Site Updated on February 19, 2006
Call us at 510-292-6696
Monthly Ayurveda Classes: In Berkeley and Walnut Creek. Classes taught by Rev. Michael Reid Kreuzer, D.Ayur and Sheng-wei Lan, L.Ac. Michael previously served on the faculty of the Dr. Vasant Lad's Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico. Please R.S.V.P. at 510-292-6696 for the specific dates each month.
E-mail: Not Available for Michael Reid Kreuzer, please CALL us instead at 510-292-6696. To understand why we don't offer e-mail access to all practitioners, click here to understand the Buddhist Ayurveda perspective on Computers, Television and Genetic Engineering.
Each class is a separate seminar covering different Asian healing arts concepts on Ayurvedic Psychology, Ayurvedic Medicine including herbs and therapies – it is not necessary to attend the previous classes in order to understand and benefit from the teaching. Classes based on Dr. Lad's Textbook of Ayurveda and on the Shurangama Sutra. (For more details on the classes, click here)
Also free Ayurvedic herbal seminars are taught by Michael Reid Kreuzer, Sheng-Wei Lan or Scott Roos some Sundays at 2 PM to 3 PM at Elephant Pharmacy. See Elephant Pharmacy for details and specific dates.
The purpose of the Medicine Buddha Healing Center is to strengthen the health and happiness of the people of the San Francisco Bay Area and Mendocino area by teaching and practicing the time-honored healing wisdom of traditional East Indian Ayurvedic Medicine, Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, Tibetan Medicine and Vedic Jyotish Astrology.
Ayurveda involves the study of living life to promote an optimal sense of well-being. It was developed through the meditation practices and insights of yogic and spiritual individuals several thousand years ago in India. Yet, it maintains great value and significance for us today, around the world.
Click here for location of consultations at Elephant Pharmacy in Berkeley and San Rafael
“The healer who regards kindness to humanity
as his
supreme religion and treats his patients accordingly,
succeeds best in achieving his aims of life and obtains the
greatest pleasure.”
-- from Charaka,
honored 2nd century B.C. Ayurvedic Physician
Although Michael studied Ayurvedic, Tibetan and Chinese Medicine with several prominent teachers, he also encourages his clients at the Medicine Buddha Healing Center and at the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute to follow the advice of his other teacher, Dr. Patch Adams, M.D. of the Gesundheit! Institute. Dr. Patch suggests a daily dosage of the following:
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Laughter as Medicine? - Joy and Light-heartedness is our context --- PLEASE VISIT!!
"Bringing fun, friendship, spirituality and
the joy of service back into healthcare."
The First Practice of the Bodhisattva
Path:
Generosity (Dana
Paramita) - Benefiting Others
As a Buddhist Dharma Center and Institute, we prefer to offer all of our Ayurveda classes and Ayurvedic healing services on a suggested donation basis (called dana paramita in Indian Sanskrit), rather than ask for a fixed sum.
This means that our ministry (Medicine Buddha Healing Center) and its school (Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute) relies on donations for all expenses. So that dana paramita (the perfection of the practice of giving) may take root here in the West, we ask your reflection on this fundamental Buddhist-Yogic practice. From the time of the Buddha (550 B.C.), the practice of Dharma (teaching and healing) has traditionally happened within a field of generosity. We believe that Dharma practice unfolds best for everyone concerned when the teaching-healing and the support for the teaching- healing are given freely. We follow the generous Bodhisattva spirit of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, Venerable Ajahn Sumedho, Venerable Lama Zopa, Dr. Patch Adams, and Dr. Vasant Lad, who have inspired our both our format of giving and our teachings - healing practices.
We agree with and emulate Patch Adams'
Bodhisattva spirit of Dana Paramita when he said:
"Greed is one of society’s worst malignancies, and it appears to have
metastasized to every corner of the earth. The sense that greed is
incurable may well account for its escalation. Certainly one of greed’s
most devastating symptoms is cynicism. Unless greed and its symptoms are
excised, society will perish. We believe that a society must care for its
population enough to take care of its needs. Treatment of disease and
provision for health care are fundamental to a society’s sound survival.
These needs should be fulfilled as a gift to its population, not as a
commodity to be bought and sold. In a profit-oriented system devoted to
grabbing the most income the traffic will bear, the goal will be disease
care. In a service-oriented system devoted to keeping the population at its
healthiest, the goal will be disease prevention. The Gesundheit Institute
will never charge money for its medical services. If it is to survive, its
staff, patients, and friends will cooperate and donate everything needed for
it to flourish as a community hospital. We hope to eliminate the factor
of debt entirely from the healing interaction. Although this leaves us
vulnerable to the wishes of the greater community, paradoxically, we believe
that vulnerability is our greatest strength. We believe it is
imperative to need the community we serve because the community also needs
us. This is basic to interdependence, which we feel is necessary
for a healthy society. We must, as individuals and as a free society,
stop our worship of things and wealth and put our sense of richness in
things everybody can have in abundance without excluding anyone. These
riches include faith, fun, and the breathtaking bounty of nature and
friendship. This kind of medicine cannot be bought or sold. By not charging
patients… we are freer to be silly and to build friendships. We also believe
that not charging money is very good malpractice insurance. We hope that our
patients will take the generosity with them when they leave and spread it in
their own communities. This is the heart of our social revolution: to
take the most expensive service in America and give it away for free."
What is an appropriate amount of dana paramita? We do not charge a fixed amount (but we do have some suggested guidelines) in order to allow each person to answer that question from her/his own heart and circumstances. Our practitioners view dana paramita in this way: "Dana paramita is a gift to ourselves because it is an opportunity to give freely. Giving and receiving are really part of the same whole."
Several practical considerations may be of use and interest to actualize the practice of generosity at the Medicine Buddha Healing Center and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute. Many of our main faculty teachers and practitioners are giving freely of their time, energy, commitment to the Dharma.
The Vajra Sutra says:
"All Conditioned Dharmas
Are Like Dreams, Illusions, Bubbles, Shadows,
Like Dew Drops And A Lightning Flash:
Contemplate Them Thus."
Commentary by the Venerable Buddhist Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (p. 201):
"Everything is conditioned dharma." Conditioned means temporary and caused by something else. Dharmas refers to all living beings, all things, and all phenomena.
"Eating, wearing clothes, walking, standing, sitting, lying down, running a business—all activities are “conditioned dharmas.” Those are examples of external conditioned dharmas.
"There are also the Five Skandhas" of forms, feelings-sensations, thoughts-cognition-recognition, activities, and consciousness, "which are all conditioned dharmas.
The four principal elements: earth (kapha), water (kapha-pitta), fire (pitta) and wind (vata) are also all conditioned dharmas.
All those dharmas, whether external or internal, are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows.
If everything is like dew drops and a lightning flash, like dreams, illusions, bubbles or shadows, then what can obstruct?
There are no obstructions, and so there is no fear.
The Heart Sutra says, “When there are no impediments, there is no fear.” With no fear, “Upside-down dreamlike thoughts are left far behind.”
This Site is Dedicated to All Living Beings in the Universe:
The Ayurveda, Jyotish and Chinese Medicine Acupuncture Practitioners of the Medicine Buddha Healing Center, Sai Ayurveda, Vipashina Buddha Ministry and the professors of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute humbly dedicate the merit and virtue of their Bodhichitta Paramita healing work to all living beings so that they may realize ultimate enlightenment and have the blessing of always meeting up with Good and Wise Advisors.
The One (No Duality)
Returns to Zero (Actuality)
Zero is Empty,
Zero is Eternal, Infinite, Real, Actual...
If you contemplate the Zero, you can be enlightened
Shurangama Sutra:
“When numbers are destroyed, there are no such designations as the Middle Way or as confusion and enlightenment; this is called the Level of Being First in the World."
Master Hua, in his Shurangama Sutra Commentary, Volume 8, 2002: p. 68 states:
“When numbers are destroyed”: At the tenth transference, the boundaries of the Dharma Realm (universe) are destroyed. Now all numbers and boundaries are destroyed. What is meant? It’s the same as a zero. I’ve talked about zero before. It is the absence of numbers. At that point “there are no such designations as the Middle Way or as confusion and enlightenment.”
"Perfection is total and the light brilliant. There are no designations because it’s a situation that’s like zero.
There’s nothing that can be said about zero. Zero means the absence of everything. And yet everything outside the zero is contained within it.
The zero is the mother of all things. But it is not designated as a mother, because there isn’t anything there.
To understand what I’m saying right now is enlightenment.
There isn’t any confusion; there isn’t any enlightenment. Why isn’t there any confusion? Because he is not confused. Why isn’t there any enlightenment? He’s already enlightened; what further enlightenment could there be?
For there to be no confusion and no enlightenment is zero.
All the mountains, the rivers, the great earth, the plants, and all the myriad appearances come forth from it."
Medicine Buddha
Healing Center:
Ayurveda in Berkeley,
Walnut Creek, San Rafael,
and San Francisco
East Indian and Tibetan
Ayurvedic Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture
for San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Walnut Creek,
Silicon Valley, San Jose, Santa Clara, Marin, Santa Rosa
Just
as the lotus (padma) is a symbol of perfection (mani paramita) and purity
(hum brahma), so do we embody these
qualities. Just as the lotus
rises
from the mud, so does our higher nature
(mani) rise from the world of
conflict, confusion and chaos. The
beauty of the lotus and "the beauty within us" (mani) cannot be stained or
touched with imperfection. Just
as the lotus flower’s graceful petals unfold layer upon layer, so does
"grace within us" (mani) unfold revealing layer
upon layer of beauty. Hence, the famous Mantra Chant:
"Om
Mani Padma Hum"
(10MB download) of Avalokiteshvara
Great Compassion Bodhisattva (the Sagely One who listens to the sounds of
suffering of the countless worlds innumerable living beings and responds
with limitless kindness, compassion, sympathetic care,
equanimity-detachment-renunciation, and great wisdom).
Who Are We?
As a non-profit 501(c)3 religious organization, Medicine Buddha Healing Center’s main aim is to preserve the rich and ancient physical-psycho-spiritual healing traditions of East Indian Ayurvedic Medicine, Chinese Medicine, and Tibetan Medicine and impart this time-tested wisdom to younger generations here in the San Francisco Bay Area (Berkeley - Walnut Creek - East Bay, San Rafael - Marin, San Francisco - Oakland, Santa Clara - San Jose - Silicon Valley) and the rest of the world.
We are a network of kindred Indo-Tibetan Ayurvedic and Chinese Medicine Acupuncture Practitioners joined together to provide traditional Ayurvedic, Tibetan and Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture treatments including Pancha Karma purification / cleansing massage, herbal remedies, dietary and nutrition counseling, Yoga and meditation, Jyotish Vedic astrology, spiritual counseling and lifestyle health recommendations.
As a Dharma Center, in spirit of giving (dana paramita), we offer all of our healing services on a sliding scale suggested donation basis. Through your support we in turn "pay it forward" and support the spread of the Dharma (healing wisdom teachings) in the world via the Sangha (renunciate mendicant practitioners - cultivators).
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Our Center's
Co-Founder and Co-Director:
\[
Rev. Michael Reid Kreuzer,
D.Ayur, Ph.D. Ayurveda
Master Herbalist,
Ayurvedic Practitioner,
Doctor of Philosophy in Buddhist Ayurveda, Pastoral Counselor,
Center Co-Founder
Please
Call him (No
e-mail available for Michael) (1) 510-292-6696
Having returned from his Autumn European Buddhist Monastery Retreat, Michael is now available through Winter - Spring of 2006 for Ayurvedic-Chinese Herbal Consultations which will be conducted jointly in either Berkeley at Elephant Pharmacy, at our new 2150 Center Street (at Shattuck) Berkeley clinic or in Walnut Creek with Licensed Acupuncturist and Master Herbalist Ms. Sheng-Wei Lan, L.Ac., Ph.D. - call now to book an appointment at 510-292-6696.
Completed a Six-Year Apprenticeship with Ayurvedic Doctor Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.Sc., observing over 1900 patient consultations and served on the faculty of Dr. Lad's Ayurvedic Institute and serves on the faculty of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute in Berkeley. Michael has served more than 4500 patients in his Ayurvedic healing career. A devoted Buddhist Upasaka for more than 8 years, he is inspired to dedicate this and all future lives to "relentless joyful service" (Seva) on the path of a Buddhist Monk (Bhikshu in Sanskrit or Gelong in Tibetan) and the Buddhist Ayurveda healing path.
Michael's Ayurveda mentor Dr. Lad says that "herbs are only 5% of the cure". Thus, Michael has long vowed to perfect the skills of being a healer who can cure and prevent "dis-eases" by pointing-out and removing the causes of the afflictions of living beings: 1. vata greed, 2. pitta hatred, and 3. kapha con-fusion. All suffering (in body, feelings-emotions, mind, actions, and consciousness) is caused by the "monkey mind" and its con-fused attachment to sensations, feelings-thoughts of windy desire (vata space-air), of fiery anger (pitta fire-water), and of muddled (kapha water-earth) confusion (confusion is the denying of cause and effect - karma).
After serving since 1996
as an "herb doctor", now in his 40th year Michael wishes to more deeply learn to truly be a “Dharma Doctor” through the
spending the rest of his life perfecting the
Buddhist monastic cultivation
service path (Mahayana Bhikshu Bodhisattva Marga in Sanskrit)
through the techniques of
Brahmacharya, the
Tibetan Lamrim path, Vipassana
meditation, and
Chan meditation. After all, Ayurveda says
that,
“Herbs are only 5% of the cure.
95% of the cure is wise understanding and self-discipline" in:
1. Proper Sleep (not too much or too little),
2. Proper Diet-Nutrition (locally-grown, fresh, seasonal, primarily
plant-based whole natural [toxin-free, pesticide-free,
non-Genetically-Modified-Organism GMO] foods according to the constitution
of vata-pitta-kapha),
3.
Brahmacharya
(purity-heartedness - virtue, which means
celibacy
for monks-nuns-yogis, or at least self-control of
sexuality for lay persons - protect your ojas immunity, and yours and other's
relationship commitments and vows),
4. Daily Meditation (Vipassana
Samadhi,
Chan - time-proven "stress management" and prevention
technique) - the only bad meditation is the day you don't "sit" to
meditate; and
5. Daily Exercise (Yoga, Tai Qi, Aikido, Qi Gong, walking, hiking,
swimming, devotional bowing-prostrations or any regular exercise that
makes you sweat (to release toxins via the skin) for at least 30 minutes
daily.
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Download MS Word Brochure on the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute (1 MB)
Download MS Word Brochure on the the Medicine Buddha Healing Center (3 MB)
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Our Kindred Healing Team
of Ayurvedic and Chinese Medicine Practitioners:
[\
Rev.
Sheng-wei
Lan, L.Ac, M.S.TCM., Ph.D
Chinese Ayurvedic Herbalist Specialist, Licensed Acupuncturist
Master Herbalist,
Ayurvedic Practitioner, Doctor of Philosophy in Buddhist
Healing Ayurveda (BuddHA), Pastoral Counselor,
Center Co-Director: (1) 510-292-6696
Sheng-wei has completed her 4 years, 3000 hours-long Masters of Science of Traditional Chinese Medicine Degree (MSTCM) including Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences. She has studied several years of Buddhism and has apprenticed in clinical Ayurvedic studies with Master Herbalist Michael Reid Kreuzer, D.Ayur, Ph.D of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute. As a student of Buddhist Ayurveda and the Chinese healing arts Sheng-wei offers free of charge herbal and dietary consultations to those in need. She serves on the clinical faculty of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute in Berkeley. She has completed her Ph.D. coursework in Buddhist Ayurveda with more than 1500 hours of Ayurveda, 1500 hours of Buddhist sutra scriptures, mantra chants, meditation and philosophy, 3280 hours of Chinese Medicine, 720 hours of Western medicine / chiropractic, and 900 hours of Chinese language, culture, poetry, and philosophy. More than 4700 hours was spent over a seven year period earning her Ph.D coursework in Buddhist Ayurveda healing arts.
Click here to download Sheng-wei's Research Paper (466K MS Word Document) on "Manic Depression (Bi-Polar) with Emphasis on Treatment of Manic Aspect with Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda".
Click here to download the PowerPoint Slides (1.1 MB) of her recent presentation at Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences.
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\
Dr. Bikash Bera, B.A.M.S. (India), Ph.D Buddhist Ayurveda,
Indian Ayurvedic Physician
Master Ayurvedic Herbalist,
Ayurvedic Practitioner, M.S. in Buddhist Healing Ayurveda
(BuddHA), Pastoral Counselor, Center Practitioner.
Dr. Bikash serves on the clinical faculty of the Ayurveda Healing Arts
Institute in Walnut Creek.
Please Call Us for Walnut Creek and Concord East Bay:
(1) 510-292-6696
Dr. B offers joint-consultations in Walnut Creek with his
esteemed American colleague: Rev. Arjun Boone, D.Ayur, C.A.T.,
Ayurvedic Herbalist,
Ayurvedic Practitioner, M.S. Candidate in Buddhist Healing
Ayurveda (BuddHA), Pastoral Counselor, Center Manager.
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\
Arjun Boone, C.A.T., Clinical Ayurvedic Therapist
Arjun has studied extensively with
Master Herbalist
Michael Reid Kreuzer, D.Ayur,
Ph.D
and continues his clinical apprenticeship with both Michael
and
Sheng-wei
Lan, L.Ac, M.S.TCM, Ph.D. Along with Sheng-Wei, Arjun manages the
Distance Learning Program of
the Ayurveda Healing Arts
Institute and serves on its faculty in Walnut Creek.
Please Call Arjuna: (1) 925-977-9797
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\[
Jenny Dinh, Ayurvedic Massage Therapist Partner, D.Ayur, C.A.H.S., C.M.T., P.K.S.
Ayurvedic Massage Practitioner
(1) 510-292-6696 - For Ayurvedic Massage or for Ayurvedic Herbal Consultations in San Francisco, Berkeley, San Rafael or Walnut Creek.
Jenny@Ayurveda-Francisco.com
Jenny has studied with Dr. Vasant Lad of the Ayurvedic Institute and with Michael Reid Kreuzer for more than 1400 hours and has seen more than 1200 patients. Jenny will be returning to New Mexico from early January 2005 to June 2005 to complete her advanced Gurukula internship with Dr. Lad. Jenny has a Clinical Ayurvedic Herbalist Specialist Certificate, Pancha Karma Specialist Certificate, and an Associate's Degree in Applied Ayurvedic Science.
We work with certified Oriental Bodyworkers (O.B.T.), Massage Therapists (C.M.T.), Clinical Ayurveda Specialists (C.A.S), Pancha Karma Specialists (P.K.S.) who have been trained in Panchakarma and Ayurvedic cleansing and rejuvenation therapies. These kindred practitioners continue their advanced clinical Ayurvedic studies in Buddhist Ayurveda with Master Herbalist Michael Reid Kreuzer, D.Ayur, M.A.H, Ph.D of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute. They specialize in all styles of Ayurvedic hands-on massage therapy: 1 to 2 hour sessions include Abhyanga - Snehana (customized organic herbal oil massage), Nasya (herbal nose drops), Shirodhara (warm herbal sesame oil over the third eye) and Svedana (steam sweating therapy), Marma Chikitsa (Ayurvedic acupressure acupoint therapy) and Ayurvedic lymphatic drainage. Warm herbal oil, essential oils and hot compresses are used to clear blockages and congestion. We also offer Netra Basti (herbal ghee eye treatment), Karna Purana (herbal oil ear drops), Ear-candling, and full Panchakarma (3 to 5 day cleansing-rejuvenation therapies) in concert with Michael Reid Kreuzer, or Ayurvedic Physician Dr. Bikash Bera, B.A.M.S. from India or with Arjun Boone or Jenny Dinh. 510-292-6696
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\
Scott Roos, D.Ayur, M.S., C.A.H.S.
Certified Master Ayurvedic Herbalist,
Yoga and Ayurveda Teacher, Vedic Jyotish Astrologer, Master of Science of
Buddhist Ayurveda, Center Co-Founder
(1) 510-292-6696 - For Ayurvedic Herbal
Consultations in San Rafael and Marin County - "We do house-calls!"
Clinic Location: 814 E Street, Suite 1, San Rafael, 94901
www.Ayurveda-Rafael.comScott has studied with Dr. Vasant Lad of the Ayurvedic Institute and with Master Herbalist Michael Reid Kreuzer, D.Ayur, Ph.D of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute. Awarded an Ph.D Buddhist Ayurveda degree: Master of Science in Buddhist Healing Ayurveda. A graduate-level religious degree as Diplomate of Ayurveda conferring advanced academic and clinical status as a Master Ayurvedic Herbalist and Buddhist Ayurvedic Pastoral Counselor (Minister). Total of 2400 hours (160 semester units) of cumulative study,
5 year degree program: 3 hour clinical oral exam with Michael Reid Kreuzer, Ph.D and Michael Dick, Ph.D. Scott now serves on the clinical faculty of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute in San Rafael.
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\
Mr. Ragu Padmanabhan,
D.Ayur, C.A.H.S. and
Ms. Nisha Srinivasan, D.Ayur, C.A.H.S.
Clinical Ayurvedic Herbalist
Specialists, Yoga and Ayurveda Teachers,
Associate's Degree in Applied
Ayurvedic Science from Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute. 1200 hours
of training – highly knowledgeable in Ayurvedic herbology, Yoga and Vedic
spirituality. Founders of East Point: A Non-Profit Center for Eastern
Wisdom: Yoga, Spirituality and Ayurveda. This "dynamic duo" husband and
wife team are deeply involved with Seva service work for Charity Focus:
www.CharityFocus.org.
They both serve on the faculty of the
Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute in Santa Clara.
(1) 510-292-6696 - For Ayurvedic Herbal
Consultations in the South Bay: San Jose, Santa Clara, Mountain View, Palo
Alto, Los Altos, Cupertino and Fremont - "We do house-calls!"
Classroom Location: Santa Clara 510-292-6696
Pancha Karma Cleansing
Revitalization Massage at the Center:
Restore balance to your body, mind and spirit with the ancient Indian rejuvenative treatments called Panchakarma. These traditional Ayurvedic procedures for purification and revitalization include oil massage, herbal steam treatment, shirodhara, constitutional consultation, cleansing diet, herbal therapy, lifestyle education, yoga and other therapies. We offer Pancha Karma in our clinic in San Francisco or Walnut Cree or at your home as a house-call. For more information click here. Receive full Panchakarma in concert with Ayurvedic Physician Dr. Bikash Bera, B.A.M.S. from India or with Michael Reid Kreuzer, Arjun Boone or Jenny Dinh. 510-292-6696.
What is Indo-Tibetan Ayurvedic Medicine?
The ultimate purpose of Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine is give self-less help (relentless joyful service - Seva) to ALL living beings to realize liberation (Bodhi-Moksha) and cessation (nirodha) of all suffering by 1. understanding, 2. preventing, 3. avoiding, and 4. removing the causes (samudaya) of suffering (dukkha) using a time-tested path and a clinically-proven method (Dharma marga).
For more than 1000 years, Ayurveda was deeply influenced by the compassionate-wisdom path of Shakyamuni Buddha (550 B.C.) and the Medicine Buddha (Akshobhya) and by the broadening influence of the Silk-Road interchange with wandering Indian-Chinese-Tibetan-Sri-Lankan-Burmese-Thai Buddhist monks and itinerant Chinese Taoist priests causing a rich hybrid cross-pollination with Chinese Medicine. Ayurveda was founded on the Yoga-Veda-Vedanta morality-ethical (yama-niyama) path and then broadened by the Islamic-Sufi-Sikh Oneness path for almost 1000 years.
Ayurveda, which literally means "the science of life", is the natural healing system used throughout India, Nepal, and Tibet and the Himalayas. Ayurveda was originally known to have been first developed and established 4000 years ago by the great sages who developed India's original systems of meditation and Yoga. The study of Ayurveda includes herbal medicine, dietetics, body work, exercise, life style counseling, psychology and spirituality. It not only deals with medical science, but also with the social, ethical, intellectual, and spiritual life of all living beings.
Today, an estimated 300,000 Ayurvedic physicians practice in India, often working closely with doctors trained in Western, conventional medicine or in homeopathy. Ayurvedic and Chinese Medicine practitioners teach patients to understand their unique bodily constitutions and show them how to use diet, massage, herbs, and lifestyle adjustments to harmonize body, mind, and spirit.
Our Free Ayurveda
Class Locations:
Berkeley, San Rafael, Walnut Creek, Santa Clara
Since first starting in August of the year 2000, all of our weekly Tuesday night classes and one two-day weekend per year had been held at the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua (2304 McKinley Avenue at Bancroft) (click here for directions).
Since December 2005, we have moved some of our
East Bay Ayurveda classes to our new center at 2150 Center Street at
Shattuck, Berkeley 94704 and to 2670 North Main Street, Walnut Creek,
California 94597.
Please R.S.V.P. at 510-292-6696 for the specific date each month.
Weekly seminars will continue to be held in Berkeley at the new Center
Street office starting in January 2006.
Although entirely unaffiliated with us, we sincerely thank the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery and the Venerable American Monk Rev. Heng Sure for their kindred spirit support of our classes and community service work.
Reverend Heng Sure and the hundreds of monks and nuns of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas Sangha have been an enduring inspiration for us all on the Bodhisattva path of the healing arts. Without the initial selfless service (Anatman Bhakti Seva) inspiration of these pioneering Western Buddhist monastics, the Medicine Buddha Healing Center would not have been created. It is to them that we bow in refuge and ineffable appreciation.
Other classes are
held at the:
-
Medicine Buddha Healing Center (Downtown Berkeley at 2150 Center Street between Shattuck and Oxford - 2 minute walk from the Berkeley campus entrance; and in Walnut Creek near the BART station)
-
Elephant Pharmacy (1607 Shattuck at Cedar in North Berkeley certain Sundays from 2 PM to 3 PM). Click here for an up-to-date calendar listing of all of our Ayurveda classes held at the Elephant Pharmacy in Berkeley. Berkeley classes will resume in mid January after the Winter Holidays. Elephant Pharmacy's new San Rafael store will offer Ayurvedic classes as well.
-
East Point (Santa Clara) - Ragu Padmanabhan and Nisha Srinivasan
-
Las Vegas Institute of Ayurveda (in Nevada) - Dr. Bill Celentano
-
Dhanvantari Ayurveda Center (Florida) - Michael Dick, Ph.D
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Open to the Public Ayurveda Classes:
NOTE: Please R.S.V.P.
for these classes by calling 510-292-6696 - leave you name, e-mail address and
phone number. For Yoga and Ayurveda classes in Santa Clara,
please call Ragu Padmanabhan at 408-242-4442.
[Certain Sundays from 2 PM to 3 PM at the Elephant Pharmacy in Berkeley, California (click here for directions). Join our once or twice monthly Sunday afternoon "Wisdom-Memory Like an Elephant" discussion at the Elephant Pharmacy to learn the Ayurvedic approach to healing. At Elephant, Master Herbalist Michael Reid Kreuzer, D.Ayur, M.A.H., Ph.D, Master Herbalist Sheng-Wei Lan, L.Ac., D.Ayur, M.A.H., Ph.D or another kindred Medicine Buddha Healing Center teacher will discuss the Ayurvedic perspectives on herbs, various ailments, organs, and systems of the body-mind.
While Michael is still available for paid consultations, he is on sabbatical from his Elephant Pharmacy free clinic service work. During that time, Ms. Sheng-Wei Lan, L.Ac., Ph.D (510-883-9688) and other of Medicine Buddha Healing Center's well-trained and experienced practitioners will offer free 15 minute herbal consultations (including traditional Ayurvedic and/or Chinese pulse diagnosis and tongue diagnosis) with clients from approximately 3 PM to 7 PM. Check Elephant's Website for schedule in Berkeley and San Rafael.
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Medicine Buddha Healing Center
Actively Supports The Following
Non-Profit Organizations:
Emulating monastics or aspiring to renunciate vows as Bhikshus (Monks), Bhikshunis (Nuns), or Buddhist Yogis, our teachers and practitioners trust that their livelihood needs will be met through donations.
All classes and consultations offered by the Center are by donation (see left side bar). No one is ever turned away due to lack of funds.
25% of the net proceeds of the Medicine Buddha Healing Center and its Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute and Vipashina Buddha College are donated to benefit the kindred spiritual healing non-profit religious services (Seva) organizations below. We humbly request our patients to give directly of their time and money to these selfless service groups.
Among our Center's practitioners, we have visited most of the following Monasteries, Nunneries and Dharma Centers and organizations and had the good fortune to meet many of their inspiring teachers who are primarily monastic Sangha members.
Michael has vowed that by the end of 2006, he will be a novice monk (Shramanera in Sanskrit - Getsul in Tibetan) under the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana under Lama Zopa Rinpoche as his root guru. To plant a "field of blessings" in the pollination and sowing of the seeds of healing Dharma in the West, our Center makes offerings of as much of our monetary proceeds, medicinal herbs, time and energy as we can afford to:
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Venerable Tripitaka and Chan Master Hsuan Hua of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and Dharma Realm Buddhist University in Mendocino, the worldwide Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, their Buddhist Text Translation Society, their Berkeley Buddhist Monastery and their Institute for World Religions. This is where Michael initially studied Buddhism for 9 years
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H.H. Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition and their Nalanda Monastery in France, their Tse Chen Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies in San Francisco, and the Land of the Medicine Buddha in the beautiful Santa Cruz California Pacific coast redwood forest covered mountains. Michael has just returned from Autumn retreat visiting and volunteering at Nalanda Monastery in France and is now donating monthly to support the building of the new Nalanda Monastery building. Michael has vowed to ordain as a novice monk in his 40th year under H.H. Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa.
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The Venerable American Buddhist Monk Longpor Sumedho and the Amaravati Forest Monastery in England, and his Dharma brothers - the Venerable monks Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro of the Mendocino California Abhayagiri Forest Monastery of the Longpor Ajahn Chah Thai Forest Theravada Vipassana meditative tradition.
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California Vipassana Center for Meditation as taught by the Venerable Upasaka S. N. Goenka. Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. It was taught in India more than 2500 years ago as a universal remedy for universal ills, i.e., an Art of Living. For those who are not familiar with Vipassana Meditation, an Introduction to Vipassana by Mr. Goenka is available. Michael and Sheng-Wei regularly attend retreats here to go deeper into the meditative stillness needed to be a good healer in the domain of Buddhist Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine acupuncture.
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The venerable Sakyadhita - International Organization of Buddhist Women. This non-profit is dedicated to the welfare and concerns of Buddhist laywomen and nuns worldwide. They offer an amazing insightful compilation of articles by well-known Buddhist monks and nuns: "Reflections for Westerners Considering Buddhist Monastic Ordination"
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The Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery & International Retreat Centre for Women. Venerable English Nun Tenzin Palmo's special project; where young women from Tibet and the Himalayan border regions could come together to study and practice as nuns of Tibetan Buddhism.
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The venerable Liberation Prison Project
Directed by the Venerable Nun Robina Courtin, this Tibetan Buddhist organization offers free Buddhist books, prayers and practice booklets, practice items, video and audio tapes of teachings to over 3,500 incarcerated individuals and Buddhist study groups in over 500 prisons in the United States and the worldwide.
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The Human Kindness Foundation and its Prison-Ashram Project Founded by Bo and Sita Lozoff, this non-profit stresses a way of life based upon three common principles taught by the great sages of all religions: Simple living, a dedication to service, and a commitment to personal spiritual practice.
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United Religions Initiative
A global community dedicated to promoting daily interfaith cooperation, ending religiously motivated violence and creating cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings.
NOTE WELL: We are not affiliated in any way with any of the above Monasteries, Nunneries and Dharma Centers and organizations although we support monetarily and in spirit their selfless work.
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