Spiritual Healing in Buddhist Tibet Tools for Healing, Relaxing and Awakening Buddha of Compassion
introduction meditation mantra prayer wheels prayer flags stupas herbal medicine incense distant healing dying credits Tibetan Pages Directory Tibetan Healing Meditation
Tibetan Buddhist Centers Tibetan Buddhism Resources Tibetan Medicine Resources Dharma Haven Hom Home e Page
Introduction Before the communist takeover, Tibet was a Buddhist country, and Tibetan Buddhist culture still survives somewhat in some of the neighboring neighboring countries like Bhutan and Nepal, and in refugee communities in India and in the West. Buddhism is very practical. All of the Dharma is based on Buddha's discovery that suffering is unnecessary: Like a disease, once we really face the fact that suffering exists, we can look more deeply and discover it's cause; and when we discover that the cause is dependent on certain conditions, we can explore the possibility of removing
those conditions. Buddha taught many methods for doing that, and the Tibetans have preserved and refined many of them over the centuries. The spiritual and psychological entanglements that lead to suffering also can result in illness of all sorts. Many Tibetan Buddhist methods and tools for awakening, for removing those entanglements, also promote relaxation and healing. In traditional Tibetan culture, practicing meditation and using prayer wheels, incense, prayer flags and other methods all work together with Tibetan herbal medicine in healing illness and maintaining health. You can use this page as a way of learning more about Tibetan culture, or you can actually try out some of the techniques to see if they might be useful in improving your own health. These methods of spiritual healing require no training in Buddhist theory and little practical instruction, and the equipment required is inexpensive and available by mail. Meditation is especially simple -- you probably have the necessary equipment already: A human body, awareness, some emotional energies, and an environment are about all you need. You do need a little basic instruction to get started, with any of these methods, and this page will lead you to resources for acquiring the tools and learning to use them. The real learning, though, and the benefits, come from practicing. The more you practice, the more you learn. It's very simple. "Just do it!" -- Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
There's one book I'd like to mention, because it presents a fairly balanced overview of the various healing traditions of Tibet: Tibetan Healing: The Modern Legacy of Medicine Buddha Peter Fenton
Full of stories and interviews, illustrated with photos, charts, and drawings, it offers a glimpse of all the many facets of healing that were integrated in traditional Tibetan culture. Exploring physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of healing, Fenton includes topics like healing sounds and symbols, and shamanic healing and divination, which are rarely addressed in books on Tibetan medicine.
top of page
Meditation Practice Buddhism offers many different types of meditation to help individuals move toward the goal of awakening, and some of them are are considered especially useful for people interested in promoting healing for themselves or for others. We've developed a set of pages devoted to healing practices that are suitable for beginners:
Tibetan Healing Meditation The meditations included are the basic mindfulness/awareness practice (sitting practice), tonglen, and Chenrezig, Green Tara, and Medicine Buddha visualization practices.
Medicine Buddha Resources For some of us, especially those who have problems related to stress and alienation, finding a meditation practice that is easy for Western people to connect to in a genuine and whole hearted way may be the best approach, even if it is not traditionally considered to be a meditation especially connected with health and healing. Two approaches come to mind that have inspired very many students; both of them were created especially for Western people by respected lamas. To learn more about them, take a look at these pages:
The Ancient Wisdom of Shambhala
Karmapa's Gift: Meditations for Western Students top of page
Tibetan Medicine Tibetan Medicine Resources Tibetan Medical Clinics and Pharmacies
This page includes a section on herbal Self-Help Preparations
top of page
Prayer Wheels
Spinning the written form of the mantra around in a Mani wheel (prayer wheel) is also believed to give the same benefit as saying the mantra, and Mani wheels, small hand wheels and large wheels with millions of copies of the mantra inside, are found everywhere in the lands influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. Here's a page about Mani wheels:
The Prayer Wheel: Spiritual Technology from Tibet If you go look at it, lots of copies of the mantra will be spinning around on the hard drive of your computer while you read it.
The Prayer Wheel Tibetan prayer wheel is a device for spreading spiritual blessings and well being. Rolls of thin paper, imprinted with many, many copies of the mantra (prayer) Om Mani Padme Hum, printed in an ancient Indian script or in Tibetan script, are wound around an axle in a protective container, and spun around and around. Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying this mantra, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerfully benign attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. Spinning the written form of the mantra around in a prayer wheel is said to have the same effect, and including many copies of the mantra multiplies the benefit.
The Benefits of Prayer Wheels A short teaching by Lama Zopa, Rinpoche: "Just touching and turning a prayer wheel brings incredible purification and accumulates unbelievable merit." "One idea I have is to use them for healing. Anyone with a disease such as AIDS or cancer, whether or not they have any understanding of Dharma, can use the prayer wheel for meditation and healing."
The Meaning of the Mantra explanations of the prayer (mantra) Om Mani Padme Hung
Digital Prayer Wheels Turn your hard drive into a prayer wheel Prayer wheels generated by Javascript Prayer wheels as animated GIF images Download a prayer-wheel screen saver
top of page
Prayer Flags Tibetans have an age-old tradition of printing prayers from hand-carved wood blocks onto colored squares of cotton. These flags are then strung together and hung at mountain passes, over homes and temples, or anywhere the wind will blow their prayers to the universe, to appease the local spirit powers and grant the wishes of the person who hung the flags. (The most fervent wish of nearly all Tibetans is that every being of any sort, in whatever realms of existence they may reside, should be happy and free from suffering, and that the individual making the wish should have the good fortune to be allowed to assist in the liberation of all beings, without exception.) It is said that hanging prayer flags is certain to yield greater peace, happiness, and health for oneself, for ones loved ones and neighbors, for strangers in the area, and even for ones enemies.
The Power of Windhorse by Khenpo Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche
"Due to the compassionate intention of those who create and those who hang the flags, and the movement of the wind itself, the blessings of the prayers are carried throughout all realms, pervading the minds of beings with peace and well-being."
Prayer Flags and Auspicious Days
Ordering Prayer Flags
Chagdud Gonpa Foundation Dharmashop.com Radiant Heart Prayer Flags Snow Lion
Many more sources -- search for "prayer flags"
Books Tibetan Prayer Flags: Send Your Blessings on the Breeze by Diane Barker , Blessings on the Wind by Tad Wise top of page
Mantra This is Om Mani Padme Hum, the famous mantra of Chenrezig, written in Tibetan script. It is said that all the teachings of the Buddha are contained in this mantra. Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer), out loud or silently to oneself, invokes his powerful benevolent attention. Viewing the written form of the mantra is said to have the same effect, and it is often carved into stones, placed where people can see them.
Tibetan Healing Meditation Includes mantras and visualization practices for
Chenrezig, Green Tara, and Medicine Buddha
The Meaning of the Mantra Explanations of the prayer (mantra) Om Mani Padme Hung
Mani Graphics: Symbols of Awakening Images of the mantra
Human Voice Mantras by Peter Fenton "Mantras are also among the most ancient healing techniques. One very important use of mantra for healers is in invoking the Medicine Buddha to bless medicines or produce other healing effects. Mantras are also dedicated to healing specific illnesses or to bring about specific results such as long life, clearing obstacles from one's life path, spiritually purifying food and offerings, and so on."
Recordings Four Gates Tibetan Chants and Music
Songs Of Awakening/Roads Of Blessings Mantras sung by Tibetan Monk Lama Gyurme, combined with music played by French keyboard wizard Jean-Philippe Rykiel.
Try searching amazon.com or another online source of music for "Tibetan chants". top of page
Healing Incense Healing incense can be ordered on line. Search for "tibetan healing incense" These incenses are also available from Tibetan handicrafts stores. The following three brands of medicinal incense all have essentially the same formula. They are effective for symptomatic relief from stress, depression and tension, headache, and asthma, and are totally natural, safe, non-toxic and non-habit-forming. Used by many people who have allergic reactions to ordinary incense. TARA HEALING INCENSE: Tara healing incense has been used for centuries. It is prepared according to the Tibetan medical system with over 30 different herbs.
AGAR 31 HERBAL INCENSE: Contains all the thirty-one herbal & mineral ingredients essential for reducing stress created by the different "wind" disorders. Basically the same formula as Tara incense, but better quality.
NIRVANA BRAND: aroma-therapeutic incense. Prepared by T.J. Tsarong and Himalayan Herbal Co. of Gangtok, Sikkim..
top of page
Distant Healing Many Tibetan lamas of all traditions will perform special spiritual practices (pujas) for the benefit of individuals who are ill or recently deceased. A donation is appropriate to cover the cost of the materials (incense, etc.) used in the practice. Additional funds to support the
work of the lamas are always welcome; Tibetans believe that such gifts add to the effectiveness of the blessing ceremony. Tibetan Buddhist Centers Healing Buddha Foundation is a very good example of this type of practice. On their Web site they have a page devoted to offering "special pujas and distant healing for Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike who are experiencing all types of difficulties - physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual." Special Pujas and Distant Healing
top of page
Death and Dying Living and Dying: A Buddhist Perspective by Carol S. Hyman "If we learn to let go into uncertainty, to trust that our basic nature and that of the world are not different, then the fact that things are not solid and fixed becomes, rather than a threat, a liberating opportunity. Then we are free to savor what life offers, to taste the texture of each moment fully, whether the moment is one of sadness or joy."
Dying Without Shame; Dying Without Panic Excessive fear of death distorts (and shortens) lives, and seems to be responsible for many of the more bizarre and inhumane excesses of our American medical system. In our search for sustainable, effective, respectful health care practices, ideas that could contribute to a sane and compassionate integrated health care system, we've found nothing as simple, basic, workable and cost effective as coming to terms with death and the process of dying -- something we can do as individuals, as families, as communities and as a culture.
top of page
Stupas ( Chöten ) "Because a stupa is built in the open air many beings, human and non-human, will go around it and thus many will benefit." Turning the Wheel of the Dharma: The Immeasurable Benefits of Stupas: A teaching given by the Venerable Thupten, Rinpoche Originally a mound that housed the Buddha's relics, the stupa became an important artistic and architectural form throughout the Buddhist world. In Tibet, traditionally, when a great meditation master died a Stupa would be built to enshrine the teacher's remains and act as a focal point for his students and others in the absence of the teacher. The Stupa Information Page Information about Stupas, Stupas Under Construction, How to build a stupa, Centers with Stupas, and more. Introduction ... Stupas under construction ... How to Build a Stupa ... Centres with stupas ... Information/symbolism
Building a Stupa
The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, a meditation master who helped to bring the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism to the West, died in 1987. His students and admirers built a stupa 108 feet tall. Made of specially designed reinforced concrete, The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, That Liberates on Seeing, is intended to last a thousand years. Today, the stupa open to the public at Shambhala Mountain Center in Colorado. The Web site tells the story of how modern technology and ancient wisdom have come together to build this Stupa, who is building it...and why.
top of page
Credits The image of Four-Armed Chenrezig seen on this page came from a Web site titled "Dharma Center" in Finland which, unfortunately, is no longer available on the Web. However, the Web site clearly expressed the intention that the images could be freely used for any respectful purpose. top of page
Dream Flag
Your Comments and Suggestions
Contacting Dharma Haven Revised on June 22, 2005 Copyright © 2002, 2005 Dharma Haven top of page
