Meet The Medicine Buddha

In a meditative state, you are introduced to the Medicine Buddha, who attained Buddhahood by following 12 vows to resolve suffering in the world. You visualize being filled up with healing substance from his bowl. His mantra is introduced during your healing. This mantra, usually chanted 108 times before a bowl of water which is drunk, is practiced thoruoughly in my long and short visualizations Healing in the Thought Field and in my Medicine Buddha Mantra, which I chant 108 times in Tibetan.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Jim Steed.

Today I'm going to guide you in a medicine Buddha meditation.

I'm not promoting any religion known to you.

I'm a Tender,

One who tends to the well-being and growth of others.

The medicine Buddha was a Bodhisattva who achieved Buddhahood through tending to the suffering of all living beings.

He is usually depicted as having blue skin,

Wearing a saffron orange monk's robe,

Sitting cross-legged on a lotus,

One hand at his knee holding a medicinal plant,

And the other holding a blue bowl with white nectar or some other white substance.

His sutra outlines his twelve vows as a Bodhisattva,

Most of which are related to the alleviation of people's suffering.

His dedicated pursuit of these vows led to his Buddhahood.

There is a mantra chanted in Tibetan dedicated to him for the healing of others.

The short form goes,

Dayada Om Beken Ze,

Beken Ze,

Maha Beken Ze,

Raja Samogare Soha.

This mantra has been recited in the Tibetan language for centuries.

It is recited to overcome mental,

Physical,

And spiritual sickness.

I will guide you in a creative visualization and meditation on the medicine Buddha using the Buddha as a metaphor.

To prepare,

Use the restroom if necessary.

Settle yourself in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed and put on your earphones or earbuds.

Then get into your favorite meditation position.

If you can sit cross-legged,

Fine.

If not,

Sit straight with feet flat on the floor,

Hands on your knees.

Push the sky up with the crown of your head and let your shoulders drop,

Hanging your muscles on them like they were on a hanger.

Find your center by leaning a little to the side and letting your body go backwards and forwards,

Slowly to the center like a metronome,

Back and forth until it rests quietly in the center.

Sit there and breathe in,

I am,

And out,

Relaxing.

One more time.

Breathe in,

I am,

And out,

Relaxing.

To train your body how to relax,

First relax the muscles around your eyes.

Will them to honestly relax.

Keep relaxing them until they are closed down,

Tight like a heavy metal roll down garage door.

If they are honestly relaxed,

They will want to stay closed down.

On the inside of your head,

Behind your eyelids,

Look up towards your third eye and then try your eyelids.

When you find that they want to stay closed,

Breathe in,

Gather up all that relaxation and breathe out,

Sending it down in a wave through your facial muscles,

Your chest and abdomen,

Hips and thighs,

Calves,

Feet and out,

Feeling wonderful all the way.

Do it again.

When you are sure they are locked,

Take a deep breath in and breathe out,

Sending this relaxing feeling to your whole body,

Starting at your face,

To your chest and arms,

Stomach and butt,

Knees and feet and out in joy.

Now that your body is relaxed,

Continue breathing naturally.

Let every breath out relax you more and more as you listen to my work.

Let's get present now,

Present in the here and now.

As you sit there,

I wonder what sounds you notice here and now.

My voice of course,

The background music,

Perhaps sounds inside the room or outside the room.

What physical sensation do you feel here and now?

Have you noticed the feeling of your butt on the surface it touches,

Your feet on the surface they touch,

Or the air coming in and out of your nose?

We have just repeated the Medicine Buddha mantra once.

The Medicine Buddha is usually depicted as seated cross-legged on a lotus flower.

He has blue skin and wears a saffron colored robe.

One hand is at his knee holding a medicinal plant and the other hand is holding a blue bowl near his heart and of course he has that peaceful half sleepy joyful look on his face.

You can imagine how wonderful it would be if your face had that same look and just keep relaxing.

Today we practice the Medicine Buddha mantra.

Dayada om,

Bekenze,

Bekenze,

Maha Bekenze,

Rajasama gare soha.

There is another mantra many people know.

It's the Hare Krishna mantra.

The Hare Krishna,

Krishna Krishna,

Krishna Krishna,

Hare Hare mantra.

I wonder which mantra makes you feel more comfortable?

The Medicine Buddha mantra or the Hare Krishna mantra?

I wonder which mantra quiets you down more?

The Medicine Buddha mantra or the Hare Krishna mantra?

In most Medicine Buddha art he is depicted as having blue skin.

I wonder what that kind of skin would be like?

Would it be soft or hard?

Warm or cool?

He wears orange robes and I wonder if they are made of silk or linen?

And which would feel better to you,

More comfortable to you,

Silk or linen?

There are many Buddhas,

108.

There are a couple that are very famous.

Which one looks more peaceful and compassionate to you?

The standing goddess of mercy,

Guanyin,

Or the seated Medicine Buddha,

The blue one?

Or the fat laughing Buddha,

The lucky Buddha?

Relax.

Allow yourself to relax more and more.

Relax.

I love the sound of temple gongs,

The smell of certain incenses,

And the peaceful look on Buddha's face.

Which one of these would give you a more profound feeling of peace?

The gong,

The incense,

Or the peaceful face?

Breathe and relax the rest of the way down.

Let yourself relax all the way down.

This is your meditative state.

You can return here easily every time you sit in a meditative position and hear the mantra.

Dayada om.

Relax.

Bakensei.

Relax down.

Bakensei.

More deeply relaxed.

Maha Bakensei.

All the way down.

Rajasamagade.

Soha.

You can rest here,

Quiet and protected.

You can learn here too.

Now listen and learn.

Really learn.

When you do a Medicine Buddha meditation,

You want to imagine the indigo blue Buddha wearing the orange robes,

Holding a plant in one hand and a blue bowl filled with a white substance in the other hand.

This white substance may be a liquid,

An airy mother of pearl cloud,

Or white dry ice fog,

Or light,

Or energy.

It is sensed in different ways by different people.

I do know that the Buddha is imagined to be able to pour it out,

This white substance,

And it will flow and fill things,

Like filling a glass of milk.

The milk goes in from the top to the bottom of the glass,

And then the milk slowly fills the glass from bottom to top.

Imagine the Buddha sitting in one round circle,

Pouring the white substance out,

Filling up that circle until he disappears,

And the whole circle becomes white.

What if that circle represented a cell in your body?

Imagine the Buddha sitting in a cell,

Pouring the white substance,

Filling up that cell until he disappears,

And the whole cell becomes white.

Now know that your body is composed of billions of cells,

And while I chant the Medicine Buddha mantra one time,

All of those cells can resonate with the mantra and fill up with this wonderful white substance.

Dayata Om.

Bacchance.

Bacchance.

Maha Bacchance.

Rajasamogare Soha.

Those billions of Buddhas are all singing at once.

In quantum reality,

There is no space and no time.

So know that the chants of billions of people,

Worshippers,

And monks who have chanted this mantra throughout history are now resonating within you.

Your whole body is filled with this healing substance from the top of your head to your thighs to the bottom of your feet,

Back up to your belly,

Back up and out your heart and hands,

Out into the whole world.

There's no place to go.

There's nothing to do.

Just sit still and quiet and let it flow.

Your conscious mind may not know if it is flowing or how it is flowing.

So when you begin to wonder or get worried about it,

Just focus on the mantra,

Knowing that trying hard just blinds you.

You don't have to do anything but be empty and still,

Letting it flow.

As it flows,

Notice the healing sound of this white feeling as it vibrates.

Behold the healing colors of the quietness and stillness.

As your energetic field is adjusted,

Experience the feeling of the light's melody.

As psychic healing occurs,

It flows with the mantra.

It is good for you to give it freedom to heal without judgment.

So I want another part of you to imagine the answers to these questions while the healing continues on its own,

All by itself.

The questions.

Imagine between knowing and not knowing.

Where does knowing go?

Continue healing.

Imagine when color and darkness disappear.

Where do they go?

Continue healing.

Imagine when sounds and even silence disappears.

Where do they go?

Imagine where thoughts come from and where they go.

Imagine that imagination can disappear.

Where does it go?

Continue healing.

Your higher self knows what to do and how to do it in a way that is most suitable for you for the time being.

When you are ready,

You can use your own time and your own way to return to wakeful awareness,

Happy that you have nurtured yourself,

Happy that you've taken very good care of yourself.

Reviews

Very much enjoyed this meditation. Relaxing, soothing, and edifying! Peace to you, Jim!

So, so relaxing! And with wonderful healing content.

Such a lovely meditation , I feel so relaxed . I will be using this daily .. Thank you Namaste 🙏🏼 📿

One of the best descriptions of letting go into the meditative state. The “imagine” instructions toward the end are evocative and helpful inducement to let go into “emptiness”.
Thank you
.💐 🙏💐

Thank you this was very healing

So healing and relaxing.
Thanks

Amazing. Thank you so much. ❤️🙏

Great teaching meditation. Thank you❤️🙏

Lovely to think all the chants around the world are filling my cells with healing power.

Dear James,
Thank you for this carefully crafted, and so well thought out Medicine Buddha Meditation. It has provided me such comfort and nourishment during this time. I value this one so much that it has become a part of my daily practice. I can feel it’s healing powers through your words and beautiful guided imagery. Thank you so much for your energy and amazing work. Much gratitude. May you be well. May you be healed and happy.

James,

Thank you for this beautiful offering.

I truly enjoyed this meditation ... I loved the relaxation guidance, the explanation of the medicine Buddha, and the contemplation interwoven with the mantra. My body was humming so beautifully 🙏

James, I look forward to the full version. Providing the words and translation is so very helpful and reading along as one chants is a good way to enforce the learning of the words. But then, I find that the vibration of the mantra will sing its song within even if I am only listening and feeling the words. 😊. I enjoy hearing the description and story of the mantra and Buddha as it builds a connection to him.
I must say that I am surprised at how strongly the Blue Buddha resonates within.. what a beautiful gift 🙏🙏🙏

I love this meditation, it came at the right time. The mantra, the soothing, gentle and loving tone of your voice gave me such a comforting feeling of peace and tranquility just what my soul desired. My heart is filled with love and gratitude to you for such a healing gift.🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾💝👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

Thank you for this beautiful new meditation to enter my life. Whenever I listen to that familiar soothing music that you used in the background, I am reminded of a strangely familiar sense of walking through California neighbourhoods with sweet scents of pine and juniper in the background and a warm light basking over me. Thank you for this revisiting.

Thank you 🙏 well guided,and well received! Sending blessings and gratitude 🙏

Love the healing magic 🔮💜🔮
Sending out ☮💜🔮🌈🦄☮ PEACE, LOVE, MAGIC, RAINBOWS & UNICORNS ☮💜🔮🌈🦄
#BELOVE
#BEMAGIC
#LOVETHYTEMPLE
#LOVEWINS

Fascinating. Need to listen another time or two before I have anything more specific to mention.

Not recommended for absolute beginners to meditation.

I honor the Medicine Buddha. As does the meditation.

very empowering and healing meditation thank you