Terminal Lung Cancer
Date of Advice:
Date Posted:
A student was dying with lung cancer, and her friends at the local Dharma center asked Rinpoche what could be done for her. She was critically ill and this advice was sent only a few days before she passed away.
Rinpoche checked and said that others could participate in these practices with her, for example, the resident teacher at the center. She could also do the practices with a small group of two or three others.
- Geshe-la can go to see her from time to time and recite the Amitabha pure land prayer (The Array of Sukhavati Pure Land: A Concise Mahayana Sutra.)
- Vajrasattva practice: A small group can do this with her.
- Sangye Tse Bum: To be recited by Geshe-la. He can read some pages each time—whatever he has time for—and she must be aware and listening. She can visualize that the Buddha is sending her beams of light and absorbing into her; on the beams [are] Buddha. She can also send [beams of light] to all sentient beings and at the end, do the dedication. This comes out very good for her. The main thing, as Geshe-la reads, is that she relies totally from her heart on the Buddha.