The Sutra of the Medicine Buddha is among the most popular texts in East Asia, along with the Amitabha, the Ksitigarbha and the Lotus sutras. This new translation, freely available to all seekers, includes the oral comments of several contemporary senior monks.

 

Bhaishajya-guru, the Medicine Buddha, occupies a special place in the hearts of the devout. Specializing in curing disease, both physical and mental - of which delusion is the root cause - the Medicine Buddha is also the Buddha of wisdom. His healing acts are but the prelude to Supreme Enlightenment for those seekers who have the good fortune to learn of his vows or merely to hear his name!

 

Toward this ultimate goal, the sutra contains a passage describing the steps taken by the Medicine Buddha to help “monks, nuns, upasakas, upasikas, laymen and laywomen” who seek rebirth in Sukhavati, the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha in the West.

 

A key element of the sutra is its emphasis on the assistance of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and its corollary of single-minded, enlightened faith. This is the crux of the sutra, the source of the efficacy of the Buddhas’ and Bodhisattvas’ vows. If you are utterly sincere, if you do not harbor a single doubt, you are fully concentrated - you are in samadhi. Your mind is then in tune with the mind of the Buddhas; a process of spiritual osmosis occurs whereby their merits and virtues become your own. How can your wishes and hopes then not become reality?