The Two Dharma Princes, Medicine King and Medicine Superior, of the Twenty-Five Holy Perfect-Penetration Dharma-Gates in the Fifth Fascicle of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra

Original text:药王药上二法王子。并在会中。五百梵天。即从座起。顶礼佛足。而白佛言。我无始劫。为世良医。口中尝此娑婆世界。草木金石。名数凡有十万八千。如是悉知苦醋咸淡。甘辛等味。并诸和合俱生变异。是冷是热。有毒无毒。悉能遍知。承事如来。了知味性。非空非有。非即身心。非离身心。分别味因。从是开悟。蒙佛如来。印我昆季。药王药上二菩萨名。今于会中。为法王子。因味觉明。位登菩萨。佛问圆通。如我所证。味因为上。

Explanation: The two Dharma Princes, Bhaiṣajyarāja and Bhaiṣajyasamudgata, together with the five hundred Brahmā devas in the assembly, rose from their seats, bowed at the Buddha's feet, and said to the Buddha: "For countless eons since beginningless time, the two of us brothers have been skilled physicians in this world, generation after generation. With our mouths we have tasted the herbs, medicinal materials, metals, minerals, and stones of this Sahā world—by name and number, there were as many as one hundred and eight thousand. In this way we came to know all their flavors: bitter, sour, salty, bland, sweet, and pungent, as well as the blended, co-arising, and transformed flavors when these sense objects of taste combine together. Whether these medicinal materials were cooling or heating in nature, toxic or non-toxic, we were able to know them all completely. After serving and attending the Tathāgata, we gradually came to understand that the nature of taste is neither empty nor existent, neither identical to body and mind nor separate from body and mind. By discerning the cause of taste, we attained enlightenment. We were honored to have the Tathāgata confirm us brothers and give us the names of Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja and Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyasamudgata. Now in this assembly we participate in the Dharma assembly as Dharma Princes. Because of awakening to clarity through taste, we attained the bodhisattva stage. The Buddha asks about the perfect penetration method of cultivation; as we ourselves have realized, discerning the cause of taste is the supreme perfect penetration method."

Bodhisattvas Bhaiṣajyarāja and Bhaiṣajyasamudgata entered the Path through the sense object of taste among the six sense objects, cultivating all the way to the stage of Dharma Prince, becoming the equal-and-wonderful-enlightenment bodhisattvas closest to the Buddha. In the long process of contacting and tasting the flavors of medicinal materials, a questioning doubt arose, and they wanted to investigate the origin of the sense object of taste. Investigating over and over, they could not find where the sense object of taste came from or where it went, and they realized that the sense object of taste is a dharma born of the conjunction of causes and conditions—neither empty nor existent; its emptiness is not true emptiness, and its existence is not real existence; it is a product conjured up by the tathāgatagarbha in dependence on conditions. Thereupon the great wisdom of prajñā was born, and they were confirmed and prophesied by the Buddha, becoming Dharma Princes who were to become Buddhas. For all the myriad dharmas, if one investigates their causes of arising within profound meditative concentration (samādhi), then when the time and conditions of causes ripen, one will realize both the emptiness of the Small Vehicle and the emptiness of the Great Vehicle, clearly understanding the subtle relationship therein that emptiness and existence are not two, neither one nor different—and from then on one will never again be deluded by any dharmas.