Popular Deities of Chinese Buddhism (Illustrated)

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C VII

ao hih wo

haisajyaguru uddha

Yao Shih Fwo, one of the three foremost Buddhas of the

Chinese Pantheon, is a Buddha of the past era. Better known

to the people as the Buddha of Medicine or the Master of

Healing, he is dear to the hearts of many, for they have indeed

received his blessings in the forms of miraculous cures from all

kinds of illness. e Buddha’s efficacy in preventing calamities

and granting prosperity besides curing illness has attracted a

steady number of believers and devotees since the time of the

Eastern Chin Dynasty ( 317–420) to the present day. e

Sutra of the Buddha of Medicine (Bhaisajyaraja Sutra) was also

translated into Chinese at that period of time which provided a

full account on the peerless Buddha, his Paradise and his Twelve

Great Vows. However the later translation made by Tripitaka

Master Hsuan Tsang, the famous monk of the Tang Dynasty,

known as e Sutra of the Master of Healing (Bhaisajyaguru-

Vaidurya-Prabhasa Tathagata), is the more popular Sutra which

is widely read by most people today.

e title ‘Master of Healing’, is a literal translation of his Sanskrit

name ‘Bhaisajyaguru’, the Buddha who favours worshippers with

relief from the troubles of the world. Apart from curing illness,

warding such calamities as famine, drought and plague, granting

longevity and assisting the dead, Yao Shih Fwo is known to have

dispensed all kinds of mundane benefits to those who pray to him.