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The Drugs Buddha, or Bhaiśajyaguru, is as his identify suggests related with therapeutic. His mantra exists in each lengthy and quick kinds. In its lengthy type it’s:
namo bhagavate bhaiśajyaguru vaidūryaprabharājāya tathāgatāya arhate samyaksambuddhāya tadyathā: oṃ bhaiśajye bhaiśajye bhaiśajya-samudgate svāhā.
The quick type is:
(tadyathā:) oṃ bhaiśajye bhaiśajye mahābhaiśajye bhaiśajyarāje samudgate svāhā.
“Bhaisajya” means “curativeness” or “therapeutic efficacy,” whereas “guru” means “instructor” or “grasp.” Thus he’s the “grasp of therapeutic.” He’s often known as Bhaisajyaraja, “raja” that means “king.”
The quick type of the mantra may roughly be translated as “Hail! Seem, O Healer, O Healer, O Nice Healer, O King of Therapeutic!” The optionally available “tadyathā” originally means “thus,” and it’s not likely a part of the mantra, however extra of an introduction.
The lengthy model could possibly be rendered as, “Homage to the Blessed One, The Grasp of Therapeutic, The King of Lapis Lazuli Radiance, The One Thus-Come, The Worthy One, The Absolutely and Completely Woke up One, thus: ‘Hail! Seem, O Healer, O Healer, O Nice Healer, O King of Therapeutic!’ ”
In Tibetan pronunciation, the mantra comes out as:
(Tad-ya-ta) Om Be-kan-dze Be-kan-dze Ma-ha Be-kan-dze Ra-dza Sa-mung-ga-te So-ha
(Tibetan is from a completely completely different language group from Sanskrit, and so it’s even more durable for Tibetans to approximate Sanskrit pronunciations than it’s for English audio system).
Bhaiśajyaguru is certainly one of a set of eight therapeutic Buddhas, which incorporates Shakyamuni, the historic Buddha. Bhaiśajyaguru is the top Buddha of the group.
He’s Lapis Lazuli blue in shade, though generally he’s depicted as golden-skinned. He’s dressed within the robes of a bhikśu (monk). His left hand rests in his lap within the mudra (hand gesture) of meditation, whereas in his proper hand, held palm upwards on the proper knee, he holds a department of the therapeutic myrobalan plant.
In his left hand, which rests in his lap within the dhyana (meditation) mudra, he holds a bowl of amrita — the nectar of immortality.
The concept of the Buddha as healer goes again — as a metaphor — to the times of the historic Buddha. It’s mentioned, in reality, that the system of the 4 Noble Truths relies on a medical mannequin of prognosis, etiology, prognosis, and remedy. The Buddha demonstrates within the historic teachings a great information of anatomy and physiology, at the least by the requirements of his time, and though he nearly actually wasn’t skilled within the medical arts he appears to have had some information of them.
Later texts, like Santideva’s “Information to the Bodhisattva’s Means of Life,” take up the notion of the Enlightened ones being healers, referring to the Buddha as “the Omniscient Doctor who removes each ache.” He additionally expresses the aspiration, “Could I be the drugs and the doctor for the sick. Could I be their nurse till their sickness by no means recurs.”
Click on beneath to listen to an MP3 model:
Pronunciation notes:
- The h in “bh” is calmly aspirated, much like the English “abhor”
- ā is sort of a in father
- e is ay in lay
- v is pronounced midway between English v and w. If unsure, then a w sound will do
- ś represents the “sh” sound within the English phrase “shine”
- In Tibetan pronunciation “svāhā” turns into “soha.” That is technically incorrect from a Sanskrit standpoint, however it additionally has many centuries of custom behind it, and in any occasion few Westerners pronounce Sanskrit appropriately both! Nonetheless, outdoors of the Tibetan custom it’s in all probability greatest to revert to the very best approximation attainable of the Sanskrit, the place each a’s are lengthy (as in father), and the v comes near being an English “w” sound.
The next essay, written by Srivandana, was initially printed in Dharma Life journal, and is reprinted right here by beneficiant permission of the creator.
The Therapeutic Buddha, by Srivandana
My reference to Bhaiśajyaguru, the Drugs Buddha, goes again a few years. Typically it feels as if he has been there all my life, ready for my emergence as a Buddhist, however there was additionally a pure evolution of the connection. From an early age my life has been marked by in poor health well being, and this appears to have elevated as time has gone on. The problem has been to make sense of this, with out being overwhelmed by the sensations of bodily and psychological ache; to dwell with the adversity however to not be consumed by it.
In the middle of my working life I moved from the superficiality of the “rag commerce” (the style business) into the caring professions, and finally skilled as an artwork therapist. Working in artwork remedy meant I may use each my love of artwork and my want to assist folks make sense of the massive vary of emotional experiences and responses that characterize life. I puzzled, although, the place the “religious” fitted in with the analytical strategy I took in my work.
Then I found a ebook referred to as The Therapeutic Buddha
In 1989 I wrote to Dhardo Rimpoche, certainly one of Sangharakshita’s Tibetan lecturers, and advised him about my curiosity in and feeling for the Drugs Buddha. I see now that I used to be on the lookout for “lineage.” I wished to listen to in regards to the Buddha I had come to like from certainly one of my instructor’s lecturers.
Dhardo Rimpoche replied, saying he appreciated my work as an artwork therapist, and that therapeutic folks on this method could be a fantastic service if I may do it with an open coronary heart. He believed the Drugs Buddha follow could be a fantastic assist to me in my work, and mentioned that Tibetan docs concentrate on devotion to the Drugs Buddha in addition to prescribing medicines.
Maybe a month after I obtained this letter, I awoke with a begin. One thing appeared to propel me from my mattress and on to my meditation chair. I closed my eyes and instantly noticed in my thoughts’s eye a dazzlingly clear picture of Dhardo Rimpoche, clad in on a regular basis robes. He was smiling, his gaze clear, direct and compassionate. Slowly behind him a picture fashioned of a blue Buddha, the type of Bhaiśajyaguru. Dhardo Rimpoche continued to look in the direction of me together with his mild but robust face. Step by step the physique of Bhaiśajyaguru merged with that of his, as he pale or maybe turned Bhaiśajyaguru. It was an overwhelmingly stunning expertise, which decreased me to tears. I heard a short while later that Dhardo Rimpoche had died on that very day.
I used to be ordained into the Western Buddhist Order in 1993, and leaped into a brand new section of my relationship with Bhaiśajyaguru by taking on his sadhana, a meditation follow focusing upon him. This took our relationship into the realm of visualization, image and creativeness.
Homage to Bhaiśajyaguru, Grasp of Therapeutic. Lapis Lazuli Radiance Tathagata!
Clear blue area, blue because the sky on a summer season’s day, the brilliant azure blue the place white cliff meets sky. Clear blue area above, beneath, in entrance, behind, sweeping spherical. The area that comprises all issues and to which all issues are reducible; the area that transcends time, the area wherein all is stripped away, all remains to be, all is silent. It’s a area that’s empty but filled with potential, wherein all issues are attainable; an area that’s neither sizzling nor chilly; an area of refinement wherein solely the attractive can seem. That is the area wherein Bhaiśajyaguru, Grasp of Therapeutic, will seem if the request is made, if our devotion is absolute, our motive pure and our want wholehearted.
Homage to Bhaiśajyaguru, Grasp of Therapeutic. Lapis Lazuli Radiance Tathagata!
White. A shimmering, sun-dazzling white lotus seems, completely poised, as if suspended in clear blue area. White-heat, petals robust and upright, embodying an built-in male consciousness. White so brilliant that eyes can not stay absolutely open, can not actually see its glory.
Homage to Bhaiśajyaguru, Grasp of Therapeutic. Lapis Lazuli Radiance Tathagata!
Tender, quietly glowing, a moon-white mat rests within the calyx of the lotus. The moon is absolutely built-in femininity, standing by herself, aloof, fearless, noble. She kinds a spherical, entire mat to obtain him, ever open to him. There’s the unity of the lotus and moon mat, the masculine, the female, that put together to fulfill him.
Homage to Bhaiśajyaguru, Grasp of Therapeutic. Lapis Lazuli Radiance Tathagata!
A wonderfully fashioned hand seems, a robust foot, a determine seated in meditation. An amazing sense of compassion that brings tears to my eyes. Royal blue eyes set in an exquisite, blue beneficent face. He seems by the blue that transcends area and time. He’s deep blue, the colour of the best lapis lazuli. He has a mature male type possessing all the foremost and minor marks of a Buddha: his deep indigo hair, the indigo curl between his eyebrows, the top-knot surmounting his head, his finely fashioned limbs — every mark an indication of perfection.
He wears saffron robes, this good one, this dweller within the elegant abodes. He holds his left hand as if in meditation, the fingers gently supporting a begging bowl fashioned from gold-traced lapis lazuli. It comprises one thing mysterious that has the style of freedom: amrita, sacred nectar.
His proper arm stretches downwards, the hand turned outwards within the gesture of giving. In his palm he holds the therapeutic but bitter-tasting myrobalan fruit, hooked up to leaves and twigs from its mom tree.
Circling his head is the inexperienced halo that marks one who has gone past, marks the valuable state of Enlightenment. Round his physique is a blue aura, for he’s the King of Lapis Lazuli Radiance. His mantra resounds:
Om Bhaiśajya Bhaiśajya Mahabhaiśajya Bhaiśajyaraja Samudgate Svaha
Om Bhaiśajya Bhaiśajya Mahabhaiśajya Bhaiśajyaraja Samudgate Svaha
Om Bhaiśajya Bhaiśajya Mahabhaiśajya Bhaiśajyaraja Samudgate Svaha
I ponder what number of hours I’ve spent mendacity on my mattress considering the importance of Bhaiśajyaguru. What number of hours have I spent gazing at his type – that robust, expansive blue chest – pondering the importance of the myrobalan and the begging bowl with its amrita, the nectar of immortality? Myrobalan is used extensively in each Indian and Tibetan medication. However what precisely is he providing, and why does there seem like such energy in his proper arm, which holds one thing so mundane?
My quest for therapeutic is gradual, taken step-by-step, however every step produces additional readability and refinement of my views. I’ve raged in opposition to the sure information that there isn’t any bodily therapeutic for me on this lifetime. My physique is marked by the traits of existence — it’s impermanent and unsatisfactory and insubstantial. However “thoughts” is one other matter. Thoughts has potential. I can change how I view and reply to each interior and outer worlds. I would not have to be sure in future lifetimes by the constraints I’ve introduced with me or have created on this life. So what does Bhaiśajyaguru need me to do? The reply is so easy, so apparent, but so unpalatable. “Take the drugs, Srivandana!” He would really like all of us to take the drugs – if we dare!
Drugs tastes nasty and the myrobalan tastes bitter. But when we wish to be healed we have now to take motion, even when that motion is troublesome and the outcomes are much more so. Think about being confronted with a bottle labeled “Drugs — Drink Me.” The looks of the liquid contained in the bottle produces a robust feeling of aversion.
But when you recognize that it’s the essence of the nice magnificence and compassion of Bhaiśajyaguru , in the event you can see it with the appropriate eyes, the liquid shimmers a lustrous blue. As you take away the cork, a putrid scent assails your nostrils. Maybe you retch. But is there not additionally the scent of jasmine on a sizzling summer season’s evening? Summoning up your braveness, you dip a finger into the liquid and style a drop. Your face screws up in protest. It tastes of all the pieces you do not need to style. Your abdomen recoils, your system rebels. However after some time there comes a way of ease, launch, pleasure, pleasure and — best of all — understanding.
The legislation of impermanence is probably the most stunning factor I can probably think about. I’ve made a follow of considering impermanence and recognizing that all the pieces is insubstantial and subsequently painful and unsatisfactory. Reflecting on impermanence, permitting it to permeate each pore, each particle of my consciousness, rocks me to the core of my being. I really feel as if I’ve been turned inside-out. But the legislation of impermanence is stuffed with potential and is permeated by the fantastic thing about change. The information that this transformation lies in my palms, and that I can take duty for its coming into being, is massively empowering.
The medication of the Dharma needs to be drunk by the gallon, bathed in, absolutely absorbed. The huge sea of Dharma stretches into the space, however a single drop can go a good distance. Bhaiśajyaguru additionally factors out the hazard of discovering oneself in a void of impermanence, with out magnificence and with out sustenance. I would like the sweetness that I contact by making artwork and listening to music, by speaking with religious mates; in addition to the sustenance gained from meditation, particularly meditation on the elegant abodes of optimistic emotion, or brahmaviharas.
Within the Sutra on the Deserves of the Elementary Vows of the Grasp of Therapeutic Tathagata, Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Knowledge, recites the 12 nice vows which the Bodhisattva Drugs King made earlier than he attained Buddhahood. One part of the sutra is entitled The Significance of Religion. Religion comes into being on the level the place information meets expertise. If we select to just accept the present that Bhaiśajyaguru provides, we naturally expertise a real want to acknowledge his compassion and generosity, and in doing so we deepen our religion.
This gratitude might be expressed by the earnest follow of meditation, by recitation of his mantra, and thru ritual worship devoted to the therapeutic of all dwelling beings. In such a ceremony seven photos of Bhaiśajyaguru adorn a seven-tiered mandala, and 49 butter lamps are positioned earlier than them. A sand mandala is created alongside the three-dimensional mandala. Think about the colours and sounds of sutra studying and chanting, the depth of follow, this immersion in devotion, which continues for seven days.
An vital a part of my very own devotion to Bhaiśajyaguru takes place on the finish of the sadhana once I carry out a “therapeutic mala.” Every bead on my mala is devoted to somebody whom I do know is experiencing difficulties, and I ask Bhaiśajyaguru to make all of them entire.
Some years in the past there was a section once I felt I had entered a bleak state of aloneness, wherein I used to be haunted by darkish photos of beings despatched to annihilate me, twin harpies wishing to devour my being. When this section reached a peak of depth, I used to be confronted with a protracted evening, which appeared pitch-black on many ranges. I struggled with the need to flee, and the concern of actually taking the drugs that was held out to me. I supplied mild to Bhaiśajyaguru. I wished to outlive this expertise of struggling, but additionally to grasp it. On this void of psychological struggling, the sustaining pressure was religion.
At daybreak I acknowledged I had handed by a metaphysical gateway, and fashioned a robust bond with Bhaiśajyaguru, my buddy, my most passionate and expert lover, my religious information, my hyperlink with the transcendental. A deeper devotion emerged, an absolute conviction within the “rightness” of our liaison. I used to be studying to dive deep into the harmful areas of the psyche, to research with mindfulness the psychological states I discovered there and to supply them to Bhaiśajyaguru.
I started to see that actually to revere Bhaiśajyaguru is to have cleared away the darkish veils of religious ignorance and to see with the attention of knowledge. I really feel such large gratitude to him that I solely purpose to worship him increasingly more, and thereby develop into him increasingly more; I wish to wrap myself in a cloak of blue and, donning winged boots, kick off into his blue sky, scattering traces of gold, which gently fall as Dharma rain.
Srivandana was ordained into the Western Buddhist Order in 1993 and is dedicated to ever deepening her relationship with Bhaiśajyaguru, the Drugs Buddha.
She has skilled this relationship each from a place of relative good well being to certainly one of poor well being and acknowledges that the one true medication to be discovered comes from a bottle labeled “The Dharma.” Srivandana lives alone save for 3 feline campanions.
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