The yakshas and yakshinis known as The Twelve Heavenly Generals are said to protect Bhaisajyaguru, also known as Yakushi. Yakushi is also referred to by many people as the Medicine Buddha. This is because he is a strong doctor who cures the pain and suffering of many people. The sole purpose for the yakshas and yakshinis that make up the Twelve Heavenly Generals is to protect this great Buddha of medicine. Unfortunately, this would become a goal that wasn't fully met.

The Twelve Heavenly generals were a very strong bunch of yakshas and yakshinis who defeated nearly every enemy in every war that they came across. As protectors of a great man of medicine, the Twelve Heavenly Generals decided to wage a war on Sickness. The cockiness of the Twelve Heavenly Generals was the main factor in the decision to fight Sickness.

Sickness is attacked in many small instances, but never in a full swoop, like the Twelve Heavenly Generals wished to do. Khumbhira, as the leader, rounded up the twelve of them to prepare for the battle. This was going to be an interesting battle, as none of them knew what the true form of Sickness was. The Twelve Heavenly Generals only knew of all the things Sickness had caused. Nevertheless, the twelve yakshas and yakshinis felt that they were well prepared for the war they waged. Each of them were equipped with their own weapons: Vajra's sword, Andira's mallet, Anila's trident, Sandilya's conch shell, Indra's staff, Pajra's mallet, Mahoraga's axe, Kinnara's rope, Catura's sword, and Khumbira, Mihira, and Vikarala each bearing a thunderbolt. The search would begin for Sickness.

The twelve of them would spread throughout the land in order to find Sickness. They figured that if they spread out, it would be much easier to find him this way. In doing this, they left Yakushi, the Medicine Buddha, alone.

The generals came across many villages in which the villagers were suffering from various illnesses. They couldn't understand how Sickness had affected so many of these villagers. The Twelve Heavenly Generals became frustrated. Still far away from Yakushi, the generals regrouped.

Shortly after they regrouped, Sickness finally appeared as a giant, green glowing and transparent figure. The image of Sickness was like that of a ghost covered in slime. Sickness had heard that the Twelve Heavenly Generals were looking for him, as he can hear everything that happens everywhere. The fact that the yakshas and yakshinis would even challenge him, informed him that they didn't know what they were up against.

Without delay, Kumbhira attacked, as he threw his thunderbolt. Vajra then swung a sword. Andira swung with a mallet. The other yakshas and yakshinis halted because they could tell that the physical attacks had no affect on Sickness.

Sickness then spread himself among the wind and blew away. Little did The Twelve Heavenly Generals know, Sickness was headed for Yakushi, the Buddha of medicine who the generals were supposed to be protecting.

The Twelve Heavenly Generals, feeling defeated, made their way back to Yakushi. When they finally approached Yakushi, he looked frail and near death. Unfortunately for the yakshas and yakshinis, they didn't know how to cure him. The Buddha of medicine was too weak to talk and move. Sickness had focused much of his energy on making Yakushi ill.

It was then that the Twelve Heavenly Generals realized that they couldn't fight sickness by physical means. They had failed Yakushi.

Lucky for the Twelve Heavenly Generals, Yakushi would rise again. After weeks of waiting for Yakushi's death, Khumbhira tried one last thing. Yakushi's Mantra was his last hope. Khumbhira and the rest of the Twelve Heavenly Generals repeated the Mantra several times. Yakushi sat up in his bed after a few repetitions of the Mantra. He looked better than ever. There was massive relief among the Twelve Heavenly Generals. To this day, Yakushi cures people around the world with the Twelve Heavenly Generals protecting him.

Author's Note: After reading about the Twelve Heavenly Generals, I thought it would be cool to include them in my tragic stories about Yakshas and Yakshinis. This is mainly because the possibilities were endless with so many of the generals to choose from. Instead of focusing on a specific Yaksha or Yakshini, I decided to include them all. The most important aspect of the story, I feel, was the inclusion of Sickness personified. I had read a short bit on the website about the generals waging a war on Sickness. I therefore decided to use that idea and make Sickness a person. I tried to give sickness human characteristics in order to bolster that important aspect of this story. This story also greatly intrigued me because of the connection to the Buddha of medicine. Initially, I didn't even know anything about Buddhas, and assumed that a Buddha was just a Buddha. I thought it was very cool that there were different types of Buddhas that they recognized. The idea of having many different types of Buddhas to include in a story is very cool to me. I felt that I could capitalize on this connection and make a story out of it.

Image of the buddha of medicine with a general. Link

Bibliography: 12 Heavenly Generals Information