Question asked by Anonymous
Hi, my sibling wants me to pray for them to help them get into a college. I don't usually pray for worldly things, but in this case, I feel like I need to. It's because they are suffering from mental health problems, and if they don't into that college, there's a big cahnce that their mental health will worsen. How do I go about this?
My second question is interpretations of Shunyata, I heard some people believe that things don't exist at all period, and some believe that things are existent, just empty. Which is the correct interpretation?
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for your questions. For your sibling, you can pray to Dorje Shugden. His practice is very well-known to be effective for things like this. It is worldly as you said, but it its for the benefit of your sibling, so Dorje Shugden can and will help in such situations. In fact, I have personally have found that Dorje Shugden helps a lot in terms of getting jobs, education etc. If you don’t already know about Dorje Shugden, you can find an introduction to his practice here: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/beginners-introduction-to-dorje-shugden.html In addition, we would recommend that your sibling also see a mental health professional as well if they are not already. This will really help them be the best person they can be. We should not rely on only one method but both secular and spiritual methods at the same time. Dorje Shugden’s practice will also help to make the secular methods more successful. If your sibling is willing, then they themselves should engage in Dorje Shugden’s practice. That would be best.
In regards to Shunyata, as we belong to the Gelug tradition, we have a view of known as the Two Truths, that is there is an Absolute Truth (that everything lacks inherent existence) and a Relative Truth (that things exist on the conventional level). This is a little difficult to explain fully here in such a short space. You can read the Lamrim in regards to this, but it is quite complicated. In essence, on a conventional level things exist, but on the ultimate level they don’t exist, in that they do not have inherent existence. I hope this helps.