Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Word by word, Khensur Rinpoche unpacks the full Medicine Buddha mantra in this 30-minute session from the 2000 retreat, explaining each element: Om as a symbol of Buddha’s body, speech, and mind; Bekandze as “doctor”; Vaiduryaprabharaja as king of lapis lazuli and king of medicines; Svāhā as the request for blessings and nectar. He connects the mantra to visualization practice — imagining healing nectar entering at the crown, pervading the body, and cleansing mental illness. The session then broadens the scope: Medicine Buddha practice assists not only the sick but also protects against lower rebirths, supports the dying, and conditions a better future life. Two qualities are emphasized throughout: faith as genuine fondness for the Buddha, and belief that consistent practice reliably delivers results.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 MBR 2000-07-22.mp3
UUID: 81f47fdd-26bc-430c-bd60-c9489d9da87d
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Medicine Buddha Retreat (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 2000-07-22
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 29.9 minutes
Words: ~928
Very, very, very good. So So Yeah. Last. Nice. Nice.
So this is the conversation — Buddha Śākyamūni passed on to the Buddhas saying that he encouraged them to fulfill their wishes. And now, by accomplishing their wish, the Buddha Śākyamūni congratulates them by saying very, very good. And now you must give all the nectars and blessings to all sentient beings. And you should imagine here that now your guru and the Buddha Śākyamūni is making requests on your behalf towards the medicine Buddhas. And imagine that the medicine Buddhas are sending blessings and nectars towards you.
So by doing so, you have received the entire nectars from the medicine Buddhas. And as for one should feel rejoice here. And as for the practices of the teaching set forth by the Buddha Śākyamūni are into the sūtra sūtra teaching sūtra and the tantric teachings. So the the practice of Medicine Buddha is one of the most profound and very effective practice of the sūtra teachings. Now, if we briefly said the meaning of the mantras in recitation, the meaning of the mantra, then the om, the first syllable om is the beginning of the the the man of the mantra, which is the sign of auspiciousness.
And the Namu is homage. Bhagavan is — no, Namu. Bhagavate, which means the one who has gone beyond.
That’s gone beyond. And also, the Om has a different interpretation — the saying that the Om stands for the body, speech, and mind symbol. Each of those Om symbols represent the Buddha’s body, speech, and mind. And the Bekandze Bekandze — Bekandze, first, which means, in English, is the doctor, in Tibetan Men-la. And the Maha Bekandze means the great doctor. And the Vaiduryaprabharaja, which means Vaidurya is the type of gem — lapis lazuli. It’s a thing which has strong color. Its color is dark blue, lapis lazuli blue’s color. And it’s very bright and has lots of rays.
So which means the Rāja, which is the king — the king of the medicines, Vaiduryaprabharaja. And then which means Samudgate — yes. Which means the perfectly accomplished. And the which is called the great destroyer. So we’re saying the Great — so which means the perfectly accomplished great destroyer, enlightened one, or Buddha. So up to here, the So up to up to here is showing the qualities of the Buddhas.
And now, the mantra, which means this is the mantra. So, the first one, Om, is as I explained before — the doctor. Bekandze — doctor. Maha Bekandze — great doctor. Radza Samudgate Svāhā, which means — please grant me the nectar or blessing. Yes. Samudgate Svāhā — please grant me the perfect and the best blessings and the nectars.
So, this is the meaning of the long version mantra. And the next mantra, which is called the short mantra, the meaning is the same. So basically, it means the Medicine Buddha, doctor, and the great doctor, and asking to grant you the perfect blessings and the nectars. So along with the devotion and the faith, recite the mantra and with the visualization of imagining that the medicinal nectar is dissolving, dropping onto your crown and enters, which pervades the entire body and cleanses the mental illnesses and so forth.
So, through such practices, one receives the blessings as well as nectars from the medicine Buddhas. And in order to receive or to be able to extract all benefits, it is very important for one to have two qualities. One has to have a strong faith and belief. In the Tibetan word, faith — the ordinary meaning in general means it’s like the liking — having fondness towards something that has such qualities, and because of that liking somebody, or liking to it, it’s called faith here. And belief in the sense means trusting and believing that by doing such practices, they will grant you the nectars and the blessings. So, having these two qualities is very important.
And if you have this and then just the practices, one will you will receive the blessings and the So the maintaining those two qualities, having the faith and the belief or devotion, is very, very important and one should have that therefore at all times — saying that whether one is sick or not, or whether one is dying, one should have faith and belief or devotion in the medicine Buddhas. Because they help it they they they help you or one in all the times. So the medicine Buddha not only cures help help helps to to cure your diseases, and it also helps you to help you from the lower rebirths at the time of It also helps you at the time of death as well. And helps you to have a better rebirth in the next life and have better physical and mental states in the next life. Because by doing such practices very often, and at the time of death, one has one will one has lot lot lot easier to remember the practice of Medicine Buddha, as well as Medicine Buddha itself.
Because one is very familiarized with the deity, with the Buddha, with the practices, because of doing it for a long time in one’s life. So by recalling — or if able to recall the Medicine Buddha at the time of death — the Buddha will definitely help you to have a better rebirth in the next life. Okay. So we’ll stop here, and if you want to ask something, you’re welcome.