Introduction

i.1The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Seven Thus-Gone Ones opens in Vaiśālī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with a saṅgha of eight thousand monks, thirty-six thousand bodhisattvas, and a large gathering of gods, spirit beings, and humans. As Śākyamuni concludes his teaching, the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī rises from his seat and requests that the Buddha give a Dharma teaching that will benefit all the human and nonhuman beings who are present in the assembly, and he asks Śākyamuni to teach them about the previous aspirations of the seven thus-gone ones, their buddhafields, and the benefits that they can bring to beings who live in the final five hundred years, when the holy Dharma is nearly gone. Śākyamuni then declares that he will give a detailed account of the previous aspirations of those seven thus-gone ones to benefit beings who are veiled by karmic obscurations, tormented by illnesses, and plagued by mental anguish and suffering. The medical applications of the text are thus made explicit in its introduction, though of course the ends to which the text may be used surpass its medical applications in curing illness and protecting devotees from demonic possession.

i.2Each of the seven thus-gone ones is said to dwell in the East in his own buddhafield, where each one lives and teaches the Dharma. The names of the seven thus-gone ones and their buddhafields are as follows:

1. Supari­kīrtita­nāma­dheyaśrī­rāja; Unconquered

2. Kuśala­tejonir­ghoṣa­rāja; Abounding in Jewels

3. Suvarṇa­bhadra­vimala­ratna­prabhā­savrata­siddhi; Heaped with Jewels and Full of Perfume

4. Aśokottamaśrī; Without Anguish

5. Dharmakīrtisāgaraghoṣa; Victory Banner of the Dharma

6. Dharma­sāgarā­gramati­vikrīḍitā­bhijñā­rāja; Standing in an Ocean of Jewels

7. Bhaiṣajya­guru­vaiḍūrya­prabha; Vaiḍūryanirbhāsa

i.3In response to Mañjuśrī’s request, Śākyamuni proceeds to enumerate the aspirations that each of these thus-gone ones made when they first generated the mind of awakening and the qualities of the buddhafield that each of them generated upon attaining perfect buddhahood. The material in the first section (Tib. bam po) of the text contains the previous aspirations of the first six thus-gone ones, while the material in the second section of the text opens with a discourse on the previous aspirations of the Thus-Gone One Bhaiṣajya­guru­vaiḍūrya­prabha, commonly known as the “Medicine Buddha” (Tib. sangs rgyas sman bla) that is nearly identical to the shorter sūtra that bears his name and that follows in the Kangyur, Toh 504.

i.4When Śākyamuni’s detailed account of the previous aspirations of the seven thus-gone ones is complete, Mañjuśrī responds by vowing to proclaim the text in the future and provides a short set of instructions on how to worship the text. Śākyamuni then turns to his disciple Ānanda and asks if he has any doubts or reservations about the skillful means of the seven thus-gone ones. Ānanda assures Śākyamuni that he does not doubt what he has heard, but then suggests that other beings might. The Buddha then assures Ānanda, and by extension anyone who might read this sūtra, that it is impossible for anyone who has heard the name Bhaiṣajya­guru­vaiḍūrya­prabha to be reborn in the lower realms.

i.5The text continues with material also found in the shorter sūtra, Toh 504, where we find a set of instructions from the bodhisattva Trāṇamukta on how making offerings to Bhaiṣajya­guru­vaiḍūrya­prabha can interrupt the death process and call a dying person’s consciousness back to their body. Trāṇamukta outlines a ritual that is performed over a forty-nine-day period that begins with observing the eightfold purification vows, providing support for the offering rite to the monastic saṅgha, and contemplating Bhaiṣajyaguru’s name three times each day and three times each night. Then, presumably, the monastic saṅgha members that one has supplied with provisions for the offering rite recite the text forty-nine times and offer oil lamps to seven statues of Bhaiṣajyaguru for a forty-nine-day period. Trāṇamukta notes that kings can also perform this rite to avert disaster and ensure the happiness of the kingdom. He concludes his instructions with a brief enumeration of nine types of untimely death, assuring Ānanda that the problem of untimely death is precisely the reason that Śākyamuni has taught the use of mantras and medicines. This part of the text concludes with the vow of the twelve great yakṣa generals, who make a commitment to protect anyone who bears the name of Bhaiṣajyaguru or supports his worship. The vow of the twelve yakṣa generals marks the end of the portion of this text that corresponds to the material found in the shorter sūtra, Toh 504.

i.6A number of gods in the assembly then begin to wonder how simply hearing the names of these buddhas, who, after all, live in buddhafields that are inconceivably far away from our own Sahā world, could really allow beings to develop such good qualities. In response to their skepticism, Śākyamuni enters into a state of absorption that summons the seven thus-gone ones before the assembly. Amazed, the gods make offerings to the seven thus-gone ones and set forth their aspiration that all beings might attain this absorption and be able to actually see them, just as they have. Mañjuśrī then asks the seven thus-gone ones to teach a dhāraṇī that can overcome illnesses and protect beings from those with ill intentions, planetary influences, lunar asterisms, death, enemies, and wild animals, and that can fulfill all beings’ wishes. The seven thus-gone ones recite their dhāraṇī and provide a description of the recitation ritual and the benefits of performing it. This is followed by a dhāraṇī given by Vajrapāṇi, Śakra, and the Four Great Kings, as well as another dhāraṇī pronounced by Vajrapāṇi alone.

i.7Finally, the text concludes with Ānanda asking Śākyamuni what title this discourse should bear. Śākyamuni responds by providing the following four titles:

1. The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Seven Thus-Gone, Worthy, and Perfect Buddhas

2. The Bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi’s Vow

3. Purifying All Karmic Obscurations and Fulfilling All Hopes

4. The Vows of the Twelve Great Yakṣa Generals

i.8There is no known Sanskrit edition or manuscript of this version of the sūtra, but a large portion of the text is almost identical with the shorter sūtra, Toh 504, which survives in three Sanskrit editions edited and compiled from the cache of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts excavated from a stūpa in Gilgit in the early twentieth century. Gregory Schopen notes that at least five manuscripts of this text were found among the Gilgit collection, and that there were at least two distinct recensions of the text circulating in Gilgit during the fifth and sixth centuries. Even earlier evidence of the existence of the shorter sūtra comes in the form of a Chinese translation very similar to the later versions of the shorter text, included as the twelfth and final fascicle of a longer work (Taishō 1331) translated by Śrīmitra in the early fourth century ᴄᴇ. A Chinese translation of the present, seven tathāgata form of the sūtra (Taishō 451) was made in 707 CE by Yijing.

i.9Some substantial passages from the Bhaiṣajya­guru­sūtra in Sanskrit have also survived as several citations in Śāntideva’s (685–783 ᴄᴇ) Śikṣāsamuccaya, indicating that the text continued to be well known in the Buddhist heartland of India in the eighth century ᴄᴇ.

i.10The exact relationship between Toh 503 and Toh 504 remains unclear. In his brief study of traditions associated with Bhaiṣajyaguru, Leonard Zwilling argues that Toh 504 was enlarged into Toh 503, stating that the vows of the other six thus-gone ones “by and large, duplicate those of Bhaiṣajyaguru, and their Buddha-fields are merely named [and] lack any sufficiently distinctive individuating characteristics.” As readers can see for themselves in this translation, this does not seem to be the case, at least with respect to the Tibetan translation of the text. The aspirations of each of the seven thus-gone ones differ in both number and content, the descriptions of each of the buddhafields contain notable differences, and none of the aspirations and buddhafields of the six buddhas that precede Bhaiṣajya­guru­vaiḍūrya­prabha appear to duplicate his aspirations and the description of his buddhafield. In addition, the role of hearing and reciting the names of these buddhas receives far greater emphasis in the aspirations of the first six buddhas than it does in the account of Bhaiṣajyaguru’s twelve aspirations. Judging from the syntax, word choices, and organization of the presentation of Bhaiṣajyaguru’s aspirations, it is quite possible that Toh 504 was an independent text that was at some point incorporated into Toh 503. However, analyzing the first section of the text using these same criteria also suggests the possibility that the aspirations of the first six buddhas in Toh 503 represent a compilation of several independent texts containing bodhisattva “aspirations.” The text itself hints at its own eclectic origins in its conclusion, where Śākyamuni provides four separate titles for the work that each refer to separate sections of the text.

i.11The translators’ colophon to the Tibetan translation of Toh 503 tells us that the text was translated by three ninth-century Indian preceptors‍—Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Śīlendrabodhi‍—in conjunction with Bandé Yeshé Dé (mid-eighth to early ninth century), placing the date for its initial translation into Tibetan in the early ninth century. This date is confirmed by the text’s appearance in both the Denkarma and Phangthangma royal Tibetan catalogs of translated works. Although both royal Tibetan catalogs indicate that this text was originally classified as a sūtra, Butön lists it in different works as both a sūtra and a tantra, and in all Kangyurs it is placed with the tantras of the Action (kriyā) class. In the Degé Kangyur the cycle of four works related to the Buddha Bhaiṣajya­guru­vaiḍūrya­prabha, with this as the first, is presented among the Action Tantras related to the principal figure of the tathāgata family (de bzhin gshegs pa’i rigs kyi gtso bo).

i.12Inspired by certain passages in the sūtra that describe the worship of the seven thus-gone ones, as well as by the sūtra as a whole, a number of commentaries have detailed how one might actually perform the rites they contain. The earliest examples of these liturgical commentaries in Tibet are now found in the Tengyur, where they are attributed to one “Bodhisattva,” commonly taken as the famous Indian abbot and scholar Śāntarakṣita (Tib. zhi ba ’tsho, eighth century), who composed them for the Tibetan emperor Tri Songdetsen (Tib. khri srong lde btsan, 742–97). Since that time, rituals associated with the sūtra have been especially esteemed by political leaders not only in Tibet but in Mongolia and China as well, probably due to the promises within the text that whoever offers worship to the seven thus-gone ones will have an abundance of prosperity and health.

i.13The sūtra and the rituals surrounding it became popular at the Yuan court, and members of the court sponsored the sūtra’s publication in a wood-block edition. Śāntarakṣita’s liturgical adaptations of the sūtra were translated into Chinese by a disciple of Chögyal Pakpa (Pakpa Lodrö Gyaltsen, ’phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan, 1235–80), the Sakya hierarch who served as national preceptor to Qublai Khan. Rituals of worship based on the sūtra were performed regularly in the Yuan capital Dadu (present-day Beijing). In the same period, Chim Namkha Drak (Tib. mchims nam mkha’ grags, 1210–85) wrote a short liturgy for the sūtra titled A Method for Accomplishing the Worship of the Seven Thus-Gone Ones (de bzhin gshegs pa bdun gyi mchod pa ji ltar bsgrub pa’i tshul). These liturgies continued to be popular over the ensuing centuries, and liturgies were written by prominent figures within every major school of Tibetan Buddhism.

i.14Two seventeenth-century liturgies based on the sūtra were written by Panchen Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen (Tib. blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan, 1570–1662) and the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (Tib. ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, 1617–82). Both were used in the liturgical practices of a number of the new and expanding Gelukpa (Tib. dge lugs pa) institutions that sprang up in the wake of the Gelukpa rise to political prominence with the founding of the Dalai Lama’s Ganden Podrang government in 1642. They also became popular among the Qing dynasty elite. Prince Yunli (1697–1738, known in Tibetan as Kengsé Chinwang), one of the sons of the Kangxi emperor (1654–1722), published the sūtra in Tibetan and in Mongolian translation in Beijing. The Panchen Lama’s and Dalai Lama’s liturgies were published in several editions in Beijing and were performed at temples throughout the capital, a practice that continued through the early twentieth century.

i.15This translation is based on the Tibetan translation from the Tantra Section in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the Tibetan translations in the Stok Palace Kangyur and the Comparative Kangyur (Tib. dpe bsdur ma). The section of the text that includes the Tibetan translation of the Bhaiṣajya­guru­sūtra was also checked against the Sanskrit editions of the Gilgit manuscripts prepared by Dutt, Vaidya, and Schopen. The names of the seven thus-gone ones are critical to many of the practices outlined in this work, but unfortunately Sanskrit equivalents are only attested for two of them: Bhaiṣajya­guru­vaiḍūrya­prabha and Supari­kīrtita­nāma­dheyaśrī­rāja. The Sanskrit names provided in this translation for the other five thus-gone ones follow the back-translations provided by Ronald M. Davidson, Lokesh Candra, and Sushama Lohia.