In the summer of 2015 my dear friend, teacher and fellow “Jedi” Jazz Sarab Meher Kaur returned home to Halifax from California for an extended visit. While home that summer, Jazz was kind enough to initiate me into Kundalini Yoga, after having become a certified instructor in India in 2012.
Some years prior in Winter of 2009 I had initiated Jazz into Level 1 & 2 of the Reiki Usui Shiki Ryoho (Reiki Usui System of Natural Healing) at which time I lent her a few books on the subject. Upon meeting again in summer 2015 Jazz returned the books which were in storage at her family home. One of the books “The Big Book of Reiki Symbols” sat on the shelf until recently when I decided I needed to compose a daily healing practice. I took the book off the shelf and opened it to a random page. I was shocked to see the heading “Lapis Lazuli and the Medicine Buddha Yakushi Nyorai”. Somehow I had overlooked this entire section in the few years the book was in my possession prior to lending it out. The events which follow are a perfect example of the synchronicities which often manifest at auspicious times and give much validation to my spiritual pursuits and endeavours.
I went back to the beginning of the chapter titled “The Healing Buddha Yakushi Nyorai” and consumed it quite rapidly. After finishing the section on Lapis Lazuli it became evident that my new daily healing practice would be centered around the Medicine Buddha, Yakushi Nyorai, but where to go from there…Upon turning the page I was delighted to see the chapter concluded with 7 different daily practices!
It seemed the majority of the work had already been done for me, so I decided to put together a small shrine on the Eastern wall of the Ashram. I painted a small decorative shelf gold and began collecting appropriate items from around the Ashram to adorn it. I had recently painted a Buddha statue orange which is one of the central sacred colours at Shiva Dharma Ashram. I picked up the statue and upon analyzing it a little closer I came to a shocking realization…The statue which had been in my possession for over a decade, which was given away and returned to me via strange circumstance, was none other than the Medicine Buddha himself, Yakushi Nyorai. I immediately took the statue outside where I was spray painting some pots and other decor Lapis Lazuli blue.
This was somewhere around the end of July of this year, 2019.
The Medicine Buddha is often depicted with skin of vibrant azure blue like the popular healing stone Lapis Lazuli, which was revered across the known ancient world for its healing powers. People would travel from far and wide to harvest the healing blue stone from the mines of the Hindu Kush mountains in modern day Afghanistan.
August 2 I met with my good friend Sara to exchange a painting of Dakshina Kali for the Lapis Lazuli prayer mala of my dreams. Sara works at the local Black Market Boutique in downtown Halifax who specialize in jewellery, textiles and decor hand selected in India. In the past Sara had gone on buying trips to India for the shop and it turns out she had hand selected a few of the rings and jewellery I have acquired over the years. One of these items is my most sacred Lapis Lazuli ring which I wore daily until recently when it was damaged. Luckily I have friends who are silver-smiths and will help reset the stone. Shortly after breaking this ring another Lapis Lazuli ring was gifted to me from another dear lady friend, Adriel. Lapis just finds its way to me…
In the past year my daily devotion to the Medicine Buddha has become central to my healing practice, and I was surprised to discover other ways in which this entity had slipped beneath my radar. Early on in my research on Yakushi Nyorai, I discovered that the Medicine Buddha is in fact an evolution of an earlier Hindu deity named Bhaisajyaguru who went by an even older name as Bhaiṣajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja “Medicine Master and King of Lapis Lazuli Light”
Bhaiṣajyaguru is described in the Bhaiṣajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja Sūtra, more commonly known as the Medicine Buddha Sutra, as a bodhisattva who made twelve great vows. Upon achieving Buddhahood he became the Buddha of the land of Vaiḍūryanirbhāsa, “Pure Lapis Lazuli”, where he is attended to by two bodhisattvas symbolizing the light of the Sun and the light of the Moon respectively.
Bhaisajyaguru, I later came to discover, is connected to Bhairava or Kala Bhairava, an ancient form of Shiva who is particularly revered in the tradition of Natha Yoga of which I am a devotee. Being the friend and protector of two black dogs I was quite happy to discover, upon being commissioned in Autumn of 2019 by my good friend Aaron to paint Kala Bhairava, that the black dog is his sacred symbol! Upon farther research I discovered that this is a shout out to the ancient Indian God of Death, Yama. Yama would disguise himself as a black dog to go unnoticed while keeping a watchful eye on his friends and loved ones.
Kala Bhairava is also known as Mahakala Bhairava throughout India and Nepal or simply Mahakala. In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Mahakala is worshipped as a protector deity which harkens back to the ancient Indian Mahakala as the personal guardian of Lord Shiva.
Another emanation of this Healing Buddha is the Sanskrit Vairocana or Mahavairocana, who was seen as an embodiment of the Buddhist concept of Sunyata “emptiness” or “voidness”. Vairocana was commonly invoked to help ease the difficulties of pregnancy, to heal infertility, promote longevity or to exact spontaneous and “miraculous” healing. Mahavairocana was also called upon for successful learning, protection during exploration and sea journeys and for protection against storms, epidemics and catastrophes.
Looking back upon the aforementioned events, and the unravelling of symbolisms surrounding this obscure lineage of of healing deities, tracing back to times immeasurable and spanning much of the Ancient Eastern globe, I can not help but feel that something was conspiring behind the veil…
This series of events and the subsequent research have brought me to a deeper understanding of various aspects of my spiritual and healing practice. In the past year since beginning to write this brief essay, my relationship to Kala Bhairava has deepened and intensified, becoming central to my daily Puja.
Blessings and Obeisance to the Immortal line of Shiva’s Naths!
Om Shri Kala Bhairavaya Nameh!
Om Nameh Shivaya!
