Medicine Buddha festival, Tibetan (& Vietnamese) style
The Nov. 8 weekend welcomed more than 300 people into the Pagoda to participate in the ceremonies and rituals of the Medicine Buddha festival. A group of visiting Tibetan monks created a sand mandala, offered teachings, and performed ceremonies in keeping with their tradition, as did the Vietnamese monks from the Pagoda.
After the Tibetan monks had invited the Dharma Protector to protect the Buddha Hall, the Vietnamese monks recited the Medicine Buddha Sutra in the Tibetan language. Accompanied by the visiting Tibetan monks, the deep and sonorous sound of the recitation seemed to penetrate directly into the attendees’ hearts.
The blessing of the water
This year, as in the year before, visitors had the opportunity to write a name, their or another person’s, on a water bottle, which was then placed on the Medicine Buddha altar. It is said that the healing energy of the Medicine Buddhas collects in the water - following recitations and blessings - and can be transferred to the person whose name is written upon it in support of their self-healing process.
We carry so much knowledge and experience within us
On the occasion of the Medicine Buddha festival, Ven. Thich Thien Son spoke to all in attendance about the hidden self-healing forces within us. It is helpful, he said, to realize again and again just how much knowledge, experience and potential - transmitted to us from our ancestors - we already carry within ourselves. In the course of the stress and mood disorders (e.g., seasonal affective disorder) of everyday life, we are inclined to forget this. We stay in our subjectively felt suffering and wait, longingly, for someone from the outside to help us. If we can remind ourselves when we are in such situations of what difficulties our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents overcame in their life, that can help us.
To gain perspective on this, we can try to imagine what would happen if today, in our modern, Western world, if we lived without electricity, plumbing, or other modern comforts, and how we would manage our health and wellness. Remember that our great grandparents could not even drive to the supermarket to buy food. It had to be hunted and harvested.
At the same time, we can consider all the accumulated energies, which are forever present in our blood, from our ancestors: all their knowledge and rich life experiences have left traces in our consciousness, like grains of sand collected on a beach. It is up to us to consider this and, in times of personal emergency, to fall back on these resources with gratitude.
Greed, hatred and delusion to overcome
Another topic that Ven. Thich Thien Son addressed were the so-called “three mental poisons”: greed, hatred and delusion, which, from a Buddhist perspective, are the cause of all our suffering. The three are important to understand, so the Abbot explained that the three poisons are actually expressions or consequences of uncertainty (greed), missing love (hate) and ignorance (delusion). He noted that all three poisons can be caused by life history, and can be transferred from one generation to the next.
If our ancestors had to leave their country, for example, due to war, the fears and uncertainties that developed from the situation will settle within them. Consequentially, they will pass these experiences on in their behavior and in the education of their children. If we understand the emergence and dynamics of the three poisons in this way, if we are conscious of them, then we can understand how to interrupt these “destructive transmission lines” in the here and now, not only for us, but also for our future descendants. We must remember that, in a Buddhist’s everyday life practice, it is of upmost importance to stop the unwholesome and to promote wholesome.
Meditation, recitation and healing benediction
After dinner, the monks and nuns led a light meditation on the Dark Blue Medicine Buddha. Afterwards, the mantra of the Medicine Buddhas was recited in Tibetan, and the visitors could wish for their personal desires by tying knots in a 5-thread bracelet while the Tibetan master recited a healing benediction.
The sand mandala passes into impermanence
Also on Sunday, the sutra and mantra of the Medicine Buddhas was devotionally recited. The incontestable high point of the festival, however, was the conclusion, which involved the ritual destruction of the Medicine Buddha sand mandala by the Tibetan monks. Accompanied by ceremonial singing, drums, cymbals and Tibetan trumpets, the symbolic universe of the Medicine Buddhas transcended permanence. Since each grain of sand carries the healing and cleansing energy of the Medicine Buddhas, it was said that the sand should be treated with respect. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to prevent the soiling of the sand particles. Thus, it is recommended that the sand mandala grains, after dispersion, be transferred to natural water. In this way, the healing energy of the Medicine Buddhas goes to nature, by river or sea, and is carried into the world around us. And this idea of impermanence is central to Buddhism.
So, whether joy, pain or a work of art: everything is impermanent and passing!
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