The contents of the Bhaiṣajyaguru-sūtra are mostly about the benefits of merit that may be obtained in this very life. The sūtra emphasizes hearing the name of Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha as the way to gain merit. However, when we examine the oldest version of the sūtra (i.e., 灌頂経 T. 1331, Chapter 12), it becomes clear that the sūtra in one of its earlier forms held other idea than that of hearing the name, proposing namely that there is another way to gain merit by hearing the sūtra.
In this paper, we focus on hearing the name within the sūtra as a later added practice. By comparing three Chinese versions of this sūtra (T. 1331: 457 CE., T. 449: 615 CE., T. 450: 650 CE), the following two points will be clarified: (1) How revisions were made in the sūtra, (2) What change of thought was brought in the sūtra by revisions.