འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་བདན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.16

intro.16

In the present text, however, these seven buddhas are not invoked, prayed to, honored, or commemorated with any regard to the well defined role they play in other texts as the buddhas of the past; indeed the status of the first six as the Buddha Śākyamuni’s predecessors and teachers is not even once mentioned. Instead, they are called on for their healing power. As each in turn confers mantras, ritual details, botanical formulations, and other instructions for use against a range of illnesses, accidents, negative spirits, worldly problems, and spiritual obstacles, the perspective this text unfolds is on the therapeutic role of these seven familiar tathāghatas. This perspective is not an otherwise unknown one, for there are other works in which they have a similar function;¹⁰ nevertheless, the degree of detail here may well be unique.