This posting came through the Medicine Buddha list serve. It points out that we need to be vigilant…we never know when or how illness and death will come to us. Even those of us who think we have some kind of practice will face the total inability of our physical body and mind to handle illness. We are in the hands of grace at all times. It is a privilege of this life that we can do readings and prayers for the benefit of others.
“I received the Medicine Buddha empowerment from the Dalai Lama in 2009 and I recite the mantra every day as a basic commitment. Throughout June and July I had a serious case of pneumonia and I wanted to chant the mantra and remember Medicine Buddha to help heal my sickness. The thing that gets me is that my lungs were so bad that I actually couldn’t recite the mantra because it took too much air away and my mind was too foggy to even remember the mantra clearly, even though I recite it just about every day. Despite this difficult situation, I was able to picture Medicine Buddha on my heart (because I also had heart trouble, which was related to the pneumonia) and this seemed to help. But the other stuff I can’t explain. The only mantra I could say without pain and lack of air was the Tara mantra. I had difficulty remembering Tara’s mantra as well. Can you imagine that?!?
Now that I am feeling much better (although I am still recovering and the pneumonia is still hanging on in a milder form). I find it hard to believe that I was so sick that I couldn’t say a simple mantra and I could hardly remember it. This only goes to show that we’d all better prep for death.
When illness comes, one never knows what the mind will be capable of. Since I could have been at death’s door several times during my ordeal, I realize how dangerous samsara really is and how fragile even our Dharma knowledge can become when ones mind is ravaged by fever, illness and partial delirium – all of which I experienced during my illness.”
medicine buddha
