Mantras Against Paralysis, Pollution, Black Magic and Spirit Harm

By Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Advice and mantras offered by Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche for healing and protection from paralysis, pollution, black magic and spirit harm.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at the Light of the Path retreat, North Carolina, USA, May 2014. Photo: Roy Harvey.
OM SAWATI CHOM DÄN DÄ WO SER GYÄN KYI GYÄL PO DRI MÄ DA WAI DROL MA LA CHHAG TSHAL LO
OM TONBOLLI TONBOLLI PHIG TÜM MI SHIG SÖ SVAHA
OM TONBOLLI TONBOLLI SUR SUR ME ME SHIG SHIG SVAHA1 

If these mantras are recited 21 times every day, without missing any, you won’t experience paralysis. This is promised by Drontönpa, the originator of the Kadampa teachings, who is an embodiment of Chenrezig. It is taught by Rading Trichen Dorje Chang, who is the holder of Drontönpa’s throne (the regent after the 13th Dalai Lama, from Sera Je, now in Tibet). This is very important. It could help with epilepsy too.

When Lama Yeshe was paralyzed, Zong Rinpoche gave him this mantra. We used to recite it together with Lama, and Lama’s paralysis got better. If you experience paralysis once, and you say this mantra seven times, you will never experience paralysis again. If you experience paralysis three or four times, it gets more and more difficult to cure. The mantra should be recited by the patient, not on his or her behalf. If it is difficult for the patient to recite, one can assist.

Also, you can visualize yourself as the deity and massage the patient, with meditation. There are many other ways to be of benefit, such as washing the patient while practicing. Lama Yeshe asked me to wash him. This is done by blessing water in a vase with Dorje Namjom, the deity that particularly manifested to purify pollutions2  then washing the patient with that water. This is also to purify general defilements and negative karma and all harm from black magic, spirits, etc. The way of blessing is similar to the usual blessing of the vase that comes in other practices. You can visualize the deity in the vase, seated on a lotus and moon disc, or sun and moon discs, depending on the deity. Visualize the mantra at the heart of the deity. From all the Buddhas, beams of nectar are emitted and absorbed into the heart of the deity, like a rain shower. Then, from the mantra, nectar flows out and fills the vase. Then recite the mantra 21 times, or one, two, or more malas, depending on how powerful you want to make it.

Make a strong request to the deity to bless and to purify everything, all the defilements and negative karma, all the different types of sickness, particularly the sickness of this patient, whether from black magic, spirit harm, or whatever. The deity then absorbs into the water. Every single drop of water becomes powerful, immediately able to cure everything. Pour this water on the person’s body.

Chant the mantra, then do the meditation to purify all the delusions and negative karma, then the sickness, black magic, or spirit harm, and immediately the sickness is purified. Do strong meditation. All the delusions and negative karma come out of the person’s body in the form of dark dirty liquid; all the sicknesses come out in the form of pus and blood; all the spirit harms come out in the form of snakes, frogs, scorpions, and so forth, maybe huge crocodiles. It is most important to generate strong faith when doing this practice.

There was one student who was an acupuncturist and he had a patient who was paralyzed. When he massaged her, he recited the above mantras, generating himself as the deity, and she moved. The reason she moved was because he had good samaya. Also, when you pray to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, then with good samaya, your request, your actions, have more power.

Here is another mantra:

OM CHITTA HUM PHAT SVAHA / OM SHRI MATI ASUR SVAHA

This mantra is mentioned in Gyalwa Ensawa’s collection of teachings. If you recite this mantra many times every day, you won’t get upper spirit possession or harm, such as epilepsy or paralysis. Upper spirit possession is from spirits such as day or stars, in Tibetan gyu kar; the middle spirit king is called zen, which stays usually in rocky mountains or sometimes red rocks; lower spirits dwell in water or earth, such as nagas or landlords. Usually, when a person becomes sick or crazy, spirit harm is the condition, based on karma, even for heart attacks and so forth.

OM AH HRIH SImhANADA HUM PHAT

This is the mantra “Exalted Chenrezig Lion's Roar,” (Skt: Arya Avalokiteshvara Simhanada). It is mentioned in the Tantra of Chenrezig Lotus with Tra wa. (Tra wa is something that Vajrayogini and other deities have). The mantra purifies negative karma and pacifies naga harm, heart disease, and so forth. If people have heart problems they can recite this mantra.

If you recite this mantra while circumambulating holy objects such as stupas, statues, temples, or Buddha’s teachings, etc., degenerated morality is restored and the negative karma of vices is purified.

Heart of Dependent Arising Mantra
OM YE DHARMA HETU PRABHAVA HETUN TESHAN TATHAGATO HYAVADAT TESHAN CHAYO NIRODHA EVAM VADI MAHA SHRAMANA YE SVAHA

If one doesn’t have the karma to realize emptiness in this life, the method to realize emptiness in future lives is to fill a stupa with the Heart of Dependent Arising mantra, then circumambulate the stupa reciting the Heart of Dependent Arising mantra, and make prayers. This will help to realize emptiness.

The reference here is a teaching in a text composed by King Zasa called Gyuthrul Namkö:

Whoever collects just this mere cause, it is said in tantra if you write the ultimate nature, dependent arising, you will realize the meaning of ultimate nature.

Stupas are made for different purposes. If it is for you or another person’s purification, or for somebody who passed away to have a good rebirth, you fill the stupa with the mantras of the five deities who mainly purify defilements and negative karma. If you are building the stupa for long life, if somebody is very sick, or it is for the guru, you fill it mostly with long life mantras. Similarly, if it is for wealth, you should put more mantras for success. If it is for wisdom, put more mantras for wisdom. To realize emptiness, you put in many Heart of Dependent Arising mantras, then circumambulate the stupa while reciting the mantra.

Benefits of Black Manjushri Mantra

Reciting Black Manjushri mantra protects you from black magic, sickness, spirit harm, defilements, negative karma, pollution, impurities, and much other harm. It increases the temporal and ultimate collections of goodness.

There is a mantra to recite when going to bed to be able to meditate on emptiness with the clear light. Recite this mantra after you lie down:

OM TRA SÖ CHU SÖ TUR TA SÖ TUR MI SÖ NYING GO LA CHÖ KHA LA JAH KAM SHAM TRAM BÄ PHAT SVAHA

Notes

1 Zong Rinpoche, only, mentioned this mantra. [Return to text]

2 Dorje Namjom is a deity for purifying pollution of people, houses, monasteries, areas, cities, and negative thoughts and immoral actions, as well as broken or degenerated samayas, and heavy negative karma that pollutes a place, a whole area, and then makes many people get sick, with contagious diseases.

For example, in Tibet, during King Trisong Detsen’s time, his wife had an affair with a servant and got pregnant. She asked a servant to bury the baby in a field. Due to this sexual misconduct she got sick and the king got sick, had a cloudy mind, and was not healthy. The King checked with astrologers and oracles, and they all said it was caused by pollution, but they didn't know where it came from.

Then the wife met Padmasambhava and explained what she had done. She was very worried that the king would punish her, so Padmasambhava used a method to help this situation without the king punishing her. Padmasambhava taught the King the method for purifying the pollution in the place. It had caused many people to get sick in the area.

In the early morning, behind a mountain at Samye (the first monastery in Tibet), Padmasambhava asked the king to collect many plants that nagas and devas like. Padmasambhava then performed an incense puja, and after this the Queen and the King became healthy. All the people in the area also got better. The incense puja cured all the people.

So, that gives an idea how pollution comes from the negative mind and negative actions. This kind of pollution is not known in the west because there isn’t complete knowledge about the mind and how a negative mind can affect the environment.

Also, meditators doing serious meditation, one-pointed concentration, or maybe even lam-rim meditation, from having a very clear mind or clear visualization, suddenly find their mind is not clear. By meeting somebody or accepting food from somebody, their visualization becomes unclear, unstable, or sleepy. Only serious meditators would have this experience of the quality of visualization getting worse and becoming unstable; or an experience such as strong compassion or guru devotion, that you had previously, decreasing.

As I mentioned, the heaviest pollution is from someone who criticized or gave up the same guru. It affects things by being in the same area, no question if it is the same room, even monastery or meditation center. The Fifth Dalai Lama mentioned that physically being with and participating in things, or sharing enjoyments with such a person, makes one lose realizations and be born in the lower realms; therefore, there is no question that it causes the quality of meditation to degenerate, and some experience one has developed over years of practice to be lost. For example, maybe in retreat, you have established happiness in your heart through the practice, then one day a student you have a connection with comes and says something negative. Due to the degenerated samaya, the effect is suddenly gone, and the happiness you have developed in your heart during those past weeks in retreat is suddenly gone.

Also, from one’s own side it is the same. The heaviest negativity is anger arising towards the guru; other broken samayas also can affect the quality of meditation. One’s own negative thoughts and actions affect your meditation and experience of the Dharma, devotion, renunciation, or compassion, maybe even the experience of emptiness. It gets better, you are experiencing some clarity, then it becomes unclear. So, there is personal pollution and pollution received from other people, or from food and clothing given by that person’s hand, which carries pollution.

One Western monk was telling me that normally he is OK, his mind has bodhicitta, keeping a good heart and virtue, but sometimes it degenerates, and he doesn’t know why. If there had been time I would have explained this to him, using an explanation from Pabongka Rinpoche about the practice of shi.ne, and adding various other things that can happen. I was going to send a reply saying, “Depending on what kind of people you have met it is not certain if it is others’ pollution or your own mistake, especially with the guru. Criticizing the guru, or breaking Pratimoksha vows etc., bring degeneration and unclear meditation.”

Of course all this is very much unknown in Western culture, how positive and negative minds affect the environment. For example, if you are sitting next to a bodhisattva, suddenly your mind is blessed and you naturally feel more compassion. You have a very peaceful mind and it is very easy to think of Dharma; your mind becomes virtuous. This can happen even from sitting next to someone who has very pure morality, but especially bodhicitta. It is like the example of St. Francis and the wolf. The wolf had harmed so many people and St. Francis said he would go into the forest to talk to the wolf. The brothers warned him not to go, as the wolf would harm him. He went anyway and met the wolf who, when he saw St. Francis, became like a pet dog, licking his feet and lowering his back to the ground as dogs do. St. Francis told the wolf, “I will give you food so you don’t harm others.” After that, the wolf stopped harming people; the wolf was influenced by St. Francis’s bodhicitta. Even the mad elephant that was sent by Devadatta to harm Buddha was immediately tamed when it met Buddha. Buddha didn’t have to hit it with an iron hook, just being in front of the Buddha the elephant became so humble; it was the effect of Buddha’s bodhicitta. It is the same as when Buddha was about to achieve enlightenment. The day before, at dusk, millions of maras had tried unsuccessfully to attack Buddha. Buddha defeated them with no weapons at all except loving kindness.

There was one abbot of Sera Je, Lobsang Wangchuk, the most learned monk in the three major monastic universities of Sera, Drepung, and Ganden. He was an abbot in Tibet and again in Buxa, where 1500 monks who didn’t want to work were continuing their studies after fleeing Tibet. It was a very hot, unhealthy place and many monks passed away, mostly from TB; a few went crazy. The problem was that the monks continued their Tibetan diet, as nobody had advised them to change to an Indian diet that was more suitable for the climate.

The abbot, Lobsang Wangchuk, had a cat. Normally, the cat would kill mice, but after living with the abbot for some time, the cat never jumped on the mice that ran through the room; it would humbly stay next to the abbot. This shows even animals change. There are many stories like this, showing the positive effect of bodhicitta, for example, no mosquitoes could bite His Holiness Zong Rinpoche.

Some bodhisattvas were able to command rivers to stop flowing when they wanted to cross. In Assisi, where St. Francis’s holy body was kept, and where the body of the first of his 300 nun students can still be viewed in its preserved state, his students complained about the noise of a nearby stream so St. Francis requested: “Sister, my students can’t meditate with your noise, so please stop,” and the water immediately stopped and never came back. This shows the power of bodhicitta even over inanimate objects like the elements. Similarly, there is a story in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand about one great lama in Tibet, Je Moenlam Paelwa, who stayed in Tashi Lhunpo. A flood was coming towards the monastery, so he wrote on a stone: “If it is true that I have bodhicitta, may the water turn back.” Then he turned the writing towards the water and the water turned away. Again, this shows control over the elements.

Once in Tushita, Dharamsala, Lama Yeshe was talking about the power of the mind, how one time when the monastery where Lama Tsongkhapa was staying caught fire, Lama Tsongkhapa didn’t move, but stopped the fire with his extremely subtle mind. Here, it is talking about the very high tantric realization of clear light; with this extremely subtle mind he was able to extinguish the fire. One time, Lama was having breakfast outside; Lama’s Mahayana Dharma practice was enjoying sense pleasures. Lama used to tease his friends among the monks and geshes who were doing retreat on the mountain, living the ascetic life. There was one of Lama’s classmates called Thubten who, after becoming a geshe, renounced everything and went to live an ascetic life in the mountains, so Lama Yeshe used to tease him saying, “My way of practicing Dharma is enjoying life. The whole world comes to me, I don’t have to go looking.” So, this story began because, while Lama was eating breakfast, a fire started in the house and people were running around with buckets of water trying to douse the flames. Lama was completely relaxed and unafraid and told this story, which shows that even in the common view Lama had those realizations. I think Lama extinguished the fire with his clear light mind, not specifically bodhicitta, but of course the clear light mind is based on bodhicitta. Though you can say it shows the power of bodhicitta, here it was the tantric realization, the subtle mind, at work.

One time there was a huge fire in America, which was difficult to extinguish, and the thought came to me they could bring Ribur Rinpoche by helicopter to do prayers and that might help, or someone, especially a bodhisattva, who has very high tantric completion stage realization.

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche mentioned that in the blue lake—not the turquoise lake you pass on the way to Lhasa, a lighter blue lake in Amdo—there is a bodhisattva naga place, and people go there to practice because due to the realizations of that bodhisattva, if you do retreat there, you receive blessings, and your meditation becomes very beneficial, and it is easy to develop compassion.

Normally areas, monasteries, or houses where holy beings live are very peaceful, and due to the blessings it is very easy for virtuous thoughts to arise. The mind becomes like an ocean, and it is very easy to control negative thoughts and to develop realizations. Of course, if you put effort into your delusions it is different, but the area is very serene, very peaceful, and there is a natural experience.

This is just an extra explanation on pollution, which might be helpful when practicing shi-nä meditation, to explain why sometimes it is good and sometimes it changes, even experiences of devotion, etc., decreasing. [Return to text]