Yàoshī liúlíguāng rúlái xiāozāi chúnàn niànsòng yíguǐ 藥師琉璃光如來消災除難念誦儀軌
Ritual Manual for Recitation and Chanting of the Medicine Master Lapis-Lazuli-Radiance Tathāgata for Eliminating Disasters and Removing Calamities by 一行 Yīxíng (撰)
About the work
The Yàoshī liúlíguāng rúlái xiāozāi chúnàn niànsòng yíguǐ is a one-fascicle esoteric ritual manual (yíguǐ 儀軌) for invoking the Medicine Buddha (Yàoshī 藥師) according to the Vajrayāna liturgical tradition. It is attributed to the Táng monk 一行 (673/683–727 CE), the eminent astronomer-monk who collaborated with the Indian master 善無畏 Shànwúwèi (Śubhākarasiṃha) on translating and transmitting the Mahāvairocana tradition. The text is placed in Taishō volume 19 (esoteric scriptures) with cross-references to T449, T450, and T451 (the three Yàoshī sūtras). The Taishō witnesses include four manuscript variants (甲乙丙原), testifying to wide esoteric circulation.
Prefaces
The text opens with a verse in gāthā style (five-character lines) without attribution, describing the complete ritual sequence:
先淨身口意 / 歸命佛法僧 / 敬禮遍照尊 / 十方諸聖眾 / 我今略開演 / 祕密消災法…
(“First purify body, speech, and mind; / Take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha; / Reverently salute the Vairocana [Biànzhào 遍照] / and all the sages of the ten directions. / I now briefly expound / the secret disaster-elimination dharma…“)
The verse continues with instructions for the construction of a maṇḍala (曼拏攞), the number of candles to light (forty-nine), offerings (incense, flowers, fruits, food), and the ceremonial release of aquatic and land creatures (放水陸眾生). The requirement for proper initiation is stated explicitly: the practitioner must receive the samaya precepts (三昧耶戒), the Dhāraṇī-holder’s consecration (持明灌頂), and the ācārya’s seal of approval (阿闍梨印可) before performing the rite.
The main body organizes a sequence of mudrā and mantra for three buddha-families (三部): the Buddha-family (佛部, 遍照), the Lotus-family (蓮華部, 觀自在), and the Vajra-family (金剛部, 金剛手), followed by armor-mudrā (被甲印) and invitation-mudrā (迎請印), and the offering of arghya water (閼伽水).
Abstract
一行 (673/683–727 CE) was primarily known as a mathematician and astronomer who compiled the Dàyǎn calendar (大衍曆) under imperial patronage, but he was also one of the principal Táng figures in the transmission of early esoteric Buddhism. He received Vajrayāna initiation from 善無畏 (Śubhākarasiṃha) and assisted in the translation of the Mahāvairocana-sūtra (T848), producing the associated commentary (T1796). This yíguǐ represents the application of Vajrayāna three-family (trikula) structure to the Yàoshī cult: the Medicine Buddha’s powers of healing and disaster avoidance are operationalized through mudrā, mantra, and maṇḍala. The ritual is a sādhana (achievement ritual) rather than a devotional worship service; the explicit requirements for initiation (三昧耶戒, 持明灌頂) place it firmly within the initiated Vajrayāna tradition. The four Taishō variants (甲乙丙原) suggest continued scribal circulation in esoteric lineages. The text belongs to a group of Yàoshī-related esoteric manuals that link the Medicine Buddha sūtra tradition (T449–T451) with Vajrayāna practice, paralleling the similar esoteric assimilation of Guānyīn and Amitābha cult practice in the same period.
Translations and research
- Birnbaum, Raoul, The Healing Buddha (Shambhala, 1979) — discusses the esoteric dimension of Yàoshī cult.
- Orzech, Charles D., Henrik H. Sørensen, and Richard K. Payne, eds., Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia (Brill, 2011) — covers 一行 and early Táng esoteric practice.