# The Medicine Buddha Bhaishajyaguru With His Mandala Retinue

- By: Central Tibet
- Date: 14th century
- Medium: Pigment and gold on cotton
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 104 × 82.7 cm (41 × 32 1/2 in.)
- Culture: Tibet
- Credit line: Kate S. Buckingham Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/144397)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/541a96f7-faf6-1359-264c-5b4a6226bcf1/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Bhaishajyaguru, the Medicine Buddha, presides with his entourage in this portable scroll painting (thangka), which is painted in a central Tibetan style that combines Newar, Western Tibetan, Indian, and Central Asian styles. The Medicine Buddha as patron of healing gained particular popularity in Tibet, but in a broader sense, he is a manifestation of the metaphor of the Buddha as the master physician who seeks to eliminate suffering and root out the three poisons of desire, aversion, and ignorance. He appears here with a brilliant blue body and the physical appearance and robes of a Buddha, qualities reflected in his title, the Healing Master with Lapis Lazuli Radiance. The blue of lapis lazuli is said to resemble the sky and prayers to the Medicine Buddha associate his color with wisdom and compassion "as vast as the sky." His left hand rests in his lap in the gesture of meditation (dhyana mudra) while his right hand holds a medicinal myrobalan plant, his distinctive attribute. He is flanked on the left and right by the red Suryaprabha and the white Chandraprabha, bodhisattvas of the sun and moon, respectively.

Surrounding figures include, in the top row, the goddess…

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0