Despite his great popularity, temples dedicated to him are very
scarce so that those who wish to worship him may do so at tem-
ples where his images can be found. He is often found in a triad
with Sakyamuni Buddha and Amitabha Buddha, and his sym-
bols are either the medicine bowl or the pagoda. When depicted
alone, he holds his symbol with his left hand and he is normally
attended to by his prominent disciples, the Great Bodhisattvas
‘Radiance of the Sun’ and the ‘Radiance of the Moon’.In the Sutra of the Master of Healing Sakyamuni Buddha de-
scribed Yao Shih Fwo to Manjusri Bodhisattva thus:“Eastward from here, beyond Buddha-land about ten times as
numerous as the sands of the Ganga, there is a world called ‘e
Pure Crystal Realm’, the Paradise of Yao Shih. Its Buddha has
a few titles, such as e Master of Healing, Azure Radiance
Tathagata, e Arhat of Perfect Knowledge, the Perfect Mind
and Deed, e Well Departed Sugata, e Knower of the World,
e Peerless Nobleman, e Man Who Brings e Passion of
Men Under Control, the Teacher of Devas and Men....”
While still a bodhisattva, he made Twelve Great Vows to free
living beings from the bondage of karma. He vowed to guard
their progress towards enlightenment, to help them keep their
precepts, to free them from the snares of wrong religious prac-
tices and false doctrines, to provide food and drink for the hun-
gry, to restore the bodies of the deformed, to rescue those facing
execution and to lead them to a happy and tranquil life. e
full text of the Twelve Vows cannot be given fully here but the