Antiquity
75-697: The Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa (Devanagari: विमलकीर्तिनिर्देश) (sometimes referred to as the Vimalakīrti Sūtra or Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra ) is a Buddhist text which centers on a lay Buddhist meditator who attained a very high degree of enlightenment considered by some second only to the Buddha's. It was extremely influential in East Asia, but most likely of considerably less importance in the Indian and Tibetan sub-traditions of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The word nirdeśa in
150-403: A "single substrate or underlying principle". According to Hanley, Nakamura and Garland, nondual awareness is central to contemplative wisdom traditions, "a state of consciousness that rests in the background of all conscious experiencing – a background field of awareness that is unified, immutable, and empty of mental content, yet retains a quality of cognizant bliss [...] This field of awareness
225-644: A common thread in Taoism , Mahayana Buddhism , and Advaita Vedanta , and distinguishes "Five Flavors Of Nonduality": In his book Nonduality , which focuses on nondual awareness, Loy discusses three of them, namely thinking without dualistic concepts, the interconnectedness of everything that exists, and the non-difference of subject and object. According to Loy, "all three claims are found in Mahaya Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, and Taoism, arguing that "the nondual experience 'behind' these contradictory systems
300-428: A field of study, nondualism delves into the concept of nonduality and the state of nondual awareness , encompassing a diverse array of interpretations, not limited to a particular cultural or religious context; instead, nondualism emerges as a central teaching across various belief systems, inviting individuals to examine reality beyond the confines of dualistic thinking. Nondualism emphasizes direct experience as
375-578: A mere two chapters later in this very sutra. The Vimalakīrti was the object of energetic commentarial activity in East Asia. (By contrast, no commentaries are known in India or Tibet.) A fragment of a very early commentary, conceivably dating before the end of the fourth century, has been preserved in manuscript form, and taken as the object of a monographic study. Another important text, the Zhu Weimojie jing 注維摩詰經 (which modern scholarship has shown to be
450-458: A path to understanding . While intellectual comprehension has its place, nondualism emphasizes the transformative power of firsthand encounters with the underlying unity of existence. Through practices like meditation and self-inquiry , practitioners aim to bypass the limitations of conceptual understanding and directly apprehend the interconnectedness that transcends superficial distinctions. This experiential aspect of nondualism challenges
525-510: A pure state of awareness free of conceptualizations. "Dual" comes from Latin "duo", two, prefixed with "non-" meaning "not"; "non-dual" means "not-two". When referring to nonduality, Hinduism generally uses the Sanskrit term Advaita, while Buddhism uses Advaya (Tibetan: gNis-med, Chinese: pu-erh, Japanese: fu-ni ) . "Advaita" (अद्वैत) is from Sanskrit roots a , not; dvaita , dual. As Advaita , it means "not-two". or "one without
600-431: A remote Buddha-world to fetch a wonderfully fragrant type of food that is eaten there. The emanated bodhisattva brings this food back to Vimalakīrti's home, and he uses a single bowlful to miraculously feed the vast congregation in attendance. Vimalakīrti takes the occasion to deliver a discourse on the necessity of suffering as a means of teaching for the beings in Śākyamuni's Sahā world. Chapter 10 Vimalakīrti picks up
675-406: A second", and is usually translated as "nondualism", "nonduality" and "nondual". The term "nondualism" and the term " advaita " from which it originates are polyvalent terms. "Advaya" (अद्वय) is also a Sanskrit word that means "identity, unique, not two, without a second", and typically refers to the two truths doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism , especially Madhyamaka . The English term "nondual"
750-451: A shower of heavenly petals. These petals stick to the bodies of the non-Mahāyāna adepts ( mahāśrāvaka s), but slide off the bodies of the bodhisattvas and drop to the ground. Śāriputra, perturbed (among other things, by a probable infringement of the monastic code, which prohibits personal adornment), even attempts to use his supernatural powers to shed this unwelcome decoration, but in vain. A battle of wits and wisdom ensues, in which Śāriputra
825-479: A similar experience. These include: According to Signe Cohen, the notion of the highest truth lying beyond all dualistic constructs of reality finds its origins in ancient Indian philosophical thought. One of the earliest articulations of this concept is evident in the renowned Nasadiya ("Non-Being") hymn of the Ṛigveda , which contemplates a primordial state of undifferentiated existence, devoid of both being and non-being. Concurrently, several Upanishads, including
SECTION 10
#1732780528045900-443: A string of his most advanced non-Mahāyāna disciples ( mahāśrāvakas ), and also to three bodhisattvas and a householder, to visit Vimalakīrti and ask after his health. They all refuse, saying that on prior occasions when they met with him, he showed them up in his understanding of various doctrines. Vimalakīrti is typically portrayed in these recounted exchanges as having triumphed by a kind of paradoxical and contrary rhetoric, which on
975-473: A stupa. As per recent research, the relic stupa is potentially one of the earliest archaeologically known stupas. Kutagarasala Vihara is the monastery where Buddha most frequently stayed while visiting Vaiśālī. It is located 3 kilometres from the relic Stupa, and on its ground can be found the Ānanda Stupa , with an Asokan pillar in very good condition (perhaps the only complete Asokan pillar left standing), and an ancient pond. A few hundred metres from
1050-639: A stupa. Ānanda , the personal attendant of the Buddha, attained Nirvana in the midst of the Ganges outside Vaiśālī. By the time Xuanzang visited Vaiśālī in the early 7th century, it was on the decline: he wrote of it that "the capital is ruined" and "it may be called a village or town" (as opposed to a city). Vaishali is well known for its close association with the Buddha. After leaving Kapilavastu for renunciation, Prince Siddhartha came to Vaishali first and undertook his initial spiritual training from Uddaka Rāmaputta (Rāmaputra Udraka) and Āḷāra Kālāma . After
1125-520: A useless or a wholly misleading cognitive vehicle. To adopt an aphasia or cognitive quietism from the start would be pointless, and, as the Goddess notes, contrary to the practice of the Buddha himself, who uttered an enormous number of words during his career. But of course the episode gets its point precisely from the fact that Buddhist literature is replete with a rhetoric of silence—with episodes of especially significant silence—and indeed, as we discover
1200-700: A version in Sanskrit was recovered in 1999 among the manuscripts of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. The Sanskrit was published in parallel with the Tibetan and three Chinese versions by the Study Group on Buddhist Sanskrit Literature at the Institute for Comprehensive Studies of Buddhism at Taisho University in 2004, and in 2006, the same group published a critical edition that has become the standard version of
1275-456: Is Āmrapālī 's garden outside Vaiśālī . Even in this setting, we may see evidence of the literary sophistication of the authors, and the foreshadowing of key themes ( antinomianism , female characters as literary tropes): Āmrapālī was a famously accomplished courtesan, ascribed in narrative with various roles in relation to promulgation of the Dharma . Five hundred Licchavi youths offer parasols to
1350-807: Is Stupa 1 or the Relic Stupa. Here the Licchavis reverentially encased one of the eight portions of the Master's relics, which they received after the Mahaparinirvana. After his last discourse the Buddha set out for Kushinagar , but the Licchavis kept following him. The Buddha gave them his alms bowl but they still refused to return. He then created an illusion of a river in spate which compelled them to go back. This site can be identified with Deora in modern Kesariya village, where Ashoka later built
1425-546: Is also renowned as the land of Amrapali , the great Indian courtesan , who appears in many folktales , as well as in Buddhist literature . Amrapali became a disciple of Buddha . Manudev was a famous king of the illustrious Lichchavi clan of the confederacy, who desired to possess Amrapali after he saw her dance performance in Vaishali. A kilometer away is Abhishek Pushkarini , the coronation tank. The sacred waters of
1500-475: Is apparently a "mere" householder, and (as we saw in Chapter 2), apparently no model of virtue at that—a companion of gamblers and prostitutes. Chapter 8 Vimalakīrti conducts a dialogue with a series of bodhisattvas from Mañjuśrī's entourage on the topic of non-duality ( advaya ). Again, Vimalakīrti ultimately emerges supreme from this contest. His "statement" on the topic is his famous silence, which crowns
1575-541: Is even more perturbed to find himself in the guise of a woman, but finds that nothing he does allows him to return to his own "true" form. Eventually, the goddess takes mercy and releases her hold, but the overall effect of the exchange is to show the vast superiority of Mahāyāna doctrine and practice over the other, more traditional forms of Buddhism of which Śāriputra is a paragon. The drama presented in this chapter has been an important reference point for traditional and especially modern attempts to find Mahāyāna perspectives on
SECTION 20
#17327805280451650-478: Is known about the early history of Vaiśālī. The Vishnu Purana records 34 kings of Vaiśālī, the first being Nabhaga , who is believed to have abdicated his throne over a matter of human rights and believed to have declared: "I am now a free tiller of the soil, king over my acre." The last among the 34 was Sumati , who is considered a contemporary of Dasaratha , father of the Hindu god, Lord Rama . Vaiśālī
1725-473: Is not really monism. Nonduality is a fuzzy concept , for which many definitions can be found. According to David Loy , since there are similar ideas and terms in a wide variety of spiritualities and religions , ancient and modern, no single definition for the English word "nonduality" can suffice, and perhaps it is best to speak of various "nondualities" or theories of nonduality. Loy sees non-dualism as
1800-476: Is now Vimalakīrti's house in Vaiśālī. He is a wealthy merchant householder. He is a husband and a father. However, he is also a powerful bodhisattva with Buddha-like qualities. He enters dens of iniquity, such as gambling parlours, brothels, and the haunts of philosophers of other schools, but even in so doing, he is merely appearing to conform with the ways of this world in order to bring sentient beings to realisation of
1875-450: Is so immense that advanced bodhisattvas must transform their bodies to a size of 42,000 yojana s (leagues) tall to sit on them. Śariputra and other mahāśrāvaka s, incapable of this feat, cannot mount their seats. This space- and mind-bending miracle is taken as the chance to teach that a vast array of "unthinkable" things are possible for advanced adherents of the Mahāyāna (e.g. inhaling all
1950-566: Is sorely bested and humiliated by the goddess. She explains that he cannot shake off the flowers because he is "attached" (for instance, to a formalistic and superficial understanding of the Dharma and the Vinaya). Śāriputra asks the goddess, perhaps somewhat peevishly, why she still has the (inferior) body of a woman, if she has attained to such high levels of insight. In response, she uses her own supernatural powers to switch bodies with Śāriputra, who
2025-634: Is the Yuimagyō gisho 維摩経義疏, or Commentary on the Vimalakīrti Sūtra , ascribed to Prince Shōtoku 聖徳太子 (574-622), an early work of Japanese Buddhism , which is said to be based on the commentary of the Liang dynasty Chinese monk Zhizang 智藏 (458-522 CE). The impact of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa can also be traced in many other dimensions of East Asian culture. Large numbers of manuscript copies of
2100-568: Is the pure consciousness or witness-consciousness of the Purusha of Samkhya and the Atman of Advaita Vedanta, which is aware of prakriti , the entanglements of the muddled mind and cognitive apparatus. Different theories and concepts which can be linked to nonduality and nondual awareness are taught in a wide variety of religious traditions, including some western religions and philosophies. While their metaphysical systems differ, they may refer to
2175-545: Is the same, and that the differences between them may be seen as due primarily to the nature of language." Indian ideas of nondual awareness developed as proto- Samkhya speculations in ascetic milieus in the 1st millennium BCE, with the notion of Purusha , the witness-conscious or 'pure consciousness'. Proto-samkhya ideas can be found in the earliest Upanishads, but are not restricted to the Vedic tradition. Brahmanical and non-Brahmanical (Buddhism, Jainism) ascetic traditions of
2250-451: Is thought to be ever present, yet typically unrecognized, obscured by discursive thought, emotion, and perception." According to Josipovic, "consciousness-as-such is a non-conceptual nondual awareness, whose essential property is non-representational reflexivity. This property makes consciousness-as-such phenomenologically, cognitively and neurobiologically a unique kind, different from and irreducible to any contents, functions and states." It
2325-457: Is ultimately grounded in a singular substance or principle , reducing the multiplicity of existence to a singular foundation. The distinction lies in their approach to the relationship between the many and the one . Each nondual tradition presents unique interpretations of nonduality. Advaita Vedanta , a school of thought within Hindu philosophy, focuses on the realization of the unity between
Vimalakirti Sutra - Misplaced Pages Continue
2400-713: The Buddha . This teaching is conveyed by a series of negations. The Buddha reveals to Śāriputra that Vimalakīrti is in fact a bodhisattva from the Buddha-world Abhirati , which is created and overseen by the Buddha Akṣobhya . In order to show the assembly in Āmrapālī's garden this world, Vimalakīrti uses his prodigious powers to bring the entire world into the garden. Śākyamuni Buddha predicts to all present that they will be reborn in Abhirati, and Vimalakīrti puts
2475-501: The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa contains numerous philosophical and doctrinal themes, including: According to Etienne Lamotte , the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa is one of the oldest Mahayana sutras and contains the madhyamika philosophy of emptiness ( Śūnyatā ) in a raw state (which may have served as a foundation for Nagarjuna's school). In his translation of the sutra ( L'Enseignement de Vimalakīrti (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa) ), Lamotte outlines
2550-431: The Īśā , imply a similar quest for an undifferentiated oneness as the ultimate objective of human spiritual pursuit. According to the Īśā Upanishad, this goal transcends both the processes of becoming (saṃbhūti) and non-becoming (asaṃbhūti). The Isha Upanishad (second half of the first millennium BCE) employs a series of paradoxes to describe the supreme entity. The divine being is depicted as immovable, yet swifter than
2625-503: The Buddha, who miraculously transforms them into a single gigantic parasol that covers the entire cosmos. The youths ask how the "Buddha field" ( buddhakṣetra ) can be purified. The Buddha responds that the Buddha field is pure when the mind is pure (this line was one source of a whole line of interpretation in Pure Land thinking in the later East Asian tradition). The buddhakṣetra is also equated with various other exalted categories in
2700-505: The Buddha-world back where it came from. Chapter 12 The text closes with formulaic statements that the teaching it delivers should be preserved and transmitted. A new sermon expounds a series of characteristics of inferior bodhisattvas, which prevent them attaining the highest attainments. The Buddha entrusts the sūtra to Maitreya, in order that sentient beings of future ages may also be able to hear it. According to Fan Muyou,
2775-529: The Ch'an/Zen tradition, with its avoidance of positive statements on 'ultimate reality': The Zen tradition is avowedly the Buddhism of Vimalakirti's silence—a claim that is explicitly reinforced by the practice of silent meditation. But it does not mean that language is to be discredited completely: Language is not, according to any Mahāyāna school, to be abandoned at the outset; it is not, whatever its limitations,
2850-582: The Enlightenment the Buddha frequently visited Vaishali. He organized the sangha on the pattern of Vaishalian democracy. It was here that he first allowed females to join the sangha, initiating his maternal aunt Mahaprajapati Gautami into the order. His last Varshavasa (rainy season resort) was here and he announced his approaching Mahaparinirvana (the final departure from the world) just three months in advance. Before leaving for Kusinagara, where he died, he left his alms-bowl (Bhiksha-Patra) here with
2925-452: The Mahāyāna, such as the six perfections , or the four "illimitables" or "noble dwelling-places" ( brahmavihāra ). Because Śāriputra is unable to see this purity, the Buddha performs a miracle that displays it to him briefly. One implication of this scene is that our Sahā world—the buddhakṣetra of Śākyamuni—is in fact as glorious as other Buddha worlds, but our defilements prevent us from correctly seeing it as such. Chapter 2 The scene
3000-597: The Relic Stupa is Abhishek Pushkarini , the coronation tank. The sacred waters of the tank anointed the elected representatives of Vaiśālī. Next to the coronation tank stands the Japanese temple and the Viśvā Śānti Stūpa ( World Peace Pagoda ) built by the Japanese Nichiren Buddhist sect Nipponzan-Myōhōji . A small part of the Buddha's relics found in Vaiśālī have been enshrined in the foundation and in
3075-477: The Sanskrit for scholarly purposes. In 2007 the Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods published a romanized Sanskrit version under the title Āryavimalakīrtinirdeśo Nāma Mahāyānasūtram . For a recent and thorough summary of the present scholarly understanding of the text, readers should consult Felbur. Various translations circulate, and an even greater number are known or claimed to have existed in
Vimalakirti Sutra - Misplaced Pages Continue
3150-425: The Tibetan, and one from the recently rediscovered Sanskrit text. A typically erudite French translation by Étienne Lamotte was made from the Tibetan. Lamotte's French was re-translated into English by Sara Boin-Webb, bringing the total number of English versions to five. The English translations are: Jan Nattier has discussed and compared most of these translations in considerable detail, as an interesting case in
3225-593: The agendas and resulting shortcomings of various approaches to modern Buddhist Studies. There also exist or existed various translations (some of them at second remove) into the Japanese, Korean, Khotanese, Mongolian, Sogdian and Manchurian languages. Most Japanese versions are based on Kumārajīva, but two translations directly from the rediscovered Sanskrit text into vernacular Japanese have also now been published, one by Takahashi Hisao 高橋尚夫 and Nishino Midori 西野翠, and one by Ueki Masatoshi 植木雅俊. The Vimalakirti Sutra can be summarised as follows. Chapter 1 The scene
3300-537: The dramatic encounter between the goddess and Śāriputra in Chapter 6. Nonduality (spirituality) Medieval Early modern Modern Iran India East-Asia Nondualism includes a number of philosophical and spiritual traditions that emphasize the absence of fundamental duality or separation in existence . This viewpoint questions the boundaries conventionally imposed between self and other , mind and body , observer and observed , and other dichotomies that shape our perception of reality. As
3375-505: The eight portions of the Master's relics, which they received after the Mahaparinirvana. After his last discourse the Awakened One set out for Kushinagar , but the Licchavis kept following him. Buddha gave them his alms bowl but they still refused to return. The Master created an illusion of a river in spate which compelled them to go back. This site can be identified with Deora in modern Kesariya village, where Ashoka later built
3450-661: The entire assembly in his room in one hand, and miraculously transports it to Āmrapālī's garden (the scene we left in the opening chapter), where they visit the Buddha and Ānanda. When Ānanda smells the fragrance of the wonderful food described in the previous chapter, it is used as the occasion for a teaching that describes how the Buddhas accomplish their teaching and liberation of sentient beings by all means conceivable (and inconceivable!). Ānanda concedes that śrāvaka s are inferior to bodhisattvas, and Vimalakīrti delivers another teaching. Chapter 11 Vimalakīrti explains how he views
3525-567: The first millennium BCE developed in close interaction, utilizing proto-Samkhya enumerations (lists) analyzing experience in the context of meditative practices providing liberating insight into the nature of experience. The first millennium CE saw a movement towards postulating an underlying "basis of unity", both in the Buddhist Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools, and in Advaita Vedanta , collapsing phenomenal reality into
3600-428: The fundamental existential malaise of all sentient beings. According to this discourse, the true cure for all ills is also spiritual, and involves the achievement of states of non-self and non-dualism. Chapter 5 Vimalakīrti performs a further miracle, summoning from another distant Buddha-field 32,000 vast "lion thrones" ( siṃhāsana ) for Mañjuśrī and his company, without expanding his narrow room. Each of these seats
3675-425: The human mind, surpassing even the fastest runners. It exists both far and near, within and outside. The term " eka " is used to convey that this entity transcends all dichotomies, encompassing wisdom and ignorance, existence and non-existence, and creation and destruction. It emphasizes that not only is the divine entity beyond dualities, but human seekers of immortality must also transcend their dualistic perception of
3750-532: The individual self ( Ātman ) and the ultimate reality ( Brahman ). In Zen Buddhism , the emphasis is on the direct experience of interconnectedness that goes beyond conventional thought constructs. Dzogchen , found in Tibetan Buddhism , highlights the recognition of an innate nature free from dualistic limitations. Taoism embodies nondualism by emphasizing the harmony and interconnectedness of all phenomena, transcending dualistic distinctions, towards
3825-418: The limitations of language and rational thought , aiming for a more immediate, intuitive form of knowledge. Nondualism is distinct from monism , another philosophical concept that deals with the nature of reality . While both philosophies challenge the conventional understanding of dualism, they approach it differently. Nondualism emphasizes unity amid diversity. In contrast, monism posits that reality
SECTION 50
#17327805280453900-476: The major theses of the madhyamaka school and shows how the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa contains all of these. Some of these major ideas include: Burton Watson also argues that the doctrine of emptiness is the central teaching of this sutra, along with the related idea that since all dharmas are of the same nature, they are non-dual, having a single ultimate quality. The Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa "offers us two dramatic and contrasting moments of silence. The first of these [is]
3975-468: The mouth of the upāsaka (lay practitioner) Vimalakīrti a teaching addressed to both arhats and bodhisattvas , regarding the doctrine of śūnyatā . In most versions, the discourse of the text culminates with a wordless teaching of silence. Translator Burton Watson argues that the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa was likely composed in approximately 100 CE. Although it had been thought lost for centuries,
4050-425: The nature of gender, and Buddhist feminist attempts to find canonical sources for a stance that ascribes equal spiritual status or potential to women. Chapter 7 A dialogue ensues between Mañjuśrī and Vimalakīrti. Echoing the dramatic besting of Śāriputra—a famed expert in doctrine—by a mere non-Buddhist deity and female, this dialogue ultimately sees Mañjuśrī, the paragon of Mahāyāna wisdom, upstaged by someone who
4125-466: The niceties of monastic deportment. Chapter 4 The bodhisattva Mañjuśrī (conventionally understood as the embodiment of supreme wisdom) is persuaded by the Buddha to visit Vimalakīrti, albeit with some difficulty. Vimalakīrti miraculously transforms his apparently narrow and humble abode into a vast cosmic palace, thus creating enough space for the throng Mañjuśrī has brought with him. Vimalakīrti explains his illness in spiritual terms, equating it with
4200-555: The occasion to convert them towards ultimate awakening. Here, it now transpires that Vimalakīrti is feigning illness, in order that he can exploit the sympathy visits of his fellow citizens to teach them. He teaches one such group of visitors about the distinction between the apparently impermanent material body, which is prone to such sickness, and the true body of the Buddha. This is one of the earliest developed instances of dharmakāya ("Dharma-body") doctrine known in Mahāyāna literature. Chapter 3 The Buddha successively appeals to
4275-498: The past. Tradition holds that the text was translated into Classical Chinese seven times. A supposed first translation (probably legendary) is said in some classical bibliographic sources, beginning with the notoriously unreliable Lidai sanbao ji 歷代三寶紀 T2034 in 598 C.E., to have been produced by Yan Fotiao 嚴佛調. Three canonical Chinese versions are extant: an earlier version ascribed to Zhi Qian 支謙, entitled Weimojie jing 維摩詰經 T474; one produced by Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什 in 406 C.E. under
4350-471: The people of Vaishali. The Śvetāmbaras state that the final Tirthankara , Lord Mahavira , was born and raised in Kshatriyakund district, Vaiśālī to King Siddhartha . and Queen Trishala . According to Jain text Uttarapurāṇa , King Chetaka ruled as a Republican President in Vaishali and was a famous and complaisant king. He is mentioned as a staunch follower of Jainism . According to
4425-681: The present village of Basarh in Vaishali District , Bihar . Vaishali derives its name from King Vishal of the Mahabharata age. Even before the advent of Buddhism and Jainism , Vaiśālī was the capital of the republican Licchavi state . In that period, Vaiśālī was an ancient metropolis and the capital city of the republic of the Vaiśālī state, which covered most of the Himalayan Gangetic region of present-day Bihar state, India. However, very little
4500-668: The product of a complex history), transmits what is actually a set of interrelated commentaries ascribed to scholars among the very translation team that produced the second Chinese translation at the beginning of the fifth century, including Kumārajīva himself. Other relatively early commentaries were produced by Jingying Huiyuan 淨影慧遠 (523–592): Wuimo yiji 維摩義記 T1776; Zhiyi 智顗 (538–597): Weimo jing xuanshu 維摩經玄疏; Jizang 吉藏 (549–623): Jingming xuanlun 淨名玄論 T1780 and Weimo jing yishu 維摩經義疏 T1781; [Kiu]Ji [窺]基 (632–682): Shuo Wugoucheng jing shu 說無垢稱經疏 T1782; and Zhanran 湛然 (711–782): Weimo jing lüeshu 維摩經略疏 T1778. Yet another significant commentary
4575-493: The silence of Śāriputra ", who is rendered silent during an exchange with a goddess: Śāriputra abandons speech too quickly, after all. He has been asked a question in a particular context [...] to refuse to speak at such a point is neither an indication of wisdom, nor a means of imparting wisdom, but at best a refusal to make progress [...] Śāriputra's failed silence is but a contrastive prelude to Vimalakīrti's far more articulate silence. Vimalakīrti remains silent while discussing
SECTION 60
#17327805280454650-410: The subject of emptiness with an assembly of bodhisattvas. The bodhisattvas give a variety of answers on the question what non-duality is. Mañjuśrī is the last bodhisattva to answer, and says that "by giving an explanation they have already fallen into dualism". Vimalakīrti, in his turn, answers with silence. With this emphasis on silence the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa served as a forerunner of the approach of
4725-436: The surface makes no sense. For example, he bested Śāriputra on the topic of sitting in meditation by asserting that true meditation is in fact a string of things bearing no obvious resemblance to meditation, such as having no body in the visible world, or abiding in a state of complete meditative cessation (normally held to resemble physical death to the untrained eye) while at the same time engaging actively and perfectly in all
4800-675: The tank anointed the elected representatives of Vaiśālī. Next to it stands the Japanese temple and the Vishwa Shanti Stupa (World Peace Pagoda) built by the Nipponzan Myohoji sect of Japan. A small part of the Buddha's relics found in Vaiśālī have been enshrined in the foundation and in the chhatra of the Stupa. Near the coronation tank is Stupa 1 or the Relic Stupa. Here the Lichchavis reverentially encased one of
4875-475: The text survive in collections from Dunhuang 敦煌 and elsewhere. The text had a major impact on the arts, including visual art, but also poetry. The self-chosen soubriquet of the Tang poet Wang Wei 王維 (699–759), for instance, means nothing less than "Vimalakīrti". In the modern world, the famous Peking opera "The Heavenly Maiden Scatters Flowers" 天女散花 , created by Mei Lanfang 梅蘭芳 (1894–1961), also took as its basis
4950-399: The text, Chetaka had ten sons and seven daughters. His sister Priyakarini (also known as Trishala ) was married to Siddhartha . His daughter Chellana married Shrenik (also known as Bimbisara ). As per Indologist Hermann Jacobi , Vardhaman Mahavira's mother Trishala was sister of King Chetaka . Vaiśālī was also the residence of Kandaramasuka and Pātikaputta. Near the coronation tank
5025-618: The title Weimojie suoshuo jing 維摩詰所說經 T475; and one translated by Xuanzang in 650 玄奘 and is entitled Shuo Wogoucheng jing 說無垢稱經 T476. Of these, the Kumārajīva version is the most famous. The principal Tibetan version is that found in the Kanjur , by Chos nyid tshul khrims (Dharmatāśila), Dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa D176/Q843.' An additional version was found at Dunhuang in the early 20th century. In modern English, six main translations exist, three from Kumārajīva 's Chinese, two from
5100-407: The title means "instruction, advice", and Vimalakīrti is the name of the main protagonist of the text, and means "Taintless Fame". The sutra teaches, among other subjects, the meaning of nondualism , the doctrine of the true body of the Buddha, the characteristically Mahāyāna claim that the appearances of the world are mere illusions, and the superiority of the Mahāyāna over other paths. It places in
5175-483: The truth. Note the echo of the famous courtesan Āmrapālī in the theme, emphasised here, of Vimalakīrti's ambivalent, even paradoxical, relationship to sexuality and chastity; the same theme is revisited in an amusing anecdote in Chapter 3, in which Vimalakīrti bests Māra (the "Buddhist devil") by accepting 12,000 goddesses from him for his "serving-women". These goddesses have just been rejected by another advanced practitioner as improper, but Vimalakīrti immediately takes
5250-423: The whole series of exchanges and is implicitly framed as the "last word". This portion of the text was important for later tradition, including various Chan / Zen texts and schools, as a source of the notion that truth is beyond language, and specially framed acts of silence are its most adequate expression. Chapter 9 Vimalakīrti uses his powers to conjure up a magically emanated bodhisattva, whom he sends to
5325-484: The winds of all the worlds at once, or showing all the offerings ever given to all Buddhas in a single pore of the skin of their bodies). Chapter 6 Vimalakīrti expounds a series of analogies designed to explain the point that the bodhisattva regards sentient beings as, in various senses, illusory or even logically impossible. A goddess then appears, who has been living in Vimalakīrti's room for twelve years. She creates
5400-618: The world. Confucianism Persons Topics Neo Confucianism New Confucianism Daoism Persons Topics Legalism Mohism Military and Strategy Han Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism Maoism General topics Vedic philosophy Mimamsa Vedanta Samkhya Yoga Nyaya Navya-Nyāya Vaisheshika Nāstika (heterodox) Tamil Other General topics Jainism Buddhism Vaishali (ancient city) Vaishali , Vesali or Vaiśālī
5475-596: Was a city in present-day Bihar , India, and is now an archaeological site. It is a part of the Tirhut Division . It was the capital city of the Vajjika League of Vrijji mahajanapada , considered one of the first examples of a republic around the 6th century BCE. Gautama Buddha preached his last sermon before his death in c. 483 BCE , then in 383 BCE the Second Buddhist council
5550-654: Was convened here by King Kalasoka, making it an important place in both Jain and Buddhist religions. It contains one of the best-preserved of the Pillars of Ashoka , topped by a single Asiatic lion . Vaishali is also home to possibly the earliest known example of a stupa , the Buddha relic stupa which is said to contain the ashes of the Buddha. The city finds mention in the travel accounts of Chinese explorers, Faxian (4th century CE) and Xuanzang (7th century CE), which were later used in 1861 by British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham to first identify Vaiśālī with
5625-730: Was informed by early translations of the Upanishads in Western languages other than English from 1775. These terms have entered the English language from literal English renderings of " advaita " subsequent to the first wave of English translations of the Upanishads . These translations commenced with the work of Müller (1823–1900), in the monumental Sacred Books of the East (1879). He rendered "advaita" as " Monism ", as have many recent scholars. However, some scholars state that "advaita"
#44955