Than Hsiang's Pu Men Pin Online Gong Xiu's Dharma Sharing（05/04/2024）

Teaching Assistant in International Buddhist College, Sister Chiew Suan Bee sharing “ Sutra of Medicine Buddha”

In the Buddhist tradition the first and primordial healer was Sakyamuni Buddha himself. His Teachings, wisdom and compassion was used to treat mental and physical ailments, not because of his medical abilities.

The Teaching of the Four Noble Truths is comparable to the diagnosis and cure：

1. He first diagnosed the illness - that is suffering (duhkha).
2. Next, he diagnosed the root cause of the illness (samudaya), that is craving (tanhā).
3. Then he considered the treatment - through the removal of craving, the illness is removed (nirodha).
4. Lastly the remedy is applied, that is the Noble Eightfold Path (magga).

The Medicine Buddha - Bhaiṣajyaguru

Iconography of Medicine Buddha
The seated image is usually depicted holding a gallipot, a healing plant and possessing a deep blue skin.

In the Medicine Buddha Sutra, as a bodhisattva he made twelve great vows to liberate all sentient beings from poverty, illness, sufferings, and pain.

On achieving Buddhahood, he became the Buddha of the eastern Pure Land.

The Twelve Great Vows of Medicine Buddha
As a bodhisattva he made the vows to:
1. shine with dazzling light and illuminate countless worlds

2. bring those dwelling in darkness into light.

3. provide sentient beings with their material needs.

4. guide those walking on deviant paths to find the way of the Great Vehicle.

5. enable countless beings to keep the Precepts.

6. heal physical afflictions so that all beings could be able-bodied.

7. the sick and those without a family to have healing and a family to care for them.

8. cause women who are unhappy being women to become men.

9. liberate beings from the nets of demons and the bonds of "exterior" sects.

10. cause those who are imprisoned to be liberated from worry and suffering.

11. cause those who are desperate for food and drink to be satiated.

12. cause those who are poor, without clothes, and plagued by cold, heat and stinging insects to have fine garments and enjoyable surroundings.

For more information, please browse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXBHpiM0V0c

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