How to Transform Illness

This illusory heap of a body, which, like others, I possess—

If it falls sick, so be it! In sickness I’ll rejoice!

For it will exhaust my negative karma from the past,

And, after all, many forms of Dharma practice,

Are for the sake of purifying the two obscurations.

If I am healthy, so be it! In freedom from sickness

I’ll rejoice! When body and mind are well and remain at ease,

Virtuous practice can develop and gain strength,

And, after all, the way to give meaning to this human life

Is to devote body, speech, and mind to virtue.

—Gyalsé Tokmé Zangpo