Medicine Buddha (Tib. Sangye Menlha) is the buddha of healing who, upon attaining enlightenment, took twelve vows specifically aimed at alleviating the suffering of all beings. Medicine Buddha heals not only the relative illnesses and imbalances on the manifest plane, but also the basic illness of ignorance and dualistic grasping that is the cause of samsara, the endless wandering through rebirths in the six realms of existence.

Because he represents the healing energy of enlightened mind and the nectar of compassion, it is believed that an image of Medicine Buddha in one’s home or reciting his mantra will not only ward off disease and the pain of illness and suffering, but will bring physical, mental and emotional balance and restore one to the holistic state of awakening, which is our ultimate nature.