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佛說觀藥王藥上二菩薩經

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Text ID
KR6j0383
Date
424–442
Dynasty
劉宋

Fóshuō Guān Yàowáng Yàoshàng èr púsà jīng 佛說觀藥王藥上二菩薩經

Sūtra on Contemplating the Two Bodhisattvas Bhaiṣajyarāja and Bhaiṣajyasamudgata Spoken by the Buddha by 畺良耶舍 (Jiāngliáng-yēshě, Kālayaśas, 譯)

About the work

A one-fascicle Liú-Sòng (劉宋) Mahāyāna sūtra translated by Kālayaśas (畺良耶舍, fl. 424–442). Colophon: 宋西域三藏畺良耶舍(宋言時稱)譯 — preserving the Liu-Song-era convention of glossing the translator’s Sanskrit name with its Chinese semantic-equivalent (Kālayaśas glossed as 時稱 “Time-Renown”). Alternate title 觀藥王藥上菩薩經. The text is the canonical visualisation-sūtra for the Twin Bhaiṣajya Bodhisattvas (藥王 Bhaiṣajyarāja and 藥上 Bhaiṣajyasamudgata), the patron bodhisattvas of healing.

Abstract

The sūtra opens with the Buddha at Vaiśālī (毘耶離國) in the Markaṭa-hradiṇyāḥ vihāra (獼猴林中青蓮池精舍, “the Lotus-Pool Precinct in the Monkey-Forest”). Twelve hundred and fifty bhikṣus including Mahākāśyapa, Śāriputra, Mahāmaudgalyāyana, and Mahākātyāyana are present, together with ten thousand bodhisattvas headed by Sumati (妙臂菩薩, Subāhu), Sughoṣa (善音菩薩), Praśānta-svara (寂音菩薩), Ratnaguṇa (寶德菩薩), Jñāna-guṇa (慧德菩薩), Mañjuśrī, Maitreya, and Bhadraśrī. The sūtra propounds the contemplation (觀, anuvīkṣā / darśana) of the twin Bhaiṣajya bodhisattvas: their iconographic appearance, the recitation of their names and dhāraṇī, the visualisation of their Pure-Land-like radiance, and the soteriological efficacy of devotion to them — with particular emphasis on healing of physical and karmic illness, and on rebirth in superior planes. The sūtra is the primary canonical source for the iconographic identification of Bhaiṣajyarāja / Bhaiṣajyasamudgata as a twin pair flanking Bhaiṣajyaguru (藥師佛) in East Asian Buddhist healing-cult iconography. Wilkinson notes Kālayaśas as a key Central-Asian translator-figure of the early Liu-Song court, important for the introduction of visualisation-sūtras (guānjīng 觀經) into the Chinese canon — a genre exemplified by his other major translation, the Guān Wúliàngshòu jīng (T365). The dating bracket follows Kālayaśas’s translation activity at Jiànkāng (建康) under Emperor Wén of Sòng (劉宋文帝), c.424–442.

Translations and research

  • Birnbaum, Raoul. The Healing Buddha. Boulder: Shambhala, 1979 (revised ed. 1989).
  • Williams, Paul. Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2008. (Contextualises the Yàoshīfó / Bhaiṣajya cycle.)
  • Yamada Meiji 山田明爾 et al. Bukkyō kyōten kaisetsu daijiten 仏教経典解説大事典. Tokyo: Yūzankaku, 1988.

Other points of interest

The sūtra is one of the canonical guānjīng (visualisation-sūtras) of the early Mahāyāna corpus in Chinese — sister-text to Kālayaśas’s better-known Guān Wúliàngshòu jīng (Pure-Land Contemplation Sūtra, T365) — and a foundation text for the East Asian Buddhist healing-cult.

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