Yàoshī liúlíguāng rúlái běnyuàn gōngdé jīng 藥師琉璃光如來本願功德經
Sūtra on the Original Vows and Meritorious Qualities of the Medicine Master Lapis-Lazuli-Radiance Tathāgata translated by 玄奘 Xuánzàng (譯)
About the work
The Yàoshī liúlíguāng rúlái běnyuàn gōngdé jīng 藥師琉璃光如來本願功德經 is 玄奘’s translation of the Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhārāja-sūtra, which became the canonical standard text for the Yàoshī cult in East Asia. It is a reworking of the same text as KR6i0047 (T449, 達摩笈多 Dharmagupta, 615 CE), with improved Sanskrit-Chinese correspondence, a fuller framing (adding an explicit Dhāraṇī section toward the end), and the refined Táng-era translation conventions established by his workshop. The translation is in one fascicle. The Taishō cross-references T449, T451, and the Guàndǐng jīng fascicle 12 as parallel texts. The Dūnhuáng witness (【大→敦】) testifies to wide early circulation.
Prefaces
The text opens directly with the sūtra colophon line: 大唐、三藏法師玄奘奉 詔譯 (“Translated on imperial commission by the Táng Tripiṭaka Dharma Master 玄奘”). No separate preface accompanies the text. The date of translation is not given in the text itself; the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù 開元釋教錄 (T2154, compiled by 智昇 Zhìshēng, 730 CE) records the translation as occurring during the Zhēnguān 貞觀 era (627–649 CE). The Korean monk 太賢 Tàixián (Tae-hyŏn) in his commentary (Yàoshī gǔjī 藥師古迹, X21n0411) gives additional details about the transmission, and cites the date as the Zhēnguān period, consistent with c. 650 CE as a plausible date.
Abstract
玄奘’s translation (T450) superseded the earlier Dharmagupta version (KR6i0047, T449) as the primary liturgical text for Yàoshī practice in China, Japan, and Korea. It expands and clarifies several of the twelve vows and adds greater precision in translating Sanskrit technical terms. The text presents the twelve great vows of Bhaiṣajyaguru, emphasizes his lapis-lazuli (liúlí 琉璃) body as the symbol of purity and healing, and culminates in the enumeration of the twelve Yakṣa generals (夜叉大將) who pledge to protect sentient beings. The closing dhāraṇī (大陀羅尼) for invoking Yàoshī’s power is a liturgically important addition. Among the canonical witnesses, the Dūnhuáng manuscripts (【大→敦】) confirm early and wide circulation of this translation, which was particularly important in Japan where Yakushi worship flourished at Nara and Heian temples. Birnbaum (1979) identified this text as the foundation of the East Asian “Medicine Buddha” tradition in its mature form.
Translations and research
- Raoul Birnbaum, The Healing Buddha (Boulder: Shambhala, 1979) — standard Western scholarly treatment.
- BDK English Tripiṭaka: The Scripture on the Explication of the Bhaiṣajyaguru Sūtra (BDK series, Numata Center).