The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (379 page)

(more fully: Bhai
ajyaguru vai
ryaprabha tath
gata, ‘Radiant lapis-lazuli Master of Healing Buddha’; Tib. sman.bla; Chin., Yao Shih Fo; Jap., Yakushi Ny
rai; Korean, Yaksa). The
Buddha
of healing, frequently called ‘Medicine Buddha’, popular in the
Mah
y
na
Buddhism of Tibet, China, and Japan, whose dispensation also includes longevity, protection from disasters, and the transmutation of negative states of mind (all illnesses in Buddhism, by virtue of their
karmic
origin, being considered to some extent psychosomatic).
The earliest evidence of the Healing Buddha is the Chinese translation from the Skt. of
Bhai
ajyagurus
tra
(early 4th cent. CE), and as this has close similarities with the
Lotus
S
tra
(c.2nd cent. CE) in which the
bodhisattva
King of Healing (Bhai
ajyar
ja) is prominent, it is likely that Bhai
ajyaguru was a development bestowing increased importance to Bhai