Usui Reiki Healing and the Medicine Buddha Mantra.
I have just read the Reiki Healer, A Complete Guide to the Path and Practice of Reiki, 2004, by Lawrence Ellyard. This book has given me much informaton on the practice of Reiki healing, including the Medicine Buddha Mantra, and some other Buddhist Mantras which are listed below in this article.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history and the practice of usui reiki. It is published by Lotus Press, P.O. Box 325, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin 53181. The author Lawrence Ellyard teaches Reiki Healing and has a teaching practice in Australia. Lawrence is happy to answer any queries on the practice of Reiki.
Medicine Buddha is a Buddhist Archetype common to the Mahayana and Vajrayana Bhuddhist traditions. These traditions of Medicine Buddha are known in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and in Japan, within the Shingon Buddhist tradition. Medicine Buddha is the central deity used in the Reiki system of healing.
The Medicine Buddha Mantra is used to invoke the Archetypal Deity, Sangle Mendela. This is the Medicine Buddha, the Buddha of Healing. His Mantra, as given in the book called Reiki Healer is:
- TAYATA OM BHEKHANDZE BHEKHANDZE MAHA BHEKHANDZE BHEKHANDZE RANDZA SAMUNGATE SOHA
The translation for this mantra, as given by Lawrence Ellyard is: “Thus gone, healer, great healer King, accomplish healing, let it happen’.
The Medicine Buddha Mantra is an especially powerful mantra, even when used on its own without the added transmission of empowerment from a qualified Lama. However, it is recommended by qualified reiki therapists, including Lawrence Ellyard, that a Lama from a Mahayana or Vajrayana Buddhist center bless you and your use of the mantra before you begin to use it.
Basically, the Medicine Buddha healing ritual involves visualising the Blue Medicine Buddha above the head of the person who is receiving the healing. The Medicine Buddha is visualised facing in the same direction as the person receiving healing. If this is yourself, then you imagine the Buddha a tenth the size of yourself, sitting above your head, looking frontward, as you are. If you are giving healing to someone else, then you imagine the recipient with the Blue Buddha above the head of that person. If the recipient is facing you, then both the Buddha and the recipient will be looking towards you.
Whilst saying the mantra, one visualizes the healing energy coming down towards the recipient, as if a thousand tiny blue healing stars are falling down and being absorbed into the crown chakra of the recipient. From there, the powerful healing rays being eminated from the Blue Buddha continue down through the body to the heart chakra, where they are retained.
The heart chakra is considered the most vital chakra in Medicine Buddha philosophy, as the heart is at the core of our functioning and our emotions. It is important to nourish and develop a good heart if we want to develop spiritually and develop compassion.
Why is Medicine Buddha also known as the Blue Buddha? I have made my own assumptions here: It is easy to work out why Medicine Buddha is sometimes referred to as the Blue Buddha…………….
The Medicine Buddha is The Buddha of Healing. His other name, in Tibetan Buddhism, is ‘Sangye Mendela’, which is translated as ‘King of lapis lazuli radiance’.
Lapis lazuli, which is the color of Medicine Buddha, is a semi precious gemstone which has a distinctive, radiant, intense dark blue color.
Healing Gemstone: Lapis lazuli has always been regarded as a healing gem. It is used in India and in other parts of the world to aid healing and to invoke healing power. It is associated with the planet Uranus in some schools of color therapy and astrology.
Lapis Lazuli is thought to be helpful in enhancing and balancing the spiritual chakra of the body. This is the Crown Chakra, which is sensitive to the vibrations emanated from Lapis Lazuli. Visualizing the color of lapis lazuli in meditation is supposed to encourage higher thought and promote healing and spiritual aspirations. This perhaps explains why the Medicine Buddha is the color of Lapis lazuli, and why Medicine Buddha is sometimes referred to as the ‘Blue Buddha’.
Other Buddhist Mantras, some of which are given in the book called Reiki Healer are:
- OM MANI PADME HUNG. This is a powerful healing Mantra, as it evokes the Buddha of Compassion. In some texts which teach Thai Massage, this is written as OM MANI PADME HUM. This Mantra is still widely used today, especially in Tibetan Buddhist practice. It is also used as a healing prayer by some practitioners of Thai massage, and other healing modalities, to evoke the qualities of the Buddha of Compassion before beginning a healing. The Mantra originated in the Sanskrit language, in ancient India. Translated, it means, literally: “Om jewel of unfolding Hung’. A more beautiful translation, taken from the Thai usage, is: ‘May the jewel of the lotus flower send out a light of love and compassion to unite all existence as one’. This mantra is to the Buddha Avalokiteshvara. His Archetypal Deity is ‘Buddha of Loving Kindness and Compassion’.
- OM MANI PADME HUM: (in addition to the above) The OM sound is the universal vibration of all existence. MANI is the diamond, the jewel which represents clarity of mind and purpose, resulting in wisdom. PADME is the lotus flower, the symbol of beauty, purity and compassion. The Lotus flower is the miracle of light and wonder which blooms after arising out of the muddy depths of unclean water. This represents the evolvement of the human spirit. HUM is a heart open to all, one which unifies through love, kindness and compassion.
- OM AMI DEWA HRIH. Translated, this means: ‘Om Lord of Limitless Light Hrih’. This mantra is to the Buddha Amitabha. His Archetypal Deity is ‘Buddha of Limitless Light, Guardian of Dewachen (Pure Realm). This Mantra is recited to assist the journey of a deceased person to the realm of Dewachen. Prayers are offered within the first 30 minutes of death, on the third day, after seven days after the event of death, then on the same day of death each week, up to the seventh week, which is 49 days. The procedure is fully described by Lawrence Ellyard in his book Reiki Healer.
- OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA. Translated, this means: ‘Om Liberitous, Liberate now’. This mantra is to the Green Tara Buddha. This Archetypal Deity is ‘Buddha of Great Liberation’.
- OM BENZA SATO HUNG. Translated, this means: ‘Om Diamond Being Hung’. This mantra is to the Buddha Dorje Sempa. His Archetypal Deity is ‘Buddha of Purification (Diamond Mind).
- OM ARA PA CHA NA DHIH. There is no literal translation for this mantra in English, but the Mantra represents ‘Perfect Wisdom’ This Mantra is to the Buddha of Wisdom Archetypal Deity.
- OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA. The translation for this is: ‘Om gone, gone, gone completely beyond, awakening, let it happen’. The Archetypal Deity is ‘Mother of all Buddhas. This Mantra is to the Buddha Prajinaparamita.