The Song of Gyalwa Gotsangpa on How to Practice with Illness
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One day years ago I was visiting the Gyalwa Gotsangpa meditation cave, where there is his footprint, and also Guru Rinpoche footprint. It is high up in the mountains of Ladakh. It was late in the year, maybe November and I became quite sick on that day. I had just flown in, and also my body was weak from breathing all the pollution in Delhi for some months. That year Delhi air was particularly toxic. When we reached back to Ladakh late night, and I went online to find out about Gyalwa Gotsangpa.
The first thing I came across was a translation of his song about illness. I was deeply inspired by this Dharma song by a great meditation master, and the fact that I was blessed to receive this teaching in such a way in this modern time. The text is no longer available online it seems, so I’m posting it below.
The Song of Gyalwa Gotsangpa on How to Practice with Illness
When illness manifests physically,
It is the maturation of previously having beaten others
Now ripening.
When those who have committed negative actions are sick,
Do not summon a doctor
And do not perform rituals for their demons.
The illness itself must be taken as the path.
My guru, the dharma-master, taught that
Illness should not be regarded as a problem.
It purifies obscurations, gives rise to good qualities,
And enhances the development of realization.
When an illness appears, feel joyful.
Practice like this:
Meditate, thinking repeatedly,
“How sad it is that sentient beings are tormented
With illnesses just as I am.”
Repeatedly make aspiration prayers, saying,
“May my illness
Purify the illnesses and sufferings of
All sentient beings,
Whose numbers are as vast as the extent of space.”
After that, look directly at the illness.
An illness is not an existent thing
With a shape, color, and so forth;
It is spontaneously present as emptiness.
By recognizing this, illness is liberated in its own place.
But if illness arises once again,
Supplicate the exalted guru with longing:
“Grant your blessings
So this illness may arise as the path.
Grant your blessings
so I do not try to prevent it or encourage it.
Grant your blessings
so it may arise as an aid.”
Supplicate strongly in this way.
Again, look directly at the illness.
How could this illness,
which did not exist previously,
Become existent later?
Rest relaxed within its nonexistence.
The illness itself will manifest as the dharmakaya.
Source
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