Introduction
i.1This very short dhāraṇī text contains only an homage to the Medicine Buddha Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha followed by his essence dhāraṇī (snying po’i gzungs). The dhāraṇī taught here is nearly identical to a section of the longer Bhaiṣajyaguru dhāraṇī taught in The Vaiḍūryaprabha Dhāraṇī (Toh 505).
i.1這部極為簡短的陀羅尼經典只包含對藥師琉璃光如來的禮敬，隨後是他的精要陀羅尼。這裡所傳授的陀羅尼幾乎與《琉璃光陀羅尼》（Toh 505）中所傳授的較長藥師陀羅尼的某一部分相同。
i.2The Essence Dhāraṇī of the Tathāgata Bhaiṣajyaguru does not appear to be extant in Sanskrit or to have been translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon that could inform us of its translation team and the approximate date of its translation. However, The Dhāraṇī of Vaiḍūryaprabha, to which the short dhāraṇī in this text is closely related, was translated during the imperial period by the Tibetan translator Bandé Yeshé Dé and the Indian masters Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Śilendrabodhi, and was later revised by Atīśa Dīpaṅkaraśrījñāna and Tsultrim Gyalwa (tshul khrims rgya ba, c. eleventh century).
i.2《藥師如來精髓陀羅尼》在梵文中似乎已不存在，也沒有被翻譯成漢文。藏文翻譯缺少譯者跋文，因此無法確定其翻譯小組和大致的翻譯時間。然而，與本文中的短陀羅尼密切相關的《琉璃光陀羅尼》是在帝國時期由藏文譯者班智達·耶謝德和印度大師勝友、達那尸羅及智慧獅子翻譯的，後來由阿底峽·燃燈智和律王（約十一世紀）進行了修訂。
i.3The text is included in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section of the Degé Kangyur and other Tshalpa lineage Kangyurs that include a separate Dhāraṇī section. In Tshalpa lineage Kangyurs that lack a section so named, the text is only found in the equivalent but unnamed dhāraṇī collection comprising part of the Tantra section. It is not included in any Thempangma lineage Kangyurs.
i.3這部經文被收錄在德格甘珠爾的陀羅尼集部分，以及其他包含獨立陀羅尼部的擦巴傳承甘珠爾中。在缺少陀羅尼部的擦巴傳承甘珠爾中，這部經文只出現在密續部內相當的但未命名的陀羅尼集中。它未被收錄在任何田邦瑪傳承的甘珠爾中。
i.4Notably, the dhāraṇī is one of only twelve works in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section that are not duplicated in other sections of the Kangyur. Therefore, it appears that these twelve texts found their way into the Tshalpa lineage Kangyurs specifically because of being part of the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs, which most likely was compiled based on earlier collections of dhāraṇīs and associated ritual texts. These collections, known in Sanskrit as dhāraṇīsaṃgrahas, circulated throughout South Asia and Tibet—including at Dunhuang—as extracanonical dhāraṇī collections.
i.4值得注意的是，這部陀羅尼是陀羅尼集部分中僅有的十二部在甘珠爾其他部分沒有重複出現的著作之一。因此，這十二部典籍進入擦巴系統甘珠爾，似乎正是因為它們屬於陀羅尼集的一部分，而陀羅尼集很可能是基於早期的陀羅尼集和相關儀軌文獻編纂而成的。這些集子在梵文中稱為陀羅尼集，流傳於整個南亞和西藏——包括敦煌——作為正統經藏之外的陀羅尼集合。
i.5The present English translation of The Essence Dhāraṇī of the Tathāgata Bhaiṣajyaguru was made on the basis of the Degé Kangyur recension of the work, with additional reference to the notes from the Comparative Edition (dpe sdur ma). The text is stable across all recensions consulted.
i.5本英譯版《如來藥師本質陀羅尼》係根據德格甘珠爾版本翻譯而成，並參考了《對照版》（藏文：dpe sdur ma）的註釋。該文本在所有查閱的版本中均保持穩定一致。