Who’s who in Buddhism, part 2: The Medicine Buddha

Lately I’ve been taking a big interest in the Medicine Buddha ever since I started watching that Japanese series of Buddhist temples, 百寺巡礼 (Hundred Temple Pilgrimage, or hyakuji junrei). The narrator, author Hiroyuki Itsuki, visited Nara Prefecture for the first three DVDs (out of 25), but then moved to Fukui Prefecture, which is on the Japan Sea, but still close to the old capitol of Kyoto. In this part of Japan, the kind of Buddhism established there tends to be much more “old-school” than what you see in east Japan where Zen and Jodo Shinshu are more dominant. I know very little about Japanese Buddhism before the newer “Kamakura-era” schools mentioned, so it’s so fascinating to see how Buddhism looked in an earlier time.

Anyways, many of these famous old temples belong to the Tendai sect of Buddhism, which was dominant at the time, and many have the Medicine Buddha or Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder, enshrined as the main image. It is thought that the Medicine Buddha is a representation of the Buddha-as-a-doctor, so the two can be closely related in a way. But even in more contemporary times, you can see statues of the Medicine Buddha everywhere. My four year daughter took this photo on a recent trip to Japan in 2011 using my camera phone:

Medicine Buddha taken by my daughter

Pretty good for four years old (I did edit a bit). Here again you can see the jar of medicine. At this particular temple, Daienji in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward, you can purchase a small bit of gold leaf to place on the Buddha as an offering. Also, notice that in Japanese Buddhist art, the Medicine Buddha isn’t depicted as “blue” as you see in places like Tibet.

In any case, having seen as these old Japanese temples devoted to the Medicine Buddha, I did some homework and learned more about it. I then found a copy of the Medicine Buddha Sutra in PDF format from Buddhanet. It’s the only to mentioned the Medicine Buddha at all. It’s interesting because in many ways the Medicine Buddha and Amida Buddha are so similar, but in some ways very different:

  • They both have a “pure realm”. For Amida Buddha, the Pure Land exists in Indian thought far, far to the west. Here “west” can also be seen by modern thinkers as death, as the sun sets in that direction. For the Medicine Buddha, his pure realm is in the east, and is named Pure Lapis Lazuli.
  • Both made vows to help all beings while they were bodhisattvas. Amida Buddha’s vows are focused on the Pure Land and how beings will be reborn there. By contrast, the Medicine Buddha seems to focus on vows to assist people in this life, and does not offer a way to be reborn in his pure realm.

Also, while the Medicine Buddha and Amitabha have similar backgrounds and have similar roles, they also help sentient beings in complementary ways so it isn’t necessarily an either/or situation. The Medicine Buddha’s vows focus on this-worldly assistance, while the Buddha Amitabha’s vows focus on the world to come.

By the way, as I like to use this blog as a reference, the Twelve Vows from the Medicine Buddha Sutra are in summary:

  1. To illuminate countless realms with his radiance, enabling others to become a Buddha too.
  2. To awakened the minds of sentient beings through his light of lapis lazuli.
  3. To provide the sentient beings with whatever material needs they require.
  4. To correct heretical views and inspire beings toward the path of the Bodhisattva.
  5. To help beings follow the Moral Precepts, even if they failed before.
  6. To heal beings born with deformities, illness or other physical sufferings.
  7. To help relieve the destitute and the sick.
  8. To help women who wish to be reborn as men achieve their desired rebirth.
  9. To help heal mental afflictions and delusions.
  10. To help the oppressed be free from suffering.
  11. To relieve those who suffer from terrible hunger and thirst.
  12. To help clothe those who are destitute and suffering from cold and mosquitoes.

I posted these on Wikipedia last night by the way. Who needs sleep? :)

The Medicine Buddha also features in Shingon Buddhism, where the mantra used for the Medicine Buddha is:

On koro koro sendari matōgi sowaka

What I find fascinating about the Medicine Buddha is his close association with the historical Buddha, and also the nature of his vows, which are practical in nature, and helpful to those on the Buddhist path. In a way, the Medicine Buddha is much easier to conceive and understand than Amida Buddha and the Pure Land. Also the notion of “healing” beings both mentally and physically has beneficial applications here and now to people who may be put off by more philosophical, metaphysical concepts in Buddhism.

In fact, on my first visit to Japan ever in 2005, I remember visiting temple in rural Kanagawa Prefecture very close to my father-in-law’s childhood home. I was struck at the time by the notion of a Buddha embodying “medicine” and healing people. It seemed different from the kind of “textbook Buddhism” I read as a teenager, but at the same time, embodied the Buddhist notion of tolerance and compassion so well, so that visit really stayed with me when I came back to the US and started to explore Buddhism seriously.

Anyway, that’s a brief look at the Medicine Buddha. :)

On koro koro sendari matōgi sowaka

P.S. Updated this post to include information from 2011.


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