How to Transform Sickness and Other Circumstances

 by Gyalsé Tokmé Zangpo

Namo guru!

This illusory heap of a body, which, like others, I possess—
If it falls sick, so be it! In sickness I’ll rejoice!
For it will exhaust my negative karma from the past,
And, after all, many forms of Dharma practice,
Are for the sake of purifying the two obscurations.

If I am healthy, so be it! In freedom from sickness I’ll rejoice!
When body and mind are well and remain at ease,
Virtuous practice can develop and gain strength,
And, after all, the way to give meaning to this human life
Is to devote body, speech and mind to virtue.

If I face poverty, so be it! In lack of riches I’ll rejoice!
I will have nothing to protect and nothing to lose.
Whatever quarrels and conflicts there might be,
All arise out of desire for wealth and gain—that’s certain!

If I have wealth, so be it! In prosperity I’ll rejoice!
If I can increase the stock of my merits that will suffice.
Whatever benefit and happiness there might be, now and in the future,
All result from merits I have gained—that’s certain!

If I must die soon, so be it! In dying I’ll rejoice!
Without allowing negative circumstances to intervene,
And with the support of positive tendencies I have gathered,
I will surely set out upon the genuine, unerring path!

If I live long, so be it! In subsisting I’ll rejoice!
Once the crop of genuine experience has arisen,
As long as the sun and rainfall of instructions do not diminish,
If it is tended over time, it will surely ripen.

So, whatever happens then, let us always cultivate joy!

In response to a question from a Sakya geshé, asking what should be done in the event of sickness and the rest, I, the monk Tokmé, who discourses on the Dharma, set down these ways of bringing sickness and other circumstances onto the spiritual path.
 

Sarva mangalam!

| Translated by Adam Pearcey, 2007. Edited by Phillippa Sison.

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The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva

(Rgyal-sras lag-len so-bdun-ma)
By Thogme Zangpo

I pay heartfelt homage to you, Lokesvara; You have true compassion extending to all. To those who in every coming and going have seen that each thing is inherently void, and thus can devote both their time and their efforts with one aim in mind - "Let me benefit all!"

To such foremost Gurus and you, Lokesvara, All- seeing protector, with utmost respect I bow down before you in constant obeisance, and turn to your service my thoughts, words and deeds.

The Fully Enlightened Victorious Buddhas, from whom all true pleasure and benefits derive, have reached their attainment by following Dharma and leading their lives through this noblest of paths. To live by the Dharma depends on full knowledge of how we must practise and what we must do, thus I´ll attempt now a brief explanation of what is the practise of all Buddhas` Sons.

(1)
This sound human body endowed with full leisure and excellent vessel is rare to be found. Since now we have obtained one in no way deficient, let`s work night and day without veering off course to take a cross the ocean and free from samsara not only ourselves but all others as well. First listen, think hard, then do much meditation - the Sons of the Buddhas all practise this way.

(2)
Remaining too long in one place our attraction to loved ones upsets us, we are tossed in its wake. The flames of our anger towards thus who annoy us consume what good merit we have gained in the past. The darkness of closed-minded thought dims our outlook, we loose vivid sight of what is right and what is wrong. We must give up our home and set forth from our country - the Sons of the Buddhas all practise this way.

(3)
Withdrawing completely from things that excite us, our mental disturbances slowly decline. And ridding our mind of directionless wandering, attention on virtue will surely increase. As wisdom shines clearer, the world comes in focus, our confidence grows in the Dharma we have learned. Live all alone far away in seclusion - the Sons of the Buddhas all practise this way.

Tong-len and the Four Immeasurable Thoughts

By Lama Zopa Rinpoche - August 2009

Rinpoche gave the following advice on how to do the preliminary practice of tong-len

Tong-len: This is the practice of taking and giving, the most brave practice of bodhicitta. One way of doing this practice is by reciting verse 95 in the Lama Chöpa:

Tong-len: Meditation on Taking and Giving

LC 95: And thus, venerable, compassionate gurus,

I seek your blessings that all karmic debts, obstacles, and sufferings of mother beings

May without exception ripen upon me right now,

And that I may give my happiness and virtue to others

And, thereby, invest all beings in bliss.

You recite this verse according to the number you need to recite, and, at the same time, do the meditation. Each time you do this, you collect limitless skies of merit. It is an extremely powerful purification method, and you become closer to enlightenment.

This practice helps to develop bodhicitta. This is a most brave practice to generate bodhicitta.

Or, you can base the recitations on a verse from Nagarjuna’s teachings:

“Whatever sufferings there are, may they ripen on me; whatever happiness I have, may it ripen on sentient beings.”

With the first part, you do the practice of taking. With the second, you do the practice of giving. Then, you count on the mala (each time you recite the verse). I think you will be blissed out from this practice and sentient beings will be blissed out.

About the Preliminary Practice of Tong-len

This is a most powerful practice to do. (This is reciting the requesting prayer, together with the meditation of giving and taking.) Here, each time you take the sufferings and the causes of sufferings, including the negative imprints, take all sentient beings’ sufferings, including the delusions and karma, together with the negative imprints, and also the undesirable environments. For example, in hell, there is the ice fire, the ice mountain, the burning ground, the iron house; then, for the pretas, it is a very depressing place with no water, and is so hot and so cold; for human beings, it is a very dirty place full of thorn bushes. You take the environmental sufferings as well, those kinds of things, in the form of black pollution, and you give it to the ego and destroy the ego – one’s own worst enemy. This is the greatest demon that has interfered so far with your being able to achieve enlightenment. It hasn’t allowed you to achieve enlightenment so far, besides that, it hasn’t even allowed you to achieve liberation from samsara, and hasn’t allowed you to enlighten all sentient beings, not even one. In these ways, you can see that one’s own ego is somehow the enemy of all sentient beings, not only an enemy to you.