In the distant past, when the Medicine Buddha was a bodhisattva, he is said to have taken twelve vows out of his great compassion. These vows included the task of awakening peoples’ minds to bodhichitta, providing beings with the materials necessary for living, leading them to wisdom and wholesome actions, as well as relieving people from deformities, illness, and other physical sufferings. After many lives of working to fulfill his vows, the bodhisattva attained complete enlightenment, becoming the one we know as the Medicine Buddha. He is currently said to dwell in the realms of Vaidryanirbhsa, or “Pure Lapis Lazuli,” where he is attended to by two bodhisattvas symbolizing the sun and the moon: Suyaprabha and Candraprabha.

He is depicted here seated in the lotus posture, wearing the robes of a Buddhist monk. In his left hand he bears a jar of medicine nectar, while his right hand rests on his knee, holding the stem of the aruna fruit.