Health seekers
If you have an illness or a problem, it is reasonable to want relief. At the same time, it might help to take just a moment to appreciate the blessing of having a reminder that life is temporary, that life is difficult, and that everyone suffers at some time and sometimes others suffer a lot. If we can take just one moment to open our heart in that way, we may be able to get a sense of a bigger vision of what life can be. We may understand the sky with all its stars, the earth with all its forests and rivers, and all the weather that blows through our souls. We may love life in ways we never could have otherwise.
Medicine Buddha is one way to open our minds in this way. As soon as we see the blue sky of our mind and his body, our minds open to a bigger view of our universe. We find a more open, alive vision of love for our self and others. This open love is the ideal landing place for all healing measures that we may need in life. If there is a way to improve in our health issue, now we are more ready to accept that way as part of our path. And we can be more open to a bigger view of an ultimate wisdom beyond words, concept and life and death.
It is important to remember that pain is not punishment and pleasure is not a reward. In many traditions, the idea of multiple births is considered just the way it is. That idea may be taken in a literal sense, that is, that there is some quality of our being that continues from one life to the next, on and on for countless aeons, or it can just be a metaphoric way of saying that we have all had a chance to play every role we ever have seen. We have all suffered with illness at times, and we have all felt we were on top of the world at other times. In other words, we all share the same problems, and the essential same ways to get free of those problems.
If you have an illness or problem right now, if you can in some way welcome it while at the same time you are doing all you can to heal from that problem, you will be following Menla’s example. He used whatever life gave him as food. Good or bad, happy or sad, he never gave up on himself of his life. He stayed in good spirits. He knew that sad does not mean broken. He vowed to use whatever came his way as a support for helping others.
If you would like to share how Menla has helped you deal with an illness, we would be glad to share that with others, space permitting. We do not want stories of miracle cures. If you have a miracle, that is great. The main thing is how we lift our inner spirit, and how that lift helped us in the world.