Bhaisajyaguru & the Circle of Healing: Names, Vows, Mantra & Benefits Explained
The Eight Medicine Buddhas, known in Tibetan as Menla Gyé or Menla Degye, are a set of eight healing Buddhas at the heart of Tibetan Buddhist practice. They are not eight separate remedies. They form one complete system of enlightened healing.
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Their purpose is wide. They address physical illness, mental affliction, karmic obstacles, and the deeper suffering of spiritual confusion. Tibetan teachings treat these as connected layers of a single experience, not as four unrelated problems.
The central figure is Bhaisajyaguru, the Medicine Buddha, also called the King of Lapis Lazuli Light. Six other Medicine Buddhas surround him, and Shakyamuni Buddha completes the circle of eight.
The set matters because of the age it was taught for. Buddhist texts describe a degenerate age, a time when illness, conflict, and distraction grow stronger. The combined power of the eight is said to answer the full range of suffering in such a time.
This article covers the names of the eight Buddhas, their colors and gestures, their symbolism, and their healing functions. It also looks at the twelve great vows and at the role of visualization and mantra in practice.
The Eight Medicine Buddhas: Names, Colors, and Attributes
The eight Buddhas are Bhaisajyaguru, Suparikirtitanamashri, Svaraghosa, Suvarnabhadravimala, Ashokottamashri, Dharmakirtisagaraghosa, Abhijnaraja, and Shakyamuni. Each has a distinct color and gesture.
Their names appear in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and English. The list below gives the Sanskrit names most often seen on thangka inscriptions, with common English meanings. Colors can vary slightly between painting traditions.
Bhaisajyaguru (Vaiduryaprabharaja), the Medicine Master
Deep blue, the color of lapis lazuli. His right hand rests on his knee in the gesture of giving and holds the myrobalan plant, a fruit used in Tibetan medicine. His left hand rests in meditation and holds a medicine bowl, often a lapis lazuli bowl. He presides over the eastern pure land and is the center of the set. The healing of illness is his main quality, and the twelve great vows described below are his.
Practitioners also know a closely related healing manifestation, Guru Urgen Menla, which joins the wisdom of Padmasambhava with the healing power of the Medicine Buddha.
Suparikirtitanamashri, Glorious Renowned Name
Golden in color, with his hand raised in the gesture of fearlessness (abhaya mudra). His name means "Glorious Renowned Name," and his main quality is the blessing carried by that name. Reciting it is said to dispel fear and clear obstacles. In practice, he is associated with protection from fear and harm.
Svaraghosa (Svaraghosharaja), King of Melodious Sound
Golden yellow, with his hand in the gesture of giving (varada mudra). His name means "King of Melodious Sound," which points to the healing power of speech and sound. Sound is treated as medicine in Tibetan practice, and this Buddha stands for the voice that comforts, teaches, and heals. He is especially close to those who practice through chanting.
Suvarnabhadravimala, Stainless Excellent Gold
Golden orange, with his hand in the teaching gesture. His name means "Stainless Excellent Gold," and his quality is purity. The stains he clears are the habits of body, speech, and mind that cloud clear seeing. Gold here suggests something precious that cannot rust or fade.
Ashokottamashri, Supreme Glory Free from Sorrow
Pale red or pink, seated in meditation. His name means "Supreme Glory Free from Sorrow." His quality is freedom from grief and mental pain. His calm posture makes him a natural focus for those facing loss, worry, or emotional strain.
Dharmakirtisagaraghosa, Ocean of Dharma Renown
White or pale red, with his hand in the teaching gesture. His name means "Ocean of Dharma Renown," which points to the vast reach of the Dharma. His quality is healing through understanding, since clear teaching removes the confusion beneath much suffering.
Abhijnaraja, King of Higher Knowledge
Coral red, with his hand in the gesture of giving. His name means "King of Higher Knowledge." His quality is clear insight, the direct knowing of what each being needs. In the healing context, this stands for wise diagnosis, the ability to see the real cause of a problem before offering a remedy.
Shakyamuni, Sage of the Shakyas
Golden, with his right hand touching the earth in the earth-touching gesture, which recalls the moment of his awakening. He is the source of the teachings and the one who revealed the Medicine Buddhas to this world. In the set, he is the historical teacher seen in his fully enlightened form, which links the healing Buddhas to the living line of the Dharma.
How to Practice Medicine Buddha Meditation
Getting Started
Find a quiet place to meditate and assume the optimal meditation posture for you. Take refuge in the Buddha, dharma, and sangha, and then spend a short time establishing your motivation in a heartfelt way. You may think or say: “By this practice of Medicine Buddha, may I (or the being for whom I am practicing) be purified of all disease, pain, and suffering, and enjoy robust good health, and attain complete and perfect enlightenment to lead all other beings to this same state.”
Invite Medicine Buddha to Your Presence
Visualize Medicine Buddha sitting, looking at you. He is depicted as having a dark blue (lapis lazuli) body, this being an archetypal color of healing. With his left hand, he holds a bowl of healing nectars, and with his right, a medicine plant. In your visualization, he is at about the height of your forehead, a few feet in front of you, gazing at you with as much love as a mother for her only child. He is everything beautiful gathered into one.
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I recommend having a Thangka of Medicine Buddha in a place where you’ll see it frequently throughout the day. That will make it easier for you to “see” Medicine Buddha when your eyes are shut. After all, the more familiar you are with anything, the easier it is for you to picture it in your mind. (You can easily picture your front door, right?) Even if your visualization is not great initially, just picturing a blob of blue light is sufficient.
What’s really important is to have a very real sense that Medicine Buddha is actually there. That if you looked up, or opened your eyes, you would see him. Try to cultivate the feeling that you are in the presence of a truly amazing being. If you’ve ever had the privilege of being in an audience with someone such as the Dalai Lama, you will know that there is a palpable sensation to his being there. Try to imagine this same energetic presence with Medicine Buddha.
Make Your Request
Ask Medicine Buddha to eliminate pain, purify disease, and/or rebalance or restore your health (or that of the being for whom you are practicing). You don’t need precise knowledge of the anatomical changes required. What matters here is intention.
Visualize that Medicine Buddha willingly responds to your request. Instantly, healing blue lights and nectars emanate from the bowl in his lap, come to the crown of your head, and flow down, filling your body, or that of the being for whom you are practicing. You can direct the lights and nectars to specific parts of the body, but there is such an abundance of them that they will fill your whole being anyway.
Imagine that this process instantly, completely, and permanently eliminates and purifies all disease, pain, and suffering and, importantly, the causes of disease, pain, and suffering. In addition, the causes of holistic well-being of mind and body stream in with limitless abundance.
While visualizing this process, recite Medicine Buddha’s mantra. There are a few variants of the mantra, depending on lineage. This is one version of the mantra,
Sanskrit Pronunciation
Tad-ya-ta: Om Bhai-sha-jye Bhai-sha-jye Maha Bhai-sha-jye
Ra-ja Sa-mud-ga-te Sva-ha
Tibetan Pronunciation
Tad-ya-ta: Om Be-kan-dze Be-kan-dze Ma-ha Be-kan-dze
Ra-dza Sa-mung-ga-te So-ha!
TA YA THA / OM BEKANDZE BEKANDZE / MAHA BEKANDZE RANDZA / SAMUDGATE SOHA
Bekandze means eliminating pain; maha bekandze means great eliminating of pain. One explanation of the meaning of the first bekandze is that it refers to eliminating the pain of true suffering, not just of disease but of all problems. It eliminates the pain of death and rebirth that are caused by karma and disturbing thoughts. The first bekandze eliminates all the problems of body and mind, including old age and sickness.
The second bekandze eliminates the true cause of suffering, which is not external but within the mind. This refers to karma and disturbing thoughts. It is the inner cause that enables external factors such as food and exposure to sunlight to become conditions for disease.
Continue the visualization and mantra recitation for at least ten minutes if you are new to the practice. If you are a seasoned meditator, you will probably wish to go on for longer.
What Healing Powers Do the Eight Medicine Buddhas Offer?
The eight Medicine Buddhas are invoked for physical, mental, karmic, and spiritual healing. Their help is described as complete, reaching from the body to the path of awakening.
Practice timing matters in this tradition. The eighth day of each Tibetan lunar month is set aside for the Medicine Buddha, and Medicine Buddha Day is kept in many communities with recitation, offerings, and dedication. Many practitioners also practice on the full moon day.
The main benefits of the group can be summarized as follows:
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Physical healing: relief from disease, epidemics, and bodily suffering.
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Mental and emotional healing: calming anxiety, depression, and afflictive emotions.
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Karmic purification: clearing obstacles created by harmful actions.
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Spiritual benefit: support for long life, clear thinking, and steady progress on the path.
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Protection: freedom from fear, harm, and untimely death.
These benefits are connected, so healing in one area supports the others.
How Is Medicine Buddha Practice Linked to Tibetan Medicine?
The tradition's link to Tibetan medicine is close. Tibetan medical teachings trace their origin to the Medicine Buddha, and doctors have traditionally offered prayers to him before treating patients. In this view, medicine and spiritual practice are not separate fields. They are two hands of the same care.
Practitioners may recite the mantra for themselves, for a sick relative, or for someone who has died, and then dedicate the merit of the practice to others. This habit of dedication keeps the practice from becoming a purely private wish for relief.
The collective power of the eight is considered especially effective in degenerate times. The teachings explain that when beings are crowded by many afflictions at once, no single remedy is enough. A full circle of Buddhas, each with a distinct quality, offers a wider net of help.
What Are the Ethics and Limits of Medicine Buddha Practice?
Tradition also teaches that the benefit depends on the practitioner's faith, motivation, and care. The Buddhas are said to respond to sincere aspiration, and the practice works best when it is joined with compassion for others. Healing is seen as something received and also something shared.
Healing in this tradition also has an ethical side. Because karmic obstacles are linked to harmful actions, practitioners are encouraged to refrain from harm, to act with kindness, and to repair broken relationships when they can. In this way, the practice reaches into daily conduct, not only meditation.
The benefits are described as aspirations, not guarantees. Teachers caution that Medicine Buddha practice supports proper medical care and does not replace it. A sick person should still see a doctor, and the practice works alongside treatment as a source of calm, courage, and compassion.
Longevity practice forms a further branch. Several Medicine Buddha rituals are performed to extend life and to remove obstacles to a long and healthy one.
What Are the Twelve Great Vows of the Medicine Buddha?
The twelve great vows are the promises Bhaisajyaguru made as a bodhisattva, and they form the foundation of the whole healing tradition. The following are the twelve Vows that reflect his wisdom, devotion, and kindness to assist others from pain and suffering:
- Vow to heal illness: This Vow of Medicine Buddha is to cure both mental and physical illnesses of living beings.
- Vow to relieve suffering: This commitment focuses on relieving the mental stress, depression, pain, and problems of living beings.
- Vow to purify karma: This Vow focuses on attaining freedom by purifying the karma of the living being.
- Vow to provide protection: This is the commitment to protect the living being from negative energy, evil forces, and suffering.
- Vow to guide toward enlightenment: This vow commits to guide and assist all beings to achieve freedom and enlightenment.
- Vow to relieve poverty: This Vow commits individuals to get free from financial difficulties and poverty.
- Vow to remove ignorance: This is the promise to help all beings by directing them to the path of wisdom and truth by eliminating ignorance and attachments.
- Vow to fulfil all wishes: This Vow is the commitment to fulfilling all the spiritual and materialistic wishes of all beings.
- Vow to protect the environment: This is the commitment to sustainability and to protect all the components of the environment from harm.
- Vow to prevent rebirth in a negative environment: Through the purification of karma, Medicine Buddha vowed to assist in preventing rebirth in the lower realms.
- Vow to share dharma: Medicine Buddha pledged to share and teach dharma to all beings and assist them in achieving spiritual well-being.
- Vow to be present in all realms: This is the commitment to be present in all realms to help and assist all beings.
Taken together, the vows show that his idea of medicine is wide. It includes the body, the material needs of life, ethical support, and spiritual freedom.
The other seven Buddhas extend and support these aspirations. Each one expresses a particular side of the central vows. One emphasizes the power of speech, another purity, another freedom from sorrow, another higher knowledge. Shakyamuni, as the teacher, shows that the vows are a living part of the Buddha's own teaching and not a general idea.
For practitioners, the vows also serve as a model. Reciting the 12 Great Vows of the Lapis Lazuli Master reminds them that healing begins with a vow, a sincere intention to relieve the suffering of others. Each promise made by the Buddha can be taken up on a smaller scale: to care for the sick, to share food and clothing, to keep ethical conduct, and to guide others kindly.
This is why the vows are often chanted before the main practice begins. They set the motivation, which Tibetan teachers describe as the most important part of any healing ritual.
Why Do the Eight Medicine Buddhas Matter Today?
The Eight Medicine Buddhas matter because they offer a complete, practical path of healing for modern life. Physical illness, mental stress, and environmental strain are as present now as they were in the age the teachings describe.
For contemporary practitioners, the set offers support on several fronts. It encourages care for the body without ignoring the mind. It treats stress and anxiety as real suffering worthy of compassion. It also extends concern outward, toward a damaged environment and the well-being of others.
The practice is an accessible entry point into Vajrayana healing. It does not demand years of preparation to begin, and its central image of a blue Buddha holding a bowl of medicine is simple and memorable.
Many people first meet the Medicine Buddha through a thangka on a wall, a recording of the mantra, or a monthly prayer day at a local center. Each is a gentle doorway into a much larger tradition.
The tradition also teaches that simply hearing or reciting the names of the Medicine Buddhas carries benefit. This makes the practice open to anyone, whatever their background.
Seen as a whole, the eight form a complete system of enlightened medical activity. They offer relief for the body, calm for the mind, and a path for the spirit, all within one connected mandala.
Conclusion
The Eight Medicine Buddhas form a complete mandala of healing centered on Bhaisajyaguru. Each Buddha adds a distinct color, gesture, and quality, and together they cover the full range of human suffering.
The tradition rests on the Medicine Buddha Sutra and a long line of Tibetan teachers who have kept the practices alive. This is not an invented system. It is a living tradition with texts, art, and practice that can be traced across centuries.
Anyone drawn to this subject can deepen their understanding by reading the Medicine Buddha Sutra and Mantra of the Medicine Buddha itself and the traditional commentaries, ideally with the guidance of a teacher.
Whether approached as devotion, art, or study, the set rewards patient attention.
The healing power of the eight endures because it answers a need that does not change. People still suffer, and they still seek relief that reaches the root. In the circle of the eight Medicine Buddhas, that relief is offered with patience, skill, and boundless compassion.
