What the sūtra is about
The sūtra opens in the city of Vaiśālī (Quảng Nghiêm): Mañjuśrī asks the Buddha to speak of the names and great vows of the Buddhas. The Buddha tells of the Pure Lapis Lazuli land in the east and of the Medicine Buddha, who as a bodhisattva made twelve great vows for the good of beings. Later passages speak of remembering his name, making offerings and chanting the sūtra. In Vietnam it is often chanted at prayers for well-being.
The sūtra is a religious teaching, not medical advice: when ill, seek qualified care, and let chanting be a support for a calm mind.
How the sūtra unfolds
After the twelve vows the sūtra describes the Pure Lapis Lazuli land, where the great bodhisattvas Sunlight and Moonlight lead the assembly of bodhisattvas. Near the end, twelve great yakṣa generals in the assembly, beginning with General Kumbhīra, vow to protect those who spread the sūtra or uphold the Medicine Buddha's name.
Chanting the sūtra at home
The sūtra is fairly long, so a beginner can split it over two sessions. Open the text, press Chant and choose the slow speed; tap the screen to pause at a passage. Afterwards you may recite the Medicine Buddha's name on the Buddha recitation page, then dedicate the merit.
Medicine Buddha sūtras in the library
The commonly chanted text is the Sūtra of the Merit of the Original Vows of the Medicine Buddha. The library also holds the Buddha Speaks the Sūtra of the Original Vows of the Medicine Tathāgata and the Sūtra of the Original Vows of the Seven Medicine Buddhas, related texts of the Chinese canon. All are Vietnamese translations; there is no transliteration or recording yet.
The mantra inside the sūtra, and Ānanda's answer
In the middle of the sūtra, the Buddha tells how the Medicine Buddha entered concentration, sent light from the crown of his head, and from the light came a mantra beginning Namo bhagavate bhaiṣajyaguru…. It is the mantra often chanted on its own as the Medicine Buddha mantra; in the library it sits inside the full text of the sūtra.
Later the Buddha asks Venerable Ānanda whether he can believe in the Medicine Buddha's merits, a deep working of the Buddhas that is hard to fathom; Ānanda answers that he never doubts the sūtras the Tathāgata speaks. Then the bodhisattva Liberator describes how to honour the Medicine Buddha — reciting this sūtra, lighting lamps, hanging five-coloured banners — familiar parts of the prayer-for-peace services in temples. The sūtra closes with the protective vows of the twelve great yakṣa generals.
