Medicine Buddha

The Buddha our enlightened essence is known as the great healer, the energy which releases all beings from affection. According to the Tibetan tradition, the Buddha emanated as Bhaishajyaguru, the "master of remedies," thousands of years ago. He established the Tibetan medical tradition in the form of texts known as The Four Tantras of Secret Instructions on the Eight Branches of the Essence of Immortality, which are more commonly referred to as Gyushi, "The Four Medical Tantras." The master of remedies holds in his right hand a spring of aurora, or cherubic Myrobalan, from which much of Tibetan medicine is compounded. His hand faces outward, symbolizing his bestowal of boons. In his left hand he holds a bowl containing three forms of ambrosia: the nectar that cures disease and resurrects the dead; the nectar that counteracts aging; and the supreme nectar that illuminates the mind increases knowledge. The Tibetan psysian yeshi Donden explained: Bhaishajyaguru is blue in colour like the sky; his body is clear when looking from the outside and clear when looking outward from inside... Look carefully at how he is sitting, the shape of his eyes, the gesture that his hands are displaying... and think about his qualities and altruistic activities...Imagine that light rays spread out from the heart...radiating in the ten directions, entering into the four elements, and turning them into highly potential medicines. These light rays return and dissolve into the medicines in Bhaishajyaguru's begging bowl. This is how the power of mantra and meditative stabilization affects the potencies of medicines.' The Medicine Buddha's throne is supported by snow lions and flanked by dragons. In the sky above him are five Buddhas and other celestial beings. Below are fearful protectors of the path to wholeness. In the healing practices of Tibetan medicine, the unconscious energies that often sabotage our lives are restored to conscious awareness. When we recognize our inseparability from all life, healing often occurs spontaneously the expression of natural abundance.

Medicine Buddha is known as the great healer, the energy which releases all beings from affection.