A gentle note before we begin
In the coming weeks, we’ll be offering a small two-hour Medicine Buddha immersion in our Newlyn North meditation hall, guided by Tamkey alongside Venerable Ngawang, who will lead the chanting.
It’s a rare introduction to the practice — spacious, grounded, and suitable whether you’re new or returning. You can get tickets here: https://events.humanitix.com/medicine-buddha-a-morning-of-healing-practice
The world is noisy and fractured right now — and it’s taking a toll. You can feel it in the nervous system: anxiety, restlessness, shutdown, grief, anger, exhaustion.
Some days healing feels simple. Other days it feels like a lifelong path — a way of meeting pain, illness, uncertainty, and the sheer weight of being human with steadiness and tenderness.
In Tibetan Buddhism, one of the most loved supports for this path is Medicine Buddha — Bhaiṣajyaguru, the “Master of Healing,” also known as the Lapis Lazuli Light Buddha. His practice is not only for physical illness, but for the deeper roots of suffering: fear, mental turbulence, despair, and the sense of separation from ourselves and one another.
Medicine Buddha offers something quietly radical: a return to stillness, clarity, and care.
(This post shares the traditional background and the basic shape of the practice. It’s spiritual support, not medical advice.)
Who is Medicine Buddha?
Medicine Buddha is a central figure of healing in Tibetan Mahāyāna Buddhism, associated with twelve great aspirations — vows made for the benefit of beings, including relief from illness and support on the path to awakening.
He is traditionally depicted as deep blue — the colour of lapis lazuli — holding a bowl of healing nectar and a medicinal plant. The symbolism is deliberate: blue reflects vastness and purity; medicine points to both physical healing and the deeper healing of the mind.
In the Gelug tradition (the lineage of Je Tsongkhapa, preserved in monastic universities such as Drepung), Medicine Buddha practice is commonly used to:
- support healing and wellbeing
- clear obstacles to practice
- strengthen compassionate intention
- support those who care for others
And, importantly, to meet suffering without closing the heart.
The “hidden meaning” in Tibetan healing practices
When people first encounter Tibetan Buddhist healing practices, they often notice two layers:
1) The outer form (what you do)
Breath, visualisation, mantra, chanting, prayer.
2) The inner meaning (what’s really being trained)
Attention, compassion, courage, steadiness — and a mind that can stay open in the presence of pain.
This is one of the gifts of authentic lineage practice: you’re not only learning a technique. You’re stepping into a stream of wisdom that has been refined through centuries of practice, retreat, and lived experience. In our tradition, healing is not “positive thinking.” It’s training the mind and heart to meet reality with less fear and more love.
What does the Medicine Buddha practice involve?
While there are longer and shorter sādhanas (practice texts), most Medicine Buddha sessions include a complete and very workable sequence:
Purification breathing
Often used at the beginning to settle the nervous system and clear mental “weather,” so the practice is received more deeply.
Guided visualisation
You imagine Medicine Buddha above or in front of you — luminous, calm, awake — and you receive healing light (often described as lapis-lazuli blue). In many traditional instructions, this light is visualised as entering the body and mind, clearing illness and obscurations, and bringing steadiness and clarity.
Mantra transmission and pronunciation
The mantra most commonly used is:
Tadyathā (Tayata) Om Bekandze Bekandze Maha Bekandze Radza Samudgate Soha
In Gelug contexts, you’ll sometimes see short explanations of the mantra’s meaning — for example, that “bekandze” is associated with eliminating suffering/pain and “maha bekandze” with great elimination — pointing beyond symptom-relief toward freeing the mind from deeper causes of suffering.
Group chanting
Chanting is not performance. It’s a shared rhythm that helps attention stabilise and the heart soften. Many people find it surprisingly intimate — like being carried by sound.
Integration (how to practise at home)
This is where practice becomes real: learning a simple version you can return to when life is messy — before a scan, after hard news, while supporting a loved one, or in a normal ordinary week.
Why mantra?
In Tibetan Buddhism, mantra is often understood as a method for:
• steadying the mind
• shaping intention
• connecting to awakened qualities (compassion, clarity, courage)
• creating supportive inner conditions for healing and wise action
In simple terms: mantra gives the mind something clean and steady to hold — especially when the mind wants to spiral.
The benefits
People come to Medicine Buddha practice for many reasons, including to:
- feel steadier in the face of illness (their own or someone else’s)
- soften fear and return to breath
- ease heaviness, grief, and mental agitation
- strengthen compassionate intention
- feel supported by something larger than their own tired mind
In Tibetan traditions, the aim isn’t to “force outcomes,” but to create the best inner conditions for healing — and to meet whatever arises with more wisdom and less panic. Sometimes the practice feels subtle. Sometimes it feels like being held. Both are enough.
A rare kind of access
In traditional settings, practices like Medicine Buddha are often shared in person, with guidance on how to visualise, how to pronounce the mantra, and how to hold the practice with the right intention (not as superstition, not as self-blame — but as a living path of compassion).
When you practise alongside authentic lineage holders, there’s something you can’t quite manufacture alone: A steadier container, clearer transmission and quiet confidence that you’re learning something time-tested and true.
Register your interest: Medicine Buddha workshop (Newlyn North)
We’re hosting a small, intimate two-hour Medicine Buddha immersion at our Newlyn North meditation hall, 15 minutes from Daylesford, guided by Tamkey (Co-Founder) alongside a Venerable Ngawang, a monk from Lhasa, Tibet who will lead the chanting.
Together we’ll explore:
• purification breathing
• guided Medicine Buddha visualisation
• mantra transmission and pronunciation
• group chanting
• how to practise simply at home
Each participant will receive a small practice pack:
• a sandalwood mala (prayer beads) blessed by monks in India
• a practice booklet
• Tibetan medicinal incense and lifetime access to our online resources to further your practice.
Capacity will be limited to 15 places (with a waiting list as we plan on hosting these events based on interest). For now, we’re collecting Register Your Interest so you can receive first access when bookings go live.
With love,
Claire