Protection from Spirit Harm
Spirit Harm and Restarting Practice
A student advised she had strayed from the teachings and requested advice on how to resume her practice. She also asked Rinpoche to check if she was affected by spirit harm, because she was having nightmares and experiencing heavy negative energy, as well as anger and depression.
My very dear Annette,
Thank you very much for your kind email. Sorry for the long delay in replying. If you can, try to get Geshe Sopa Rinpoche’s books, Steps on the Path to Enlightenment, which are a commentary on Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lam-rim Chen-mo, and then discipline yourself and read them. Get a new notebook and write down whatever you don’t understand. You can ask your questions to a student who has studied the Lam-rim Chen-mo well and to lamas who have studied.
Read the entire advice here
Mantra to stop spirit harm
[posted Aug 2012]
Rinpoche explained the following:
There’s another mantra also that can be recited. You have to recite it loudly, not quietly, but with sound, so the spirits can hear it. Then they won’t harm you. They are so happy with you and they respect you.
From the Sorrowless Sutra, the Kha-ba:
When Ananda was attacked by the 64,000 maras, as Buddha gave this mantra to the Bodhisattva Manjugosha, this mantra was announced. When the king of the maras heard it he generated bodhicitta, the thought of enlightenment, and the king of the maras let go of Ananda.
This is the mantra Abandoning Completely the Actions of Mara taught by Buddhas equaling the number of the sand grains of the ten times Ganga water. Devas, nagas, smell-eaters, asuras, nagading floating in the sky, myemchi, Toche Chenpo, the divisions of eight worldly devas, then human beings, non-human beings, devas abiding on the mountains, trees, waters, lake and families place, the minute they hear this mantra they keep the name of that person and respect that person. [That person will] also abandon [taking a] woman’s body, remember their past life, engage in celibacy, not eat wine, meat and so forth, and like solitude. If one recites this with devotion or writes it in scriptures, it purifies 77 x 100 billion negative karmas, non-virtuous actions. This mantra is said to have those benefits:
AMA LAI, PEMA LAI, NIR MA LAI, MOOGA LAI HAI, MALA ZA GHA GAI, GHA GAI, TSAMANTRA BAR TAI, SHAWA TA SA TEN NAI, BRAMA ATA TSA RA NAI, MA NA TSAI, ASHU DAI, PILA GI, AMA LAI THE, PA LAM ME, PA LAM PHA SWA RE, PUN NAI PUN NAI, MAN NO LA DE
Anybody who has spirit harms should recite this mantra loudly so the spirits can hear. Keep this with you.
Illness Due to Spirit Harm
[posted Apr 2012]
Rinpoche gave the following advice to a man who was very sick, apparently due to spirit harm.
Dear Andrew,
I read your email and this is my advice:
1. Druk-chu-ma puja: twice. Please request Geshe Jampa Tekchok to do this. You will need to make an offering for the pujas.
2. Focus on Most Secret Hayagriva for your daily practice—both you and your friend. Even if your friend does not have the initiation she can still do it, but she shouldn’t generate herself as the deity. Attached is a brief way to do it.
3. Wear the Liberation from the Three Lower Realms. Did you get one in France? This is the small one, sewn in a tiny yellow pouch, with a rolled-up mantra inside. I think you got one, but please can you confirm?
4. Sutra of the Sorrowless State: recite a few each day. When Ananda was attacked he used this.
5. The Mantra Completely Abandoning the Action of Mara: when 44,000 maras attacked the Buddha, he gave this mantra to Manjugosha. The minute the mantra was recited, the king of the maras heard it, he generated bodhicitta and gave up harming the “bhikshu joyful one.” If you read this mantra with devotion or write it, you purify 7,700 billion negative karmas. This is the mantra that has these benefits:
AMA LAI, PEMA LAI, NIR MA LAI, MOOGA LAI HAI, MALA ZA GHA GAI, GHA GAI, TSAMANTRA BAR TAI, SHAWA TA SA TEN NAI, BRAMA ATA TSA RA NAI, MA NA TSAI, ASHU DAI, PILA GI, AMA LAI THE, PA LAM ME, PA LAM PHA SWA RE, PUN NAI PUN NAI, MAN NO LA DE
Spirit Harm After Separation
[posted Apr 2012]
A student advised that after separating from her partner, he had tried to commit suicide twice and she has had anxiety, heart palpitations, panic attacks and an aching heart. When she enters the house she shared with her former partner, she sees shapes and shadows and feels there is a presence.
My very dear Lorna,
I am very sorry for the many eons of delay. According to my observation, this is what you need to do:
Practice Lion-face Dakini every day—this is the most important one. Chant the mantra and clap your hands (as it says in the practice).
Recite the Heart Sutra a few times each day.
Wear the Hayagriva protection. Holly will send it to you.
Wear the Sutra of Golden Light text in Tibetan as a protection. To do this you have to reduce the size of the text, but do it so you can still read it. Wrap it up in plastic so it doesn’t get wet from perspiration or water. Wear it all the time. You need to respect it, so if you are prostrating move it onto your back, and make sure you don’t lie on it when you sleep (you can take it off and keep it near your bed).
Do the riwo sang cho incense puja (often done by Rigpa).
You need the Vajra Armor protection.
Do the attached practice (after reciting the sutra) a few times each day, doing more of the part where you clap.
There is a puja called lu-zong that I will do for you.
I will bless and send you the protections. Please try this.
With much love and prayers...
Practices for Spirit Harm
A student wrote to Rinpoche about her friend, who had psychosis that manifested mainly at night. He was afraid that someone was trying to kill him. He was seeing a psychiatrist and taking medication, but his behaviour was still erratic, restless and fearful. Geshe-la at Kopan had observed that it seemed like spirit harm and advised the student to consult Rinpoche for advice.
Dear Jackie,
1) Arrange for the extensive White Umbrella (Sitatapatra) prayer to be recited at least 80,000 times, by the monks at Samdeling Monastery. You can go with the monk to request and arrange it. It should be explained to the monks to please do it very well. The monk can help to arrange it and also to get clear the appropriate money offering, to give you an idea of the cost.
2) Your friend should do Vajrapani/Hayagriva/Garuda retreat (this is one deity with three aspects). It is very important to do this retreat.
3) Request Geshe-la to do ga-gön puja in the evening time with your friend present.
4) In the evening, when it gets difficult (it could also be any time), you should play the Sutra Entering Vaishali. You can buy the CD or listen to it online. The CD Recitations for Alleviating Pain is available from FPMT Foundation Store. To download it and listen to it on FPMT Radio, go to FPMT Audio Page, and scroll down to Recitations to Alleviate Pain. The actual sutra is called the Sutra Entering Vaishali.
If you find that listening to the Sutra Entering Vaishali helps, then maybe your friend doesn't need the ga-gön puja, so you can check. Play the sutra in the bedroom and other rooms in the evening. .
5) It is important to circumambulate the Boudhanath Stupa. If you can, go there quite often and try to go around it as many times as possible, according to how much time you have. Take the opportunity to make strong prayers at the stupa. .
I am also making prayers and send my love...
Healing from Afar
A student asked Rinpoche if there is a way to increase the effectiveness of prayers for healing from afar if the sick people are not Buddhist, or if the family is overwhelmed and it’s not possible to visit the sick person often. She also asked Rinpoche about spirit harm as she is concerned this may be causing illness and injury for her friends and family.
My very dear Elaine,
Thank you very much for your kind email. Regarding your question about doing prayers from afar, that is completely ok. Overall the best practice ALWAYS is to do Medicine Buddha practice.
Regarding your question about spirit harm and sickness, I can’t say, but with most sicknesses there is some spirit harm. There are different types of spirits and that is why there are different pujas to do, according to the different spirits.
Cancers in the West are not easy to treat. Often the patients are given chemotherapy, which can be worse than the sickness.
Generally, it is difficult to help, because not everybody is interested in Buddhism or they do not want to accept Tibetan medicine and pujas, so there are all these difficulties; then also many people do not want to recite mantras, so they find this difficult to accept. How you can help is by doing the Medicine Buddha puja—that is the first thing and the best thing.
If there is someone who can accept doing pujas or practices themselves, and who is willing to recite mantras or take other medicines, blessed pills etc, then I can check. If you send me the person’s name, I can check what is best for them when I have time.
But generally, if you want to help, then best to do the Medicine Buddha puja and strong prayer to the Medicine Buddha. From the Medicine Buddha’s heart, send light that enters the body and mind of the sick person and totally illuminates their body, which is in the nature of light. Think that all sickness, spirit harm, negative karma and defilements are gone. So, do very strong concentration like this, then chant the mantra.
This can really help, but of course it also depends on the other person’s negative karma, whether it is heavy or light.
Thank you very much for your good heart, wanting to help them.
With much love and prayers...
Spirit Harm
A student who attended the one hundred million mani retreat in France advised that she had a spirit experience while living in a house nearby with her family. Her health problems started when she was driving back to Germany. After returning home she had heart attack symptoms many times, but the hospital couldn't find a medical reason for her poor health. She also advised that she had taken the Mahayana precepts five times a week for almost four years. Rinpoche sent her the following advice regarding spirit harm.
My very dear Anna,
I am very sorry for the delay. I checked regarding your question and this is what comes out:
Peaceful and Controlling Fire Pujas: have these done.
Have the Prajnaparamita read: twelve volumes, one hundred thousand stanzas; three volumes, twenty thousand stanzas; and one volume, eight thousand stanzas.
It comes out more beneficial for the nuns in Mongolia to do the reading. They should be sure to read the correct text, not an incorrect translation in Mongolian, and they should start immediately. Check with the nuns how many days it will take. It is good if you offer breakfast and make a tea offering for every session. You can also offer lunch, but the nuns should then do morning and afternoon sessions. Make a money offering each day, or one at the end.
Also, offer chag-sum every day for five days, starting right away, and practice the Lion-face Dakini daily.
I am very happy that you have been taking the Mahayana Precepts five times a week for the last four years.
With much love and prayers...
Spirit Harm
Rinpoche sent the following advice to the parents of a boy who had recently started acting strangely.
Dear Richard and Janine,
Geshe-la, at your Dharma center, should perform ga-gön (Hayagriva ga-gön ) five times, today or tomorrow, according to how much time he has. When Geshe-la does ga-gön, he should throw the mustard seed that was blessed by the Hayagriva group at Sera Je Monastery (blessed by all those high lamas) onto your son’s body.
Also, Geshe-la should recite a few malas of Hayagriva mantra, and after each mala blow over the black incense, then burn it in front of him to make the spirit leave. That came out as very beneficial, according to my divinations. The black incense is called Gulnag.
Geshe-la should also recite the Sutra Stopping Pain. It not only for the pain—it makes the spirits go away. This sutra is called in Tibetan: Yang pey dong khay du gug jug pai zung. It should be read four times in front of your son. If your son gets better, but then the symptoms come back again, ask Geshe-la to recite the sutra again.
Also, it would be good to perform the controlling fire puja. Please ask Geshe-la to perform the Hayagriva controlling fire puja for your son. Also, Geshe-la should teach your son to chant the Black Manjushri mantra.
Your son should wear the protection mantras that I am sending you:
the ten wrathful deities protection
other protection from spirit harm (protection with numbers)
White Umbrella Deity
Your son should wear these all the time. There is protection from spirit harm with numbers and other protection from spirits. There are two types of protection he can wear. One is square and one is not square, it is like three rectangles connected.
He should wear the protection all the time. He can wear it in the shower if it has a plastic cover on it. Then, the shower is not a problem. The worst thing is if one wears a buddha or a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama around the neck and then when you go to sleep it goes down under your arm or your body. For that reason, I don't like to give people buddhas to wear, because the person creates negative karma. Also, people often wear a buddha image on their chest. If you wear it for a short time, in public, to go shopping or something, for people to see and to plant the seed of enlightenment, then that is OK. But if you are wearing it when you lie down, then that is creating negative karma, and it also becomes dirty. If you are wearing it to go to the market or in public, it is OK.
If you lie down and you don't pay attention to the image, then you create negative karma. Also, if you are doing prostrations, you can try to push the blessed object back behind your neck. When I prostrate I try to push back the blessed pill around my neck behind my neck.
Your son can wear it with the thought to liberate others from oceans of suffering and its causes, delusion and karma, and to bring them to enlightenment, by planting the seed of enlightenment. With that kind of motivation, he can wear it in public, and then take it off when he lies down at home or whenever doing activities which are disrespectful to Buddha, including lying down or having the buddha under his body. If he doesn't pay attention this can happen.
Similarly, if you wear a ring with OM MANI PADME HUM on it, you shouldn’t use that hand when you go to the bathroom, as that can become disrespectful.
You can recite the following verse for him:
Extremely Pacifying All the Hatred:
I prostrate to the three rare sublime ones,
I prostrate to the destroyer, qualified, gone beyond,
the one gone as it is,
the one who destroyed enemy,
perfectly completed,
completely purified completed one,
to the Buddha always looking one.
TADYATHA DIRI TISHTA TASKARA BADUSI* MACHALA MACHALA SVAHA
(NB: *higher soft voice - sounds like peydose.)
Recite this seven times. This is the exalted mantra, which is from Buddha’s teaching in the Kangyur, the hundreds of volumes translated from the Indian language Sanskrit, from the collection of texts called Zung-du, containing mantras (zung). The title is Extremely Pacifying All the Hatred. 1
If you make a request to Arya Manjushri, everybody will have loving kindness for you. The actual meaning of the mantra is “unforgettable wisdom engaging in virtue and abandoning non-virtue.”
If you can, please recite three malas a day of the mantra and the name of the Buddha (the beginning of the practice reciting the name of the Buddha—“I prostrate to the three rare sublime ones...”.)
For two weeks, recite three malas of the Mantra for Pacifying Anger, then you can recite less, but still more than one mala.
There is a protection for you both to wear. This mantra is for success. It is not only for the problems with your son but for your own activities. You can wear it all the time except at nighttime (see instructions above for how and when to wear the mantra). You can especially wear it when you go to speak to someone, requesting something, at any important time for success. Of course, just wearing the mantra without meditating doesn’t mean you will achieve extensive realizations and enlightenment—that doesn’t happen. So, from your side, you need to have good karma. Good karma for success is like a big fund. Merit and good karma are like the seed for the crops and this mantra is like the water and soil. The mantra helps the good karma, if it is there, to ripen quickly.
1 The Mantra Called Sublime One Extremely Pacifying All Hatred, Completely
Difficulties
Rinpoche sent the following letter to a student who was upset and having some difficulties.
My very dear Monica,
Please don’t worry. I received and read your long letter of explanation that you sent to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I do not remember some of the things that you mentioned in your letter. I can’t remember them happening. I am sorry about that. My memory is not perfect, but I should remember these things. I do remember the part (vaguely) of you coming to Nepal and about the Rinpoche.
If you have received that initiation from the Rinpoche you mentioned, you are very fortunate, as he is a great practitioner of this deity.
Regarding curing the sickness you mentioned, from the patient's side, you have to have the karma, either karma created in the past, or you can create karma now and get better (this is good karma, as the result is happiness). You can create the karma to be cured. Some people have recovered from naga harm from having a puja performed. Nagas can have different forms, like that of an animal.
There are other numberless beings in forms we don’t see, like buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other types of beings. They exist, but we can’t see them.
I am happy you have Lama Yeshe in your heart and are still devoted. He is your root guru and the one you received your happiness from, up to enlightenment.
Please don’t worry. I am coming to your country, and then we can definitely meet.
With much love and prayer...
Protection from Spirits
Rinpoche gave the following advice on protections from spirits and how to wear them.
There is protection from spirit harm with numbers and other protection from spirits. There are two types of protection you can wear. One is square and one is not square, it is like three rectangles connected.
You should wear the protection all the time. You can wear it in the shower if it has a plastic cover on it. Then, the shower is not a problem. The worst thing is if you wear a buddha or a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama around your neck and then when you go to sleep it goes down under your arm or your body. For that reason, I don't like to give people buddhas to wear, because the person creates negative karma. Also, people often wear a buddha image on their chest. If you wear it for a short time, in public, to go shopping or something, for people to see and to plant the seed of enlightenment, then that is OK. But if you are wearing it when you lie down, then that is creating negative karma, and it also becomes dirty. If you are wearing it to go to the market or in public, it is OK.
If you lie down and you don't pay attention to the image, then you create negative karma. Also, if you are doing prostrations, you can try to push the blessed object back behind your neck. When I prostrate I try to push back the blessed pill around my neck behind my neck.
You can wear it with the thought to liberate others from oceans of suffering and its causes, delusion and karma, and to bring them to enlightenment, by planting the seed of enlightenment. With that kind of motivation, you can wear it in public, and then take it off when you lie down at home or whenever doing activities which are disrespectful to Buddha, including lying down or having the buddha under your body. If you don't pay attention this can happen.
Similarly, if you wear a ring with OM MANI PADME HUM on it, you shouldn’t use that hand when you go to the bathroom, as that can become disrespectful.
Spirit Harm
Rinpoche gave the following advice to a student suffering from spirit harm.
My very dear Dennis,
Thank you for your kind letter, and I am very sorry for the many eons of delay in replying.
I checked regarding your situation, and these are the things you need to do:
1) Wear White Umbrella protection. It needs to be blessed by a lama before you wear it.
2) Practice White Umbrella. You need to recite at least three malas a day for at least three months or more.
3) Practice Lion-face Dakini. You need to recite at least five malas a day, with the sadhana, for at least three months or more.
4) You need one puja to be done for you called Liberating from Naga and Land Owner Possession (Tibetan: Lu-dang-sadag-gi-don-drol).
5) Regarding White Umbrella and Lion-face Dakini, if possible, you can do these in retreat. If not, then do them at least in the morning and at night time, each day.
6) Recite some Most Secret Hayagriva mantras each day.
7) If possible, take the Most Secret Hayagriva torma initiation.
I am making prayers for you. Also, the Sangha in my house are making prayers and doing practices dedicated to you (animal liberations and making tsa-tsas).
With much love and prayers....
Methods for Counteracting Spirit Harm
Rinpoche gave the following advice to a monk who was being attacked by spirits, even being thrown from his bed.
My very dear Kevin,
Four things you can do when you are being harmed by spirits, for example, when you feel a spirit is pressing down on your chest, etc:
1) Generate yourself as Yamantaka and then the spirit cannot harm you.
2) Visualize the spirit as the guru / deity Yamantaka.
3) Use the experience to meditate on emptiness.
4) Develop compassion toward the spirit.
How to meditate on emptiness
Seal these three things in emptiness: The harm giver – which is the spirit; you, which is the object to be harmed; and the action of being harmed. See that these three things are not inherently existent, because they are dependent arisings, which means they are merely imputed by mind. Meditate that these three (subject, action, and object) are not truly existent.
One simple way is to think that these three things are not true, meaning that they are empty (what appears from its own side is not true, then you see it as non-existent, empty). Meditate on this and then think these three things are empty because they are dependent arisings. Meditate on the meaning of the Prasangika view, the extremely, subtle dependent arising, merely labeled by the mind, which makes you see reality – that is empty.
The first method, meditating on emptiness, eliminates eternalism. The second method, dependent arising, eliminates nihilism. This is the middle way view on emptiness, which is a very powerful method, and is the Prasangika view.
You can meditate on these verses from the Three Principal Aspects of the Path, by Lama Tsongkhapa:
Appearances are infallible dependent origination;
Voidness is free of assertions.
As long as these two understandings are seen as separate,
One has not yet realized the intent of the Buddha.
When these two realizations are simultaneous and concurrent,
From a mere sight of infallible dependent origination
Comes certain knowledge that completely destroys all modes of mental grasping.
At that time the analysis of the profound view is complete.
Appearances clear away the extreme of existence;
Voidness clears away the extreme of non-existence.
When you understand the arising of cause and effect from the viewpoint of voidness,
You are not captivated by either extreme view.
How to develop compassion towards the spirit
Think that the spirit is totally overwhelmed by delusion and ignorance, with a totally hallucinated mind, as well as under the power of karma and disturbing thoughts. Think that the spirit is in samsara, completely overwhelmed by suffering, and generate compassion by reflecting in this way.
Each time the spirit harms you, the spirit creates negative karma, which causes him or her to be reborn in the hell realms, or again as a spirit, hell being, or animal, and to again harm you and others, create negative karma, be continuously born in the lower realms, and experience unimaginable suffering again and again.
Another method to develop compassion is to think if I were already enlightened, liberated from samsara, not suffering, not under the power of karma and delusion, then the spirit could not harm me, therefore the spirit would not create negative karma by harming me, because from my side there would be no cause to receive harm from the spirit. So, the spirit wouldn’t create heavy negative karma by harming me.
You meditate on these verses from the Three Principal Aspects of the Path:
Swept by the current of the four powerful rivers,
Tied by strong bonds of karma, so hard to undo,
Caught in the iron net of self-grasping,
Completely enveloped by the darkness of ignorance,
Born and reborn in boundless samsara,
Ceaselessly tormented by the three miseries –
All beings, your mothers, are in this condition.
Think of them and generate bodhi-mind.
Also, you can think that in the past you have caused the spirit harm, which caused him or her to engage in negative karma and harm you in this life. Therefore, you deserve to receive harm from the spirit now. This is your karma because you have harmed the spirit before. So, this is the result of your past karma. The conclusion is to not harm others, practice samaya vows, and protect your karma – cause and effect.
So, use this to develop compassion. Think: “I must do something to liberate the spirit, so therefore I must practice Dharma.” The conclusion is, in order to really benefit other sentient beings, to not harm other sentient beings, and to benefit sentient beings, you must actualize the path to enlightenment. Therefore, you must first achieve enlightenment and the quickest way to do that is by actualizing the Three Principles of the Path, particularly tantra, so that you can quickly lead all beings in the path to liberation and enlightenment.
No Energy
A new student was very sick. She had no energy at all and could hardly do anything. She met Rinpoche, whom she told she had been doing Heart Sutra recitation before she fell ill. Rinpoche made the following suggestions. After she did them all, she recovered completely.
It is spirit harm. You need protection from Hayagriva. You need to make an offering to a stupa, by painting it white and saffron. This is quite a common method for success and healing. I do this normally anyway on Buddha’s special days, so I’ll dedicate the action to you on this special day of the anniversary of Buddha’s turning the wheel of Dharma, when the merit of whatever virtuous activities one does is multiplied 100 million times.
Then, recite the Vajrapani Hayagriva Garuda mantra. Visualize yourself as the deity and purify the four things: sickness, spirit harm, negative karma, and defilements.
I will do some pujas. You can write me in five days to say if there’s any change. However, there is no question that what you are experiencing is a sign of purification, because reciting the Heart Sutra is extremely powerful purification. It brings up negative karma and finishes karma that one would have to experience for many eons in the hell realms and so forth. This is a definite sign that you are finishing heavy negative karma, which is manifesting as this health problem. Once you experience this, you don’t have to be reborn in the lower realms, such as hell, and suffer for eons.
Therefore, what happened is very positive.
With much love and prayer...
