Lately I have found solace in images of healing and consolation from the MFA’s Asian collections. I am especially struck by this exquisitely detailed Korean painting of the Buddha of Medicine and his entourage. The painting’s large size, about four feet square, and the lavish use of gold and mineral pigments, hint at royal patronage, and, sure enough, the inscription in the red panel below the Buddha’s throne tells us that it was commissioned by a 16th-century dowager queen to pray for the recovery of her son, the king, from illness. I like to think that it was displayed in a temple where Buddhists of more modest means could benefit from the queen’s generosity as they prayed for the welfare of their own family members, visualizing the divine beings who would help them.

The Buddha of Medicine—called Yaksa Yeorae in Korean or Bhaisajyaguru in Sanskrit, the international language of Buddhism—holds a jar of medicine in his left hand, and makes the circular gesture symbolizing the Wheel of the Law, the teachings of Buddhism, with his right hand. He is accompanied by two bodhisattvas who assist him in his mission of healing; they represent the sun and the moon, which appear in their crowns. Around them are twelve fierce-looking armored guardian figures (count carefully! Some of their faces are partly hidden by the halos), the deities of the twelve hours of the day, who provide protection against disease around the clock.

I find it especially moving that this message of universal compassion and hope comes to us from a country whose success in fighting the current pandemic has become a model for the rest of the world.