Background to the Medicine Buddha Practice

To the Bhagavan with great compassion,
Whose name when merely heard dispels sufferings
of the lower realms.
Dispeller of disease and the three poisons,
I prostrate to the Medicine Buddha Lapis Lazuli Light.

Many aeons ago, seven bodhisattvas strongly prayed for the temporal and ultimate happiness of all sentient beings and that their names would become wish-fulfuling in order to heal both the mental and physical sicknesses and diseases of sentient beings.

They vowed that their prayers will be actualized during these degenerate times when the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha are in decline. When they became enlightened, one of the ten powers of a Buddha is the power of prayer - that means that all the prayers that have been made get fulfilled.  As the Buddha's holy speech is irrevocable, you can wholly trust in their power to quickly grant blessings to help all sentient beings in these degenerate times. 

They are called the Seven Medicine Buddhas.  The main one is `Lapis Buddha of Medicine, King of Light'.  Buddha Shakyamuni taught the teachings on the Medicine Buddha, and according to one tradition, is also considered as one of the Medicine Buddhas, and hence the Eight Medicine Buddhas.

This is a practice belonging to the Kriya Tantra, the first of the four classes of tantra.  During the retreat, we will do four sessions each day, starting with taking the Eight Mahayana Precepts in the morning, followed by Combined Jorcho/Lama Chopa in the first session, and three sessions of the Medicine Buddha Sadhana.

The sadhana (or method of accomplishment) called "The Source of Benefit and Happiness" consists of taking refuge, generating bodhicitta, and making requests to the Medicine Buddha lineage lamas to receive inspiration. This is followed by a front generation of Medicine Buddha's Mandala, which consists of eight Medicine Buddhas, Manjushri, Chenresig, Vajrapani, Maitreya and the rest of the entourage. In front of this elaborate, beautiful merit field, we recite the mantra of Medicine Buddha to receive blessings. Although accumulating mantra is not the main focus of the retreat, for those who are able, we will try to accumulate 10,000 mantras.

According to the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, we will also do prostrations to the Thirty Five Buddhas before each session. To make the practice more experiential and meaningful, lam rim meditations will be incorporated, as a motivation for the practice and to leave strong imprints of both sutra and tantra in our mindstreams.

At the end of the retreat, we will offer extensive dedication for the long lives of our teachers and for world peace.   There will also be a Dorje Khadro fire puja to purify our negativities and any mistakes made during the retreat.

The Retreat will take place in the Medicine Buddha Gompa of Tushita, in the presence of our eight life-size Medicine Buddha Statues.  

Benefits of the Practice

Our Spiritual Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, explains:

• Any living being who hears the name of Medicine Buddha never gets reborn in the lower realms - that's the benefit of just hearing the name, the mantra of Medicine Buddha.  This is due to the great compassion of the Medicine Buddhas. 

• It is very powerful for purification - it purifies any broken vows or precepts.

• It is very powerful for healing sickness.

• And not only that, it is also very powerful for success.

Normally people think that Medicine Buddha is for healing but it's not only that! You can use the Medicine Buddha practice for ANY purpose, ANY problem, ANYTHING. The Medicine Buddha practice is so precious.

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Requirements to join the Retreat

The retreat requirements change every year according to the retreat structure. 

The basic requirements for every Medicine Buddha retreat are:

• You should be a Buddhist, having formally taken refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.  Those who have not formally taken refuge or who have not participated in a tantric retreat before, will need to have an interview with Tushita’s Spiritual Programme Coordinator and/or the retreat leader.

• Yould should have taken the Medicine Buddha Initiation, which will require taking the Bodhisattva Vows.  Tushita will arrange for the Medicine Buddha Initiation to be given by a qualified tantric master before the retreat starts.  

• You must be familiar with the Lam Rim (the Graduated Path to Enlightenment as presented in the Gelugpa Tibetan Buddhist tradition) and have attended at least one introductory course in Tibetan Buddhism.

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