The MEANING of the SHORT MANTRA
TA YA THA / OM BEKANDZE BEKANDZE / MAHA BEKANDZE RANDZA / SAMUDGATE SOHA
Bekandze means eliminating pain, maha bekandze means great eliminating of pain.
One explanation of the meaning of the first bekandze is that it refers to eliminating
the pain of true suffering, not just of disease but of all problems. It eliminates
the pain of death and rebirth that are caused by karma and disturbing thoughts.
The first bekandze eliminates all the problems of body and mind, including old
age and sickness.
The second bekandze eliminates all the true cause of suffering, which is not
external but within the mind. This refers to karma and disturbing thoughts.
It is the inner cause that enables external factors such as food and exposure
to sunlight become conditions for disease.
Scientists claim that sunbaking causes skin cancer. However, without the cause
in the mind, there is nothing to make external factors become conditions for
disease. Exposure to sunlight is a condition for skin cancer, but it is not
the main cause. For those who have created the cause to get skin cancer, the
external phenomenon of sunlight can become a condition for skin cancer.
For example, not everyone who sunbakes on the beach gets skin cancer. Also.
human beings have been exposing themselves to the sun for many thousands of
years, but skin cancer is a comparatively recent phenomenon. The important question
is: Why doesnt everyone who is exposed to the sun get skin cancer? The
proof that sunlight is not the main cause of skin cancer is that not everyone
who is exposed to the sun gets skin cancer.
If someone has created the cause, as long as they do not do anything to purify
it, the cause will definitely bring its own result, just as a seed that is planted
will definitely result in a sprout as long as it is not eaten by birds and so
forth. Once there is a cause, as long as there is no obstacle to the cause,
it is natural to experience its result.
So, the second bekandze refers to eliminating the cause of problems, karma motivated
by disturbing thoughts.
The third phrase, maha bekandze, or great eliminating, refers to
eliminating even the subtle imprints left on the consciousness by disturbing
thoughts.
The Medicine Buddha mantra actually contains the remedy of the whole graduated
path to enlightenment. The first bekandze contains the graduated path of the
lower capable being in general; the second bekandze, the graduated path of the
middle capable being in general; and maha bekandze, the graduated path of the
higher capable being. The whole graduated path from the beginning up to the
peerless happiness of full enlightenment is contained in the Medicine Buddha
mantra.
Reciting the mantra leaves imprints on our mind, so that we are also able to
actualize the path contained in the mantra. It establishes the blessing of the
whole path within our heart; we can then generate the whole graduated path to
enlightenment, which is signified by bekandze bekandze maha bekandze.
The om is composed of three sounds, ah, o, and ma, which signify the Medicine
Buddhas completely pure holy body, holy speech, and holy mind. Actualizing
the whole path to enlightenment purifies our impure body, speech, and mind and
transforms them into the Medicine Buddhas pure holy body, holy speech,
and holy mind. We then become a perfect guide for living beings.
With our omniscient mind we are able to effortlessly, directly, and see without
mistake the level of mind of every living being and all the methods that fit
them in order to bring them from happiness to happiness, to the peerless happiness
of full enlightenment.
We also have the perfect power to manifest in various forms to suit every living
being and reveal the necessary methods to guide them, such as giving material
help, education, or Dharma teachings. Whenever the positive imprint left by
their past positive actions ripens, without delay of even a second, we can reveal
various means to guide the living being to enlightenment.