Medicine Buddha
I’ve been working on this drawing of the Medicine Buddha for a while now. I’m drawing it in Adobe Illustrator. I learned how to draw the Medicine Buddha from the book ‘Tibetan Thangka Painting‘. If you are interested in drwaing and painting Buddha Images, this book is a great resource. You should buy it right away, it was sold out for the longest time!
“If one meditates on the Medicine Buddha, one will eventually attain enlightenment, but in the meantime one will experience an increase in healing powers both for oneself and others and a decrease in physical and mental illness and suffering.”
—Lama Tashi Namgyal
Medicine Buddha is serene and beautiful. He is the color of deep lapiz lazulli blue. Atop his head is a wish fulfilling jewel. In his left hand is a bowl of medicine that cures all illnesses and obsurcations. His right hand is in the mudra of sublime giving and holds the stem of a arura plant which is great medicine, symbolizing that he gives protection from illness.
The Medicine Buddha is not seperate from you. He is a symbol of your own healing ability. When you cut your finger it heals on its own, that is Medicine Buddha - that is the symbol. We all have this healing nature and by focusing on the Medicine Buddha and his mantra we can focus our healing energies to benefit ourselves and others.
To meditate on the Medicine Buddha, visualize him slightly above and in front of your face. Imagine blue light radiating from his heart and filling yourself and all beigns with deep, blue healing light that instantly transforms all sufferings and sicknesses and brings healing and happiness. You can time this with your breath. On the exhale, have light go out and on the inhale, have the light return. Imagine this as if it is happening, strongly. All beings are freed from their troubles. Meditate in this way and recite the Medicine Buddha Mantra:
Om Namo Bhagawate Bhekendze Guru Ben Durya Prhaba Randzaya Tathagataya Arahate Samyaksam Bhuddhaya Tayata Om Bhekendze Bhekendze Maha Bhekendze Bhekendze Ranza Samungate Soha
Or the short mantra:
Tayata Om Bhekendze Bhekendze Maha Bhekendze Bhekendze Ranza Samungate Soha
Try to say the mantra 7, 21, 0r 108 times
Just to see the Medicine Buddha and to hear his name helps us to become healthier and happier.
Related Links:
Introduction to Vajrayana Buddhism
Authentic Personality » said,
06.21.06 at 8:04 am
[…] Vajrayana is faster due to the skillful technique of identifying yourself with a Buddha Figure, Concentration Being, or in Tibetan it is called a Yidam. The pratitioner uses his imagination to create a sort of world in his mind. He creates a mandala - like a palace, and residing in that palace is the yidam. There are many dieties - Medicine Buddha, Tara, Chenrezig, Manjushri, Yamantaka, Vajrasattva, the list goes on and on, there are literally thousands. These ‘dieties’ do not exist out there. They are a creation of mind. They are not seperate from the pratictioner in any way. The practitioner manifests this visualization during the meditaiton session, all the aspects of the palace and the body of the diety and at the same time he identifies with the whole scene. Before generating the visualization the yogi disolves (imaginatively) his ordinary aspect, meaning his limited human body. So in the Sadhanas (the manuals for doing this type of practice) it always comes to ‘everything becomes empty’. This is very important. Then “from emptiness” arises the diety and his or her palace. The pratictioner then thinks, “I am this diety”. He thinks, “I am the divine Tara, and so I am the manifestation of fearlessness”. He thinks like this, in appropriate ways for the diety he is manifesting. This is the ‘object of meditaiton’, if you will, in Vajrayana. […]