This past Saturday I was exquisitely privileged to receive an initiation and empowerment into the energy of the Medicine Buddha. This gift was bestowed upon me, in a ceremony with others seeking healing gifts, by the Gehlek Rimpoche, a Tibetan lama in the lineage of The Dalia Lama. The medicine Buddha, the Supreme Healer, is not only a very powerful method for healing and increasing healing powers both for oneself and others, but also for overcoming the inner sickness of attachment, hatred, and ignorance. Of course, although this initiation was a one-time event, connecting with the medicine Buddha is a spiritual practice and discipline requiring long-term diligence and commitment.
Perhaps it is this event that has precipitated in me a deepening awareness of and sensitivity to the human condition. As a psychotherapist and minister I have been deeply attuned to those in my care and those seeking my counsel. Due to the Rimpoche’s gift, however, my consciousness has been expanded to reflect upon and embrace a more global community. This community includes not just those of us imbued with Western values, but those of totally different experience and codes of behavior. I feel a connection to and responsibility for the well-being of all sentient beings, regardless of their philosophy, religious belief, or ethnic history. This is not to say that I have become the Buddha! I am still me with all my narcissistic, ego-based preoccupations! What I have experienced, however, is an opportunity to step outside these preoccupations and viewpoints and visit a place of expanded soul and interconnection. I pray for the resilience, courage, guidance and tenacity to maintain this practice that will keep me mindful of my limitations and open to the beauty, majesty, gifts and suffering of others.