Leading a Medicine Buddha meditation

Importance of regular spiritual practice and community

• Discussion of five precepts—abandon killing, stealing, unwise sexual behavior, lying and intoxicants
• Targeting your answers about Buddhism to your audience, including relatives
• The importance of a spiritual teacher and community of Dharma friends

Trg II 01: Precepts (download)

Questions and answers

• How to deal with questions
• Understand the underlying meaning of a question
• Don’t focus on one individual’s question too long
• Use of the four opponent powers (regret, determination not to repeat action, develop positive attitude towards person, remedial behavior)
• Daily purification practice.

Trg II 02: Q&A (download)

Explaining the Medicine Buddha practice

• Overview of leading a Medicine Buddha meditation
• The Medicine Buddha’s mantra: tayata om bhaykandze bhaykandze maha bhaykandze radza samudgate soha

Trg II 03: Medicine Buddha explanation (download)

Sample Medicine Buddha guided meditation

Trg II 04: Medicine Buddha practice (download)

Steps for guiding the Medicine Buddha meditation

• Give overall purpose including the mantra
• Describe the sequence of steps
• Short breathing meditation
• Set motivation
• Imagine being filled with compassion and positive qualities
• Visualize blue light flowing into self and others
• Chant the mantra
• Visualize Medicine Buddha over our head dissolving into a ball of blue light that melts into our heart
• Become inseparable with the Buddha, feel body as clean and clear
• Dedicate and then debrief the group

Trg II 05: Leading meditation (download)

Ground rules for discussions and concluding a session

• All will have opportunity to talk
• No cross-talk or questions until everyone has spoken
• Speak equally
• Stay on topic
• Use first person
• Leader can either be absent or act as facilitator
• Don’t fill silence with talk
• At end of session, summarize major points and dedicate

Trg II 06: Leading discussion (download)