Medicine Buddha – The Healing Buddha (Master of Healing) is also known as Bhaisajyaguru. The Medicine Buddha or Bhaisajyaguru is described in the Bhaisajyagurus Sutra as a Bodhisattva who made and fulfilled 12 vows, two of which were related to healing. On achieving Buddhahood, he became the Buddha of the realm of Vaiduryanirbhasa in the eastern quarter. The veneration of Medicine Buddha, the Supreme Healer (Sangye Menla in Tibetan) is considered a powerful method not only for healing and increasing healing powers both for oneself and others, but also for overcoming the inner sickness of attachment, hatred, and ignorance. It is believed that meditating on the Medicine Buddha can help decrease physical and mental illness and suffering.

The Medicine Buddha is typically depicted seated, wearing simple clothes, with a jar of medicine in his right hand and the left hand held up in the gesture of fearlessness. He wears the monastic robe, and is seated with the legs crossed. His left hand, lying in his lap in ‘meditation’ Mudra, holds a bowl containing medicine nuts, while the right, hand in ‘charity’ Mudra, holds the branch of the Myrobalan, a medicinal plant found in Nepal and other tropical countries. Medicine Buddha sits on a moon disk on lotus petals.

The Bhaishajyaguru sutra makes this Buddha far more than a healer of either the body or the spirit. He is conceived, rather, as supreme and cosmic figure that illuminates the entire world and possesses infinite knowledge. It is also interesting to note that the sutra places considerable importance on the worship of the healing Buddha’s image. The worshipper should “bathe, and with a pure mind try to be friendly to all beings. After this he is to circumambulate the image with music…” The Chinese translation further states that “if one makes an image of this Buddha, or if one recites the text of the sutra, he will escape from the nine ways of death”.

View Our Medicine Buddha Statues Catalogue

View Our Buddha Statues Catalogue

View Our Bodhisattva Statues Catalogue

View Our Hindu God & Goddess Statues Catalogue

View Our Buddhist Ritual Items Catalogue

View Our Stupa Catalogue