What Do We Mean When We Say That The Medicine Buddha Blesses Us?
We often read or hear about receiving the blessings of Buddhas such as the Medicine Buddha. But what does that actually mean? Perhaps we recite the Medicine Buddha sadhana and say the Medicine Buddha mantras. With altruistic motivation we do it for the benefit of all beings, and we may even make our own special requests for someone we know who is in need of some help. What are the blessings of the Medicine Buddha and how do they arrive?
In general, for anything to occur or manifest, two factors need to come together: Cause(s) and Condition(s).
Causes refer to karmic seeds that were planted in the past by thoughts, words, and actions. The word karma itself means action. In the case of the Medicine Buddha this refers to aspirational intentions that were made before the Medicine Buddha became enlightened. More will be said about this later.
Conditions refer to the circumstances that must be present for the karmic seeds to actually ripen.
A simple example is used to illustrate this. If we want to produce apples, several things must be present. First of all, of course, we need an apple seed. Not a sunflower seed or any other type, but an apple seed. And we need to use not just any old apple seed. It must be whole and healthy. It cannot be burnt or dried out or moldy. It must be in good enough condition to sprout. The apple seed corresponds to the karmic seed. That is, the past thoughts, words, or actions.
In addition, to produce apples, we need a variety of conducive conditions. We need proper soil, moisture, pollination, temperature etc. As well, we need an absence of unfavorable conditions such as pests, windstorms, and so on.
Then, and only then, when have all the necessary causes and conditions coming together will we see apples growing on the apple tree. Similarly, the law of karma holds that to receive the blessings of the Medicine Buddha, the necessary causes and conditions must be present.
So how does all this apply to the blessings of the Medicine Buddha? First of all, we should understand that there are 8 Medicine Buddhas, counting Shakyamuni Buddha. Before they became enlightened Buddhas, these were ordinary beings who practiced the Dharma and became spiritually advanced Bodhisattvas. They made specific aspirations that, once they became enlightened and were in a position to do so, they would help beings who were in need.*
The Medicine Buddhas made numerous different types of aspirations, such as helping beings who were sick, destitute, or in dangerous situations, like perilous childbirth. They aspired to be able to manifest this help when they became fully enlightened Buddhas. When beings become enlightened, they are endowed with numerous qualities and powers. One of these powers is called the power of prayer. This refers to having the power to actualize aspirational prayers which were made before enlightenment. These aspirations were the seeds planted by the Medicine Buddhas which were to ripen later.
So those aspirations are the seeds that are necessary to manifest the results. What about the conditions? That’s where we come in. We create the conditions by supplicating the Medicine Buddha through the practice of the Medicine Buddha sadhana and the recitation of the Medicine Buddha mantras. We need to create the connection to the Medicine Buddha by opening up to receive the benefits. Sincerely doing the practices with the right motivation is how this happens. It is said that the Buddhas are like a hook and we are like a ring. The two must come together for a connection to be made.
What are the blessings of the Medicine Buddha then? They are the actualization of the aspirations of the Medicine Buddha which we have requested. Practitioners who are devoted to this practice have seen these results manifest. Sometimes the result can be very dramatic.
Now a sceptical person might respond that the result was just a coincidence. And they might be right in the sense that something appears to be coincidental. But coincidence is just the label that our conventional mind puts on the result. It’s called a coincidence because that’s what our culture tells us to call it. Most of us have been raised in a mechanistic culture which has little room for spiritual interventions. We explain things from a limited point of view.
Lama Zopa has said that if a person is very sceptical about all of this, it would be better if they just remained neutral, rather than to totally disbelieve in the Medicine Buddha blessings. The reason is that a strong disbelief will make it harder in the future for the person to have any connection with or benefit from the Medicine Buddha. As mentioned, persons who diligently practice the Medicine Buddha practices often have seen enough “coincidences” to believe that these are actually blessings of the Medicine Buddha. In short,the coincidence is the blessing of the Medicine Buddha.
*(For more on this topic, please listen to the audio “Who Is The Medicine Buddha?”)
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