Vimalakirti Sutra

About this book

"A new translation of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra. Translated from the Chinese of Kumarajiva (Taisho Vol. XIV. No. 475) by the International Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts (IITBT) at Dharma Realm Buddhist University. Also called Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra, it dates from no later than the 3rd century CE, and most likely from the 1st or 2nd centuries CE. In the sūtra the layman and householder Vimalakīrti , who is also a model bodhisattva, instructs deities, learned Buddhist arhats, and lay people in all matters concerning the nature of enlightenment, emptiness (sunyata), and non-duality. Vimalakīrti employs a subtle understanding of "skill in means" (upāya) to lead them the highest truth: the counter-intuitive claim that nirvana and saṃsāra , at an ultimate level, are not different. The discourse culminates with a wordless teaching of silence"--