A Land Without Women, and Those Bound by Their Own Vices
Part 2 turns from the twelve vows to what they produced: a buddha-land the sūtra says rivals Sukhāvatī itself, and the first four case studies in what merely hearing this buddha's name is said to do for beings still very much alive — the miser who cannot bear to give, the practitioner who has broken some part of the training, the envious slanderer, and the sorcerer who curses an enemy by name.
Pure Lapis Lazuli, and Its Two Bodhisattvas of Light
「復次，曼殊室利！彼世尊藥師琉璃光如來，行菩薩道時所發大願，及彼佛土功德莊嚴，我若一劫，若一劫餘，說不能盡。然彼佛土，一向清淨，無有女人，亦無惡趣，及苦音聲。琉璃為地，金繩界道，城、闕、宮、閣、軒、窓、羅網，皆七寶成。亦如西方極樂世界，功德莊嚴，等無差別。於其國中，有二菩薩摩訶薩：一名日光遍照，二名月光遍照，是彼無量無數菩薩眾之上首，悉能持彼世尊藥師琉璃光如來正法寶藏。是故，曼殊室利！諸有信心善男子、善女人等，應當願生彼佛世界。」
"Furthermore, Mañjuśrī, were I to tell of the great vows the World-Honored One, the Tathāgata Bhaiṣajyaguru Vaiḍūryaprabha, made while practicing the bodhisattva path, and of the adornment and merit of his buddha-land, I could not exhaust it in a kalpa, or in a kalpa and more. Yet that buddha-land is, throughout, utterly pure: there are no women in it, nor any evil destinies, nor any sound of suffering. Its ground is made of lapis lazuli, its roads marked out with golden cords; its walls, towers, palaces, pavilions, lattices, and windows are all formed of the seven treasures — its adornment and merit equal in every way to the western land of Sukhāvatī, without the slightest difference. In that land there are two bodhisattva-mahāsattvas: one named Sūryaprabha, Universal Sunlight, and the other named Candraprabha, Universal Moonlight, foremost among that measureless, countless assembly of bodhisattvas, both fully able to uphold the treasury of the true Dharma of the World-Honored One, the Tathāgata Bhaiṣajyaguru. For this reason, Mañjuśrī, every good son and good daughter of faith should vow to be born in that buddha's world."
Taehyeon reads this passage as answering the third of the Buddha's three owed answers to Mañjuśrī — the fruit that followed from the vow — and breaks the land's description into eight distinct "achievements" (成就), each keyed to a specific clause: freedom from attachment and defilement, matched to "no women"; freedom from what is dreaded, matched to "no evil destinies or sounds of suffering"; a pure foundation, matched to "lapis lazuli for its ground"; well-ordered pathways, matched to "golden cords marking the roads"; adorned palaces, matched to "equal to the western land"; an unbroken line of great sages, matched to the two bodhisattvas as buddhas-in-waiting for that land's throne; uninterrupted benefit, matched to their upholding of the Dharma-treasury; and unobstructed rebirth there by vow, matched to the passage's closing exhortation. He adds a caution against reading the sūtra's admission that it "cannot exhaust" this land's merit as false modesty: since the vow that produced this land was itself measureless, its fruit must be measured the same way — "the body must be gauged by the vow that made it," as he puts it, so the incompleteness of any description here is a claim about the land's actual scale, not a rhetorical flourish.
What the Miser Gains From a Single Name
爾時，世尊復告曼殊室利童子言：「曼殊室利！有諸眾生，不識善惡，唯懷貪悋，不知布施及施果報，愚癡無智，闕於信根，多聚財寶，勤加守護；見乞者來，其心不喜，設不獲已而行施時，如割身肉，深生痛惜。復有無量慳貪有情，積集資財，於其自身尚不受用，何況能與父母、妻子、奴婢、作使，及來乞者？彼諸有情，從此命終，生餓鬼界，或傍生趣。由昔人間，曾得暫聞藥師琉璃光如來名故，今在惡趣，暫得憶念彼如來名，即於念時，從彼處沒，還生人中，得宿命念，畏惡趣苦，不樂欲樂，好行惠施，讚歎施者，一切所有悉無貪惜，漸次尚能以頭目手足，血肉身分，施來求者，況餘財物。
At that time the World-Honored One again said to the youth Mañjuśrī: "Mañjuśrī, there are beings who cannot tell good from evil, who harbor only greed and stinginess, who know nothing of giving or of giving's reward, foolish and without wisdom, lacking the root of faith, who amass wealth and treasure and guard it zealously; when a beggar comes, their hearts feel no joy, and should they be unable to refuse and so give something, it is as though flesh were cut from their own body, and they feel the deepest pain and regret. There are also measureless beings, greedy and miserly, who hoard wealth and will not even use it for their own sake — how much less give it to father, mother, wife, child, servant, or hired hand, let alone to a beggar who comes asking? Such beings, at the end of this life, are born into the realm of hungry ghosts, or into the animal realm. Yet because, in their human life, they once briefly heard the name of the Tathāgata Bhaiṣajyaguru Vaiḍūryaprabha, now, while in that evil destiny, they come for a moment to recall that Tathāgata's name; and in that very moment of recollection, they pass from that place and are reborn again among humans, gaining the memory of their past lives, and, fearing the suffering of evil destinies, they no longer delight in sensual pleasures, but love instead to practice generosity, praising those who give; and having nothing at all that they begrudge, they gradually come to give even their own head, eyes, hands, and feet, their very flesh and blood, to those who come asking — how much more, then, their other possessions."
Taehyeon reads this passage as the first of five case studies running through the end of Part 3 of this collection, each removing a distinct obstacle standing between a specific vice and liberation — obstacles, in order, to generosity, to precepts, to the cultivation of the four immeasurable states, to the ten wholesome courses of action, and to rebirth in a pleasant destiny — and each worked through the same three-part pattern: the obstacle's own nature, the harm it produces, and the benefit gained on hearing the Buddha's name. Here, he parses "cannot tell good from evil" with unusual precision: not recognizing evil is simply pure stinginess taking hold unchecked, while not recognizing good is failing to understand giving at all — two distinct failures, not one restated twice. The consequence follows in kind: stinginess itself produces rebirth as a hungry ghost, while the ignorance behind it produces rebirth as an animal, so that even the punishment tracks which specific failure caused it.
Broken Precepts, and the Bodhisattva Path Regained
「復次，曼殊室利，若諸有情，雖於如來受諸學處，而破尸羅；有雖不破尸羅，而破軌則；有於尸羅、軌則，雖得不壞，然毀正見；有雖不毀正見，而棄多聞，於佛所說契經深義不能解了；有雖多聞而增上慢，由增上慢覆蔽心故，自是非他，嫌謗正法，為魔伴黨。如是愚人，自行邪見，復令無量俱胝有情，墮大險坑。此諸有情，應於地獄、傍生、鬼趣，流轉無窮。若得聞此藥師琉璃光如來名號，便捨惡行，修諸善法，不墮惡趣，設有不能捨諸惡行，修行善法，墮惡趣者，以彼如來本願威力，令其現前暫聞名號，從彼命終還生人趣，得正見精進，善調意樂，便能捨家趣於非家，如來法中，受持學處，無有毀犯；正見多聞，解甚深義，離增上慢，不謗正法，不為魔伴，漸次修行諸菩薩行，速得圓滿。
"Furthermore, Mañjuśrī, there are beings who, though they have taken up the Tathāgata's own training, break their moral discipline; some who, without breaking their moral discipline, break its rules of conduct; some who, though their discipline and its rules remain unbroken, destroy right view; some who, though they do not destroy right view, abandon learning, and cannot understand the profound meaning of the sūtras the Buddha has taught; and some who, though learned, are overcome with arrogance, and, their minds obscured by that arrogance, praise themselves and disparage others, slandering the true Dharma and becoming Māra's own companions. Fools such as these, holding wrong views themselves, further cause measureless koṭis of beings to fall into a great and perilous pit. Such beings ought to circle without end through hell, the animal realm, and the realm of hungry ghosts. But should they come to hear this name of Bhaiṣajyaguru Vaiḍūryaprabha, they will at once abandon evil conduct and cultivate wholesome practices, and will not fall into an evil destiny; and should they be unable to abandon evil conduct and cultivate wholesome practices, and so fall into an evil destiny, then, through the majestic power of that Tathāgata's fundamental vow, they will, in that very place, come for a moment to hear his name, and, at the end of that life, be reborn again among humans, gaining right view and diligence, their intentions well subdued; and they will be able to leave the household life for the homeless life, and, within the Tathāgata's teaching, uphold their training without transgression; right in view and greatly learned, understanding the profound meaning, free of arrogance, they will not slander the true Dharma or become Māra's companions, but will gradually cultivate the practices of the bodhisattvas, and swiftly reach fulfillment."
Taehyeon maps this passage onto the threefold pure precepts named in Part 1's fifth vow, treating the descending list of failures as failures against each tier in turn. Breaking moral discipline and its rules of conduct fail the restraint precepts (攝律儀戒) — discipline being the formal prohibitions themselves, and "rules of conduct" the correct awareness one is meant to keep even in ordinary movement, arriving and departing. Destroying right view, abandoning learning, and succumbing to arrogance fail the precepts of cultivating wholesome qualities (攝善法戒). And causing "measureless koṭis of beings" to fall alongside oneself fails the precepts of benefiting other beings (攝有情戒) — a failure of the third tier being, on this reading, categorically worse than a failure of the first two, since it multiplies one perpetrator's fall into the ruin of countless others. He is careful to note where the case for hearing the Buddha's name grows more layered than in the miser's story: here the sūtra allows for the possibility that a being fails even after hearing the name and falls into an evil destiny regardless — at which point the vow's power operates a second time, drawing them briefly to recall the name even from within that destiny, precisely as it did with the miser one section before.
Envy, Self-Praise, and a Beast of Burden's Life
「復次，曼殊室利！若諸有情，慳貪嫉妬，自讚毀他，當墮三惡趣中，無量千歲受諸劇苦；受劇苦已，從彼命終，來生人間，作牛、馬、駝、驢，恒被鞭撻，飢渴逼惱；又常負重，隨路而行。或得為人，生居下賤，作人奴婢，受他驅役，恒不自在。若昔人中，曾聞世尊藥師琉璃光如來名號，由此善因，今復憶念，至心歸依。以佛神力，眾苦解脫，諸根聰利，智慧多聞，恒求勝法，常遇善友，永斷魔羂，破無明㲉，竭煩惱河，解脫一切生、老、病、死，憂悲、苦惱。
"Furthermore, Mañjuśrī, there are beings who, greedy, miserly, envious, and jealous, praising themselves and disparaging others, will fall into the three evil destinies, and there undergo every kind of intense suffering for measureless thousands of years; and having undergone that intense suffering, at the end of that life, they will come to be born among humans as an ox, a horse, a camel, or a donkey, forever beaten and whipped, tormented by hunger and thirst, and forever carrying heavy loads along the road; or, should they manage to be born human, they will be born into a low and humble station, made another's servant, driven and used at another's will, forever without freedom of their own. But should they, while human in some earlier life, once have heard the name of the World-Honored One, the Tathāgata Bhaiṣajyaguru Vaiḍūryaprabha, then, through this wholesome cause, they will now come again to remember it, and take refuge in it with a sincere heart. Through the Buddha's spiritual power, they will be freed from every suffering, their faculties become sharp and keen, their wisdom and learning grow; they will forever seek the finest Dharma, and constantly meet good spiritual friends; they will forever sever Māra's snare, break through the shell of ignorance, exhaust the river of affliction, and be freed from all of birth, old age, sickness, and death, and from sorrow, grief, suffering, and vexation."
Taehyeon reads this as removing the obstacle to what he calls "cultivation-nature merit" — the deliberate development of the four immeasurable states of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity — and maps each named vice to the specific state it blocks. Stinginess blocks loving-kindness, since loving-kindness means wishing to give others happiness and stinginess is precisely the refusal to give. Jealousy blocks sympathetic joy, since sympathetic joy means rejoicing at another's good fortune and jealousy is precisely the failure to do so. Self-praise paired with disparaging others blocks compassion, since compassion means sparing others harm and this pairing does the opposite, causing real injury. And all three together, he adds, corrupt equanimity as well, since equanimity requires a mind unstained by exactly this kind of self-interested comparison — which is why the passage names three vices but implicates all four immeasurables at once, rather than requiring a fourth vice to complete the set.
Curses, Corpse-Demons, and a Change of Heart
「復次，曼殊室利！若諸有情，好憙乖離，更相鬪訟，惱亂自他，以身語意，造作增長種種惡業，展轉常為不饒益事，互相謀害。告召山林樹塚等神；殺諸眾生，取其血肉，祭祀藥叉羅剎娑等；書怨人名，作其形像，以惡呪術而呪詛之；厭媚蠱道，呪起屍鬼，令斷彼命，及壞其身。是諸有情，若得聞此藥師琉璃光如來名號，彼諸惡事，悉不能害。一切展轉皆起慈心，利益安樂，無損惱意及嫌恨心；各各歡悅，於自所受生於喜足，不相侵凌，互為饒益。
"Furthermore, Mañjuśrī, there are beings who delight in causing estrangement and division, quarreling and bringing lawsuits against one another, troubling themselves and others, and who, through deed, word, and thought, commit and multiply every kind of evil karma, forever scheming against one another's benefit and plotting one another's harm. They summon spirits of mountains, forests, trees, and graves; they kill living beings and take their flesh and blood to offer in sacrifice to yakṣas and rākṣasas; they write the name of an enemy, fashion an image of them, and curse them with evil spells; they practice charms and love-potions and poisons, and conjure corpse-raising demons to sever an enemy's life and destroy their body. Should such beings come to hear this name of Bhaiṣajyaguru Vaiḍūryaprabha, none of these evil deeds will be able to harm them. All of them, one after another, will instead give rise to a mind of loving-kindness, wishing one another benefit and ease, free of any intent to harm or any resentful mind; each will rejoice in what they themselves have received, feeling contentment and satisfaction, no longer encroaching upon one another, but mutually benefiting one another."
Taehyeon reads this passage as removing the obstacle to the ten wholesome courses of action, and maps its opening clauses onto three of the ten unwholesome courses in turn: "delighting in estrangement" corresponds to the three mental courses of unwholesome action, since all three work by turning another being away from what they actually want; "quarreling and bringing lawsuits" corresponds to the four unwholesome courses of speech, since disputes of this kind rarely accord with the truth and mostly invite further conflict; and "troubling themselves and others" corresponds to the three unwholesome courses of bodily action, since a bodily act either succeeds and troubles its target, or fails and troubles the actor instead — either way, harm results. He treats the catalogue of curse-craft that follows — summoned grave-spirits, sacrificed animals, cursed effigies, corpse-raising demons — not as a digression into folk sorcery but as the natural end-state of those same three courses of action once fully indulged: the sūtra names its most extreme case precisely to show how completely even that case is undone by a single name, heard and held.
Part 2 Complete
This closes Part 2: the pure land of Vaiḍūryaprabha, watched over by Sūryaprabha and Candraprabha, and four beings — the miser, the precept-breaker, the envious slanderer, and the curse-worker — each pulled back from a distinct kind of ruin by nothing more than a name recalled at the right moment. Part 3 turns to beings caught in a subtler difficulty: those who have already vowed to be reborn in Amitābha's Sukhāvatī but remain undecided, and the Buddha's detailed instructions for how anyone — undecided or otherwise — should actually go about worshipping this buddha of lapis lazuli light.
Continue to Part 3 — A Vow Not Yet Settled, and How to Worship This Buddha →