Fóshuō Yàoshī rúlái běnyuàn jīng 佛說藥師如來本願經
Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on the Original Vows of the Medicine Master Tathāgata translated by 達摩笈多 Dámó Jíduō (Dharmagupta, 譯), with preface by 慧矩 Huìjǔ.
About the work
The Fóshuō Yàoshī rúlái běnyuàn jīng 佛說藥師如來本願經 is the earliest complete canonical Chinese translation of the Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhārāja-sūtra, the central scripture of the Medicine Buddha (Yàoshī 藥師) cult. It was translated by 達摩笈多 (Dharmagupta), a Kunduz/Bactrian monk who was the leading translator at the Suí court, in the 11th year of the Dà-yè 大業 era, 12th month, 8th day (615 CE), at the Shànglín-yuán fānjīng-guǎn 上林園翻經館 in the eastern capital Luòyáng 洛陽. The Taishō edition cross-references this text against KR6i0048 (T450) and KR6i0049 (T451), and also against Guàndǐng jīng 灌頂經 fascicle 12 (an older partial precursor). The translation is in one fascicle with twelve vows.
Prefaces
The text opens with a preface signed by 慧矩 (Huìjǔ), a Suí-dynasty monk who describes himself as having studied Sanskrit (梵書) and spent years studying Indian texts (恒披葉典). The preface records:
- An earlier translation by monk 慧簡 Huìjiǎn of Lùyě-sì 鹿野寺 (Deer Park Monastery) during the Sòng Xiào Wǔ 宋孝武 period (454–464 CE) was already in circulation but considered inadequate: the Sanskrit and Chinese were poorly matched, the text was garbled (文辭雜糅), and readers were frequently confused.
- He first obtained one copy in Kāihuáng 開皇 17 (597 CE) but was uncertain whether it was correct.
- In Dà-yè 大業 11 (615 CE) he obtained two more copies, collated them, and then commissioned a formal retranslation with 達摩笈多 and a team including 法行 Fǎxíng, 明則 Míngzé, 長順 Chángshùn, and 海馭 Hǎiyù at the Shànglín-yuán translation bureau.
- The preface emphasizes scrupulous accuracy: 一言出口必三覆乃書 (“every word spoken aloud was verified three times before being written down”).
The text then has a colophon: 新翻藥師經，大業十二年十二月八日，沙門慧矩等六人，於東都洛水南上林園譯出。 — “This new translation of the Yàoshī sūtra [was made] on the 8th day of the 12th month of Dà-yè 12 [615/616 CE], by six monks including 慧矩, at the Shànglín-yuán south of the Luò river in the Eastern Capital.” (Note: the preface says Dà-yè 11 for when they began the collation, the colophon says Dà-yè 12 for when the translation was completed.)
Abstract
The Bhaiṣajyaguru-sūtra describes the twelve vows of the Medicine Buddha, Yàoshī liúlíguāng rúlái 藥師琉璃光如來 (“Master of Medicine, Lapis-Lazuli-Radiance Tathāgata”), and the benefits of reciting his name and worshipping his image. It constitutes one of the foundational texts of the East Asian Yakushi cult, which became particularly significant in Táng China and Heian Japan. The Dharmagupta translation (T449) was the first complete canonical version; it was followed by 玄奘 Xuánzàng’s (KR6i0048, T450, c. 650 CE), which became the standard recitation text, and by 義淨 Yìjìng’s seven-Medicine-Buddhas expansion (KR6i0049, T451, 707 CE).
The preface mentions a Sòng-dynasty translation by 慧簡 Huìjiǎn (fifth century), which does not survive as a separate text; it may be partially preserved in the Guàndǐng jīng 灌頂經 (T1331) fascicle 12. Jan Nattier and other scholars on Bhaiṣajyaguru-sūtra transmission have noted the text’s Central Asian (possibly Khotanese) origins and the layered development of the vow-list. The Dharmagupta translation preserves an early stratum of the text before the expansion of the vow count to twelve became fully fixed.
Translations and research
- Raoul Birnbaum, The Healing Buddha (Boulder: Shambhala, 1979) — major study of the Yàoshī cult and this sūtra.
- BDK English Tripiṭaka: The Scripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaning (T676) — Bhaiṣajyaguru-sūtra translated by Rolf Birnbaum.