Shenpen selThe Clear Light of the Buddhas Teachings Which Benefits All Beings

June 2000Volume 4, Number 1

Through cultivating the stages of the practice of the Medicine Buddhathe generation stage and the completion stagewe not only achievebenefit for ourselves, but we are actually cultivating the potential to

benefit others. And by doing these practices we actually bless theenvironment and all the beings in that environment.

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The Clear Light of the Buddhas Teachings Which Benefits All Beings

ContentContentContentContentContentsssss

This issue of Shenpen sel is devoted to a series of teachings on the Medicine Buddha Sadhanagiven by the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche in the Cascade Mountains in Washing-ton state in June of 1999. In addition to the translated, transcribed, edited text of the teachings,we have published the text that was the subject of Rinpoches commentary.

33333 IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

66666 The Medicine Buddha SadhanaThe Medicine Buddha SadhanaThe Medicine Buddha SadhanaThe Medicine Buddha SadhanaThe Medicine Buddha Sadhana6 A Practice That Is Extremely Effective in the Removal of Sickness

13 The Great King of Medicine Is Active in Pacifying the Suffering of Beings23 The Visualization Uncovers the Inherent Purity of Phenomena33 Because of Its Vastness, Offering the Entire Universe Produces Great Merit42 On the Origin of Auspiciousness in the Substances and Symbols

5353535353 Medicine Buddha Sadhana in EnglishMedicine Buddha Sadhana in EnglishMedicine Buddha Sadhana in EnglishMedicine Buddha Sadhana in EnglishMedicine Buddha Sadhana in English

7272727272 TTTTThe Vhe Vhe Vhe Vhe Very Essence of Mind, Mahamudra, the One Sufficient Pery Essence of Mind, Mahamudra, the One Sufficient Pery Essence of Mind, Mahamudra, the One Sufficient Pery Essence of Mind, Mahamudra, the One Sufficient Pery Essence of Mind, Mahamudra, the One Sufficient Pathathathathath

7474747474 TTTTTenga Renga Renga Renga Renga Rinpoches Commentinpoches Commentinpoches Commentinpoches Commentinpoches Commentary on the Mahamudra of the Vary on the Mahamudra of the Vary on the Mahamudra of the Vary on the Mahamudra of the Vary on the Mahamudra of the Venerable Gampopa,enerable Gampopa,enerable Gampopa,enerable Gampopa,enerable Gampopa,the One Sufficient Paththe One Sufficient Paththe One Sufficient Paththe One Sufficient Paththe One Sufficient Path

88888 99999 Re-eRe-eRe-eRe-eRe-estststststablishing the Dharma in Tablishing the Dharma in Tablishing the Dharma in Tablishing the Dharma in Tablishing the Dharma in Tibetibetibetibetibet

Volume 4 Number 1

Editorial policEditorial policEditorial policEditorial policEditorial policyyyyyShenpen sel is a tri-annual publication of KagyuShenpen sel Chling (KSOC), a center for thestudy and practice of Tibetan vajrayana Buddhismlocated in Seattle, Washington. The magazineseeks to present the teachings of recognized andfully qualified lamas and teachers, with anemphasis on the Karma Kagyu and the ShangpaKagyu lineages. The contents are derived in largepart from transcripts of teachings hosted by ourcenter. Shenpen sel is produced and mailedexclusively through volunteer labor and does notmake a profit. (Your subscriptions and donationsare greatly appreciated.) We publish with theaspiration to present the clear light of theBuddhas teachings. May it bring benefit and mayall be auspicious. May all beings be inspired andassisted in uncovering their own true nature.

Photo creditPhoto creditPhoto creditPhoto creditPhoto credits this issue:s this issue:s this issue:s this issue:s this issue: David Karchmer, pages 6, 13,23, 33, 42, 72, back cover.

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EditorEditorEditorEditorEditorLama Tashi Namgyal

Copy editors, TCopy editors, TCopy editors, TCopy editors, TCopy editors, Transcribers,ranscribers,ranscribers,ranscribers,ranscribers,RecordersRecordersRecordersRecordersRecordersGlen Avantaggio, Peter Borodin, AlanCastle, Anita Castle, Ken DeSure, DavidDuBois, Ryszard K. Frackiewicz, MarciaGlover, Denise Glover, Wolfgang Hirsch,Candace Kielbiski, Judy Knapp, DonaldLashley, Linda Lewis, Edmund Liong, EdMacArthur, Yahm Paradox, Chris Payne,Rose Peeps, Elisabeth Talsky, Mark Voss

DatDatDatDatDatabase managerabase managerabase managerabase managerabase managerMarcia Glover

Mailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMailing coordinatorMark Suver

Mailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMembers of the Seattle sangha

Shenpen sel

Kenn DeSure

Kenn DeSure

SHENPEN SEL 3

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

All of the Buddhas teachings can be subsumed under the two categories ofshamatha and vipashyanacalm abiding and insight. In the hinayana traditions ofBuddhism the intention of the vipashyana teachings is to establish the lack of trueexistence of the individualsometimes called one-fold egolessness, the selflesssness ofthe individual, the identitylessness of the individualand the lack of true existence ofgross phenomena or things. The intention of the vipashyana teachings of the first half ofthe mahayana teachingsthe second turning of the wheel of dharmais to extend thisunderstanding to include the lack of true existence even of the most subtle phenomenon,including atoms and subatomic matter and energy, time, and all forms of consciousnessitself. These two understandings together are referred to as two-fold egolessness, theselflessness of the individual and the selflessness of phenomena, and are both included inthe terms sunyata or emptiness.

The second half of the mahayana teachingsthe third turning of the wheel ofdharmagoes on to teach that emptiness is not simply a mere nothingness, nor merely theother side of the coin of interdependence, nor even simply a state beyond all conceptuality.The third turning teaches that this emptinesswhile lacking any limiting characteristics,such as color, shape, size, location, substance, or gender, and being empty of all cognitiveand emotional obscurrationsis not empty of its own nature, the radiant clarity of mindand reality, which we refer to as clear light, in which all the positive qualities of intelli-gence, wisdom, compassion, skillful means, devotion, confidence, etc., inhere as oneundifferentiable quality. Various manifestations of this quality arise out of the clear lightnature in the form of the deities of the vajrayana tradition such as the Medicine Buddha,Vajrayogini, Tara, or Chenrezig. And although it is said from the standpoint of relativetruth that these deities actually do exist as individual beings who can be supplicated, theyexist as such because, and only because, the qualities that they embody were alreadyinherent in the clear light nature, the buddha nature, of their own minds when they wereconfused sentient beings, just as they inherently exist today in the minds of all confusedbeings.

The essential nature of all deities can be better understood by understanding theessential nature of their body, speech, and mind. The body of the deity is the union ofappearance and emptiness and emerges in the practitioners experience when the experi-ence of perceiver and perceived is purified. What is it purified of? Grasping and fixation.Grasping or clinging to a self, and fixating on an other. In the words of Guru Rinpoche,Perceiver and perceived when purified are the body of the deity, clear emptiness.

The speech of the deity is the union of sound and emptiness. We all know that sound isintangible, but sounds without the experience of their emptiness have tremendous power

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to hurt us, to insult us, to exalt us, to exhilarate us, etc. But when sounds and verbalcommunications are experienced as mere sounds, as the union of sound and emptiness,their power over us dissolves and we experience perfect equanimity.

The mind of the deity is the union of awareness and emptiness. The experiences of thefive sense consciousnesses and of the mental consciousness give rise to a constantly chang-ing kaleidoscope of thoughts, mental afflictions, and subtle dualistic perceptions whichhave the power, in the absence of the experiential understanding of their emptiness, toinvolve us in the most outrageous, outlandish, though sometimes very subtle, melodramasof the mind. But when their essential emptiness is recognized, and one ceases to welcomeand reject, they dissolve or are self-liberated in their own place, the space of empty aware-ness. All deities share these three aspects of the essential naturewhich we also callmahamudra or dzogchenand all practitioners who practice deity meditation with suffi-cient diligence and perseverance will come to realize this very same naturethe body,speech, and mind of the deityin themselves as they become the deity.

At the same time, each deity has its own particular relative blessing. If one meditateson Chenrezig, ultimately one will realize mahamudra or dzogchen, and attain buddhahood.But in the short run, one will experience a strengthening of ones loving kindness andcompassion. If one meditates on Green Tara, ultimately one will attain enlightenment, butin the short run, one will experience freedom from fear and mental paralysis, the in-creased ability to accomplish ones objectives, and an increase in active compassion. If onemeditates on Manjushri, in the end one will attain enlightenment, but in the short run onewill experience an increase in intelligence, insight, and wisdom. If one meditates on theMedicine Buddha, one will eventually attain enlightenment, but in the meantime one willexperience an increase in healing powers both for oneself and others and a decrease inphysical and mental illness and suffering. Whether or not we have a very strong motive toattain buddhahood, we all desire these sorts of relative objectives, so deity meditationprovides tremendous incentive for the practice of dharma.

And yet deity meditation is just another version of shamatha and vipashyana. Whenone meditates on the form, the attire and other attributes, the entourage and environ-ment, and the internal mandala of a deity, and when one recites the deitys mantra, one ispracticing shamatha; and when one realizes that all that one is meditating on is mereempty appearance, one is practicing vipashyana. But because meditation on the deity andon the union of the deity and ones own root lama instantly connects one with the emptyclear light naturewhich is the essence of the deity, the guru, and the lineage, as well asbeing ones own essential naturethe power of this form of shamatha to purify the mind ofthe practitioner of the mental obscurations blocking his or her insight is immeasurablygreater than that of ordinary tranquillity meditation on mundane objects like the breathor a flower or a candle flame. And since the forms upon which one is meditating are meremental fabrications, their emptiness is more immediately apparent than, say, the empti-ness of something like the Jefferson Memorial or the Washington Monument.

This is all possible because of the special quality of the vajrayana, which takes enlight-enment as the path, rather than seeing it merely as a goal. Through the three processes ofabhisheka, which ripens the mental continuum; oral transmission, which supports onespractice; and the teachings, which liberate, one is connected directly to the enlightenedstate transmitted by the guru and the lineage. Thereafter, when one practices or merelybrings to mind those teachings, one is instantly reconnected with that compassionate

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primordial awareness, and this constant reconnecting then becomes ones path, bring-ing with it the rapid purification of mental defilements and the rapid accumulation ofmerit and wisdom. The recognition of this connection is the uncovering of ones ownwisdom. If it goes unrecognized, it still exists in the practitioners mental continuum asa seed, which will gradually ripen according to conditions.

The teachings on the Medicine Buddha in this issue of Shenpen sel present thestages of practice of the Medicine Buddha Sadhana. In it the Very Venerable KhenchenThrangu Rinpoche elucidates not only the details of this particular practice, but alsomany of the basic principles of tantric theory and practice in general: the notion ofdeities and buddha realms, the principles of samayasattva and jnanasattva, the prin-ciples of emanating and gathering, and the use of offerings to cultivate qualities, tomention a few. For anyone engaged in any vajrayana practice, this teaching is veryuseful in understanding the foundations of tantric practice, and a garden of delights.

Thrangu Rinpoches teachings on the Medicine Buddha Sutrathe next seventeachings in this serieswill be carried in the next issue of Shenpen sel.

a a a

The reader will notice that most of the deities in this particular mandala are male.One should not conclude therefrom that this is typical of tantric mandalas. Thereare some mandalassuch at Arya Tara, Vajrayogini, and Chdin which the deitiesare virtually all female, others that are balanced, and others that vary slightly moreone way than the other.

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Also included in this issue is a remarkable teaching on mahamudra by Gampopa,elucidated by the Very Venerable Tenga Rinpoche. It will be of notable interest toanyone who thinks that they are getting somewhere or anyone who actually is gettingsomewhere with their mahamudra practice. In five short sentences, Gampopa de-scribes the stages one must accomplish on the path to buddhahood.

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Finally, one will find an update on the activities at Kala Rongo, the womens monas-tery in eastern Tibet, and on the other activities of Lama Norlha and KagyuThubten Chling in eastern Tibet.

Lama Tashi Namgyal

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Medicine Buddha

A Practice That Is Extremely EffectiveIn the Removal of Sickness

In the Cascade Mountains in Washington, in June of 1999, the Very VenerableKhenchen Thrangu Rinpoche led an eight-day retreat to teach the MedicineBuddha Sadhana and Medicine Buddha Sutra. Rinpoche gave the teachings inTibetan; they were orally translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso. The following isan edited transcript.

I would like to begin by welcoming all of you here today and thanking youall for coming. I am delighted to have this opportunity to meet with you, tostudy the Medicine Buddha practice together with you, and to talk withyou about dharma. As usual, we are going to begin by reciting the lineage sup-plication. While doing so, please generate strong devotion for the root guru andthe other gurus of the lineage, such as Vajradhara, Tilopa, Naropa, and so forth.

[Recitation of lineage supplication.]First, in order to listen to the teachings properly, please generate the atti-

tude of bodhicitta, which is necessary for the practice of dharma in general, and

TTTTThe Vhe Vhe Vhe Vhe Very Very Very Very Very Venerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Thrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rinpocheinpocheinpocheinpocheinpoche

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particularly for the practice of something likethe Medicine Buddha. While listening to theteachings, please think that you are listening tothem and will practice them in order to be of thegreatest possible benefit to all beings.

We might think that there issomething of a contradictionbetween the motivation withwhich we might practice theMedicine Buddha and the moti-vation of bodhicitta. We mightthink that fundamentally we arepracticing the Medicine Buddhain order to benefit our ownbodies, whereas the motivationof bodhicitta is the wish to ben-efit all beings. But in fact thereis no contradiction, because, inorder to be effective in benefitingother beings, we need to accom-plish an excellent samadhi ormeditative absorption; and inorder to accomplish that, to-gether with the insight andrealization that it brings, we need to have astable practice. In order to have a stable andprofound practice, we need to be physically andmentally healthy or comfortable, because bybeing comfortable in our body, and comfortablein our mind, we will be free of obstacles to dili-gence in practice and free of obstacles to thecultivation of meditative absorption. So there-fore, we are practicing the Medicine Buddha inorder to attain states of mental and physicalhealth or balance, not merely for our own ben-efit, but for the benefit of others as well.

There is, therefore, no contradiction betweenthe motivation you might have for practicing theMedicine Buddha and your motivation for prac-ticing dharma in general. We practice dharma inorder to attain buddhahood, and we practice theMedicine Buddha in order to attain that samegoal. We may be practicing it specifically inorder to attain a state of mental and physicalhealth in this life, but when we practice theMedicine Buddha in this way, we are not reallylimiting our motivation to our attainment of

mental and physical health, because by means ofthat practice we can accomplish great benefit forourselves and others; and we can successfullycomplete our practice of dharma in the sense ofattaining buddhahood.

Furthermore, by practicingthe Medicine Buddha, we notonly achieve health in this lifebut we cause ourselves to beblessed by the Medicine Buddhathroughout all future lives aswell. And through cultivating thestages of the practice of theMedicine Buddhathe genera-tion stage and the completionstagewe not only achievebenefit for ourselves, but we areactually cultivating the potentialto benefit others. And by doingthese practices we actually blessthe environment and all thebeings in that environment.

The practice of the MedicineBuddha is fundamentally a

mental practice, a practice of meditation. Now,you might wonder how something you are doingprimarily with your mind could affect your body.How could practicing the Medicine Buddhapreserve your physical health or alleviate physi-cal sickness? You might think that the mind andbody are fundamentally unrelated, and thattherefore the practice of meditation cannotaffect our bodies. In fact, our bodies and mindsare extremely interrelated. The body supportsor is the container for our mind, but the body isalso based upon or supported by the mind.Therefore, the practice of meditation does affectyour body and your physical state. Specifically,in the meditation practice of the Medicine Bud-dha, in addition to visualizing the MedicineBuddha in front of you, you are also visualizingyour own body as the body of the MedicineBuddha. These and other visualizations, and therecitation of the mantra and so forth, whichinitially or primarily seem only to affect themind, do, therefore, eventually affect the body aswell.

We are practicingthe MedicineBuddha in orderto attain statesof mental andphysical health orbalance, notmerely for ourown benefit, butfor the benefit ofothers as well

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We practice fundamentally with our minds,but this practice does affect and benefit both themind and the body. As is generally taught, whatwe identify as our mind consists of eight differ-ent consciousnesses, or functions of conscious-ness. These arise the way they do because of theconnection between body and mind. For ex-ample, one of the eight consciousnesses is theeye consciousness, the visual consciousness. Thisconsciousness is a function of three things: itsobject, which is visible forms; its organic sup-port, which is the eye as an organ of vision; andthe consciousness, which is the mind functioningin connection with these two. Now, the point ofthis is that the visual consciousness never arisesin isolation from an object and an organic sup-port. It arises because the organic support iscapable of detecting its appropriate objectinthis case, visible form. Therefore, because theobject, the organ, and the consciousness are sointimately interrelated or inter-connected, the transformation ofany one of these will necessarilyaffect the aspect or manner of theother two. Therefore, just aswhen an object is changed, thataffects the visual consciousness ofthat object in dependence uponthe organ; and when the organ ischanged, that affects the visualconsciousness and therefore theperceived objects; in the sameway, when the consciousness istransformed, as it is through thepractice of meditation, thataffects the perception of objectsand the organic support itself.

In the same way, our othersenses arise as consciousnesses inconnection with their objects and their organicsupports. Based upon the organ of the ear, therearises what is called the ear consciousness orhearing, which experiences its object, audiblesounds. In dependence upon the organic supportof the nose, there arises the nose consciousness,which detects smells. In dependence upon theorgan of the tongue, there arises the tongue

consciousness, which detects tastes. And independence on the organic support of the bodyand the nerves of the body, there arises the bodyconsciousness, which detects or experiencestactile sensations. All of these consciousnessesarise or are generated by the presence of anobject which is encountered by its appropriateorgan. Sometimes they arise based upon theorgan itself experiencing the sensation, but inany case, the sensations of the five senses thatwe experience are functions of the organs andthe objects experienced by these organs, whichgenerate appropriate consciousnesses. Becausethe consciousness pervades the experience of itsobject and the experience of the organ itself, ifthe consciousness is transformed, or ones modeof experience of consciousness is transformed,into pure appearance, then the appearances ofthe objects, and also of the organs themselves,will become pure or sacred. It is in this way that

the practice of this form ofmeditation can benefit not onlyyour mind but also your body.

In addition to the five senseconsciousnesses, the sixthconsciousness, which is themental consciousness, alsoarises in connection with physi-cal experience. Now, accordingto the abhidharma, the mentalconsciousness does not relyexclusively upon a specificphysical organ support the waythe five sense consciousnessesdo. The condition that leads tothe arising of the mental con-sciousness is the previousmoment of that consciousnessitself. Generally speaking, this

arises to some extent on the impressions pro-duced by the physical experience of the senses.So, indirectly, we could say that the organ sup-port for the mental consciousness is the momen-tum of all of the consciousnesses connected withsense experience. But the mental consciousnessitself is that which generates and experiences allof the varieties of emotion and thought that we

When theconsciousness istransformed, as itis through thepractice ofmeditation, thataffects theperception ofobjects andthe organicsupport itself

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knowattachment, aversion, bewilderment,apathy, pride, jealousy, feelings of joy and de-light, feelings of sadness, feelings of faith andcompassion, etc.all of these different emo-tional states and all of the thoughts connectedwith them are varieties of experiences of thesixth or mental consciousness. Now, as thesevarious thoughts and emotionspass through our minds, theytransform and influence thatconsciousness itself. But not onlythatthey also affect the fivesense consciousnesses. For ex-ample, when you are very sadand you look at something, youwill perceive it as sad, or asunpleasant. If you look at theidentical object when you arehappy, you will see the samething as pleasant. And if you lookat it when you are angry, you willsee, again, the same object asentirely different. This is a verysimple example of how the men-tal consciousness in particularand our mind in general affectsour experience of sense objectsand the sense consciousnessesand the sense organs themselves.

Of the eight consciousnesses,the most evident in our experience are these sixconsciousnesses, or six functions: the five senseconsciousnesses and the mental consciousness.But there are, in addition to these, two otherfunctions of mind, which are called stable orunderlying consciousnesses or functions. Theseare the seventh consciousness, which is thesubtle mental affliction, and the eighth con-sciousness, which is called the all-basis. Theseventh consciousness, the consciousness whichis the root of mental affliction, refers to thesubtle, fundamental misapprehension of anexistent self, the fixation on a self. This fixationis itself the root of samsara. It is not, however,regarded as an unvirtuous or negative thing initself. It is morally neutral. But because it isignorance and the basis of further ignorance, it

is regarded as the most fundamental and impor-tant thing to be abandoned or relinquished. Infact, we could say that the teachings ofbuddhadharma are mainly about how to abandonthis fixation on self. It is for that reason thatthere is so much emphasis in buddhadharma onthe meditations on selflessness, emptiness, and

so forth. Through these medita-tions one can realize selfless-ness, through which one relin-quishes the kleshas, throughwhich one attains liberation.

The meditation upon self-lessness, however, and specifi-cally the meditation upon thelack of true existence of thepersonal self,* does not consistof trying to imagine or convinceyourself that you are nothingwhatsoever. It is done, espe-cially in the visualization prac-tices of the generation stage oftantra, by replacing your solidsense of your own existence withsomething else. In the case ofthe Medicine Buddha practice,you relinquish the thought, Iam me, I am the person I think Iam, and replace it with thethought, I am the Medicine

Buddha. The primary technique in the medita-tion consists of imagining yourself to be theMedicine Buddha, conceiving of yourself as theMedicine Buddha. By replacing the thought ofyourself as yourself with the thought of yourselfas the Medicine Buddha, you gradually counter-act and remove the fixation on your personalself. And as that fixation is removed, the powerof the seventh consciousness is reduced. And asit is reduced, the kleshas or mental afflictionsare gradually weakened, which causes you toexperience greater and greater well-being inboth body and mind.

By replacing thethought ofyourself asyourself with thethought ofyourself as theMedicineBuddha, yougraduallycounteract andremove thefixation on yourpersonal self

*Editors note: The meditation on selflessness is tradition-ally divided into realizing the lack of true existence of apersonal self, what we usually think of as the self, andrealizing the lack of true existence of phenomena.

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The eighth consciousness is the all-basisconsciousness, so called because it is the groundon which habits, both good and bad, accrue. Weexperience things the way we do because of thehabits we have accumulated. Aswe accumulate good habits wehave positive experiences, and aswe accumulate bad habits wehave negative experiences. Thefundamental reason for ourimmersion in samsara is theaccumulation of bad habits, somemore virulent than others. Theprocess of getting ourselves outof samsara consists of graduallyweakening the bad habits andstrengthening the good habits.For example, when we begin topractice, we have no confidencewhatsoever that we really are theMedicine Buddha. We have a strong negativehabit of regarding ourselves as whomever weregard ourselves to be. But through cultivatingthe technique and attitude of regarding our-selves as possessing the body, the speech, themind, the qualities, and the blessings of theMedicine Buddha, then these natural qualitieswithin us will increase.

The main practice in vajrayana consists of thegeneration stage, the cultivation of thepractice of regarding oneself as a deity. From anordinary point of view, we might regard this asuseless. We would think, Well, I am not a deity.What use is there in my pretending to be adeity? But in fact, the root of samsara is thehabit of impure perception. By regarding oneselfas a deity one gradually purifies, weakens, andremoves that habit and replaces it with thepositive habit of pure perception. It is for thisreason that the meditation upon oneself as adeity is considered so important.

In most religious traditions, the deities ofthat tradition, when they are related to or imag-ined, are imagined in front of one. Then, visualiz-ing the deity or deities as being present in frontof one, one prays to them, and by doing so hope-

fully one receives their blessing, which benefitsone in some way. In the vajrayana tradition,however, we regard the blessing and the powerand the qualities of the deities as being innate,

as being within ones own mind.This innate presence of thewisdom and blessings of thedeities in our own minds iscalled the unity of the expanseand wisdom, or the unity ofspace and wisdom. Of course, itis true that when we look at ourminds, we have mental afflic-tions, we have thoughts, wehave all kinds of suffering andproblems. But at the same timewe always have the innatepotential to transcend these.And the reason why we havethis innate potential is that the

nature of the mind and the nature of everythingthat arises in the mind is emptiness. Regardlessof what is passing through your mind, your mindis always a boundless space of emptiness.

The innate potential of our minds lies in thevery fact that our minds are empty. Because ourminds are empty, all of the problems and suffer-ings and defects that arise in our minds can beremoved or purified, because they too are empty.This emptiness of the mind is not absolutenothingness; it is not a static or dead or neutralemptiness, because, while emptiness is indeedthe nature of the mind, the nature of that empti-ness is wisdomit is the innate potential for thearising of all qualities. In Buddhist scripturesthis innate potential is called buddha nature.

Now, the process of working with our lifesituation through practice in tantric Buddhismconsists first of acknowledging that ones ownbasic nature is that potential, that buddha na-ture, and then of meditating upon its presencewithin one by regarding oneself as a deity. Theform of the deity is the embodiment or expres-sion of that potential, that unity of emptinessand wisdom, within one. It is through regardingoneself as the deity that defects are graduallyeradicated and qualities gradually revealed. The

The process ofgetting ourselvesout of samsaraconsists ofgraduallyweakening thebad habits andstrengtheningthe good habits

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The primarytechnique ofvisualization isto visualizeourselves as thedeity, becausethe potential totranscend ourproblems isinnate ratherthan externalto us

primary technique of visualization is to visual-ize ourselves as the deity, because the potentialto transcend our problems is innate rather thanexternal to us. Therefore, our main practice inmeditation upon deities is the self-generation ofthe deity, visualizing oneself as the deity.

If you ask is this the only way in which wework with deities, the answer isno. We also visualize deities infront of us. Now, in the commontradition* of Buddhism, as isfound in the scriptures of theTheravadin tradition and so onwhich I cannot read in the Palibut have read in Tibetan transla-tionwe find an extensive pre-sentation by the Buddha thatthere is no external deity to berelied upon, that the path con-sists fundamentally of eradicat-ing ones own kleshas, therebyeventually attaining the state ofan arhat or arhati without re-mainder. Thus in the sutras ofthe common vehicle, the state ofliberation is presented as free-dom from all kleshas, limitations,and attachment, but not particu-larly as an abiding wisdom.

However, in the sutras of the mahayana, andespecially in the teachings of the vajrayana, it isclearly taught that once someone attains fullliberation and buddhahood, they do not becomenothing. The process of purification finallyreveals, and therefore there remains, an endur-ing wisdom that is of the nature of nonconcep-tual compassion. The attainment ofbuddhahood, the path through which it is at-tained, really begins with the generation ofbodhicitta, which is the intention to attainliberation so that one can bring all beings to thesame state. Because that is the motivation withwhich the path is begun, when the result, which

is buddhahood, is attained, the result of thatpath is naturally spontaneous, impartial, andnonconceptual compassion. Therefore, we regardbuddhas as having an awareness that is respon-sive to the needs of beings, and therefore asbeing open and accessible to our prayers andsupplication. For that reason, while we prima-

rily visualize ourselves as dei-ties, we also visualize the deitiesas present in front of us.

We supplement the visualiza-tion of ourselves as the deitywith visualizations such asimagining the actual wisdomdeities themselves dissolvinginto ourselves again and again,by means of which we receivetheir blessing. Sometimes wevisualize the deity in front of us,separate from ourselves, think-ing that rays of light from thedeitys heart engulf and pervadeus, granting the blessing of thedeity. And sometimes we visual-ize that rays of light, whichembody the blessing of thatdeity in front of us, strike allbeings, removing their obstacles,

increasing their longevity, wisdom, and so on. Allof these visualizations are methods by which wearouse the compassion of all buddhas and causetheir blessings to enter into ourselves and oth-ers.

All the yidams and deities used in meditationhave the same fundamental nature and areutterly pure. Nevertheless they have differentappearances, which reflect the different activi-ties that they embody and engage in. Thesedifferent activities are primarily determined bythe individual aspirations they made at the timeof their initial generation of bodhicitta. Forexample, in the case of the Medicine Buddha,there is a specific set of aspirations, as there isin the case of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara orthe bodhisattva Arya Tara. It is primarily for thisreason that deities manifest in their variedappearances sometimes appearing as male, in

*Editors note: The common tradition is a way of referringto those teachings held in common by all traditions ofBuddhism, which are the teachings on personal liberation ofthe hinayana or lesser vehicle.

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lineage of the practice which serves to conse-crate or bless your practice in the form of sound.Because the lineage has been transmitted as thesound of the words of its transmission, when thereading transmission is given to you, you simplylisten to the sound and think that by doing soyou receive the blessing of the lineage.

Today I will give the reading transmission,the lung, for the Medicine Buddha practice. Theempowerment for the practice, I will give onSunday. With regard to the empowerment, youshould understand that the Medicine Buddhapractice is not solely a vajrayana practice. Likethe practice of mahamudra, it is a combination ofvajrayana [tantra] and sutra. For example, whilewe could say that mahamudra is primarilytaught in the vajrayana, it is also found in certainsutras, such as the Samadhiraja Sutra, and soforth. In the same way, this practice of the Medi-cine Buddha is a combination of what the Bud-dha taught about the Medicine Buddha in thesutras of the Medicine Buddha and in varioustantras. Because it is connected with vajrayana,it is most appropriate to receive the empower-ment to enhance the practice; but because it isalso connected with the sutras, it is acceptable todo the practice without the empowerment aswell. As you are receiving the reading transmis-sion today, there is no particular visualizationyou need to do. Maintain the motivation ofbodhicitta for receiving the transmission, andthink that simply by hearing the sounds of thewords as I read them you receive the transmis-sion or blessing of the lineage of this practice.

[Rinpoche gives the reading transmission.]To give you a support for your visualization of

the Medicine Buddha when doing the practice, Iam going to give each of you a small image of theMedicine Buddha. So please, in order to receiveit, come up.

[Rinpoche hands out cards.]

which case they primarily embody upaya ormethod; sometimes appearing as female, inwhich case they primarily embody prajna orwisdom; sometimes appearing as peaceful,sometimes appearing as wrathful, and so on. Inthe case of the Medicine Buddha, at the time ofhis initial generation of bodhicittawith whichact he began the path that culminated in hisattainment of buddhahoodhis primary motiva-tion was to remove all suffering of beings ingeneral, but especially to remove the physicaland mental sufferings of beings caused throughthe imbalance of the elements, which we know ofas mental and physical illness. This was hisprimary motivation or aspiration throughout thethree periods of innumerable eons during whichhe gathered the accumulations of merit andwisdom that culminated in his attainment ofbuddhahood as the Medicine Buddha. Therefore,as the Medicine Buddha, he possesses extraordi-nary ability and engages in extraordinary activ-ity to pacify sickness. Whether you access thisactivity through visualizing yourself as theMedicine Buddha, or through arousing thecompassion and activity of the Medicine Buddhaas conceived of as external to yourself, in eithercase, the practice of the Medicine Buddha issupremely effective in the removal of sickness.

The practice of the Medicine Buddha comesprimarily from the uncommon tradition ofthe vajrayana, which means that the transmis-sion of the practice is done using three pro-cesses called the empowerment, which ripens;the instruction, which frees; and the readingtransmission, which supports. The function ofempowerment, the formal ceremony or ritual ofempowerment, is to introduce you to the prac-tice and to the process of visualization and soforth, which will make up the practice. Thefunction of the instruction, which frees, is togive you complete access to the practice bymeans of telling you literally how to do itwhatyou do with your body, what you say with yourspeech, and what you think with your mind. Thefunction of the reading transmission, whichsupports, is to transmit the blessing of the

SHENPEN SEL 13

Continuing the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoches teaching on theMedicine Buddha.

We are now going to start going through the text itself, the liturgyfor the practice, so that you will understand how to do it. As youwill have noticed, the first part of the Medicine Buddha practiceis the lineage supplication, which consists of the supplication of the princi-pal Medicine Buddha, the seven accompanying Medicine Buddhas, thesixteen bodhisattvas, and finally, the holders and propagators of the teach-ings of the Medicine Buddha. The purpose of reciting this supplication at thebeginning of the practice is to invoke and receive at the very beginning ofthe practice the blessing of the Medicine Buddha through the power of yourfaith in and devotion to the deity and to the lineage of this teaching.

The supplication begins with one line in the language of Sanskrit:

NAMO BEKENDZE MAHA RADZAYE

This means, Homage to the great king of medicine. The initial homageto the Medicine Buddha as the great king of medicine is done in Sanskritbecause the source of the teachings of the vajrayana in particular, and of thebuddhadharma in generalthe original sutra and tantra teachings of the

Medicine Buddha

The Great King of Medicine Is Active inPacifying the Suffering of Beings

14 SHENPEN SEL

Buddha Shakyamuniwere given primarily inSanskrit. Moreover, the mahasiddhas,bodhisattvas, and shravakas of India also prima-rily used Sanskrit as their dharma language.Therefore, in order to maintain a connectionwith the source of the tradition, and because theSanskrit language itself is held to bear greatblessing, the initial supplication is made inSanskrit, after which follows the main body ofthe supplication of the Medicine Buddha inTibetan.

The first stanza of the supplication is ad-dressed to the principal Medicine Buddha, andis based on the Buddha Shakyamunis presenta-tion of the Medicine Buddhas initial motivationfor his path and the aspirations he made inconnection therewith, as recorded in the sutrason the Medicine Buddha.*

You are endowed with an oceanic treasury ofqualities and merit;

By the blessing of your inconceivable compassionYou calm the suffering and torment of sentient

beings.I supplicate you, Light of Lapis Lazuli.

The meaning of the stanza is that, because ofthe quality and special nature of his initialmotivation and ensuing aspirations, the Medi-cine Buddha very quickly accumulated vastamounts of merit, as a result of which, while onthe path and finally at the time of fruition orbuddhahood, he came to embody a vast treasuryof qualities associated with awakening. There-fore, because of his initial compassionate motiva-tion and because of the qualities of his awaken-ing, he possesses inconceivable blessing, byvirtue of which, in accordance with his aspira-tion and motivation, he is active in pacifying thesufferings of beings. So in chanting the beginningof the supplication, you mention him by name,referring to him as the Light of Vaidurya.

The second stanza is also addressed to theMedicine Buddha, and it continues from thepresentation in the first. In the first stanza youwere essentially praising the fact that he embod-ies extraordinary merit and qualities as a resultof his extraordinary motivation and aspirations.Upon his initial generation of bodhicitta theMedicine Buddha made twelve particular aspira-tions. In connection with these, the benefits ofrecollecting the name of the Medicine Buddhabegin to be specified in the second stanza.

Those bound by very intense greedAre born in the hungry ghost realm.If they hear your name, they are born human and

take delight in generosity.I supplicate you, victorious Menla.

Recollection of the name means keeping thename of the Medicine Buddha in mind by havingan attitude of faith and devotion to the MedicineBuddha. The stanza says that even someone who,as a result of intense greed, is destined to bereborn as a preta or hungry ghost, if such aperson hears the name of the Medicine Buddha,they will be reborn as a human being and willdelight in generosity. In that way, you supplicatethe Medicine Buddha by referring to the poweror blessing of his name.

The next stanza gives a second benefit ofrecollecting and hearing the name of the Medi-cine Buddha.

Violating morality and abusing others,Beings are born in the hell realms.Hearing your name, they are said to be born in

the higher realms.I supplicate you, King of Medicine.

Those who violate moral commitments andwho actively harm or abuse others will be rebornin the hell realms. This refers to those who haveno interest in maintaining the dharma commit-ments they have undertaken, who have no inter-est in benefiting others, and who are only inter-ested in harming them. But if even such a personhears the name of the Medicine Buddha, theywill be reborn in higher realms. By simply hear-

*Editors note: The Medicine Buddha, when understood asan individual buddha who once was a sentient being, predatesthe Buddha Shakyamuni. Therefore, our knowledge of him isbased, at least initially, on the teachings that arose spontane-ously out of the supersensible cognition of the BuddhaShakyamuni.

SHENPEN SEL 15

ing the name of the Medicine Buddha, theirinherent capacity for virtue will be awakenedand they will gradually become interested inacting appropriately and benefiting others.Changing their course of action, they will not bereborn in a lower realm.

The next stanza describes a third benefit ofhearing or recollecting the name of the MedicineBuddha.

Whoever by repeated dissension and slanderCreates serious schisms and takes life,Hearing your name, they cannot harm others.I supplicate you, King of Medicine.

Those who are naturally jealous, competitive,and arrogant, and as a result, find themselvesalways trying to produce dissention; who, whenseeing that others are friendly and harmonious,automatically try to create discord; who createschisms where there is harmony and discordeven to the point where it leads to loss either oftheir own life or the lives of others; even some-one with this jealous, competitive, and arrogantnatureif they hear the name of the MedicineBuddha, will be unable to cause harm. Unable tocause harm means that their mindset and theirattitudes will change. They will cease to bejealous, cease to be arrogant, and will graduallyfind themselves unwilling and therefore unableto intentionally bring this kind of harm to oth-ers.

There are two sutras principally concernedwith the Medicine Buddha. One is the Sutra ofthe Medicine Buddha, which is concerned withthe principal Medicine Buddha, his twelveaspirations, and the benefits of recollecting hisname. The second is the Sutra of the Eight Medi-cine Buddhas, or the Sutra of the Eight MedicineBuddha Brothers. The medicine buddhas re-ferred to in this sutra are the previously men-tioned principal one and seven others who formhis retinue. The next stanza in the supplicationis concerned with the other seven medicinebuddhas. They each have their own individualaspirations. Some of them have made eightaspirations; some have made four. And the

recollection of their names brings benefits simi-lar to those brought about by the recollection ofthe name of the principal Medicine Buddha.

Excellent Name, Appearance of Stainless FineGold,

Glorious Supreme One Free of Misery, Resound-ing Dharma Melody,

King of Direct Knowledge, King of Melody,And King of Shakyas, I supplicate you all.

These seven buddhas are named Tshen Lek,or Excellent Name; Ser Zang Dri Me Nangwa, orAppearance of Stainless Fine Gold; Nya NgenMe Chok Pal, Glorious Supreme One Free ofMisery; Ch Drak Yang, Resounding DharmaMelody; Ngn Khyen Gyalpo, King of DirectKnowledge; Dra Yang Gyalpo, King of Melody;and Shakya Gyalpo, King of the Shakyas.

The next stanza is a supplication to the otherdeities in the mandala of the Medicine Buddha.These are not listed in their entirety, but eachset of deities is mentioned briefly and a few ofthe names of each set are mentioned.

Manjushri, Kyabdrl, Vajrapani,Brahma, Indra, the Four Kings of the Four

Directions,The twelve great Yaksha chiefs, and so forth,I supplicate you, entire and perfect mandala.

The first class of deities after the eightmedicine buddhas are the sixteen bodhisattvas.Here three of them are mentioned: Manjushri,Kyabdrl, and Vajrapani. The next class are theten protectors of the world, or of the directions,of whom two are mentioned, Brahma and Indra.The next class are the four great kings of thefour directions, who are also protectors, notmentioned here by their individual names.Finally there are the twelve yaksha chieftains,or yaksha generals, and they too are just men-tioned as a class. The last line of the stanzaindicates that this is the supplication of theentire mandala of the Medicine Buddha.

Up to this point you have supplicated theprincipal Medicine Buddha and his retinue, andin doing so have supplicated the body of theMedicine Buddha and the mind or the emana-

16 SHENPEN SEL

tions of the Medicine Buddha. What remains isto supplicate the speech of the Medicine Bud-dha; having supplicated the buddhas andbodhisattvas of the mandala, you next supplicatethe dharma.

The Sutra of the Seven Tathagatas Aspirations,And the Sutra of the Medicine Buddha,The treatise by the great abbot Shantarakshita,

and so forth,I supplicate all the volumes of the genuine

dharma.

Mentioned first are the two sutras taught bythe Buddha Shakyamuni about the MedicineBuddha: the Sutra of the Aspirations of the SevenTathagathas, which means the seven medicinebuddhas in the retinue, and the Sutra of theMedicine Buddha, which is the principal medi-cine buddha. Mentioned in the same stanza arethe shastras,* which also form part of the scrip-tural source for the Medicine Buddha tradition.These are referred to by mentioning as an ex-ample the treatise of the great abbotShantarakshita, which is one of the oldest ororiginal sources of the Medicine Buddha prac-tice. And then you chant, I supplicate the genu-ine dharma in the form of books. The reason forthis is that in general, of course, dharma existsin the form of the written word. But it has aspecial significance in the case of this mandala.The self-generationthe form of the MedicineBuddha with which you identify your ownbodyis the Medicine Buddha alone, withoutretinue. But the front visualization is the Medi-cine Buddha surrounded by all the rest of themandala. The first circle of the mandala immedi-ately surrounding him consists of the otherseven medicine buddhas and the volumes of thedharma as the eighth member of the retinue.During this supplication you visualize the Medi-cine Buddha seated in the sky in front of you inthe center of a fully opened eight-petaled lotusand surrounding him, on each of the seven petalsother than the one directly in front of him, the

seven other medicine buddhas. On the lotuspetal directly in front of the principal MedicineBuddha, you visualize the volumes of thedharma, the sutras, and so forth, that present hispractice.

The next stanza of the supplication suppli-cates the lineage of this practice.

Bodhisattva Shantarakshita, Trisong Deutsen,and others,

Translators, scholars, kings, ministers,bodhisattvas,

And all genuine lamas of the lineage,Powerful One of the Dharma, and others, I

supplicate you.

First mentioned are those who first broughtthis tradition of the Medicine Buddha from Indiato Tibet. Where it says bodhisattva, it means theabbot Shantarakshita, who bestowed this teach-ing on many students, including the Tibetandharma king Trisong Deutsen, who is mentionednext. Then supplicated are all of the translatorsof Tibet and the panditas of India who enabledthis tradition to spread to Tibet through trans-lating it, teaching it, explaining it, and so on.Next are supplicated all of the other inheritorsof this tradition, bodhisattvas who took the formof dharma kings, ministers and so on. Finally, allthe gurus of the lineage of this practice aresupplicated, and in particular ones own rootguru. This supplication was composed, and thepractice in general was edited, by the learnedand accomplished master Karma ChagmeyRinpoche, and so he supplicates his own rootguru, Chkyi Wangchuk, by name here.

The final stanza of the supplication dedicatesthe power of the supplication to the ends thatyou wish to achieve.

Through the blessing of this supplication,May the diverse temporal diseases and dangers

of this life be stilled.At death, may all fear of the lower realms be

calmed.Grant your blessing that afterwards we are born

in Sukhavati.

The stanza reads, Through the blessing of*Editors note: Shastras are commentaries on the originalteachings of the Buddha.

SHENPEN SEL 17

supplicating in this way,which means by theblessing of supplicating the Medicine Buddha,his retinue of buddhas, bodhisattvas, and protec-tors, and all the teachers of the lineage, withdevotionin the short run may the variousdiseases, dangers, and fears be pacified, and atthe time of death, after all fear of being reborn inthe lower realms has been pacified, grant yourblessing that we may be born in Sukhavati, theland of great happiness and great bliss. You areexpressing your wish here to be protected fromsuffering both in the short term and in the longterm. In the short term you are asking to beprotected from sickness andvarious other dangersfromwhatever can go wrongin thislife. In the long term, you areasking that you not be reborn inlower states or in lower realms,and that, once the danger andfear of being reborn in the lowerrealms have been transcended,you may achieve rebirth inSukhavati, the realm ofAmitabha. That completes thelineage supplication.

After the lineage supplication comes thetaking of refuge and the generation of bodhicitta,which, as necessary preliminaries, are alwaysrecited at the beginning of any vajrayana prac-tice. Each has a specific function. The function oftaking refuge is to prevent your practice frombecoming an incorrect path. The function ofgenerating bodhicitta is to prevent your practicefrom becoming an inferior path. In the case ofthis practice, each of these aspectsrefuge andbodhicittaoccupies two lines of a four-linestanza.

NAMO to the sources of refuge, the three jewelsAnd the three roots, I go for refuge.

The first line of the refuge identifies thesources of refuge, and they are two: the threejewels and the three roots. The three jewels,which are the common sources of refuge,* arethe Buddha, in whom one takes refuge by accept-

ing him as a teacher and an example; thedharma, in which one takes refuge by acceptingit as a path; and the sangha, in which one takesrefuge by accepting the sangha as companionsand guides on that path. Identifying the threejewels as the initial source of refuge indicatesthat by taking refuge in them you are freeingyourself from the possibility of an incorrect path.

Then there are the uncommon sources ofrefuge, which are unique to vajrayana. They areknown as the three roots: the gurus, who are theroot of blessing; the yidams or deities, who arethe root of attainment; and the dharmapalas, or

dharma protectors, who are theroot of activity. First of these arethe gurus, who are the root ofblessing. Blessing refers to thepower of dharmathat which indharma is actually effective, thatactually brings the result ofdharma. Obviously in practicingwe need that effectivenessthatpower or blessing of dharmatoenter into us. The original sourceof this blessing, of course, is the

Buddha, who first taught the dharma in thisparticular historical period. Unfortunately, wedo not have the ability in this life to meet theBuddha or hear the Buddhas speech directly.But we do have the opportunity to practice histeachings and to attain the same result we couldhave attained had we met the Buddha, becausethe essence of his teachingsand therefore theblessing or effectiveness of his teachingshasbeen passed down through the lineage, begin-ning with the Buddha himself and culminatingwith our own personal teacher or root guru.Therefore, the first source of refuge in thevajrayana are root and lineage gurusand,especially the root guruwho are the source ofthe blessing of dharma.

The second source of refuge in the vajrayana,the second root, are the yidams, the deities, whoare the sources of attainment or siddhi. Whilethe guru is the source of the blessing and effec-

*Editors note: common to all traditions of Buddhism.

The function oftaking refuge isto prevent yourpractice frombecoming anincorrect path

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tiveness of dharma, the guru cannot simply handyou the result or attainment of dharma practice.The source or root of that attain-ment is your practice. And yourpractice is embodied by theyidam or deity which is the basisof that practice. This means thatyou attain the result of dharmapractice through engaging in thetechniques of visualizing the bodyof the deity and engaging in thegeneration and completion stagepractices which are associatedwith that deity. In this specificinstance, the yidam is the Medi-cine Buddha. By identifying with the body of theMedicine Buddha, you attain the result, theattainments or siddhis, associated with theMedicine Buddha, which include the pacificationof sickness and other sufferings.* The reasonwhy these deities are referred to as yidams,which literally means mental commitment, isthat in order to practice dharma you have tohave a clear direction and strong focus in thetechnique and method of practice. The idea ofyidam is that a certain practice and, in the caseof vajrayana a certain deity, is identified by you

as that practice to which you commit yourself,that direction in practice which you will take. A

yidam is the deity about whichyou think, I will practice this. Iwill come to attain this result.

The third vajrayana source ofrefuge, the third root, are thedharmapalas, the protectors,who are the root of activity.Activity here means the protec-tion of your practice from ob-stacles, so that you can success-fully complete it and bring it tothe appropriate result, so thatyou will be able to benefit others

effectively in a way that is in accordance withthe practice. In order to achieve these ends youneed this blessing of activity or protection. Thisis gained chiefly from specific bodhisattvas whotake the form of protectors, and, in certain cases,dakinis. In the specific case of the MedicineBuddha, when the Buddha taught the MedicineBuddha sutras, there were certain deities whocommitted themselves to protecting these teach-ings and all practitioners of these teachings,including even those who merely recollect thename of the Medicine Buddha. These protectordeities are represented in the mandala, and theyinclude the twelve Yaksha chieftains, the fourgreat kings, the ten protectors of the world, andso on. In this way, you are taking refuge byaccepting the Buddha as a teacher; his teachings,the dharma, as a path; the sangha as companionsand guides on that path; and you are takingrefuge by requesting the blessings of the gurus,attainment through the yidam, and the protec-tion of the dharmapalas and dakinis. That is thetaking of refuge, which serves to protect yourpractice from becoming an incorrect path.

Next comes the generation of bodhicitta,which serves to protect your practice frombecoming an inferior path.

To establish all beings in buddhahood,I awaken a mind of supreme enlightenment.

It is true, of course, that our basic motivation

*Editors note: The practice of any yidam deity will result inthe attainment of both the ultimate and relative siddhis. Theultimate siddhi is the stable realization of the radiant clarityor clear light nature of mind and all reality which we know ascomplete and perfect enlightenment or buddhahood. Therelative siddhis are such qualities as loving kindness,compassion, intelligence, the wisdom of insight, spiritualpower, protection and the removal of obstacles, good health,longevity, wealth, magnetism, etc. The practice of a deityyields first the relative siddhis. If we pray to Chenrezig, thefirst result beyond the simple development of concentrationwill be an increase in loving kindness and compassion in ourexperience. If we pray to Manjushri-Sarasvati, we willgradually experience greater perspicacity, strength of intellect,and facility with music and language. If we practiceMahakala, we will experience protection and the removal ofobstacles, if we practice White Tara we will develop greaterinsight and longevity, if we practice Green Tara we willexperience liberation from fear, the quick removal of obstacles,joy, compassion and upliftedness. If we practice Vajrayoginiwe will begin to develop mahamudra siddhi and increasedwarmth and magnetism. If one practices both the develop-ment and completion stages of any deity with sufficientdevotion and application, one will eventually attain fullrealization, at which point all of the siddhis of all of theyidams will be spontaneously present.

The function ofgeneratingbodhicitta is toprevent yourpractice frombecoming aninferior path

SHENPEN SEL 19

The idea behindgeneratingbodhicitta is torecollect that allbeings withoutexception wish tobe happy inexactly the sameway and toexactly the samedegree as we do

for practicing is that we all wish to be free fromsuffering. This wish to be free from suffering isgood. But it is often somewhatlimited, which is to say that it issomewhat selfish, and it is oftensomewhat petty or small-mindedin scope. The idea behind gener-ating bodhicitta is to recollectthat all beings without exceptionwish to be happy in exactly thesame way and to exactly the samedegree as we do. If you bring thatto mind fully, then your aspira-tion to attain freedom for your-self will expand and become anaspiration to bring all beings tothat same freedom. This aspira-tion has to be a long-term aspira-tion. It is not enough simply toaspire to free beings from acertain type of suffering, or tofree them from the suffering theyare undergoing now, or to free them from thisyears suffering. For it to be the aspiration ofbodhicitta, which is the fullest and most exten-sive motivation, you must have the attitude ofwishing to establish beings in a state that willpermanently free them from all suffering. Now,the only way that you can actually make beingspermanently happy is to bring them to a state offull awakening, to buddhahood. So ultimately,the only way to protect beings from suffering isto establish them all in awakening, because theysimply will not be happy until they have attainedit. If you understand thisthat all beings wish tobe happy just as much as we do and that none ofus can be happy until we attain awakeningthen you will naturally give rise to bodhicitta,which is the intention to bring each and everybeing to a state of full and perfect awakening.Bodhicitta also includes within it, of course, theaspiration to be of any other assistance you canto beings along the way to accomplishing thatultimate goal. So it is not limited to any specificform of assistance.

If bodhicitta has been genuinely generated,then your motivation for practice will be re-

flected in your thinking, I am practicing inorder to bring all beings to awakening; I am not

practicing merely because I amafraid of my own suffering orbecause I wish to protect a fewothers from suffering or becauseI wish to protect all others froma few types of suffering. In thatway your motivation for thepractice of the Medicine Buddhabecomes bodhicitta, which is theattitude: In order to bring allbeings to a state of buddhahood Imust first attain the state of theMedicine Buddha in order to beable to do so effectively, becausein my present state I cannoteffectively protect or benefitothers.

The refuge and the genera-tion of bodhicitta are followed bythe blessing or consecration of

the place and the materials of practice.

From the expanse of primordial purity come forthClouds of offerings filling the earth and skyWith mandalas, articles of royalty, and goddesses.May they never be exhausted. PUD DZA HO.

The reason for this stage of the practice isthat at any given moment we have an impureperception* of and an impure attitude towardsourselves, towards others, and towards theenvironment as a whole. The more we invest inthat impure perception or attitudein theperception of things as impurethe worse oursituation will become, and the more attachmentand aversion and apathy we will find ourselves

*Editors note: It is important to note that these impureperceptions and attitudes are not stable, but are constantlychanging moment by moment according to changing causesand conditions. Thus, in one moment one might think quitehighly of oneself and actually see oneself as attractive,intelligent, and charming, and in a subsequent moment feelquite depressed about oneself and see oneself as tiresome anddreary. These perceptions and attitudes go through myriadchanges, but they are all impure in the sense that we arealways seeing projections of ourselves, others, and the environ-ment, and not things as they truly are.

20 SHENPEN SEL

By regardingthings as pure,you will graduallystart to perceivethings as pure,which will purifythe habitualtendency toperceive themas impure

generating. The remedy for this is simply tochange our attitude and to regard things as pure.Initially, of course, this takes someconscious effort. But by regardingthings as pure, you will graduallystart to perceive things as pure,which will purify the habitualtendency to perceive them asimpure.

At this point the liturgy reads,Clouds of offerings emanatedfrom the primordially pure ex-panse fill the sky and the earth.You imagine that the place inwhich you are practicing is acompletely pure realm filled withevery imaginable type of pleasantoffering substance. This realm andthese offerings, although you areimaging them, are not imaginary.They have been there from the very beginning,which is why it says in the liturgy emanatedfrom the primordially pure expanse. From thevery beginning, this is how things actually are,how things actually have been. You are not creat-ing them by imagining them, nor are you foolingyourselves by imagining them. It is rather thatour present mode of perception is like being inthe midst of a nightmare from which we hope towake up; and when we wake up from it, we willsee things as they are. It is important to under-stand that you are imagining things to be what infact they really are.

The offering substances contained in this purerealm include such things as offering mandalas,the seven articles of royalty, and various otherkinds of offerings that are specified in the liturgy,together with gods and goddesses who presentthem, and so on. All of these offerings are inex-haustible; they are unlimited in amount, they areperfect in quality, they do not just disappear, andthey never get used up. This section is both theconsecration of the offerings and the consecrationof the place of practice. And the attitude withwhich this is done is that you are starting topurify your otherwise impure perception of yourenvironmentof your body, of your mind, and of

all the other materials and implements in yourenvironment.

Following the consecrationof the offerings is meditation onthe four immeasurables. Thefour immeasurables are fourattitudes that are to be culti-vated without limit, which iswhy they are known as immea-surable, or unlimited. Unlim-ited means no limit on howmuch and no limit on forwhom. The first immeasurable,in the usual enumeration, islove. Immeasurable love meansno limit on how much love andhow much compassion yougenerate, and especially nolimit on for whom you generateit.

May all beings be happy and free of suffering.May their happiness not diminish. May they

abide in equanimity.

Intrinsic to all four of these attitudes isimpartiality. When enumerated separately,impartiality is the fourth of the fourimmeasurableslove, compassion, empatheticjoy, and impartiality. However, when you actu-ally practice them, you need to begin with thecultivation of impartiality. We all have somedegree of love, some degree of compassion, andsome degree of empathetic joy. But in order tomake these genuine and to make them immea-surable we need to cultivate impartiality, whichis why it is to be cultivated first. When we saythat we all have some degree of love, we meanthat we all wish that some beings be happy andpossess causes of happiness. We all also havesome degree of compassionwe all wish thatsome beings be free from suffering and thecauses of suffering. The problem is that wegenerally wish these things only for certainbeings and do not particularly care about whathappens to other beings. Although our love andcompassion are indeed love and compassion,they are partial; and because they are partial,

SHENPEN SEL 21

If you do notcultivateimpartiality in thebeginning, bystrengtheningyour love forsome you maygenerateaggressionfor others

they are impure and incomplete. If you cultivateimpartiality, they become unlimitedwhichmeans that they become perfect. So the firststage in the cultivation of the fourimmeasurables is to cultivate impartiality to-wards beings, which means cultivating theattitude that you have the sameamount of love and the sameamount of compassion for allbeings. And then, on that basis,you can strengthen the attitudeof lovethe desire that beings behappy and possess causes ofhappinessand by strengthen-ing it you will strengthen thatattitude towards all beings ingeneral. If you do not cultivateimpartiality in the beginning, bystrengthening your love for someyou may generate aggression forothers. Therefore, you need firstto cultivate impartiality, andthen, on the basis of impartiality,to cultivate the other threelove, compassion, and empathetic joy. However,in the text they are listed in the usual order,which places impartialityhere referred to asequanimityat the end.

Essentially love consists of wanting others tobe happy, and compassion consists of wantingothers not to suffer. These two attitudes, ofcourse, are excellent. But if they are presentwithout any way to bring about what you wishif your love is without any way to bring about thehappiness of beings and your compassion isdevoid of any way to remove the sufferings ofbeingsthen they will actually become a causeof greater suffering and sadness for you. You willbe more sensitive to the sufferings of othersbecause of your attitude, but will feel unable tohelp. And so, instead of just the other beingsuffering, two beings will sufferyou will sufferas well. If, however, the attitudes of love andcompassion include the understanding of howyou can actually bring about happiness andfreedom from suffering, then these attitudes donot become sources of depression. Therefore we

expand the attitude of love from may all beingsbe happy to may all beings be happy and pos-sess causes of happiness, and expand the atti-tude of compassion from may all beings be freefrom suffering to may all beings be free fromsuffering and free from causes of suffering.

While you cannot confidentlyexpect to be able to make allbeings happy on the spot, youcan gradually cause beings toaccomplish or accumulate causesof happiness and to avoid and getrid of causes of suffering. Andbecause you understand that inthe long term you will be able tomake beings happy and freebeings from suffering, then theseattitudes of love and compassionbecome not only confident butactually joyous. In this way, theeffect of love and compassion isno longer sadness and depres-sion but empathetic joy, which isthe third immeasurable. In this

way, you train or cultivate the fourimmeasurables as a preliminary for meditationon the Medicine Buddha.

Now to apply the four immeasurables to thespecific context of the Medicine Buddhapractice: Since the primary cause of suffering inthis case is the physical affliction of sickness,and since that is the initial focus of this practice,you can focus on that in your meditation on thefour immeasurables. Thinking that it is in orderto remove the sickness of beings that you arepraying to the Medicine Buddha, meditatingupon the Medicine Buddha, reciting the Medi-cine Buddhas mantra, and so on, you couldformulate the four immeasurables in the follow-ing way: Immeasurable love would be the atti-tude, May all beings possess the happiness ofwell-being and the causes of that. Immeasurablecompassion would be, May all beings be freefrom sickness and the causes of sickness. Im-measurable empathetic joy would be rejoicing inthe well-being of others and in their freedom

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There is always aresult from doingthis practice, butthe way in whichthe result willmanifest is notabsolutelydefinite

from illness. And immeasurable impartialitywould be generating these aspirations andattitudes not merely for those you know, such asyour own friends and family, butfor all beings without exception.

When you do the MedicineBuddha practice with the inten-tion and aspiration to benefityourself and others in this way,sometimes you will perceive anevident benefit: Either you orsomeone else will be freed fromsickness in a way that youidentify as a result of yourpractice. This will give yougreater confidence in the prac-tice. At other times, no matterhow much you practice and howhard you pray and how many mantras you say,you will not perceive any evident benefit. Andthis will cause you to doubt the practice, andyou will think, Well maybe it doesnt really

work. But you need to remember that the benefitof this practice is not like the direct physicaleffect of the function of a machine, such as some-

thing that emits a laser beam.There is always a result fromdoing this practice, but the way inwhich the result will manifest isnot absolutely definite. So in yourattitude towards the results ofpractice, you need to have a long-term focus. In that way you cankeep the practice focused on thefour immeasurables.

That completes the prelimi-naries to the Medicine Buddhapractice. I am going to stop therefor this afternoon, and we willconclude with the dedication of

the merit of this teaching to the liberation of allbeings.

[Dedication of merit.]

SHENPEN SEL 23

Medicine Buddha

The Visualization Uncovers the InherentPurity of Phenomena

Continuing the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoches teaching onthe Medicine Buddha.

Yesterday we discussed the lineage supplication of this practice,the refuge and bodhicitta, the consecration of the practice placeand the materials, and the meditation on the four immeasurables.Today we are going to begin with the actual visualization of oneself as theMedicine Buddha, which causes the blessing of the Medicine Buddha toenter into one, and the simultaneous visualization of the mandala of theMedicine Buddha in front of one, which serves as an object of ones sup-plication and a field for the accumulation of merit through making offer-ings.

The visualization is begun by purifying your perception of the entireworld, including your own body and mind. This is done initially throughthe single recitation of the mantra of the pure nature or the mantra ofthe purity of dharmata:

24 SHENPEN SEL

OM SOBHAWA SHUDDHA SARWA DHARMASOBHAWA SHUDDHO HAM

The meaning of the mantra reflects its sig-nificance. Following the initial syllable Om, thenext word is swabava, which means the nature,and then shuddha, which means pure. Ordi-narily the things that appear to usthe world ofexternal appearances and our internal perceiv-ing mindappear to us as being impure becauseof the presence of the kleshas and otherobscurations in our minds. What is meant hereby the pure nature is that, although we perceiveappearances and our minds in this impure way,this is not their actual nature. While they seemto be impure, in fact, in their nature, in and ofthemselves, they are pure. Following the state-ment pure by nature, are the words sarwa,which means all, and dharma, which meansthings. So the mantra states that all things arepure in their nature.

The term dharma usually has one of twomeanings. One meaning is sadharma or thegenuine dharma, the teachings of the Buddha,and the other meaning is thing, things in gen-eral, anything that can be known. Here it refersto things.

The mantra continues with the wordsswabava shuddha a second time and then AHum. Because of the way that Sanskrit linkswords, the second shuddha and A Hum arejoined together to become shuddho ham. Againswabava shuddha means pure in its nature ortheir nature; A Hum can mean self or the veryembodiment of something. Here it is understoodto mean that not only are all things pure in theirnature, but that they are in and of themselvesthe very embodiment of that purity. So thismantra is essentially a statement of why thepath can lead to the result. Because things arepure in their nature, because this purity ispresent within the nature of things, then it canmanifest as experience and as a resultthroughtaking that inherent purity as a path. For ex-ample, because sesame oil is present withinsesame seeds, then by pressing the seeds you canextract the oil. If there were no oil present

within the sesame seeds, you could not get oil,no matter how hard you pressed the seeds.Because the hidden nature of things is theirpurity, then by regarding things as pure, you candirectly experience them as pure; you can di-rectly experience their purity. The swabawamantra is used here to point this out, and also tointroduce or begin the samadhi which will culmi-nate in the visualization of yourself as the Medi-cine Buddha.

Following the recitation of the swabavamantra, you say the Tibetan words, tong pa nyidu jur, which means that everything becomesempty or becomes emptiness.

Everything turns into emptiness.

This describes the beginning of the visualiza-tion. At this point you imagine that everythingdisappears, that everything becomes empti-nessnot only in how it is but in how it mani-fests. However, it is important to remember thatyou are not pretending here that things areother than they are. You are using the imaginarydissolution of things into emptiness as an ac-knowledgment of the fact that things have been,from the very beginning,* empty in their nature.

The dissolution of ordinary impure appear-ances into emptiness is the first part of a two-step process that serves to counteract our usualsuperimposition of impurity onto appearances.**The second step is the emergence from or withinthat expanse of emptiness of the pure appear-ances which are the realm and palace of theMedicine Buddha.

From the depth of emptiness, this triple universe

*Editors note: Buddhism, of course, does not assert any sortof cosmological beginning, so the use of beginning here hasthe same meaning as from beginningless time.

**Editors note: This superimposition of impurity ontoappearances is the same as referred to by Nagarjuna, in InPraise of the Dharmadhatu: The phenomena that appear tothe mental consciousness, the chief of them all, are conceptu-alized and then superimposed. When this activity is aban-doned, phenomenas lack of self-essence is known. Knowingthis, meditate on the dharmadhatu. The swabava mantraand the ensuing sadhana, as well as all other sadhanas andcompletion stage practices are methods for training the mindto abandon this activity of superimposition.

SHENPEN SEL 25

The significanceof the lion throneis primarily thesense of utterfearlessnessindicating thedeitys freedomfrom fear anddanger ofany kind

becomesThe exquisite palace, where

The first step is to think that all of the impureappearances dissolve into emptiness, and thesecond is that from within thatemptiness the realm and palaceof the Medicine Buddha emerge.Now when you imagine that theplace in which you are practicinghas become the realm and palaceof the Medicine Buddha, you donot limit this consideration tothis world or to this planet alone.As it says in the liturgy, it is theentire billion worlds of thislarger world system, or galaxy.

There are two ways that youcan do this practice. The simplestway is to visualize yourself as theMedicine Buddha. The moreelaborate way, which is indicatedin the liturgy, is also to visualizethe Medicine Buddha, surrounded by his reti-nue, present in front of you as well. It is easierfor beginners to do the self-visualization alone;on the other hand, doing the front visualizationas well gives one the opportunity to gather theaccumulation of merit. In either case, in themidst of the realm of the Medicine Buddha,which you have visualized as emerging from theexpanse of emptiness, there is a palace. Thispalace is square, and quite symmetrical. In thecenter of each of the four sides is a large gate-way, each forming an entry into the palace. If youare doing the practice with both self and frontvisualizations, you need to visualize two palaces:one in the center of which you will sit as the selfvisualization; and one in front of you and some-what elevated, which will serve as the residencefor the front visualization.

On lion thrones, each with a lotus and moon diskon top

Appear deep blue HUNGs, the seed syllable ofmyself and the main figure visualized in thefront,

In the center of the self-visualizations palaceis a throne made of gold and jewels and otherprecious substances that is upheld by eight snowlions. The significance of the lion throne isprimarily the sense of utter fearlessness

indicating the deitys freedomfrom fear and danger of anykind. On top of the throne is afully opened lotus flower, on topof the center of which, lying flat,is a moon disc, on top of whichyou will be visualizing yourselfseated in the form of the Medi-cine Buddha. In the center of thepalace in the front visualization,you visualize a sixteen-petaledlotus, in the center of which youvisual an eight-petaled lotus. Inthe center of the eight-petaledlotus, you visualize another lionthrone, lotus, and moon discseat, as in the self-visualization.There are eight- and sixteen-

petaled lotuses in the front visualization becausethere will be additional buddhas andbodhisattvas in those places.

Next, on top of the moon discs in both thefront and self visualizations, you visualize a bluesyllable HUM.* The HUM syllable on top of themoon disc in the self-visualization palace repre-sents the essence of the mind or wisdom of theself-visualization deity, and the blue HUM on topof the moon disc in the front-visualization palacerepresents the essence of the mind or wisdom ofthe front-visualization deity. This particularsyllable HUM is used because HUM is the soundof dharmata, the expression as sound of thenature** itself. It is blue because that is thecolor of the deity who will emerge from thesyllablethe Medicine Buddha is blue, as isVajradharabut also because blue representsthat which is unchanging and unfabricated.***

*Editors note: These syllables are to be visualized inTibetan script.

**Editors note: the true nature, the ultimate nature

***Editors note: This color blue is generally described asdeep blue, the color of an autumn sky high in the mountains.

26 SHENPEN SEL

Having visualized the syllables, you then visual-ize innumerable rays of light radiating from eachof these syllables simultaneously. On the end ofeach ray of light are innumerable offering god-desses holding various offering substances whichthey present to all the buddhas and bodhisattvasin all the directions throughout space. This vastarray of buddhas and bodhisattvas receivesthese offerings with pleasure, and as a conse-quence their nonconceptual compassion isaroused, which manifests as their blessingscoming back in the form of rays of blue lightwhich dissolve into the HUM. Rays of lightwhich went out bearing offerings are reabsorbedbearing blessings back into the two HUM syl-lables. Once again rays of light radiate outwardfrom both HUMs simultaneously, this timepurifying the entire external world, the entireuniverse, of everything in it that could possiblycause harm or suffering of any kind, and alsopurifying the mental continuums of all beingswithout exception of any kind of suffering ormisery or cause of suffering. Then the rays oflight are reabsorbed again into their respectiveHUMs. At that moment the syllables are in-stantly and simultaneously transformed into theMedicine Buddha.

From which, arises Menla, his body the color oflapis lazuli and radiating light.

After this transformation, the self-visual-ized Medicine Buddha that you are identifyingwith is now considered your own body, and thefront visualization is in front of you. The Medi-cine Buddha is a brilliant blue in colorthecolor of a precious stone called vaidurya, gener-ally considered to be lapis lazuli. In appearancethe Medicine Buddha is luminous and majesticand radiates innumerable rays of light primarilythe color of his own body. Yidams can appear in anumber of different wayspeaceful or wrathfuland frightening; nirmanakaya or sambhogakayain form, and so on. The Medicine Buddha ispeaceful and in the nirmanakaya form.

He is clothed in the three dharma robes.

Saying that he appears in nirmanakaya formmeans that, though some yidams appearing insambhogakaya form wear lots of jewelry andsilken robes and so on, the Medicine Buddhamanifests in what is called the passionlessappearance of a nirmanakaya buddha, wearingonly the three dharma robes commonly worn bythe monastic sangha: the inner and outer upperrobes and the lower skirt.

The Medicine Buddha has two arms.

His right hand in the mudra of supremegenerosity holds an arura.

His left hand in meditation mudra holds abegging bowl.

His right hand is extended, palm outward,over his right knee in the gesture called su-preme generosity. In it he holds the arura, ormyrobalan, fruit. This plant represents all thebest medicines. The position of his right handand the arura which he holds represent theeradication of suffering, especially the sufferingof sickness, using the means of relative truth.Sickness can be alleviated by adjusting thefunctioning of interdependent causes and condi-tions by the use of relative means within therealm of relative truth, such as medical treat-ment and so on. The giving of these methods isrepresented by the gesture of the MedicineBuddhas right hand.

His left hand rests in his lap, palm upward,in the gesture of meditative stability or medita-tion, which represents the eradication of sick-ness and sufferingand, indeed, the very rootsof samsarathrough the realization of absolutetruth. From the point of view of either relativetruth or absolute truth, the fundamental cause ofsickness and suffering is a lack of contentmentand the addictive quality of samsara. Therefore,to indicate the need for contentment, in his lefthand he holds a begging bowl.

Because the mind of the Medicine Buddha isstainless and pure, his form reflects this in itsexcellence and physical perfection.

With the major and minor marks complete, hesits in the vajra posture.

SHENPEN SEL 27

In the end it isthe dharma thatliberates us fromsamsara andsickness

He is adorned by what are called the marksand signs, the primary and secondary indicationsof the awakening of a buddha. In all aspects ofhis physical formthe crown protuberance, orushnisha, the image of wheels on the soles of hisfeet, and so forththe Medicine Buddha isidentical to the Buddha Sakyamuni, with thesingle difference that the Buddha Sakyamunisskin is golden in color, while the Medicine Bud-dha is blue. Because the Medicine Buddha isimmersed in an unwavering samadhi of absorp-tion within the realization of the nature of allthings, and because this samadhi is utterlystable, he is seated with his legs fully crossed inthe vajra posture. You visualize yourself in thisform, and you visualize the front visualization inthe same form as well.

Everything described up tothis pointthe palace, thethrone, and the Medicine Bud-dhapertains to both the selfand the front visualizations. Inthe case of the front visualiza-tion, however, you will rememberthat the lion throne sits in thecenter of an eight-petaled lotus,which in turn sits in the center of a sixteen-petaled lotus. Now on seven of the eight petals ofthe eight petaled lotus, which surround theMedicine Buddha in the front visualizationonthe seven petals other than the one directly infront of the Medicine Buddhaare the sevenother medicine buddhas, the BuddhaShakyamuni and six others. As is the principalMedicine Buddha, they are all adorned by thethirty-two marks and the eighty signs of physicalperfection which grace the body of a buddha.

In particular, on the lotus petals of the frontvisualization

Are the seven Buddhas, Shakyamuni and theothers, and dharma texts.

On the eighth petal, directly in front of theprincipal Medicine Buddha, is a volume of thedharma. The reason for this is that in the end itis the dharma that liberates us from samsara and

from sickness. When we talk about thesadharma, or the genuine dharma, we are refer-ring fundamentally to the third and fourth of thefour noble truths: the truth of the cessation ofsuffering and the truth of the path leading to thecessation of suffering. The truth of cessation isthe result of practice, which is the abandonmentor transcendence of everything that is to beabandoned or transcended.* The truth of thepath is the dharma we practice that leads to thattranscendence. The dharma in essence is theexperience and realization of the meaning ofdharma** that is present within the minds ofthose who practice it and achieve its result. Byextension, the dharma also refers to the tradi-tion of passing on that meaning, and therefore

one visualizes that meaningpassed on from the Buddhadown to the present day in theform of books on the petal di-rectly in front of the MedicineBuddha visualized in front.

Around them are the sixteenbodhisattvas,Around them are the ten protec-

tors of the world,And the twelve great chiefs with their respective

retinues.The Four Great Kings are at the four gates.

Surrounding the seven Medicine Buddhasand the v