The 29th day of the ninth lunar month is the sacred day of Medicine Buddha. According to the Medicine Buddha Sutra, he is the teacher of the Eastern Pure Lapis Lazuli World and is also known as the Great Medicine King Buddha. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha and Amitabha Buddha, he is called one of the Three Eternal Stone Buddhas.
So where did Medicine Buddha come from?
It is said that immeasurable kalpas ago, during the time when Tathagata Electric Light was teaching the Dharma, there was a Brahmin and his two sons. Unable to bear seeing the suffering of sentient beings in the world, they established twelve great vows. Each vow was made to fulfill the wishes of beings, remove their suffering, and heal their illnesses. Among them, the most remarkable vow was to eliminate all illnesses of sentient beings, bringing peace to both body and mind, free from sickness and suffering.
Tathagata Electric Light highly praised them and renamed the Brahmin “Medicine King,” while his two sons were renamed Sunlight and Moonlight. From then on, the father and his two sons, with supreme compassion, relieved the suffering and illnesses of people, helping them obtain what they sought. Along the path of enlightenment, there were also twelve fellow practitioners who willingly followed them with one heart and mind, becoming protectors of Medicine Buddha.
After countless hundreds of millions of kalpas, they finally attained Buddhahood. Through his supreme vows, Medicine Buddha manifested the Pure Lapis Lazuli World and merged his Dharma body with the blue sky, protecting the peace and joy of this world from disturbance.
Moved by his compassion and virtue, sentient beings envisioned him with a lapis lazuli blue Dharma body like the sky itself and honored him as Medicine Buddha Lapis Lazuli Light Tathagata, the teacher of the Eastern Pure Lapis Lazuli World.
This became the origin of Medicine Buddha, Sunlight Bodhisattva, and Moonlight Bodhisattva, who are known as the Three Saints of the East. The twelve fellow practitioners were later appointed as the Twelve Yaksha Generals, who command seven thousand yakshas and protect the teachings of Medicine Buddha.
Medicine Buddha is usually depicted holding a medicine bowl in his left hand, while his right hand forms the gesture of fearlessness. He wears precious Buddha robes and sits upon a lotus throne. His body is most often shown in blue, like the color of the sky, symbolizing firmness and the emptiness of one’s true nature. He is believed to extinguish greed, anger, and ignorance, remove the illness of birth and death, and illuminate places of darkness.
On the sacred day of Medicine Buddha, by practicing vegetarianism, releasing living beings, chanting sutras, and making offerings to Medicine Buddha Lapis Lazuli Light Tathagata, one may receive the compassionate protection of Medicine Buddha, relieve all illnesses and suffering, and gain peace, blessings, health, and longevity.
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