Rinpoche was able to check and advised:
- She should eat mani pills every day.
- She needs to have Nagtse Namgyi done three times. This is from the Zungdu [a collection of dharani found in the Kangyur.]
Practices for Pregnancy and Birth
Practices for Pregnancy and Birth
Date of Advice:
January 2016
Date Posted:
March 2022
A student was two months pregnant and medical tests showed that the unborn baby had a low risk of developing Down syndrome. She requested practices that could help with this.
Date of Advice:
January 2017
Date Posted:
July 2019
A student wrote that his wife was about to give birth and asked if there were obstacles as the baby was overdue.
Regarding your wife’s pregnancy, Rinpoche checked and said the pregnancy and birth would be OK, but the newborn baby would have a health obstacle. This is what has to be done:
- Fifteen long-life tsa tsas: ask the Kopan nuns to make these.
- Extensive Medicine Buddha puja by the Fifth Dalai Lama.
- She nyin dü dog puja: to be recited by monks at Jadrel (?) khangtsen.
- Lu zong puja: to be recited twice
Rinpoche added that these practices are not just for your baby but for all sentient beings.
Date Posted:
July 2013
Rinpoche gave the following advice to a woman who wanted to have a baby.
For two or three years she never had a baby and she was quite sad, so I gave her a protection I had received from Lama Konchog, to have a baby, to have a son, and during birth, to make the birth easy for the mother.
I gave her a small Shakyamuni Buddha statue, for her to do water offerings, to recite Buddha’s name [lama tonpa chom den de…] and the dependent arising mantra, and to pour water on the statue while she recites the mantras.
Date Posted:
June 2012
A student had been trying for two years to become pregnant. She was 40 years old, had completed two cycles of IVF and did Cittamani Tara puja every week. She had asked Rinpoche five years ago about having children, and asked again how she could remove obstacles to her fertility.
My very dear Sophie,
For so many years I didn’t see you. Billions, zillions, trillions—there are no words to thank you for your dedication for sentient beings, for the teachings of Buddha and for myself, by serving Maitreya Buddha.
Regarding your infertility, I don’t know how long ago it is since you mentioned it to me, but I checked and my suggestion is to make a Namtose wealth vase, quite a big one, with precious things and materials inside. Include materials from holy places, rich people’s money and things belonging to them, even the dust from outside their houses or from their land and from high lamas also—but not from butchers or prostitutes, and especially not from those who have broken samaya with your gurus, like those who are against His Holiness the Dalai Lama or who practice Dolgyal (Dorje Shugden), which His Holiness advised publicly not to practice.1
So, make a Namtose wealth vase. There’s a text that explains how to make a wealth vase, it describes all the details of how to make one. You might need male iron and female iron—male iron is hard and female iron is soft. I’m not 100 per cent sure, but I remember something like that when we made vases in Nepal and the Aptos house.
So, you have to make the wealth vase by reading the text. The reason I’m telling you to make a wealth vase is that in the past, one family had difficulty making a child and Dagri Rinpoche’s past life told them to make a Namtose wealth vase. So they made it and he blessed it and later they got a child. But this is just something to try. Otherwise it is difficult.
I think generally for you, not having a child is difficult for your mind, and the mind affects the body, so I will make a very simple idea for you. If you can’t have a child, I can be your child. You just need to create the concept. But I’m an old child! Maybe you made me, you made a child that is much older than you! But I can be a worthwhile child to you. [Rinpoche is laughing] I mean the other thing is, how many people are there in this world? Six billion? Maybe, seven billion? So, everybody is your child. Every day there are some old children dying and there are some new children being born. Every day, there are billions of children taking birth and dying.
Okay, that’s all. Then, make prayer—pray to Medicine Buddha and practice reciting the seven Medicine Buddhas’ names. There is one small booklet I translated many, many years ago with Dr. Adrian. Recite the seven Medicine Buddhas’ names and each time you finish reciting the names, make a request to have a child and for any other success you want. What I normally do is after I finish reciting the names and “Please may whatever vows you made in the past be actualized right now,” then I add “And may all my prayers succeed immediately.” So you can do like that.
With much love and prayer...
PS: Many people have the karma to have a child and many people don’t have the karma to have a child. So, the best thing is that they accept that. As it is mentioned by Shantideva, “If there is something you can do, there’s no point worrying. If there’s nothing you can do, there’s no point worrying.” For example, if my house is made of bricks and I want it to be gold, I worry, “Oh, my house is not gold! Oh no, I want it to be gold!” That’s completely stupid; I have to accept it is not gold. Worrying is unnecessary. Your own hallucinated mind and wrong thoughts are torturing you.
Or if there’s 10 dollars in your purse and you wish there were a billion dollars. You cannot see a billion dollars and so you are so worried, unbelievably worried, and then it drives you crazy. Nobody makes you crazy, but you make yourself unhappy by your own mind, because you need to have a billion dollars. So then here, if you apply what Shantideva said in the quotation, then there is no problem.
Then there are people who are physically women who want to be men. They are so unbelievably worried that it makes them sick, but they don’t die. And then there are some people who are physically men but who want to be women and they get so worried.
Notes
1 Read more advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on Dorje Shugden. See also the FPMT collection of advice regarding Shugden. [Return to text]
Date Posted:
August 2009
Rinpoche sent the following advice to a student who was asking about her unborn baby. Her letter and his response are below.
Student:
To my most precious Guru Lama Zopa Rinpoche, How are you and how is your health? We pray for your good health and that we have the karma to continue being close to you. I am writing to share some really great news. John and I are pregnant again, with our second child. We just found out about two days ago, and are rejoicing with the news. I wanted to write to you early to ask for advice, to please see if there are obstacles, and what practice I should do. I remember from my previous pregnancy that your advice was that when the child is still in the womb, the karma can still be altered. My sister in law recently had a miscarriage at 12 weeks, it was a boy. The baby died in his mother's womb. This made me realize even more how truly precious it is to be born a human, and how blessed we are with news of a new baby. I want to do all I can to make sure the baby is safe and will have a good rebirth into the human realm.
Previously, when I was pregnant with my son, you checked and observed that he could die in the womb. You advised me to do Chenrezig Dharani (very long one) and I did practice it a few times and dedicated it to the birth of my son. I read the Chenrezig Dharani and read 10 pages of the Sanghata Sutra every night before sleeping (for the last 4 months of the pregnancy) loudly (so he could hear) and when he was born he was very healthy and beautiful. He's growing up to be a really nice boy, easy to look after, and loves animals. His astrologer says he will grow up to be a scientist, and will invent something very beneficial for the world. I pray that he grows up to be a compassionate person, to benefit all sentient beings.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I look forward to hearing from you. On behalf of all sentient beings, I make prostrations and offer beautiful oceans of offerings to you, my precious guru. May you have a long long life. May all the merits collected be dedicated to your long and healthy life, and to the enlightenment of all suffering sentient beings.
Lots of love, Gina
Rinpoche's response:
My very dear Gina,
I checked regarding your baby and the situation looks quite good.
It would be good if you are able to go to a Chinese temple and offer a bath to the baby Buddha. You can also do this by using a very nice Buddha statue (that is waterproof and would not be damaged in any way if you pour water over it). You put the statue in a beautiful container, then you offer the water very carefully and nicely to the Buddha statue. While you offer the water, you recite a verse of offering the bath to the Buddha (if you look in the Jorcho practice there is more description about the practice of the bath offering). Then, you drink the water that you have offered over the Buddha, a few times each day.
First, you recite this mantra over the water seven times:
NAMO RATNATAYA OM YE DHARMA HETU-PRABHAVA HETUN TESHAN TATHAGATO HYAVADAT TESHAN CHA YO NIRODHA EVAM-VADI MAHA-SHRAMANAH YE SVAHA
After this, blow over the water, offer the water over the Buddha, then drink the water (after it has washed over the Buddha). This practice is to help the baby come out easily and for there to be no obstacles.
While you are offering the water to the Buddha, recite this prayer:
“I offer this water to the Holy Body of the Victorious One, who does not possess any stains, but in order to purify sentient beings’ defilements of body, speech, and mind. I offer this bath to the Buddha’s holy body, speech, and mind. May the obscurations of body, speech, and mind of sentient beings be purified.”
Think the Buddha is all the gurus that one has a Dharma connection with.
Then, also, it is very good if you do Chenrezig practice, reciting the long mantra. Think that beams of nectar emit from Chenrezig, enter your body and mind, as well as the baby’s body and mind. Also, think that all sentient beings are in your heart, on a moon disc. As the beams of nectar are emitted, think that all the baby’s negative karma collected since beginningless rebirths is purified, as well as any sickness, spirit harm, and obscurations. Think that the same thing happens to all sentient beings in your heart. Recite one mala or maybe 21 mantras, just focusing on purifying the four things (sickness, spirit harm, negative karma, and obscurations), purifying you, your baby, and all sentient beings in your heart. Then, recite one mala or maybe 21 mantras just focusing on receiving all the qualities of Chenrezig: perfect power, perfect wisdom, perfect compassion, omniscience, and especially great compassion. Think that you receive all the qualities, as well as all sentient beings in your heart receiving them, and especially your baby. Think especially that your baby receives all the blessings of Chenrezig, as well as all the qualities. This is very important.
With much love and prayers...
Date Posted:
August 2009
Rinpoche gave the following mantra for protecting and keeping a baby healthy, from conception through to birth, and directly after birth.
When the mother is pregnant she should wear a colored thread with an unbroken mustard seed on it. The mantra is as follows:
SAT-DAYA TE-DÂN / ANG-KAY PHÂM-KAY DHAM-KAY / BHA-PANAÎ / E-NAN-TEA B-NAN-TEA / SOO-LUR-E / KIRI KIRI SHA-WARI / KHAR-RU-NI / SHA-RU-NI / KIRI AH-WA-RE / LOTZA-NE / LHA-TSA-NE / RO-TSA-NAI / AH-LAR-PAR ANG- KAR-NAI / AH-LA-PAI-NAI / THAT-LHA-PAR-NAI / PAR-KAR SHI-NYI SOHA //
