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'''Buddha of Medicine''' (Skt. ''Bhaiṣajyagurubuddha''; Tib. ''Sangyé Menla''; [[Wyl.]] ''sangs rgyas sman bla'') an important [[buddha]] in the [[Mahayana]], whose main initial vow as a [[bodhisattva]] was to become able to completely free all [[sentient beings]] from their illnesses. In [[Tibetan Buddhism]], he is central to the ''[[Four Medical Tantras]]'', which are the basis of Tibetan medicine, and to many [[sadhana]]s of healing.
[[image:Medicine-Buddha-1.jpg|frame|'''Buddha of Medicine''']] '''Buddha of Medicine''' (Skt. ''Buddha Bhaiṣajya-guru''; Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་སྨན་བླ་, ''Sangyé Menla'', [[Wyl.]] ''sangs rgyas sman bla'') is an important [[buddha]] in the [[Mahayana]] tradition, whose main initial vow as a [[bodhisattva]] was to become able to completely free all [[sentient beings]] from their illnesses.  


When the Buddha of Medicine appears as a [[deity]] in sadhanas of healing, because deities are a means of communication the form or appearance of each deity reflects the different activities which they embody and in which they engage, and are determined by the aspirations they made at the time of their initial generation of bodhichitta.  
In the Tibetan [[Kangyur]], there are three [[sutra]]s primarily concerned with the Buddha of Medicine. One sets forth the twelve aspirations of the Buddha of Medicine, another sets forth the aspirations of the seven other buddhas of medicine, and the third is a very short sutra which sets forth the [[dharani]]s or [[mantra]]s of the various buddhas of medicine.<ref>[[Thrangu Rinpoche]], ''Medicine Buddha Teachings'', Snow Lion Publications ISBN 1-55939-216-9, page 105.</ref> Also, he is central to the ''[[Four Medical Tantras]]'', which are the basis of [[Tibetan medicine]], and to many [[sadhana]]s of healing.


In the case of the Buddha of Medicine there is a specific set of twelve aspirations that relate to his primary motivation to remove the physical and mental suffering of beings in general, but primarily mental and physical illness caused through imbalance of the [[elements]]. <ref>*[[Thrangu Rinpoche]], ''Medicine Buddha Teachings'', Snow Lion Publications ISBN 1-55939-216-9, pages 105-117. </ref>
When the Buddha of Medicine appears as a [[deity]] in sadhanas of healing, because deities are a means of communication, the form or appearance of each deity reflects the different activities which they embody and in which they engage, and are determined by the aspirations they made at the time of their initial generation of [[bodhichitta]].
 
In the case of the Buddha of Medicine there is a specific set of twelve aspirations that relate to his primary motivation to remove the physical and mental suffering of beings in general, but primarily mental and physical illness caused through imbalance of the [[elements]].<ref>[[Thrangu Rinpoche]], ''Medicine Buddha Teachings'', Snow Lion Publications ISBN 1-55939-216-9, pages 105-117. </ref>
 
==A Note on the Name==
Within the Buddhist scriptures the Buddha of Medicine is called Bhaishajya-Guru or Vaidurya-prabha-raja (Skt. ''Vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja''; Tib. ''bai dUrya ’od kyi rgyal po''). ‘Buddha of Medicine’ is a non-literal meaning translation of his actual Sanskrit name. Bhaishajya-Guru literally translates as ‘Master of Medicine’ and Vaidurya-prabha-raja<ref>Vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja literally implies ‘a king who radiates with the colour of lapis lazuli.’</ref> as ‘Radiant Lapis Lazuli King’.
 
==Names of the seven other buddhas of medicine==
Buddha Bhaiṣajya-guru has seven accompanying buddhas in his retinue. One of these is [[Buddha Shakyamuni]].
 
*Excellent Name (Tib. མཚན་ལེགས་, ''Tsen Lek'', Wyl. ''mtshan legs'')
*Appearance of Stainless Fine Gold (Tib. གསེར་བཟང་དྲི་མེད་སྣང་བ་ , ''Ser Zang Drimé Nangwa'', Wyl. ''gser bzang dri med snang ba'')
*Glorious Supreme One Free from Sorrow (Tib. མྱ་ངན་མེད་མཆོག་དཔལ་, ''Nya Ngen Mé Chok Pal'' , Wyl. ''mya ngan med mchog dpal'')
*Melodious Proclamation of Dharma (Tib. ཆོས་བསྒྲགས་དབྱངས་ , ''Chö Drak Yang'', Wyl. ''chos bsgrags dbyangs'')
*King of Clear Knowing (Tib. མངོན་མཁྱེན་རྒྱལ་པོ ་, ''Ngön Khyen Gyalpo'', Wyl. ''mngon mkhyen rgyal po'')
*King of Melodious Sound (Tib. སྒྲ་དབྱངས་རྒྱལ་པོ་ , ''Drayang Gyalpo'',  Wyl. ''sgra dbyangs rgyal po'')
*King of the Shakyas (Tib. ཤཱ་ཀྱའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ , ''Shakyé Gyalpo'' , Wyl. ''shA kya’i rgyal po'')


==References==
==References==
<small><references/></small>
<small><references/></small>


==Transmissions Given to the [[About Rigpa|Rigpa]] Sangha==
==Transmissions Given to the [[About Rigpa|Rigpa]] Sangha==
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*29 August 1999, Amsterdam, [[Dr Trogawa Rinpoche]]—empowerment
*29 August 1999, Amsterdam, [[Dr Trogawa Rinpoche]]—empowerment
*16 September 2000, London, [[Dr Trogawa Rinpoche]]—empowerment
*16 September 2000, London, [[Dr Trogawa Rinpoche]]—empowerment
*6 June 2010, Murnau, Germany, [[Sogyal Rinpoche]]—oral transmission of prayer & mantra  
*6 June 2010, Murnau, Germany, [[Sogyal Rinpoche]]—oral transmission of prayer & mantra
 
*1 August 2014, [[Lerab Ling]], His Holiness [[Sakya Trizin]]—empowerment
==Internal Links==
*24 May 2015, [[Dharma Mati]], Berlin, Germany, Khamtrul Rinpoche, [[Dokhampa Shedrub Nyima]]—empowerment
*[[Buddha of Medicine mantra and dharani]]


==Tibetan texts==
==Tibetan Texts==
 
* Derge [[Kangyur]], vol.87, ff.274r-283v., Wyl. '''phags pa bcom ldan 'das sman gyi bla bai DUR+Ya'i 'od kyi sngon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo''
* Derge [[Kangyur]], vol.87, ff.274r-283v., Wyl. ''phags pa bcom ldan 'das sman gyi bla bai DUR+Ya'i 'od kyi sngon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo.''
* '''phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa bdun gyi sngon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo''
''
* '''phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa'i ting nge 'dzin gyi stobs bskyed pa bai DUR+Ya'i 'od ces bya ba'i gzungs''


==Further Reading==
==Further Reading==
*[[Tulku Thondup]], ''Boundless Healing'' (Shambhala: Boston, 2001), Part Three, Chapter Eight: 'Meditation on the Healing Buddha', pages 131-171
*[[Tulku Thondup]], ''Boundless Healing'' (Shambhala: Boston, 2001), Part Three, Chapter Eight: 'Meditation on the Healing Buddha', pages 131-171
==Internal Links==
*[[Buddha of Medicine mantra and dharani]]


==External Links==  
==External Links==  
 
*{{84000|https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-087-008.html| The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Seven Thus-Gone Ones}}
* [http://www.shenpen-osel.org/issue9.pdf Shenpen Osel Issue 9]
*{{84000|https://read.84000.co/translation/toh505a.html| A Mantra for Incanting Medicines When Administering Them}}
 
*{{LH|tibetan-masters/karma-chakme/zabchema-medicine-buddha-practice|''The Profound Cure (Zabchema''), Medicine Buddha Practice by Karma Chakme}}
* [http://www.shenpen-osel.org/issue10.pdf Shenpen Osel Issue 10]
*{{LH|tibetan-masters/karma-chakme/medicine-buddha-sadhana|''Sādhana of Bhaiṣajya'' by Karma Chakme}}
 
*{{LH|tibetan-masters/jamyang-khyentse-wangpo/fast-track-medicine-buddha| ''Fast Track to Happiness & Peace'' by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo}}
*[http://www.shenpen-osel.org/issue9.pdf Shenpen Osel Issue 9]
*[http://www.shenpen-osel.org/issue10.pdf Shenpen Osel Issue 10]
*[https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=869| Himalayan Art block prints of seven Medicine Buddhas]


[[Category: Buddhas and Deities]]
[[Category: Buddhas and Deities]]
[[Category: Tibetan Medicine]]
[[Category: Tibetan Medicine]]

Latest revision as of 15:34, 7 December 2023

Buddha of Medicine

Buddha of Medicine (Skt. Buddha Bhaiṣajya-guru; Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་སྨན་བླ་, Sangyé Menla, Wyl. sangs rgyas sman bla) is an important buddha in the Mahayana tradition, whose main initial vow as a bodhisattva was to become able to completely free all sentient beings from their illnesses.

In the Tibetan Kangyur, there are three sutras primarily concerned with the Buddha of Medicine. One sets forth the twelve aspirations of the Buddha of Medicine, another sets forth the aspirations of the seven other buddhas of medicine, and the third is a very short sutra which sets forth the dharanis or mantras of the various buddhas of medicine.[1] Also, he is central to the Four Medical Tantras, which are the basis of Tibetan medicine, and to many sadhanas of healing.

When the Buddha of Medicine appears as a deity in sadhanas of healing, because deities are a means of communication, the form or appearance of each deity reflects the different activities which they embody and in which they engage, and are determined by the aspirations they made at the time of their initial generation of bodhichitta.

In the case of the Buddha of Medicine there is a specific set of twelve aspirations that relate to his primary motivation to remove the physical and mental suffering of beings in general, but primarily mental and physical illness caused through imbalance of the elements.[2]

A Note on the Name

Within the Buddhist scriptures the Buddha of Medicine is called Bhaishajya-Guru or Vaidurya-prabha-raja (Skt. Vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja; Tib. bai dUrya ’od kyi rgyal po). ‘Buddha of Medicine’ is a non-literal meaning translation of his actual Sanskrit name. Bhaishajya-Guru literally translates as ‘Master of Medicine’ and Vaidurya-prabha-raja[3] as ‘Radiant Lapis Lazuli King’.

Names of the seven other buddhas of medicine

Buddha Bhaiṣajya-guru has seven accompanying buddhas in his retinue. One of these is Buddha Shakyamuni.

  • Excellent Name (Tib. མཚན་ལེགས་, Tsen Lek, Wyl. mtshan legs)
  • Appearance of Stainless Fine Gold (Tib. གསེར་བཟང་དྲི་མེད་སྣང་བ་ , Ser Zang Drimé Nangwa, Wyl. gser bzang dri med snang ba)
  • Glorious Supreme One Free from Sorrow (Tib. མྱ་ངན་མེད་མཆོག་དཔལ་, Nya Ngen Mé Chok Pal , Wyl. mya ngan med mchog dpal)
  • Melodious Proclamation of Dharma (Tib. ཆོས་བསྒྲགས་དབྱངས་ , Chö Drak Yang, Wyl. chos bsgrags dbyangs)
  • King of Clear Knowing (Tib. མངོན་མཁྱེན་རྒྱལ་པོ ་, Ngön Khyen Gyalpo, Wyl. mngon mkhyen rgyal po)
  • King of Melodious Sound (Tib. སྒྲ་དབྱངས་རྒྱལ་པོ་ , Drayang Gyalpo, Wyl. sgra dbyangs rgyal po)
  • King of the Shakyas (Tib. ཤཱ་ཀྱའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ , Shakyé Gyalpo , Wyl. shA kya’i rgyal po)

References

  1. Thrangu Rinpoche, Medicine Buddha Teachings, Snow Lion Publications ISBN 1-55939-216-9, page 105.
  2. Thrangu Rinpoche, Medicine Buddha Teachings, Snow Lion Publications ISBN 1-55939-216-9, pages 105-117.
  3. Vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja literally implies ‘a king who radiates with the colour of lapis lazuli.’

Transmissions Given to the Rigpa Sangha

Tibetan Texts

  • Derge Kangyur, vol.87, ff.274r-283v., Wyl. 'phags pa bcom ldan 'das sman gyi bla bai DUR+Ya'i 'od kyi sngon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
  • 'phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa bdun gyi sngon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
  • 'phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa'i ting nge 'dzin gyi stobs bskyed pa bai DUR+Ya'i 'od ces bya ba'i gzungs

Further Reading

  • Tulku Thondup, Boundless Healing (Shambhala: Boston, 2001), Part Three, Chapter Eight: 'Meditation on the Healing Buddha', pages 131-171

Internal Links

External Links