Does the ‘Parnashavari protection amulet’ from Sakya Trizin help in the fight against coronavirus?

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, many false messages based on faith and belief are going viral on the internet that claim about the prevention and treatment of this illness. One was also circulated in the Tibetan community as well.

CLAIM : 

Protection from Corona virus, if one keeps a picture of the spiritual amulet below, alleged as done by Sakya Trizin.

RATING :    

ORIGIN : 

Due to a growing panic caused by Corona virus pandemic, around the 3rd week of Feb 2020, there was a viral message which was circulated in the Tibetan community. The message contained a spiritual image called ‘Parnashavari protection amulet’ with a text written above it that whoever keeps the image in their phone, they will be protected from the Corona virus.

FACT CHECK : 

Although it’s all okay to have faith in our daily lives, since without faith it is quite plausible that we would be handicapped from the ground zero of our moral values as a human being.  We believe that if we pray well enough, the divine up there will save us in any hard situation, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. But at times like these when we are facing such a virus that mankind had never seen before, our basis of understanding this virus must rely on the scientific research and analysis done worldwide. At times like these, we should have a certain faith in scientific research as well.

The circulation of the protection amulet message was a false message that was forwarded in the social media platforms inside the Tibetan Community. The Office of Sakya already gave a clarification notice that the circulation was a false message. It clarified that the ‘Parnashavari protection amulet’ wasn’t made by Sakya Rinpoche himself, although he did mention that it is believed to be generally beneficial for any epidemic situations.