The Medicine Buddha, known as Bhaisajyaguru, made twelve great vows, which are a set of pledges to help all beings achieve physical health, mental well-being, wisdom, and spiritual fulfillment. These vows encompass freeing beings from suffering, illness, poverty, and ignorance, enabling them to live peacefully and attain enlightenment.
The Twelve Great Vows of Medicine Buddha
First Great Vow: Illuminate Beings with Light:
Shine radiant light on all beings to dispel their ignorance and worries.
Second Great Vow: Achieve Perfect Enlightenment:
Attain supreme enlightenment and enable all beings to become just like the Buddha.
Third Great Vow: Grant Abundant Resources:
Provide all beings with the necessary resources and relieve them of the pain caused by material desires.
Forth Great Vow: Guide Towards Righteousness
Lead those who have gone astray back to the path of righteousness.
Fifth Great Vow: Enable Moral Conduct
Help all beings uphold the three collective precepts and cultivate spiritual purity.
Sixth Great Vow: Heal All Illnesses
Free all beings from their physical illnesses and mental defects.
Seventh Great Vow: Alleviate Suffering
Relieve those suffering from pain, poverty, starvation, and thirst.
Eighth Great Vow: Transform Female Rebirth
Enable those who wish for it to transform from female to male rebirth.
Ninth Great Vow: Free from Negative Influences
Save beings from the influences of demonic paths, evil thoughts, and oppressors.
Tenth Great Vow: Deliver from Disasters
Protect beings from disasters like those caused by tyrants, robbers, and thieves.
Eleventh Great Vow: Ensure Sustenance and Clothing:
Provide sustenance to those suffering from hunger and clothing to those who are poor.
Twelfth Great Vow: Attain Enlightenment:
Guide all beings toward the attainment of supreme bodhi and a state of peace and joy.
Purpose of the Vows
These vows serve as a guiding principle for the practice of the Medicine Buddha, which focuses on healing physical and mental illnesses and overcoming inner obstacles like attachment, hatred, and ignorance. The practice is believed to decrease suffering and increase healing powers for oneself and others.
The Dharma is called Dharma medicine. Our afflictions are our illnesses. Greed, anger, ignorance, and arrogance are all diseases, and the Dharma is the remedy for these illnesses, the cure for the disease of afflictions. Our afflictions are the result of karma. Illness arises from karma, and karma arises from the mind. It is the confusion and delusion of the mind that creates karma. If the mind is awakened and free from delusion, it will not create karma and will attain Buddhahood. Therefore, the study of Buddhism, from beginning to end, cannot be separated from the Three Jewels. Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha represent awakening, righteousness, and purity. Awakening, righteousness, and purity are the Three Jewels! We take refuge in the Three Jewels and practice according to the Dharma, constantly reminding ourselves to be awakened and free from delusion, righteous and free from delusion, and pure and free from defilement. Then, illness will be free. This is the greatest revelation given to us by the birthday of Medicine Buddha.