Bhaiṣajyarāja

Bhaiṣajyarāja (Skt.: भैषज्यराज; Traditional Chinese: 藥王; Simplified Chinese: 药王; pinyin: Yào Wáng; Japanese: 薬王 Yakuō; Korean: 약왕보살; Vietnamese: Dược Vương Bồ Tát), commonly known as the Medicine King Bodhisattva, is a prominent bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with healing and medicine. He is one of the Twenty-Five Great Bodhisattvas, and in the future is destined to become the buddha Tathāgata Pure-Eye (淨眼如來). His younger brother is Medicine Superior Bodhisattva (藥上菩薩), later known as Tathāgata Pure-Treasury (淨藏如來).

Medicine King is best known from the Lotus Sutra, where he appears in Chapter 23 ("The Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja"), as well as in the Sūtra on Visualizing the Bodhisattvas Bhaiṣajyarāja and Bhaiṣajyasamudgata (Chinese: 佛說觀藥王藥上二菩薩經).

He is often depicted alongside his brother as an attendant of Bhaiṣajyaguru (the Medicine Buddha), and in some traditions is equated with Sūryaprabha and Candraprabha. In other contexts, the pair serve as attendants of Śākyamuni or Amitābha, symbolizing the unity of the Buddhas’ virtues. His birthday is celebrated on the 28th day of the 4th lunar month.