Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

ut one should be very careful about what drugs one
takes in the first place.
iii. As a result of the mantras of non-Buddhists. On
account of this danger one should not make unnecessary
contact with them, nor argue with them, nor, of course,
do them any harm. This sort of malady should be cured
by asking one's guru for his advice.
iv. As the fruit of karma. For instance, a person dies
after having been bitten by a mad dog. But why did that
particular person meet that particular mad dog? This
may be a karmic result. Similarly, why are some people
born as idiots, or others degenerate into mental
imbalance? The Buddhist realizes that in such cases it
may be a heavy karma fruiting in a terrible way.
6. Particular Obstacles in Meditation
a. The Obstacle of Mercy. Usually this quality is a
virtue, but it may become an obstacle, as the story of
Savaripa shows. This guru, one of the Eighty-four
Accomplished Ones of Tantric practice, had two sisters
and both were his partners in yoga. One of them was in
the habit of taking small parasites from her guru's body
and eating them. Now Savaripa had a disciple, Maitripa,
who had the obstacle of mercy: to begin with, he
thought, "He has taken his two sisters to wife and that is
bad enough. But now one of them destroys these poor
small creatures by eating them alive." However,
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