Member of the FPMT

My very dear Kevin,
Four things you can do when you are being harmed by spirits, like 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 Tsong Khapa:

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.

The practice of the 21 Praises to Tara can be done in this way, where the practice becomes specific according to the problems and obstacles being faced by a person or people. If that is a disease, it can have that focus. If somebody is trying to avoid prison, it can have that focus. Every problem or fear can be approached with this practice.

Please perform the 21 Praises to Tara at the Dharma center four times in a week. As you are not doing the full sadhana, you should start with refuge and bodhicitta, then the four immeasurable thoughts, then generate bodhicitta, followed by the Seven Limbs and short mandala offering.

When you do the 21 Praises to Tara, you can recite each of the Tara mantras, with a strong prayer to each Tara for Joanne to recover from her illness.

When it comes to White Tara, recite the White Tara mantra 30 times, sending white purifying light to Joanne.

When it comes to Tara Destroying all Obstacles, recite this mantra 70 times, visualizing Tara sending light destroying all obstacles, diseases, spirit harm, and negative karma. Recite the mantra with this visualization.

When it comes to the Tara giving long life, recite her mantra 50 times, sending light pacifying all life obstacles and untimely death.

When it comes to the Tara whose purpose is to prevent harm, especially black magic, recite her mantra 50 times.

You can repeat this up to three times. This means, for the first one to three recitations of the 21 Taras, you can elaborate as I have explained here. After doing one to three recitations of the 21 Taras this way, then you can continue doing the 21 Praises in the normal way.

At the end, read the benefits of reciting Tara praises and then recite the dedication prayers. There are seven important dedications, like the King of Prayers, that you can read. You can choose.

My dear Gina,
How are you? I hope your holy body, holy speech, holy mind, and everything is well, including your toes.

According to my observations, it does seem that there is a risk of receiving harm from black magic. You should recite one mala or 80 Black Manjushri mantras in the morning. This mantra seems very important.

There is also a protection mantra* that it would be beneficial for you to wear. This also brings good fortune to your family. You should wear it all the time. At night, when you are asleep, it may fall under your body, and this is not good. If there is a way you can wear it when you go to bed so as to prevent it falling under your body, for example, on your arm, that might be OK, as long as you don’t turn over and then the mantra falls under your body. So, if you can figure out a way to wear it also at night time, but making sure that you do not sleep on it, that would be good.

This is a very powerful protection. This mantra pacifies war, fighting, disputes, others criticizing us, and black magic. It protects us from the four dangers of fire, water, and so forth, and protects us from human harms and non-human harms. It actually returns the harm back to the other person. I am not sure if this happens just by wearing it or if you have to recite it. Definitely, when you recite it, it returns the harmful black magic to where it came from. If someone shoots a bullet then the bullet actually goes back to the person. The protection mantra is a direct teaching of Buddha from the Mantra Serchen, from the Kangyur Volume XX, in the section of collection of mantras.

Also, you should recite the prayer to eliminate obstacles by Padmasambhava and the short Prayer to Padmasambhava. Recite them with the mantra. Reciting one mala every day would be best, particularly at this time. This is very powerful and you can do it for any emergency any time in your life.
With much love and prayers...

*Note: Click here for the pdf of the protection mantras that you can print out on 8.5" x 11" paper. Fold it up small, place it in something waterproof, like a small plastic bag, and wear it around your neck.

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..