Mendrub and blessing pills

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philji
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Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by philji »

Can someone explain what the difference is between mendrub and blessing pulls we receive from teachers?
What should we do with mendrub?
I can never figure out the difference?
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Sādhaka
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by Sādhaka »

I’ve no perfect answer for you; but any pill that has any kind of relic, or trace, etc. in it from a Great Master, should be myong grol or Liberation through Taste.

The question is if what you’re getting is authentic in that regard, and if the said Master(s) in question are actually at a high level....

As for Mendrub and other similar pills outside that context; I’m not very well learned regarding their functions.
Last edited by Sādhaka on Thu Apr 22, 2021 7:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Hazel
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by Hazel »

Do you actually swallow these sorts of pills?
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philji
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by philji »

Hazel wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:07 pm Do you actually swallow these sorts of pills?
That much I do know...yes.
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Hazel
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by Hazel »

philji wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:52 pm
Hazel wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:07 pm Do you actually swallow these sorts of pills?
That much I do know...yes.
So one should definitely not procure them from random sites on the internet... I'm just thinking about that other post.
Happy Pride month to my queer dharma siblings!

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Konchog Thogme Jampa
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by Konchog Thogme Jampa »

Hazel wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:18 pm
philji wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:52 pm
Hazel wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:07 pm Do you actually swallow these sorts of pills?
That much I do know...yes.
So one should definitely not procure them from random sites on the internet... I'm just thinking about that other post.
Garchen Institute sent me some when I asked for my Dharma name. Useful to have for some empowerment’s, when sick etc...
reiun
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by reiun »

https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?t=25807
Grigoris wrote: Fri Jun 16, 2017 6:46 pm [Slip them into the food and drink of unsuspecting non-believers! :)
pemachophel wrote: Sat Jun 17, 2017 4:39 pm Mendrub is made from hundreds, potentially thousands of ingredients. These include all sorts of healing herbs and medicinals. It also includes relics of all types of Buddhas, Bodhisatva, Teachers, Saints, and Sages. It may include other mendrubs as a way of increasing and extending the blessings. Then there are the five meats and five amrits. Last time my Teacher made mendrub, He spent $8K US in India and Nepal for the materials He had to buy. Many other materials such as the relics and other mendrubs and special blessed pills of one sort or another, He has collected over a lifetime. Often Lamas print out lists of ingredients of their mendrub in order to help catalyze faith in those who receive it.
"includes the relics of all types of Buddhas . . . "

. . .
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DewachenVagabond
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by DewachenVagabond »

Hazel wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:07 pm Do you actually swallow these sorts of pills?
I've heard of several ways of taking them or using them. You can just swallow them, you can put it in your tea, you can hold it under your tongue, or you could even carry them around in a gau locket as a blessing. I keep one in a gau locket, and if I really felt the need I could pop it open and swallow it at any time.
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pemachophel
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by pemachophel »

If possible, take some mendrub every morning when you wake up and every evening before bed. Also take whenever you feel ill or out of sorts. Take whenever. Of course, it goes in the tshog chang for tshogs. Placed inside statues and stupas. Worn as an amulet. Put in rivers, lakes, oceans, ponds, etc. Add to sang and sur. Given to animals. Take on deathbed.

I would be careful about buying mendrub on-line. I would only take mendrub from a Lama I knew and respected.

If you ever get a chance to attend and participate in a mendrub drubchen, definitely don't miss that chance. It will give you a whole new appreciation for mendrub and how it's made. In addition, participants usually are given a nice sized bag of the mendrub which can last for a couple-few years.

Garchen Rinpoche has said not to hoard mendrub but to take it and also don't be stingy with it.

It's perfectly OK to ask a Lama for mendrub. They may or may not have some and they may or may not give you some, a little, or a lot. But it doesn't hurt to ask. Tibetans are not shy about asking for mendrub.
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philji
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by philji »

pemachophel wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 8:20 pm If possible, take some mendrub every morning when you wake up and every evening before bed. Also take whenever you feel ill or out of sorts. Take whenever. Of course, it goes in the tshog chang for tshogs. Placed inside statues and stupas. Worn as an amulet. Put in rivers, lakes, oceans, ponds, etc. Add to sang and sur. Given to animals. Take on deathbed.

I would be careful about buying mendrub on-line. I would only take mendrub from a Lama I knew and respected.

If you ever get a chance to attend and participate in a mendrub drubchen, definitely don't miss that chance. It will give you a whole new appreciation for mendrub and how it's made. In addition, participants usually are given a nice sized bag of the mendrub which can last for a couple-few years.

Garchen Rinpoche has said not to hoard mendrub but to take it and also don't be stingy with it.

Thanks. So is it the same as blessings pills?

It's perfectly OK to ask a Lama for mendrub. They may or may not have some and they may or may not give you some, a little, or a lot. But it doesn't hurt to ask. Tibetans are not shy about asking for mendrub.
So is mendrub the same as blessings pills?
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by pemachophel »

Mendrub is also called dudtsi chomen and, sometimes, simply jin-lab. (In my original sangha, our Teachers always just called it jin-lab.) Jin-lab translates as "blessing." So maybe some people call mendrub "blessing pills," although I have never personally heard that. In Vajrayana, there are many, many kinds of rilbu or pills, all of which might be called "blessing pills" since they are all blessed and carry blessings.

Sorry for being equivocal. This is where it's useful to know the Tibetan the person is translating as "blessing pills" or to see the actual substance called "blessing pills." Usually rilbu/pills are bigger than mendrub and are regular in shape and size. Rilbu may also be different colors -- white, red, dark brwon, black, green. The grains of mendrub are small, irregular in shape, irregular in size, and always dark brown/black.
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by Budai »

Here is where one can receive Blessing Pills from the Garchen a Buddhist Institute, for free or for a donation of any amount (it must be noted that there is a shortage of pills due to covid, so smaller amounts are being sent out). Balm and a Liberation on Sight Bracelet is also included. The Pills and Balm are said to protect you against covid, and well, Enlightenment is supposed to help with that as well :smile: . So I highly recommend it for anyone who wants the dutsi (Blessing Pills), Balm from Prayer Wheel, and bracelet. It’s a nice gift from Buddha for one who understands and respects the items.

I got a bag of dutsi and some other things from Garchen Rinpoche after receiving the Dharma Name Könchok Chödrak Senggé by going for refuge under the Three Jewels in the Drikung Kagyu lineage, as well as taking the Bodhisattva Vows formally. Both things have helped me greatly, and I recommend it to others. It can be done through that website, on another part of the site. It says you’re only supposed to take one small Blessing Pill in the morning, but I was quite liberal with them, and finished my bag quickly. I feel like the medicine did it’s job and though I would Love to have some more, I have to respect it. I got some important esoteric instructions with the pills, but when I got them there really wasn’t anything said about dosage, so I was liberal with how many I took, and it wasn’t a problem.They tend to put one into an Anattic Meditative state, but I highly recommend one follow Garchen’s instructions on how to take them all the while. Especially now because there is a shortage, Garchen is asking us to dissolve one pill in water and take sips from it every day. These are medicine and an aid for Practice, and we should follow the Instructions of our Gurus to the best of our ability and according to our needs. :smile:

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Om Mani Padme Hum.
Last edited by Budai on Sat Apr 24, 2021 12:43 pm, edited 3 times in total.
philji
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by philji »

pemachophel wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:27 pm Mendrub is also called dudtsi chomen and, sometimes, simply jin-lab. (In my original sangha, our Teachers always just called it jin-lab.) Jin-lab translates as "blessing." So maybe some people call mendrub "blessing pills," although I have never personally heard that. In Vajrayana, there are many, many kinds of rilbu or pills, all of which might be called "blessing pills" since they are all blessed and carry blessings.

Sorry for being equivocal. This is where it's useful to know the Tibetan the person is translating as "blessing pills" or to see the actual substance called "blessing pills." Usually rilbu/pills are bigger than mendrub and are regular in shape and size. Rilbu may also be different colors -- white, red, dark brwon, black, green. The grains of mendrub are small, irregular in shape, irregular in size, and always dark brown/black.
Excellent, this helps a lot🙏
Aloke
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by Aloke »

For sure it is best to receive this kind of blessing pills from one's Lama, or like Garchen Rinpoche that is kindly sending it for those who ask for. But also a store like Potala Gate is trustworthy. What you guys think about it?
Yeti
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Re: Mendrub and blessing pills

Post by Yeti »

It's best to get your mendrup from your own lineage, if possible.

One of my teachers says a Vajrayana practitioner should take mendrup every day. I keep mine in a container given to me by one of my teachers for that purpose. I take a pinch when I open my shrine for practice each day. I also have a bottle of quality refined spirits which I place mendrup and other blessed substances in as a collection over the decades. I take a drop of that from time to time. It helps keep the nadi/prana open to one receiving empowerment for daily practice and lineage blessings.

I was in the presence of Tulku Pema Wangyal one evening when he got out the last of some of Kangyur Rinpoche's rigtsal. He said normally what you would do is shot it up your nose on a full moon, that way it resides in you, but seeing it's not a full moon, we'll just take it orally. I wouldn't go snotting rigtsal unless in the presence of my teachers.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche used to give people a pinch of mendrup when anyone came to him... at least in my experience.
"People are fond of saying all sorts of things about others behind their backs, mentioning their names again and again. Instead of slandering others in this way, “slander” the yidam: utter his name repeatedly by reciting his mantra all the time." - Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche - Zurchungpa’s Testament - Shambhala Publications
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