Medicine Buddha

[Maddie]

I've been doing medicine Buddha more lately. I'm impressed.

[Vajra Fist]

Found a very nice and simple guided sadhana on the Medicine Buddha, for those interested in this practice.

 

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Vajra Fist

[Maddie]

I've been doing this a lot lately and it's really good!

[Maddie]

So once again I begin doing a lot of this practice almost to the point of exclusively and I've also started visualizing the medicine Buddha more often when I do the mantra and I seem to experience more effect from this practice than anything I've done for a while lately.

[Earl Grey]

10 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

So once again I begin doing a lot of this practice almost to the point of exclusively and I've also started visualizing the medicine Buddha more often when I do the mantra and I seem to experience more effect from this practice than anything I've done for a while lately.

 

I got oral transmission earlier this year and empowerment recently via Khentrul Rinpoche. It's one of my favorite practices. 

[Maddie]

3 minutes ago, Earl Grey said:

 

I got oral transmission earlier this year and empowerment recently via Khentrul Rinpoche. It's one of my favorite practices. 

 

I don't know much about oral transmissions or empowerments but I would be curious to hear what your experiences have been with this practice. :-)

[Earl Grey]

15 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

 

I don't know much about oral transmissions or empowerments but I would be curious to hear what your experiences have been with this practice. :-)

 

In general, Medicine Buddha is pretty accessible. The practice from Dzokden group is free and requires neither transmission nor empowerment. 

 

Before transmission, I felt it was a good practice in general to make the vicinity feel more sanctified and elevate my state.

 

After transmission and learning Dzokden's practice, I felt like I could bring Medicine Buddha and the related Tathaghatas to enhance the practice, even tasting sweet water after blessing my offering. 

 

When I got empowerment, I felt more compelled to do the practice and aware of people's states, even people acting weird, hostile, or generally unpleasant as merely having an illness affecting their conduct, whether it is emotions, poverty and other circumstances, physical pain, or karma, and animals definitely respond more. 

[Maddie]

On 9/26/2021 at 10:25 AM, Earl Grey said:

 

In general, Medicine Buddha is pretty accessible. The practice from Dzokden group is free and requires neither transmission nor empowerment. 

 

Before transmission, I felt it was a good practice in general to make the vicinity feel more sanctified and elevate my state.

 

After transmission and learning Dzokden's practice, I felt like I could bring Medicine Buddha and the related Tathaghatas to enhance the practice, even tasting sweet water after blessing my offering. 

 

When I got empowerment, I felt more compelled to do the practice and aware of people's states, even people acting weird, hostile, or generally unpleasant as merely having an illness affecting their conduct, whether it is emotions, poverty and other circumstances, physical pain, or karma, and animals definitely respond more. 

 

Is there a good method for finding out which practices are best for any one given individual? I have been very impressed with medicine Buddha practice lately.

[Earl Grey]

6 minutes ago, dmattwads said:

 

Is there a good method for finding out which practices are best for any one given individual? I have been very impressed with medicine Buddha practice lately.

 

You could consult with an appropriate teacher. I just asked Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who uses divination to see what are good practices for you from a Dharma and Karma perspective. Send him an e-mail, which a friend of mine did and then gave me the same information to inquire for my own practice too. It may take a few weeks, so please be patient.  https://fpmt.org/fpmt/iofstaff/lama-zopa-rinpoches-assistant/

 

Eric Isen reads it on a health level more, so that is another option. 

[Indiken]

1 hour ago, dmattwads said:

 

Is there a good method for finding out which practices are best for any one given individual? I have been very impressed with medicine Buddha practice lately.

 

Impressed by what changes?

Edited October 4, 2021 by Indiken

[Maddie]

7 hours ago, Indiken said:

 

Impressed by what changes?

 

I had to run into a wall with a particular type of attachment that I seemed to be getting nowhere with until I tried the medicine Buddha mantra.

[Earl Grey]

Sharing this while trying to help my dog who has been having stomach problems the past few weeks: 

 

 

[johndoe2012]

Join the Medicine Buddha puja Oct 27

 

https://garchen.net/annual-events/#medicine-buddha

 

From the website:

 

Quote

Medicine Buddha Puja

In Honor of H.H. The Drikung Kyabgon
Chokyi Nangwa 80th Birthday
&
To Help End The Pandemic

 H.E. Garchen Rinpoche
and Garchen Institute Lamas

 October 27
11:00am – 12pm PDT (UTC-7)

Message from H.E. Garchen Rinpoche

To all my dharma friends in the world,

I request you all to begin the accumulation of 100 million Medicine Buddha mantras on the occasion of H.H.  the Drikung Kyabgon Chokyi Nangwa’s 80th Birthday Celebration. 

Also now it seems that unless we perform many strong pujas and practices it will be very difficult to stop the pandemic in the world.  And if we cannot stop it, then a lot of precious human lives get wasted and it’s very difficult to end it because of the karma and obscurations of sentient beings.  If we were to recite 100 million Medicine Buddha mantras that would help bring an end to the pandemic.

 In brief anyone who wishes to stop the spread of this deadly disease should recite the Medicine Buddha mantra.  It doesn’t matter what lineage or faith you practice or who you are – the person or the lineage makes no difference.  When you recite the Medicine Buddha mantra then ideally you will not get the disease and even if you get it, you will not die from it. So that is how the mantra recitation makes a difference. So please keep this in mind. 

 

The Medicine Buddha Sadhana will be posted for free download before the event begins. 

The Garchen Institute will host a Medicine Buddha Puja once a month. Starting on October 27 a mantra counter will be on our website for you to submit your mantras.  

 

Calling on the worldwide sangha to come together to help extinquish the pandemic!

 

[Vajra Fist]

Thinking back on the timing of this post, made me realise a few things. 

 

About six months after I started practicing this, I changed jobs with a salary of double what I was on previously. 

 

Accordingly, we were able to move out of rented accommodation and buy our own place about a year later. We got a dog, my son got good grades and went to an excellent secondary school, my work introduced flexible working.

 

Because of that, I had the time and energy to start a regular daily meditation practice. 

 

Quote

‘I vow that in a future life when I attain Bodhi, I will, by means of limitless, unbounded wisdom and skill-in-means, enable all sentient beings to obtain an inexhaustible supply of material necessities so they are without the slightest want.’

 

I feel like my practice at this time generated a lot of blessings, which not only created a comfortable environment for cultivation, but also set me on the right path.

 

Quote

...afterward, by means of the flavor of Dharma, to settle in ultimate peace and happiness.'"

 

I have also come to realise that it is very difficult to cultivate without receiving blessings from a buddha. For instance, I've found that karmic obstacles can arise, such as the dog being sick on the carpet as soon as you sit down, or an amazon delivery. They seem like coincidences, but have the effect of disrupting your sitting.

 

 

 

While my attitude over the years has shifted toward self-power, away from other-power, I've come to believe that some form of devotional practice is hugely important.

 

Aside from returning to regular sutra study and mantra practice, I have started making financial donations to mahayana teachers that promote the medicine buddha dharma, as recommended by the sutra. I also plan to start a regular practice of bowing toward an image of this buddha, as soon as I can find a consecrated statue.

 

 

[Maddie]

2 hours ago, Vajra Fist said:

Thinking back on the timing of this post, made me realise a few things. 

 

About six months after I started practicing this, I changed jobs with a salary of double what I was on previously. 

 

Accordingly, we were able to move out of rented accommodation and buy our own place about a year later. We got a dog, my son got good grades and went to an excellent secondary school, my work introduced flexible working.

 

Because of that, I had the time and energy to start a regular daily meditation practice. 

 

 

I feel like my practice at this time generated a lot of blessings, which not only created a comfortable environment for cultivation, but also set me on the right path.

 

 

I have also come to realise that it is very difficult to cultivate without receiving blessings from a buddha. For instance, I've found that karmic obstacles can arise, such as the dog being sick on the carpet as soon as you sit down, or an amazon delivery. They seem like coincidences, but have the effect of disrupting your sitting.

 

 

 

While my attitude over the years has shifted toward self-power, away from other-power, I've come to believe that some form of devotional practice is hugely important.

 

Aside from returning to regular sutra study and mantra practice, I have started making financial donations to mahayana teachers that promote the medicine buddha dharma, as recommended by the sutra. I also plan to start a regular practice of bowing toward an image of this buddha, as soon as I can find a consecrated statue.

 

 

 

I listen to the Medicine Buddha mantra almost daily along with other mantras, and a lot of the time I feel like nothing is happening :-(

 

 

[Vajra Fist]

6 minutes ago, Maddie said:

 

I listen to the Medicine Buddha mantra almost daily along with other mantras, and a lot of the time I feel like nothing is happening :-(

 

 

 

I didn't even notice during the process, it's only in hindsight. 

[Maddie]

21 minutes ago, Vajra Fist said:

 

I didn't even notice during the process, it's only in hindsight. 

 

Do you make sutras a practice? I seem to have a hard time getting into that.

[Vajra Fist]

2 hours ago, Maddie said:

 

Do you make sutras a practice? I seem to have a hard time getting into that.

 

I just listen to it when I walk the dog, maybe once or twice a week. Always pick up something new whenever I hear it, it's pretty rich. 

[Apech]

4 hours ago, Maddie said:

 

I listen to the Medicine Buddha mantra almost daily along with other mantras, and a lot of the time I feel like nothing is happening :-(

 

 

you would benefit from getting the empowerment from a qualified lama

[johndoe2012]

13 hours ago, Apech said:

you would benefit from getting the empowerment from a qualified lama

 

My experience is you can get it from youtube recordings (eg Garchen Buddhist Institute) but maybe better live from a lama. 

[Apech]

1 hour ago, johndoe2012 said:

 

My experience is you can get it from youtube recordings (eg Garchen Buddhist Institute) but maybe better live from a lama. 

Traditionally the wang and lung is needed.

[Maddie]

7 hours ago, Apech said:

Traditionally the wang and lung is needed.

 

I feel like the art of mantra/chanting is very complex and nuanced. 

[Apech]

18 minutes ago, Maddie said:

 

I feel like the art of mantra/chanting is very complex and nuanced. 

yes it is - in the tradition I am linked to this is how it is taught.  But there are other traditions of course.

[Maddie]

3 minutes ago, Apech said:

yes it is - in the tradition I am linked to this is how it is taught.  But there are other traditions of course.

 

I didn't realize one could "meow" a mantra heehee 

[silent thunder]