Drinking our Medicine
Susan Ji-on Postal, Sensei
Empty Hand Zen Center, New Rochelle, NY
August 1, 2010
​
In these last months our well-being altar has been the focus of much chanting and many prayers. The gift of a lovely small statue of the Medicine Buddha now keeps photographs of Darlene and Dennis company, along with fresh garden flowers and dried rose petals for incense. In response to questions about this new statue in the zendo, this talk was recently offered.
Some have called Shakyamuni Buddha the Great Physician. His teaching, the Buddhadharma, has been labeled as strong medicine which heals the root of our suffering – greed, anger and delusion. This power of Healing has been traditionally depicted as the power of the Medicine Buddha, Baisajyaguru in Sanskrit. I would like to explore the teachings around this Medicine Buddha, always inviting us to enter these practices non-dualistically. This is offered so that each of us can discover a way to drink deeply of the medicine which is offered and simultaneously send it forth to relieve suffering everywhere.
This Medicine Buddha appears in both Mahayana Sutras as well as in Vajrayana teaching of the Tibetan tradition. In our time, the most developed teachings and practices come to us from Tibetan teachers, but mention is certainly found in Chinese and Japanese Zen and Shingon practice.
The Medicine Buddha is a representation of a particular cluster of energy, of powers. It is not an image of a teacher who lived once upon a time. It belongs in the class of “heavenly” or “celestial” Buddhas, each of whom have a particular quality. An image of the Medicine Buddha depicts the unique characteristics of this cluster of enlightened energy. The Medicine Buddha is seated in the lotus position wearing simple monks’ robes, and at first glance might be mistaken for the historical Buddha. He is distinguished by his hands – the right hand is in the “Varada” Mudra of generosity, which rests on the right knee, facing out, and fingers almost touching the ground, with palm facing outward. This hand holds the stem of a Myrobalan plant, its leaves and fruits in an upward position. His left hand holds an iron pot of elixir, of medicine, which is the antidote for the three poisons - greed, anger and delusion.
I asked our own botanist, Sangha member Chuck Peters, for more information about this Myrobalan plant, and discovered that in fact it is not mythological, but a real tree (Terminalia chebula) which grows in India and some parts of southern Asia, from China, to Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Vietnam. The fruit, a small hard ribbed nut-like berry, holds the medicinal properties. The seed is regarded as a universal panacea in the Ayurvedic and Tibetan medicine. It is reputed to cure blindness and inhibit the growth of tumors. It is also used to produce Kala Namak, a dark salt used in Indian cooking. Further, the dry nut’s peel is used to cure cold-related nagging coughs. The fruit itself is also anti- inflammatory, cardio-tonic, and generally restorative. Goodness, no wonder it is legendary!
Sometimes the Medicine Buddha appears in a painting, a Thangka, with Baisajyaguru seated with two Bodhsattvas in attendance – “splendor of the Moon” and “splendor of the Sun” - making clear that at all times of the day and night the
manifestation of this Buddha is available. When he appears as a painted image, his body is colored the deep radiant blue of the gemstone Lapis Lazuli. This gemstone, treasured on many ancient Asian cultures, has always been thought to balance emotional swings of those who wear it or hold it.
There is a Chinese folktale which points out the healing power of Lapis, and the oneness of that gem with Baisajyaguru. This tale also holds a clear teaching on the powerful energy generated by the chanting of Mantra (Dharani in Japanese).
Sutras, generally defined as teachings from the Buddha, have a message for us, a particular point of instruction and guidance. Mantra, on the other hand, offer us a direct experience of some vibration at the energy-body (Sambhogakaya) level. Mantra are not chanted for us to receive some meaning, they are voiced to directly infuse us with their power.
So here is this ancient Chinese tale, a distilled version. Once upon a time a small boy, Ah Foo, the youngest of 5, lived with his widowed mother. One day while gathering wood in the snow he discovered giant footprints coming out of the
woods. That night a big Dragon looked at him through the window, nobody in his family believed him. Eventually he followed this dragon and came to cave where they rescued a beautiful rare piece of blue Jade from some evil dragons. Ah Foo took it home, told nobody, wrapped it well and hid it safely. Not long after his mother became gravely ill. Ah Foo, standing outside the door, overheard the doctor say that there was nothing more he could do and he expressed worry about all the children. In the night Ah Foo unwrapped the blue stone and took it to his mother, telling her the story of the dragon and putting it in her hand. In the early morning Ah Foo and his mother noticed that there was an inscription on the reverse side of the blue stone. Carefully they examined it by the light of a candle. They slowly read aloud the 52 syllables, not knowing that they were the mantra of the Buddha of Healing. Not being well educated people, they didn’t realize the significance of the inscription. But much to their surprise, Ah Foo’s mother was soon able get up, walk
around, and seemed well recovered. She wanted the stone returned to its rightful owner so she sent Ah Foo to bring it to a distant monastery to consult with the abbot. He had a reputation of super-normal powers – he would know how to return it. This holy abbot held the blue stone and meditated on it. He told Ah Foo that it was indeed a very precious and very old stone that belonged to Baisajyaguru, the Buddha of Healing. Now the problem was how to get it to him. The abbot suggested that they both meditate with it for an answer. While seated in meditation, a celestial messenger appeared before them with outstretched hands. Carefully, Ah Foo placed the precious jewel into the hands of the Celestial Being, who then vanished. * What I find important in this story is that neither Ah Foo nor his mother had
any idea about the nature of this special stone nor, once they read the syllables, of the meaning written there. The miracle of the mother’s recovery was not because she believed in the stone’s power, or because she had faith in the Medicine
Buddha. The miracle happened because they recited the Mantra, just sounding out the sounds, very carefully, with their own voices. It is like my Tibetan teacher said so long ago in answer to my question about the importance of belief in Mantra practice. He said it was just like a bar of soap. You don’t have to believe in it, but you have to pick it up and use it. It doesn’t clean us if we leave it sitting in the soap dish and look at it. We have to turn on the water, pick up the soap, rub our hands, just as learned as a child. So too with chanting Dharani, or Mantras, which invoke the energy of particular Buddhas or Bodhsattvas - no faith required, but attentive and wholehearted vocalizing is essential. Some of you requested a translation, even if approximate, for this Dharani, as we have for the invocation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion and for the Dharani to Remove Hindrances. Looking for some translations of the meaning of these syllables, I found two that were helpful. The first was in an article about Tibetan Medicine which noted that all Tibetan doctors recite this mantra, in Sanskrit, before they start their work. After word by word notations, the overall sense is given as
follows:
“I make my deep bows to you who destroyed the enemy of life cycle changes, King of clear blue light, who has thus gone to the state of enlightenment like other Buddhas, who perfectly accomplished the quality of the Buddha, the supreme
physician who is fully liberated and awakened, the enlightened one. Medicine Buddha, King of the physicians.” **
And also a beautiful translation by Gary Snyder in his poem Blue Sky
“I honor the Medicine Buddha, the Master of Healing Shining like lapis lazuli, the king, the Thus Come One,
The Saint, the perfectly enlightened one, saying Om to the Healing to the Healing, to the Healer Hail! Svaha!“ ***
It is from these two that the words which seem suitable to use here in our Zendo, and enter in our Sutra Book, seemed to fall into place. As I started to work with this new Dharani, I initially encountered something unexpected. I have become at ease with the experience of invoking the Bodhisattvas – Kanzeon, Jizo, Manjushri – and knowing intimately that qualities of
my own functioning are being called forth. It seemed difficult, at first, to invoke this radiant blue Buddha and know this is an aspect of my own awakened nature which is being activated or invited. I was surprised at how easily the subtle sense of separation would arise, how I could easily find myself with a somewhat dualistic view in which this beautiful blue Buddha is “out there” and I can call on its powers. This shifts now, gradually. The sense of “not-two” comes to be more bodily
experienced as the sounds become familiar, the chanting fuller and more rhythmic. My guess is that when it no longer needs to be read and is known by heart, then the taste of deep blue medicine will know no inside, no outside. Then it isn’t that we drink deeply, but we and all beings everywhere are being infused.
Let’s close with the words of Gary Snyder, from his poem The Blue Sky:
“Eastward from here,
beyond Buddha-worlds ten times as
numerous as the sands of the Ganges
there is a world called
PURE AS LAPIS LAZULI
its Buddha is called Master of Healing,
AZURE RADIANCE TATHAGATA
it would take you twelve thousand summer vacations
driving a car east all day every day
to reach the edge of the Lapis Lazuli realm of
Medicine Old Man Buddha - East.
Old Man Realm
East across the sea, yellow sand land
Coyote old man land
Silver, and stone blue
Invocation of the Medicine Buddha
Being one with
The Medicine Buddha, the Master of Healing
Shining like lapis lazuli, like a King,
The thus come one, the conqueror of suffering,
The perfectly enlightened one, the supreme physician,
Praise to the Healing, the Healing, the Healer
May it be so.
Bhaisajyaguru Dharani
Na mo bha ga va te bhai sa jya guru vai du rya
pra bha ra ja ya ta tha ga ta ya ar ha te
sam yak sam bud dha ya ta dya ta om
bhai sa jye bhai sa jye bhai sa jya
sam mud ga te sva ha.
​
Notes:
Bows of thanks to Rafe and Rose Martin who both suggested that it might be very helpful to start chanting the Medicine Buddha Dharani at this time.
"The Boy and the Dragon”, Buddhist Stories for Young and Old, Ven. Sumangale, Poh Ern
Temple, Singapore, 1959. p 71-73. Many thanks to Rafe Martin for this reference.
** Tibetmed.org, Medicine Buddha Mantra, Dr. Namseling
*** “The Blue Sky”, Mountains and Rivers Without End, Gary Snyder, p. 41
**** as above, p. 40