Thyroid Operation

Thyroid Operation

Date Posted:
November 2013

A student with hyperthyroidism (toxic multinodule) was advised by doctors to undergo surgery within three to four months, to remove the thyroid gland and attached goiter. He was overweight, diabetic and suffered from recurrent respiratory problems, so he was worried about the risks of the surgery. He asked Rinpoche if it was beneficial for him to have the operation, and for any further advice.

My very dear Tobias,
Thank you very much for your kind email. I am sorry it took time to reply. I checked regarding your question and for the operation to go well, you need to do:

  • Medicine Buddha puja: twice. Do this yourself; it can also be done with others.
  • Mamo trü-kang puja: five times. This puja needs to be done by the Kopan geshes and Lama Gyupas. I checked many monasteries about doing this puja, as it’s quite difficult and it was only the Kopan geshes and Lama Gyupas combined who came out best to do it. You can send an email to Kopan to arrange it and to find out the cost.

If you do these things beforehand, then it comes out that the operation will be very good.

My suggestion is for you to do a Vajrapani/Hayagriva/Garuda retreat if you can, with the practice and sadhana. Do this for one to two months, or at least for one month. If you can, take the eight Mahayana precepts every day during the retreat, with the motivation to liberate numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment, so take the precepts for that purpose. Also take the precepts with the motivation that you need to achieve enlightenment in order to be able to benefit all sentient beings. You need to collect merit and purify, so for that purpose you are taking the eight Mahayana precepts.

Also, take the eight Mahayana precepts especially to benefit this world, to pacify all the sufferings and all the problems, and to bring perfect peace and happiness to others; also for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and for all holy beings who benefit other beings; and for the success of all the FPMT projects— especially the Maitreya statue project—to be most beneficial for sentient beings; to cause all sentient beings to be free from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible.

Vajrapani/Hayagriva/Garuda (this is one deity): chant the mantra, and do every session with strong bodhicitta motivation, meditating on impermanence and death. In each session, recite different lam-rim prayers as your motivation, for example: The Three Principal Aspects of the Path, or Calling the Guru from Afar (short or long), or use the motivation from The Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun. This motivation covers the whole entire lam-rim, also tantra, so it is a very good one.

So like this, use different lam-rim prayers as your motivation, and do the sessions with strong bodhicitta. Then do the practice of Vajrapani/Hayagriva /Garuda and chant the mantra. If you can, recite the mantra 1,500,000 times [ie 15 x 100,000].

If you are working, you can still do retreat, for example, do a session in the morning and the evening, but it will take longer. If you have not receive the jenang, then maybe you can ask Geshe-la if he has it, but I think you may have received this jenang.

If you do this retreat, maybe you won't need the operation at all. If you do the retreat well, maybe go to the doctor again for a checkup, just to see if you need the operation or not.

With much love and prayers...