Bhaiṣajyaguru
Buddhist · deity · mythic · deity
A BUDDHA WHOSE ICONOGRAPHY IS A COLOUR AND A CONTAINER. The lapis and the bowl are recorded because the source gives them as near-invariant, which is the strongest iconographic statement in this batch. His pure land, Vaidūryanirbhāsa, is a PLACE and is not ingested. TYPE deity IS THE NEAREST CATEGORY THIS SCHEMA HAS AND THE TRADITION DOES NOT USE IT. Buddhism does not regard a Buddha as a god; the devas this corpus already holds under the Buddhist key are, in this tradition's own view, unenlightened beings inside samsara, and a Buddha stands above them precisely by NOT being one. The record says so rather than letting the type field make the claim.
Domains
- healing
Sources
- Reference treatment: Bhaisajyaguru is the Buddha of healing and medicine in the Mahayana tradition, the Medicine Buddha; when he achieved Buddhahood he became the Buddha of the eastern pure land of Vaiduryanirbhasa; the colour lapis is nearly always incorporated into his image and he nearly always holds a lapis alms bowl or medicine jar in his left hand.