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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
BHAISAJYA-GURU-SŪTRA
point out that the quotation, which is a fairly long one, in sāntideva's Siksāsam uccaya (p. 175), has been taken from the present text.
| Popularity of Bhaisajyaguru in China and Japan
About the popularity of this Tathāgata in China and Japan, Prof. Pelliot writes: “The Bhaişajyaguru is the Buddha of the 7th of these worlds, all of which are situated in the east, and of which Tsing-licou-li is the furthest. It seems that the necessity of symmetry has caused the location of this happy eastern world opposite to the western Paradise. In a Chinese inscription of 776 A.D., Bhaișajyaguru's world of the east and the Sukhāvati of the west are mentioned side by side, and a few lines further there is a reference to the twelve vows that he had taken when he was a bodhisattva for the welfare of beings.
From China, the Bhaișajyaguru passed to Japan at an early date. He is represented at Horiuji in a group in bronze; the most ancient representation is perhaps attributed to Tori Busshi; an inscription enables us to date it exactly in the year 607; it was in his honour that in the year 681 on the occasion of an illness of the Queen, the Emperor Temmei founded at Yamato the great Yakushiji, the temple of Bhaisajyaguru. This temple preserves even now the wonders of ancient Japanese art."
The Contents of the Sūtra For the purpose of comparison I am reproducing in English the substance given in French by Prof. Pelliot from the Chinese texts as also a gist of the Sanskrit text:
1. “The Buddha arrives at Vaiśāli; he is surrounded by all the beings of the worlds. Mañjuśrikumāra stands up and requests the Tathāgata to give an exposition of the vows made formerly by
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