medicine buddha
Dalai Lama, photographed by Tenzin Choejor, Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)
Guest post by Viniyoga teacher, Linda Prosche
The Dalai Lama visited Long Beach Convention Center at the end of September and I attended the Saturday two hour session to receive the Medicine Buddha Initiation. Usually, Tibetan physicians receive this initiation, but it also works to give laypeople more healing powers, too.
"If one meditates on the Medicine Buddha, one will eventually attain enlightenment, but in the meantime one will experience an increase in healing powers both for oneself and others and a decrease in physical and mental illness and suffering," says Lama Tashi Namgyal.
Some 5 days later, the glow of the experience still wrapped around me. A Buddhist friend who'd scored front row seats confirmed this: “Once you have been touched by His presence, your life will never be the same.” I wondered, “Am I different, now?”
Although, I am not a Buddhist, my personal yoga practice helps me to compassionately release my habituated conditioning which no longer serves me. Is it possible that I could have swapped out a bad habit for a better one just by listening to this man? Apparently, he is not just any man. When I entered the Center in the company of thousands I felt the quiet hush of meditative reverence. My other feelings are harder to describe: I found myself serene, humbled and in a state of awe. Awe at the sheer simplicity of this man in robes with his back towards us in preparation for his offering. He began with a simple message. “Take care of the earth, it is your only home. Be kind to one another and don’t kill things.” Then he asked who would be interested in the initiation and 90% of the crowd raised their hands.It was a bit funny. I shot my hand up only to wonder, what is he really asking of me? In a culture of sensationalism and drama what did I have to do and how much would it cost?
Again, his requests were simple and if I was not able to do them all, he explained, I could do less. How tolerant!He then began the Medicine Buddha Mantra which I was unfamiliar with. But I joined in. We seemed to go on chanting for hours, between wakefulness and deep sleep. Then, without skipping a beat, he said, “That’s all. Goodbye." I was stunned. But then again, what else was there to say? I just wanted to sit in the delicious reverberation of the mantra. I returned home and the next morning made my way over to Starbucks.
I noticed the pleasant mantra rumble still floated through my brain. I also noticed that I chose a new nutrition bar over my habitual chai latte. The bar was called NICE. Can you believe it? Was it a message to me, prompted by His Holiness? Maybe I had changed! Later that morning a student asked what I had learned from my visit with the Dalai Lama. I reached into my bag and tossed the nutrition bar her way. I said “This is his teaching: be NICE to one another and share love and compassion on the earth just as easily as I shared this nutrition bar with you!” Of course she laughed and I felt that infectious giggle so many people have experienced in the presence of his joyful being. And then I did something very different. Just like the Dalai Lama, I said, “And that’s it. Good bye!” It was that easy and that simple.
guest post by Viniyoga teacher, Linda Prosche