Detail of a Buddha Shakyamuni image holding a myrobolan fruit, 

Rattanakosin style, 19th century CE

​

Originating in the area of modern-day Nepal, Buddhism was then divided into two main strands: Theravada and Mahayana. Theravada Buddhism, travelling south and practised today in Thailand, retained the original precepts of the doctrine. Thus, for this conservative 'School of the Elders', Shakyamuni remains the universal healer and his doctrine a remedy against suffering.

​

However, Mahayana Buddhism, spreading north, especially to China, evolved according to cultural influences. As a result, the importance placed by these societies on health and traditional medicines may have given rise initially to the concept of a master healer who eliminates the essential disease: ignorance. This healer was eventually named Bhaisajyaguru, the one who seeks the right treatment, also known as the Medicine Buddha.

 

Vajrayana Buddhism further developed the character of Bhaisajyaguru with seven bodies that the Medicine Buddha can assume in his functions as a healer. Those emanations are sometimes even considered as divinities in their own right and pictorial representations of Bhaisajyaguru in Tibet can show him surrounded by those embodiments.

​

Tibetan representation of Bhaisajyaguru surrounded by his emanations and other deities (Thangka)

(Photo credits:

https://davidlai.typepad.com/.a/6a01310fb8e76f970c0133f5a079a2970b-600wi)

​

Bhaisajyaguru, as blue as…

Bhaisajyaguru's full Sanskrit name means 'master of medicine and king of lapis lazuli'. For this reason, the iconography of the Healing and Medicine Buddha often depicts him in blue, or sometimes the images are even carved in lapis lazuli.

 

Strikingly, lapis lazuli, a sedimentary rock containing silicates which give it an azure blue colour, is said in lithotherapy to be a stone of balance, appeasement, regulation and repair, restoring both physical and psychological impairments. Those who practice lithotherapy say that it uplifts the soul and stabilises the mind.

 

In Mahayana Buddhism, Bhaisajyaguru is considered one of the five jinas or dhyany buddhas, known as meditating buddhas. His final life is depicted in the Medicine Buddha Sutra. He lived during the time of the historical Buddha and was a great physician and healer, having cured many people of illness and widely taught the dharma. After the death of Shakyamuni, he travelled, permanently healing with compassion and teaching the dharma. He enunciated his Twelve Great Vows as a bodhisattva and achieved enlightenment through the practice of compassion. Becoming Buddha, he is associated with the vaidurya nirbhasa, the 'Eastern Kingdom of the Pure Lapis Lazuli', where he is assisted by two bodhisattvas who emanate from him, Suryaphraba and Candraprabha, respectively symbolising the sun and the moon.

​

Left: Phra Phaisajchayaguru holding a vajra; right: Bodhisttava Surayaprabha holding a medicine jar

 

Mayahana Buddhist images commissioned by Jayavarman VII, Thailand, Chang Pi sanctuary, Khmer style, 12th century CE

​

The Twelve Great Vows of Bhaisajyaguru

The functions of Bhaisajyaguru are defined through his Twelve Great Vows, expressed as a bodhisattva. Those compassionate vows give him a very wide field of action on all sentient beings and are invoked through four specific and repeated mantras. In the sutra dedicated to the Medicine Buddha, he is described as having reached a state of samadhi (intense concentration obtained by meditation) called 'elimination of all sufferings and afflictions of sentient beings'. Thus, he recited a dharani (melody with magical power) from which are derived the four mantras.

​

The four functions of Bhaisajyaguru could therefore be summarised as follows:

• A religious function, to exalt the way of the bodhisattva (e.g., the 1st wish, 'to illuminate with one aura to enable everyone to become a buddha just like him')

• A spiritual function, to establish a guide to moral life (e.g., the 5th wish, 'to help beings to follow moral principles')

• A curative function, to relieve the body as well as the mind (e.g., the 6th wish, 'to heal beings who are born with deformities, illness or other physical sufferings')

• A social function, to help the poorest (e.g., the 12th wish, 'to clothe those who are destitute and who suffer from the cold and mosquitoes')

 

Images and rites of Bhaisajyaguru in Mahayana Buddhist countries

Nowadays, the colour blue is often associated with images of Bhaisajyaguru: statues are created with lapis lazuli or painted blue as are paintings, murals and other drawings representing the image in blue or surrounded by it. Nevertheless, several images in wood, bronze or another metal can also be found which are not in this specific colour.

 

Being a meditating Buddha, Bhaisajyaguru is usually represented seated, on a lotus flower pedestal, dressed in the three robes of the Buddhist monk, covering the shoulders but opening on the torso. A chubby face and a slightly plump body are a sign of his good health, and his ushnisha can take the shape of a tiny sugarloaf.

 

In most depictions, the Bhaisajyaguru holds a medical nectar jar in his left hand. In his right hand, resting on the right knee, between thumb and forefinger, he can also hold a myrobalan fruit (Terminalia chebula), a fleshy fruit with a stone. Because of its astringent properties, the dried fruit enters into the composition of many medicinal preparations.

 

The Medicine Buddha is highly revered in countries practising Mahayana Buddhism. In China, it is an integral part of the 'Trinity of Buddhas', associated with the Buddha Shakyamuni and Amithaba, the Buddha of the West. It is in Tibet though that a cult in its own right is dedicated to him. He is invoked there to cure illnesses of body and mind and also to cure ignorance or purify bad karma. If you adhere to this precept, you should recite the very long Medicine Buddha mantra over a glass of water in case of illness. You will then drink the water which has been blessed with the power of the mantra and Bhaisajyaguru himself. You will have to repeat this operation every day until complete healing… if it occurs!

​

And Bhaisajyaguru in Thailand?

As Thailand practices Theravada Buddhism, the belief in a Medicine Buddha is not shared here, and Shakyamuni remains the universal healer. Nonetheless, another character Phra Kring enables devotees to practice purity of body and soul, as he is endowed with great teaching powers for human beings. He is very often represented in the form of amulets which, among other things, bring long life, wealth, health, and harmony within the home. Because of this last function, a Phra Kring amulet is uniquely transmitted from generation to generation in the same family.

​