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Several years ago, my Sowa Ripga teacher Dr. Nida Chenagtsang--lineage holder of the Yuthok Nyingthik--encouraged me to record my melody of the Medicine Buddha mantra, which he had heard me sing during a 100-day Yuthok Nyingthik retreat. In the Sowa Rigpa tradition, we recite the Medicine Buddha Dharani (often referred to as the "long mantra") three times before any Vajrayana practice or teaching. As healers, medical practitioners and therapists, we also chant this 3x before offering any healing session. This is a very powerful mantra, calling in different emanations of the Medicine Buddha and the subsequent healing vibrations associated with each emanation. At a subtle level, chanting this mantra activates the healing state and helps to unravel what we might call “knots” at the subtle level.
For the most part, practitioners use the Tibetan phoenetic pronunciation of this Dharani, but my root guru, His Holiness Karmapa, encouraged me (and many other students) to start using the original Sanskrit pronunciations of this mantra.
DHARANI (LONG MANTRA)
Om namo bhagavate Bhaiṣajyaguru
Vaidūryaprabharājāya
Tathāgatāya Arhate
Samyaksambuddhāya
tadyathā oṃ bhaiśajye bhaiśajye mahābhaiśajye bhaiśajyarāje samudgate svāhā.
SHORT MANTRA:
tadyathā oṃ bhaiśajye bhaiśajye mahābhaiśajye bhaiśajyarāje samudgate svāhā.
CONDENSED MANTRA:
oṃ bhaiśajye svāhā
LOOSE TRANSLATION:
The long version (DHARANI) could be rendered as,
“Homage to the Blessed One, The Master of Healing, The King of Lapis Lazuli Radiance, The One Thus-Come, The Worthy One, The Fully and Perfectly Awakened One,
[and His mantra is] thus:
‘Hail! Appear, O Healer, O Healer,
O Great Healer, O King of Healing,
Take us beyond the realm of suffering!
So be it.’
The optional “tadyathā” at the beginning of the mantra means “thus,” and it’s not really part of the mantra, but more of an introduction.
“Bhaisajya” means “curativeness” or “healing efficacy.”
"Bhaisajyaraja" means King of Medicine
Samudgate is often translated as "One Perfectly Gone" or "One Beyond Disease." And "swaha" in this context can also mean to pacify.
credits
released March 29, 2023
Lee Mirabai Harrington: CoProducer - melody, arrangement
Ben Leinbach: CoProducer/Mixing - music, arrangement, synths
Benjy Wertheimer: Esraj
Steve Gorn: Bansuri flute
Radharani: Backing vocals
Recorded by Ben Leinbach, Mirabai Harrington, Benjy Wertheimer, Renee Finkelstein and Steve Gorn.
Mixed by Ben Leinbach
Mastered by Michael Fossenkemper at Turtle Tone Studio.
Lee Mirabai Harrington is a vocalist specializing in healing mantras from the Tibetan Buddhist and Sowa Rigpa traditions.
She has sung mantras at Madison Square Garden for His Holiness Karmapa and at Amritapuri for Amma.Trained in the Indian Classical style, she has always understood the healing power of music.She is on the faculty of Tibet House and Omega and leads workshops and mantra-healing......more
