so precious. 

All the sufferings came from the self-cherishing thought; they are given to us by the self-cherishing thought, which has caused us to suffer from beginningless rebirths. Like that, not only in the past, it harms us now and in the future, continuously, as long as we follow that self-cherishing thought. Not only that, it is just for ourselves, nothing. 

Now, with the self-cherishing thought we have been harming the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, suras and asura beings. They have had to suffer from beginningless rebirths up to now. So much suffering. Then again in the future, they suffer due to self-cherishing thought. Therefore, the self-cherishing thought is our main enemy, the worst enemy in the world, in our life. And not only for us, it is also most harmful for numberless sentient beings, who have already been harmed from beginningless rebirths, now and in the future. So it is the worst enemy. 

Therefore, COVID is so important. You give COVID to the self-cherishing thought. It is given to you by the self-cherishing thought, and now you give it back. You experience all the sentient beings’ COVID; you give it back to the self-cherishing thought and the self-cherishing thought is eliminated. Every time the self-cherishing thought is destroyed, eliminated, then with that, the root of your samsara, the oceans of suffering, ignorance, holding the I as a real, [is eliminated.] The I that appears as real, truly existing, a real one from there, the mind holding onto that, looking at that as real, true, that is timug denzin marigpa. Same thing, the aggregates appear real from there [from their own side], then holding that as true, that is ignorance, so all that is eliminated. It’s eliminated because the I, the real I appearing there is not there at all. What appears from there is not there at all, so you see it’s totally empty. So stay there for a little while, then you do giving, but mostly you spend time taking. That is great, great. 

When you do tonglen, each time you take sentient beings’ suffering and each time you give away your body, possessions and merits to numberless sentient beings, then you become closer to enlightenment. You collect more than skies of merits each time and you become closer and closer to enlightenment. 

You got COVID, therefore you are so lucky, so fortunate. You should think that way and rejoice. “Oh, I got COVID, woah.” Rejoice. It is so good. Even if you die, by experiencing COVID for sentient beings, by experiencing COVID with bodhicitta, then you won’t go to the lower realms. 

Actually, bodhisattvas prefer to be reborn in the lower realms, in the hell realms, for the sake of even one sentient being, in order to liberate them from samsara, from the lower realms. They pray to be born in hell for even one sentient being, to liberate them from there; that is their great wish, stronger than even the arhats, who like the blissful state of peace for themselves. Do you understand? 

So you see, by experiencing this sickness for sentient beings, that is the power of a good heart. Then you will never be reborn in the lower realms, like Kadampa Geshe Chekawa. He always prayed to be born in the lower realms, but the day he was going to die, the appearance of the pure land happened right away around him, so he told his attendant that he didn’t succeed, so now make offerings. Understand that you are so lucky and rejoice. 

Thank you very much. I’m giving an example, but like that you should think similarly for all the obstacles. Thank you very much. 

With much love and prayers ...