Bhaiṣajyasamudgata

Bhaiṣajyasamudgata (Sanskrit: भैषज्यसमुद्गत; or Medicine Risen), is a bodhisattva mentioned within the Lotus Sutra and the Bhaiṣajyarāja-bhaiṣajyasamudgata-sūtra (Chinese: 佛說觀藥王藥上二菩薩經; Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Visualizing the Two Bodhisattvas Bhaisajyarāja and Bhaisajyasamudgata).[1][2][3] In chapter 23 of the Lotus Sutra (The Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja), the Buddha tells the story of Bhaiṣajyasamudgata's brother the 'Medicine King' Bodhisattva, who, in a previous life, burnt his body as a supreme offering to a Buddha.[4][5][6] He is said to have been reborn over a period of numerous lifetimes healing and curing diseases, and is a representation of the healing power of the Buddha.

Bhaiṣajyasamudgata
Sanskrit	भैषज्यसमुद्गत Bhaiṣajyasamudgata
Chinese	(Traditional) 藥上菩薩 (Simplified) 药上菩萨 (Pinyin: Yàoshàng Púsà)
Japanese	薬上菩薩（やくじょうぼさつ） (romaji: Yakujō Bosatsu)
Korean	약상보살 (RR: Yagsang Bosal)
Vietnamese	Dược Thượng Bồ Tát
Information
Venerated by	Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna
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Notes

1. Buswell, Robert Jr; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013). Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 109. ISBN 9780691157863.
2. Watson, Burton (tr.) (2009). The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Chapters. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. ISBN 978-4-412-01409-1, pp. 321-330
3. Kern, H. (tr.) (1884). Saddharma Pundarîka or the Lotus of the True Law. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXI, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. Williams 1989, p. 160.
5. Benn 2007, p. 59.
6. Ohnuma 1998, p. 324.

References

• Benn, James A (2007), Burning for the Buddha, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 0824823710
• Ohnuma, Reiko (1998), "The Gift of the Body and the Gift of Dharma", History of Religions, 37 (4): 323–359, JSTOR 3176401
• Suzuki, Takayasu (2014). The Compilers of the Bhaisajyarajapurvayoga-parivarta Who Did Not Know the Rigid Distinction between Stupa and Caitya in the Saddharmapundarika. Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies 62 (3), 1185-1193
• Williams, Paul (1989), Mahāyāna Buddhism: the doctrinal foundations, 2nd Edition, Routledge, ISBN 9780415356534
• Yün-hua, Jan (1965). Buddhist Self-Immolation in Medieval China, History of Religions, 4 (2), 243-268

External links

• SGI Library Online — The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism